Does anyone know any really free 'find your ancestry' web sites?

Question

I'm trying to find my ancesters, on my father's side the Stiles of Bakersfield CA and on my mom's side the Mc Daniels , of Kansas City Kansas (Grandfather) and Brown's (Grandmother). My Grandmother was part Chereekee and I would like to know my Native American number. I'm tired of the free sites that use your findings and then want to charge you for info someone else has posted on their 'free family tree' Funds are limited so I can't afford to pay a geneoligest. Thanks to anyone that can help.

Answer 1

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

is free. It is California Deaths, 1940 - 1997. It won't get down to specific towns, but it has 25 entries for people whose surname was Stiles when they died in Kern County. There are 11 with father's surname Stiles (The men are duplicates from the first 25, the women are not). There are 10 with MMN Stiles.

There is no such thing as a free site that wants to charge you. Sites are free or fee, although the fee ones have some free teasers. If you are tired of them, don't use them.

You may be mistaking the ads from ancestry.com for part of the free site; lots of people do.

Answer 2

Hi, here are several free sites that I use frequently:

www.familysearch.org

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

www.findagrave.com

www.interment.net

http://www.usgenweb.org/

talk with your local librarian about what genealogy subscriptions you have access to through them

Google

You might think it's strange to see Google on my list, but I've found that the smart my search is, the better my results.  Have you tried searching in this way, or something close to it?:  mcdaniels+brown "kansas city" genealogy

I did look through several pages of Ancestry Family Trees for Stiles (didn't find any mentioning Bakersfield, but found MANY in California), McDaniels and Brown in KC, KS...  Without dates or first names, the search results were unfortunately just too varied for me to determine if I found the right family.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

Just wanted to reply to one part of your question:

If you are not already tribally enrolled in a federally recognized tribe you would not have a "Native American number."  The US Government does not keep track of American Indians nor do they issue numbers.  Individual tribes keep track of their own tribal members/citizens.   If your grandmother was enrolled in a Cherokee tribe, she would have a number issued from her tribe of enrollment.  If your grandmother was not enrolled, she would not have a number.  If you find that your grandmother was enrolled, you might be able to become enrolled using her number.  If your family was never enrolled then, likewise, you would not be able to enroll.

Answer 4

Rootsweb and FamilySearch.org are 2 free sites.  Also your public library might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use free of charge there.  Ancestry.Com, I believe, has the most records online.  Their site is not free but they have spent a great deal of time and money obtaining many many original records and putting them online which saves people from traveling all over the country to courthouses, libraries etc to obtain the information. Now, no way are all the records online.

You have to be extremely careful about family trees on ANY website, free or paid. They are subscriber submitted (folks like you and me) and there are errors.   You might see different info on the same people from different subscribers.  Then you will see repeatedly the same info on the same people from different subscribers but that is absolutely no guarantee at all it is correct.  A lot of people copy without verifying which means the errors get multiplied.

Cyndi'sList.Com is a website that has links to a multitude of websites helpful in genealogy.

Answer 5

There are plenty of sites...also, one can go to a public library and use their genealogy sites for free, as well as books and periodicals.

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.