Tracing your ancestry may seem a daunting prospect, but it is also interesting and rewarding. It is one of the two most popular searches on the Web, and its popularity continues to grow.
A good place to start searching your ancestry is your local library. Most libraries have a section for genealogy. Other local sources for information on your ancestry are the county archives and courthouses, where you can find documents like birth, death, and marriage certificates, as well as old newspapers, all of which may be helpful.
While searching for your ancestry, don't neglect your biggest resource, the Internet. When tracing your ancestry through distant, often foreign locations, it isn't feasible to hop on a plane to search the local archives. Fortunately for you, the Internet is here to help you out. Most searches for ancestry are currently done online. The USGenWeb site is a helpful and free site that allows you to search ancestry by state. Their site is located at http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ussearch.htm .
A great way to let technology aid you in discovering your ancestry is to sign up for genealogy mailing lists. There are lists devoted to discovering ancestry based on surnames, certain regions, and certain ethnic groups. If you sign up for one, you will be e-mailed research on your subject from others researching the same. This is a great way to pool information about your ancestry, and it's almost always free. One location where you can get signed up for mailing lists based on the surname you are researching is http://www.surnames.com/ .
There are also many sites that will help you with your search for your ancestry, and provide you with resources — at a cost. They are usually at least $70 annually. However, if you are an avid genealogist who spends a lot of money on microfilms and CD ROMs, it may be worth it to you to sign up with one of these sites. Among them are www.metareward.com , and www.genealogy.com . Both of these ancestry search organizations offer two week trial periods. There is usually a genealogy library (which may include birth, marriage, and death certificates), and some kind of organizational software.
The one downside to Internet ancestry research is the risk you run to your computer by sharing so much information. It is easy to pick up a destructive virus. Even if you have anti-virus software (which you should), it is still possible to pick up a virus. Also, your ancestry research information is not safe if you only save it directly to your computer. Make sure you have backup copies of everything you wouldn't want to lose, whether it's to a USB storage device, floppy disks, or a second computer. You might be pretty upset if you had to redo all that hard work.
Make sure you don't neglect the Internet as a way to find your ancestry. Not only is it the most comprehensive source, it is also the fastest and most convenient, and in many cases it's free. It will be the best tool in your quest to discover your ancestry, if you take the proper precautions to avoid losing your research.
By: Riannon Cutler