Heritage Album

Family genealogy research?

I was hoping to do some family research for my grandparents but seem to be having some troubles as an amateur genealogist. As far as I know one group of my family traveled from Ireland (but may have been Scotland) to America and lived in Pennsylvania for a while then moved to Ohio. Another side of the family were native americans four generations back (I've been told Cherokee). Supposedly on my fathers side, they were Vikings (a very very long time ago, obviously). The problem is I don't have the money to join the genealogy websites so what can I do (if anything) to find out more about my heritage? I'd appreciate only serious answers to this question please. Thanks in advance for anyone's help.

Public Comments

1. You can enroll in an online newspaper archives. No joke--I found a bunch of articles about my family. http://www.newspaperarchive.com/ Also, go to your local county office that keeps record of births/deaths/inheritance, etc. This also helped me track down four generations, but anything before that, they didn't keep records too well in California from the period of the 1700s. By the way, I think it's great that you're researching your family's history. It's a shame when people pass on and take their whole life story with them without being able to share it to the newer generations. Keep trying and don't give up!
2. There are a couple of free websites that are worth looking into: www.rootsweb.com www.gencircles.com www.familysearch.com Also, there's that giant genealogy resource, www.cyndislist.com Finally, if you have a specific question about a specific family member or branch, you can post it here with the appeal to someone with an Ancestry.com membership to look it up for you. Good luck!
3. I have a guide to some of the biggest free sites here: http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html Your best bet, though, is a Family History Center. They are small rooms in LDS churches, with PC's, fast connections and volunteers who are eager to help. There is usually someone with an ancestry subscription, and they are very patient with beginners. They don't try to convert you.
4. I have Irish, Scotch, and Viking ancestry; Native Americans, Eskimos & Innuits (and a whole bunch more). So, here is my "short list": You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history. Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department. Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc. Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required). Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers. They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you). A third option is one of the following websites: http://www.searchforancestors.com/... http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739... www dot usgenweb dot com/ www dot census dot gov/ http://www.rootsweb.com/ www dot ukgenweb dot com/ www dot archives dot gov/ http://www.familysearch.org/ http://www.accessgenealogy.com/... http://www.cyndislist.com/ www dot geni dot com/ Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever. Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example. Good luck and have fun! Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites: www dot associatedcontent dot com/article... Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA. I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.