new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

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Marc

new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Marc » 03 mai 2007 16:06:21

I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

Thanks,
Marc

Lesley Robertson

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Lesley Robertson » 03 mai 2007 16:19:11

"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors were

as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting started
http://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Marc

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Marc » 03 mai 2007 16:56:27

On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl>
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

I'm interested in finding out where in Europe the various branches
originally came from.

Thanks,
Marc

William Whalley

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av William Whalley » 03 mai 2007 17:44:58

Marc wrote:
I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

Thanks,
Marc


Free tutorial
http://www.rootsweb.com/
Look under Getting Started and RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees

Laurie S

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Laurie S » 04 mai 2007 04:03:31

Hi Marc,

I may be assuming for Lesley but it helps to know where you are and
where your relatives were because not everyone here is in the US and
also if you're tracing relatives outside the US is makes a big
difference as to where you start your research.

Laurie


Marc wrote:
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:

"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how

to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson


Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

I'm interested in finding out where in Europe the various branches
originally came from.

Thanks,
Marc

Ralph Bailey

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Ralph Bailey » 04 mai 2007 05:36:37

Depends on how much information you have.

You shoul have the age of birth and death of your parents, grandfarents and
other descendants as far back as you can get along with their place of
birth.

Working back consult census pages which you can locate at Google if you are
not in a paid site.

Censuses from 1850 onward identify every person livin in the house along
with the age, sex, and job if working

If you determine a county in which one of you ancestors lived go to USGenWeb
which has sites for each county in a state. The gene web site will have
material such a deeds, marriages, death, place of burial, military records,
history of the county, churches, some of which will list its members, court
records, including wills which are very helpful

If you are researching Smity, go to the Smith Message Boards at
Ancestry.com, RootWeb, GenForum, the Latter Day Saints, all of which have
free message boards.

MostGenweb sites also have census info.

Also google the name you are interested in. What you hope is that you will
find someone who is already investigating you line to the extent you may
even find a book written about it.

If you get hung up, write another message here, post your names, and advise
what you are looking for. Someone will help.

Ralph Bailey
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: alt.genealogy
To: <alt-genealogy@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 10:06 AM
Subject: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro


I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

Thanks,
Marc


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Charani

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Charani » 04 mai 2007 07:55:48

On 3 May 2007 08:06:21 -0700, Marc wrote:

I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

You start with yourself. No, I'm not being funny.

You have when and where you were born and also your siblings. You
have your parents dates and places of birth, likwise your
grandparents. You probably have your parents' siblings and possibly
your grandparents.

Next step is to talk to your relatives, especially the oldest ones
about who and what they know. With luck you should have a 3 to 4
generation family tree immediately, possibly 5 generations.

Memories tend to be a bit wobbly after a while, so your task at this
point is to verify everything you've been told.

The one golden rule with genealogy and family history is "never assume
anything; verify *everything* without exception".

Being in the UK, I'm still having fun finding various online resources
in the US. However, the ones I'd suggest are:

http://www.familysearch.com This has the International Genealogical Index
(IGI) *but* treat it with caution. It can be a very useful guide to
potential ancestors. Always look to see the source of the
information. If it's an extracted entry, then you can pretty well
trust it but check the original source. If it's a patron submission,
treat it with extreme caution: they can range from complete accuracy
to total fantasy! It also has a transcription of the 1880 US census.
At this stage, I wouldn't worry about the Ancestral or Pedigree files.
The accuracy can be variable (eg that submitted by a cousin of mine is
full of errors.

http://www.ancestry.com See if your library has access to the site so that
you can see what they have and what is of use to you. Make a note of
anyone in your areas of interest with the same surname (providing it's
not too common, of course!), they may prove to be relatives.

If you're unsure of what to do next, where to look/go or have any
other queries come back and ask again. There are a lot of lovely,
helpful people in this group :)) Inciddentally, always put surnames in
CAPS. It helps where given names could also be surnames.

You probably already know that ADLER is German for "eagle".

--
http://home.comcast.net/~webact1/Collingridge/

Lesley Robertson

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Lesley Robertson » 04 mai 2007 09:26:12

"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

I'm interested in finding out where in Europe the various branches
originally came from.

But that's the problem - there isn't a single archive or database. Even

something as simple as the difference between english and scottish ancestors
involves different laws (eg England got birth, mmarriage & death
certificates in 1837, Scotland in 1855) and databases.
Your best bet is probably to locate your nearest LDS family history centre -
they have access to all sorts of goodies.
Lesley Robertson

Bruce Remick

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Bruce Remick » 04 mai 2007 13:19:11

"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm
interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

If you can document the names and locations of members of your maternal and
paternal lines back before 1930, a search of the the1930 census would be a
good starting point to find your family members listed. From there you can
work backwards in ten year increments using census records (be aware that
most of the 1890 census records were destroyed and are no longer available).
The census records from 1900 on forward include the state or country of
birth for the parents of each individual enumerated. This may lead you to
the country from where an ancestor came. If not, keep going back in time in
the census records and hope you can find clues to your immigrant ancestors
by the time you reach the 1850 census. In the pre-1850 census, only the
head of household is listed by name. Others are listed by age group and may
or may not be members of the head of household's family.

A local library with access to Ancestry's census records will help you here.
Or you may want to invest in a subscription to Ancestry's online census
records. These records are searchable in a variety of ways, so you may be
able to locate individuals with only limited information to go on. A series
of census records on your family should provide you with a good outline for
more serious research, if that's the way you want to go.

In your US search, be aware that names of counties can be more important
than names of towns or cities when examining various types of records. Once
you know the county your people lived in, you can search its records for the
town you're interested in. Otherwise, there you may find no records titled
with the name of your specific town of interest. (Where I grew up, county
names were seldom mentioned in daily life and many of us never knew or cared
which county we lived in. In other states, county names often were more
relevant to residents than their town names. I always pay attention to
county names now.)


Bruce

Marge

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Marge » 04 mai 2007 14:11:48

"Bruce Remick" <remick@cox.net> wrote in message
news:5xF_h.20265$ZD3.7315@newsfe01.lga...
"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm
interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

If you can document the names and locations of members of your maternal
and paternal lines back before 1930, a search of the the1930 census would
be a good starting point to find your family members listed. From there
you can work backwards in ten year increments using census records (be
aware that most of the 1890 census records were destroyed and are no
longer available). The census records from 1900 on forward include the
state or country of birth for the parents of each individual enumerated.
This may lead you to the country from where an ancestor came. If not,
keep going back in time in the census records and hope you can find clues
to your immigrant ancestors by the time you reach the 1850 census. In the
pre-1850 census, only the head of household is listed by name. Others are
listed by age group and may or may not be members of the head of
household's family.

A local library with access to Ancestry's census records will help you
here. Or you may want to invest in a subscription to Ancestry's online
census records. These records are searchable in a variety of ways, so you
may be able to locate individuals with only limited information to go on.
A series of census records on your family should provide you with a good
outline for more serious research, if that's the way you want to go.

In your US search, be aware that names of counties can be more important
than names of towns or cities when examining various types of records.
Once you know the county your people lived in, you can search its records
for the town you're interested in. Otherwise, there you may find no
records titled with the name of your specific town of interest. (Where I
grew up, county names were seldom mentioned in daily life and many of us
never knew or cared which county we lived in. In other states, county
names often were more relevant to residents than their town names. I
always pay attention to county names now.)


Bruce
One comment on county names. It also may pay you to research the boundaries

of the county. Some county boundaries changed over a period of years.
Marge

f/fgeorge

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av f/fgeorge » 04 mai 2007 14:17:27

"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm
interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

One other place to start is the local Mormon or LDS Church. They have

a library that is ope nto the public and would just love to teach you
all about what resources they have and how to use them. NO they will
NOT try and convert you to the Mormon faith! Look in the phone book
and call the Family History Center. It is staffed by volunteers and is
a GREAT place to start. You might be suprised by what you can find on
their computers. What is accesable on their computers you can get at
your home too, thru the http://www.familysearch.org website, but they also
have micro-fiche and films of original documents that are not online,
that you can order and view locally. They will help you interpret what
you see and give you ideas on how to actually document what you see.
If you do not document what you find, it is worthless to the next
person after you stop! No you will NOT find the documentable path to
Adam and Eve, but you WILL find a ton of people that are related to
you! Have fun and enjoy the ride!!!!!

singhals

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av singhals » 04 mai 2007 15:36:34

Marc wrote:

On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:

"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how

to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson


Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

I'm interested in finding out where in Europe the various branches
originally came from.

Whether that's even findable depends on the specific
surnames -- Making arm-waving generalizations for the
purposes of illustration now -- for instance, every country
in the world had people who were involved in a trade known
as "Smith" (blacksmith, tinsmith, goldsmith, whitesmith, etc
etc) and while the spelling varies the sound is the same in
most European languages. Likewise, at one point in time,
many countries had people whose profession was "Archer" or
"Cook" or who lived in the "Dale" or by the "Rivers". So
whether your ancestor was Danish or Austrian or Breton or
Briton isn't going to be instantly discernible.

To discover whether your ancestors were Swedish or Swiss
you'll need to put it together like a puzzle to find their
given names, their dates, their specific places of residence
(in Texas, for instance, there are niches for Germans,
Hispanic, and Anglo; in Chicago, you get neighborhoods for
Poles, Germans, Irish, Bohemians, Catholic, Protestant,
Jewish...), and then use those as a stepping stone to their
parents. Eventually you'll get to someone who wasn't born
in the US and if you're lucky they'll be right about where
they WERE born.

Some of this can be done on-line, but much of it cannot.

The traditional advice is, start with yourself and work back
one generation at a time. For concrete suggestions, try the
tutorial at Rootsweb as someone suggested, or find your
old Boy Scout Merit Badge book for Genealogy. Or find your
local Historical/Genealogical society or your local Mormon
Family History Center and ask if they give classes.

Cheryl

Bruce Remick

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Bruce Remick » 04 mai 2007 16:52:34

"Marge" <margaretqclark@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:XJqdnf45jYySrKbbnZ2dnUVZ_uSgnZ2d@comcast.com...
"Bruce Remick" <remick@cox.net> wrote in message
news:5xF_h.20265$ZD3.7315@newsfe01.lga...

"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm
interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

If you can document the names and locations of members of your maternal
and paternal lines back before 1930, a search of the the1930 census would
be a good starting point to find your family members listed. From there
you can work backwards in ten year increments using census records (be
aware that most of the 1890 census records were destroyed and are no
longer available). The census records from 1900 on forward include the
state or country of birth for the parents of each individual enumerated.
This may lead you to the country from where an ancestor came. If not,
keep going back in time in the census records and hope you can find clues
to your immigrant ancestors by the time you reach the 1850 census. In
the pre-1850 census, only the head of household is listed by name.
Others are listed by age group and may or may not be members of the head
of household's family.

A local library with access to Ancestry's census records will help you
here. Or you may want to invest in a subscription to Ancestry's online
census records. These records are searchable in a variety of ways, so
you may be able to locate individuals with only limited information to go
on. A series of census records on your family should provide you with a
good outline for more serious research, if that's the way you want to go.

In your US search, be aware that names of counties can be more important
than names of towns or cities when examining various types of records.
Once you know the county your people lived in, you can search its records
for the town you're interested in. Otherwise, there you may find no
records titled with the name of your specific town of interest. (Where
I grew up, county names were seldom mentioned in daily life and many of
us never knew or cared which county we lived in. In other states, county
names often were more relevant to residents than their town names. I
always pay attention to county names now.)


Bruce
One comment on county names. It also may pay you to research the
boundaries of the county. Some county boundaries changed over a period of
years.
Marge

Good point, Marge. Years ago I bought a copy of Thorndale & Dollarhide's
"Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920" and have used it often
in my research. Amazing to track the development of counties from statehood
to today.

Bruce

Bruce Remick

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Bruce Remick » 04 mai 2007 16:57:58

"f/fgeorge" <ffgeorge@yourplace.com> wrote in message
news:j6cm33pes0j204u1r7ir53fdosp6d46ifi@4ax.com...
"Marc" <marc.adler@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178207787.605840.267470@l77g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
On May 3, 10:19 am, "Lesley Robertson" <l.a.robert...@tnw.tudelft.nl
wrote:
"Marc" <marc.ad...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1178204780.966034.43150@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...> I'm
interested in finding out about my ancestry, but have no idea how
to go about doing it. I've looked at some of the paid sites on the
web, but am wary of signing up and then realizing it's a waste of
money since I don't know anything about genealogy research. Would it
be cheaper in the long run just to hire someone? Or are the websites
easy enough that even a novice with little initial information to go
on could go back a few generations?

It's easier to help if you say where you are, and where your ancestors
were
as that makes a big difference. Help us to help you.
That said, Cyndis List has a whole section on getting
startedhttp://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
But FIRST, talk to your living relatives - get as much info, labelled
photos, etc from tham as you can.
And welcome to what will rapidly become an addiction.
Lesley Robertson

Ah, I wasn't expecting actual research help from this group, which is
why I didn't provide any, but I'm in Texas, my mother's side of the
family is from north Texas as far back as anyone can remember, and my
father's side is from Chicago as far back as anyone can remember.

One other place to start is the local Mormon or LDS Church. They have
a library that is ope nto the public and would just love to teach you
all about what resources they have and how to use them. NO they will
NOT try and convert you to the Mormon faith! Look in the phone book
and call the Family History Center. It is staffed by volunteers and is
a GREAT place to start. You might be suprised by what you can find on
their computers. What is accesable on their computers you can get at
your home too, thru the http://www.familysearch.org website, but they also
have micro-fiche and films of original documents that are not online,
that you can order and view locally. They will help you interpret what
you see and give you ideas on how to actually document what you see.
If you do not document what you find, it is worthless to the next
person after you stop! No you will NOT find the documentable path to
Adam and Eve, but you WILL find a ton of people that are related to
you! Have fun and enjoy the ride!!!!!


I stopped going to my local FHC about the time Ancestry began to offer
census and other records online. Before that I had been paying $3+ each to
order *many* rolls of census film through there. I haven't been back since,
but if they now offer online access to pay sites like Ancestry, etc., that
would be an ideal option for someone who is just starting out and/or doesn't
have internet access at home.

Bruce

ABC

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av ABC » 05 mai 2007 00:46:15

On Fri, 4 May 2007 07:55:48 +0100, Charani <c@privacy.net> wrote:

The one golden rule with genealogy and family history is "never assume
anything; verify *everything* without exception".

If it's a patron submission,
treat it with extreme caution: they can range from complete accuracy
to total fantasy!

You think? I was just verifying some dates against some records I
pulled off Ancestry.com and noticed a relative born in 1876 that I had
down for being born in 1838. I noticed that my entry has his wife
born in 1838, the marriage taking place in 1862, and his wife dying in
1879.


--


Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL

Hugh Watkins

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Hugh Watkins » 05 mai 2007 01:36:51

Laurie S wrote:

Hi Marc,

I may be assuming for Lesley but it helps to know where you are and
where your relatives were because not everyone here is in the US and
also if you're tracing relatives outside the US is makes a big
difference as to where you start your research.


not really
always start with the knowledge of living family members

Hugh W



--

a wonderful artist in Denmark
http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/

Beta blogger
http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks

old blogger GENEALOGE
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG

Charani

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Charani » 06 mai 2007 13:28:44

On Fri, 04 May 2007 19:46:15 -0400, ABC wrote:

You think?

I know so: from events that I've tried (and failed) to find in parish
registers and from information that a cousin put up, some of which is
accurate and some of it hopelessly wrong.

I was just verifying some dates against some records I
pulled off Ancestry.com and noticed a relative born in 1876 that I had
down for being born in 1838. I noticed that my entry has his wife
born in 1838, the marriage taking place in 1862, and his wife dying in
1879.

Was this one of the Ancestry trees? If so, then I'd treat that with
extreme caution as well, for exactly the reason you've found.

--
http://home.comcast.net/~webact1/Collingridge/

f/fgeorge

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av f/fgeorge » 06 mai 2007 16:53:53

On Fri, 4 May 2007 11:57:58 -0400, "Bruce Remick" <remick@cox.net>
wrote:

I stopped going to my local FHC about the time Ancestry began to offer
census and other records online. Before that I had been paying $3+ each to
order *many* rolls of census film through there. I haven't been back since,
but if they now offer online access to pay sites like Ancestry, etc., that
would be an ideal option for someone who is just starting out and/or doesn't
have internet access at home.

Bruce

NO they do NOT offer access to pay sites thru the LDS, at least not

the normal ones. There ARE a couple, like on in Annandale, Fairfax
County, VA. that does have access to pay sites, but the patrons pay
for it thru donations. There are also over 15 computers in this one
FHC. Most public libraries have free access to Heritage Quest and my
local one, Rpince William County, VA. gives it to folks thru the net.
You do need a Library Card and go in thru their site, but it is free.
Ask yours if they have the same thing. Heritage Quest has most of the
Census records and alot of other stuff too.

Bruce Remick

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Bruce Remick » 07 mai 2007 01:36:38

"f/fgeorge" <ffgeorge@yourplace.com> wrote in message
news:89ur33p7pggech3f8h35ild6q25h3lc5b3@4ax.com...
On Fri, 4 May 2007 11:57:58 -0400, "Bruce Remick" <remick@cox.net
wrote:

I stopped going to my local FHC about the time Ancestry began to offer
census and other records online. Before that I had been paying $3+ each
to
order *many* rolls of census film through there. I haven't been back
since,
but if they now offer online access to pay sites like Ancestry, etc., that
would be an ideal option for someone who is just starting out and/or
doesn't
have internet access at home.

Bruce

NO they do NOT offer access to pay sites thru the LDS, at least not
the normal ones. There ARE a couple, like on in Annandale, Fairfax
County, VA. that does have access to pay sites, but the patrons pay
for it thru donations. There are also over 15 computers in this one
FHC. Most public libraries have free access to Heritage Quest and my
local one, Rpince William County, VA. gives it to folks thru the net.
You do need a Library Card and go in thru their site, but it is free.
Ask yours if they have the same thing. Heritage Quest has most of the
Census records and alot of other stuff too.

Ironic in that it was the Annandale, VA FHC that I used to go to, lastly in
the late 1990's. I think they had two or three computers at that time with
no internet access. Nice people and I had spent $$hundreds ordering and
viewing microfilm there before various internet pay options became
available. Now, I subscribe to both Ancestry and Godfrey Scholar (includes
Heritage Quest) which let me do most of the research at home that I had
relied on the FHC for in the past.

Bruce

Gjest

Re: new to genealogy, looking for quick intro

Legg inn av Gjest » 07 mai 2007 02:43:34

Marc, the place you start is by getting yourself some software, and
getting on the phone. Always the best source is right at hand - living
members of your family. I started into this just for the heck of it
seven years ago, and got hooked fast.

You need the software to keep your information organized - and believe
me, it doesn't take long to accumulate enough to get confused, so I
think its a must (there are lots of good programs out there, and none
of them are very expensive).

I started collecting every detail I could get for everyone in the
family I knew - birth dates, locations, when they married, who they
married, names of all their children and their birth dates, death
dates and locations for those who had passed on - and just with that
alone, for my husband and myself going back just to those we'd known
(i.e. aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great aunts and uncles,
great grandparents who'd been alive when we were kids), I ended up
with a lot of data. I spent a lot of time on the phone and going to
visit the elderly to try and get every scrap of data I could directly
from the people who knew information directly, trying to get the
family stories, rumours, gossip, the hints of information that can
give you leads later. I went through family bibles, went to cemeteries
etc.

When all that was in hand - then I started in on the internet. I had a
good foundation to build on.

M

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