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Genealogy: Find Your Ancestress (For Free) Challenge

WidowFortune

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Lovers of family genealogy/history, there is a great alternative to Ancestry.com's overpriced b*llshit website!

FamilySearch • Free Family Trees and Genealogy Archives

It's free! It is operated by the Mormon church, but so far I have not seen any attempt at proselytizing.

Obviously, you want to a fake name and an email address that can't be traced back to your government name. And, I recommend putting together family trees without linking yourself to them (don't rely on privacy settings).

I started with a grandparent and worked backwards. So far, I have found two of my great-great-great grandmothers.

Since LSA is so damned good at investigating (and is messy to boot), I will not be sharing the census form. However, feel free to do so at your own risk.

Trigger warning: death certificates may be online. No gory pictures, but can be a little upsetting to run across.


Also, let's keep the thread focused on genealogy. There are plenty of other threads dedicated to discussions about US history, patriarchy, reparations, the one drop rule, etc.

As an added bonus, I am posting direct links to the US Census to help LSA navigate through the website.

Tips:

1. Names are frequently butchered, so if it phonetically sounds close...
2. Women sometimes reported themselves as widowed to safe face. They may have been never married or abandoned by a husband.
3. Birth years are inconsistent, so if you decide to use a filter, try a 5 to 10 year window.

United States Census, 1900
United States Census, 1900 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1880
United States Census, 1880 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1870
United States Census, 1870 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1860
United States Census, 1860 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860
United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1850
United States Census, 1850 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850
United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 — FamilySearch.org
 
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Fake Francie

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1. Names are frequently butchered, so if it phonetically sounds close...

Sometimes it ain't even close. :ROFLMAO:

For one of my relatives, they have her "nickname" down instead of her real name. I know it's her because the parents listed are who her parents are and the correct age, and the "nickname" is a diminutive of her grandmother's name (grandmother went by the same diminutive).

Of course, this only helps if you know the names of previous generations.
 

MarYsol

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Must be nice to be an Ados, so.easy to trace your lineage as they kept better records. In the Caribbean we don't have access to that.
 

Carielle

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Using that site i was able to go far

On my dad's side i when back to my 6x great grandmother a name Vue Rousseau who was born in the 1700's and came from france.

On my mom side it's more exciting beause it's still a mystery to me. i'm sfill searching but she doest want my to look at slavery documents.
 

GRAPE SEED OIL

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It was through that site I found out my 5x great - grandfather fought in the revolutionary war and the site had the paper work showing he was paid for his service. I was shock because America have a long history of not rewarding black people who fight in war.

Tip for anyone who is new to searching your family info, play around with the spelling of your family's last name. Some census takers misspelled names a lot.
 

Shutder00

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Lovers of family genealogy/history, there is a great alternative to Ancestry.com's overpriced b*llshit website!

FamilySearch • Free Family Trees and Genealogy Archives

It's free! It is operated by the Mormon church, but so far I have not seen any attempt at proselytizing.

Obviously, you want to a fake name and an email address that can't be traced back to your government name. And, I recommend putting together family trees without linking yourself to them (don't rely on privacy settings).

I started with a grandparent and worked backwards. So far, I have found two of my great-great-great grandmothers.

Since LSA is so damned good at investigating (and is messy to boot), I will not be sharing the census form. However, feel free to do so at your own risk.

Trigger warning: death certificates may be online. No gory pictures, but can be a little upsetting to run across.


Also, let's keep the thread focused on genealogy. There are plenty of other threads dedicated to discussions about US history, patriarchy, reparations, the one drop rule, etc.

As an added bonus, I am posting direct links to the US Census to help LSA navigate through the website.

Tips:

1. Names are frequently butchered, so if it phonetically sounds close...
2. Women sometimes reported themselves as widowed to safe face. They may have been never married or abandoned by a husband.
3. Birth years are inconsistent, so if you decide to use a filter, try a 5 to 10 year window.

United States Census, 1900
United States Census, 1900 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1880
United States Census, 1880 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1870
United States Census, 1870 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1860
United States Census, 1860 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860
United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1860 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census, 1850
United States Census, 1850 — FamilySearch.org

United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850
United States Census (Slave Schedule), 1850 — FamilySearch.org
If you're putting together a family tree, idg how you won't link yourself. Do you start at your parents parents or something?
 

WidowFortune

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You can research anyone and start building their family trees.

I started with my grandparents and moved backwards. Yes, I have four family trees going, one for each grandparent. They are not linked, so they're just floating out there all random.

I will print them out and their children and their children's children by hand.



If you're putting together a family tree, idg how you won't link yourself. Do you start at your parents parents or something?
 

Hibiscuits

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I remember using this site to find my (Caribbean) relatives on both sides and it didn't help much.
It was linked in my Caribbean Genealogy group on Facebook in hopes of helping SOME people.

Maybe the African American records are better because they're based in the continent, but I couldn't find too much about my family unfortunately. Like that other person said, not many records were really held in the Caribbean like that. Sure you get some stuff, but not a whole lot unless you family was prominent or something.

The only person I found was the immigration records for my paternal grandmother who emigrated from the BVI to the the USVI relatively recently (in Genealogy standards). The only thing the paper had was her name, DOB, and the ship she was on. Since she's the only person I've found, I've gotten myself into a bit of a roadblock.

For now, I give up--At least with that site. Good luck to the people who find it useful though! Make sure to save any interesting bits you find somewhere off the site so that you can share it and pass it down amongst your relatives:love
 
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melo555

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Man, I'm stuck I have only been able to find my great-grandparents. I was shocked to see that my great-granddad was born during slavery. Wow, I'm only a few generations removed from slavery. I always assumed my great-great-grandparents were slaves, not my great-granddad.
 

LaMobilier

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Must be nice to be an Ados, so.easy to trace your lineage as they kept better records. In the Caribbean we don't have access to that.
Have you tried church records? My family have been Catholics in Louisiana for many generations and their archives are a treasure trove
 

LaMobilier

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The Fate of the 1890 Population Census, Part 1
“First in the Path of the Firemen”

The Fate of the 1890 Population Census, Part 2
"First in the Path of the Firemen"

The Fate of the 1890 Population Census, Part 3
"First in the Path of the Firemen"
I’m really angry about the 1890 census burning. My great great grandmother had a son and I can’t find him after that. From what my grandmother tells me she only had one son and that’s not the person named on the church record.
 

ThothBomb

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Must be nice to be an Ados, so.easy to trace your lineage as they kept better records. In the Caribbean we don't have access to that.

The thing is, whether or not you can find records in the Caribbean depends. It depends on who the colonial powers were, whether the records stayed in the Caribbean or went back to the "colonial master". If the records stayed, how well they were preserved and where were they kept and are being kept now? You get the idea. If the records went back to the "colonial master" what you want may be in a European archive somewhere.

I would venture that just about every Caribbean island lost at least some portion of their colonial records from insects, simple neglect, natural disasters (hurricanes, fires, earthquakes), and/or instances of warfare between European powers.

Most importantly, most Caribbean records are NOT digitized. More often than not, you have to go to the respective island(s) to go through the records.

I am assuming from your username that you have a Latin background? If you do, I recommend you check out this blog: Genealogía Nuestra Welcomes You! - Genealogía Nuestra. The owner has Boricua and Dominicana heritage and may be able to help you, or at least the information on her blog may be helpful. She also has links to information for other Caribbean islands.

@Hibiscuits - Family Search has civil registration (birth, marriage, and death as reported to the government) records dating back to about 1860 for the BVI. Family Search is showing that some of the older records are in bad condition and I wouldn't be surprised if there are gaps in the records either. The records have been digitized, but in order to access them you need to be at a Family History Center or one of their affiliates.
 

MarYsol

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The thing is, whether or not you can find records in the Caribbean depends. It depends on who the colonial powers were, whether the records stayed in the Caribbean or went back to the "colonial master". If the records stayed, how well they were preserved and where were they kept and are being kept now? You get the idea. If the records went back to the "colonial master" what you want may be in a European archive somewhere.

I would venture that just about every Caribbean island lost at least some portion of their colonial records from insects, simple neglect, natural disasters (hurricanes, fires, earthquakes), and/or instances of warfare between European powers.

Most importantly, most Caribbean records are NOT digitized. More often than not, you have to go to the respective island(s) to go through the records.


I am assuming from your username that you have a Latin background? If you do, I recommend you check out this blog: Genealogía Nuestra Welcomes You! - Genealogía Nuestra. The owner has Boricua and Dominicana heritage and may be able to help you, or at least the information on her blog may be helpful. She also has links to information for other Caribbean islands.

@Hibiscuits - Family Search has civil registration (birth, marriage, and death as reported to the government) records dating back to about 1860 for the BVI. Family Search is showing that some of the older records are in bad condition and I wouldn't be surprised if there are gaps in the records either. The records have been digitized, but in order to access them you need to be at a Family History Center or one of their affiliates.

That's what I thought. They are probably lost or as you said with the colonizer. I guess my case that would be some British archive.

Actually I am not Latin, I am from Jamaica. I will look into that site as you mentioned she has links to other islands. Thank you for this info.
 

Me3333

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Man, I'm stuck I have only been able to find my great-grandparents. I was shocked to see that my great-granddad was born during slavery. Wow, I'm only a few generations removed from slavery. I always assumed my great-great-grandparents were slaves, not my great-granddad.
How old are you if I may ask? My great Grand parents were born around the 1880's and early 1890's.
 

ThothBomb

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@MarisolC - You’re Jamaican? That changes everything … in a good way.

Quite frankly, I think you underestimate your countrymen. Take a look at the following links:

1. Holdings - Archives | Jamaica Archives and Records Department - Government of Jamaica

2. Jamaica, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

3. Jamaica Church Records

The link in number one is to a page at the Jamaican National Archives. It tells you the types of records that the Jamaican Archives has in their possession. Pay close attention to the ecclesiastical (church) records because in the absence of a census, baptism, marriage, and death records are the easiest way to track people, something that @LaMobilier mentioned above. Once you have names and dates secured from church records, you may be able to go back through the other available records like slave returns, slave manumissions, inventories, etc., to get a more complete picture.

The other two links are from Family Search (which is free) and includes civil registrations (I explain what they are in my first post), and more church records. From what I am seeing some of the civil registration documents end in the 1990s. There does not appear to be restrictions on the Jamaican documents, so starting a free account with Family Search and going through the indexes and then to the actual documents may be a good place to start if you are not in Jamaica right now.

The problems you may encounter are gapped records based on the things I said before and most importantly, outside of what’s on Family Search, the records from the Jamaican Archives do NOT appear to be digitized. You likely need to be on the ground in Jamaica with someone who knows how to navigate the archives to get anything done.

I won’t promise that you will definitively find enslaved ancestors, but you may be able to get more than what you have right now, which I assume, is nothing.

This is why I said that what you can find about ancestors from the Caribbean, depends on the island(s). Though I am not Jamaican, I understand that Jamaica may have better resources for family research than you expect.
 

MarYsol

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@MarisolC - You’re Jamaican? That changes everything … in a good way.

Quite frankly, I think you underestimate your countrymen. Take a look at the following links:

1. Holdings - Archives | Jamaica Archives and Records Department - Government of Jamaica

2. Jamaica, Civil Registration - FamilySearch Historical Records

3. Jamaica Church Records

The link in number one is to a page at the Jamaican National Archives. It tells you the types of records that the Jamaican Archives has in their possession. Pay close attention to the ecclesiastical (church) records because in the absence of a census, baptism, marriage, and death records are the easiest way to track people, something that @LaMobilier mentioned above. Once you have names and dates secured from church records, you may be able to go back through the other available records like slave returns, slave manumissions, inventories, etc., to get a more complete picture.

The other two links are from Family Search (which is free) and includes civil registrations (I explain what they are in my first post), and more church records. From what I am seeing some of the civil registration documents end in the 1990s. There does not appear to be restrictions on the Jamaican documents, so starting a free account with Family Search and going through the indexes and then to the actual documents may be a good place to start if you are not in Jamaica right now.

The problems you may encounter are gapped records based on the things I said before and most importantly, outside of what’s on Family Search, the records from the Jamaican Archives do NOT appear to be digitized. You likely need to be on the ground in Jamaica with someone who knows how to navigate the archives to get anything done.

I won’t promise that you will definitively find enslaved ancestors, but you may be able to get more than what you have right now, which I assume, is nothing.

This is why I said that what you can find about ancestors from the Caribbean, depends on the island(s). Though I am not Jamaican, I understand that Jamaica may have better resources for family research than you expect.

Yea i am, and I am very happy to hear that.

You were not lying when you said that site have links to other islands. I actually went on there browsing, it is verrry informative and through that site I ended up on that family search website. I will continue to search through this website. Once again, thank you for this information.
 

melo555

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How old are you if I may ask? My great Grand parents were born around the 1880's and early 1890's.

Not to reveal my age but I was born in the 1980's. My grandmother had my mom later in life and my mother had me later in life. Through the website I found out that my great-grandfather was born in 1860 and my great-grandmother was born in 1870. Their son was my granddad and he was born in 1909.
 

SerafinaCyan

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Must be nice to be an Ados, so.easy to trace your lineage as they kept better records. In the Caribbean we don't have access to that.

I'm Jamaican and have used the site to find my great grandparents birth, marriage and death certificates.
 

Inara

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Family Search is great. It's gets even better when it's used in tandem with Ancestry.
 

Adventure

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I used Family Search and found some very good records on some of my ancestors.
 

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