How to trace your family tree
Researching your family tree can be challenging but hugely rewarding. It can uncover details about the lives of ancestors you never knew existed.
Getting started
Talk – and listen - to older members of your family. They will often tell stories about your grandparents and great grandparents. Write down key names, dates, places and occupations.
Decide the line or lines you’re going to trace - most people start by tracing their father’s or mother’s line – and start with your birth certificate. This usually gives your mother’s maiden name and father’s name, their status upon marriage (spinster, bachelor, widow, widower) and their occupations. If the birth certificate shows a time as well as a date, this often means a multiple birth. If the father’s name is missing then either the couple weren't married or the father died before the child was born.
Use your parents’ marriage certificate to find their birth certificates. It will give you their ages, but not their dates of birth. Sometimes it will state ‘of full age’ – which means they were over 21 and didn't need their parents’ permission to marry. This should help you to draw enough conclusions to help find their birth certificates.
Top tips
Many facts of life in Victorian society can blur family connections. For example:
Until 1929, girls could marry at 12 and boys at 14, provided they had their parents’ consent, leaving short generational gaps in families
Children in particular were at greater risk of dying from minor ailments and injuries – and worked in dangerous occupations. When families lost children, they often re-used the name for the next child born
It was customary to hand down first names from generation to generation – hence the use of nicknames to differentiate one from another. Unless you have an unusual name, tracing a path through generations of same named relatives can prove challenging – and is where local family historians can often help
Searching the records
These are the main sources of historical information:
The census returns from 1841-1911.
Statutory registers of births, marriages and deaths (after 1837). The General Register Office (GRO) keeps all certificates of births, marriages and deaths recorded in England and Wales since 1837. No central records of births, marriages or deaths exist before that date. Separate records are kept for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Eire.
Old parish records, including baptisms, marriage and burial records before July 1837, some of which go back to the 16th century. As most non-conformists were obliged to marry in the Church of England between 1754 and 1837, it is possible to find records of their marriages in Church of England parish registers.
The Society of Genealogists offers a wide range of resources to members, including online records searching and access to free, expert help and advice.
Local family history societies are a good source of local information. The Federation of Family History Societies has a list, plus a range of other resources to help you get started. If you know where your ancestors lived in the past, these helpful amateur experts could have already done a lot of your searching for you.
Family Search has numerous entries from Parish Records, a free searchable database of the 1881 Census and records from other countries.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission also has records of the fallen from all of the UK armed services going back to the Great War, plus some civilian records from the Second World War
The National Archives has a wealth of further links to information and guidance that will help you to look for your ancestors at home and abroad
There are also many sources of local historical information that you can use, including schools registers, police archives and old trade directories. You can also visit county and local record offices, libraries, churchyards and other places in towns and villages where you know that your ancestors lived. If you’re looking in rural areas, it can be worth asking in the local Post Office if they know about people still living in the area who have the same name.
Top tips
In the early years, not all births were actually registered, especially in rural areas; so always check the parish records for the baptism record if you cannot find any record of the birth
A baptism is not always an indication of the time and date of the birth: sometimes baptims did not take place until some months, or even years, after the birth
Don’t be surprised or alarmed by what you find. Unravelling the mysteries of the past can explain a great deal about who you are. It can be an emotional journey with finds that can delight, surprise or upset you. Some aspects of your family’s past may not turn out to be what you wanted (or expected) them to be
Searching online
The internet can collapse months and years of manual searching into a matter of weeks. You can trawl the archives online and narrow your search to the people and places you want to know about.
There are hundreds of websites and forums where you can get help, and swap stories and ideas. Some are free, some are on paid subscriptions with fees for providing records. When you map out your tree online, you’ll get hints and possible connections with family trees of other subscribers – saving you a lot of hard work.
Top tip
- Get involved and start sharing your finds and know-how with other amateur family historians in forums and discussion groups. You could pick up lots of useful tips, as well as vital clues.
Keeping track
Get some software to help you organise all that you learn. This is often free to download. As you go back through the years, family trees become hugely complex – a real spider’s web of names and dates. You’ll need a database and filing system to keep track of everything you've found to make sure you don’t miss vital clues. It may also be helpful to keep notes on what you've already tried, even if it wasn't successful.
Top tips
Always note the source of any new information you find – in the event that you ever need to go back and re-visit something; many people do not bother to do this at the time and then when they need to double check something at a later date, there is no way to do so.
Never use your browser’s Favourites list as a means of record keeping. Websites can close down or move and people may also remove information they've posted, thus breaking the chain. Either save the page to your hard disk for future retrieval – or simply print off and keep a copy.
Back up your research. If you’re using a computer to build your tree, it’s wise to invest in some type of backup system to keep copies of your critical information. If your hard disk crashes you could lose all your research in one go.