Any hobby genealogy buffs in the house? What are the best on-line resources to research?

Asked by Dog (25152

) January 2nd, 2011

My dad brought over a bunch of old photographs he found in his closet. While he knows who some are I thought it would be fun to trace back and see if we can find out anything about the rest.

I know Ancestry charges a membership fee but are they the best of the paid ones like roots web, archives etc? What do you all think of these?

Are there any free resources that are as good?

Have any of you traced your roots and did you learn anything surprising or interesting that made you happy to have done it?

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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3 Answers

The problem with ancestry.com is that it doesn’t narrow down enough and you’ll pay for dead ends and wrong connections. I googled my paternal great-grandfather’s last name and joined every group that came up on different sites for free (facebook, etc) posting what few details I had. It took about a year, but I got a solid lead and then joined ancestry.com to purchase that line’s cd. It was correct and I shared it with my distant relative who gave me the lead… she shared her side that she had traced and we both got a full picture of where our family has gone.

Blueroses (18261

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Thanks @Blueroses! Cd lines? Sounds intriguing!

With the amazingly generous help of a fellow jelly I am making incredible headway on my research. :) I am finding that learning about my ancestors is explaining some of the present. I did not expect this and find it fascinating.

Dog (25152

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