Does anyone know how to trace my family history?

Question

Ive tried used genes reunited and sites like that but i can only get back as far as my grandparets!! Im useless!

Does anyone know how to find out my history?

Answer 1

It's that time of year now that I dread.  The BBC are advertising *that* TV show again, so lots of people are about to decide to suddenly start researching their tree, and in the process, generally make my life a misery by giving the GRO too much work to do in sending out certificates and people filling up all the spaces at my local library or record office.  For people like me, this is a terrible time of year to try and get any work done.  Record offices are understaffed and overworked at the best of times, and having to take time out to explain things to the new breed of researchers takes some time.   For one thing, people seem to believe (whether from watching the TV show or not, I don't know), that tracing your family tree is something that can be done in ten seconds flat just by pressing a few buttons or entering your name into google.

If you happen to be related to me, Ted Pack or anyone else on this forum who has already taken the time and effort to do their tree and placed it online somewhere, then that might well be the case.  A first or second cousin of mine could enter a grandparents name into google and quite easily be presented with my tree taking them back to 1700 or earlier in an instant with no work at all required on their part.  They can then even email me, and I'll send them scans of the certificates and documents that I have collected (at great personal expense) over the last few years to add their collection.  Chances are though, you won't get that lucky.  You'll have to start from scratch.  And starting from scratch can be quite difficult, especially if you don't know much about genealogy in the first place.

Genealogy is like detective work.  And just like any good mystery, once you find the answer to one question, another three usually appear in its place.  It's all about EVIDENCE and being able to prove what you say.  And in the world of genealogy the three most normal documents you'll need are Birth, Marriage and Death certificates (often abbreviated to BMD).  To find and order one, you look in the BMD INDEX (which can be found on Ancestry.co.uk, among other places) and use that INDEX to order the actual certificate from the GRO.  You cannot look at English certificates online.  You have to order them from the GRO (General Register Office) for £7 a pop.  This is where the hobby starts to get very expensive, but until you have the certificate in your possession, you cannot get any further back in time to the next generation.  It's a catch-22 thing.  You have to speculate to accumulate in this game!

It's been said above (and no-one is wrong, they are all good answers and all valid points of view by people who know what they are talking about) that you start with yourself, your immediate family and any elderly aunts, uncles and grandparents to get some kind of detail about your family tree.  See who agrees with who, where they agree, and more importantly, where they disagree.  Then try and prove who is right by using this information to try and find the right birth certificate.

If Auntie Flo tells you that your granddad Jack Smith was born in 1918 in Liverpool for example, and you can't find him in that year, maybe he was born a year or two later, or just maybe he wasn't born in Liverpool at all and was registered in Manchester, or maybe he was registered under the name John and was only known as Jack .  The memory can play tricks on the best of us, so until you verify any old "family legends" for yourself, it is best to view such stories with an open mind.  Tread with caution.  It's not half as easy as the BBC makes out, and opportunities for error in research are legion.  Never never take anything you are presented with free on the internet as hard fact unless that person has the facts to back it all up and can tell you where and when the information came from in the first place.  Always try and separate the fact from the fiction.

And above all, don't be afraid to ask for help.  A question is never stupid you you don't know the answer.  Plenty of people out there will do anything they can to point you in the right direction.  Just remember that (a) no-one will spend their own money to do your tree, so you will have to spend some serious cash at some point and (b) this won't happen overnight.  It will take months, years, even DECADES for you to get all the answers you seek, and even people who have been at this lark for years don't have all the answers.  It's just as likely you might find one of your ancestors was illegitimate or adopted, in which case your quest could be over almost before it has begun.  No one tree is the same.  Some people can get back to the 1500s very easily, others struggle to get past the 1800s.

Answer 2

Go you your local register office and check the birth and death (if applicable) records for your grandparents.  They should detail THEIR parents (i.e. your great grandparents).

If your grandparents are still alive, just ask them about their parents.

Answer 3

There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites. I have links to the huge ones below, but you'll have to wade through some advice and warnings first.

This is a text file I paste. People ask your question 3 - 14 times a day here. By pasting, you get a long, detailed answer, but I don't get cramps in my fingers from typing.

Researching your family tree is harder than downloading a ring tone. It is about as hard as writing a term paper in a History class. You don't have to be a Ph. D., but you won't do it with five clicks. Many people stop reading here and pick another hobby.

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 in the 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. Crooks can use your birth date and your mother's maiden name to steal your identity. If your parents were married in June and your oldest brother was born 4 months later, it isn't anyone's business, which is another reason living people's dates are not on public sites.

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/f...

The Mormon's mega-site.

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...

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/defa...

Surname meanings and origins, one of Ancestry's free pages.

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...

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/sear...

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/lis...

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.

Answer 4

I would say all of the regulars on this forum know how to trace their family history, that's what they do best.

In my opinion www.ancestry.co.uk is by far the best genealogy site on the Internet. You can use it for free at the library. If your grandparents are still alive you could ask them, they are the best ones to ask. If they are no longer with us then you can edit your question and give their names and date of death and one of the researchers can get you started at least.

There are some excellent researchers that frequent the forum, Mental Mickey , Benthebus, Veronica Alicia, all know their stuff. From the USA, and I see he has already answered there's Ted Pack, who by his own description is devilishly handsome with a rapier sharp wit (he's amazing) then there is Wendy C, she is another excellent researcher from the USA, it doesn't matter where they are from they offer their help, and then there's me, just ask any question and there will be offers of help.

Answer 5

Ancestry.co.uk is a good one if you can afford it as you can look up people on the census which is useful. It may help if you know your great grandparents though as the 1911 census isn't available. Try asking your relatives who they remember. Goods luck.

Answer 6

I think you can go somewhere and they will. google it

Answer 7

Trying to do it yourself is a waste of time. One mistake and you finish up doing somebody else's. I had mine done about 4 years ago and it cost me £700 but they got me back to 1501 so that was a result.

Answer 8

Here goes

1) Gather any family papers you might have Letters, Certificates of Birth, Death Marriage or Baptism.  Any Military papers.

2) Talk to family members

3) be organised believe it or not you are going to get a lot of data and you need to keep it in order.

4) Follow the paper trail Parents to Grand Parents etc, Use the civil registrations and census returns to build up your tree.

5) has your tree been done, look on sites like www.rootsweb.com and www.familysearch.org

hope this helps good look and good hunting.

Answer 9

Okay, if your ancestors were from the U.K., you can expect to find ancestors from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway...

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...

Answer 10

Firstly get all the members of your family that you then, then ask the older members of the family about their parents and grandparents and so on.

Also try collecting date of birth certificates and any records you can on them, scan them and print them off so you have a copy yourself.

Then maybe you could buy a programme for the computer or go to graveyards - usually where you know other family members have been buried. If you talk to the people who look after the old graveyards they usually have records of who is buried there, if not you can just easily look around. Try taking pictures of the graves and note where the grave was.

Then you can also look on the internet for any sites with other people tracking down there families...this could mean that you find people who are looking for you, and other people in your side of the family.

Answer 11

www.goldenmemoriescharts.co.uk

Answer 12

A good place to start is the census returns. It helps to know wherre you ancestros lived.