Heritage Album

I'm interested in tracing my family tree, but...?

...it's really frustrating b/c I don't have a lot of info to work with. I'm wondering if any of the websites that offer genealogy services (i.e... ancestry.com) are legit and worth the money. I've tried rootsweb.com, which is free, but didn't get very far. I really just want to know specifically WHERE in Ireland my family came from. Any info would be appreciated!

Public Comments

1. just type your surname into a google search and see what happens.. i foudn my history from almost the bcs that way...unfortunatly im more interested in my recent family history whihc because my great great grandather was an orfan i have no info on at all
2. I think the best thing to do is to find out what you can from relatives. Take that information and visit, e-mail/ write, call places (towns, churches, cemeteries, city/town records...) and see if you can find more details. Take all the info you can gather to a Genealogy Library (often sections or rooms in public libraries) and trace the ancestry yourself. I don't trust companies/websites that say they will trace your ancestry for a fee. I only know of one person that used such a service, and I felt like he received one of two reports the company had for that name. (That is, anyone with the name Smith gets one of two reports.) What does the company care if the information is accurate, as long as they get their fee? If you do the work, you can be assured the information is as truthful and as accurate as possible. It's just my feeling. I did a lot of work on my ancestry and it can be addictive, very interesting. Besides learning about your own family, you can learn about others that lived at the same time and (even) friends of your family - too, about what was going on (in history) at the time. [Edit] It takes a lot of hours to do geneology research and dedication to finding the truth. What's the fee for a service (company) to do it, $39.95, $150? Do you think the company would REALLY put in the time to PROMISE you those results are accurate? I can't imagine it. (I feel this way because I put in the hours and I know the time is worth a lot.) Maybe these companies are good, I don't know. Note: If you do your own work, it will be frustrating at times, but persevere! It will be rewarding, too. [Edit] There's a lot of good advice above and below my Answer.
3. Genealogy is done by gathering and assembling records of your ancestors and indirect relatives and using the information on those records to provide clues to the next generation beyond the one you know. Death Certificates and Social Security records provide birth location and parents names. Location leads to census records, which give parents birth location, birth certificates, county marriage records. Marriage licenses lead to parents names. Civil war enlistment and pension records can name child or parent names. You have to identify who emigrated to America when in order to know where to look for departure location. Even then, the departure location may not be where they are from. One good thing the Internet helps with is finding those remote cousins WHO ALREADY DID THE WORK. Look for and post queries on the state and county pages of the places where your oldest generation lived. http://www.usgenweb.org/states/index.shtml Good Luck.
4. unless you pay for everything, you will get nowhere with ancestry.com. I had great luck by posting a message on the Embassy of the Netherlands. Traced maternal grandparents back to the 1530's. Try to find out if the is a site for Embassy of Ireland. Message board was free. Give it a try and be patient. Took about a month before I got an e-mail from someone with the name I was looking for, but she lead me to a ninth cousin. Great sucess. Good Luck
5. The responses you've gotten are pretty accurate. I have scoured the internet and have had good luck, but I still have alot of work to do. There is alot of leg work involved. You can check out the volunteers in an area, that are willing to go to their local vital/ cemetaries/ libraries/ etc... to look up things for you, you might even hook up with a "cousin". What is some of your info... I do have access to Ancestry.com, Maybe I can help get you started. below are some websites that can help... for free
6. www.familysearch.org locate a center near you..they have access to ancestry.com and it is ALL FREE
7. I subscribe to the Ancestry census images. They are worth it to me. You need a fast connection, lots of ancestors who lived in the US 1790 - 1930 and dedication to get your money's worth out of it. It is less than Cable TV and twice as interesting, to me. One of your other answerers is under the impression Ancestry researches for you. They do not. They have a huge amount of data they let you look at, for a fee. You do the research yourself. Professional genealogists charge $20 to $50 per hour, and no legitimate one will guarantee results.
8. Documentation!!! Always start with yourself and work backwards one generation at a time. Get certified documents of birth, marriage and death. For some in your lines there may be military records or social security applications. Talk to older family members but don't press hard if they are a bit reticent about giving information. Many older people grew up in a time when it wasn't considered polite to 'talk about' family. With gentle leading on questions that don't start out directly about family but what a time period was like they are likely to open up more. Use the LDS family history center in your area. They have access to all sorts of govt. records on microfilm such as Census. Good luck with your search.