How to Research Family History for Free
Finding family history can help you build your family tree, detect certain diseases or traits in your genes, or discover your heritage. Free resources can be used to help uncover family members and history. You can find family history information by looking up records of death, transportation records or by word of mouth.
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Instructions
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Visit an elderly family member and talk to her about her past and what she remembers. Ask her about growing up, who she spent a lot of time with and her fondest memories. Visiting the family members in their home may allow them to find old photos, newspaper clippings and documents to help fill in gaps in the family history, or provide detailed information.
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Search for old obituary lists in the years that family members passed. Some obituaries contain a small description including siblings, parents, children, members of certain organizations, such as the military, and other helpful information.
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Find a helpful free online website to access your family roots. There are multiple family tree websites that are free to start looking for genealogy records. A lot of news, government workers, traveling, jail records and medical related history is filtered into these sites making it easier for you to find family members.
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Share the information you have about your family history online to see if any other family members can connect with you with their information. Share any photos, documents and names that you have.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Alistair Berg/Digital Vision/Getty Images
