Family History, where can I find major details on my family?

Question

Today I was thinking a little bit about religion and races, and I was curious about my family, both on my father's side (puerto rican and french) and on my mother's side (italian).

I wanted to know if there is any good family tree finder (on a computer or in a library or somewhere else it doesn't matter) that I could use to find what religions ran through my family, and what other races/nationalities were in my family.

Answer 1

Unless your parents are deceased, why not ask them, or your grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc?  In order to find religions, races, etc, it's best to start with yourself and then work backwards.  There is no quick answer.  The most recent federal census is 1930 which tells the origin of the person's nationality.  The federal census from 1900-1930 is available on ancestry.com(you can get a free 14 day trial or check your library, they may have the library subscription) or go to a LDS(morman) research center in your area.

Answer 2

Do a search on the web, everyone has a cousin that they haven't seen in years who has done some of the research already. in a search engine type in

(your last name)+genealogy

you can also try

(your last name)+family

Good Luck

Answer 3

with all respect and not hostile-

your question shows 2 things which I see as the BIGGEST blocks to finding information.

1. Stop looking for a family tree. LOOK FOR individual persons, with records which show their connection to you. As individuals.. you may find (just to illustrate).. dad was Catholic, daughter married a Lutheran, and cousin became Jewish rabbi. You find the person FIRST, then the record tells you about them.

2. There are thousands of records out there. Some of the most important "records" will be ONLY IN THE FAMILY.  Such as the box in the attic.. holding a Catechism, a Bible (with baptism records hand written), and the Torah. Rely on the internet for the process, but put genealogy first, then use the computer for the tool.

All of these are puzzle pieces that make up your family. If you look for a finished puzzle, it is very unlikely that you will find it.  If you look for the PIECES, they are all over the place, and they will soon fit together.  

Answer 4

First, there is no guarantee that any of your family would be on the internet at all.  Unless some great aunt or distant cousin has created a family tree and posted that tree online, it will not exist.  There is no organization out there creating everyone's family trees and putting it online for you.  Most of us have to start from scratch.  Census records will tell you where each person was born, but not where their ancestors came from.  No such records exist that will tell you what religions people were, except for church records.  You would have to go to the churches yourself to see their records.  I have not seen much of that online.  I think you are expecting too much of the internet and of genealogy websites.