Would like family ancestry for Ashworth?

Question

Would like family ancestry for Ashworth?

Answer 1

If you happen to run across anyone by that name, keep your hand on your billfold.

Answer 2

My advice is to step away from the idea that you are researching a surname and its "history".  The most obvious reason is that all Ashworths will not always be related. Your goal is YOUR family history, which has to be based in finding records and documentation, of your explicit ancestors/ relatives.

Start with your own birth certificate.. immediately, you have thus documented who your parents are, as well as using valid records.  Do the same for your parents (to identify THEIR parents). Since all women have distinct surnames before marriage, by this step, you already will have 4 different persons, each with their separate backgrounds. Only one of them will be named Ashworth.

This is the BASIC RULE for genealogy.. you have to work from yourself, backwards, to be certain you have the correct persons.  Your assumption is very very common.. that there "must" be one single Ashworth, who is the ancestor for all the Ashworths.. and people try to find him and how "everyone" descends from him.  Unfortunately, that assumption is completely inaccurate and time wasting.

http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

Here is one of many guides on how to do your research. There are thousands of genealogy sites online that are good, and I often suggest www.cyndislist.com to get an idea of how many there are.

You will also find numerous sites (rootsweb.com is one) with submitted files of other persons research.  Please keep in mind that they may or MAY NOT be accurate, and they normally will not include live persons. If you start your work with the idea of ALWAYS getting documentation of your conclusions, you will be much better prepared to understand which files are poorly done.. not to mention, how to find info when someone else has not already done the research.

Answer 3

Start by contacting as many grandparents aunts, uncles, cousins as you can find. Their information will be the best. If you can't do this, then start by searching on Family Search http://www.familysearch.org . I would also start posting on the free message boards like http://genforum.genealogy.com/  and http://boards.ancestry.com/

A quick lookup on Cyndi's List http://www.cyndislist.com shows that there is already an Ashworth Family Association, so that would also be a good place to look: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ance...

Good luck!