Heritage Album

What are good free sites for tracing family trees?

My mum has recently started tracing her family tree and I want to point her in the right direction for good web sites. She has already tried "genuki", familysearch" and familyrecords". Are there any others that might help?

Public Comments

1. Try www.freecen.org as they have information transcribed on by volunteers which is free to access. Also, without subscribing, www.ancestry.co.uk has a good range of free census material from selected years. if you subsrcive to a free trial, a concerted effort at researching should get most of what you need before you cancel your membership (within the trial period).
2. Try tapping into the Mormon Church's web site on geneaology. It is www.visitsaltlake.com. The Mormons excel at tracing family trees. If anyone can find what you are looking for, they can.
3. http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/ good site for making a family tree and tracing relatives
4. These questions come up every day. Where can I find my family tree for free? Does anyone know the {Surname} family? What are good sites for ancestors / genealogy? They are all about tracing your family tree on the Internet. The fourth time I typed in my favorite beginner's links I realized I should save them in a text file and paste them in. This is long and general. Because it is general, not all the links will apply to every question or questioner. These may help get you started. They are large and free. Many of them, however, have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements. http://www.cyndislist.com/ (240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welsh or Pennsylvania Dutch or Oregon or any other region, ethnic group or surname, chances are she has links for it.) http://www.familysearch.com (Mormon's mega-site. Click on "Search") http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi (460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality) http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln= Surname meanings and origins http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html My own site: "How to Begin" United States only: http://www.usgenweb.net/ (Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.) (The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province) http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi (Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced". You may find your grandparents.) http://find.person.superpages.com/ (US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins) United Kingdom Only: http://www.genuki.org.uk/ (Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland) http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ (Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records) (If you posted your question in Genealogy, ignore this paragraph. If you posted it in the "Family" category, read on.) Tracing your family tree is called genealogy. YA has a category for genealogy, Home > Arts & Humanities > Genealogy There are hundreds of more links in the resolved answers there. Notes: You usually have to do some research. Sometimes you get lucky. Don't give up if your Great grandfather with your surname isn't there. Try all eight great-grandparents. You won't find living people on any of the sites except the phone book one. You won't find many people born after 1920 on any of the sites except the SSDI one. Genealogists hide the birth dates, birth places and other facts of living people to protect their privacy. You will have to find your grandparents' or great grandparents' birth dates and maiden names somewhere besides the Internet. The best way to get started is to ask your oldest living relatives about themselves and their parents. You may find great-grandpa's death date and burial place on the web, but only his children, your grandfather and grandaunt, can tell you what sort of man he was. The free sites are supported by advertising, just like TV. You can't watch the Super Bowl without seeing a beer commercial, and you can't surf for dead relatives without seeing an Ancestry advertisement. Many people complain about advertisements. Please don't. They bring you the "free" sites. There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you get serious you'll need a genealogy program. They are to family research what "Word" is to writing a novel. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is the market leader. Both cost around $29. The Mormons will let you download PAF for free. It is clunky, but it is free. You can sometimes find old versions of FTM or Family Origins (FO is the predecessor of RM) in bargin bins at CostCo. This is a general hint. Even though you go in through YA Canada, YA Australia, YA UK or YA USA, all of the questions go into one big "pot" and get read by everyone in the world who speaks English. Most of the people here are in the UK and USA, but you sometimes get questions and answers from people who worry about kangaroos eating their roses. So - put a nation, or, better yet, if you are asking about a specific individual, a nation and a state / province in all of your questions. It will help people help you.
5. I would try www.ancestry.co.uk or the Mormon site www.famlysearch.org/eng both are excellent you can do free searches on the ancestry site but you would have to subscribe to download information, you can get a months subscription for £9:95 it was when I first subscribed I don't think it has gone up. I am hooked on the site I think it's excellent. Good luck.