Family history and how you find it!??

Question:

Family history and how you find it!??

Hi, could anyone point me to the place I should look for finding out a name change. I've been told by my husbands family that our family name was changed some while ago (At least 4 generations ago) How would I go about finding out the person who changed his name and what it was changed from. The family have never been interested in looking but I'm intrigued. I'm not sure how they know it was changed but they swear it was.

Any pointers anyone could give me would be great!

Thanks in advance

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Start with your parents and work back one generation at a time.

Talk to family, particularly senior member. Tape them if they will let you. What might seem to be insignificant ramblings might turn out to be very important.

See if your library has a genealogical section. IF so, browse it and see what you can find. Go to a LDS Center ( Mormon Church). They have records on people all over the world. They are very helpful and I have never had them come ringing my doorbell because I availed myself of their services.

Court House records, wills, deeds etc. are important. Now before the 20th century most vital records will be in churches.

Websites can be helpful. Use them as a supplement. Ancestry.Com has lots of records and is obtaining more all the time.
They have all the census records through 1930. Possibly your library has a subscription to Ancestry.Com.

Information in family trees on any website should be taken as clues not as fact as most is not documented. Even if you see the same information over and over by different submitters, a lot of copying is being done which is an incorrect way of doing family history. You get a lot of errors that way.

National Archives in Washington DC has a lot of records on immigrants if you live close to that area.

If you subscribe to any periodicals you might get junk mail from coat of arms peddlers. They are no laws regarding heraldry in the U. S. These people will sell you one based solely on a surname without documented proof that you are entitled to it.Put their junk mail in File 13.

Death certificates and applications for social security number have the names and place of birth of both parents. I feel the application for social security number is better since the person applying for a number usually knows exactly where their parents were born while the death certificate depends on someone remembering where Grandma was born.

You can find out how to go about getting an application for social security number on rootsweb or you can go into Ancestry.Com and locate the person on the Social Security Death Index, probe for a letter off to the right and print off a letter ready to mail with your check. You do not have to know a person's SS number to find them on the Social Security Death Index.

Anyone that was drawing social security at time of death and on their own social security number will be on the social security death index.

Good Luck!