Free Resources for Researching Your Family Tree

If you're just starting out researching your family tree, you may not want to spend a lot of money until your sure your interest will continue. Or perhaps you're an avid genealogist, but working with a limited budget. In either case, you'll be happy to know that there are a number of free resources for researching your family tree.

Family History Library

Founded in 1894 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Family History Library gathers genealogical information and assists individuals searching their family history. The main library can be found in Salt Lake City, Utah, but there are branches called Family History Centers in all states, as well as over one hundred countries. You can locate a Family History Center through the website at www.familysearch.org or by calling (866) 406-1830.

The records collections include microfilms, microfiches, books, serials, periodicals and electronic resources. You can also search databases of the Ancestral Files, Pedigree Resource File, and International Genealogy Index. If your local Family History Center does not have the collection you need, they can request it for you. Some information is also available through the website.

Heritage Quest

Heritage Quest is an excellent free resource for searching your family tree. It's available through your local library. If you're friendly with your local librarian, they may allow you access from home. Through Heritage Quest, you can access six databases. You can search census records from 1790 to 1930. Name indexes are available for some years. The PERSI database is an index of over 2.1 million genealogy and local history articles. You can also search Revolutionary War records, including selected pension and bounty-land warrant application files. Records from Freedman's Bank may help you locate African-American ancestors. Memorials, petitions, and private relief actions of the US Congress are also available from the US Serial Set.

The USGenWeb and WorldGenWeb Projects

Ran by volunteers, the USGenWeb Project is a network of free genealogy resources. Each state has a website offering genealogy information. If you're looking for more location-specific information, there are county websites as well. Volunteers adopt a state or county and fill their website with information on the history of their area, as well as transcriptions of genealogical information they have. Visitors can send in information they have to the coordinator to be included on the site. Examples of information you might find on a county website would be marriage records, census transcriptions, cemetery transcriptions and links to local information sources.

Some site coordinators and volunteers offer lookups for information that isn't found on their website. Don't be surprised if you run across a distant relative when requesting a lookup. I recently came across a distant cousin when requesting a lookup. He not only took the time to look up the information I needed, but also shared his research on the familial line we shared, saving me a lot of time and money.

If you have members of your family tree that immigrated to the US from other countries, the WorldGenWeb Project may help you locate information on them. Like its US counterpart, WorldGenWeb starts with bigger areas, in this case continents, followed by countries, and lastly provinces or smaller regions.

Find A Grave

Find A Grave can be a great help when trying to locate where your ancestors are buried. Volunteers submit information on cemetery interments around the US. On some listings, you can find pictures of the headstone, and occasionally a picture of the actual person. While many of the listings consist of only the name, cemetery and dates, some offer more information, including the name of parents, siblings, spouses and children, all of which help you fill in more branches of your family tree. You may even be able to learn a female ancestor's maiden name. If you find your ancestor, be sure to look through the other interments in the same cemetery and town. A lot of times you can find relatives in the same place. You can access the website at www.findagrave.com.

Genealogy Forums

If you've hit a brick wall with an ancestor, posting to a genealogy forum can yield some answers. In my experience, most people researching their family tree are happy to share information on common ancestors, not to mention meet distant relatives. The forums at ancestry.com and genealogy.com are popular. Both have surname and regional forums. If you're having trouble finding someone, don't forget to try variations of the surname since the spelling might have changed over time.

Internet Search

Internet searches can be hit and miss, but occasionally you hit a goldmine of information. Sometimes amateur genealogist set up websites to share information on their family tree. There also might be a book about your family. For instance, the book Sweat Families of the South has a lot of information on my maternal line.

Ancestry.com

While Ancestry is primarily a paid subscription service, there is some information to be found on the site without costing you a dime. It can help you narrow down where your ancestor lived in during a certain census, indicate whether they served in the military, give an approximate year of birth and death or find out when they immigrated to the US. Once you've gathered some details, you can move to other free resources to fill in the blanks of your family free. You can access the website at www.ancestry.com.

Social Security Death Index

If you're looking for more recent ancestors, the Social Security Death Index can help. You can access it from several sites. I prefer using the one through www.rootsweb.com because I like the format, but they all tend to offer the same information. Information to be found includes date of birth, date of death, where the social security card was issued and last residence. Keep in mind that the first social security cards were not issued until 1936 and the individual may have applied for theirs in a state other than the one they were born in.

Free Forms and Programs

Once you start getting more than a couple branches in your family tree, you'll realize that you're going to have a huge mess on your hands unless you come up with a method of organization. Forms and family tree programs are a great resource for keeping your research in order. Forms you will find most helpful include census extraction forms, pedigree charts and family group sheets. You can find these forms for free on several websites including www.genealogy.about.com and www.genealogysearch.com/free.

There are several family tree programs available, but my favorite is Family Tree Builder, which can be found at www.myheritage.com. It is very user-friendly and goes beyond what you would expect for a free program. You have the option of linking pictures to each family member, which is great if you want to put a face to an ancestor. You can also link documents. You can cite your sources or add notes to each person. One of the things I enjoy most about this program is their Smart Match. The program automatically searches for other family trees with information that matches yours, which can be helpful in filling in information you haven't found yet.

One thing to remember when working with family tree software is to back it up often. You don't want to lose everything if your hard drive crashes. Family Tree Builder has the option of uploading your tree to their website. You can also back it up on a disk, separate hard drive, or USB drive for safety. I use a combination of paper forms and backups to keep my research safe.

With these free resources, you should be able to quite a way with researching your family tree before it's necessary to turn to paid resources. Good luck on your search for your ancestors.