Is there a good free site for geneology ??

Question

Do you know of a good (free) site for geneology ? I am new at this - and just beginning to start the search.

Answer 1

This is a text file I paste to questions like yours. People ask similar questions 3 - 14 times a day here. By pasting, you get a long, detailed answer, but I don't get finger cramps. It is long because there are over 400,000 free genealogy sites.

It is also long because researching your family tree is as hard as writing a term paper in a History class. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but you won't do it with five clicks. I could tell you everything I know in 30 minutes, but not 3. The fact you have to do research stops nine out of ten teens and many adults.

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 inthe 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.

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 2

Others have already named the good sites.  Just keep in mind that Genealogy will not be 100% free.  At some point there WILL be a cost for something..........all hobbies have an expense involved, whether it be piano  lessons or art supplies........whatever the hobby is.

For genealogy, the expenses will be things like obtaining copies of birth / marriage / death certificates from the state.  It may be making copies of records on the library copy machine (which you know always cost a few cents per page).  Or the expense may be in gas and hotel rooms by traveling to various places that have records.  Ultimately, you will find that paying for a subscription on Ancestry.com is way less expensive, and way easier than the alternatives.  There will still be other expenses of ordering certain records from the various states you need them from, but using Ancestry cuts out alot of the other expenses and cuts down on time.

Answer 3

Definitely familysearch.org and rootsweb.com. Those are my two favorite (and most helpful) free genealogy websites.

Answer 4

FamilySearch.org  or Ancestory.com  i would like to do more myself, i'm LDS and it is a huge part of my religion. Good for you for doing it!!! good luck!

Answer 5

Yes, check out the link below.

http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/

Answer 6

There are a lot of very good free local sites - but of course they're only good for you if you are investigating that locality.

For instance, here's a link to a very good site for NY records:

http://www.italiangen.org/VRECLIST.stm

And here's a site with a lot of information for Pittsburgh:

http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsbur...

Free immigration records:

http://www.ellisisland.org/

Your best bet might simply be to use a search engine to look for the record type and locality.

That will, unfortunately, also give you links to Ancestry.com and Ancestry ghost sites, that promise records but only offer more links to Ancestry.com.

The LDS has free records online at:

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

One of the problems with a lot of this online stuff though is that you have to already know a lot about your family to distinguish your family from people with the same or similar names.

Your best bet is to begin with older relatives if you have them available.  Again though, be forewarned their information is frequently from long ago and second-hand and may not be 100% accurate.

If your family has been in the same area for a long time check the local libraries for records.

The LDS has family history centers in many locations and usually helpful volunteers.

The internet can be a useful tool,and is certainly more convenient when investing far away records, but it is only one of many if you truly want to investigate your genealogy.

Answer 7

Your local library is a good place to start. They have free services like a microfiche and births deaths and marriages records.