How can I find my ancestors?
The meaning and origin of a surname is interesting, but that doesn't mean it is your family. Many people think you have to pay to have research performed, which isn't true at all. You could use Familysearch.org or Familytimeline.com at home both sites are free. Since you knew your Great Grand Mother when you were younger I assume you have some knowledge already and may not realize how much. Go on line; down load; save and print a Family Group Sheet. It will help you stay focused. Start with yourself and complete a Family Group Sheet for every direct generation of your family as far back as you can remember. Familysearch,org is a free site and the tab called research tips has more information than you will most likely ever use, but it has a film on basic Genealogical researcher. For death information the social security death index is a good resourced. Birth, Marriage and Death records are maintained in the county of the event. a copy of the certificate is registered with the State Vital Statistics Office and usually the country records are cheaper and faster to get, it you must purchase . Goof luck and have fun
How can I find out more about my ancestors?
Try: You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history. Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department. Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc. Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required). Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers. They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you). A third option is one of the following websites: http://www.searchforancestors.com/... http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739... www dot usgenweb dot com/ www dot census dot gov/ http://www.rootsweb.com/ www dot ukgenweb dot com/ www dot archives dot gov/ http://www.familysearch.org/ http://www.accessgenealogy.com/... http://www.cyndislist.com/ www dot geni dot com/ Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever. Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example. Good luck and have fun! Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites: www dot associatedcontent dot com/article... Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA. I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.
People dwell on the past, way too much. But still if you want to go on to that road this is your optionThrough family research: Talk to your eldest living ancestor what he/she remembers. Try to find out the place where they lived in their childhood. Visit that place, inquire around. You might would get some idea.DNA analyses would not work much in country like India (which has seen several migration/invasion and mixing up) because there have been no detailed study which would serve as the framework, max you can figure out is whether your ancestor came from Europe or were native inhabitants of India. All the best for this endeavor of yours, which in my opinion is a worthless and futile. But then again I have been proved wrong several timkes in the past.
How to find my ancestors for free?
i know a site where you can search people but its not for free....but you could try their trial membership and see if you like it. URL below.
Is this a real question? I had to read this a few times before even deciding if I wanted to answer. I’ll tackle this one piece at a time.First of all, it is impossible to be Black but not have ancestors from Africa. Sure, you might not know them personally or be able to identify what tribe they came from, but Black genes originated in Africa.The second is that if you are not African, but Black (for argument’s sake) the next default “race” is not Jamaican. Jamaicans are not a race to themselves. We are an ethnic group comprising of many races, melted into one pot of Jamaican culture.Any DNA test that tells you you are Jamaican needs to be re-examined. The only natives of Jamaica died long before Blacks set foot on the island.Good luck with this figuring this out!
Online (for the most part)1st. start with your family tree, ask your parents and older family members.Once you get the most from your current family do a research in FamilySearch: Free Family History and Genealogy Records and other websites like Ancestry: Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records2nd. be patient, in my case I didn't find anything from generations in the last 350 years, I’m Mexican and found Spaniards around 1600 from some of the tree branches/roots, that information is already available in the familysearch website.If you have access (free or paid) to old documents from different websites, documents like birth certificates, marriage cert, death cert, church registers, etc. those documents are extremely difficult to read even if your primary language is Spanish, probably you’ll need to travel to those places and see by yourself.Good luck!
The most basic tenet of genealogy is to start with what you know. You know your name and dates, and most people can supply this information about their parents (adoption searches are entirely different). This answer suggests methods to research in the United States. Other countries may have different records but the basic rule is still the same.Go ask someone living what they know about the family history. Add their information to your information. Start searching records. As an example: You may not know your grandfather's name, but you know that your father is John Smith, born 1932 in Baxter county, Arkansas. You go to the 1940 Federal Census which is available several different ways online and look for a John Smith, age 8, in Baxter county. You find 3 that might match. But then you remember that your father had a sister named Jane who was one year older. Only one of your families has a girl Jane Smith born in 1931. Your grandfather's name is William Smith -- although it is still tentative at this point. Then you go to marriage records, probate records, birth certificates, death certificates, obituaries, or cemetery records to find supporting evidence.It's not rocket science.
How can i find my ancestors online?
Unfortunately, it is very rare to simply find one entire line of your tree on any web site. Most often you have to work backwards on your own for a number of generations before you can link them to someone else's line. You will find some lines better to trace than others. Start from the present and work backwards. Where was the last known ancestor born? If in Canada or the USA, get their birth certificate. This will have her/his parents' place of birth. Keep going until you get to an overseas location. Then it is best to buy genealogy books on that country to help facilitate your search. The Mormon Church keeps many records of archival birth, marriage & death entries from all over the world. You do not have to be a member to use their facilities. (familysearch.org) Also, it is good to join a genealogy group online or in your area.
Firstly ask the oldest living ones. Beyond that, or if you're talking on a deeper ancestral level (as in, you know that you're not Jewish yourself, and your parents/grandparents weren't), commercially available DNA tests can usually tell you if you have Ashkenazi ancestry (and particularly Ashkenazi are well-represented, or indeed over-represented probably, in the databases due to a disproportionate number of us having done them evidently). These tests, the good ones at least, are not costly, are easy to do, and some of them -- particularly 23andMe - Genetic kit for ancestry | DNA Service can give you a quite accurate, and imo almost always 'on the money' estimate of just 'how' Ashkenazi, if at all, you may be on a distantly ancestral level. You'll receive a result called an "Ancestry Composition" in which Ashkenazi is listed as a separate category or rather a sub-set of "European", and it tells you the percentage which your sample carried. If you phase the results against 1 or both of your parents too, if possible, that can tease out even more accuracy. Overall it's worth 100 bucks.