I want to know where my family came from, country, family crest, all of that!!?

Question

My last name is Cole. Someone please help

Answer 1

The link below should do the trick.

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx...

Answer 2

Dear Cole,

1)  FREE - The first place you start is with your Family.

Ask your relatives about there grandparents, and sometimes even great-grand parents, along with asking your parents, siblings, and extended family members, i.e. Aunts, Uncles, cousins, ect.

*The important information to try and gather is that of previous, past on, members of your family, ESPEACIALLY - complete, as Possible, Full Name, Date of Birth & death, where they were born & died and lived in in-between, The names of their siblings, marriages into the family, Dates if available, and if possible their trade/occupation, Any military service records, or at least Branch, time of service, and station location. (Many Branches keep detailed records of service personal in their data bases but this can take some time.  

Most of your older relatives have keep journals, photo's, and stories that have been passed down, which Might not be completely accurate, but is a good starting point.

***Also ask around to see if there are any Old family Bibles, most of them have a section to record; Births, deaths, marriages, and child births, and surprisingly more accurate details on exact dates.

***I know in my family, but this is a dying tradition, many older family members have saved, OUT OF RESPECT, a vast amount of family funeral announcements, obituaries, death notices from the funeral home and newspapers, that are filled with valuable inform;

Surviving family members, passed relatives, and a bio about their lives, just to name a few items you might locate.  ***If they served in public service, there is usually additional information from those organizations.

2)  FREE (except for possible copies, and if you do not live near the location their might be mailing fee's l-  With this information, and if they were born or lived during or after the beginning of the social security numbering system,  The Governmental Social security keeps data bases of death notices open to the public record.  Some are more detailed than others and usually list there parents name and location of birth death.  This can also help to positively identify family members, if the is more than one person by that name.  If you have a general idea of the times of birth/death, and locations, it greatly helps cut down the possibilities.

3)  Free Usually, Local, County, State, and Federal census Database.  In the 21st century allot of these governmental organizations are upgrading their data storage, which might be available via the web, which makes it easier to retrieve your desired records off the data needed/requested, The usage fee (With the penny pinching budgets today use these fees to help offset the cost of operations, mainly because with the budget cutting politicians they need these fees to survive so they can continue to provide said service,  This is because they have to make up the ever shrinking budgets given them because they or considered a so-called low priority agency's but the fees are usually very reasonable.  

(Special Note - Many of these archives have limited hours of operation, and possible additional requirements maybe required,  In the case of older documents, gloves might be required, cotton preferred, so that the original documents don’t desecrate from the oils and other contaminates found naturally in the oils of the body that can break down and damage the original documents.  I also advise the addition of a magnifying glass, because some the writing can be very small.

******* PLEASE Call ahead and try to set up an appointment so they will be expecting you, and maybe they can start to pull the information before your scheduled appointment time.

***You might also want to check out their hours of operation, and any fees associated with such a search.  Mostly it just a fee to copy the information for you, which is nice to have for reference material to review for accuracy.  

*****Governmental, local, county, state, and federal archives have a vast amount of demographic and historical information, Tax rolls, land titles, and Census’s, usually occupational information, tax record and deeds to help isolate your desired relative, what they did for an occupation, family size, usually family size, and sometimes children’s names.  This too will help in correctly identifying your ancestor.

4) FEE BASED Last but not least, Use the web.  You would be surprised at what you might find out there.



(*#*#**#* WARNING YOU Should Be AWARE of before trying this option for ONE SIMPLE REASON:

*****!!  Many, AND I mean MANY so called genealogy websites SUCKER YOU IN with a nice website, and make it sound like they have all the answers FOR A FEE, until you pay there LARGE Fee, Like they have done all the WORK.  If you call doing a data base search of the steps that I have informed you, except for #1.)

There are ALOT of companies out there who say they can help, BUT GUESS WHAT ... They have done all the things I have suggest and you might/probably be getting ripped off, or receive many, if not all of the same documents I have already mentioned that Cost Allot less by far.  \

With the exception of inquiring about you ancestors from your family, information, most of these documents are in the Public Domain record, and as such, they can get it for little cost, but hey want to charge you an arm and a leg for something you can find for a fraction of Their Cost!  unless you just want to waste your money, remember this:   You have the same right to public domain records as any other citizen, no matter what your social, economical, or location, you just need to find out from the PUBLIC sources, there requirements, which they can not deny you, BECAUSE WE THE PEOPLE are entitled to open, honest, accurate, and FRIENDLY service.  As a citizen, NEVER FORGET GOVERMENTAL AGENCY, except for those dealing with national security, Have to accommodate you, but because of the increase of interest in personal history, The wait time could take a while, but most Governmental agency have an estimated dead line to comply with your request, and if you get the RUNAROUND, CALL THERE SUPERVISOR< and after briefly speaking to them ask for their boss.  The Higher you go, and the more you insist on your right as a US citizen, they are ALL required to comply with the federal regulations.  \

(((((But Please Try to be nice, even when asking for the first supervisor, and the second, and DONT STOP until you go high enough UP the chain of Command until you get the right response and then ask for a formal apologies IN WRITING  from those you had to go through to get there.))))

You Catch More Fly with Honey than with vinegar!!!!))))

5) I would find a god site that offers genealogical research and data bases.  While many people do not always agree with their religious ideology, the Mormon Church has a vast and growing website, free, that anyone can use.  There are other websites that provide similar information, some free, some for a fee.  With that said there are a few tasks that can be Very helpful to complete before starting your search.

Cole I truly I hope this helps you to rediscover your heritage.  My Great-Grandmother once told me: "If you don't know where you came from, then you’re missing a part of your soul, and like it has been said many times, "If we forget or past we are all surely doomed to repeat it."  Before she passed a way, a few years before that, she made me copies of family records, birth death, and the like, and had it bound in a book just for me, and I am glad she did.

Good Luck on your Hunt for Information, but trust me, no matter how hard, long, and difficult the path might be the reward of your family history is worth more than all the red tape you have deal with!  :>)