Free Family Ancestry – Libraries as a Source of Free Family Ancestry

Free family ancestry is a popular advertisement on the Internet, and you can to some extent create free family reports using online sources. But there are also offline sources of genealogical worth that are often overlooked by family historians. One of these resources is your National or Local Library. Many free ancestry records are accessible through a library, and even if you don’t have access to a national institution, your local library will be affiliated with it. We’ll take a look at some of the resources that are available to researchers in a library which will help you to develop your free family ancestry.

Using Libraries to Compile a Free Family History

As I mentioned, libraries are an excellent resource for genealogists, not just for the wealth of material they possess, but for the quality of their records. You will find free ancestry records online, but many of them may be hurriedly transcribed and of questionable accuracy. National libraries, on the other hand, usually have copies of original documents available, either through microfiche or microfilm. Let’s take a closer look at what some of those documents are, and how to begin the search of your free family ancestry.

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Free Family Ancestry - Beginning the Search

You should begin your search with your immediate family before you even start looking elsewhere. Question family members about the details of your family history, find out what they know and take note of it. Ask your relatives for copies of old photographs if they have them, and offer to do the copying yourself, which will make it more fun for you and easier for them.

Write down any names and dates that you come across, find out where older relatives are buried and take down any inscriptions on gravestones if you can. As you do this, try to establish any approximate or exact dates of birth, names, and locations where your ancestors may have lived. Armed with this information, you’re ready to hit the library and begin the records search portion of your free family ancestry.

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Free Family Ancestry – The Records Search

These are the principal documents found in libraries around the world, and form the basis of any genealogical research. Let’s take a brief look then at the free ancestry information you can glean from them.

• Civil Records – These include birth, death and marriage certificates issued since the inception of Civil Registration. They will date from whenever Civil Registration began in the country from which you are seeking them. They are usually full of information that can help you compile your free family ancestry.
• Church Records – These will include Parish Registers, Cemetery and Burial Records and baptism certificates from many different denominations, again depending on the country where you are searching them. They can reveal your ancestors place of residence and age.

• Census Records – The United States Census is the oldest known consistent report, taken every ten years since 1790. Census reports are basically a count of the population and a record of certain information of those inhabitants. They can reveal; your ancestors full name, place of birth, occupation, place of residence and names of other family members who may have lived with them. They are especially useful in compiling a free family ancestry.
• Property records – These can include property transactions as well as records of the staff that worked on the estates of wealthy landowners and their tenants.

These free ancestry records can go a long way into helping you chart your free family ancestry. Membership in a library can open you up to even more genealogical resources, and they are free with most public libraries. So, why not visit your local or National Library and start compiling your free family ancestry today!