Trace Your History with Free Genealogy Websites

Did you ever have to make a family tree for school? Back then, it was a difficult proposition, trying to dig up information on relatives that no one remembered their names. These days, with internet, kids have it easy!

Why trace your family tree?

There are several reasons to learn about your ancestors. The first is that it's just plain interesting. All these people from the past have their blood running in your veins!

In some cases, it is vital to know who is in your past and what they died of to help trace medical problems down through the generations. This can help identify a genetic condition that went previously undiagnosed and in some circumstances, has actually led to the diagnosis of a disease that had doctors baffled!

Yet another good reason for conducting a free genealogy website search is the possibility of meeting distant or even not-so-distant relatives. This is particularly true in families where one or more member was ostracized a generation back. It is now possible to find the missing branches of the family and reconnect with them.

These searches are also useful to those were adopted and are unable to reconnect with their birth mother because she has passed away. A genealogy report allows adoptees to find the remaining family members and possibly meet them.

You never know who might turn up in your family tree. And what better way to find out than by searching on the internet? Free genealogy websites make searches super simple.

Where can you search?

Many genealogy websites exist on the internet, but most of them will charge fees to do a search into your family history. Only a few are actually free genealogy websites. One such site is part of the US Gen Search, a project dedicated to providing free genealogy websites for every county and state in the U.S.

Family Search is another website that offers free searches on dead ancestors and also offers a downloadable program to print off your family tree in full color. They have a news article archive as well to give even more information to searching families.

Why are these sites free?

Free genealogy websites are kept free by one of three means. One, they aren't really free. Some sites offer a free initial search with very basic results and promise more in depth information if you pay a fee.

Two, they are sponsored by businesses and/or private donations, such as the US Gen Search. These companies are interested in furthering the research of the project that they sponsor and are willing to donate money to it in order to get a lower tax bracket status.

The last way that these free genealogy websites stay free is by placing ads on their web pages. When viewers click on an ad, the advertiser pays the website, giving them the income necessary to continue providing a free service. The better service offered, the more people will recommend the site to their friends and the more people will see the ads.