Start

Start with what you know.  Put your name on a chart or tree on your desktop, or on a public tree.

Talk to family and add names and places as you find them.  Then, pick a name you want to search.     Search the following sites with every possible name spelling:

Search by Name: Start with the major internet search engines  and public family trees.

• Mocavo.com – Searches free genealogy sites
• Google.com – Searches everything, even non-genealogy sites
• Ancestry.com US – Free Trial
• Rootsweb.com
• WeRelate.org
• WikiTree.com

If you find someone who has traced your family, check their sources  for accuracy.  If you do not find any common family, start searching by place.

Search by Place:  Start by tracing your family back in time through the censuses, that way you can have a road map of places to search for other records.  The most recent U.S. census is 1930 and it goes back in time every ten years to 1790 (few schedules exist for 1890).

Sites for U.S. censuses

• FamilySearch.org
• HeritageQuest.com – Check with your library for free access from home
• Ancestry.com US
• Archives.com

Free sites for U.S. sources

• FamilySearch.org - Extracted vital records for many states.
• Find A Grave.com – Cemeteries, tombstones, etc
• HeritageQuest.com - Census, books, Rev.War records, Freedman’s Bank
• USGenWeb.org – Many local records
• Cyndislist.com – Cyndis List of Genealogy sites on the Internet

Subscription sites for U.S. Sources

• Ancestry.com US – Use for census, immigration, military, vital records
• Archives.com – Free Trial!
• FamilyLink.com – Immigration, Social Security Death Index, etc.
• Fold3 – Use for military records, immigration, etc.
• GenealogyBank.com - Newspaper articles and obituaries