Thursday, November 4, 2010

The Hidden Generations

Sent this morning to some relatives:

Howdy from Arizona!

Until 3 days ago, the furthest back I knew in our family tree was about 1850.  Then a friend mentioned he was interested in discovering more about his genealogy, so I did a little searching for helpful websites for him.  The last time I had examined the “genealogy world” online, my understanding was that the sites would only give you a little info for free and then you had to pay—something I was not interested in.  (I must have some Scotch blood?)

But this time I discovered that there is a wealth of information available for free.  I now have traced parts of my Bartsch side back as far as 1485, and parts of the Lyons side as far back as 1570!

I am wondering if any of you have done any research on the Lyons/Rester family tree?  If so, I’d love to get the data you’ve collected.  Because there are still some missing gaps that I have not yet been able to fill in.

By the way, the two best websites I’ve found for FREE genealogical data are:



I am also using the free version of a software program called Legacy 7.4, which you can download free here: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ 

1 comment:

  1. Dear Mr. Bartsch,

    Thank you for posting this! After reading your post, I headed on over the sites you linked to, and just started messing around. Before I knew it I was hooked! The farthest I've been able to trace back in my family is 1709, but I'm getting there! Thanks again!

    ~Kiah

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