How can I tell if they are my ancestors?

Question

When I go on to a Genealogy website I see a lot of people with my last name but how do I know which of these people are my Ancestors?

Thanks A lot!!!

Answer 1

Sometimes you can't.

In general, you start with yourself and work backwards, one generation at a time. You use records to find people. I usually say is takes the same amount of skill and effort it takes to research a term paper in a high school history class. The things that help most often to identify people and distinguish between several with the same name are birth year, middle name, spouse's name, children's names and county they live in.

Note also that 15 out of 16 of your great great grandparents (2 GGPs)were not born with your surname. 28 - 31 of your 3rd GGPs were not born with it either, depending on how many of them married a cousin.

Answer 2

Do your own research.  Start with yourself and work backwards.  

Always start with death cert.  That gives you more info.  Then get marriage cert that might give you other family member's names add them.  add all the children.

Then go for the birth cert.  That will give you the parents.  Then go for the parents death, marriage, birth.

Start there.  Document EVERYTHING.  That way you will know what you need next.  Don't rely on others works.  Theirs might be wrong.  You can use theirs but find out if the stuff is right before you really add their stuff to yours.

Answer 3

Like driving a car.. there are certain BASIC rules to follow.

The first rule.. is start with YOURSELF, and work backwards, and use documents to verify EVERY STEP of the way.  

Example.. your birth certificate proves your parents to be so and so. Their birth certificates prove who their parents are/were. Along the way, you will find records to show that your grandparents have other children (siblings to your parents).

Thus.. you are creating a solid CHAIN of information.

Research is not about finding persons with your same last name. Some could be related, some are not.  To keep from being random dart throwing, remember.. you are looking for the PARENTS (immediate family) of a known relative. When you know that Grandma Jones was born in a certain town/ time.. then you search for records IN THAT PLACE/ TIME, to show her parents.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Knowing WHAT you are looking for.. is the only way that you will know when you find it.  Living persons will not usually be online in files.. so you have to work back to where you get past the living persons, into historical records.  

Answer 4

Before you go on websites ask your parents, grandparents, and oldest members of your family and get as far back as you can.  Ask for first, middle, last, married names, birth dates, death dates, cemeteries or locations where they were buried, residences, city, county, state, country if they know it.  Ask how many times they were married, women often died in childbirth in the past.  If they survived past those years, I have found they often outlived husbands.  Write it all down and you might record what they say.  Look through old pictures, letters, and documents they might have kept.  Check cemeteries, courthouse records for whatever they might have, (marriages, wills, death records, land records) and obituaries.  When you find someone alive in 1920, go to census records.  You can get a free subscription to Heritage quest on line at your local library.  They are just loading the 1930 census.  The 1900 census has birth months and years, so it is especially helpful.  Notice where they and their parents were born, but state borders often changed through the years, so the same person might say she was born in one state one census and another in another census.  The National archives has census records, and Genweb projects online also have some.  Elderly parents often live with a child or nearby, so if they do, that is really helpful for finding them.  Just work back through the census years.  Most of the 1890 census was destroyed, unfortunately.  I have found the Ellis Island online records helpful for immigrants around the early 1900s.  There are other sites for earlier ship passenger records.  Also check out the Genweb sites for the county and state you are researching.  Familysearch.org is another good site.  Many other websites are helpful in pointing you in the right direction, but you should verify facts and keep a record of your sources.  Records are usually better than unverified genealogies, but they can have mistakes too.  Good luck and have fun.