I have been doing genealogy research since I was in sixth grade. My English teacher assigned a report where we had to research our family tree. I lucked out because at the time I still had three grandparents alive. I was able to research pretty far back, especially considering the internet was still in it’s infancy. I’ve kind of been hooked every since. I’ve taken hiatuses every now and then but when I go back I get sucked in.
With the advent of the internet my research has gotten a lot easier. I’ve used ancestry off and on though the price has generally kept me away. I do like the fact though that I can keep my family tree there and other’s can access it. The message boards can also be useful.
I’ve also tried Geni though I’ve gotten away from it. They recently implemented a 100 person limit for your family tree if you had a basic, aka free, membership. The price again just didn’t seem worth it to me and since I was well past my 100 people I have since let that one go to the wayside.
There is one website though that I devote a lot of my time to. It’s familysearch.org and it allows you to search hundreds of collections from birth and death records, to marriage certificates, and even military records. It’s free to search and often times you’ll even be able to look at the actual records which can be fascinating. Having access to the actual birth certificate of marriage license can prove valuable. Familysearch doesn’t always give you all of the information you can find on the record.
Using just these three websites I think anyone just starting out can get a great start to researching their own family history.
