A question...

I know this isn’t exactly a name question but here it goes!

[name]How[/name] do you all find your family trees and ancestors?

Thanks to any one who can help!

I joined ancestry.com (there is a free trial) and put in what information you know and it will show you records to help. There are lots of other sites on the internet as well.

First, gather all the information you can from your family members. Older members, especially, may have family trees. Info like birth, death, & marriage dates, names of siblings, maiden names, etc, can all be useful as clues for further info. Afterwards, you can start searching on the web. I’ve never used ancestry.com; you can often find a lot just with google searches. You can also travel to the places where your ancestors lived, visit libraries, cemetaries, etc. And don’t forget to look in boxes in the attic for old letters, photos, etc. Good luck. If you are serious, I recommend that you use a genealogy database like “family tree maker”.

Your library may also have a searchable database of census records. I was able to access our library’s database for free using my library card number. I do find the census records can be hard to read with the handwriting and sometimes poor copies. And it can be hard to go back much further than mid to early 1800s in U.S. (some were destroyed and the information they gathered back then isn’t as thorough). I also found some really interesting user posts on ancestry.com when I tried out the free trial – I would probably get a paid membership, but I just don’t have much time to work on it. Maybe someday when I’m not obsessing over names!!!