Find Your Family History

10 Ways To Find Your Family History!

Are you interested to know more about your ancestors? Then my 10 ways to find your family history post will show you how you can do just that.

Find Your Family History

Many options are available to you so it is good to know where you can turn to for help.

Try the free options first!

Before you go join a genealogy site I urge you to first look at the free options that are available to you.

My Tips For A Free Family History Search post discusses many ways that you can trace your family tree for FREE!

Sometimes you will need to spend some money though. And that is quite alright.

It’s the same for any hobby. Whether it’s golf, scrapbooking, gardening, or whatever, you have to hand over your cash to carry on with your pastime.

And genealogy or family history is no different.

So, just be prepared for this scenario.

10 ways to find your family history:

In this post, I will highlight to you both the free and paid options that are available to you.  But as I said before please check out the free resources first.

Check Out The Bonus Way!

Further Information!

Please check out the National Geographic website. There you will 8 Tips to Help Find Your Family Tree.

The article will show you how to get started and organized, where and how to search online, and even DNA testing as well.


1. Start With Yourself

If you want to build a family tree then the best place to start is with yourself. You need to work with what you know and build from that.

Work With What We Know

You know details about yourself, your parents, probably your grandparents and maybe your great grandparents.

Ask yourself some questions:

  • What are their names?
  • When and where were they born?
  • When and where were they married?
  • How, when, and where did they die, (if applicable)?

So, start to write this information down and build your family tree from what you know.

What you don’t know can always be added later by using the other ways that I will discuss in the post.


2. Look Around Your Home

Do you know that there are countless amounts of information that you can find around your home?

Sources of Information

These can be found anywhere, from up in the loft, down in the basement, in a shoebox at the back of a cupboard, or tucked away in the back of a drawer.

Sources of information you can find:

  1. Birth, Marriage, and Death Records
  2. Baby Books
  3. Wedding Invitations and Announcements
  4. Obituary Notices and Memorial Cards
  5. Photographs
  6. Journals or Diaries
  7. Letters
  8. Family Bible
  9. School Awards
  10. Apprenticeship, Union & Income Tax Records
  1. Severance or Retirement Records
  2. Occupational Licenses
  3. Motor Vehicle and Driving Licenses
  4. Deeds, Mortgages, and Leases
  5. Medical and Hospital Records
  6. Medals, Ribbons, or Insignias
  7. Uniform, Firearm, or Sword
  8. Discharge Papers or Citations
  9. Naturalization Papers
  10. Passport and Visas

 

There are probably more sources of information that I haven’t listed here.

So, why not go and check out what you can find around your home.

Why not tell me below what you have found?

What Sources of Information Can You Find?


3. Ask Your Relatives

Your relatives will also have useful information that you can use for your family history research. But you do not have to stop with relatives.

Ask Our Relatives For Help

You could also ask friends, neighbors, and people who worked with your ancestors.

Free, but treat them!

The great thing about asking your relatives is that you can get information for free.

Unless you want to treat them out for a meal at a restaurant where you can talk. or you may them some flowers, chocolates or whatever other gifts you would like to bring.

I do urge you though to ask anyone who knew your relatives.

Not only will they save you time tracking down information that they already know but some information that they possess may not be recorded anyway.

This is certainly true with the priceless information that my father has passed on to me.

Top 20 Family History Interview Questions


4. Check Out Local Library and Archives

Your local library should have a section on the local history of the area. Reading these books will give you an idea as to what life was like for your ancestor.

Join A Library

So, you could find out what work was available, what was the land like, any significant events that happened in the area, and so on.

Library staff is here to help!

And if you are not sure where to find the information that you are looking for then you can always ask the friendly library staff for help.

The information that you can find at your nearest archives, (or the archives where your ancestor lived), can include what you can find at home.

But if you have exhausted that option then the archives is your next step.

Find these at the archives:

  1. Birth, Death, and Marriage Certificates
  2. Electoral Register
  3. Business and Residential Addresses
  4. Passenger Lists
  5. Military Records
  1. Wills and Probate
  2. Land and Properties
  3. Civil and Criminal Justice
  4. Education Records
  5. Mental Health Records

Plan A Visit To The Archives


5. Check Out Genealogical Societies

Known as genealogical societies in the United States, or rather family history societies in the United Kingdom are pretty similar to a library.

Family History Society

What can you discover?

You can find out the history of the area where your ancestor lived and get directed to the information that you are looking for.

These societies publish guide books and documents containing parish, chapel, and school registers.

They may also produce books on military records and monumental inscriptions as well.

You may be lucky and purchase unwanted birth, death, or marriage certificates of your ancestor at a discounted price.

These certificates may be available at a reduced price because another member may have purchased them by mistake.

There will be an annual charge to become a member of this society.

I do urge you to consider this option as they can personally help you with your query.

Remember that these are people who are passionate about family history and so they try their best to help you.

Check Out A Genealogy Society!


6. Visit Cemeteries

Well, what can you find out about your ancestors from cemeteries? Well, quite a bit.

Visit Cemeteries

The information that you can find out at cemeteries can help you to break down brick walls in your research.

But how you are asking yourself.

By the inscriptions on the monuments or headstones of your ancestors.

These inscriptions can give you information that you can use to build your family tree.

Information you can find on headstones:

  • Name of your ancestor
  • Name of their partner and death details
  • Any children
  • When your ancestor was born
  • Where they lived
  • When they died

I have personally gained a lot of facts about my family history by visiting the cemeteries of where my ancestor lived.

It may take you a while to find your ancestors’ graves and you will need to visit many cemeteries but this information is quite literally for free!

So, why not turn it into a day trip?!

How To Find A Cemetery Grave


7. Genealogy Sites

Several genealogy search websites contain millions, if not billions of records, within their databases.

The two main sites that come to mind are Ancestry and FindMyPast. But there is also MyHeritage, Archives, Genealogy Bank, and more besides.

Ancestry.com

Get a subscription!

Most of these will require a subscription to access these records.

I don’t want anything to step in the way of me finding my ancestors.

And if that means that I need to pay for it then so be it. I would rather pay and get that information than miss out and not learn about my ancestors.

But, if you do not want to pay then why not check out my guide to 10 Free Genealogy Sites.


8. Try Google

Google can connect you with your ancestors. There are zillions and zillions of information out there online.

Google Search

And we can find our ancestors by using this impressive search engine.

Do you feel lucky?

Well, do you?

We may be lucky and find what we are looking for. And we may be even luckier when that information is free.

But do you know how to effectively use Google and get the results that you are hoping for?

Maybe not!

So, I suggest that you check out the Google for Genealogy Premium Collection.

It will show you how to effectively help to find your ancestors, and show you all about Google Alerts, Google Books, and also Google+.


9. DNA Testing

DNA testing has certainly helped people to find out their ethnicity.

What Is A Genealogy DNA Test?

It has helped them to see where they need to look next and has also helped them to break down brick walls in their research.

Which company to go with?

There are 3 main DNA companies today that can help you.

They are 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and Family Tree DNA. These companies will look at markers within your DNA and based on these results they can tell you a lot of information, more than I can say here.

But suffice it to say this is a growing area in the world of genealogy and with scientific advancements the results you will get better and better.

What Is A Genealogy DNA Test?


10. Get Professional Help

For whatever reason, you may decide that you would rather seek advice and help from a professional genealogist. It may be because you have exhausted all options that are available to you.

Hire A Professional Genealogist

Or you just do not have the time to trace your family history but you are still interested to know where you come from.

Why a professional!

A professional will know where to look and how to look for the information that you want to know about your ancestors.

You will though need to specify to them how far back you will want them to research and the level of information that you want.

It is costly to hire a professional compared to doing the research yourself but if it’s the only option available to you then I say go for it.

Check Out Genealogy Freelancers For Help!


Bonus Way To Find Your Family History!

Well, this post was going to show you just 10 ways to find your family history.

But I couldn’t help myself so I added one more option to the list for you.

Genealogy Software

Believe it or not but you can find your ancestors through a genealogy software program.

How can software help you?

These programs can be used to help you create and build your family tree.

Most of them are pretty easy to use and you can start building that tree of yours straight away.

But they also have a handy feature where they are connected to the genealogy sites that I mentioned earlier.

Different programs though will be connected to different sites, but the feature is pretty much the same.

You enter the name of your ancestor and information that you do know about him or her. Then pops up a light bulb, a leaf, or whatever to show you that there is a possible record of your ancestor.

You then have to sift through the records to see if they are actually about your ancestor.

It is a bit hit and miss, but the more information that you do enter about your ancestor then the better chance you will find some useful records that you can use for your research.


Thank You and Please Leave A Comment

I hope you enjoyed this post discussing 10 ways to find your family history. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.

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Summary
Article Name
10 Ways To Find Your Family History
Description
10 ways to easily find your family history. Here are some tips and tricks that I have used for my genealogy journey. Let me show you them with this guide.
Author
Publisher Name
The Genealogy Guide
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6 thoughts on “10 Ways To Find Your Family History!”

  1. That’s interesting. My great grandparents are migrants from China. I think I should start looking for the roots of my long lost family member in China. I remembering seeing a video from Facebook showing they track their real identity using DNA. I think that’s the first step to check with.

    1. Hi Jay, thanks for the comment. Make sure you interview your relatives. They will have a lot of information and stories that they can share with you.

      As for DNA testing make sure you check out my What Is A Genealogy DNA Test? post. That will give you more information on this exciting area of genealogy research.

  2. I have been wanting to learn more about my family history on my mothers side, but when my grandparents came to Canada, they were the beginning of the family tree here, so only into third and fourth generations!
    Ally family tree is in either Poland, Ukraine or Russia. Mostly Ukraine. This makes the search a little more difficult. Thank you for the ideas to expand my search and look deeper.

    cheers
    brad

    1. You’re quite welcome Brad. My Canada Census Records Explained! and Ultimate Canadian Genealogy Collection posts can help you with your Canadian ancestry.

      I am glad that I have pointed you in the right direction. There are many ways that you can find your family history and I hope that you use as many of them that I have listed here. We can find out so much about our ancestors and I like to try every possible avenue of research that I can. Only then can we truly know our ancestors.

  3. What benefit did you receive once you discovered your ancestry? I am curious about the American Indian side of my family. The oldest living relative on my father’s side finally past away so now my father is it. I learned a lot from him and I am glad I got to meet him.

    1. Hi Robin, thank you for your question.

      There is just so much that I have gained from knowing my ancestry. In the beginning I just wanted to know about my ancestors. I learned who they were, where they were from, what they did and about their story.

      Not only that but the main benefit I would say is that I got to preserve my family history. I recorded the stories that were never written down and so they would never be forgotten. And I could also pass this legacy on to my daughters.

      I am glad that you got to meet the oldest living relative from your father’s side. I hope that you have recorded down what you learned from him. You should check out my How To Write A Family History Book post. It can show you how to write these stories and preserve your ancestry and those memories.

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