Genealogy: how do I trace back my ancestors in the USA?

Question

Hello,

My grandmother was born in the USA in the '20-ies while the family was passing the state of Utah by cart. Then her father (my grand-grandfather) decided to move to Soviet Russia, and due to this unclever decision all his sons were persecuted or fled from the country. My grandmother (their sister) had lived in the USSR for the rest of her life with a fake Russian passport and hasn't left me a lot of information except the names. Is it possible to somehow find the families of her brothers who had fled back to the States? Is there a website or a community in the USA who could help? THANK YOU :)

Answer 1

I will try and help you.  

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default....

This is a link that can help you.  It is associated with the Mormon Church ( the real one ) and has a very large database.

http://www.mormon.org/mormonorg/eng/

This is a main link to the Mormon Church ( The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ) < the real one >.

It has a link where you can have missionaries contact you.< click on " ASK A QUESTION " > ( I assume that you are in Russia by your question - I assume they have missionaries somewhere around you - but don't know for sure )  They would be glad to help you with contacts, and may be able to put you in direct contact on the internet with someone who would help you.

There is also a link for direct contact - I do not know if this is by text or by voice ?( click on " ASK A QUESTION " ).

You mention that your Grandmother's family was passing Utah by cart.  There were a lot of Mormons who migrated through the USA by cart.  Was her family Mormon? Or, did they travel with Mormons.

I suggest using the Mormon sites because of your reference to the carts and because the Mormon Church has one of the largest data bases in the world for finding relatives.

I am not a Mormon, but they are nice people and I am sure you can find someone to help you.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU.

Answer 2

Do you have any first/last names or dates?

Answer 3

I would also suggest http://www.familysearch.org   Their databases include the 1880 US Census records as well as the Social Security Death Index.  I would think the most useful website would be ancestry.com, there is a fee required, but  it is worth it.  You could also try checking the message forums to see if other people are doing similar research that may help you or post your own question.  Try entering a surname at this link.

http://boards.rootsweb.com/?o_iid=33216&...

Some other helpful websites:

http://www.cyndislist.com/easteuro.htm

http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~...

Alot of people right here have subscriptions to ancestry.com and could search their immigration, census, etc. records for you if you edit your question and provide their names and approximate year of birth.

Good luck.

Answer 4

Hi, I just wanted to add some helpful websites to the list:

www.usgenweb.org

familysearch.org

findagrave.com

cyndislist.com (this site provides helpful websites no matter what category you would like to search, it is a wonderful resource!)

ancestry.com (this is a subscription website, but many of us in this forum are subscribers, we can look up specific people for you)

If you would like to post another question with your grandmother's name and birth date and location (was she born in Utah?), and perhaps her parents' names and her sisters' and brothers' names and birth dates if possible, several of us would be willing to try to help you find records of her and her family.

Good luck with your research - - please let us know if you have any obstacles in your search!

Answer 5

I would begin with FamilySearch.org, If any of your great uncles returned to the USA this is a good starting point.

There is a website that contains list of ship passenger's, I thinks its something like craigslist? Maybe someone here can share the correct website with you.

Good luck and happy hunting.

Answer 6

LDS records will help you a lot with what you're looking for. Additionally there are several places where you can find ships records if you have a rough time span when they traveled.

There is a great deal of good information on rootsweb and a few other sites also offer good free info and forums where you can ask questions about your research.

There is one located here.

http://www.ancestor.com/