Everyone at some point wonders where their ancestors came from and what they did and the aim of 123familytree is to allow people to find out information on their family tree their family history and other useful genealogy information.
What are the best sites on the internet to use to trace my family tree?
There are a large number of genealogy sites online that can assist you trace your ancestors and your family tree. Some of these are free to use whilst others require you to pay to use them.
Some of the most popular sites are Cyndislist, Ancestry and Genesreunited.
What does your surname mean?
Family surnames can provide useful information on where your ancestors came from. Surnames tend to originate from one of the following 4 sources.
Geographic - this is where the name is based on where a your ancestor lived or came from and examples include Scotland, England and Wales to name but a three.
Descriptiive - this is where a name is based on a your ancestors characteristics and examples include Little, Strong and White.
Occupations - this is where your surname is based on your ancestors occupation and examples include Smith, Carter and Shepherd.
Patronymic - this was where your surname was based on an ansestors fathers name and examples of children of someone called Donald could be McDonald, O'Donald and Donaldon.
Does your family have a coat of arms?
Coats of arms were granted to individuals and therefore individual family members may have different coats of arms. A common mistake in heraldry is for someone to identify a coat of arms belonging to someone with the same surname and then to use this as their family coat of arms.
