Most genealogists and family historians used Google Search and Google Books to find resources about their families -- for free. I have used both extensively, finding valuable genealogy sites of distanct cousins or important old genealogy books from New England. All of these helped me in my quest for my ancestors.

Less known, I believe, is another free Google resource, namely Google News Archives. It is worth a try, especially if you are looking for family members who lived in cities or in more recent decades.

You may be lucky and find birth and marriage records or obituaries. You might find a family member mentioned in a news article that gives you added insight on his or her life. Or you might strike it rich, so to speak, and find a feature article about the life, career or community service work of a family member.

I had fun finding articles about my parents' engagement and wedding. Then, by chance, I even found my own birth announcement.

Have a great time using this helpful, no-cost research tool!