Do you know of any good websites to help find your ancestors?

Question

I was a member of ancestry.com for quite a while. I created a family tree, found out a lot more about my ancestors and even located a long, lost aunt. However, the site has done a lot of maintenence since the last time I was on and now most of the features are only available if you pay. Not to mention, the site is slowing down my computer more than ever (yes, I have DSL and yes, this is an OLD computer), making it frustrating to even be on the site for five minutes.

I'm looking for a new site, preferrably 100% free, where I can continue my search until we can come up with enough money to get a new computer and pay for a subscription to the ancestry website. I've checked out geneology.com but it, too, has features that you must pay for.

Would you happen to know of any free, helpful, family history websites that may be of interest to me?

Answer 1

This link it for the Mormon churches vast collection of family history, Social Security Death Index and US (1880), Canada & UK (1881) Census records. They also offer free family tree software (.PAF5).

http://www.familysearch.org/

Rootsweb has family trees with over 250 million names and links to useful volunteer-run projects. http://www.rootsweb.com/

Cyndislist is a popular site with extensive links for specific countries and ethnic groups.

http://www.cyndislist.com/

Some more useful free sites:

http://www.findagrave.com

http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/d...

http://www.gencircles.com/

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/

http://www.genealogybuff.com/ancestry_fr...

http://genforum.genealogy.com/

Answer 2

Try:

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.

Answer 3

Try this one it's free and it's the government.

http://www.usgenweb.org/