Is there a website that i can go to to find out?

Question

is there a place i can go that is free or dont cost very much to find out what my family backgroud is meaning am i german, irish and those other things, my children are asking me and they have got me curious as to what my family comes from. thank you

Answer 1

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!

The best (and MOST ACCURATE) way to find out about WHERE your ancestors came from is to opt for a DNA test.  Expect to spring more than $100 for the simple tests, though.  The best site is:  www.familytreedna.com

Answer 2

Most geneologists block living family members from showing up on their sites. You really need a family member to give you as much information as possible, names, birth & death dates, marriages, maiden names, brothers & sisters. The more information you have to start with theeasier it will be. Having said that, I am including links to some of the free sites that I have found useful. I have also just typed in the first & last name, in quotes, of a person I am looking for plus the state if I know it, in my Yahoo! search bar. Your family name can show up in different state histories and records.

Good Luck

http://www.genealogybank.com/gbnk/keywor...

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://ancestorguide.com/

http://www.tribalpages.com/

http://www.usgenweb.net/

http://www.ellisisland.org/default.asp

Ellis Island passenger list search page

http://www.familytreecircles.com/

http://www.censusdiggins.com/

http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-w...

http://www.genealogybuff.com/

http://www.gencircles.com/globaltree/

http://www.genealogysearch.com/wwwboard-...

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

http://www.genealogy.com/index_a.html

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

http://www.cyndislist.com

Cyndi's List has over 250,000 sites, some are free, some are not.

http://genealogy.about.com/gi/dynamic/of...

Access Geneology has good resources for Native American & African American

research as well as census records, military records and family bibles.

Don't be afraid to get in to some of the geneology forums for your family name. Sometimes that can be very helpful as well.