What's the best way to go in genealogically searching your family?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
Nathan's thread about genealogy intrigued me. My grandmother claimed she married my grandfather as a blushing 17 years old. At her passing, we finally found her birth certificate- she just forgot to mention that she was 25 when she married my grandfather. I'm quite sure one family member was hung for being a horse thief. I'd like to get into the genealogy of my family. It's not like I want to spend the rest of my life doing it.
What's the best way to go in searching your family.
 

Do you have any relatives whom you could ask questions?

Find the local libraries, many keep newspapers copied into books (I used to do this), there can be alot of info. Some libraries also have past records stored on microfilm, you can search those for info too.

There are online places that can be helpful. I would store my info in a way it can be erased and changed easily, as you'll find some will get/give wrong information unknowingly. It is interesting, my grandmother and mother have done this most of their lives. Good luck, and have fun!
 
spookycat2 said:
Do you have any relatives whom you could ask questions?

Find the local libraries, many keep newspapers copied into books (I used to do this), there can be alot of info. Some libraries also have past records stored on microfilm, you can search those for info too.

There are online places that can be helpful. I would store my info in a way it can be erased and changed easily, as you'll find some will get/give wrong information unknowingly. It is interesting, my grandmother and mother have done this most of their lives. Good luck, and have fun!
Click to expand...
Agreed, I signed up with a few companies just so I can control my information (opt in or out).....I decided on out. Plus they are all interconnected
 
Last edited:
Oldeagle66 said:
The Mormon church has the largest repository of family genealogy in the world and they started the genealogy industry.
Click to expand...
I spent a delightful afternoon a few years back at the Mormon genealogy center in Salt Lake City. They were able to find things for me that I had hit a brick wall on. The great thing is that it is free for anyone, no matter what faith you are. They also have auxiliary offices in a lot of cities where you can tap into the database.

Genealogy is important to the Mormon Church as Mormons can research their ancestors, then stand in as "proxies" and have them baptized into the Church.
 
With patience. It can be a tedious process. I've joined and un-joined Ancestry a couple of times. I'm currently a member again, but this time a friend of mine, who is an expert at it, is helping me. She knows how to use other free sites to gather information that Ancestry charges for. She has helped me "populate" my family tree, way beyond what I could have done and continues to do a deep dive. I'm still not keeping up with it as closely as I should.

I found someone who is likely my half sister. She reached out to me 3 years ago, but I had gotten off the site then. this time I reached out to her and haven't heard back. I also found some first cousins, 2nd cousins and tons of 3rd cousins. If I look through 50 people per page, I have 391 pages of relatives, most of whom I had no prior knowledge of. I'm most interested in finding out information about my maternal grandfather, who I've never seen or heard much talk about.
 
Last edited:
This is actually quite fun to do. There are several sites you can start a tree on without paying a dime…start small and keep it to what you really know. It is easy to make mistakes if you just randomly snag and mesh other trees into your own. Then paying to use the data bases on a site such as ancestry makes some sense. But you would be amazed at what is actually available for free once you get the hang of it. Good luck in the rabbit hole and have fun.
 
My biggest headache was the misspelling of my maternal side on my grandfathers family during the years when many couldn't read or write, signed with an X, census takers would spell the name as they thought it may be spelled. There were 4 variations. I hope you have common spelled Sir names. Good Luck in your search, have fun with it. It can be very interesting and fun.
 
Start by putting down on paper the things that you know.

Find a grave can help fill in a few blanks and may lead you to people with more information about your family.

Also Google will help to turn up some census information.

I wouldn’t spend any money until I was sure that it was something that I really wanted to pursue.

I was fortunate that most of the hard work was done by others.

A book was published in 1904 that detailed my family back to it’s American roots in the 1600s and a cousin published a book that brought us from 1904 up through the mid 70s.

When my cousin was gathering information for his book my grandmother was beside herself because it included her wedding date along with the birthdate of her first child who was extremely premature and miraculously quite healthy.
😉🤭😂
 
Ancestry.com is a good place to start. Keep in mind though, that it’s user generated content and is full of errors. As you work on each ancestor, look for entries that have reliable sources attached to the entry. You're more likely to find the story about the horse thief here because people can add notes to entries and also attach longer documents.

You can use some Ancestry.com features for free (link below), and do even more for free using the account at your local library. Ancestry also offers a two week free trial.

Ancestry.com for Free: 8 Ways To Use It With No Subscription

Good free sites are familysearch.org, wikitree.com, findagrave.com

Always, whether searching online or in print, make sure there are sources to back up info. All online sites have errors due to people posting family lore without sources and a lot of older genealogy books are also based on family lore.

Good luck with your search!
 
Would hiring a private researcher would be cheaper than a long search by me using Ancestry?'
BTW, I'm not concern of what I could find out about my ancestors, currently, my namesakes are well known Canadian gang & drug lords, who murder and rape in their spare time.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Would hiring a private researcher would be cheaper than a long search by me using Ancestry?
Click to expand...

It’s hard to say depending on how much digging a researcher has to do and how long it takes them.

I’ve done some professional work that was super easy to find online, some I’ve spent many miles and hours traveling to courthouses, funeral homes, state archives

One I never was able to find the answers…that client and I corresponded for several months. I’d find possible clues, detail the next research questions and ask if she wanted to proceed. She paid me thousands and I wasn’t able to find what she wanted. She’d hired several others before me. She wanted someone to trace her line back to a president because it was family lore that he was an ancestor. I finally did a search of his and his brothers’ descendants and none could’ve possibly been in her line so if she had a connection it wasn’t a very close one.

The low end of US rates is $50 per hour plus mileage and most require several hours worth upfront deposit. Not sure of Canadian rates.

Even if you decide to hire a professional, it’s good to do as much as you can in order to not only save money but also to be able to formulate clear research questions such as finding the parents of x or specific legal document questions. Most researchers don’t do broad, vague research like the lady who wanted President Taylor to be her ancestor since that’s such a shot in the dark but she was wealthy and made it clear up front that money was no object.
 
Last edited:
fuzzybuddy said:
I guess I'm cheap, I'm not sure Ancestry.com is such a great buy???????? I'm wondering if it's worth the cost. Everybody seems to say you have to validate what others report.
Click to expand...
Keep in mind with the DNA testing in particular you giving anyone else's in the direct bloodline DNA away. The true cost will be privacy for the bloodline. You might not even met someone 'in the family' but their dna will wind up in the service database and other databases.

23andMe has had financial trouble and customer data is now at risk.

Your DNA Data Is on the Market: Court Allows 23andMe to Proceed With a Sale

Might have to pay for a month of service but a background check service/website might give you enough to further or complete research. This way no dna. There are also services to scrub your data from many of these sites.
 
WhatInThe said:
Keep in mind with the DNA testing in particular you giving anyone else's in the direct bloodline DNA away. The true cost will be privacy for the bloodline. You might not even met someone 'in the family' but their dna will wind up in the service database and other databases.

23andMe has had financial trouble and customer data is now at risk.

Your DNA Data Is on the Market: Court Allows 23andMe to Proceed With a Sale
Click to expand...
WhatInThe, Yeah, the thought that I could be putting my descendants at risk because of entering my DNA was a concern. But apparently, that ship has sailed. Whether or not you enter your DNA, because of their data, they can come close to recreating Your DNA without a sample
 
fuzzybuddy said:
WhatInThe, Yeah, the thought that I could be putting my descendants at risk because of entering my DNA was a concern. But apparently, that ship has sailed. Whether or not you enter your DNA, because of their data, they can come close to recreating Your DNA without a sample
Click to expand...
Make them do it then. Don't hand it to them on a silver platter.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
Nathan's thread about genealogy intrigued me. My grandmother claimed she married my grandfather as a blushing 17 years old. At her passing, we finally found her birth certificate- she just forgot to mention that she was 25 when she married my grandfather. I'm quite sure one family member was hung for being a horse thief. I'd like to get into the genealogy of my family. It's not like I want to spend the rest of my life doing it.
What's the best way to go in searching your family.
Click to expand...
I don't recall if I've mentioned it before, but as it was initially told to me by a genealogy researcher: you need names, places and time periods in order to make a coherent investigation. Then, supporting documents like US. Census records, wills, grant deeds and such, to flesh out your search and connect-the-dots.
Google searching can be valuable and lead you to research material that others have already compiled. I have found some relevant family publications on Amazon and ebay, as well as specialty genealogical publishing houses.

DNA testing can be a really helpful venture. Don't be paranoid, I'd rather worry about someone having my SS# and credit card numbers...
 
Start by getting both of your parents' names, dates of birth and death and places. Write it down, Then do the same with one side of them, say, your mother's (maternal) get her parents names, death etc. Just keep traveling backwards until you hit a brickwall and you will hit some! Go as far as you can on her side and then do your father's the same way. When you get to where you can't go any further on your own then subscribe to Ancestry or another one....LDS is great and its free. I'd start with Ancestry.

Depends on how far you want to go how long it will take. I am still working on mine after 50 yrs, but there were no computers when I started, just snail mail. Along the way you will run into some colleratel families but stay centered on a straight line. Also have your DNA done, start a tree on Ancestry and the DNA will be attached. That way others who are searching the same family can touch base wih you and you with them

If this is really something you feel strongly about, be prepared to spend lots of time on the phone and the computer. It's really fun and if you like history, it's even funner!


If you ever need help, I am willing to answere questions, etc. I do this for people and never charge or ask anything in return. Good Luck and have fun!
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top