As I continually say on Yahoo! answers: any one whose ancestors came to the Americas (from Northern Canada all the way to Tierra de Fuego) in the 1500s, 1600s, or 1700s almost certainly DO HAVE NATIVE AMERICAN ANCESTRY! Rare or common doesn't matter; it is a numbers game. E.g., 3 of the 102 passengers to come over on the Mayflower were my ancestors. Each of those who survived long enough to leave behind a child from that Mayflower now have MILLIONS of descendants! Some of my ancestors were part of the Colony in Virginia known as Germanna; several of them married an Indian gal (proven); each of them now has millions of descendants.
Now, if you state that the Indian blood is "just a drop in the bucket", I will say I can believe that.
By both paper trail and DNA testing, I have traced my ancestry back to Native Americans. I have DNA from 3 different tribes in the U.S., Eskimos and Innuits.
In Central and South America, almost every one there today has substantial Indian blood...AND African blood.
You are most definitely correct; many people, upon reaching a "roadblock", just make guesses and assumptions. So, I would say to them, try these:
Oh, yes! I want it, and I want it now, and it must be free. Does that about sum it up? (I hope so, because that is what I always want...)
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...
http://www.usgenweb.com/
http://www.census.gov/
http://www.rootsweb.com/
http://www.ukgenweb.com/
http://www.archives.gov/
http://www.familysearch.org/
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...
http://www.cyndislist.com/
http://www.geni.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:
http://www.associatedcontent.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.