Where can I find out where my family originated from?

Question

I'm just curious about it. I always thought that my ancestry was french but there's been some thought that it may be german. Any good websites or advice?

Answer 1

Yep, it is addictive.  I found that Ancestor.com is the best place to search online.  You can sign up for a 14 day free trial, and most libraries have a condensed version to use.

Start by gathering as much information as you can before you start.

Answer 2

You start with yourself and work back one generation at a time.  First get as much information from living family as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you.  They might be confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.  People who do this say after doing research awhile they go back and listen to the tape again and hear things they didn't hear the first time around.

Find out if any family has any old family bibles.  Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates.  Birth and death certificates should have both parents' names including mother's maiden names.  The death certificates will usually the parents' place of birth.  Also, depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation, marriage records certificates can be helpful.  

You have to understand, people involved in genealogy do not post information about living people in any public forum as it is considered an invasion of privacy and can lead to identity theft.

Go to your public library and find out what all they have in the genealogy area.  They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com.  I feel Ancestry.Com is tops 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 U.K. censuses also.  

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in their family trees or family trees on ANY website, free or paid.  The info is user submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same info repeatedly by many different subscribers that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.  Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.

Just call them or visit their free website, FamilySearch.org to find out their hours for the general public.  In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell.  I haven't heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources.  They are very nice and helpful.

Don't expect to do it all online.  Not all records in the world are online.   You will eventually need to order vital records, like birth, marriage and death certificates. If you are in the U.S., each state has its own laws about who, when and where a person can obtain a vital record on another person.  Not all states began recording vital info at the same time.  Many did not start until the first part of the 20th century and once they did it was awhile before everyone born at home or died at home got recorded.  

So, eventually you will have to see if churches have helpful information. Also make visits to cemeteries and courthouses.

Answer 3

I've heard that the most complete and extensive geneological records are kept in Salt Lake City, Utah, but I have no specific information.  Try Googling "geneological records" and see what turns up.

Answer 4

Ancestry.com is one, but is not free.  

I found a couple surprises  when I started my research.  

Just a warning:  It gets addicting.