Genealogy Message Boards and Forums are a fun way to connect with other researchers or jump-start your family history research when you’ve hit a bump in the road. It’s encouraging to chat with others who are working on similar lines. And with the advantages of Social Media you have more options than ever!
Top Free Genealogy Message Boards include:
RootsWeb and the Message Boards at Ancestry
- RootsWeb and the Message boards at Ancestry.com are the same thing. This is a free family history message board. RootsWeb was purchased by Ancestry.com and Ancestry has kept it as a free offering and they have merged the message boards. You can search by Locale, Surname, Topic, or Keyword. They boast 25 million posts over 198,000 boards so there’s a lot of content.
- GenForum is a free genealogy message board. It was started by Genealogy.com which was acquired by Ancestry.com and is kept as a separate message board/forum from RootsWeb. It boasts “14,000 online forums devoted to genealogy, including surnames, U.S. states, countries, and general topics.” You can search by Locale, Surname, Topic, or Keyword.
- RootsChat is a free UK based genealogy message board. “The country’s busiest, largest free family history site. 223,682 members are ready to help you with your questions.” There’s no fee or subscription but you do need register in order to post or private message on the site. An easy way to search this site is to scroll down to the country you’re interested in (Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, etc) then select the locale within that country, then scroll through the boards, posts, and especially look at the highlighted links listed for that locality.
11,000+ Facebook Genealogy links
- Katherine Willson serves on the Membership Committee for the Federation of Genealogical Societies, teaches Genealogy classes, does private genealogy research, and has compiled this list of over 11,000 Facebook genealogy links. Joining a Facebook community for the locale or subject you’re researching is a great way to connect with other researchers. Each group will have its own rules for posting so read the “description” of the group in the right-hand column (beneath the members’ names). If you haven’t already joined the Facebook community, genealogy research is a great reason to take the plunge!
CousinConnect, now Adopted.com
- Adopted.com has free and premium memberships. A free membership allows you to post a search at Adopted.com and see your percentage search results. You will also be able to see and respond to messages that people send to you and there is no requirement to reply.
Message boards at MyHeritage.com
- MyHeritage.com has free message boards. If you want to reply or post you’ll need to create a membership. They have free membership offerings and if you decide you want extra services they provide you can choose a subscription membership. Searches can be made by Locale, Surname, Topic, Keyword, or you can select one of the Message Boards for Beginners.
- UlsterAncestry is a site that charges for genealogical records in Northern Ireland but they have message boards you can look through at no charge. They’re not accepting members at this time so there’s no posting available if you’re not already a member.
- CuriousFox.com is a free and fee genealogy forum site for the UK and Ireland. It’s free to read postings and to post entries and to contact paid members. Only paid members can contact free members. You can search by Village, Town or County, Surname, and Surname within a distance of any locale.
This article was updated March 23, 2018
My great grand father was GILES OSGOOD who arrived in Canada in 1865 with the British Army and stayed to raise a family. He left behind in brothers. He left behind William, Henry, David Henry John and George. I have found dependents of George only. I would like to make contact with any of my cousins if there any to read this.
I am helping my Cousin (who is adopted) to find her birth family. Birth Mom is Jean Alexander from Indiana and Jane was born about 1953-54 to Jean when she was about 25 when she gave Jane up at age 6 months. Her father may be Max Michael Otis. Jane was running into a lot of stumbling blocks. Anyone know any of these names: Martha Grace Alexander born 10/29/1923 in Elkhart, IND who my be an Aunt as Jean had at least 5 sisters. Martha was married to Earl Edward Hively. Any information will be really appreciated. She lost her parents and is now alone except for me and my Brother. Rest of my family are dead. Thank you! Kay Schroy
Kay,
You might want to give Adopted.com a try. It looks like you can register for free and that might allow you to search their databases: https://www.adopted.com/find-birth-parents.html and if your cousin has DNA-tested you could check out CeCe Moore’s Facebook Group, DNA Detectives: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DNADetectives for free help using the DNA results to help locate family.
Best with your research,
Alyson
Put in Family Search Find Earl Edward Hively 1913-1995 and Martha Grace Alexander 1926-1987.
I think this is the right Tree because the month and day you gave was correct for Martha. Come down to her parents and click on children and you will find Martha and Jean are sisters. If the 1926 instead of 1923 is correct they may be twins. Pay attention to the Sources because this identifies each person life. One Source stands out to me and that is a Martha that has email address you could contact for more information. She is responsible for a lot of the Sources and has a lot of interest in the family. Did not come up with anything on Max. Wished I could have helped you more.
I am looking for any information on the father of John McCollum born 1762 and died 1818 in Kenton County, Kentucky.
Put in Family Search Find John McCollum Jr. 1762-1818 and Sarah Crawford 1762-1820. I believe this their Tree. Look at the Sources and Memories. You will find Sources that have email addresses that you can contact for more information. The McCollum part of the Tree goes back to the 1500’s.
It appears the Tree has been kept up and goes forward to 2000 or so.