Finding Family for Free

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Comment by Barbara Bradley Petura on September 25, 2015 at 7:42pm

I read a great article this morning - How Can I Research My Roots Without Spending Money? - that I thought our group would like. It is by well known genealogy writers Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Meaghan E.H. Siekman. It makes your realize how much you can find for no cost beyond your Internet access. Enjoy. Barbara

Comment by Paul Hart on April 29, 2014 at 7:24am

Fold3 is giving Civil War records for free until the end of April.

Comment by Barbara Bradley Petura on April 12, 2011 at 12:08am

Hi Dianne,

Thanks for posting. Yes, I have used the genealogy search engine Mocavo and defintely believe it is worth using. It gives you more focused results on ancestor searches than some other search engines. Remember to use quotation marks around names to get the best results.

Barbara

Comment by Catherine Davis on February 3, 2011 at 2:46pm

Dianne, I agree.

Comment by Ann Marie Borgers on December 15, 2010 at 9:43am

Discovered a site about a month ago, www.wikitree.com, similar to Rootsweb that people can upload their .ged files or do each person individually and similar to Wikipedia that you can let others that you trust add/change any information.  And it's totally FREE.  

Comment by Cheryl Capps Roach on November 29, 2010 at 6:26pm

I am all about finding your ancestors for free. After years of genealogy, I have written and published my family history book. Out of a desire to share my research tips for building and verifying your family tree, I recently published my website and blog-www.searchingforgrandfathers.com. You'll find links to all state archives and other free links that I will keep updated. Search my family history book.

Comment by jammie barker on September 17, 2010 at 7:26pm

this site is free to search but copies you have to buy but it helps https://countygovernmentrecords.com/texas/web/

Comment by Michael Baker on July 26, 2010 at 6:05pm

Hi I may be able to help a little since I see some coincidences with my great great grandfather John Edgar Baker.
Eli G Baker came to CT from Madison County, NY, and worked as a farmer in Eastford, he married Jane Henrietta Weeks who came from VT, in Eastford/Pomfret, CT.
Their son John was born in Dec 1858
In 1861 Eli enlisted into the H company of the 7th CT infantry and fought on the union side, until he was captured and killed as a POW, at the siege of Petersburg on Sept 2nd 1864.

The part I cant explain was why Jane left John, but I think abandonment was common during the civil war. I cannot find anything on Jane after 1860 but I did get some stuff on John.

here is my ancestry page on John Edgar Baker.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/5082114/person/-61426462

Comment by Spirit Baker on July 26, 2010 at 4:13pm

Hi Catherine,
That was more than I was able to find. I tried Ancestry for 14 days and got around pretty good although limited and after many calls and emails to my city library I found out they do have Ancestry but I was quite ill for a wk and still trying to get to myself. Going to the library this wk sometime.
I am working backwards. My Grandpa Norman Baker was born in CT. I use to visit his father George E Ely Baker and other family in CT. George's father is John. John's father is Eli. I have looked all over America for Eli Baker's and census shows Eli came from NY to CT. But I haven't been able to find an Eli that stayed in CT. It would interest me if this is my Eli since he was a blacksmith. For some reason this is a huge following for Baker. I'm going to work on your hints if my health keeps improving.
Thanks bunches,
Spirit

Comment by Catherine Davis on July 25, 2010 at 4:44pm

@Spirit--
I dug around a little more on ancestry.com, and now I don't think the Eli and Jane Baker in Pomfret in 1860 are the same Eli and Jane who ended up in Bloomfield Hills, and so they did not leave a son behind. In fact, I don't know what happened to the Eli and Jane in Pomfret (at least yet) but the Eli and Jane in Bloomfield Hills were in New Haven, CT in 1860 and 1870, as evidenced below. I haven't found them in 1850.

Evidence, the ages of Eli and Jane in New Haven, and the names of some of their children, better match that of Eli and Jane in Bloomfield than do the Eli and Jane in Pomfret.

1870, New Haven, 7th Ward, Post Office Fair Haven:
Baker, Eli 48, blacksmith, b. NY
Jane B., 44, keeping house, b. NJ
Eli H., 14, b. CT
Willis A., 8, b. CT

1860, New Haven, Ward 7, Post Office New Haven:
Eli, 38, blacksmith, NY
Jane B., 35, NJ
Robert E., 6, CT
Eli, 4, CT
Sarah A, 2, CT

How did you decide you were related to either the Bloomfield Hills people or the Pomfret people? Have you found a paper trail starting with you and working backwards piece by piece?

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