Heritage Album

Ideas for help with my genealogy.?

I am trying to find more information on my family. All of my grandparents passed on when I was young for this side of the family so I have had to dig for information and it has been a long process. I know it takes time but I have come to a stand still with my search. Does anyone know any good sites that are free (putting myself through school and don't have extra money) that I can use? I live in the United States. i have used the standard sites....my heritage, ancestry, rootsweb, ect. but i can't seem to find anymore information. Please help

Public Comments

1. You can try the Mormon Genealogy Site , there is lots of Information there too . it is - lds.org - you will want to go to the family search area . and follow the instructions . Also just by typing in the search box on yahoo - free genealogy Research sites - there are many to choose from there to .Then there is a site which is available through some library's , I cant remember what it is called , but your local library should be able to assist you there . I think its called Footnotes .
2. If you live in the county they did - or can visit it on weekends - obituaries and marriage articles on the society pages are a gold mine. Most people know about obits. Many ignore what they think of as "the fru-fru stuff" on the society page. A good marriage article will tell you the exact relationship of the best man, maid of honor, the names of all four parents, and list everyone else, which gives you a clue as to their names. Just skip the parts about the ecru lace veil and the table decorated with white roses. Zoom in on "The groom's cousin, Robert Richards, who is also his fraternity brother at Theta Beta Zeta, at Wisconsin Polytechnic in Beloit, acted as best man . . ." and "The bride's older sister, Delilah (Mrs. Stewart Kings), acted as matron of honor . . ." If you post specific names, birth dates/places, spouse's names here, someone may look up their parents for you, which may get you back far enough the free sites will have data. I'd also suggest the GenForum and ancestry boards for the surnames and counties; Roots Web mailing list archives for same; Google Books, for each name you have, in both forms ("Thomas Alva Edison" and "Edison, Thomas Alva"). Write if you need links.
3. My answer is lengthy and I apologize for that but I want to warn you of the advantages and the pitfalls of genealogy on the internet. We get your question many time a day. So I have cut and am pasting an answer. Websites that only have family trees are not worth a tinker's curse unless you are willing to verify the information with documents/records. They are subscriber submitted, very seldom documented and if they are they are poorly documented. You frequently will see the different info on the same people from different subscribers. Then you will see the absolute same info on the same people from different subscribers but you would be very foolish if you thought for one moment that that means it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. The information can be useful as clues only as to where to get the documentation. Right before Christmas of 2008, I found out I was dead. So was my sister and my brother-in-law. We died in New Jersey. Since the only time my sister and I were ever in New Jersey is when our family drove through it coming from New York in 1957. It was the same year Hurricane Audrey hit in our part of the world. Hey! we had been dead for 51 years. It says so on the internet. It has to be right if it is on the internet! I found out that family on both sides married and died in New Jersey. Since my ancestry is mostly southern American colonial with some exceptions and those exceptions came in through southern ports, I was surprised. This tree would have been accepted by any genealogy website. You can make up an entirely fictitious family tree and it will be accepted. You disagree with something someone has on one of your family members, the websites will tell you that it is between you and the other subscriber. Now the best for the total amount of records online isn't free but your public library might have a subscription to it. That is Ancestry.Com. Still be careful about the information in their family trees. CyndisList.com is a website with links to many other websites, some free and some not. Many people involved in genealogy find it helpful. Not all records are online but the ones you will find will save you time and money traveling to courthouses, libraries etc. However your first free source is your own family. Get information from them. Tape your senior members if they will let you. People who do this state they go back and listen to the tape again after doing research and hear things they didn't hear the first time around. I am not saying they won't be confused or wrong on some things. Find out if anybody in your family has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage certificates from their church can be helpful. A good free source is a Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their FHCs can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee. They won't try to convert you, at least they haven't done so to me or anyone else that I know. Just call the nearest Mormon Church or visit their free website, FamilySearch.org, to get their hours for the general public. Rootsweb and FamilySearch.org are 2 free sites but remember verify information in family trees with documents/records. If you don't you don't know whether it is accurate or not.
4. A couple of tips for you. Stop looking for info on "your family". Look for a person, a birth date, a marriage record, the 1910 census. Be explicit. Every ancestor is totally individual, and what works for grandma (born in 1935) will not work for grandpa (born in 1925). 2nd.. throw out the idea that all genealogy is online, or standard websites. The "standard" ones tend to offer family trees, or pre packaged things. There are thousands on thousands of sites, which may/ may not have the exact piece of info that you need. Dallas co, Tx, cemeteries. Obituaries for Bangor, Maine. The public library in Kansas city. Many records are not, and never will be online. Shift thinking to WHAT RECORD DO I NEED FOR THIS PERSON?, and away from WHAT WEBSITE DO I NEED. Trust my pointed gray head on this. Pick one brick wall.. post it here, and see what we can do. Oh, long process??? Uhhh. 30 yrs and still going. It is the challenge of the hunt. You get to the point where if you run out of your family to work, you grab someone walking by, and look for theirs.