Free Genealogy Resources for Frugal Genealogists



You really want to learn more about your ancestors, and fill in your family tree. Unfortunately, you are on a tight budget, and don’t have extra money to spend on this project. The good news is that there are plenty of genealogy resources that you can access for free.

Ancestry Library Edition
Ancestry.com offers a free trial. When that trial ends, you have to pay a subscription fee in order to continue using their resources. For those that cannot afford to do that, there is Ancestry Library Edition. It is distributed by ProQuest to public libraries and genealogy centers.

Ancestry Library Edition can be used for free. You might need to get a library card in order to use it. You also might have to travel to your local library, and use their computers, to access Ancestry Library Edition. Ask your local librarian for more details. There could be a genealogy center in your local library that you can also access for free.

FamilySearch.org
FamilySearch is a genealogy website that is a service provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Everyone can use FamilySearch for free, right from their own computer. It does not matter what religion you happen to be (or if you do not follow any religion). All are welcome to use FamilySearch.

Family History Centers
Family History Centers are branches of FamilySearch and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are Family History Centers located all over the world. One might be near you.

In general, Family History Centers offer one-on-one assistance, access to genealogy records, and free genealogy and family history classes. It is a good idea to get a FamilySearch account before you visit a Family History Center.

MyHeritage.com
MyHeritage family sites are based on subscriptions. However, Basic sites are free. Those with a Basic site are limited to entering up to 250 people to their family tree (and have a limit of 500 MB storage space). As you might expect, the free Basic site does not allow you access to all of the unique things MyHeritage has to offer. It will let you work on your family tree, and there is no time limit for how long you can have a Basic site.

Findagrave.com
Findagrave is the best place on the internet to look for burial and other final disposition information for your family, friends, and famous people. Genealogists who visit graveyards and take photos of gravestones can post them on Findagrave. This enables people who cannot travel to that graveyard to see their ancestor’s gravestones and gather information from them.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* FamilySearch.org with 2,000 Collections

* Using ‘Find-A-Grave’ to Locate Family Info

* MyHeritage Added Exclusive Collections of Historical Records

< Return To Blog

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.