 Follow
our basic instructions on how to start a family tree. Once you've
listed information about the latest few generations of your family*,
you can use our Family Tree Enhancement Service to add more leaves
to your family tree.
*As the Genealogy Detective bases most research on census
information and other on-line databases, please remember that
we will only be able to connect your sapling tree with ancestors
born before 1930 in the USA and 1901 in the UK. Your family tree
will therefore at least need to include two or three generations
to give us something to start with.
So, what’s the best way to begin?
Start with yourself and your parents and build out from there.
This will give you a base from which you can easily identify
gaps in your knowledge and highlights the questions you’ll
need to ask your relatives.
Engaging other family members is the key to successful research.
It’s always best to search with a purpose in mind. For example,
to find a reference to a known ancestor, discover other family
members living in the same household or obtain reference details
to enable you to order a birth, marriage or death certificate.
Start with what you know. Write down the names, dates and
places you already know. Start with yourself and add your parents
and grandparents. The most important information to have for
a person is a name, birthplace and date, death place and date.
Tap into one of your best resources: Your family. Chances
are your family members have additional information and resources
that can help build out your tree.
It sometimes helps to visualise the relationships of your
family members by drawing a diagram - starting with you at the
base of the diagram with your parents and their parents branching
out and widening the diagram. The way such a diagram starts with
the main person as the root and branches ever outwards has led
to the tree analogy.
If you can provide a basic map of the relationships of you
and your family members, going back to the dates given above,
and including as much information as you can provide, you can
then use our Family Tree
Enhancement Service to extend your research.
[ Back to top ] |