Can I find out about my grandparents without having to pay?

Question

I would like to find out out about my grandparents, I do not know the names, but is there a way of doing it without having to fork out any money

Answer 1

Best, free source of info. is from local newspaper files, obits, etc.  You will need a name and hopefully, approx. death date, to make it easier.

Answer 2

Finding your grandparents without any names will not work payed or free. You might try Rootsweb.

Answer 3

Carol, you don't indicate your age, so forgive me if this is incorrect-  if you are a minor and your parents are withholding that info.. that is something we would not be able to interfere with. That is VERY HARD for me to say, since I personally have a family situation involving an extremely nasty custody thing.

An adult has the moral right, in my mind, to know this info.

the answer is, that it DEPENDS on where exactly you are (country/ state), AND if your parents are now living or not.  If your parents are not living, you have the right to access their birth certificate(s) which has this info...unless they were adopted. There are a few online birth indexes through ancestry.com.  It normally is a fee service.. it can be used at many libraries for free.  If your parents have/ had siblings, either their birth or death certificates should also have this info.. depending on where that happened.. you might be able to access those, or they can be restricted to immediate family members (not neice/nephews).

You can send me an email through my profile.. and I will see if I can do anything. It may be possible, again.. depending on the situation.

Answer 4

talk to your parents.

Answer 5

It depends what it is you want to find out. If it is just their birth, marriage and eath details then you will need to go to the registry office. There might be a small fee but not much just to have a llok. If you want copies of their certificates then you will need to pay.

Answer 6

Gather up all the information you can from family members about your family history.  Then  narrow your search and start looking on the internet.  A great site to help you begin  learning how to research and organize the information you collect and gather is   http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Fa...  

There are many genealogical sites that are free such as:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default....  FamilySearch.org is a non-profit service sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You can also download free software that will help you keep your family tree organized.

http://usgenweb.org/.  This site has been created by a group of volunteers that are committed to keep genealogy free and have provided a website for genealogical research in every county and state in the United States.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/.  RootsWeb is also a great site.  It’s funded by Ancestry.com.  It provides links to ton’s of additional sites as well.    

http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ind... . Ellis Island Foundation, Inc.  Genealogy Learning Center.  This site has also has some great getting started tips and free downloadable charts and forms.  

http://www.cyndislist.com/.  Cindy’s List has just about everything from A to Z.  I would highly recommend visiting this site.

Answer 7

Sure, ask your parents, your relatives like maternal or paternal uncles & aunties.This should not be difficult.

Answer 8

I don't know how you can possibly hope to find them if you don't know their names?.

Answer 9

Yes, you could ask other relatives - parents, aunts, uncles or cousins.  If that is not possible you'll have to fork out some money.

Answer 10

my grandmother is into genealogy, so she has traced back our history. You will need to know their names. Ask your family if they know there names or where they lived. You can do it without forking over lots of money. They have places that have library's that have genealogy sections, you just have to find them and dig.

I would try to find old newspaper articles. Like your parents wedding, maybe there was an announcement in the paper and that had your grandparents name on it. Stuff like that. Good Luck!!!

Answer 11

Best source of free info is relatives! Also look in Family Photo albumns for Obituaries.

      Your parents marriage certificate should have both sets of Grand-parents. If they still around ask to see it. Moms usually keep this stuff with important papers like wills.

If no Marraige cert see if they have a long form Birth Certificate.

     If they don't have it then try applying for Marriage certificate. This will have both Grand-Parents as a birth cert will only have the one set of Gand-Parents and will cost twice as much to get both mom and dad's birth certs.

     The cost depends where you live, costs range from as low as 7 lbs in England about $14 US to $50  in other countries. Maybe parents will help with cost as Family Keep-Sake?

Answer 12

Try:

Oh, yes!  I want it, and I want it now, and it must be free.  Does that about sum it up? (I hope so, because that is what I always want...)

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

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.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.