how do i find my family tree and ancestry?
July 15th, 2010 . by admini just been wondering exactly where i come from and who i am related to. i have met so many people that i would have never thought or knew were my family. so i just wanna know my blood line and who i am kin to. does anyone know a site i can go on to look up my family tree or find my ancestry to see exactly where i come from.
By researching it starting with yourself and working back one generation at a time. Don’t expect to find it all online.
There are numerous genealogy websites. Anybody serious about getting an accurate family tree will be more interested in the ones that have records, not necessarily family trees.
Family Trees online are subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. You will often see different info on the same people from different subscribers. Then you will see the same info on the same people from different subscribers, but that is no proof at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.
You start with your living family, particularly your senior members, and get as much information from them as possible. Tape them if they will let you. They might be confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.
Find out if any has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage records from their faith can be helpful.
Go to your public library and see what all they have in the genealogy area.
Ancestry.Com, I believe, is the best genealogy site for the total amount of records online. They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet.
They have military, land, immigration and other records and indexes to vital records(birth,marriage and death) of many U.S. states.
Now, not all records are online, but the ones they have will save you money traveling all over the country to courthouses, libraries etc.
If you find it too pricey, your public library might have a subscription to it.
A good free 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 at a nominal fee.
I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven’t heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources. Just call the nearest Mormon Church or visit their free website, FamilySearch.org, to get their hours for the general public.
Some will suggest a DNA test.
Most genealogy DNA companies use only Y & Mitochondrial because both go back in a straight line virtually unchanged.
Y goes from father to son only.
Mitochondrial goes from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.
If you had both done, it would not include your paternal grandmother or maternal grandfather or all your ancestors that have married into your direct Y & Mitochondrial line. However, it can be used to match you with other family trees and by doing so with your research you will be better able to discover many of those ancestors.
http://www.familytreedna.com/
http://www.smgf.org/pages/how_it_works.jspx
Your ancestry pyramids as you go back. Barring any duplicates, if you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, you are directly descended from 510 individuals. Of those 510 people, you get your Y DNA from only 8 and your Mitochondrial DNA from only 8, leaving out 494 people.
Most of your DNA is Autosomal. You get it from all your ancestors. It is more complicated to use Autosomal for genealogy but it can be used to match you with population groups throughout the world. I know only one company that uses is for
genealogy like that.
http://www.dnatribes.com/
When you go into their website, there is a way you can send them an email and ask questions.
ancestry.com and rootsweb.com are two good ones.
References :
By researching it starting with yourself and working back one generation at a time. Don’t expect to find it all online.
There are numerous genealogy websites. Anybody serious about getting an accurate family tree will be more interested in the ones that have records, not necessarily family trees.
Family Trees online are subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. You will often see different info on the same people from different subscribers. Then you will see the same info on the same people from different subscribers, but that is no proof at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.
You start with your living family, particularly your senior members, and get as much information from them as possible. Tape them if they will let you. They might be confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.
Find out if any has any old family bibles. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates. Depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage records from their faith can be helpful.
Go to your public library and see what all they have in the genealogy area.
Ancestry.Com, I believe, is the best genealogy site for the total amount of records online. They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet.
They have military, land, immigration and other records and indexes to vital records(birth,marriage and death) of many U.S. states.
Now, not all records are online, but the ones they have will save you money traveling all over the country to courthouses, libraries etc.
If you find it too pricey, your public library might have a subscription to it.
A good free 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 at a nominal fee.
I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven’t heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources. Just call the nearest Mormon Church or visit their free website, FamilySearch.org, to get their hours for the general public.
Some will suggest a DNA test.
Most genealogy DNA companies use only Y & Mitochondrial because both go back in a straight line virtually unchanged.
Y goes from father to son only.
Mitochondrial goes from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.
If you had both done, it would not include your paternal grandmother or maternal grandfather or all your ancestors that have married into your direct Y & Mitochondrial line. However, it can be used to match you with other family trees and by doing so with your research you will be better able to discover many of those ancestors.
http://www.familytreedna.com/
http://www.dnatribes.com/
When you go into their website, there is a way you can send them an email and ask questions.
References :
Rootsweb.com is a good free site to start with. For sites specific to your particular situation (location, surname, etc.) go to Cyndi’s List. It contains links to literally thousands of websites related to genealogy.
References :
http://www.cyndislist.com