Geneology

Cec asked:

All the sites I find you have to pay for.

There are several genealogy groups available on google where people with more internet genealogy research than I can be found. Peruse the posts. Looking for free sites is a common topic. I believe one group is alt.genealogy, which is fairly active. Another is soc.genealogy.computing. Many people on those groups have paid for subscriptions to different records & if you have a specific search, are often willing to look someone/something up for you. You might even luck out & find someone close to your grandfather's memorial or visiting the area who could take some pictures for you until the time when you can visit yourself.

I need to get back into it (time permitting [& lack thereof is the problem :::sigh:::]) but back in the 70s I did the bulk of my research at the local Mormon genealogy library. I'm not affiliated with them in any way, but always found them most helpful (& that was back in the days before computers when you had to do everything the hard way & wait several weeks for records to be shipped from Salt Lake City). Check

to see if there's a local library near you.

Have you tried typing the names of any family you're looking for into google's search engine? Put the name in quotes & be willing to try variations on the name. I had absolutely no information on one of my grandmothers other than her parents' names (she was a foster child). I did a search a couple of years ago & found something like 5 generations worth of info! The gal who posted it said it hadn't been confirmed & I would always double check any info found that way anyway, but it sure narrows down the starting point!

Good luck, Cec! Keep us posted & feel free to email me if you have any questions I might be able to help you out with.

Alicia

Cec, Try this site for a start. It's the TS GENWEB site and you can start a state search and go into counties.

RootsWeb is another free site. You can read through the old surnames looking for information. I get in contact with a lot of researchers that way by checking their message boards for certain names. Just click on the "Message Boards" at the top of the page to get started. Most counties in each state have Historical Societies that can help, too. Our county maintains a small museum and we have lots of records which we continue to add to all the time. Last month I was able to send a scan of a photograph from the museum to a man in California who had been searching for his great-grandfather and had no photos of him. It really makes my day to be able to help someone like that. Good luck with your search. Sandy

Cec,

You have received a couple of great suggestions from other posters here. I've been working on my own genealogy for about the past six years. I have a full subscription to ancestry.com and would be willing to do look ups for you. Just email me privately with the details of what you know and I'll see what I can find for you. Once I know where you're at in your research and we find some leads, I'll be better able to tell you where to request more info.

I'll be home until lunch time today then I have doctor's appointment but I should be back online later this afternoon or early evening.

Alida

a_spry at yahoo dot com

Have you thought about contacting the MN state government? Try

A lot of states have certifiactes and other information online, or at least some contact info for what you're looking for. I would think that with a memorial being in the state, maybe the state could help with more info? It's just a thought.

Try

or

Also check you library and see what they have and see if they offer access to Heritage Quest or Ancestry for the census information Try your local genealogy society and the junior college usually have classes. Check the court house for declaration of intents, citizenship records, marriage, birth, death, wills probate records, divorces, and land records

This might be a good leaping off point:

Kate