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3 Responses to “Where can I find free genealogy records?”
is a collection of thousands of genealogy sites. Most of the ‘for fee’ sites will come up, if you google genealogy, family history, etc. Most of these type sites claim to offer family trees.
Genealogy records are found anywhere that your ancestors were. For instance, your family lived in Dallas, Texas.. you need to google Dallas cemeteries or Dallas history, etc.
Start by using cyndi’s beginner section, which has excellent tutorials. When you educate yourself about the process, you are in a better position to recognize how to get RECORDS, not just pre packaged “trees”. They may or may not be correct.. they are the results of someone else’s research, not original stuff.
Ancestry is the best known ‘fee’ site. It does offer original records.. but it is a service, and the fee is valid. You would have costs to access this info, if you had to go elsewhere.
Most records might be ‘free’… the effort to get them, not always.
I know what you mean - and I **** paying for stuff!
I don’t know where you are looking, but in Ontario, Canada, there is a great free source:
I hope you are in Ontario - basically, you look up birth, marriage and death records on an index in your local library and then the library orders (for free) the microfilm reel with the actual record.
Another great site is Archives Canada at:
Canadian census figures are at
For information from the UK, try:
and there are indexes for birth, marriage and death at BUT you have to pay (I think £7) to get the actual record mailed to you.
A fun site to look at is You can search for names, but some of the family trees are sometimes not accurate. You can also post your own family tree for free. This makes it easier to share with others and ask questions.
Family Search
Search the Family History Library’s database, which contains millions of names from thousands of family trees.
GenCircles
Searching the global tree and viewing results is free to everyone. In addition to first and last names, the database is searchable by dates and places of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial, as well as by the names of an individual’s father, mother and spouse.
GeneaNet
A database that indexes all the world’s genealogical resources, whether Net-based or not and whether free or fee-paying.
Free On Ancestry
A directory of all the FREE records and resources available on Ancestry.com.
Ancestor Hunt
Index of Free Genealogy Search Engines
Find Your Family Tree
A free genealogy web site designed to help you find missing branches of your family tree using Pedigree Resource File (PRF), a rapidly expanding collection of family trees submitted by people worldwide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
GenealogyBuff.com
Search for your surname in dozens of family history databases with one click. Though you still have to visit each site to see the results (or find out your search came up empty), GenealogyBuff.com can be a good starting point for online research.
USGenWeb
The USGenWeb is one of the premier sites for US researchers. Here you’ll find Web pages for every US state and county.
AncestralFindings
AncestralFindings may not own every database you’re interested in, but its collection is impressive. Holdings include CD-ROM records of births, deaths, marriages, census indexes, land records, passenger lists, immigrations and Genealogy.com’s entire World Family Tree collection.
Annette
is a collection of thousands of genealogy sites. Most of the ‘for fee’ sites will come up, if you google genealogy, family history, etc. Most of these type sites claim to offer family trees.
Genealogy records are found anywhere that your ancestors were. For instance, your family lived in Dallas, Texas.. you need to google Dallas cemeteries or Dallas history, etc.
Start by using cyndi’s beginner section, which has excellent tutorials. When you educate yourself about the process, you are in a better position to recognize how to get RECORDS, not just pre packaged “trees”. They may or may not be correct.. they are the results of someone else’s research, not original stuff.
Ancestry is the best known ‘fee’ site. It does offer original records.. but it is a service, and the fee is valid. You would have costs to access this info, if you had to go elsewhere.
Most records might be ‘free’… the effort to get them, not always.
David
I know what you mean - and I **** paying for stuff!
I don’t know where you are looking, but in Ontario, Canada, there is a great free source:
I hope you are in Ontario - basically, you look up birth, marriage and death records on an index in your local library and then the library orders (for free) the microfilm reel with the actual record.
Another great site is Archives Canada at:
Canadian census figures are at
For information from the UK, try:
and there are indexes for birth, marriage and death at BUT you have to pay (I think £7) to get the actual record mailed to you.
A fun site to look at is You can search for names, but some of the family trees are sometimes not accurate. You can also post your own family tree for free. This makes it easier to share with others and ask questions.
Adrian
Family Search
Search the Family History Library’s database, which contains millions of names from thousands of family trees.
GenCircles
Searching the global tree and viewing results is free to everyone. In addition to first and last names, the database is searchable by dates and places of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial, as well as by the names of an individual’s father, mother and spouse.
GeneaNet
A database that indexes all the world’s genealogical resources, whether Net-based or not and whether free or fee-paying.
Free On Ancestry
A directory of all the FREE records and resources available on Ancestry.com.
Ancestor Hunt
Index of Free Genealogy Search Engines
Find Your Family Tree
A free genealogy web site designed to help you find missing branches of your family tree using Pedigree Resource File (PRF), a rapidly expanding collection of family trees submitted by people worldwide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
GenealogyBuff.com
Search for your surname in dozens of family history databases with one click. Though you still have to visit each site to see the results (or find out your search came up empty), GenealogyBuff.com can be a good starting point for online research.
USGenWeb
The USGenWeb is one of the premier sites for US researchers. Here you’ll find Web pages for every US state and county.
AncestralFindings
AncestralFindings may not own every database you’re interested in, but its collection is impressive. Holdings include CD-ROM records of births, deaths, marriages, census indexes, land records, passenger lists, immigrations and Genealogy.com’s entire World Family Tree collection.