15 guides
Family history guides
Plain-English guides to starting your family history. We aren't a genealogy or DNA company, and no company pays us.
Getting started
Your tree, your relatives, your papers.
- Start your family tree
Begin with yourself and work back.
- Interview your relatives
The most valuable records aren't written down.
- Gather and organize family papers
Start with what's already in the house.
- Recording names and dates
Simple habits that prevent confusion.
Finding records
Census, vital, military and immigration.
- US census records
A snapshot every ten years.
- Birth, marriage and death records
Kept by states and counties.
- Military records
Service files, draft cards and pensions.
- Immigration records
Ship lists and naturalization.
Free tools and places
Websites, libraries and cemeteries.
- Free places to search
You don't need a subscription to start.
- Libraries and archives
Where the paper records live.
- Cemeteries and gravestones
Dates, relationships and clues.
Preserving it
Photos, papers, DNA and sharing.
- Scan and label old photos
Before anyone forgets who's in them.
- Store documents safely
Cool, dark, dry and acid-free.
- DNA tests and privacy
Think before you spit.
- Share your family history
So it outlives you.