AncestorSpy

     We found the records so you can FIND ANCESTORS!

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Family Tree Maker 2008
Enjoy to do lists & interactive maps and much, much, more!!!

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I, Donna K. Clark, your AncestorSpy guide, will walk you through discovering the fascinating stories of your ancestors. As this site is upgraded you will find hints and step by step instructions to help you organize and discover great ancestral stories to share with your loved ones. Check the AncestorSpy How To Manual often for new articles and updates.
I love this free family tree because it helps me find my ancestors. I believe you will enjoy it too.
Click here to learn more and Get Started Today!!!
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Family Genealogy

 

 

Free genealogy records on this site (New transcriptions and those in progress.)

Massachusetts
Old Families of Amesbury & Salisbury, Massachusetts, by David W. Hoyt - (Sixty pages are now transcribed.)
Judge Samuel Sewal's Diary 1686-1698 - online on this site - free COMING SOON

New Hampshire
Early Records of New Hampshire Families (1643-1709), originally published in the NEHGR  NOW COMPLETE

Pennsylvania
Abstract of the Bedford County, Pennsylvania Wills 1771-1819, Volume 1 NOW COMPLETE

More free transcribed records on this site are listed here.

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Below is the Link Directory to other web sites with genealogy records. We are adding new links daily.

United States of America Genealogy Records    District of Columbia Genealogy Records

AK  AL  AR  AZ  CA  CO  CT  DE  FL  GA  HI  IA ID  IL  IN  KS  KY  LA  MA  MD  ME  MI  MN  MO  MS

MT  NC  ND  NE  NH  NJ  NM  NV  NY  OH  OK  OR  PA  RI  SC  SD  TN  TX  UT  VA  VT  WA  WI  WV  WY

Territories:  Am. Samoa    -    Guam    -    Panama Canal Zone    -    Puerto Rico   -    Virgin Islands

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Genealogy Research is Compelling, Enjoyable and Endearing.

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced family history researcher this site is for you! My focus is on organizing your family history pages on your computer. I will tell you about the fabulous tools as well as step by step details on how to proceed on this most enjoyable and exciting journey. Speaking of exciting, have you very done a victory dance when you have found something or achieved a goal.

My husband and I went bowling when we were younger and I used to see people do a victory dance when the knocked down all the pins. I would see their hands go up on the air and they would dance in a circle right there on the floor. Being a shy person, I said to myself, "I would never do that." But when I found my husband's ancestors while in the largest genealogy library in the world in Salt Lake City, I DID DO JUST THAT. Yes sir, right in the quiet library, the biggest one in the world, I danced a victory dance.

FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY RESEARCH IS EXCITING !!!  One exciting way to start is with Ancestry's Free Family Tree. Start today!

So come along with me, and I will show you just how you too can enjoy this exciting hobby. I want you too, to have the thrill of finding those long lost ancestors and learn their stories. Think of the fun we will have as we share our ancestor stories with our children and grandchildren, with nieces and nephews and other relatives.

Come back to this site often and learn the tricks and hints that will be posted on this site. Until next time, I am Donna K. Clark, your AncestorSpy guide.

Just starting - click here

Have been doing research for a while - click here

Important Records  >>  Census  -   Immigration  -  Map  -  Vital Records  -   What to look for 

 
  

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Census schedules are wonderful for finding families. The U.S. Census was taken every 10 years beginning in 1790. From 1850 on all of the members of a household were listed by name. In the later census, family relationships were also included. All of the U.S. Census is now available online from 1790 to 1930 and we have included links to these valuable records.

Census Schedules in the United States

Alabama Hawaii Michigan North Carolina Utah
Alaska Idaho Minnesota North Dakota Vermont
Arizona Illinois Mississippi Ohio Virginia
Arkansas Indiana Missouri Oklahoma Washington
California Iowa Montana Oregon West Virginia
Colorado Kansas Nebraska Pennsylvania Wisconsin
Connecticut Kentucky Nevada Rhode Island Wyoming
Delaware Louisiana New Jersey South Carolina  
District of Columbia Maine New Hampshire South Dakota  
Florida Maryland New Mexico Tennessee  
Georgia Massachusetts New York Texas  
1600s-1900s Census Finder - Free Census Records Online - free list of free census records online
     This site has a comprehensive directory of links to free census records available to you online. These links are for the United States including Native American Census Records, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

 
 

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Immigration - Passenger Lists
Immigration records include passenger lists. Later records contain more details that the earlier records. 

United States        
California
San Francisco        
Connecticut
Bridgeport Fairfield New London    
Florida
Florida State        
Georgia
Darien        
Maine
Bangor Bath Belfast    
Maryland
Annapolis Baltimore      
Massachusetts
Barnstable Boston Dighton Edgartown Fall River
New Jersey

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Bridgeton Cape May      
New York
New York        
North Carolina
Beaufort Edenton      
Oregon
Oregon State        
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania State Berks Philadelphia    
Rhode Island
Bristol Warren      
Texas
Brownsville Galveston Houston    
Virginia
Virginia State Alexandria      

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Maps and more maps

Why use maps you ask? You really cannot do good research without them. There are all kinds of maps. Some show the migration routes, location of cemeteries, schools, churches, libraries, rivers, nearby towns, the county seat (for locating county records), and of course roads. When you do not find records of your ancestor in a particular location, start looking in the nearby towns. Some people live in the suburbs and then move to a new location. When that are asked where they came from, it is easier to say the name of a big city near where they lived than to explain where the suburb is located. So use the map to find the nearby towns.

United States Maps

Alabama Idaho Minnesota Ohio Washington
Alaska Illinois Mississippi Oklahoma West Virginia
Arizona Indiana Missouri Oregon Wisconsin
Arkansas Iowa Montana Pennsylvania Wyoming
California Kansas Nebraska Rhode Island  
Colorado Kentucky Nevada South Carolina TERRITORIES
Connecticut Louisiana New Jersey South Dakota American Samoa
Delaware Maine New Hampshire Tennessee Guam
District of Columbia Maryland New Mexico Texas Panama Canal Zone
Florida Massachusetts New York Utah Puerto Rico
Georgia Michigan North Carolina Vermont Virginia Islands
Hawaii Michigan North Dakota Virginia Other

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Vital Records: Birth, Marriage & Death

Vital Records consist of birth, marriage, death and divorce records. When you want to learn a birth data and place, or who your ancestor was married to or a death date and place locate the vital records for the locality where you ancestor lived. Marriage records are especially good for learning the maiden name of the bride.

Vital Records in the United States (Births, Marriages & Deaths)

Alabama Idaho Mississippi Ohio Washington
Alaska Illinois Missouri Oklahoma West Virginia
Arizona Indiana Montana Oregon Wisconsin
Arkansas Iowa Nebraska Pennsylvania Wyoming
California Kansas Nevada Rhode Island  
Colorado Kentucky New Jersey South Carolina TERRITORIES
Connecticut Louisiana New Hampshire South Dakota American Samoa
Delaware Maine New Mexico Tennessee Guam
District of Columbia Maryland New York Texas Panama Canal Zone
Florida Massachusetts North Carolina Utah Puerto Rico
Georgia Michigan North Dakota Vermont Virginia Islands
Hawaii Minnesota   Virginia Other
US Marriage Records free at GenWeb.com

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What to look for when searching for Ancestors

When you begin searching for your ancestors, first look for family histories, biographies and county histories. In other words, find out what has been done by others first. This will not only save you time, but will also give you clues and facts as to where to look for more information.

The second set of records to search will be the census records. They are the most complete of all the records that are available and will indicate family relationships as well as ages and places of birth. Clues can also be gleaned which may lead you to other records such as military service, land or occupation records. City directories can also serve as a type of census. Some city directories tell who died the previous year and others will even list all the children. Many tell the occupation of the head of the household. Of course city directories give a name and a place of residence.

There are many other kinds of records that contain facts about our ancestors. Often it is even possible to write a life story from the records left behind after a person has died. Interesting facts can be found in newspapers, in school year books, and in the military records. Another interesting source are church records. Church records even contain marriages and births of children. Funerals were held at churches so the church records may contain death records too.

When you want to know when a person moved to an area take a look at the city directories or the land records. Most people in the early days of this country owned land and so when they moved to an location they purchased a place to live. The county court house is the place where these transactions were recorded. Therefore take a look at the county records. County records also contain records of court actions regarding the citizens in the county. Most of these records have an index (that is they list all those with surnames beginning with 'A' together on one page and the next page will have surnames beginning with 'B' and so on) in the beginning of the record book. When a person dies leaving an estate a probate record is created. These records will reveal whether or not there was a will. Probate records will include an inventory of the estate, telling what the deceased owned when he or she died. Also, a final land transaction will be made when the home was sold. This transaction is usually found in the land records Some of these records have been transcribed and may be available on the internet, on a CD or even in a book.

For those ancestors that immigrated to the United States, you may want to look at the naturalization record. A naturalization record is the documents the were created when a person became a citizen of a country such as the United States. Many of these are making their way to the internet and when they do we will list them on this site.

We, here at AncestorSpy are looking for any record that may contain information about your ancestors. As they are found, we will list them on this site. We trust you will find your ancestors when you use AncestorSpy.com. - Donna K. Clark, webmaster.

We recommend this page be bookmarked or used as your homepage.

        AncestorSpy.com is a directory to family history and genealogy records such as census and vital records. Organized by locality it is simple and easy to locate records that may reveal information about your ancestors. We search the internet daily and provide links to genealogy records. Records are organized down to the county and town level so that you can go to the list of towns on the state page and click on the town and view the available titles.

About AncestorSpy's How To Manual

        AncestorSpy.com is now in the process of providing a guide for organizing all the genealogy documents you gather that need to go somewhere but where? As searches are preformed, we often come across records that we sort of tilt our head at and narrowly look at and think, "I don't know if this record pertains to my ancestor or not. I don't want to loose it, but what can I do with it?" Many of these documents contain information about our ancestors, but we need more information to fit them into our family tree.

When my grandmother died, I inherited several boxes of family history papers. I also received several boxes of papers for a distant cousin when I went to visit her. And I received file cabinets of genealogy papers from my mother when she died. I thought about my children. They will never want all these paper documents. What to do. As a result, I have taken the time to developed a way to organized this mass of paper on the computer. Now it can be easily shared over the internet or on CD or DVD's. And it doesn't have to take up a room full of file cabinets. This system has been developed over a period of thirty years and it is time for me to share the process with you. I am sure that you will as I have truly enjoy finding any piece of information quickly and with ease. It is a lot more enjoyable to be able to locate any information I have gathered and organized as the need arises.

One more note. Do not wait to organize! Do it NOW! Start today. Watch for more instructions as they are posted in the AncestorSpy's How To Manual which will include these organizing instructions.

Come back often. This site is free for your use.

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Partner Genealogy Web Sites

 Census Finder - Free Census Records Online - This site has a comprehensive directory of links to free census records available to you online. These links are for the United States including Native American Census Records, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

 GenealogyToday.com - Genealogy help for newbies, family researchers, genealogists and professionals.

 What's New in Genealogy ... Today! - Genealogy help for newbies, family researchers, genealogists and professionals.

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If you offer GENEALOGY services or products for any of the states or counties in the USA, please send an email describing what you offer. We want to make this site as complete as possible. We also welcome links to pages on this site.

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