MY heritage?

Question

hi where can i find out about my familys past or where my surname came from.... i tried asking other family members but nobody knows!!!

Answer 1

Records.  People OFTEN have no idea of their ancestry, or, what they believe, can be mistaken.

You have records that you can start with. Your birth certificate is a record, so are those of your parents.  If ancestors are dead, then you get info from the death certificate.. or funeral home, cemetery, tombstone, obituary, etc.  Other sources include the census, wills/probates, land records... there are tons of sources.  The trick to playing the game well, is figuring where YOUR relevant records may be. They will not all be online.

Don't make the mistake of confusing where your surname comes from, as automatically being where your ANCESTORS come from.  It is not always the same.

Always work from you, backwards.  This way, you are always absolutely sure.. it is your parents, your grandparents, their grandparents.. all the way back. If your name is Jones.. NEVER jump to the first Jones who came to the US and try to connect forward.  He may have died, and your Jones came in 1863.  

http://www.cyndislist.com/

A huge collection of websites for you to go through.. and be amazed, how many are out there.

Answer 2

If you know the names of any ancestors living in 1920, you can look them up in census records.  If your library has a subscription to Heritage Quest, you can get a membership.  They have most of the census records.  Census records will give you their place of birth and often that of their parents.  The National Archives also has all sorts of records.