What is your ancestry? Are you sure? REALLY sure?

I thought I was sure.

Turns out, my family history was partially true and partially not. While my grandfather did come fom Italy in 1911(as I was always told) , my maternal grandmother's side in the US goes way back to the 1690's, I have a relative who was a Confederate soldier and POW and his father apparently fought for Texas independence. Wow.  No one ever told me any of this!

Where did we get this info and can we prove it? Ancestry.com has massive records taken from the US census from as far back as 1790 as well as military records, tax records, the National Archives and other government and newspaper sources. As you find records that pertain to your search, you're able to download the exact document that contains your relative's information. That is, if you're looking at the 1820 census, you can print out a copy of the actual 1820 census that specifically shows your relative- old timey handwriting and all- there's no better proof than that.

Additionally, you can choose to connect with other families who share the same relatives as you who've also been researching the site. My family tree has so many branches, roots and leaves that I must be related to 5,000 other people spread across the country.
Makes for a heck of a family reunion...

While Ancestry.com does cost money to join ($12.95/mo.), there's a 14 day free trail (my wife found most of the info detailed above in about 5 days) and you can cancel anytime by calling an 800 number.

To find out if you and I are related, go to Ancestry.com by clicking here and I'll save you some potato salad at the family reunion next July.