A search for one's history, ancestry or family lineage may be one of the most challenging tasks one can choose to take in his lifetime. Its end goal should be very noble and rewarding, its success, fulfilling and incomparable. However, in reality, the searching and the putting together of all the relevant information is a seriously daunting and tedious task. It requires tremendous amount of patience, a great amount of time, and a small chunk of luck.
Since not all people have the luxury of time, the blessing of non-demented older folks (who could be main resource persons), the financial and manpower resources for travel and manual search, a plain Jane would want an internet-based solution made available to her. This is where the blessing of free genealogy database comes.
There are many websites available in the internet which point out leads towards birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates and various census information. There are even sites which churn out information on criminal and tax records. All these sites can lead one to clues on how to piece together the links of his family tree.
While paper documents appear to be more real and the actual gathering of these on one's hands seem rewarding, in truth, they are money- and time-consuming. Therefore, free genealogy database available in the internet remains to be one's best bet.
There are many sites to choose from - each customized to once need. Each site's offerings also vary so it is up to the researcher's careful judgment on what site to choose from depending on his requirement. The site compatible to the researcher depends on the extent of information required and the availability of sources. Some researchers actually start in zero - no documents, no idea, no personal resource information, nothing. Some researchers on the other hand, have a little information. Some are almost halfway in the research as they could have been blessed with actual paper documents to help them get by the lineage tracing task.
The sites which could prove to be helpful to any of these many types of researchers are Rootsweb - World Connect Project, U.S. Federal Patent Records, HeritageQuest, FamilySearch Record Search, WorldGenWeb, Canada Archives Search, Geneabios - Biographies for Generalogy, Ancestry.com (with free trial membership), International Genealogical Index, The Generalogical Server or GenServ, inGeneas Database, Archival Research Catalogue or ARC, amongst many others. Of course, there are cemeteries or funeral places which could also yield relevant information. Some of these also have electronic records available on the internet. One can try Obituary Daily Times or Interment.net. Of course, there are also free genealogy database which are hooked to the state or country facilities such as Debt of Honor Register, The Digital Archives of Norway, 1901 Census for England and Wales, Canadian County Digital Access Project, US Social Security Death Index, amongst many others.
Some of these sites have made available the uploaded family trees of those who availed the assistance of their websites. With some family trees already completed, it may just be enough push for the perplexed researcher to carry on.
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