Who were my ancestors?
September 4, 2007
Finding your roots can be an amazing experience
If you are wondering about where your family came from, there is no easier place to start than the Internet.
Unlike the past when intrepid researchers had to laboriously search through microfilm or old books, online sources today make research quick and easy.
Good places to start your quest online are genealogy.com and ancestry.com. There you will find easy access to census forms from 1800 to 1930. These subscription sites have databases of military, court, probate, immigration and naturalization records, slave schedules, and searchable published histories of states and localities, and biographies.
For free research, join any of the thousands of surname and ethnic email groups through rootsweb.com and others.
Ellisisland.org is the place to go if you know your family immigrated before World War I. If they came through Ellis Island, you will soon know your ancestors’ hometown and the address of their destination in America.
You may find the hardest information to obtain is the most recent. Since census records after 1930 are not yet public, you’ll have to rely on newspapers for more recent connections. Try newspaperarchive.com for easy access to thousands of searchable newspapers, often with useful obituaries listing family names.
A number of sites attempt to amass and link family trees. Onegreatfamily.com is one such site operated by the Mormons, holders of the world’s largest genealogical database.
Finally, this is the era of DNA. Check out dnaancestryproject.com to find out what your DNA can tell you about your heritage.
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