Is it possible to do research of family tree on internet. I'm interested in viewing old census records from other states. Any input on how to go about this would be welcome.

-- Ann (annhow331@hotmail.com), November 21, 2000

Answers

It is possible to find some records. It depends on whether or not there was anyone in that state who was interested in taking the time to input the info. Check out the thread that was just on here a week or so ago. It lists the common websites to go to. I don't remember the addresses right now but they are genweb and rootsweb and familytree and some others. You will find them quite helpful. Also, on rootsweb you can leave a message for others to help you if you are looking for a particular person. I was able to find a descendent of my greatgrandfather's brother by asking for it on this site. It was truly amazing since they were born in the 1870s. Good luck.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), November 21, 2000.

www.ancestry.com is one of the leading search sites. It does include some census records, but not many. If you know the particular area, it may be possible to have a local genealogy service do the search for you. Also, the Mormon Genealogy Library contains some census records. There are about a dozen genealogy services in Salt Lake City.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 21, 2000.

Ann, there is a group trying to get scanned images of the census records on the internet. I don't have their url anymore, but if you go plinking through the links at the gen. sites that have been given, you'll probably stumble over them. I know South Dakota has some. It is very limited, and tends to be the images of one small area for one census. In some cases, people have typed in census information that relates to their particular lines. If you trust their deciphering and typing, it sure is a lot easier to read.

If you have an LDS (Mormon) church in your area, contact them and ask where their nearest library is. The "branch" libraries don't usually have much of their own, but if you get a good librarian, she/he will help you order census films and other information from Salt Lake City.

If you type the word genealogy into just about any search engine, you'll get more than you can cope with. If you have some unusual last names, it doesn't hurt to search for them. And sometimes you can find sites with a family tree that relates to yours if you search for a couple by their last names- +smith +jones (or however that search engine wants to do it). If your last names are that common, you'll quickly learn that you need to be more specific in your inclusions and exclusions, there's usually a help or advanced search button near the search term window that will more fully explain the ins and outs of that particular engine.

Go to some of the big gen sites, they've usually got some beginners' articles. Take the time to read them, they can be a big help when you're starting out. Gerbil (new address)

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@shymail.com), November 21, 2000.

I haven't done much with the genealogy stuff, but did find a site that, if you input a family name, will let you track the movement of that surname across the country using information from different censuses. I thought it was pretty interesting, as I had thought that my father's ancestors (surname Fales) had started in New England, but at the time of the first census they were in more the area of Virginia! It's a fun thing to tinker with in your spare time!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 21, 2000.