Want to trace my family tree, and am having trouble getting started.

[krod47nw]

I have had the urge to trace my family tree as of late.  Can this be done for little or no money, or do I have to spend hundreds of dollars online?  I downloaded the free "Legacy" program, but it is not the full version.  They of course want to be paid for the full version.  Most of the links I tried to follow on my own took me to sites like Ancestry.com and such.  They want a monthly fee for information ( $25.00 per month minimum).

Can some one please give me some starting guidelines that don't cost a bunch of money.  I don't mind buying a software program, but don't really want to get involved with a monthly fee.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Siskiyou]

You might want to start with close and extended family member.  Just following that route lead me to other lost relatives.  A couple of shirttail relatives did family trees as high school and college projects   They dropped it but left great works behind.

My curiosity lead me down the path, but I dropped out in a few years when I found that a relative had published a great deal of the family data I shared on the Net. 

As a criminal investigator I encounter a few people during my career living under false Identities taken from a number of sources. 

I have enjoyed some get togethers with relatives across the country because of our interest in family.  One of my most enjoyable times was at a get together with an aunt who was 92 at the time.  She had been rather quite for a couple of days then I brought out a folder of family pictures I had inherited from my Dad.  Great discussions followed, and the Aunt squared away some of my assumptions.  This lead to a convoy of family members to cemeteries, museums, old family farms, and to court houses searching for information.

It was a fun time getting to know my relatives.  The elder Aunt was a great resource, her baby brother did not know beans.  The best in family resources have been the ones with time on their hands and retired.

The real benefit was that I meet a lot of relatives.

[krod47nw]

You might want to start with close and extended family member.  Just following that route lead me to other lost relatives.  A couple of shirttail relatives did family trees as high school and college projects   They dropped it but left great works behind.

I know very little about my fathers side of the family.  They have all passed on including my father.  My mother is still alive, and is helping with her side, but see also knows very little about my fathers side.

Kevin

[torpedoman]

court house and church records  help a bunch most of the i net stuff is junk.

[mechanic]

I don't know where you live, must most larger cities have either a historic society, an archives, or a public library with reference material.  You need access to the census.  If you know your grandfather's name and date of birth, you can find him on the census.  Census data is made public after 35 years.  Start with what you know, use original sources, like the census, tax records, birth and death records, etc.  If you know your father's name, you can order his death certificate, which will give his father's name, etc.  These sources will get you back for about three generations.  Baptismal records of churchs, etc. can be accessed.

I you email me, I will send you some links to free sites.

Don't worry about the software at the beginning.  Use hardcopy until you get enough data it becomes unmanageable.

I've traced several branches of mine and the wifes family back 13 generations.  I now have over 7500 names in a database.  But it took a while..be patient.

liftmechanic@hotmail.com

Ben

[Mrs Graybeard]

You would be amazed at what a little bit of information helps in your research.  GB didn't know very much about this dad's side of the family so I had very little information to go on.  I talked to one of this cousin and found out the name of this great-grandfather. I took this information to our public library were we have a genealogy room. Since GB's great-grandfather was born in 1851 in Calhoun County, Alabama I checked the 1860 Census and found him with his parents and siblings.

Since GB set up this forum I have found four cousin who are members of GBO. 

Faye aka Mrs Graybeard

PS: The name of our genealogy room is the Alabama Room and it is at the Anniston/Calhoun County Library here in Calhoun County, Alabama.

[CannonKrazy]

I asked the same question to many people lately. Where do I begin? I started by talking to my mother(83 years old) and she remembered some of her side of the families names. I went looking today for grave sites and lucked out and found my Uncle (mothers brother) and my Great Great Grand Mother. There is a grave between the two and I am pretty sure it belongs to my Great Great Grand Father. I want to talk with someone in the church where I found them that may be able to help with other relatives.
I never met but just a couple of my mothers family and only one of my fathers brothers. I would really like to find out more about them. This is very interesting to me. My kids never met any of my family other than my mother,brothers and sisters. Most all are gone now or won't be around long so this is a chance to record some history before it's to late.
If anyone has any suggestions that may help in my search please pm me Thanks.

[torpedoman]

forgot what the cousin who did ours said, census and old tax and deed records from the county court house counties sometimes keeps marriage and birth records also. he worked about 5 yrs and traced ours back to arrival from Holland to new Amsterdam in the 1700's

[mechanic]

Ms. Graybeard is correct, the best source of help is a genealogy room at the library, or at a local archives.  If your library does not have a genealogy room they should know where the closest one is.  Another source, though some don't like to use it, is the Latter Day Saints Church.  They have compiled more genealogy than anyone based on their idea of baptising for the dead.  Many local LDS churches have genealogy rooms. 

If you can afford the subscription, you can access original sources through Ancestry.com. 

Other free sources are:  usgenweb.org, rootsweb.com, and others.  A free genealogy program can be downloaded from Legacy.com to store your data on the computer.

Be careful with things that people submit via the internet unless you can verify them  Believe me, people will "make up stuff".  My family had a long voiced myth about being descended from royalty.  We are not, not even close, but you can find some places on the internet where people have "made up" stuff that seems to say we are.

What you will find will be just as interesting as what you hope to find.

Ben