How Do I Do A Family Tree Research Without It Costing Anything?

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Posted by Admin on 09 Feb 10 - 6 Comments

i am trying to do a family background research on me and my husband for a family tree for my kids. what web site do i need to go to. and i dont want to have to pay for it,

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6 comments for “How Do I Do A Family Tree Research Without It Costing Anything?”

1
A Journey

Sorry lady you can’t get your genealogy be looking just at free websites. You got to pay to get what you want in life. I payed for alot of my genealogy research and I am only sixteen.

February 9th, 2010 at 10:56 am
2
loryntoo

You start by getting data from your family and in-laws as far back as they know. If you know what towns family lived in, you can get more info from the US Census provided it is more than 72 years ago.
After that, it will start costing you to get actual birth records, death certificates, and wills. If you are lucky, some cousin of yours has already done a lot of it and you can just copy what she’s done.

February 9th, 2010 at 11:41 am
3
Shirley T

I think you like a lot of people have heard someone say that they know someone that found their famiy tree on the internet.
To begin with not everyone’s tree is on the internet. Also if you find your family, you need to verify the information. The information in family trees on any website mostly is not documented. Even if you see the same information over and over by different submitters, a lot of copying is being done. There are errors in those trees.
Copying what someone else has means you are going to have plenty of errors. When you look at some of those trees, it appears that people are just anxious to add names to their database.
Like an earlier poster said, you need to get as much information from family as possible, particularly senior member. Tape them if they will let you. Sometimes what they say might not be exactly true. However what might seem to be insignificant ramblings and story telling might turn out to be very significant. People who do this say they go back a few years after doing research and listen to the tape again and hear things they didn’t hear the first time around.
Go to your public library and check out the resources they have in your genealogy section. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com. Ancestry.Com has lots of records and is obtaining more all the time.
They have all the censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet.
However, don’t copy the trees they have if you find your family.
Call your nearest Mormon Church. Find out if they have a Family History Center. They have records on people all over the world, not just on Mormons. People of all faiths use their Family History Centers. I have never had a Mormon missionary come ringing my doorbell because I availed myself of their services.
You will probably meet people at the Family History Center and at the Genealogy Section of your library that can give you lots of advice and help as to how to go about getting your family history. However, in research you do have to spend money for documentation.
Don’t get to involved in the origins and meanings of a name. We get questions about that all the time. Names can come from many different places. Not everyone with the same surname comes from the same root person with that surname.
Good Luck!

February 9th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
4
genealog

The best way is simply to start with your own family. If you want to do it on the computer, you can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File), which is free genealogy software at http://www.familysearch.org under Order/Download Products. I imagine you can pick it up pretty quick because it is very user-friendly. Then talk to your parents (and grandparents if still alive) and get as much information as you can from them including names, dates, and places.
Here are a few online resources for you to use:http://www.familysearch.org – Probably the best free online resource.http://www.ancestry.com is one of the best but has a hefty subscription fee (for most of its databases).
Also, you can check the surname message boards for your surname at:http://genforum.genealogy.comhttp://boards.ancestry.com
For links to helpful sites, you will want to take a look at:http://www.cyndislist.com
And finally for a lot of different resources:http://www.rootsweb.com
For grave records:http://www.findagrave.com
It won’t all be free but it’s worth it.
Good luck,
Dave

Create a family tree website at http://www.familypulse.org

February 9th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
5
rybka

nothings free

February 9th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
6

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February 9th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
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