How can I find my ancestry information without racking up an unnecessary bill through websites?

Question

Hi,

I was wondering if I could trace my ancestry accurately without the ridiculous bill websites usually ask for. My parents and grandparents weren't much help; but I did find out I may possibly be related to:

Proved nearly impossible - Mariah Carey (her father was mexican or something)

Drew Carey

Matthew Carey - American (Irish-born) journalist and publisher

Duane G. Carey - Astronaut

James Carey - Irish builder and town counciler

George Leonard Carey - Archbishop of Canterbury (1991-2002)

Peter Carey - novelist and short-story author

Henry Carey - English poet

Sir Robert Carey - English Courtier

These names are similar to my family's names...

They share the same interests as my family (poetry, writing, construction and comedy)

Irish descent

Answer 1

I never get involved in actual names, places, etc., of others...For good reason.  Two of my ancestors, born in the late 1600s, same place in Germany, had the same name. One is listed in "Martin's Genealogy" as one of the first settlers in Germana, Virginia. It took about 50 hours of research to find that there were 2 women, same name, born the same time and place: they were first cousins. There is no way for an outsider to know if people found are YOUR relatives or not.

With that precaution, try these:

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...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 2

To start with, find all the primary sources you possibly can of your immediate ancestors using family bibles, wills, deeds, and birth, marriage, and death certificates.  Some county  and state records are now easily accessible on line, but you also might need to write to the places where you know your ancestors have lived to obtain this information.  At this point, census records are helpful secondary tools to help verify what you have been able to discover from primary records.  

Americans will find the US Censuses from 1850 to 1930 particularly informative.  (Census records for 1940 on haven't been released yet).  United Kingdom census records are only available to the public from 1881 and 1891.  Go to the following web sites:

http://home.att.net/~wee-monster/census....

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

http://www.genwed.com/uk/search-ireland....

http://www.sctbdm.com

Most public and university libraries also give patrons free access to otherwise subscription web sites, such as Ancestry.com, while the Latter-Day-Saints have a web site that furnishes free genealogical information: http://www.familysearch.org

In order to use this web site, however, you have to have an idea of exactly who you are researching--a process that becomes increasingly difficult after most people's great, great grandparents.  Say about 1800 if you are exceptionally lucky.  That's why Ancestry.com, and other sites like it, are especially welcome at this point in your search.  They furnish possible educated guesses of potential ancestors.  

Also, look at the following specialized web site:

http://www.familytreecircles.com/surname...

You might find some interesting ancestors along the way, but no one can guarantee you that your direct ancestors are the people you listed above.

Answer 3

check with ancestry.com

Answer 4

Okay, to start off with you are getting overly involved in surnames.  Not everyone with the same surname are related or shares ancestors.  Also your surname is a small part of you.    You want to trace your ancestry one generation at a time starting with yourself.  You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents. That is already 30 people and they all weren't born a Carey.

Get as much information from your living family as possible, particularly your senior members.  Tape them if they will let you.  They probably will be confused on some things but a lot of insignificant story telling that you might not write down might turn out to be very significant.

Find out if any has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death records and depending on the faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation, marriage certificates can reveal parent info.

Go to your public library and find out what all the have in genealogy. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com which has lots of records.  They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930.  The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet.  They also have U.K. censuses.  They have immigration records, military records, indexes to vital records of many states.  

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in their family trees or the family trees of ANY website, free or paid.  The info is subscriber submitted and mostly not documented.  Even when you see the same info repeatedly by many different subscribers that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.  Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.  

Another good free resource is a Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.

In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection.  Call them or visit their free website at FamilySearch, org to find out their hours for the general public.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell.  I haven't heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources.  They are very nice and helpful.

While you are at your library and the Family History Center you will no doubt have an excellent opportunity to talk with other researchers.  Sharing ideas and experiences is how we all learn.

Answer 5

I have a suspicion that these names came up via some website that talks about your "illustrious" origins (lord of the manor, maybe), maybe a family crest, and so and so was among the first immigrant to the US?

Did the website happen to provide the proven lineage of these persons, that documents their immigrant ancestor from Ireland? Or do they just HAPPEN to have the last name of Carey? (which means nothing at all).

This is not to insult you in any way, ok?  You have found nothing, except a generic website that makes claims about surname origins.  This needs repeating. YOUR ancestry is not your surname. Your surname just happens to be the label which is attached to your father (his father, etc).

YOUR  ancestry is your parents (mom is a Carey by marriage only), your grandparents (4 of those, only one having the Carey name) and so on.

To trace your ancestry means using valid and provable documents, starting with yourself, and going back, one generation at a time. One HUGE but common mistake by new researchers is "let me find the first immigrant with my name, and connect to him".  No. The first immigrant might have come from England in 1702, had nothing but girls, and family died out by 1750.  Your ancestor, not related to him in any way, could have come to the US in 1917, from somewhere else entirely.

Hard core genealogists are labeled picky.. until you find that there is a reason for following the process.  I assume that your parents (and grandparents) all have birth certificates, and can tell you who their own parents were? The documents will confirm it.  When it gets to the point that people don't remember (or never knew) the info, records are what you will use.  I don't particularly go along with the standard "ask your relatives" routine.  Yes, it is part of it to talk to them, but it does not show you how to find info, when they don't know. Or maybe they are dead, and not askable.

One skill in research is focus your attention on the facts which relate to individual persons, and the explicit records that you need. For the moment, that would seem to be identifying your gr grandparents, when and where they were born/ died, how many children they had, where are they buried, etc. Anyone born prior to 1930, will likely be in the census, which we can do a lookup for you, if you provide a name and approx date/ place.  The reality is that if you want to do real research, you need the census records.. and getting them via ancestry.com is truly a bargain.  Along the way in genealogy, there will be some costs.. but you can find info online, if they are dead.

There are family trees online.. but there are many other sites that have facts. Instead of looking for someone else's research, shift thinking to cemetery records, death indexes, so forth.  But you have to start with basic documents, which are normally at home.

Answer 6

If someone told you that you might be related because your last name is the same, he may have erred. I looked it up:

Carey Name Meaning and History

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ciardha, a midland family name meaning ‘descendant of Ciardha’, a personal name derived from ciar ‘dark’, ‘black’.

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Fhiachra ‘son of Fiachra’.

English: habitational name from Carey in Devon or Cary in Somerset, named for the rivers on which they stand; both river names probably derive from the Celtic root car- ‘love’, ‘liking’, perhaps with the meaning ‘pleasant stream’.

English (of Norman origin): habitational name from the manor of Carrey, near Lisieux, Normandy, France, of uncertain origin.

Welsh and Cornish: variant of Carew.

Possibly an Americanized form of German Gehrig or Gehring.

=========

There are a lot of them, even if you limit yourself to Ireland.