New to genealogy, advice???

Hi all!
I was reading some of the older threads about genealogy research and it has motivated me to finally start doing some searching on our families.  Any advice for a newbie?  Do you use the family tree programs to keep track?  Any recommendations if you do, I use a Mac instead of PC?  What is the best place to start? 

I've dabbled in it a bit, but always lost interest after a while. Try www.ancestry.com. They have paid memberships, but I think they allow you to do a few searches for free, or there might even be a free trial membership. Have fun! 

I use a family tree maker programme for Mac.  It's outdated though and I need to get one that will work on OS X.  Still works though. 

DH just found the shipping manifests for his father's family who came over from poland and some census entries through the National Archives of Canada.  He's now working on tracing the family in Poland.   

The census is a good place to start - you can trace people throughout the years. 

Talk to your older relatives too, they can give you some great tidbits from which to go on. 

My uncle just sent me something for Geni.com  (http://www.geni.com/tree/start) and when he sent it to me a month ago, it had 60 people and now it's over 250.  That's another good way to keep track and is easily accessed by other people. 

If you join ancestry.com, there's a built-in family tree maker there that does it all for you. It's actually pretty cool!

I use a family tree maker programme for Mac.  It's outdated though and I need to get one that will work on OS X.  Still works though. 
 

What program if you don't mind me asking?  I've looked for some mac ones, but had trouble finding one. 

My uncle just sent me something for Geni.com  (http://www.geni.com/tree/start) and when he sent it to me a month ago, it had 60 people and now it's over 250.  That's another good way to keep track and is easily accessed by other people. 

I'll have a look at this one, it sounds like it be a good one to try

If you join ancestry.com, there's a built-in family tree maker there that does it all for you. It's actually pretty cool!

Ancestry seems pretty expensive, but if i pay the monthly way instead of the yearly i can probably swing it.  Do you know if you can export your data?

Thanks so much ladies for helping me out!!

Do you use the family tree programs to keep track?  Any recommendations if you do, I use a Mac instead of PC?  What is the best place to start? 

I used this software many years ago: http://www.familytreemaker.com/  but wasn't that crazy about it. It just wasn't very intuitive or pretty. But this was a long time ago, so they might have updated and improved the software since then. At the time, I preferred ancestry.com for ease of use and appearance.

I used this software many years ago: http://www.familytreemaker.com/  but wasn't that crazy about it. It just wasn't very intuitive or pretty. But this was a long time ago, so they might have updated and improved the software since then. At the time, I preferred ancestry.com for ease of use and appearance.

My grandma uses FTM on PC and loves it. She's traced our family back to 1232 in England, and has traced various branches out pretty far. She has used the census, LDS libraries (Mormon libraries keep REALLY detailed records), other family members, Ancestry.com, and a few other sources like deed records to find info. She discovered that one of our ancestors was on the Mayflower (Edward Doty)! Pretty cool!

Also, you can find manifests on the Ellis Island website if you've ever gone there. Creepy enough, a little girl aged 10 came from Germany with my exact name in 1915. She isn't directly related to me from what I understand, but it's still weird to see her name written down and it's my name too!

Ancestry seems pretty expensive, but if i pay the monthly way instead of the yearly i can probably swing it.  Do you know if you can export your data?

One way to do it on ancestry.com, is to gather your queries and then pay a short term fee and do it all at once.  Unless you're using it full time, then I don't think you need to pay the whole fee.  They also offer two week trials for free. 

The family tree software for mac is called Reunion.

I signed up for ancestry.com and will at least do the two week trial.  I actually found quite a bit of stuff on one bit of the family.  It's really a cool site, much better than i first thought.  I spent way too much time on it last night.  I can see I'll be totally addicted to this before long.

I'll have a look around for reunion and see if i can find a version that will work for my computer.  Thanks!

The bbc website from the tv programme (who do you think are) gives some excellent advice. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/ 

I have subscribed to Ancestry.co.uk and did a search on my family name in the public family trees and to my surprise I found loads of ancestors.  That saved me a lot of time and effort.  It's worth a shot.  You never know-I never expected to find all that valuable information.  As it turns out, I was able to trace my ancestors to England back to 1788!  It's given me inspiration to do more. 

I entered Ancestry, few days ago, and then they wanted money so I backed out. They, I think, got the information free from the LDS church and now they turn around and ask money for what they received free. NBL. Besides I can go down to the local LDS church library for nothing.
It may be convenient for some people though, so go for it.

I entered Ancestry, few days ago, and then they wanted money so I backed out. They, I think, got the information free from the LDS church and now they turn around and ask money for what they received free. NBL. Besides I can go down to the local LDS church library for nothing.
It may be convenient for some people though, so go for it.

I have heard people say that about LDS, and apparently it worked out for my girlfriend's family tree.  So, I went online and it didn't yield any results.  And I haven't looked where any LDS churches are in the UK. 

I have heard people say that about LDS, and apparently it worked out for my girlfriend's family tree.  So, I went online and it didn't yield any results.  And I haven't looked where any LDS churches are in the UK. 

The online stuff is limited.  I have used LDS family research centers in the US and they already have paid subscriptions to Ancestry that they will let you use for free, and they're very helpful.  There's one in Sheffield, don't know if that's near you.  This page lets you search for local ones https://www.lds.org.uk/family_history.php

If you have the time to go on down, it's the free option, so why not? 

The online stuff is limited.  I have used LDS family research centers in the US and they already have paid subscriptions to Ancestry that they will let you use for free, and they're very helpful.  There's one in Sheffield, don't know if that's near you.  This page lets you search for local ones https://www.lds.org.uk/family_history.php

If you have the time to go on down, it's the free option, so why not? 

Thanks so much.  I live in Barnsley, only about 10 miles from Sheffield.  I'll give that a try!