just checked out the site..it's totally changed since i used it...wish i could be of more help...i'd start with the grandparents names...

sure has gotten pricey!

susan, i'm including this site. the mormons have excellent records, and this site is free. it will give you birth, death, and ss # (if they were "young" enough to have a card)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.ancestorhunt.com/mormon_church_records.htm

Susan,

You won't get results on yourself unless you're quite old and have stuff in public records.

In the USA, the most recent Census records that are available online are the 1930 Census. There is a law to protect folks who may still be alive, so a Census can't be released until 70 years after the Census year.

There are a few states that have some current stuff online -- Minnesota and California, for example, have fairly recent marriage and birth record indexes online. Pennsylvania, on the other hand, has nearly nothing online. My paternal grandmother was born in Pennsylvania in 1896, and I can't get a copy of her birth or death certificates unless I can prove that I am her granddaughter. Many times folks need to see birth or death certificates to find out if that person is in the family tree...

As susanjf suggested, you need to start with something/someone that you know you will find -- grandparents or great-grandparents.

Susan. .I have had great luck on Ancestry.com. I have been a member for over 3 years now. I was able to get past a dead end, without Ancestry.com I would of never been able to get past. I have found history books with my family in them that I never knew existed, pictures and other stories. You need to start your tree with someone other then yourself, like someone else said, your grandmother or grandfather, someone that is deceased. If you would like to e-mail me, I can help you get started on this, it is a great tool to have. I am going to let them publish my book for me, I just about have it ready to go. You can also print your book out at home if you wish. Genealogy is a very addictive hobby, just to warn you. .once you get going and start finding things you just can't quit. Don't give up yet, there's lot to be found and many mysteries to be solved ..you can do it. .Debbie
DBFireWife@aol.com

Ancestory.com has a large data base which they collected. Several years ago, a signicicant portion of their web site was available to the public, and the public volunteered many pieces of data. Then, Ancestory.com shut off their site except to subscribers, and these days only allow the public at large a peek into small parts of their data base, and much of this data is available at other sites. Those who once contributed family tree data could no longer access their own data without a membership. They found the data was now used for profit.

However, Ancestory.com does organize their data and has a good search engine within their data base.

The LDS Family Search (Mormon) probably has the largest data base in the world. I have found accuracy problems with this site. Much of their data came from family members who volunteered information about their ancesstors, and often, this data is not verified. It may have come from family verbal or erroroneous imformation dredged from an aged memory. Dates and places can be in error. Information from family bibles, journals, and newspaper articles are the best of the undocumented data. Lately, the LDS staff has been making an effort to increase accuracy, but that is a daunting job considering the source and purpose of their data base.

Mind you, this is merely a caution to check and verify your data. I have found the LDS site valuable.

It is true that if you check the Social Security site that you won't find anything about yourself - And that's the way you'd want it - Think identity theft. However, the Social Security death index does contain late information. No more than 3 months had passed after my mother demise, when her death data with social security number appeared. (So much for using her name as a security box password.) Information found at this site is full name, date of birth, date of death, and place of death. If the name of the place of death seems strange, its because its not by city, but listed by "name of township" and "name of county". In some cases, the names of towns are the same as the townships of the towns.

Susan, there are two sites that I have used with some success - CanadaGenWeb.org and RootsWeb. You can google them both. They have forums much like this one which have discussions/requests/information about families in various parts of the country. You can also search by province. If you know where your people are from a few generations back, it really helps. For instance, your grandparents may have come to Ontario from Liverpool, Nova Scotia, so you could search the Nova Scotia board for information. There may be some church records showing baptism, marriage and burial names and dates. In many cases, it is a hit or miss situation but it is really important to have some basic information about places, names and dates. **Warning** - once you start and find some information, it may become addictive!!

About the Social Security Death Index -- "Information found at this site is full name, date of birth, date of death, and place of death. If the name of the place of death seems strange, its because its not by city, but listed by "name of township" and "name of county". In some cases, the names of towns are the same as the townships of the towns."

Please understand that the Social Security Death Index does NOT list everyone with an SSN who is deceased. It only lists (deceased) folks against whose Social Security account a claim for death benefits was paid.

The information on the SS Death Index does NOT contain the "place of death." It contains the decedent's last known residence (zip code, city, state) and the zip code, city, state to which death benefits were paid. It would not be uncommon for someone to die in one state and benefits be paid to a relative in another state.

It also does not always list the birth date, and often for the death date it only includes the year, or the month and year, but not the day.

Just take whatever you find with a grain of salt. On the Mormon site I often find strange names added to listings of my family. I think someone was so eager to get all their deceased relatives added that they just used information about other people who had the same names. And no one will correct the errors.

Also, lots of the family trees on Ancestry are full of errors. In my own family, there are assumptions listed as fact, with no proof.

Use these sites, but try to check the information you find there.

I never take anything found on a family tree as gospel. I have only ever used info on other folks' trees as a "stepping stone" so to speak. If there is a name or event listed that I've never seen before, I start researching that name or event. I don't enter ANYTHING onto my family tree unless I have found documentation for it.

I have a World Deluxe (or is it called World Premium?) membership to Ancestry.com. I have full access to EVERYTHING they have, so if I can't find documentation for something that someone has on their tree, I totally ignore it.

Your local history &/or genealogy society/associations can be a great help, too. Our library has a subscription to the several of the sites mentioned, & library patrons can access from home using their library card number. The genealogy society members can often help each other with ideas &/or solutions. As others have stated .. it is addictive!