Tracing my Geneology??

Question

I was wondering if there was anywhere I could go online to trace my geneology! I really want to find out more about my families lineage. It is really important. i am trying to find out about a disease. I think it may run in our family. Can anyone help me!?!?!?

Answer 1

I am not sure that genetic diseases is the kind of thing you will find on any genealogy sites.  I have never seen anything about that on any sites I use.  Genetics and genealogy are not the same thing.  You may have better results to go see a genetic specialist.

Answer 2

i personally would try sites like ancestry.com and genesreunited.com but if you don't want to pay then mail me and I'll help you I've gotten quite far already =)

Answer 3

www.ancestry.com, but it costs money to use a lot of the features.

Is there anyone in your family you could ask about the disease? I would also ask a genetic specialist or genetic counselor.

Edit: I just read the additional information you put up. If you know the names of some people in your family that are still alive, try www.zabasearch.com. It's a search engine for people. It will give you phone numbers, addresses, etc. It helps to know where they might live, because you might get a lot of results for one name.

Answer 4

Genealogy and genetics are not the same.

However, by tracing your genealogy and talking to family and extended family you can often learn a lot.

Actually, one thing you will need to do is get death certificates and they are very revealing.  By doing family history, I saw 30 years ago  that there is a definite hereditary tendency toward respiratory ailments(emphysema, etc) in my paternal grandmother's family.  Ours is a family that definitely where no one should be smoking and should stay away from smoke filled places. .

A great granddaughter of one of my grandmother's sisters recently made contact with me by email when she saw my family tree.  I wrote her about what has been discovered and she was shocked. Both her grandmother and her mother died of emphysema and her mother never smoked.

Research has been done and in our family it goes back to an Irish line.

If you want to trace your family, get as much information from living family as possible, particularly your senior members.

Tape them if they will let you.  They will very likely be confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.

Find out if family has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Also, depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage records can be very helpful.

Ancestry.Com, I believe is the best website for its records online.  They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet.  They have immigration and military records. They also have indexes to vital records of many states.  If you find it to pricey. your public library might have a subscription to it.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on their website or ANY website, free or not free.  The trees are not submitted by experts working for the website but by folks like you and me.  There are errors. Even when you see over and over again the same information on the same people from different subscribers that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. The information can be useful as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

The trees will allow you to email the submitter and if you find distant relative it might be helpful with what you are trying to find.

Ancestry.Com also has mailing list and message boards.  You can go under a surname or a location.  I have been very succesful at making contacts on the location board.  You go under country and if you are searching in the U.S., then you go under state and after that county.  

Don't expect everything to be online. Also, don't expect to find information on living people in trees online as that is considered an invasion of privacy and can lead to identity theft.

Answer 5

Nikki.. I usually advice new researchers to take a look at cyndi's list (mentioned above).  Cyndi does NOTHING but collect genealogy resources.. her talent is that it helps you to know that there are many sites to help. In fact, the more sites you have/use, the better I think your odds are.  I really suggest her beginner section to be of help.

One caution.. you normally will find LITTLE online about live relatives, for privacy protection. The bulk of that type searching has to be done within the family, and networking.  For example.. you work back to your grandparents, and learn who their children/ grandchildren are.  Next level, the great grandparents. Most of the time, I don't suggest this as necessary, since descendants don't 'prove' your ancestry. One of my most "successful" families was one that I ignored that, and started a reunion. The reason it was such a success was that (1) I offered the bulk of the historical info but (2) it pulled out members of the family who were older, not online, so forth.  Boy, did they have treasures to share, though!! Photos, stories.. things you won't find online.

Which brings it around full circle- Reunions recreate bonds, and with your integrity (you being a good person, and generous to share).. you'll find that you become trusted.

THAT is where I got the family secrets (and they were told to me, because they knew that they would remain confidential).

I am sure that you will have done homework on the probable angle of genetic type disorders. The more family you meet.. the more opportunity you have, not to ask, but casually mention that you / a child has such and such.. and family then can share what they choose.

Last... spend some time with cyndi's tips and tutorials. We have a group here that is "on call" because we like to help. Someone usually can point you on most problem solving topics.

Answer 6

Start with some of the free websites, like:

www.cyndislist.com (it lists a myriad of handy genealogy sites)

www.familysearch.org

http://usgenweb.org/

If you happen to get stuck, let us know the specifics and we will try to help.

Best of luck on your new quest!

Answer 7

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the most definitive family history information in the world. They open these records to all and do not charge to access it. Check online to see what they have available on the Web. Their exceptional collection of records relates to their beliefs that families can be saved by proxy baptism, so by having family records, they are helping to save souls. It's an incredible collection and a great place to start. I've linked it below for you. Be prepared for TONS of work, late nights spent following links, and printing out handwritten birth & death certificates, military service records, etc. You will discover secrets people thought went with them to their graves! You may or may not find anything about family illnesses, as the diagnostics on records older than 50 years (which is generally what's available in public records) for health & illness & cause of death is really pretty primitive. But it's certainly worth the time spent. You will also learn history not just of your family but in general just from reading records from ship manifests for immigrants coming into Ellis Island in NY and for Charity Hospital records on line in some states. You just have no idea of the information that awaits you! Good luck! Good hunting!

Answer 8

Okay, tracing genealogy is one thing;

tracing diseases that are part of the family is quite another thing.

You can trace either through a DNA test; however, they are completely different tests.

As for finding ancestors, try:

Oh, yes!  I want it, and I want it now, and it must be free.  Does that about sum it up? (I hope so, because that is what I always want...)

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!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Don't forget to start at your local library and/or the above-referenced websites.

Another problem: unless your ancestors had children at really young ages (many do) there won't be any way to check. Also, in my lifetime, names of many diseases/conditions have been changed, making it very time-consuming to even try to trace them.

Answer 9

You need to begin with what you know, first. Then, from there you work backwards. Documents to use would include census records (available free from Familysearch.org), birth, wedding or death records (BMD), which might be available online, or which may be ordered from the city/state where the event occurred.  There are literally hundreds of websites that deal with genealogy research. Many are broad-based and multi-country (Ancestry.com or Footnote.com, neither of which are free) others more specific (EmeraldAncestors.com or GenesReunited.com.)

Don't let the size of the project overwhelm you. Just take it one relative at a time.

Good luck!

GenealSue

Answer 10

i just googled my name =)