Does any one know how i can do research for a family tree?

Question:i mean i know names but most of my grandparents have passed so does any one know any free sites that have records that i could search through?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: i mean i know names but most of my grandparents have passed so does any one know any free sites that have records that i could search through?

Ah, yes. Well, start by asking all your living relatives for as much info as they can provide. Write it all down (write, type, put in your computer, whatever) and be sure to include the source for each piece of info.
After you write down everything you can find out through relatives, turn to your local library. You can also try:
Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with:
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/

Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org

For Scotland, check:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

For ship’s passenger lists, try:
http://www.immigrantships.net/
www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm
www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigr...
www.immigrantstips.net/
www.searchforancestors.com/passengerli...
www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration...

For those with native American ancestry, try:
http://www.tribalpages.com/
http://www.cherokee-nc.com/geneology.php...
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/herita...

Netherlanders: http://www.genlias.nl

For a fee, try a DNA test:
When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno...
For Jewish ancestry, try:
www.israelgenealogy.com

For people from India, try:
http://www.fibis.org/

Have a look at these sites these are South African ones,
http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri...
http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html....
http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website...
http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre...

Meaning of names:
http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani...

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

Here are some general sites with lists of African names:
http://www.swagga.com/fname.htm
http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/afr.php
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/ba...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...

Military:
www.military.com
http://www.familymilitaryrecords.com/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/militar...

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesear...

http://genealogy.about.com/b/2007/05/24/...

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/sea...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist.

Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important.

Often a person can just google a name, "John Smith, born 1580, Norfolk, England" as an example, and come up with some info.

Good luck!

If you review any of the answered questions for this category you'll find about 50% are how to start your tree.

There are a number of sites, free and otherwise that can help you start a tree, but inevitably the best info is not online, but in the photo albums, scrapbooks, baby books, family bibles, and other assorted items in your, your parents, and your relatives' possession. It is likely that obituaries for your grandparents would be kept, and they are a great source, as will be your parents - for the names and stories of their grandparents and older relatives.

Sites that are nice to start with - to see if there is some distant cousin out there who's tried your tree, will be rootsweb.com and familysearch.org & gencircles.com However, there are lots of errors in those trees - especially as people move further from their immediate line it is harder to confirm info.

Ancestry.com & HeritageQuest will likely be available to you free at your library. But the best source you could get would be a couple genealogy books. Emily Croom's books are a good starter, but there are many that can help acquaint you with the sources of information and searching strategies.

Genweb is also a great source, as is just searching for genealogy and the locations your parents and ancestors grew up. The historical societies and libraries in those areas may have collections of yearbooks, county histories, newspapers, family files that would save you a great deal of time over collecting it yourself.

But also ask your parents and gr-aunts and aunts and the like if there was someone looking into the family history. Older family members are often eager to share info, just bring plenty of change for a copier and a digital camera or scanner for pictures. :)

Sorry Lola, I meant to give you a thumbs up. Danielle, Lola gave you an excellent answer.

First of all get as much information from living family members, particularly any senior members if your grandparents have brothers or sisters still living. Tape them if they will let you. What might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant. See if anyone has any old family bibles.

Go to your library and check out the genealogy area. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com which has lots of records. They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also.

Just don't take as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The info is user submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Documentation is very important in genealogy. Even if you see the same information over and over by many different submitters that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

A Family HIstory Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.
In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven't heard that that has happened to anyone else.

You will need vital records, births, marriages and deaths. Now if you are in the U.S., each state has its own laws about who, when and where you can obtain birth and death certificates. Also governing bodies(state, county,city) in most states did not start recording vital information until the first quarter of the 20th century. These records usually have parent information. The death certificate and the application for a social security number also has the places of birth for each parent.

Before vital records were recorded you will need to check church records, Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and Death. A lot of faiths maintain records on these and they often contain parent info.

Good Luck!

You should try the website ancestry.com. You put in the info you have for each person and the database will automatically research them for you. You can get any kind of records plus obtain access to info that others may have discovered researching the same family. You can find history of your family from around the world. The libraries database can usually give you records on census and death or births. You can usually see the actually records.