finding my ancestors

[homegirl32]

i want to find my ancestors but i do not have a credit card how can i do this on line for free. yes i know it sounds a bit tight. or how do i start to do this in another way

[spudqueen]

The first thing to do is contact any older relatives. They may be able to give you a good start by providing names and hopefully dates. They may also, if you're lucky have old photographs and/or grave papers and birth/marriage/death certificates. Write down all that they tell you, you never know when this information may come in handy.

www.ancestry.co.uk do have a couple of the census on line free, but not all of them. One of the best sources of information is on the birth and marriage certificates but you do have to pay for these, usually �7. If you apply to the register office where the event was registered they do take cheques.

Try also www.genesreunited.co.uk, I have recently found three distant cousins on that site, one of whom has traced one branch of my family tree back to 1692.

[Sammy Snake]

I would go as far as to say that it is IMPOSSIBLE to do it for free. Census info, certificates, subscriptions to websites etc all cost money.

You could probably get someone to do the census lookups for you but as spudqueen says, at some point you will probably have to buy certificates and they cost �7 each.

You could try www.rootschat.com which is not a site where you can look for info yourself but you can post requests (for free) and others will do look ups for you.

www.genesreunited.co.uk is another good site with lots of helpful people willing to do searches, but this will cost you �9.95 to join.

If you get back to the mid 1800's and earlier, you can use www.familysearch.org they have the 1881 census and the IGI (both free). The IGI (International Genealogical Index) is an index of baptisms, marriages and deaths (less deaths), some taken from actual parish records and some submitted by members (less reliable). The coverage isn't complete but you may strike lucky.

[spanner7853]

actually some of these websites let you have a 14 day free trial, but I agree with spudqueen. Get as much onfo as you can before you start.

[antiguru]

If you can�t find a way to get the info for free and are stumped by not having a credit card, you could investigate a pre-paid credit card. It�s used just like a normal card, but you put money on it first. Under 18�s can have one, and people with a poor credit rating. It comes with the usual online fraud guarantees. That�s all I know, but a quick google bought this site up and I�m sure there are others.

http://www.visacemea.com/wv/pay_advance.jsp

Hope this helps.