I'm looking for a free (or cheap) way to create my family tree.?

Question

I want to create a family tree and I don't know how to start or where I could go to find the information I needed. It's very important that I do this, I want it to be a surprise for my family. And I need it to be free or cheap, and very efficient.

--Thanks!

Answer 1

There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites. I have put links to some huge ones on a page of my web site, but you'll have to wade through some advice and warnings first.

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 in the USA,

and most of your ancestors were in the USA,

and you can get to a library or FHC with census access,

And you are white

you can get most of your ancestors who were alive in 1850 with 100 - 30 hours of research. You can only get to 1870 if you are black, sadly. Many young people stop reading here and pick another hobby.

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. Crooks can use your birth date and your mother's maiden name to steal your identity.

Finally, not everything you read on the internet is true. You have to be cautious and look at people's sources. Cross-check and verify.

So much for the warnings. Here is the link.

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

It has tips and hints for each of these sites:



http://www.cyndislist.com

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

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

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.usgenweb.net

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.genforum.com

http://boards.ancestry.com/

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

"Efficient" is not a word we use. There isn't any such thing in genealogy, any more than there is in fly fishing.

Answer 2

ancestry.com has free "family tree forms".  If you want it look like a tree, there are many of these on the web.  Just google:

"family tree forms"