family trees

Try

http://ancestry.com/

Info, databases, message boards, how to. Best place to begin!

As a veteran geneologist I feel that the best way to keep track of your ancestors, once they know their names, is on a simple graph of your own design. Afterall, the geneology is the issue, not the learning of a geneology software program. To start, look for, on a search engine, for Cyndi's Geneology. "She" is a good place to start with a lot of links. Also try, in a search engine, for something like "Jones Family Forum". You will often find information with vague entries. As for your family friend, try the various white and yellow page programs attached to larger pages like Yahoo, AOL, etc. You have to know something about the person, but even a name will do. Once again, the less information that you put into a query will most likely produce the most results.

I use a program called "Family Tree Maker" from Borderbund. I suppose it's as good as any other out there and there are advantages to using a program designed specifically for the task.

The biggest complaint I have wth this particular program is that they come out with upgrades at least annually and sometimes twice a year and they they pester you incessently to buy the latest/greatest versions. It wouldn't be so bad if they fix bugs in the software and give you patches to fix them for free but they don't. Bugs are fixed by creating the next version which they expect you to pay for.

If you really get into it seriously, having a program like Family tree maker is essential these days if you'd like to share your info with others over the internet or in downloading other researchers info into your family tree. -- And sharing is the key to knowledge and a big part of the geneaology world!

The programs are very easy and fun to use too. These programs don't do the research for you, you still have to do the work but they are an efficient way to keep track of all the research. You can get try them out on a limited basis, too, first without buying.

Sierra has Easy Family Tree which I started off with but, wasnt all that happy with either. I actually had created my own excel spreadsheet to go along with it so, it was a constant battle to keep both up to date, I ended up just keeping the spreadsheet going.
I changed over to Family Tree Maker recently and it has been a much better experience.
ancestry.com is great however, once you do get into it more seriously you'll want to subscribe. The cost was fair and affordable in the past, now I really dont want to spend that much for the service.
I have enjoyed other sites like
genealogy.com, internment.net, etc etc but, I think the best place to get lost at first is Cyndi's list as mentioned above.
Best of Luck

Excellent - we just have this stuff on paper.

BTW, how old is Rocky Capobianco? I remember a guy from college named Rocco Capobianco, and I think he was from NJ. I'm not sure if he was in the same year as me but at any rate I'm 41 so the Rocco I know would be more or less that age.

HERE'S A SITE . . .
Here's a good site that you may be interested in for genealogy searches:

http://www.cyndislist.com/


And, maybe you already did this search, but curiosity got the better of me. About 2,140 sites for Rocco Capobianco on Google:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Rocco+Capobianco&btnG=Google+Search


There were Capobiancos in Rahway, NJ, some years ago. Don't know if there still are - or any by the name of Rocco. [/color]

wow

great suggestions.

(rocky would be in his 60's)

thanks to all!

CAPOBIANCOS IN NEW JERSEY
There are 78 Capobiancos in New Jersey listed in the Internet White Pages. None listed for Rahway. But maybe if you called information?

The first name on the list is Rocky!!!

Good wishes! [/color]

New Jersey Capobiancos - White Pages

I always reccomment Cyndi's list for the beginner. It is awsome. I use Family Tree Maker also.

I was thinking about a genealogy forum for a2k, but there are tons already on the web. Maybe we could specialize, i.e. success stories, most interesting ancestor found etc.

Genealogy Shareware & Links
I've been doing genealogy for about 5 years and I like Brother's Keeper, a shareware program that allows the generation of GEDCOM files for sharing:
http://www.bkwin.net/version6.htm

I like it better than some of the shelf programs.
My favs for online research postings:
http://www.Gencircles.com
http://genforum.genealogy.com/

My fam's: Dillon, Vann, Andrew = Overton Co, TN
Oklahoma IT: Crosby, Mullens, Winters, Climers, Bently

carolkray, thank you for posting those two links, I do a lot of historical reseach that at times involves genealogy and I was unaware of those two sites.