Is there any way to find a family tree and or ethnic background for free?

Question

I'm highly curious but have no money any answer is appreciated.

Answer 1

One doesn't just find family trees, they have to be researched and ethnic backgrounds are most certainly free as we are born with them; we just may not know as much as we would like about some of them and they too need research. As for that research, it actually very interesting especially for the curious and can be accomplished without any cash outlay to speak of in the beginning. Read the following, try the tutorial and you'll be on your way in no time.



In genealogy, we document everything. Too many budding genealogist get frustrated and quit because they copied something from someone else’s tree that was improperly documented and later learned they were researching the wrong ancestor. There is an excellent tutorial for those who are new to family research at http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ; I recommend it to everyone starting out in genealogy. After you complete the tutorial, the following is a basic plan and generally only requires the tools that you already have like your computer and Internet service provider.



The person you know about is you, so, start with your birth certificate, which has your parents, and then ask your parents for copies of their birth certificates, which will have your grandparents on them. Then if you grandparents are living, continue the process. At some point, you will experience a problem depending on when you grandparents or great grandparents were born, in that; birth certificates did not exist before the early 1900s. Therefore, you need to get back to 1930 with personal records because those types of records are not available to the public for 50 to 100 years depending on the jurisdiction in which they are held.



By copying or ordering these documents, you have gone to relatively little expense and you have three generations plus yourself and you have it documented with primary documents. That will give you 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and 8 great grandparents names to start researching. Now, you can use death certificates, marriage records, census records, immigration records, church records, court records and many other sources to research your ancestry. Your public libraries will most likely have both Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest.com free for anyone to use while at the library and with a library card you should be able to use Heritage Quest at home.



Another free online resource is the LDS/Mormon site, which has many free online records at http://www.familysearch.org/ and original documents on their pilot site at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0 . In addition to their online records, they have the Family History Centers where you can go for help with research and look at microfilm and they only charge nominal fees if they have to order something specifically for you . Find a location near you on their website and call to check hours of operation. http://www.familysearch.org/ .



Additionally, USGenWeb is another free online resource at http://www.usgenweb.org/ . This site is packed with how-to tips, queries and records for every state and most counties within those states. Then, there is Rootsweb at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ a free site hosted by Ancestry.com where you can search for surnames, post queries on the message boards and subscribe to surname mailing lists.



Also, do not forget to check Cyndi’s List at http://www.cyndislist.com/ and ProGenealogist top 100 genealogist websites at http://familytreemagazine.com/article/101best2009

both of these sites have many links for both free and fee based sites.

Answer 2

The only way you can find your family tree is to do the research. There are lots of websites and you have to be extremely cautious about taking as absolute fact information in family trees. They are not submitted by some experts working for the websites that go around doing others' family trees and putting them online. They are submitted by folks like you and me, the subscribers, and there are errors. Even when you see the same information on the same people from many different subscribers that doesn't mean it is accurate. Too many people copy without verifying. It takes one person to put in incorrect information and 9 other people to copy to have 10 family trees with errors.

Any time you find any of your family in an online family tree and you disagree with the information in them those that run the websites will tell you that is between you and the other subscriber.



Now Ancestry.Com isn't free but your public library might have a subscription to it you can use for free. Ancestry.Com's real value is the amount of original source records they have online. Still you must distinguish between the records they have obtained and put online and t heir subscriber submitted family trees. When I go into their website, I prefer to go under Old Search which is on the right on a bar running across the top. That way I can better pick out specific records I want to check.



A good 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 for about $3. I have never had them to try and convert me nor have I heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources. Just visit their free website, FamilySearch.org, to get the hours for the general public to the nearest Mormon FHC.



FamilySearch also has a new pilot program where they are having volunteers to transcribe and put their records online. I believe they have just scratched the surface. Once they are through, none of the other websites will probably hold a candle to them.



http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start



If you haven't done so you should get as much information from living family as possible. Find out if any has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of any birth, marriage and death certificates. they might have. Depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage certificates form their church can be just as helpful as civil records and might be better.



interview your senior members and tape them if they will let you. I won't say that they won't be confused or wrong on some things but they just might be into telling stories of bygone days you wouldn't write down. In those stories you just might find later might be clues that will help you break through a brick wall in your research.



Here is a link with links to other websites, some free and some fee. I feel the ones that only have family trees are not all that useful. Information in family trees can be helpful as clues as to where to get the documentaion.

http://www.progenealogists.com/top50genealogy2008.htm

Answer 3

I've been doing background checks and records searches online for years, as it is part of my business. I am a former detective, and currently a professional private investigator by trade. What I can tell you is this: You cannot obtain these records for free. You simply cannot. For every service provided online, there is typically either a one time cost, or a fee you pay every single month. Some services are better than others.



Some more expensive, some less. In my line of work, I am signed up for a service where I am billed monthly. However, if you are just the average person needing information on a particular person or property, I would suggest http://www.echeck.pcti-system.com ... For a one time fee, they are by far the best, cheapest, and most thorough service available. If you are strictly in business like myself, and don't mind being billed automatically every single month, I would recommend E-Verify or Inteligator.

Answer 4

There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites. Among them



www.cyndislist.com - 250,000 links, all categorized.

www.familysearch.org - The Mormons.

wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com - Roots Web World Connect - 600,000,000+ entries

usgenweb.org - Sites for every county in every state in the USA

ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com - Social Security Death Index, 83 million names

vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/ - California Death Index, 9,366,786 records

www.findagrave.com - 43 million records

genforum.genealogy.com - Query boards for every county in every state, and thousands of surnames.

boards.ancestry.com - The other Query board site; counties and surnames too.

archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com Roots Web Mailing List Archive - Over 30 million messages



I have a page with real links to all of those, below, but you'll have to wade through some advice and warnings first.



If you search the resolved questions in this category only for the word "Free"(use "Advanced" to limit your search to this category only), you'll find there are 2600 questions with the word, and at least 1500 of them ask "How can I trace my family tree for free?", just like you did. The answers to those questions have lots of links and tips.



If you didn't mention a country, we can't tell if you are in the USA, UK, Canada or Australia. I'm in the USA and my links are for it.



If you are in the USA,

AND most of your ancestors were in the USA,

AND you can get to a library or FHC with census access,

AND you are white

Then you can get most of your ancestors who were alive in 1850 with 100 - 300 hours of research. You can only get to 1870 if you are black, sadly. Many young people stop reading here and pick another hobby.



No web site is going to tell you how your great grandparents decorated the Christmas tree with ornaments cut from tin foil during the depression, how Great Uncle Elmer wooed his wife with a banjo, or how Uncle John paid his way through college in the 1960's by smuggling herbs. Talk to your living relatives before it is too late.



You won't find living people on genealogy sites. You'll have to get back to people living in 1930 or so by talking to relatives, looking up obituaries and so forth.



Finally, not everything you read on the internet is true. You have to be cautious and look at people's sources. Cross-check and verify.



So much for the warnings. Here is the main link.



http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html



That page has links, plus tips and hints on how to use the sites, for a dozen huge free sites. Having one link here in the answer and a dozen links on my personal site gets around two problems. First, Y!A limits us to 10 links in an answer. Second, if one or more of the links are popular, I get "We're taking a breather" when I try to post the answer. This is a bug introduced sometime in August 2008 with the "new look".



You will need the tips. Just for instance, most beginners either put too much data into the RWWC query page, or they mistake the Ancestry ads at the top for the query form. I used to teach a class on Internet Genealogy at the library. I watched the mistakes beginners made. The query forms on the sites are NOT intuitive.

Answer 5

Yes; wherever you accessed the internet to ask this question is the place to start; then libraries, genealogical societies, historical societies, county courthouses, etc., etc., etc.

And:

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.

Answer 6

You'll must do extra study, however there's a experiment in the market that takes your DNA and tests your genetic markers in opposition to ethnic corporations and geologic place. Unfortunately I consider it's both a patriarchal or matriarchal experiment (now not each) but it surely might supply you an proposal of in which your ancestors (no less than on one facet of your loved ones) got here from. There used to be a PBS sequence a few years in the past that traced the bloodlines of a few popular African Americans to examine the area in Africa in which their ancestors can have come from.

Answer 7

If you go to Ancestry.com, you can start your family tree. You have to create an account, but it is worth it. Once you sign up, it will lead you from there. It is free to use as far as I know. + )

Answer 8

You could use the LDS Family Libraries. They are free.

Answer 9

Ask your parents or grandparents