answers1: So many people ask this question that we top 10 all have a
copy-and-paste answer to it. You may get 3 - 4 of them. All 10 are in
the resolved questions. There is quite a bit of overlap - for
instance, we ALL suggest the LDS site - but we each have our favorite
sites and tips. You'd learn a lot in a short amount of time if you
browsed them. That said, here's mine: <br>
<br>
There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites. I have a page that has
links to some huge ones, below, but you'll have to wade through some
advice and warnings first. <br>
<br>
If you didn't mention a country, we can't tell if you are in the USA,
UK, Canada or Australia. I'm in the USA and my links are for it. <br>
<br>
If you are in the USA, <br>
AND most of your ancestors were in the USA, <br>
AND you can get to a library or FHC with census access, <br>
AND you are white <br>
Then you can get most of your ancestors who were alive in 1850 with
100 - 300 hours of research. You can only get to 1870 if you are
black, sadly. Many young people stop reading here and pick another
hobby. <br>
<br>
No web site is going to tell you how your great grandparents decorated
the Christmas tree with ornaments cut from tin foil during the
depression, how Great Uncle Elmer wooed his wife with a banjo, or how
Uncle John paid his way through college in the 1960's by smuggling
herbs. Talk to your living relatives before it is too late. <br>
<br>
You won't find living people on genealogy sites. You'll have to get
back to people living in 1930 or so by talking to relatives, looking
up obituaries and so forth. <br>
<br>
Finally, not everything you read on the internet is true. You have to
be cautious and look at people's sources. Cross-check and verify.
<br>
<br>
So much for the warnings. Here is the main link: <br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html</a>
<br>
<br>
It has links to <br>
Cyndi's List.com - A catalog of 250,000 sites; <br>
Family Search.org - the LDS mega-site; <br>
<br>
RootsWeb.com, plus sub-links to <br>
RootsWeb World Connect - almost 600,000,000 entries; <br>
RootsWeb Social Security Death Index; <br>
RootsWeb California Death Index, 1940 - 1997; <br>
<br>
Ancestry.com - some of their pages are free, including <br>
Ancestry.com's page on Surname meanings and origins; <br>
Ancestry.com's Query boards - 160,000 of them <br>
<br>
US Gen Web, with sites for each state and each county within each state; <br>
Superpages.com, a US phone book for looking up living relatives; <br>
Find-a-Grave.com - 35 million entries; <br>
GenForum.com - 50,000+ real genealogy query boards; <br>
<br>
My page has links, plus tips and hints on how to use the sites. Having
one real link here in the answer and a dozen links on my personal site
gets around two problems. First, Y!A limits us to 10 links in an
answer. Second, if one or more of the links are popular, I get "We're
taking a breather" when I try to post the answer. This is a bug
introduced sometime in August 2008 with the "new look". <br>
<br>
You will need the tips. Just for instance, most beginners either put
too much data into the RWWC query page, expect too much accuracy, or
mistake the Ancestry ads at the top for the query form. I used to
teach a class on Internet Genealogy at the library. I watched the
mistakes beginners made. The query forms on the sites are not really
intuitive.
answers2: Pre 1776 archives are fairly constrained. i assume you have
appeared at Savage the 1st Settlers of latest England, and
conventional families of Virginia? the great Migration starts is
likewise sturdy. those all have flaws and a few incorrect archives,
yet they are in a position to commonly initiate you down the final
direction. have you ever appeared interior the digital books on
relatives seek? And on Mocavo? the two are loose. in the adventure
that your ancestors have been British, FindMyPast is commonly seen the
final source for English & Irish with ScotlandsPeople ultimate for
Scots. As Maxi mentioned, each and each united states or area has
sites that are the main sensible. Ancestry has a sturdy standard
sequence yet their seek engine is so lame I hesitate to advise them.
answers3: No site will have everything, and not all records are even
online. You will use a multitude of sites to research as there are
thousands of them on the web. And you will have to do some research
the old fashioned way....digging up old records in a courthouse
basement.
answers4: http://www.myheritage.com Free to join and lots of info that
other people already put in, the site automatically finds matches once
you put in enough info.
answers5: There are many....however their on many that have wrong
information.....start with yourself ( download free family history
sheets) fill them in , do the same for your parent, grand parents and
you will see the information you need and you will be surprised at how
little you know about your own information and have to go looking for
records to prove it..........the same goes for online information, who
has transcribed it, what are their sources, it is correct information,
how do you prove it...with family history one mistake and you can end
up tracing the completely wrong family
answers6: First, start by asking all your living relatives about
family history and get any documents or pictures they are willing to
share with you for your files. You can photocopy or scan these and
return them to their owner. Your public libraries will most likely
have both Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest.com free for anyone to use
while at the library and with a library card you should be able to use
Heritage Quest at home. <br>
<br>
Another free online resource is USGenWeb at <a
href="http://www.usgenweb.org/"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://www.usgenweb.org/</a> this sprawling
all-volunteer site is packed with how-to tips, queries and records for
every state and most counties within those states. Special projects
usgenweb.org/projects cover subjects such as censuses, tombstones and
family group sheets. Do not miss the easy-to-overlook search of the
entire site <a href="http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/htdig/search.html/."
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://searches.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ht...</a>
Then, there is Rootsweb at <a
href="http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/</a> a
free site hosted by Ancestry.com where you can search for surnames and
leave queries on the message boards. <br>
<br>
Additionally, there is the LDS/Mormon site, which has many free online
records at http://www.familysearch.org/ . In addition to their online
records, they have the Family History Centers where you can go to get
help with research and look at microfilm and microfiche and they only
charge if they have to order something for you or you need
photocopies. Finally, if you need software to organize your genealogy
data you can download their Personal Ancestral File [PAF] free at
http://www.familysearch.org/ . <br>
<br>
Also, be sure to check each state that you need information from as
many have their own projects, for example, the state of Missouri has a
great website that has many free source documents online at
http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh/ and South Carolina has many free wills and
other court documents at
http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov/onlinearchives/search.aspx <br>
<br>
And, do not forget to check Cyndi's List at http://www.cyndislist.com/
and ProGenealogist top 100 genealogist websites at
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/article/101best2009?r=adcFTMText
<br>
both of these sites have many links for both free and fee based sites
but I believe most of the fee based ones are marked with a $. <br>
<br>
I am certain I could list many more websites but this list is rather
comprehensive while being easy on the wallet, which is something
everyone can appreciate these days.
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