Heritage Album

How to find records or newspapers on the a town and building? any tips on DNA, ancestry or family tree?

I'm doing a project and doing a whole background on myself. I would really like to find old pictures, records and news paper clippings on the town where I lived. I've heard of people going to the library to look through records and newspapers but I have no idea what to ask for or if that's possible. I also would like to find old pictures or records on the hospital I was born in. Any tips or information would be great. Also for this project I'm hoping to make a family tree and I'm super interested in National Geographics Genealogy project but I don't have any money for that so any tips on family trees or where to go to look up people (I heard you can go to court houses for things like that but again I don't know) would be fantastic. I would like to do all of this for free by the way. Any information is appreciated! Thanks in advance. :)

Public Comments

1. That sounds like a neat project! You're right - the local library will probably have some books on the town or county history, and those books will probably include some pictures. Just tell the librarian what you're looking for (information on the town's history) and she will show you where to look. The library may also have microfilm of the old town newspapers, where you can find articles and photos. You can also check with the local Historical Society. Most counties and some towns have one, and they can help you find information and old photos. The librarian can put you in touch with them, or you can search the web for "[town name] Historical Society" or "[county name] Historical Society." For old pictures of the hospital... call the hospital and ask if they have a historian or archivist who would have old photos of the building. To research your family tree... this question is asked about 10 times a day here on yahoo, and each question gets several very good, helpful answers. Search through the questions here and you'll find a whole bunch of helpful tips! Or post a new question about "How do I go about finding my family tree?" and I'm sure you'll get a lot of great answers.
2. I saved this YA to my Watch-list it has a lot of good information. Any suggestions of good genealogy sites or services? http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Au_ZNb9sC1K6t0.U3irItLDAFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20100224095617AAULHRA This is one resource I used and found it very helpful for a beginner. (LDS/Mormon) • Free Online Classes • Start Your Family History • (Get started, research guidance by location) ( forms, guides) good for non computer research. • Free PAF Family History Software • Free Color Charts with PAF Companion The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp The Free software is very good. The main section is easy to use. It has more data areas than you need (eg. related to the church, optional) You can add media files (pictures etc) for each person. I found the additional sections difficult for a beginner. (eg. source locations, notes etc.) The online sources that I used had census records (the old hand written ones) I took a screen capture of the records to show the source for each person I found and put the picture into the software. Because I have "Vista" I used a gadget called "Snipit". If you are interested you can find Free screen capture programs at Download .com on Cnet. http://download.cnet.com/1770-20_4-0.html?query=screen+capture+free&tag=srch&searchtype=downloads&filterName=platform%3DWindows%2CWebware&filter=platform%3DWindows%2CWebware As a beginner, I wanted to find out what information I needed to collect and what software would be useful. I have to use the Internet first because I'm in an isolated rural area. Now that I know what the software can do I'm looking at other free software that is easier to use. I down loaded these 2 from Cyndi's List of Genealogy. I haven't tried them fully yet but I did notice one did not have a convenient way to print the genealogy charts. SmartGenealogy is a genealogy software that will let you record individual persons with dates and places of birth, marriage and death and other events in their lives, along with the sources and repositories where you found the information. You can also include pictures or indicate multimedia files. SmartGenealogy Version 2.8c http://alainlecomte.free.fr/Download.htm#SmartGenealogy ScionPC Genealogical Management System http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/scionpc/ If you do library research you will need a system to collect the information, the LDS/Mormon and About.com has some good information to guide you. Genealogy Learning & Guidance http://genealogy.about.com/od/make_family_tree/u/learn.htm#s5 Free Genealogy Software http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm#Free Genealogy Software free (Google Search) http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=Genealogy+Software+free Family Tree (Google Search) lots of information and also online programs some free http://www.google.ca/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=Family+tree&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8 Online research Start with your local Genealogy Societies, municipal, county, state etc. I found some have input data for online use, such as census data, church baptismal records, cemetery records, newspaper announcements (eg. birth, marriage, death) and may have links or information for other data sources. My plan is to put all the data about my family online in the local Genealogy Society's and Ancestry.com's database so it will be there for future family members. I didn't start with Ancestry.com because you only get 14 days free and I wanted to make sure I had enough information to make my search worthwhile. Because my local Genealogical Society submits their data to Ancestry.com I accidentally got into Ancestry.com's database, and I found a lot of information on my husband's family. Mostly lists of names of relatives, their siblings and children. I did get a lot of information but also found some conflicts with the information I had already collected. As many will say it is so important to record where your information came from so you can make sure you are collecting information on the right person. Any records you find you may have to sort out by comparing it with other sources to determine which information is correct. ============== National Geographic Genographic project is a Research Project gathering DNA Samples from around the world for their data base (primarily indigenous cultures). Their test shows deep ancestry (eg 40 to 70,000 years) They have nothing to do with Genealogy. For Genealogy...They can send your DNA results to FamilyTreeDNA. But the results would not be any benefit for genealogy. It would be better to just use FamilyTreeDNA in the first place. They can perform a number of tests for better results. But the more tests the more it costs. There are lots of individual Genealogy projects at the FamilyTreeDNA site or you can start one of your own. You can look over their site. FamilyTreeDNA http://www.familytreedna.com/Default.aspx?c=1 The only other Site I am familiar with is DNAtribes. They produce some very interesting reports, but I don't think they focus on Genealogy like FamilyTreeDNA. They seem to be more like the Genographic project. DNAtribes http://www.dnatribes.com/index.html But you should be aware that there are no standards for identifying the area your ancestors may have originated. Each company sets up there own system of geographical areas. For example DNAtribes identifies abut 38 Genetic Territories while FamilyTreeDNA sets up a map where others who have similar DNA that matches your haplogroup are (which is basically everywhere in the world) . . . So you can contact them. .