Sunday, November 15, 2009

WHAT IS THE BEST web SITE FOR FINDING FREE INFORMATION FROM VITAL STATISTICS AND HELP WITH FINDING ANCESTORS?

I am working on my family tree and I have not been able to find birth and death records on many of my family.

WHAT IS THE BEST web SITE FOR FINDING FREE INFORMATION FROM VITAL STATISTICS AND HELP WITH FINDING ANCESTORS?
There is no one best site. These may help get you started. Birth records are generally off-line to avoid identity theft. Some US Gen Web county sites have old ones, but it is spotty.





Here are some California Death records:


http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/sear...





Other states don't have them. The SSDI (below) may help too.





http://www.cyndislist.com/


(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed.)





http://www.familysearch.com


(Mormon's mega-site)





http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...


(450,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)





http://www.usgenweb.net/


(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)





http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...


(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced".)





http://find.person.superpages.com/


(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)





http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...


Surname meanings and origins





A word of warning - there isn't a magic site that will take your name in and give you a 12-generation pedigree. Genealogy takes time.





A second W. of W. - You won't find living people on any of the sites except the phone book one. You will have to find your grandparents' or great grandparents' birth dates and maiden names somewhere besides the Internet.





A third W. of W. - The free sites are supported by advertising, just like TV. You can't watch the Super Bowl without seeing a beer commercial, and you can't surf for dead relatives without seeing an Ancestry advertisement. Don't complain about advertisements. They bring you the "free" sites. There's no such thing as a free lunch.
Reply:rootsweb is good and the morman website is good but there is no best site
Reply:I WANNA KNOW TOO!
Reply:www.rootschat.com is a good forum


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