Family history records: what they tell you and where to find them
Each kind of record answers different questions. Here's what the most useful records can tell you, and where to start looking for them in the US.
| Record | What it can tell you | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Census | Names, ages, birthplaces, jobs and who lived together, every ten years | National Archives (1950), FamilySearch, public libraries |
| Birth certificates | Date and place of birth, parents' names | State vital records office or county clerk |
| Marriage records | Date and place, spouses' names, sometimes parents | County clerk, state archives, church records |
| Death certificates | Date, place and cause of death, often parents and birthplace | State vital records office or county clerk |
| Obituaries | Family members, life story, church and cemetery | Local newspapers, libraries, Chronicling America |
| City directories | Address and job, year by year | Public libraries and historical societies |
| Draft registration cards | Birth date, address, employer, description | National Archives, FamilySearch |
| Military service and pensions | Service details, family, sometimes letters | National Archives |
| Passenger lists | Arrival date, ship, and after 1906 often hometown and relatives | National Archives, FamilySearch, Ellis Island search |
| Naturalization records | Birthplace, arrival, sometimes photos | Courts, National Archives, USCIS Genealogy Program |
| Land and deeds | Where the family lived and who they bought from or sold to | County recorder of deeds |
| Wills and probate | Family relationships and property | County probate court, state archives |
| Church records | Baptisms, marriages and burials, often before civil records | The church, its denomination's archive, FamilySearch |
| Gravestones and cemetery records | Dates and family groupings | Cemetery office, volunteer grave indexes |
General information. What a record contains depends on the year and place, and access rules and fees vary. Many recent birth and death records are limited to close relatives. Check the record holder's website before ordering copies.
Searching well
Work backwards
From what you know to what you don't, one generation at a time.
Try spellings
Names were often written down as they sounded.
Note sources
Record where each fact came from.
Log the misses
Write down searches that found nothing too.
Read US census records and birth, marriage and death records, or estimate when your ancestors were born with the ancestor calculator.