Routes to your roots

Tools to find your ancestors in cyberspace

by Lawrence Herzog

Interest in genealogy hasn’t been so strong since Alex Haley’s 1976 novel Roots inspired a generation of African-Americans to trace their roots back to Africa. Thirty years later, two new 21st century tools — the science of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and the technological treasure trove of cyberspace — are assisting a new wave of ancestor hunters.

Many of them are boomers with an abundance of curiosity and time to indulge their interest. They’re helping to stoke the leaps-and-bounds advances beyond the days of dusty old photo albums, hand-drawn family trees and whirring microfilm readers.

Cyberspace has brought library records and archives into the homes of Americans, generating a renaissance in genealogy. This thirst to find information has spawned more than 264,000 genealogy websites, according to cyndislist.com, an index of web-based genealogical resources. The sites include specialized search engines on sites like Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and FamilySearch.com, as well as general search portals like Google and Yahoo. Indices and information on where to search and how to search are just a few clicks away.

DNA-driven

It’s a powerful notion that the key to where we came from resides in our own bodies. For those who have spent decades pouring over plantation records that didn’t list slaves by surname and manifests that failed to say where ships came from, DNA makes it possible to find connections when the paper trail fades into tatters, as it often does before the 1870 census, when written records were spotty at best.

Twenty-first century science enables ancestry to be traced through mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA testing. Mitochondrial DNA is passed unchanged from mothers to their children, making it a way to confirm genetic linkage. Interactive initiatives like the DNA Ancestry Project (www.DnaAncestryProject.com) are marrying science with technology by using Web 2.0, advanced databases and online networking architecture.

At least one online family history website is now offering a DNA-testing product which gives customers the chance to find matches in the site’s 24,000 genealogical databases. The service comes for less than $200 and a cheek-swiped cotton swab.

Many of today’s ancestor hunters are eager to find not only long-lost relatives, but also information about their health. Family genetics can play a role in many illnesses. The more complete information you can provide your physician, the better the chances of getting the best treatment options.

Mining cyberspace

Earlier this year, Ancestry.com unveiled more than 90 million U.S. war records, from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 through the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. The site also provides access to the names of 3.5 million U.S. soldiers killed in action. The records come from the National Archives and Records Administration, and include 37 million images, draft registration cards from both world wars, military yearbooks, prisoner-of-war records from four wars, unit rosters from the Marine Corps (1893 through 1958) and Civil War pension records.

The demand is making genealogy big business. Most genealogy websites are accessed for a price, from a few dollars a month to more than $360 a year. If you don’t know what you’re doing, and what you’re looking for, a roots-research quest can quickly become an expensive proposition. Experts suggest starting locally and building on what you know (see below).

Software that specializes in genealogy can help with searching, organizing, verifying information and then publishing it in a form that can be distributed electronically or in print. Prices typically range from $24.99 to around $100. See genealogy-software-review.com and genealogytoday.com/software/ for reviews of some of the software programs now available.

Experts advise that we should be careful not to jeopardize the privacy of relatives by putting intimate details about them up on the web. In particular, they suggest we never publish the day and month of the birth date for any living relatives or post any information on relatives under the age of 18. We should also avoid publishing maiden names.

First steps to your ancestors

• Start with yourself. Record all you know about yourself and your family. Answer questions such as: Where were you born? Where did you grow up? Where did you go to school?
• Record what you know about your family members, right from your earliest memories. Identify all your living relatives and interview every one of them, starting with the oldest first.
• Properly document your sources and make certain your notes are clear and understandable.
• Research what you’ve got in trunks, your attic, basement and storage closets. Be on the lookout for diaries, letters and family documents. When people die, their personal effects usually get passed down from generation to generation. Find out if any of your relatives have family information.
• Learn what you can about genealogical research through books, courses and conferences before you start digging on the Internet. Going straight online can be overwhelming if you aren’t prepared.
• When you’re ready, check out some of the numerous websites that offer access to large databases of historical records. Many also have very good “how-to” sections that can help make the complex research world a little easier to navigate.

Links to your past

Launched in 1996, Cyndi's List (cyndislist.com) is the most comprehensive source of genealogical websites. It’s a categorized, indexed, searchable and free portal to more than 264,000 sites in more than 180 categories.

Ancestry.com is a fee-based subscription service ($12.95 to $29.95 a month). The site provides access to U.S. census records from 1790 to 1930, census records for the British Isles from 1841 to 1901, Canadian records, obituaries, immigration records and newspaper articles as far back as the 1700s.

RootsWeb.com is a free site sponsored by Ancestry.com with message boards, surname lists, family trees and the Social Security Death Index. Connect with other genealogists by uploading your information, posting on message boards, even building a website.

The Social Security Death Index is a searchable database which provides birth and death information for people with Social Security numbers who received benefits and whose death was reported to the Social Security Administration after it began a computer database. About 98 percent of deaths in the database occurred in or after 1962. It's free at several locations on the Internet, including ssdi.rootsweb.com.

FamilySearch.org is a free website sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It provides access to ancestral files submitted by users; the Social Security Death Index; some census records, including 1880 United States, 1881 British Isles and 1881 Canada; and a personal ancestral-file computer program to organize information.

EllisIsland.org is an important and easy-to-use research tool for Ellis Island descendants. It provides free access upon registration to browse 25 million ship manifests. Documents and photos are available for purchase.

Jewishgen.org is a free site with access to research by professional genealogists and information dating back to the 1800s. It’s affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage and includes access to the JewishGen Family Finder, a database of 400,000 surnames and towns.

Other free genealogy search resources include accessgenealogy.com, with links to cemetery records, military records and Native American records, ancestorhunt.com and genealogytoday.com.

Lawrence Herzog is a 46-year-old boomer who proudly believes he’s part of the luckiest generation. His fascination with history has resulted in several community history books and some research into his family tree, which turned up deep European roots and branches in Montana.