Things You'll Need:
- Internet access
- Basic family history information
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Step 1
Go to www.familysearch.org and get to the 1800 US Federal Census. There are other websites that have this information, but this one is guaranteed to be free. In the search fields, enter the name of one of your relatives who was living in 1880.
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Step 2
Locate one of your relatives and print out or save all the information available about your relative. The census taker should have recorded a detailed variety of information: street name and house number in cities; name, age and sex of each individual in the household; whether each individual was white, black, mulatto, Indian or Chinese; month of birth if the individual was born within the year and so forth.
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Step 3
Determine exactly where your relatives lived from this information as well as who lived with them, what their occupation was, whether they could read and write and where their parents came from.
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Step 4
Know that the census taker walked from house to house, so you can assume that two households listed next to each other were neighbors. This can help you discover other relationships. For example, two families named Schultz who live next door to each other are probably related. If the parents roughly the same age, then the fathers are probably brothers. If there 30 years between the generations, then there is probably a parent/child relationship.
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Step 5
Keep track of your searches. As you begin to find exciting information, it's easy to lose track of what you've already searched. If you keep a log of your searches, you won't waste valuable time searching in the same place multiple times.
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Step 6
Consider using genealogy software to keep track of your family tree. There are lots of great programs out there, but if you want a free one, try PAF (Personal Ancestral File), which is available on www.familysearch.org.
