Time
In years past researchers were obliged to sift through Church parish records and civil records for Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths & Burials. In some instances these records had been photographed and transferred to microfiche. Researchers joined local Family History Societies where these resources were (and still are) pooled for the membership. A small annual membership fee allowed these Societies to purchase microfiche and other records that would have been beyond the average researchers resources.
Today the internet has seen a proliferation of commercial organisations (and a few volunteer groups) join the genealogy family and vast resources are now available on the web. These resources are increasing daily as the popularity of genealogy grows.
Just because it 'on the net' don't think that finding out about you ancestors is going to be a quick job. Some individuals are easy to find - particularly if they have an uncommon name. Others who have a common name - say Evan Williams born in Wales can be exceedingly difficult to identify from amongst the many other Evan Williams'. Researching is often a painstaking process of eliminating the chaff from the wheat.
Don't expect to finish your tree in a matter of months - it will take years.
Money
Genealogy Programmes
Unless you find a free genealogy programme capable of doing everything you want you will most likely want to purchase a genealogy programme for your computer. Expect to pay anywhere between AU$40-AU$100.00. These programmes are regularly updated as more features are added to the software and a new version of the software is issued. You will be asked to pay for these upgraded versions - approx. AU$30.00 an upgrade. Some software developers make small incremental upgrades free and only charge for significant upgrades when a bundle of new features is introduced.
On a personal note I started out using Family Tree Maker (FTM) Ver.4 and stopped using FTM at Ver.10. Each version required a payment - I regularly skipped versions to avoid escalating costs . FTM release a new version every year. Legacy on the other hand regularly release small upgrades free of charge and only require payment for major upgrades. (In 7 years of using Legacy there has only been one major upgrade requiring a payment).
Genealogy Web Sites
There are some free web sites where you can search for information on your ancestors (Family Search compiled by the LDS Church is the best example). Family History groups also occassionally maintain free searchable web site (Forest of Dean Family History is an excellent example).
The best searchable genealogy web sites are maintained by commercial organisations and government agencies and are not free. These web site generally fall into two categories:
- Pay per View
- Subscription
Most, but not all, exclusive pay per view sites are run by government agencies. Generally they are free to search but you must pay a fee to view the results. an example of this type of web site is the Justice Department of Victoria who maintain the Victorian Births, Deaths & Marriages (BDM) records. You can search the BDM records for free but a fee of approx. UA$1.00 is charged to view the result(s). Payment is made via a credit or debit card issued by one of the major credit card issuers (Visa, Mastercard or American Express etc.)
Some sites required you to buy 'credits'. Credits are available for purchase, via your credit/debit card, in blocks - say 20 credits for AU$10.00. Search results are obtained by using your credits. A birth certicicate may cost you 2 credits whilst a photograph of a Church parish baptism record may cost 3 credits. Scotland's People is a good example of this type of web site.
In essence these web sites require you to pay for each individual records. If you are looking for a number of records it can prove costly.
Subsription
These sites require you to pay a fee to search their databases for a specified amount of time - eg. 1 month, 6 months or 1 year. Rates also vary according to what databases you elect to search. eg Australian & UK, or USA or Worldwide
The best genealogy databases are usually subscription sites.
Prices vary from web site to web site. They also vary according to the length of time you sign up for. Shorter periods are do not cost as much as a longer search period but prorated the longer periods are cheapest. Prices vary from approx AU$25.00 for 1 month to AU$300-400.00 for a 1 year subscription. Ancestry.com is a good example of a subscription site.
These web sites allow you to pay a fixed price for an unlimited number of records over. Despite the initial large cost it does work out cheaper than a pay per view site if you are sourcing a large number of records
When you decide that you need to use a genealogy web site that requires a payment please choose carefully. Some sites are restricted in what they provide eg. Victoria Justice Department only allows you to locate Victorian BDM's whereas others such as Ancestry.com include all Australian states BDM's in their databases as well as extensive databases for other Australian, UK and USA records. Spend your money wisely.