How to Find My Ancestors & Make a Family Tree, Free
You likely will need a variety of sources to research your ancestry and put together a family tree. Family members can help gather an oral history. Each piece of information provides another piece in the puzzle. The paper trail left by your ancestors--be it in physical documents or records available online--will help you put those pieces together and assemble your family tree.
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Things You'll Need
- Copies of vital records
- Family pictures
- Family record sheets
- Pedigree chart
- Scrapbook
Instructions
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Gather information about your family. Interview your parents and grandparents to get such basic information as names, dates of birth, marriages and deaths as well as where they occurred. Ask for copies of such important documents as birth certificates, deeds and military records. Find out where your ancestors lived and what schools and churches they attended. Ask for copies of any pictures your family members may have.
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Make a family record sheet for each ancestor. A family record sheet lists all the information you know about a particular person. Use a simple, handwritten sheet or a free form available online (see Resources).
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Fill out a pedigree chart for your family. Free pedigree charts can be found online (See Resources). A pedigree chart lists four generations of ancestors and includes births, deaths and marriage dates.
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Access thousands of records online to trace your family history (See Resources). Check court records, ship manifests and census records based on the information gathered from your family. These records may reference other family members, which will fill in the blanks of your history. Add this information to your family records and pedigree charts.
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Use the information you've gathered to create a scrapbook. Make the cover page with a picture of a tree. Write the names of the oldest generation you were able to trace inside a picture of a heart. Fill the scrapbook with pictures and information about your family.
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Tips & Warnings
Write down every detail about your ancestors, even if it doesn't seem important at the time.
Be flexible on the spellings of names and towns. These records were handwritten in the past and may contain mistakes.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit family tree image by Judy Ben Joud from Fotolia.com
