Heritage Album

how can i trace my family origins back free? I have a family tree that goes back to my grandmothers mother and?

It also goes back to my grandpa's father however he didnt know his mom so im not worried about that part. I actually traced my family to the Blackshire family and the Blackfoot American Indians on my dads side. but is there a site to go over this or any place where the records are public

Public Comments

1. Putting this in short form.. genealogy is a hobby, which is not free. Most hobbies aren't. Here's an overview.. all records are not on the internet.. and a family tree involves hundreds of different persons. What you can find for one person will be totally different for someone else. One place to start is www.rootsweb.com, which has a tutorial on the front page. www.familysearch.org is the LDS site, which has various types of records, and a free program to work with. www.cyndislist.com is the largest site that collects SOURCES. All records (ie your birth certificate) will not be online. That does not mean it does not exist. A tombstone is a "record", which may be posted on the internet. Or, you might have to personally stomp the cemetery to find it. If I can offer ONE IMPORTANT/ CRITICAL concept, it is this.. there are a kazillion family trees online. A posted family tree is not a record. What matters is if the info is BACKED UP by a valid document. This makes all the difference in the world. This becomes most clear when you are cruising around and find one file saying John is the father of Joe and Mary.. and another file says they are children of Sam. This is when you find the beauty of the phrase "what is the source of your information?" It should be a reliable document, not "cousin Mary said it". Cousin Mary could be right, and she could also be going into Alzheimers. Totally "free" means someone else has done all the work and thinking.. which by that time, they have spent money themselves. Some will be out there, some won't.
2. Not free but I use ancestry.com It really helped a lot. they have a one month free trial service. you can use that for starters.
3. There are many sites on the internet where you can check your family tree, but I would be very surprised if any of them where actually free, as very little in this life is free.