Q&A: What is the best and cheapest way to explore your genealogy on the computer?
Question by dsrspring: What is the best and cheapest way to explore your genealogy on the computer?
I have always been interested in my family genealogy, but have not idea where to start. My maiden name is very unusual and my father really doesn’t no much about his family, so I would love to know where we originate from.
Best answer:
Answer by Norm D
You can start with http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
keep in mind that many of the facts on this website are unconfirmed, so it is very important to look on the website for the source given for each record they mention. If it is a historical document, it will say so. If it is “submitted by a church member,” or anything other than a census record or a parish church record, you can use it to try to find a historical record in that vicinity (ie, go on www.rootsweb.com and near the bottom of the page there is a Locality link, which will allow you to find a message board for any county or country in the world – go to the board and ask if anyone can look for a record to match the info you have) .
Rootsweb also has a message board section for specific surnames. If you can find a message board for your surname, you can post requests for help there.
Give your answer to this question below!
Pick one or the other, dear. The best meal in town isn’t at Denny’s, and the best way to explore your family history isn’t cheap. Don’t they teach you youngsters ANYTHING in school any more? Standards have certainly gone downhill since I was carrying my lunch in a tin box with Roy Rogers on the lid. I had to walk, too. It was six miles uphill, both ways.
Here is my standard answer. It means research on your part. All but one of the links are free. 99% of the people who ask your question lose interest when we tell them it is work, but we (we top 8) keep trying.
This is a text file I paste to questions like yours. People ask similar questions 3 – 14 times a day here. You get a long, detailed answer, I don’t get finger cramps. It is long because there are over 400,000 free genealogy sites.
It is also long because researching your family tree is as hard as writing a term paper in a History class. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, but you won’t do it with five clicks. I could tell you everything I know in 30 minutes, but not 3. The fact you have to do research stops nine out of ten teens and many adults.
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. If you are not, please edit your question to add a country. Or, better yet, delete it and ask again, this time putting inthe country. Genealogists from the UK answer posts here too. They are more experienced and more intelligent than I am. I’m better looking and my jokes are better.
The really good stuff is in your parents’ and grandparents’ memories. 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.
You won’t find living people on genealogy sites. Don’t look for yourself or your parents.
So much for the warnings. Here are some links. These are large and free. Many of them have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them – ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.
If you try the links and don’t find anyone, go to
http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html
It repeats each link, but it has a whole paragraph of tips and instructions for each one.
http://www.cyndislist.com
Cyndi’s List has over 250,000 sites.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
The Mormon’s mega-site.
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
RootsWeb World Connect. The links at the top are advertisements. They mislead beginners. Ignore them and scroll down.
http://www.rootsweb.com/
RootsWeb Home.
This is the biggest free (genealogy) site in the world.
http://www.ancestry.com
Ancestry has some free data and some you have to pay for.
http://www.usgenweb.net
US Gen Web. Click on a state. Find a link that says “County”.
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?
Surname meanings and origins, one of Ancestry’s free pages.
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi”
Social Security Death Index. Click on “Advanced”. Women are under their married names. They are under their maiden names in most other sites.
http://find.person.superpages.com/
USA Phone book, for looking up distant cousins.
http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi
California Death Index, 1940 – 1997.
http://www.genforum.com
GenForum has surname, state and county boards.
http://boards.ancestry.com/
Ancestry has surname, state and county boards too. They are free.
Read
http://www.tedpack.org/goodpost.html
before you post on either one.
Read the paragraphs about query boards on
http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html
before you search them.
http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl
Roots Web Mailing List Archives.
Read
http://www.tedpack.org/maillist.html
if genealogy mailing lists are new to you.
Off the Internet, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too. FHC’s are small rooms in Mormon churches. They welcome anyone interested in genealogy, not just fellow Mormons. They have resources on CD’s and volunteers who are friendly. They don’t try to convert you; in fact, they don’t mention their religion unless you ask a question about it.
PS – There is a small difference between “know” and “no”, and a huge one between “the computer” and “the Internet”.
Pedantically yours,
T
If you’d like to send me your maiden name, I can look it up in some of the databases I subscribe to.