Anyone know any websites to trace back your family harratige?

Zip · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:07

I want to try and trace my family back to see where i come from and what countrys my ansesters come from and what social status they had.
Ive tryed googling it but that just goes around in circles.
So can anyone help me and know of anywebsites?

evil.jelly · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:12

try http://www.ancestry.co.uk for starters.

Zip · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:16

evil.jelly said:
try http://www.ancestry.co.uk for starters.

I wopuld prefere not paying for one because if i wanted to pay i would get a historian to trace it back

Thanks anyway though.
I also am mainly looking for ones that go back into the middle ages aswell

evil.jelly · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:18

Sorry mate I thought it was free. I was reading off the back of this 'who do you think you are family tree' software box (by the bbc) sitting on my desk. I think someone gave it to the missus or something. It's based on the tv series - who do you think you are.

KASM · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:37

Zip said:
I wopuld prefere not paying for one because if i wanted to pay i would get a historian to trace it back
Thanks anyway though.
I also am mainly looking for ones that go back into the middle ages aswell

You'll not find any sites that go that far back, to really do research such as that you need to be looking into parish records and I'm afraid doing family history research isn't free; sending off for records such as birth certificates can get quite expensive at around £10 per time.

Roberta · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:38

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/

Worked quite well for me.

Zip · 16 Apr 2006 at 09:47

KASM said:
You'll not find any sites that go that far back, to really do research such as that you need to be looking into parish records and I'm afraid doing family history research isn't free; sending off for records such as birth certificates can get quite expensive at around £10 per time.

Damm money, you can even have your own history with out paying for it

On another note. Thanks roberta

Anymore help would be great

siztenboots · 16 Apr 2006 at 22:12

Zip said:
I want to try and trace my family back to see where i come from and what countrys my ansesters come from and what social status they had.
Ive tryed googling it but that just goes around in circles.
So can anyone help me and know of anywebsites?

They ( website ) are all run by the Mormons anyway, for some reason it is a compulsion for them to catalog all this data.

miracleboy · 17 Apr 2006 at 07:44

I've done quite a bit of my own family tree so far and there are a lot of free resources out there, but you need to know where to start otherwise like you say it becomes a bit confusing and overwhelming.

Basically, start off with everything you already know - talk to relatives and start simple - with an outline, so start with you and go backwards, write on a piece of paper, don't worry about date of births yet - just write down names, you, parents, their parents etc - until you have an outline and then start filing in the details.

Start here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/index.shtml

It's a good site for beginners and will give you all the basics - watch the video "How to get started".

This site is essential, massive and free...

http://www.rootsweb.com/

Then there is the LDS (Latter Day Saints) archive - this is incredibly helpful and allows you to search censuses that they have indexed...

http://www.familysearch.org/

You will be able to make a very good start with a little effort, and it only becomes very difficult when you go older or start to do the living history, then you need to visit the FRC (Family Records Centre) and the PRO (Public Record Office).

It also depends a lot on where your ancestors came from - I have some Scottish relatives and the Scottish records are the best I have seen, all online searchable for a small fee (you buy credits on the website). English records are not as good, and tracing my Irish ancestors is extremely hard going (most of the records were destroyed in a fire in 1922).

Overall, start simple, don't get overwhelmed and don't be afraid to ask, either on here, or rootsweb forums is a good place. It will be very rewarding believe me!

If you have anyone you'd like me to check out then post their details here and I will try my best.

Good luck!

Zip · 17 Apr 2006 at 08:26

miracleboy said:
I've done quite a bit of my own family tree so far and there are a lot of free resources out there, but you need to know where to start otherwise like you say it becomes a bit confusing and overwhelming.

Basically, start off with everything you already know - talk to relatives and start simple - with an outline, so start with you and go backwards, write on a piece of paper, don't worry about date of births yet - just write down names, you, parents, their parents etc - until you have an outline and then start filing in the details.

Start here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/index.shtml

It's a good site for beginners and will give you all the basics - watch the video "How to get started".

This site is essential, massive and free...

http://www.rootsweb.com/

Then there is the LDS (Latter Day Saints) archive - this is incredibly helpful and allows you to search censuses that they have indexed...

http://www.familysearch.org/

You will be able to make a very good start with a little effort, and it only becomes very difficult when you go older or start to do the living history, then you need to visit the FRC (Family Records Centre) and the PRO (Public Record Office).

It also depends a lot on where your ancestors came from - I have some Scottish relatives and the Scottish records are the best I have seen, all online searchable for a small fee (you buy credits on the website). English records are not as good, and tracing my Irish ancestors is extremely hard going (most of the records were destroyed in a fire in 1922).

Overall, start simple, don't get overwhelmed and don't be afraid to ask, either on here, or rootsweb forums is a good place. It will be very rewarding believe me!

If you have anyone you'd like me to check out then post their details here and I will try my best.

Good luck!

Thanks for all of that

I dont think my ancestors come from scotland and i think they were english but there is still a bit of uncertanty. Its going to take awhile to track down the herritage if they are english then

Bumhucker · 17 Apr 2006 at 09:54

Zip said:
I wopuld prefere not paying for one because if i wanted to pay i would get a historian to trace it back
Thanks anyway though.
I also am mainly looking for ones that go back into the middle ages aswell

If you want to trace your family tree, you will probably have to pay anyway. It costs £7 per certificate and you need one if you are going to be sure that a person is in your tree. The information on websites is very small and mostly used to point you to the right certificate.

I bought my girlfriend a subscription to ancestry.co.uk and she has used it a lot in tracing her family tree. She's worked back to the 17 century so far and bought in the region of 5 to 10 certificates.

Genesreunited is also very good. she has found 3 relatives on that website so far and it's much cheaper just to copy someone elses tree when they've done all the hard work

miracleboy · 18 Apr 2006 at 17:29

Yes finding someone in your tree who has already done a lot of research is good! I found someone and they had done a lot more than me, and found out some really interesting things - like I have some executed smugglers back in the 17c and also a Titanic survivor in my tree!