How to find free genealogy records

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By marillian
eHow Community Member

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These are secrets I've learned by trial and error in my genealogy pursuit.,But I wouldnt wish that kind of headache on anyone.So i hope you get some helpful information out of this article.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Internet,file folders,printer,plenty of aspirin.....

Step 1

First step of course is to talk to your parents,grandparents,etc...they potentially have alot of information you could use to get the first steps of who's who out of the way.Write down any surnames(maiden names)they give you,any information on where family members have or do live.,phone numbers of any relatives that might be able to give you more information you can use.
Step 2

Organize all information collected,putting it all in organized file folders will eliminate potential headaches later when you see a name that rings a bell,you will be able to go straight to it.One thing to remember is that birth,death and marriage dates are often off by at least a year or two,so check and recheck your information against other records.
Step 3

When it comes to names whether it be first or last,your last name or surname as it is used in genealogy,will have at least two or three alternate spellings,so when searching make sure you use soundex search or make sure you don't check exact match or anything similar,you will get alot more information to check out if you expand your search information.
Step 4

Websites that are free that Ive used successfully are-myfamily.com(if your family isn't listed there yet,start your tree there so people can find you and you can exchange info)-latter day saints website(they usually have local offices in your state that holds more info than the website can hold)-rootsweb.com(holds quite a bit of free info)-deadfred.com(also has photos,including pics that have not been identified)-findyourfamilytree.com(just found this one).these are just a few of the free websites,also yahoo groups and other search engine groups and sometimes blogs.A really good way to find info is to put first and last name in parenthesis usually pulls up better info.You should put the name of the state and city or county in the browser,then search those website for family history links or put in state name and the word genealogy .I have alot of info from over the last seven years of research. I hope to be able to contribute more info to help those of you who need family info, and cant afford to pay the online subscription fees like me and alot of others out there.

Comments

marillian said

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on 3/26/2009 any information you might already know about him would help tremendously in your search,his full name,birthdate,where exactly he was born (if known) his dads name,any other spellings of the last name(ex:kidd,kid,kyd).if you can give me these things,i can more than likely find info on him...