How to Find Your Ancestors for Free
Almost everyone is interested in finding out about their heritage. In fact, genealogy is one of the most popular topics on the Internet. If you are just getting started, you may have jumped right in online to try to find your ancestors only to discover that there are many genealogy sites where you must pay to research records. While these paid sites do have their place (after all, it is not free to obtain those records or maintain a website like that), there are several ways you can get started with
researching your genealogy without breaking the bank. You can find your ancestors for free if you get organized and follow these steps:
- Difficulty:
- Moderately Easy
Instructions
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The first step is gather the materials you will need. Either download and print some free forms and charts or get some genealogy software. There are a few free genealogy packages to get you started but you might want to move to something more robust as your family tree grows.
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Start collecting the information you know, such as vital information on you, your spouse, your kids, your parents and grandparents. The basic information to record is name (maiden names for women), births, deaths, and marriages. Write down both the dates and locations of these events. To expand further, record additional information such as immigration, occupations, land records or anything else you can find in your personal documents.
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Interview all of your older living relatives to start building your tree further back in time. Remember though that a lot of family history is just stories passed down through the generations so the names and dates may not be 100% accurate. It will be up to you as the family historian to straighten out all the facts.
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Once you have a bare bones outline of your family and have filled in as much as you can, it's time to visit your library (or the one near where your ancestors lived) or hop online. The goal is to now back up your information with proof in the way of documents or other evidence. You will find records in primary sources like birth certificates and marriage licenses or secondary sources like surname books or census index.
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To obtain actual vital record certificates, you will need to find out if they are available and how much they cost. Generally, you have to pay to get a copy of the record if you want the actual proof in your hands. You would contact the county clerk's office to find the details about these types of primary vital records.
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Secondary evidence is often found at the library although now there is so much published online that you may be overwhelmed. The best websites to check out for looking at free records are FamilySearch.org, USGenWeb.org, CensusFinder.com and Rootsweb.com. There are so many more, but those are the largest.
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Share the information you find with your family. They will really appreciate the effort you went to and enjoy reading all about their family history. Consider creating a scrapbook documenting your finds. You can even create online scrapbooks. Ancestry's MyCanvas is a free way to create virtual scrapbooks.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure to record any great stories that your older relatives might tell you in addition to the names and dates. This adds more color and interest to your family story.
Reach out to extended family members to try and locate old bibles, photographs and other family history information. You never know who may have ended up with that picture of great-great Grandpa John!
Don't believe everything you see on the Internet about your family. Often the same bad information gets regurgitated around on several sites. The only way to know for sure is to find the evidence. You can definitely find accurate information and great leads, but be cautious and do not accept everything as fact until you can prove it yourself.
