Tracing your family’s roots has never been easier, as genealogical organizations and hobbyists continue to add to the enormous amount of information online.
Not long ago in order to trace your genealogy, you would have to take on the exhaustive task of driving to county courthouses and possibly flying overseas. Today you can easily find census, marriage, and property records on your ancestors from the privacy of their own home.
Family Search
The Church of Later Day Saints is a top resource for a genealogist. The Mormon Church has Family Research Centers all over the United States where the public can access the gigantic library of microfiche that is maintained by the Church. The Mormons take genealogy very seriously because collecting “ordinances” is part and parcel of their faith. If you can’t get to a Family Resource Center near you, the familysearch.org website contains a large amount of vital records. The best part of the Family Search website is, it’s free.
Ancestry.com
This is the most recognizable resource out there. This website is especially good for beginners who are still polishing their organizational skills. One of the most helpful features of the site is the function that searches for records on an individual and their family automatically and provides “hints” on that individual. This makes Ancestry a convenient resource. One thing to remember is that the “hints” are not necessarily true. Many hints come from other users and the records must be double checked for accuracy. Packages on Ancestry range from $22.95 to $34.95 per month, which is quite reasonable. Most of the information can be found else ware for free, but Ancestry is a wonderful tool to help a beginner organize the large amount of sources involved in tracing genealogy.
Genealogy Software
There are numerous family tree programs on the market today. One of the most popular is Family Tree Maker. FTM software is a very inclusive program and has the ability to sync with Ancestry.com. This feature is nice if you have an account on Ancestry. Another top application is Legacy. Legacy has a more language features than FTM and is a bit less expensive. The best way to choose a program is to find one which has feature that is consistent to your research methods.
Professional Services
Like any difficult task, you can always pay someone else to do it for you. Even if you are doing research yourself, you may hit a roadblock. In these situations professionals can be helpful. Many online databases have a large amount of information on the US Census, but the farther in time you go back the more difficult finding records can become. Many countries did not keep a census and such information is limited to church records. A hobby genealogist can also run into language barriers if they do not speak a particular language. Professional services usually have reasonable rates for single record lookup and translation services.