How many shoppers and people on this board have used or contacted one of the dotcom agencies looking for ancestral information? Was the information helpful? Did you use a paid agencies or a FREE one? Whom provided more accurate information the paid one or the free one? Are you still receiving information from him? What is happening now with your search?

I recently started researching for ancestors. I am looking at 150 years ago (1865-2017). I can piece together some history of 100 years but the last 50 maybe harder. I don't think my ancestors were sitting around trying to write me a letter. Based on the tremulous turmoil that was happening in the US in 1857 to 1870. Although I did find a relative born in 1877 or was 46 years old by the time my parents were born(1918). Again, no one was writing me about the future or past because the next 30 years the nation would established another set of historical unrest.

I don't want to give the dotcoms agencies any play, unless they are paying Jacob for my advertising. Which is my I am not providing a link.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2017 09:37PM by sojo917.

I have not used these services, however, many years ago, we had a "Family tree" our kids investigated and with our parents information (Holocaust survivors) found out about everything, how they were sent to Ellis Island and ended up in their various countries/cities. Once every four years we had family get togethers in San Francisco and Mexico City as well as Los Angeles. Seventy family members and their children met one another, became friends and knew who their cousins were. We're still in touch, now on Facebook. My family is an interesting one, with my cousin having been Mayor of San Francisco and now in the Senate for years. I'm so happy my daughter got to know her family tree. We have visited mexico City dozens of times over the years.
I highly recommend paying for this information if needed. Links are easy to find, just google it......

People in the Mormon faith have research centers all over the place manned by volunteers...I went to a major one while on a trip to Salt Lake City, and found there was one right in my town! I do give them a donation to help defray their expenses, but have found a lot of records with their help and guidance.

The information used by the genealogical websites are only as good as the information submitted to them. I do not take them as gospel nor do I use them as an easy out instead of doing my own research. I have been a genealogical researcher for over 35 years and now lecture on it at genealogical societies and historical societies across the Tri-State region. Ironically enough, I met my future husband at one of these genealogical groups. I discovered for myself that what is submitted to such-and-so dot com isn't necessarily 100% accurate because there's no way they can check every scrap of data submitted to them. There was once some information sent to them that was a pedigree chart with various names and dates---come to find out this info was a chart taken out of the front of a NOVEL which explained the relationship of the book characters to each other, it was entirely made up. A lady in one of the classes I taught said she wasted 3 years trying to see where this family integrated with hers.

If you want true accuracy of data, go to county court houses whether in person or correspond with them, look at the county resources in local historical societies, I first learned how to go about it in free classes sponsored by a local LDS church. You don't need to be one to attend their classes.

My grandmother was one of 16 children. I did not know my grandmother Nothing nada nothing. Growing up, I met one brother and one sister of my mother. Except for the two summers we traveled down south. When my mother passed, a couple relatives came from under the rug. But life intervened. I lost touch with those relatives.

November 2016 I received an invitation to dinner. I went. At this dinner I met relatives I did not know. We all had the same question------>"Who are we?"

In January 2017 we decided to begin our search. Some of the relatives wanted to do the dot com search. Others wanted to search through actual family members they knew. Keep in mind that some of Us, are seniors citizen and anybody older was hitting late 80s early 90s, Whom knows what part of their mind is at a position of remembering. Thus began my search. Which prompted the original post.

It is now April, I have found more family on my own than any dot com could have provided and still finding out more. I now know I have family in Texas, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey. Amazing enough, the dot com site does not like providing information about slave owners and the mistresses concubine. My relatives are the mistress offspring, as am I. I have found out more in the last three months than I knew one year ago. I am also finding out that over the years various relatives have tried to do the "same" search but was "closed" down by the family historian. I have come across more info than the dot com sites. While finding the ancestral heritage (1865-1940) was "easy", I think the last 75 years are going to be the hardest. Good will hunting.

Fortunately census records are available to 1940, there are privacy laws in place which make more recent searches challenging. I found some people in old newspaper archives and the social security death index can be useful, from the old obits in newspapers I was able to track down the funeral homes that may have handled some arrangements and they have some good records too.

I use the Internet combined with family stories and a book someone wrote about my family. Also, go and visit the graves. Next step is to visit the towns where my family has lived and also go to the libraries and do some research here. I did find a picture of my great grandmother on the internet and she looked a bit like my step grandmother.

This is an interesting topic for this forum. I have worked as a professional genealogical researcher for over twenty-five years. I subscribe to the largest dot com site because the digital copies of actual records are available to subscribers with more records being uploaded all the time. One can never rely on family trees that have been uploaded to a site because there is no way to verify its accuracy. The LDS church has Family History Centers all over the country which are free to use. They also have a free genealogy website which provides access to millions of records worldwide. They rely on volunteers to transacribe the information in the records, so sometimes it is not accurate, but it's a good start and can provide the information required to order a hard copy of the document.

I used the dot com route and built a family tree back to pre-1900's but prior to that all my relatives lived in Holland and I don't know where to go from here. Alot of the info I already had gathered from special family members over the years and just wanted to get it down somewhere for my kids if they become interested as my memory seems to be going over the past few years for things like that. I would like to expand my information as all I have is people that my mother or I actually knew and is missing a lot of extended family. Everyone lived here in my hometown and some in South Dakota pre-1940's. This topic has me interested in working on it again.

What is LDS?

Latter Day Saint, they to have a free dot com site. It is based on history telling from the church of Mormons.

Good information here. My husband and I were in Salt Lake City at the Latter Saints Research Center. We were new at this and got some information but if you have a chance, go there. They also have many locations where you can get information. Even in a small town near me they are there on a Saturday for a few hours. Check their site.
I look at obituaries but they can be wrong. My step-father's first name was spelled wrong and I gave them the information. They corrected it the next week. It was a small town and people knew him so they did come to the services.
On one census, they misspelled my grandmother's name.
I am lucky enough on my grandfather's side to have a famous artist so he is in history books and there is information about his family. My mother told me the name of the town in Italy my grandparents lived before coming to America and I found relatives on Facebook with this information.
On my grandmother, I only know a little and she was born in Italy. In a letter my mother had from my aunt she had written the recipe for my grandmother's bread. On the other side, she had written "Mom got a letter today her sister in Italy had passed away". No date. I finally found the sister's name. One lived in Colorado near my grandparents so I knew her.
Look at recipe books and old letters. I kept my mother's calendars as she had birthdates written on them.
The Minnesota Historical Society has given me lots of information on my husband's family.
I am waiting for my DNA to come for the results. I do not know much about my real father so am interested to know about him.
My step-father's chart goes back to when his family left Wales and came to America.
Sometimes, you have to pull teeth to get relatives to write back to you. I know from experience. Keep trying.
Sorry, I have talked so much. I am 79 and if I do not do this, my kids will not know what I know and remember. Good for people who do the research.
Leona

I would encourage anyone interested in tracing their roots "across the pond" so to speak to search for and join Facebook groups. There are several really good ones and other members are generally more than willing to help. There are also Facebook groups dedicated to US based research.

My mom started our family tree 49 years ago (I was a month old) and we still find new things. Something as simple as googling a specific name could lead to discoveries. Remember to look under the "more" tab and check "books". We have had good luck with this option. Found some info in an old law book that referenced a case about my 5th gr grandfather. The courthouse had burned and we would have never found that tidbit.

....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2017 12:23PM by lucky7s.

Well then they are not her full sisters lol.

So she has ancestors from India?

......

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2017 12:23PM by lucky7s.