What Web sites should I use to search for my family?

Here is a photo of my Grandmother Irene Boyd Eastman.  She always thought she was part Native American.  She loved anything Native American.  She loved to be outside, loved to have a dog.  She grew up moving between Windham Vermont, and Colrain Massachusetts.  I think that she lived a very rough life.  She lived with her sisters and Father during her childhood in the logging camps in Vermont.  I don't think she knew much about her family.  I think she thought she was Native American because of her dark black hair, which I always remember her wearing long and straight.  It never turned grey.  I don't have black hair but I hope I get that gene that keeps your hair from turning grey.

Finding information about my grandmother is what helped me learn about the different web sites to use when researching family history.  The first website that I used was Ancestry.com.  I like this website and use it often.  But there are many other websites out there to use.  Ancestry.com helped me with my grandmother as I was able to get a letter made to  request her original social security application.  When I received this information I had both her parents names and the town she was born in.   Then I hit a brick wall.  No matter what I put in I could find no more information.  She never told her children much about her childhood, so there was not much to go by. 
One day in desperation I googled her name and the town she was born in. It was my lucky break.  Someone had published online a history of her Boyd family all the way back to the 1700's.  I found out that her family line came from Scotland.   I'm not sure if that is where her black hair comes from as there are a few unknown fathers in her family line.  I've always wanted to have a DNA test done to see if their is any Native American blood in our family lines.

From this one search into my past I learned to find people in your family line you need to look outside the box.  Use the different web sites, but also just do google searches of names.  There are many free sites out there that you can look through.  Of course once you find information you need to do research to make sure it is correct, but it may be the break in your family search brick wall.  From this one search we were able to find a small cemetery out in the woods of Vermont where all my great grandparents on my grandmothers family side were buried.  There was a house in a neighboring town that was owned by one of her uncles that had been turned into a bank.  It was fun to find and share with my mother. 

Here is my grandmothers great grandmother's tomb stone.  It was fun to search and find this little cemetery in the woods.  My parents did a lot of site seeing and camping in this area after we found this information.  So as you begin your search remember to think outside of the normal websites you will be surprised at what you find.  Just the other week I hit a wall with one of the family names I was searching.  I googled the name and found a town write up about one of the people I was researching and with it they named the persons grandparents.  My wall was opened and I was able to find more information on the family that I had been struggling to find.  If you are looking for Boyd family members check out the "CLAN BOYD"  website.  It may help you.  It surely helped me years ago.  I love reading about all the Scottish Ancestors that I have and seeing photo's of the castles they lived in.

Some day I hope to go to Scotland, and see all these places in my family history.  That would be so cool.  Have a good weekend, and good luck in your search.

G.G.