Tracing My Heritage...?

Question

I see people who know their heritage back into like the 1200s and i really want to know my heritage.

Im 15, live in Australia with both of my biological parents and my grand parents are still alive and i know there names, I dont know my great grand parents names but im sure i can find out.

So far i know that on my dads side i'm irish and that my great grand parents came to Australia some time around the 1850s. Before that i think i might be french (but thats not confirmed), i have also been told that my last name is Turkish.

So can someone please give me some good free websites where i can keep tracing back my heritage on both sides of my family.

Thanks!

Answer 1

First thing to do is ask your grandparents everything you can about their family, including their great aunts etc. and write it all down. Don't wait too long because they will be no use when they drop off the perch.

Don't expect to be able to trace your heritage back to 1200, if you can even get to 1800 you are doing pretty well.

Useful sites www.rootsweb.com

www.familysearch.org

www.cyndislist.com

www.ancestry.com (not free but very good)

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.