How to Trace a Descendant From the 1800s
There are many reasons for you to research descendants from the 1800s. You might be doing a school project on your family's history. You might even want to find out about a certain ancestor who did great things in their time. Whatever the reason, you can rest assured that finding your descendants is easier today than ever before. Thanks to the Internet, we can now perform genealogy searches online using ancestry websites and people search websites, along with taking DNA tests.
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Instructions
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Enter your name, birthplace and age into the Ancestry.com genealogy database. Ancestry.com provides users with access to historical records such as birth, immigration and death records. The site also has Census records dating back to the early 1800s. You can choose to search your mother's or father's side of your family.
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Search for your descendants using a genealogy search engine such as surnamesupersearch.com or FamilySearch.org. Much like Ancestry.com, these websites allow users to search their family histories through public records such as birth certificates and marriage records. Some databases will even allow you to look for your descendants using cemetery searches and a Social Security Death Index, or SSDI. Most genealogy search sites will charge a fee for their services.
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Ask your family members for help with finding your descendants from the 1800s. They might just have information that can help your search, such as the descendant's public and personal records. They might even have stories of your descendant to share with you. You'll never know unless you ask them.
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Take a DNA genealogy test to find out your 1800s descendants. You can order a test at websites such as familytreedna.com and ancestrybydna.com. DNA testing can find your maternal and paternal lines and relatives across both lines.
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References
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