How to research family history on Google for free.
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How to research family history on Google for free.
If you have ever tried to research your family history, you may have felt blocked by a literal paywall; many family history programs and websites require you to pay money to use them, which can be limiting when you want to preserve and expand upon your family history without spending tons of money. Thankfully however, you don’t need to be stuck paying a lot of money to research your family history. The following guide suggests ways to search for your family history on Google without spending a penny.
Can Family History Be Researched for Free?
Yes! It can be a bit trickier than simply plugging in the first paid website you find, but you can research family history for free. The best way to do so at the moment is by using Google, which allows you access to millions of different sources that can be helpful on your quest to learn more about your family history.
How to Research Family History on Google for Free
The following guide will help you learn more about how you can research your family history for free by using Google.
Google Books can be a treasure trove if you are looking to find out more about your family history—and no, your family ancestry doesn’t need to be related to anyone famous in order to show up on google Books. Google Books digitizes just about any and every archival source there is, so there are actually lots of census archives and published census information available through this resource. This can be especially helpful if your family lived in a small town where digital sources are more limited than those available for larger cities.
Family Trees
Another place to research your family history is by looking for public family trees. Many people publish online family trees in order to open up collaborative options for researching their own family history, and this type of open family tree can help you during your research as well! Some online family trees even offer the option of contacting the person who made them, which can be helpful if you need more detailed information than what’s provided on the family tree itself. Many paying websites contains public family trees by users who have indicated that their tree can be viewed by all paying and non paying members.
Free Ancestry Sites
This source can require a bit more work as you’ll need to determine which free ancestry sites are worth using and which are better left to the side, but when it comes to finding out more about your family history for free, free ancestry site options are definitely something to check out. You can find out information such as where people lived, their maiden and married names, and even more details such as professions, where they died, and so on.
Online National Archives
Some country’s national archives have been made public online. They are free to access and full of information. I recently found many of my ancestors on the Gibraltar National Archives website.
Other Options
Finally, if you live in the same general area as most of your family, you can consider heading to the local library to see if they have sources such as old newspapers, news reels and similar local archival information that may help you learn more about your family history.
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