How can I find family history?

Question

I already know what countries my family is from. I just don't know the cities, but I can't find anything about European family histories on the internet. I tried that ancestry.com website and the free trial, but it only gets me information after my family came here, or the ship documents. What can I do? I'm German, French, Welsh and Dutch. Can you tell me anything about records for these countries?

Answer 1

Depending on when they immigrated, you normally can prove the date, and from there, verify if they were naturalized.  Those records may be available. The bottom line is that you have to determine a locality, not just the country.

What you are also going to run into is the reality that genealogy is far more an American hobby, and that you need to shift your mind set from family histories on the internet.. to actual records which PROBABLY are not online. That is the norm.

The LDS church is a great source for church records on microfilm, from all over the world. Those can be ordered at local LDS libraries. I know Genievieve's mom has solid knowledge on Dutch information. If she does not see this.. repost with a question directly about Dutch records.  You need to be fairly explicit as to a time frame, as well.  

Answer 2

HI

When you review the ship records - read the portal of where the ship left. On the ship records there is usually an indication of which province the family came from. From there, you should be able to google and find the town's website then contact them.

Answer 3

I have a World Deluxe membership to ancestry.com, and can get on their sites in Germany, UK, etc. with no problem.  Their free trial is only for US databases, so that is why you couldn't find out anything. The Mormon site--www.familysearch.org--has countries listed from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and is free. If you would want to send me any names, etc., I'll try to look them  up for you (my email address is in my profile).