How to Trace Your Family Tree Online
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The Internet is a Great Resource for Family Tree Research
Researching your family tree used to be time consuming, costly and difficult. With the internet, it is now possible to make great inroads into discovering your family's past without ever leaving the sofa! Below is a list of all the genealogy sites out there that have really helped me. BUT - not all information is online and I do recommend visiting archive centres to get those extra details
I have been researching my family history for about 9 months, and have found over 1000 people going back to the 12th Century! I love all the interesting lives I have unearthed, from aristocrats, to scoundrels, to paupers. I am hugely proud of them all. With a hectic job it can be hard to go to regional and national archives and libraries, so it is very useful to be able to use the internet as a resource for studying my tree. The whole process of researching into my family's past has made me appreciate and value history much more. After all, I wouldn't be here today without them! I hope you find the family history websites useful and I want to hear about your favourites too.
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Record Finding Websites and Tree Builders
Are you related to Royalty? Did your family emigrate on the Mayflower? Check out these websites and find your roots!
- Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online - Ancestry.com
- Discover your ancestors with the world's largest family history website. Start a family tree, browse census records and more online at Ancestry.com
This is an amazing website, with millions and millions of databases to search. You do have to create an account (which costs, but is great value for money), and it is well worth it as it also helps you keep track of your growing tree and you can attach and save records to each person. - Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
- More than 270,000 links! 260,000 links, categorized & cross-referenced, in over 180 categories. Another 10,000+ uncategorized new links in the works.
This is a huge list of genealogy sites on the internet, covering the majority of countries and the states/provinces/counties in them. With an A-Z list of everything you will ever need. This website is a huge help and can help you get through that brick wall! - The National Archives
- The official archive of the UK government. Our vision is to lead and transform information management, guarantee the survival of today's information for tomorrow and bring history to life for everyone.
The National Archives Access to Archives site is brilliant for searching for your ancestor through all local county archives as well as the National Archives. The National Archives have documents available to download online for a fee, which is helpful if you cannot visit them in person. This site is of course for the UK, but I am sure there are similar archive offices in other countries that do the same - see Cyndis List above for help! - FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records
- Search for family ancestors. Billions of free family tree, family history, ancestry, genealogy and census records.
I have often found birth, marriage and death records on here that I can't find anywhere else especially for records before 1800. It is free and easy to use
Newspapers and Free E Books
Did your ancestors make headline news?
- Internet Archive: Free Movies, Music, Books & Wayback Machine
- Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies & music, as well as 150 billion archived web pages.
A great website that gives free access to thousands of old books that have been scanned in and are fully searchable in various formats. This website has been invaluable to me as many of these books are now out of print and hard to find in their hard format. - Google Books
- Search and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide using Google Book Search. Discover a new favorite or unearth an old classic.
Like archive.org, Google also has thousands of old books and documents available to view for free online. Some books you can only see a "snippet" view but sometime archive.org has the full book when google doesn't - British Newspapers - Home
- This website has 49 local and national UK newspaper titles to search from 1800 to 1900, there is cost to use them but it is extremely good value. Who knows, maybe your ancestor made the headlines!
- London Gazette
- Visit the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes for insolvency data, public notices or honours and awards (for government, business or individuals). For datafeeds or honours see 'Services'. The archive is free to use right back to 1665.
Useful Family Tree Forums
- CuriousFox UK genealogy message boards - villages, towns, local history, UK maps
- An easy to use message board for anybody researching UK genealogy, family or local history. 50,000 counties, towns, villages and hamlets with message boards and links to the exact location on old maps and modern maps.
This is a genealogy message forum, and there is a site for the UK and the USA. I found a relative using this site! You can use it for free and search for other people with your surname or researching your surname. - RootsWeb.com Home Page
- RootsWeb - the Internet's oldest and largest FREE genealogical community. An award winning genealogical resource with searchable databases, free Web space, mailing lists, message boards, and more.
Amazon Books for Family Tree Research
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, 2nd Edition by Christine Rose, Kay Germain Ingalls
This user-friendly volume offers readers an opport more...0 points
RootsMagic Family Tree Genealogy Software
Awarded "Editor's Choice" by Heritage Qu more...0 points
The Family Tree Problem Solver: Proven Methods for Scaling the Inevitable Brick Wall by Marsha Hoffman Rising
Complications arising from incomplete or missing r more...0 points
Family Tree Maker 2010 Essentials
Ancestry.com Family Tree Maker 2010, the #1 sellin more...0 points
Family Tree Bargains on Ebay!
Family History Research in the News!
- Museum hosts genealogy workshop
- The Plymouth Historical Museum will hold the third in a series of genealogical workshops to help family historians of all levels research their 19th-century American ancestors Saturday, Feb. 25. This workshop features Liz Kelley Kerstens and Jana Sloan ...
- Students Honored for Genealogy Essays
- By Gregory Kyriakakis Leisure Village West Genealogy Club treasurer Joan Reed with award recipients Anya Kane, Milan Kleva and Amanda Ramirez. Members of the Leisure Village West Genealogy Club presented three Manchester students with top honors for ...
- Family mysteries — Paradise Genealogical Society helps people assemble the ...
- 9 of the library at 5587 Scottwood Road in Paradise where Paradise Genealogical Society keeps its more than 3000 books, CDs and periodicals that are available to people researching their family trees. (Bill Husa/Staff Photos) ...
- MyHeritage Adds DNA Testing
- MyHeritage, the online genealogy site which acquired Provo, Utah-based FamilyLink in November, said this morning that it has added DNA testing into its list of offerings. MyHeritage said the genetic testing will allow its customers to gain access to ...
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What Family History Stories Have You Discovered?
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KitandCaboodle Nov 11, 2011 @ 8:07 am | delete
- Great lens! I love researching our family history and learning how it connects with the world. It makes me feel that much more involved and a part of a larger community. Blessed by a squid angel.
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Tipi
Jan 8, 2011 @ 6:07 pm | delete
- Back to the 12th century, awesome! I've never done a family tree search other than family Bibles, it seems like the resources are now in place for everyone to research to their hearts content.
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puerdycat
Dec 16, 2010 @ 11:30 pm | delete
- Thanks for this! Another genealogy devotee signing in, I love all the history around my genealogy so you see some in my work here. So many things I've discovered make sence of the parts I knew.
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familystorykeeper
Jul 17, 2010 @ 12:01 am | delete
- I have found books on family members. I've discovered there is a California State Park named after one of my ancestors and a California State Trail named after one of my husband's ancestors. I have lines that go way back. One line even has Old King Cole in it. My mother had done a lot of our family history and I inherited what she had done, but I have discovered a lot more with the internet.
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Bus_Stop_Toy_Shop Jun 26, 2010 @ 6:45 am | delete
- I've spent many happy hours researching my family tree - I can't claim to get back to the 12th Century like you can unfortunately, but I've found so many fascinating people on my searches and still have way more questions than answers.
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kajohu
Jun 25, 2010 @ 8:20 pm | delete
- Very interesting lens! My aunt has been researching our genealogy for decades. Now she uses the computer (in her mid-80's!!) to do much of her research.
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aishu19
May 7, 2010 @ 5:15 pm | delete
- I always had a thing for learning more about my family.. i always throw my hubby off explaining how a said person is related to me etc... and its amazing how in some way or another i end up related to pple who used to be just school friends etc... learning your family history is important and fun!
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Sojourn
Apr 23, 2010 @ 10:45 am | delete
- My mother and I are addicted to ancestry.com - it's an absolutely amazing site with access to the widest range of records world-wide. We've been researching our family tree through that site for several years now. In fact, it's a bit unfair to my father who originally began the work on our family tree before we discovered the online sources. He spent hours upon hours visiting records offices, calling family members, and hunting down paper documents and then mom and I came along and with one site we found 10x the info he'd been working so hard to find.
I like the fact that on ancestry you're notified when another tree overlaps yours. We've connected with several distant relatives this way. To be able to see your ancestors documents online - their signatures, employment information, and records of their travels immigrating from one country to another is purely fascinating.
Nice overview on a great set of resources and good luck with your own family tree!
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LKW31
Apr 24, 2010 @ 5:44 am | delete
- Thank you so much for taking time to visit my lens and comment. Ancestry.com is amazing, it has really revolutionised the family tree research. I love it and have found so much there. I too have been connected to distant relatives on Ancestry. In the UK we can order documents from the National Archives, which has been fantastic resource for me. I intend to up date this lens soon with unusual online records, so watch this space.
Good luck to you too!
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callinsky
Mar 15, 2010 @ 8:52 am | delete
- I've thought about doing a family tree. I never have because it alwasy seemed that it would be too hard. It's very neat that you've taken the time to work on something like this and share it. Thank you.
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teatree
Mar 14, 2010 @ 8:38 pm | delete
- This is a great resource. Don't forget interviewing elderly family members too, as part of your quest to record family history. They usually have all the anecdotes and family legends that make it all come alive!
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prosperity66
Mar 13, 2010 @ 7:58 am | delete
- Useful link resource for family tree research!
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AddaptAbilities
Mar 12, 2010 @ 3:34 pm | delete
- That's a lot of really useful information.
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arncyn
Mar 9, 2010 @ 3:01 am | delete
- Good resource for genealogy websites! (:
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d-artist
Mar 6, 2010 @ 9:00 pm | delete
- great lens...5*...I enjoy doing genealogy and have done some lenses on some family members...drop by!
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LKW31
Mar 7, 2010 @ 4:32 am | delete
- Thank you! I have had a look at your lenses, they are great and so interesting!
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ohcaroline
Mar 5, 2010 @ 2:08 pm | delete
- This is a great lens. Nice job. I found two websites I didn't know about here. Thanks.
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