I need to find out who my ancestors are and how they got here for my social stud

Question:i need some good websites so i can find who my ancestors are and stuff...the ancetory.com did help at all and for the ellisisland.org there were about 70 people with my last name...so please help thank you!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i need some good websites so i can find who my ancestors are and stuff...the ancetory.com did help at all and for the ellisisland.org there were about 70 people with my last name...so please help thank you!

Call your grand parents.....they usually know more about it than you think. I can now trace my family to the very first one that came over from Belfast, N. Ireland.....back before there was a United States

You need far more than just a last name. Going by what you have said in your question, I am assuming your ancestors came from Europe (and by extension I will guess Ireland). Names often give a hint as to area in Europe. If you want to contact me, I will help if your family are in Ireland. I will need to know some basic details like surnames and any first names. Nothing else than that. And I won't need any of your own info

Ask your parents for their parents and grandparents names, and if they have obits/funeral cards for any of them (this can give more names than your parents might remember). Call your grandparents if they are alive and ask them about their parents and grandparents, and if they have any stories on how your family came to the US.

Ask if anyone in your family has worked on genealogy.

That is where you need to start. And the stories you get from your grandparents would be priceless for future generations of your family. I wish I'd asked my Grandpa when I was in ninth grade and doing a similar assignment, now that I'm older it's too late.

If none know, then IM me, and I'll help you.

Sorry there is no magic website. Unless someone is working on your family you probably won't find any thing online.

Start with your parents and work backwards. Ask your family for as much info as they can give you. Then when you find out where your family came from that should give you some clues where to start looking and a time frame.

When is your assignment due? You can email me and I'll see what I can find for you.

Something is very wrong here...either your understanding of the assignment or your teacher's understanding of what is being asked of you.

As you wrote it, your teacher is asking you to do something that many of the supporters of this forum have spent a decade or more (in my case, 22 years) and - no kidding - THOUSANDS of hours trying to accomplish.

Really the only chance you have of properly doing this assignment is if 1) You are lucky enough to have someone in your family who has already done the massive amount of work or 2) That your families immigration is recent enough that your parents, or grandparents, knows for certain.

But as far as finding who your ancestors are, that isn't a homework assignment, that is a very, very time consuming, lifetime passion and effort.

My suggestion would be to make up a fake history. sure, it's lying but the task is incredibly difficult. If it's just a homework assignment your teacher isn't going to delve into your family tree and mark what you put as wrong. If you don't feel like bs'ing the assignment just ask your parents and grandparents about their parents and grandparents, etc. This should give you a good enough history on your family. I don't encourage lying, but its just an assignment. Hope this helps.

I don't know fast way of finding your.Start with
your grandfathers last name and history as far as your dad can tell you.the more he can tell you
back in history,the better chance you have.
With the Ellis Island findings.you have a foundation to start.you know that they came
from EUROP.your name will help narrow it down.
BEST you will come up with,will be the country.

I do wish you the best of luck in your reserch.
You may even come up with a coat of arms.

Start with your parents, then grand parents and work your way back. (First, middle & Last names) For women a maden name is very important. You will need birth, marriage & death dates for every generation. The more info you get from family the easier it will be to find things.
With all of your dates you can be sure you have the correct people when searching. Example my GGGrandpa's name was George Washington Harrison When I entered that it gave me 27 different GW Harrison's. (I knew his approximate birth date so I could narrow it down.)
So the more you know from your parents & grand parents the easier it will be for you to search.
People work on genealogy for years and never find eveyone they are looking from.