»Genealogy Web Sites«

I'm trying to do some genealogy work, and I'm finding that I can't make any progress online unless I pay for a subscription to some annoyingly expensive site like Ancestry.com. It bugs the hell outta me that I have to pay to find out information on my own ancestors. Seems like this should all be public access, readily available.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to pursue genealogy without paying for memberships?

posted by Tiefling

in-my-opinion.org -> Misc -> Gosh, you are annoying! -> Genealogy Web Sites

just use your registry office...every birth and death should be recorded and access should be free...it is in the UK anyway

not sure about anywhere else

posted by the anomaly

The Vital Statistics registry wants to charge me $20 for the death certificate of my great-great-grandfather. And yes, I can afford that, but what happens when I want the death certificate of my great-grandfather as well? Just kind of annoying to spend $20 for a photocopied piece of paper with a stamp on it.

posted by Tiefling

Yeah, access to county records is free to look up, but if you want copies you will have to pay (here atleast). You CAN take in a notepad and jot down whatever info you want without getting a copy and that is free. But on top of that, how far are you wanting to trace your family? Your search will probably take you to other counties unless your family has resided in the same county for a very long amount of time. Even if they have, chances are they haven't always lived there...and if you have ancestors that have always been in that area you are going to come to a point in which records were not kept, then you have to really do some research and that isn't always easy. Even really old records are hard to read...I read records from the 1840's and they are all writen in hand...and it's not so easy to read.

The work that I do is kinda like geneology...except for land. I am always in courthouses and such searching land records as far back as they go following the chain of ownership. At times I also have to search death records, birth records, marriage records etc to see who the land went to in case there was no will and the ownder died. Or if it is given to someone with the same last name I need to know how/if the person was related, although I don't have to have it...it is really nice to have and know though. It isn't exaclty the same as tracing an ancestory...

If you don't want to pay for the copies you can do your own search in the courthouses...I would start with talking to family members, getting years, dates of marriages and names (maiden names), births, deaths etc then take that info to the courthouse so that you know where to look. The way I do with land is I work backwards, I have a fairly recent title that gives a grantor and a grantee, I then search backwards to find where the grantor was the grantee and on and on and on as far back as I can go.

If your search is going to take you to different areas it might be worth it to pay for the site, that way they do the searching for you and you know where to go to request copies of whatever documents you might want. Unless you enjoy doing the searching yourself, it can be fun but at the same time very time consuming.

Are you looking for exact names, family etc...or just an idea as to where your family came from?

posted by allone

all you really need is 88mph. that's when the flux compacitor starts to work.

Hmm... all good points. I'm looking for information on one specific ancestor of mine (my great-great-grandfather, to be precise). I know his name, date of birth, date of death, date of burial, and place of burial, but I don't know who his ancestors were or whether or not he was an immigrant. I thought that if I can get a copy of his death certificate that it might list his parents --- I got the names of my great-great-grandparents on my mother's side from their son's death certificate.

posted by Tiefling

Tiefling:

You are a spoiled child of the internet era...

posted by knn

ebooks-download.com

Tiefling:

I know that birth certificates always list the parents. If he was born in the county that you are in just take a trip to the courthouse with the full name and date of birth and look it up, you should have the name of his parents in no time at all. If those parents died in the same county, their death certificates will be on file there...and if it is common there to list the parents on the death certificates then you have those parents names also...you can keep going until you can no longer find your family in that county, after that...you will have to do some detective work to find out what county they came from.

Things like births, deaths, marriages etc are all on file in the county courthouse that they happened in. It's funny but every county I have worked in so far has ALL suffered a fire at one time and there are some documents that are missing. It's crazy. It's just something to think about...if you do end up spending a lot of time in a courthouse ask someone there about the history of the courthouse, the county clerk usually knows enough to help...you could explain what you are trying to do and all, just a little friendly conversation...it's amazing how just a little bit of friendly conversation can make someone more likely to help you in your search incase you get lost. The county clerk is usually the one that knows where all the documents are and can find them very fast.

Also...this is in Texas...things might be slightly different there...

posted by allone

Well, I live 500 miles away from the county in question, unfortunately. But, from what you say, it sounds like if I can find the time to take a trip there, I could dig up some of this info pretty easily. Thanks for the tips! Thumb Up

posted by Tiefling

If you don't live near the county see if they have a website. There are some counties here in Texas that have a lot of documents online that you can search and print off at the cost of $1 a page. They aren't stamped or "official" they are just copies. They only go back so far though, like to 1970. So...on second thought the records you are probably looking for might not be available online.

Again, this is Texas though...try calling the county courthouse and see if they have a website and if so if they have documents that you can search online and if so how far back they go. They might, but from what I have experienced here the earliest records online were 1970.

posted by allone

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