Where do I start tracing my family tree?

Does anyone have any good begining ideas? Are there any websites that are free? And good? I can start with my dad…that’s as far back as I can go. G’pa was gone before I got here. He was Czech.

You will probably run into dead ends quickly with your Czech grandfather, especially if you don’t read Czech. Genealogy seems to be a primarily American hobby, and the bulk of the data people have put on the Internet is in English. You might get lucky and prove me wrong.

Here is my standard answer.

Someone asks a question like yours 1 – 4 times a day, sometimes in the Family category, sometimes in the Genealogy category, sometimes elsewhere:
Where can I find my family tree for free?
Does anyone know the {Surname} family?
What are good sites for ancestors / genealogy?

I paste this answer in. It is long and general. Not all the links and paragraphs will apply to everyone.

If you want to type in your name somewhere and get a 12-generation tree, skip the rest of this. I can show you where to dig, but you’ll have to buy your own shovel and do the work yourself.

Buying a shovel: If you get serious you’ll need a genealogy program. Trying to do family research without a genealogy program is like trying to write a novel with a pencil and yellow pad, instead of a word processor. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is the market leader. Both cost around $29. The Mormons will let you download PAF for free. It is clunky, but it is free. You can sometimes find old versions of FTM or Family Origins (FO is the predecessor of RM) in bargin bins at CostCo.

These may help get you started. They are large and free.

http://www.cyndislist.com/

(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed.)

http://www.familysearch.com

(Mormon’s mega-site)

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi

(460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=

Surname meanings and origins

http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html

My own site: “How to Begin”

United States only:

http://www.usgenweb.net/

(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province)

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi

(Social Security Death index – click on “Advanced”.)

http://find.person.superpages.com/

(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)

United Kingdom Only:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/

(Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland)

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

(Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

Notes:

You won’t find living people on any of the sites except the phone book one. You will have to find your grandparents’ or great grandparents’ birth dates and maiden names somewhere besides the Internet.

The free sites are supported by advertising, just like TV. You can’t watch the Super Bowl without seeing a beer commercial, and you can’t surf for dead relatives without seeing an Ancestry advertisement. Don’t complain about advertisements. They bring you the “free” sites. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Since you are in favor of free data, give some thought to helping others. You can look up obituaries in your town for people who post requests for them on bulletin boards, for instance. Another of my pages tells you how to ask for and look up obits:

http://www.tedpack.org/obit.html

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