Have You Done You Genealogy Online?

@Rozie37 (15499)
Turkmenistan
March 31, 2008 11:04am CST
Right now I am constructing my family tree online at Ancestry.com. I can not afford to pay for it, so I am just listing the people in my family right now and it is a lot of fun. I have attemted to do this before, offline and it got pretty boring. Online, they keep things in real good order, so it is easier. I do not know if anyone in my family has done this before, but I am doing it to find out where I come from. A lot of the people's names that I should know, I don't. I will have to call my aunt soon and ask her the informatio that I do not know. I hope she does not get grumpy. Especially, when I ask her ex-husband's name. So have you ever traced your roots online?
7 people like this
9 responses
@p1kef1sh (45681)
2 Apr 08
I belonged to Ancestry.com a while back but left them for Thegenealogist.com as they covered the UK better at the time. There are a number of free sites that will let you find stuff and where people will do lookups for you. (Which is strictly illegal on pay sites). I assume that you know about the Mormon Church and IGI etc. www.familysearch.org will give you more. This is an especially good site as they have Worldwide data, not just stuff limited to one country. Of course finding someone that you think is your ancestor on a web site doesn't mean that the necessarily were. You need to evidence everything, that's where the fun begins. I have traced my paternal lie back to 1687 with certainty and back to the start of that century using on line aids. Family history is becoming more than a hobby to me and is starting to cost serious money. But I love it. Happy hunting.
4 people like this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
2 Apr 08
You say it is costing you serious money? I do not think that I want to go that far back. I just want to find out about my Native American Heritage. I do not believe that I could get too wrapped up in something that would cost me a fortune, I hope. Thank you for the information about the mormon look up. I had been there before, but had completely forgot about it. Happy hunting.
2 people like this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
2 Apr 08
I go and spend a few days in the area that my ancestors came from. When you factor in hotels, meals and gas, the cost mounts up. If your ancestors are Native Americans then I really don't know where to go. I guess that there are some records, again with the Mormons,but before that...? Maybe tribal records if there were such things. Sounds like you have a tough, but fascinating hunt on your hands there Rozie. Good luck.
2 people like this
@p1kef1sh (45681)
3 Apr 08
Absolutely. Fortunately I have managed to evidence nearly all the stuff that I have found on there in Parish registers etc.
2 people like this
• United States
1 Apr 08
Rozie, please come on down to San Diego and visit one of our libraries. We have a link to Ancestry.com that you can use for free on our website, but you have to use it in the library. Maybe your local library as the same thing. I used to do a lot of genealogy, especially my father's side since our name is fairly unusual. It's harder on my mom's side because they all have very common surnames that are difficult to trace. On my dad's side, my grandmother has a common surname, but she won't help me with her relatives. We also have a Native American surname that is really hard to trace.
4 people like this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
1 Apr 08
I do not know that I can come all the way down to San Diego, but it just so happens, I will be going down to my local library today. I will ask them about it. I too have all very common surnames on my mom and dad's side. So I guess it will be hard for me too. I want to call my aunt about some information. But I am afraid she will not be willing to tell me much either. She is very secretive when it comes to family things.
2 people like this
@subha12 (18441)
• India
2 Apr 08
no i have done this yet. but i have heard a lot more about this. i think i am not able to do so as i know very few names of my ancestors.so it will be difficult for me.
3 people like this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
2 Apr 08
Oh alright.
1 person likes this
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
1 Apr 08
My family on my Grandmothers side just recently had a reunion back in New Zealand and an uncle/cousin is currently putting a family tree online together. He has set up a family website that enables him to create and update too. On my mothers side we have a family website at myfamily.com where another cousin of ours is updating and inputting all our family history there too. Another part of my mothers family (my grandfather was married three times LOL) they have a genealogy book printed already which my mom has a copy of too, so yes, you can say we have been doing this for quite some time. It's interesting what we have found out so far and still finding out too. Family have travelled several places to find more information.
4 people like this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
2 Apr 08
I would love to really get into it like that. Since I have started just a week ago, I have found out a lot about my ancestry. I called my aunt tonight to ask the names of a few family members and we talked for an hour. It was really nice.
3 people like this
• United States
2 Apr 08
Better than Ancestry.com is a program you can install for next to nothing. It's called Legacy. You can add people, notes, pictures and everything you need to trace your ancestry. It even allows you to print books and reports of all kinds. I've been tracking my ancestry for years. It can be tedious, but it's not boring to me. I haven't put it online and don't plan to. Too many people 'take' what they want from it and use it as their own. I'm a bit protective of my research. Good luck on your hunt.
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
2 Apr 08
I do not understand what you mean when you say that people will 'take' what they want from it and use it as their own. I would think that if it not their family, they would not be able to use it.
3 people like this
• United States
9 Apr 08
The connections made from people who have a remote link to a family are far reaching. For instance, say your surname is Smith, or Jones, or even a name that it uncommon - - - Some people don't care whether or not they are related. Some people might think they are related through a long lost relative. Some people who are just compiling as many names connected to a particular surname as they can, will take what information they can. It doesn't even have to be connected to them if they are in it for the number of entries. When you have researched for years and spent thousands of dollars for documentation, you can email someone inquiring about information. They easily take the information and add it to their databank, making them appear like they are the ones who have researched the information, when in fact, they literally took it from what information you innocently gave them. If they would ask if they could use it, it might be different, but some people just take it. It doesn't have to be someone related.
2 people like this
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
28 Jun 08
Terilee, my friend could identify with you! She found a local man about 35 minutes from her doing genealogy on her line. He wanted some information she could supply. She innocently gave him what she had. Well,she soon found out how wrong she had been about this man. He wanted the information to use as his own and she found it on the Internet within his file, and she was not given credit.And also, the information she gave wasn't even in his lineage; yet, he put it in there just as though they were all kin. You do find these people on the Internet quite often. I will not put my information on the Internet, either. I do like to put in a query in the forums to find out if there is another researcher that truly is part of our lineage. Then we can share information. But I would hate to think what might happen if I put all I have on there for the public. I've seen so many sites out there with a little of everybody's information they have collected. You can tell they have just extracted it from someone else by the little bit of information they provide.
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
9 Apr 08
I've been working on mine lately and just found someone that has my father's side traced all the way back to the late 1600s, from Normandy to Canada to the U.S. I am ecstatic! I've got more information of my immediate family to share with him, so I'm sure he'll be pleased too. There are other free programs out there that have a program you can download to build your tree and work offline, then you can upload it to any of the 'live' websites. If you build it there, you'll still have the info even if you can't stay with ancestry.com. I believe the site is http://myheritage.com
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
10 Apr 08
All the way back to the 1600s? That is totally awesome. I wish I could hook up with someone who had that much information on any side of my family. Thanks for the link, I will check it out.
1 person likes this
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
10 Apr 08
Yes! It's amazing the amount of work that a couple of people have done, it's taken them YEARS to compile all this. I just added more ancestors tonight. I've gone the one branch back to one guy born in the late 1500s. I can't even get my brain wrapped around all that, LOL ...
1 person likes this
@rocky777 (353)
• India
2 Apr 08
I have but the privacy issue has always kept me away from disclosing too much information. It is scary what all we can disclose and what can be misused. Of course ancestry.com and similar sites do a good job of hiding your personal information and that does help. But still, it is scary. All of that information in the wrong hands could ruin your life.
3 people like this
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
10 May 08
I have mine listed on Tribalpages.com. It is free up to so many names and pictures. I have 508 family members listed on there. I also found someone that was tracking the same family and so we shared the information and grew both of our trees. Good luck and let me know if you like that site. You can also have a paid subscriptions and for one year is like $24. I just keep mine free, but I can't upload the information to my new computer, so I have to do it by hand into my new program and computer. (My 15 year old son sold my other computer and I can't find who bought it for $50!) The little brat!
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
10 May 08
He sold your computer for fifty bucks? On my God, if someone did that to me, I would probably go into cardiac arrest. I am glad you were able to replace it. Thank you for telling me about the site. I am going to check it out immediately.
1 person likes this
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
10 May 08
I completely understand the mental issues, as I have a few of my own. Anyway, thank you so much for the information about this site. I am so excited. I was able to export the information from Myancestry.com to Tribalpages.com in less than five minutes. Everything is in perfect order. Thanks again. God bless you.
1 person likes this
@kaysue4 (951)
• United States
10 May 08
I had bought a new one and gave him the old one for school work. He didn't like that I wouldn't let him go online with that computer. He does have a few mental issues going on, but it still didn't make it right.
2 people like this
@lieanat (1137)
• Malaysia
27 May 08
Hi, thanks for your discussion. It's interesting. I don't know that we can trace our ancestry through online. Wow, I'll try it soon. Thanks.
1 person likes this