Originally Posted by Oddsock (Post 4531751)

My 2 cents...not an expert by any stretch of the imagination.

I've gone back to the early 1600 on one side of the family but struggle with the side that is Jewish going back to Poland, German and Russia. Started on genes reunited, which had some very helpful people who actually helped me find my father and brother.

The site I use the most is ancestry.com, found the site the easiest to use. Found a cousin on there also. I believe the basic is free or was when I joined years ago, a couple of years ago we paid for more features/ access. Hubby said I'll get it free from now on anyway, as they've made some sort of deal with LDS and it's free for them.

Good luck with whatever site you join, try several for the most info. It's great fun, when you find someone new. Also don't just believe others on line,who've done the same work, you will find some people, make mistakes and then waste time going back with the wrong family. Check records where ever you can. Try similar sounding names. We have the name Ehrlich, it's been spelt Erlich, Erlish etc..

Before starting, it's a good idea to talk with family and get as much info as you can, especially from the elderly members. Wish I had this option, especially with family members who changed their first and last names due to the abuse they had to deal with when moving to a new country.


Also double check the records. If the records have been (can't think of the word) archived by a member of the public, check it, sometimes a name is misspelled or plain old wrong. Found this to be more of an issue when someone outside of the UK thought they knew street names,places in the UK. If you archive stick to what you know, please.

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 4531925)

Thanks, everyone. I did come across the Ellis Island archives and may be able to find a couple things there, but I can't quite tell yet as there are sooo many records that *could* be my maternal g-g-grandfather, so we'll see. I'll try that one you suggested too, Cathy, thank you. I think in the end, it looks like I'm going to have pay ancestry.com or something...?

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly (Post 4531846)

My ex-husband has always researched his and others family genealogies as a hobby he took up from his grandfather, but he's a bit of a purist and has traveled a good bit to complete research or fully check out a reference or lead. He's even check out grouped family cemetery headstones to be sure the Christian family names, dates of birth/death are consistent to further fact-check the person he's tracking.

I remember he long ago decided that there are far too quick presumptions & improper conclusions drawn due to inadequate research, rushing to complete the investigation by genealogy services, due to the proximity/propinquity of people of same/similar Christian and/or surnames, age, appearance or occupation; and that there are many, many errors in old records, including government, church, cemetery, medical, old newspaper records, etc., due to sloppiness, abject lying in listing NOK, misspellings, a person officially or unofficially changing their name, use of aliases, poor handwriting in official documents, poor condition of the actual records, or mistakes in mixing up one name or person with another.

Originally Posted by 107barney (Post 4531927)

I think ancestry gives a free month.

Originally Posted by Harrysmum (Post 4532008)

Totally agree, Jeanie :thumbup:

My father has managed (so far) to track back to the 1600's (as has Sandy) - and all of it has been within 'our own Country' - he was able to actually visit gravestones, look at church records etc. etc....

But there are many, many iffy bits - still quite a bit of guesswork - and loads of Downton Abbey bits (for instance, my dad was a high-flying aviation lawyer - and his g-g-g-g- grandmother was a scullery maid, God bless her :D)

Apart from that, I think he, too, started on good old ancestry.com.

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly (Post 4531846)

My ex-husband has always researched his and others family genealogies as a hobby he took up from his grandfather, but he's a bit of a purist and has traveled a good bit to complete research or fully check out a reference or lead. He's even check out grouped family cemetery headstones to be sure the Christian family names, dates of birth/death are consistent to further fact-check the person he's tracking.

I remember he long ago decided that there are far too quick presumptions & improper conclusions drawn due to inadequate research, rushing to complete the investigation by genealogy services, due to the proximity/propinquity of people of same/similar Christian and/or surnames, age, appearance or occupation; and that there are many, many errors in old records, including government, church, cemetery, medical, old newspaper records, etc., due to sloppiness, abject lying in listing NOK, misspellings, a person officially or unofficially changing their name, use of aliases, poor handwriting in official documents, poor condition of the actual records, or mistakes in mixing up one name or person with another.

Originally Posted by Maximo (Post 4532141)

We have a couple of family members on both sides of my family who put together books based on their research and a lot of it was wrong, including basics about our current family. Definitely verify through official documents.

We also have the problem of family members who changed names, oral histories, and what not around WWI - WWII because of German connections, and name spelling changes when they came to the US.

We have a bunch of original documents from my dad's family going back to the Netherlands, but the translations from Dutch to English are sketchy.