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Step 1
Pull together information that you already have about your family history. Family Bibles, pictures, letters and Grandma's stories can provide you with the basics to trace your European roots. Learn how each European country treated surnames, as names didn't necessarily stay the same from generation to generation or country to country.
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Step 2
Check with the LDS Family History Library and Centers for extensive databases, indexes and microfilm. The Family History Library includes an exhaustive supply of European resources, including 18th-century church records from Hungary and Slovakia. See Resources.
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Step 3
Be aware of the many boundary changes and immigration shifts Europe experience over the centuries. For example, a true country named Germany didn't come into being until 1871; however, Germanic people lived throughout much of Europe for hundreds of years earlier. Eastern European countries experienced many boundary changes as well.
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Step 4
Access ship passenger lists for information about when your family first arrived from Europe. Your chances to trace European roots in this way increases if family arrived in the late 19th-century versus colonial times when records were limited.
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Step 5
Log on to the Internet and try your luck. Some countries have done a great job in making genealogical records available on line, particularly Scandinavian countries like Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands.
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Step 6
Trace your European roots through government records or civil registration first. These will be the most recent records. Before this, churches often kept the records of births, marriages and death.
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Step 7
Research your ethnicity and religious background as well as specific locations. For example, Jewish people experienced religious persecution, and as a result, moved often.
