5 Proven Steps to Research Your Family Tree

Where do you start when you want to build your family tree? You know you want to do this, but how do you get started and where do you go from here? Sometimes, it’s very obvious on how to get started and sometimes it’s not. Most of us already have a relative who has already done so much on our family tree that you don’t know where to go from there. You can still research your family tree in several ways. I’m sharing the most basic way to get started no matter if you’re at the beginning or middle of your family tree.

What Do You Know?

I recommend writing down everything you know about your parents, your grandparents, or whatever ancestor you’re starting with. Look at existing family trees if possible and see if there’s any conflicts or errors that you want to research. Other things that will help you gather as much info as you can are…

• Interview family members
• Find photos
• Gather newspaper articles, letters, etc.
• Family Group Sheets
• Other Family Trees

What Do You Want to Know to Research Your Family Tree?

Make a research plan that is reasonable and write down each step that you would like to accomplish.

For example, you want to know more about your grandparents marriage. So make a plan on what records you would search, where those records are, who you would talk to in your family, etc. Make this step as specific as you can.

You may want to write down several questions, then pick one to start with. Such as, Where were my grandparents married? Or Were my grandparents married before, during, or after World War II? This helps you stay on track when you research because you’re going to find all sorts of clues for lots of different things.

Review Available Records

This is where you find the records that will have the information you want. Keeping with our example from above, you would likely want to research marriage records, census records to see where they lived at the time they likely married and to see when their first child was born. This will narrow your search for their marriage year.

Again, write all of the possible record groups that will have your information. Cemetery records could have a marriage date and place and birth and death records may also have that information. So don’t limit yourself to only searching marriage records for a marriage date. Brainstorm what other records might have what you need.

Research Online and in Person

Plan on working your plan at this step. You have a plan on what and where you want to look. So now we get moving! FamilySearch and Ancestry are the two most common American genealogy websites, but there’s also MyHeritage and FindMyPast who have huge databases to search with.

But don’t forget to search in person if you can at court houses, cemeteries, churches, state archives, etc. The websites do have a lot to offer you, but they still don’t have everything digitized. So my recommendation is to search both online and in person.

Review Your Work

Evaluate how you’re doing at fulfilling your question of what you wanted to know about your ancestor. Did you accomplish it? Why or why not? Did you search every available source you could?

Are you confident that you have found the most accurate answer? If not, then go deeper into more records. Brainstorm some more about where to find your answer. Again, write down what you find and what you don’t find.

Last Thoughts to Research Your Family Tree

These 5 steps are done over and over again no matter if you’re just starting your research or if you’re coming into the middle of it. Once you find what you’re looking for, then you repeat the process all over again. Beginner researchers do this as well as professional researchers. It’s what gets us our results and keeps us focused on our goals. So give it a try!

And as always…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. Related Reads…

• 5 Genealogy Tools to Make Your Research Easier
• 5 Popular Websites that Beginning Genealogists Love
• How to Find Genealogy Records for Beginners

P.P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for my free download of American and Scandinavian websites that will help you on your research journey!