How can I trace my family tree? And how far back can I go?

Question

How can I trace my family tree? And how far back can I go?

Answer 1

Some people claim they can go back to Adam and Eve; but you should not try for that.  Start with yourself, then add your parents and grandparents, and ask all of them for the names of their parents.  Others will give you advice for links to search beyond that; but you need to start with what you already know and interview the people in your family.

Answer 2

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...

How far back? That depends upon whether or not you can find royalty, etc., in your family tree. If you can connect to Charlemagne, for example, then you can keep going back to before Christ.  Historically, as well as genealogically.

Also, read: Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes by Steve Olson.  He states that every one alive today is descended from Nefertiti, Confucius and Julius Caesar...

Answer 3

Here is a link for Ted Pack's website with everything you need to know about starting your family tree.  He lists and explains the content for the most popular sites and advises on the "do's and dont's"  so you won't waste hours of your time getting frustrated.

http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html

As for how far you can go back?  I think that depends alot on where your ancestors are from, who they were and how much time you are going to spend researching them.  It starts to become more difficult in the early 1800's when the records become more scarce.  

Its really interesting once you get started and most people find its really hard to stop.  If you get stuck along the way, there are plenty of people on Yahoo!Answers that are willing to help and have the experience.

So have fun and good luck in your search!

Answer 4

If

1) Your ancestors were in the USA

2) They were white

3) You have access to census images

4) You are lucky,

you can get to most of the men in your tree who were alive in 1850. We usually dead-end on women first, because we can't find their maiden names. If you are black, you can get to most of the men alive in 1870, the first year they recorded Black people by name.

Before 1850 the census isn't much use. You have to get into church records and wills, which are usually not on-line.

If you believe everything you see on the Internet and don't verify it, you can go back much further, really fast, probably to a king who trifled with the village maidens. It may not be true, but it makes a great story.

Speaking of which, I streaked the SuperBowl in 1978 to protest animal rights. I wore a coon-skin cap and nothing else. They had me and my private parts, which are the size of two lemons and a $12 salami, on national TV for 15 seconds.

That isn't true, but it makes a great story. If you'd like another, I can tell you about a trout I caught. It was so big it took two men and a boy to land it . . .

Here is my standard answer on "how":

There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites. I have links to the huge ones below, but you'll have to wade through some advice and warnings first.

This is a text file I paste. People ask your question 3 - 14 times a day here. By pasting, you get a long, detailed answer, but I don't get cramps in my fingers from typing.

Researching your family tree is harder than downloading a ring tone. It is about as hard as writing a term paper in a History class. You don't have to be a Ph. D., but you won't do it with five clicks. Many people stop reading here and pick another hobby.

If you didn't mention a country, we can't tell if you are in the USA, UK, Canada or Australia. I'm in the USA and my links are for it. If you are not, please edit your question to add a country. Or, better yet, delete it and ask again, this time putting in the country. Genealogists from the UK answer posts here too. They are more experienced and more intelligent than I am. I'm better looking and my jokes are better.

The really good stuff is in your parents' and grandparents' memories. No web site is going to tell you how your great grandparents decorated the Christmas tree with ornaments cut from tin foil during the depression, how Great Uncle Elmer wooed his wife with a banjo, or how Uncle John paid his way through college in the 1960's by smuggling herbs. Talk to your living relatives before it is too late.

You won't find living people on genealogy sites. Don't look for yourself or your parents. Crooks can use your birth date and your mother's maiden name to steal your identity. If your parents were married in June and your oldest brother was born 4 months later, it isn't anyone's business, which is another reason living people's dates are not on public sites.

So much for the warnings. Here are some links. These are large and free. Many of them have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.

If you try the links and don't find anyone, go to

http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html

It repeats each link, but it has a whole paragraph of tips and instructions for each one.

http://www.cyndislist.com

Cyndi's List has over 250,000 sites.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/f...

The Mormon's mega-site.

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...

RootsWeb World Connect. The links at the top are advertisements. They mislead beginners. Ignore them and scroll down.

http://www.rootsweb.com/

RootsWeb Home.

This is the biggest free (genealogy) site in the world.

http://www.ancestry.com

Ancestry has some free data and some you have to pay for.

http://www.usgenweb.net

US Gen Web. Click on a state. Find a link that says "County".

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...

Surname meanings and origins, one of Ancestry's free pages.

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...

Social Security Death Index. Click on "Advanced". Women are under their married names. They are under their maiden names in most other sites.

http://find.person.superpages.com/

USA Phone book, for looking up distant cousins.

http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/sear...

California Death Index, 1940 - 1997.

    

http://www.genforum.com

GenForum has surname, state and county boards.

http://boards.ancestry.com/

Ancestry has surname, state and county boards too. They are free.

Read

http://www.tedpack.org/goodpost.html

before you post on either one.

Read the paragraphs about query boards on

http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html

before you search them.

      

http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/lis...

Roots Web Mailing List Archives.

Read

http://www.tedpack.org/maillist.html

if genealogy mailing lists are new to you.

Off the Internet, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too. FHC's are small rooms in Mormon churches. They welcome anyone interested in genealogy, not just fellow Mormons. They have resources on CD's and volunteers who are friendly. They don't try to convert you; in fact, they don't mention their religion unless you ask a question about it.

Answer 5

wll do an online search on geneology and see if there are any forums you can join and talk to people that have experience at this. just go an internet search for websites that talk about it. go to the library and look up books on the subject. also try to talk to some of your family members and gather info from them. i am sure you can go to a courthouse and other locations and look up public records as well