Ancestry.com is a great place to begin and mature a genealogy search. It is great for establishing your family tree that existed in the US. You can trace your relatives from the 1930 Census as far back as 1790 if your relatives were here then. They have a very easy to use Family Tree program that will list all your family members you've entered and then give you hints on which Census that they have found a possible link. When this is verified by you you can automatically tag that Census or other historical event to your family member giving you a trail for verification. They have city directories that give addresses and dates when the bread winner died. That maybe the only time a spouse is listed unless she as a worker in which case she was listed in the Directory. They have links to the Social Security death index and the Civil War. You may have to play around with the data available to see what may help you but there is a wealth of info there. I agree you will not find much help with records in Europe. There are other sources that charge for access to European info. Most will allow you to look and find a possible match. You have to pay for what looks like a match but there is no guarantee that the promising link is actually a family member of yours. If your relatives were here between 1880 and 1930 Ancestry .com will provide you tons of info about family members, etc. You must know at least your parents or grandparents name and a few siblings names to verify if you have the right family. You really need to know what city/town they are from or you will spend hours looking at all the possible matches. Good luck. I've been using Ancestry.com for over 3 years now and I probably found as much stuff in the last few months as I ever did. I've got 13 of my 16 great great grandparents identified and now have 9 of 16 of my wife's great great grandparents identified. I only knew my grandparents names (including maiden names) and where they were born. Most of this I got from Ancestry.com and with the local libraries my grandparents lived in. Obituaries in home town papers were an immense help. It not only listed survivors but also the married names of of spouses. I eventually got to speak to a few 3rd and fourth cousins and a few once or twice removed. I met a 3rd cousin of mine in Watervliet, NY (the Raineys all came from Troy, NY) that our common ancestor was born in 1852 and we looked surprisingly similar. Of course all Irish people are about 5' 9" or 10" with fair skin, light colored hair (maybe reddish when young) and round faces and shapes so maybe it was not surprising. Good luck---stay with Ancestry.com Have a great day, Mike > Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:41:35 -0400 > From: Carol.Vercammen@state.ma.us > To: ny-troy-irish-gensoc@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] Social Security Death Index > > Looking for advice. I just received a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.com > and am a bit disappointed. People have been touting how great they are > for a few years to me and now that I am on, I am shocked at how little > info they have on Ireland. They do carry many, many records but nothing > I need to find on Ireland. > > Am I perhaps using the site incorrectly? Is there a special place I > should be searching? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. > > > Carol VerCammen > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: ny-troy-irish-gensoc-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:ny-troy-irish-gensoc-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Bill & > Cathy McGrath > Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2008 2:41 PM > To: NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC-L@rootsweb.com; nyrensse@rootsweb.com > Subject: [NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC] Social Security Death Index > > I am sure that most genealogy researchers are familiar with the numerous > internet sites for accessing the Social Security Death Index. > > Just came across a new free one that I think is the best. Go to: > www.genealogybank.com and click on "Free Social Security Death Index" on > lower right side of page. When a name comes up that you are interested > in, clicking on the name brings up the detailed page. > > In addition to the date of birth and date of death you will get the day > of the week for each event. Also shown is estimated date at death in > years, months and days. > > This index is unique with weekly updates, easy-to-use format and > comprehensive coverage. > > Try it, you will like it. > > Regards, > > Bill McGrath > Clifton Park, NY > ===NY-IRISH-GENSOC Mailing List=== > Did you pay your 2008 Dues? > Troy Irish Genealogy Society > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ===NY-IRISH-GENSOC Mailing List=== > Did you pay your 2008 Dues? > Troy Irish Genealogy Society > http://www.rootsweb.com/~nytigs/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NY-TROY-IRISH-GENSOC-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message _________________________________________________________________ Get more out of the Web. 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