Family Ancestry Question?

Question

I am looking for a site that will tell me information on my family tree, it also needs to be a free site.

I am not really interested in any certain ancestor, but instead what race I come from. Looking for a site where I just have to type in my surname then it will give me general information on my family origins.

I will give best answer to whoever directs me to a site where I can find this information (assuming there is one).

Answer 1

You are going about genealogy all wrong.  No site is going to tell you about your race based on your last name.  Any site that can give you general info about the origins of your last name is not going to be able to tell you about YOUR family's origins.  Not all people of the same last name are related.  To research just based on a name implies that the history of the name will apply to anyone with that last name.  There are many reasons people ended up with the last name they have and often times it has nothing to do with the origins of the name itself.  If you are just looking for what racial mixture you may have but are not looking to do genealogy by researching your actual ancestors, you would be better off, and more accurate, to get a DNA test that can determine ethnic genetic markers to see what regions your ancestors came from.  It will cost you some money, but at least the results you get will be accurate and will answer your question.  The origins of your name will not give you the answers you are looking for because they may not even apply to YOUR specific family history.

Sorry to say that it is not as simple as you are wanting it to be.  I could direct you to a site that will tell you about your name, but then that would lead you to believe it is accurate about YOU and where YOUR family came from........and that is not going to be accurate information.

Answer 2

This is a free database from ancestry.com:

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...

This will give you facts about your surname and there is also a surname message board.

Another free site is http://www.rootsweb.com/

Answer 3

www.rootsweb.com is great. Make sure you click the "world connect" link.

Answer 4

In Addition to what Shirley T told you.  If you go back to the generation of the Mayflower (I'm guessing that you are in your 20s)  you have over 32,000 ancestors (barring repeats)

Answer 5

In addition to Adair's postings, you have to understand that your surname is a very small part of you.  Your parents make up 2 surnames.  Your grandparents 4.  Your great grandparents 8 and so on.

Actually, your direct ancestry pyramids as you go back.  Add them together 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents -that is 14 people when you add in your 16 great great grandparents,it totals 30.    When you get back to 10 generations, you can be directly descended from over a thousand people.  You get back 20 generations and you can be directly descended from over a million people.

I use the word "can."   As you go back you will probably find cousins of varying degree marrying.  When transportation was by horse, mule, donkey,  horse and buggy, carriage or whatever a lot of people did not have a chance to meet persons outside their own village or town.  In many small villages and towns, most people were related somehow.

So your 4x great grandfather in one family line could possibly be your 6xgreat grandfather in another family line.

There is no such thing as racial purity. Within any nation there are various racial elements. The U.S. is not the only melting pot.  At one time our ancestors were nomads and then they settled into kingdoms, nations, city states etc.   There were boundary changes, invasions.  

France and Germany at one time was one big Frankish Kingdom.  England was Celtic and then invaded by Romans(their soldiers came from all over the world). After that the Germanic Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Then the Danes came and then the French speaking Normans.

At one time Prussia contained part of what is  now Germany and Poland.   Poland had been divided between Prussia, Russia and Austria.  

We are really one big human race.

Germany and Italy did not become nations until the mid to late 19th century.  Germany was made up of many little states and small kingdoms.  Italy likewise as well as the Papal states.  It is believe Sicilians have some Arabic heritage.  However, the northern part of Italy had German invaders after the Roman Empire went into decline. It was taken over by Germans as it declined.  Normans also invaded southern Italy. The Normans began as Northmen(Scandinavia). They settled on the coast of France in what is now called Normandy but they managed to conquer many places.  

There is a joke that  the Vikings were either  very brave men or very poor sailors. They manage to show up in a good part of the world.

Answer 6

Try this link :-

http://www.surnamedb.com/home.aspx