Heritage Album

Where Can I Find A Free And Easy To Use Family Tree Website?

Hi can anyone help me with a good free and easy to use family tree website I would really like to learn alot about my last names orgin and find out some members of my family and discover some mroe about my roots!

Public Comments

1. Okay, the only way to do your family tree is to research it. Family trees on any website, free or paid, are user submitted and mostly not documented and yes, there are errors. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different submitters, that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. The information should be used as clues as to where to get the documentation, not as absolute fact. Your public library might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com, you can utilize. They have lots of records and seem to be getting more all the time. They have all the U. S. Censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also. Now, still you have to be very very careful about information in their family trees. They have 4 family tree types Ancestry World Tree which is their oldest and probably their largest. One World Tree which is an absolute mess and they should have trashed it a long time ago. They have Public Member Trees and Personal Member Trees. Also,a Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world. In Salt Lake City they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee. I have never had them to try and convert me or have they sent their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven't heard of them doing so to anyone else. They are very nice and helpful. But first of all, you should get as much info as possible from living family members, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. It might turn out they are confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant ramblings at the time might turn out to be very significant. Fiind out if there are any old family bibles. You will have to eventually spend money. It requires getting vital records, births, marriages and deaths which give parent information including mother's maiden name. Also, the applications for a social security number that I have seen gives both parents' names including mother's maiden name and their places of birth. Now if you are in the U. S., each state has its own laws about who and when you can get birth and death certificates. In Texas it use to be if you were not immediate family you had to wait 50 years after someone's birth in order to get a copy of their birth certificate. Now it is 75 years. States are clamping down due to identity theft. Of course, what is so funny Ancestry.Com has the complete Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics Birth and Death Indexes on their website. The Birth Index gives name and date of birth and the names of both parents including mother's maiden name. For the most part, most governing bodies within the U.S. (state,county and city) were not recording vital information until the first quarter of the 20th century. After thet started recording, many people who were born at home or died at home did not get recorded. If there are no vital records recorded by a governing body, you should turn to churches for baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriages and Deaths. Much of these records will give parent info. Courthouse records, wills, deeds, etc are important. Rootsweb and FamilySearch.org(LDS site) are two good free sites, but stil you will need more than the web. Also you mention origins of last names. All too often the same surname can come from more than one national origin. See the link below from the most prestigious genealocal organization in the U. S., The National Genealogical Society http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.cfm
2. Shirley is right. There is no magic website free or paid. It's a lot of hard work on your part. Get the book unpuzzling your past by Emily Croom. Its about $20 and she takes you step by step.
3. Shirley is right. Do you know those TV commercials that show a young man putting on some sort of body wash, then having dozens of beautiful young women attracted to him like iron filings to a magnet? Do you suspect it isn't that easy? You can look up single facts on the internet easily; quick, what is the capital of Peru? Family trees are thousands of facts. It takes research to find them all. Not all of them will be on the Internet, and only 85% of what you find on the Internet will be true, so you have to cross-check.