There is no doubt that genealogy research today is dominated by the research on the internet, with the help of huge genealogical databases available online. Free genealogy search engines provide a very convenient way to track down your ancestors from across the globe without ever having to leave your living room... or pay a dime. Here's how to go about taking advantage of this resource.
The great thing is that you for the most part no longer need to browse through databases manually, finding the required people. All you need to do with most free genealogy search engines is to type in an individual's name and you will get back information about them that's available online. This drastically reduces the total time required for researching people in your family tree.
Some of the more popular free genealogy search engines are usgenweb, MyHeritage, and Rootsweb. They will prove to be extremely helpful in your research. However, you will need to be careful about whether the search has been comprehensive or not. This is because not all genealogy search engines take all the available databases into consideration.
It's a good idea to combine the data you obtain through various free genealogy search engines. Using such diverse databases is a great way to both gather and validate information.
Also, combining information from various sources can help reveal clues regarding other related members of the family. By simply searching for already known people, you can track down other related people. This can prove very useful at times if you are stuck at some place in your family tree.
Be aware that you may also have to make use of specialized search engines that find the required information only within a specific geographic area.This improves the probability of finding the required information as these look into more specialized databases. Here are some important free databases which free genealogy search engines get their information from-- chances are, you will want to access them yourself at some point:
- Official state sites, with voters' lists and census information.
- Military databases which include service data, information about deaths during wars, pensions, etc.
- Birth, baptism, death and marriage data, which can either be found in official state records or in the records of various individual churches.
- Immigration and emigration databases, which also provide clues to other members of the family and the places to look for.
If you intend to take parts of a family tree already present on the internet, you must ensure that there is no duplication of people. This happens because you may already have a few people in your family tree who are also on the incoming branch. Some popular genealogy software can check for duplication but it is always advisable to do a manual check just to be sure.
A word of caution: always validate the information that you get from unofficial or less credible sources to ensure accuracy of your research!
Remember that free genealogy search engines are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to genealogy research. While you may not ever need to access any of the paid resources, sooner or later you will want to expand beyond the scope of the data these engines provide.
No comments:
Post a Comment