Genology????

Question:looking for anything
document
pics
etc.
about my grandpa
where would be a good site to look
the ellis island site stuff was good except that island was closed when he went through
are there immigration paper for people who immigrated in 1956 on the web
any good free sites. ive tried all the common on, and all the ones listed on the first page of my google sources
any good websites flying under the radar???
thanks

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: looking for anything
document
pics
etc.
about my grandpa
where would be a good site to look
the ellis island site stuff was good except that island was closed when he went through
are there immigration paper for people who immigrated in 1956 on the web
any good free sites. ive tried all the common on, and all the ones listed on the first page of my google sources
any good websites flying under the radar???
thanks

Sarah, it may not seem so to you, but 1956, in genealogy terms is like last week.
this is NOT criticism at all, just explanation. You should not find info about live persons online. Grandpa might be dead, but in terms of how recent it is, some stuff is not open. For instance, persons born in 1927 are only 80 yrs old now. the US census is 'closed' for 72 yrs, in order to protect confidential info.. although many persons born prior to 1930 are still living.
The majority of historical records are those over 100 yrs old. That is, the ones online (and millions of records exist, that are not online). For starting in your research, much of what you want are records that you (or your parents) have authority to access, but these are not open to the public.
If grandpa is no longer alive.. start with his death certificate and social security file. Both will cost. The ss file will include his application, and have good details. The best place for pictures would be among family members.
You should be able to determine if he married in the states, or before immigrating, and hopefully, find that document. Another question is if he became a citizen? does anyone know when?
www.cyndislist.com is (to me) THE best site, since it is a collection of other sites. Great beginner section with tutorials. THOUSANDS of sites. Google picks up the ones with the most hits.. or best advertising. I started research long before ancestry or even the internet, and my personal opinion is that I prefer doing it what others consider the "hard" way. I have the best of both worlds... I can use the net all day long (and do) but also know how to find info when it isn't online. Not popular line of thinking, for those who want or expect to do it all by computer.
That's Wendy's $2.99 basic tutorial, but since you said 'thanks', your credit is good with me.

Try to find Geneology sites for the country of his birth, ie Google "Germany + Genealogy"

You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"

http://www.tribalpages.com/
http://www.searchforancestors.com/

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.findagrave.com/

Genealogy message board:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/newgu...

http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx...

http://boards.ancestry.com/

http://www.gensource.com/common/search.c...

http://messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Family__...

http://genforum.genealogy.com/

http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/

http://www.progenealogists.com/messagebo...

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/b...

http://boards.rootsweb.com/

Also if you Email me his name, Birthdate and place of birth I will see what I can dig up on Ancestry.com for you!

Have you tried the census? Try rootsweb.com and familysearch.org. both are free. Rootsweb has a lot of links besides info that others have filed.

Have you tried the LDS Center? or what about the local genealogy homepage where your grandpa lived? You would be surprised what you might find. The census may help you a lot.

If you want to email me the info you have on your grandpa I can try to help you out.