Find the ancestors your family stopped talking about
Build your family tree one proven generation at a time. Free guides, a record checklist for every ancestor, and a tree builder that keeps your data on your own device.
No account. No credit card.
Three kinds of evidence, used together
Family stories point you in a direction. Documents prove names, dates and places. DNA confirms the bloodline, or tells you the paper was wrong. Serious researchers use all three and trust none of them alone.
What the family remembers
Interview your oldest relatives first. Record names, nicknames, places, churches, and the stories nobody can prove. Every one of them is a lead.
What the records say
Census pages, vital records, wills, deeds, military files and newspapers. Work backward from yourself and cite every source so you can check it again later.
What your DNA shows
Shared DNA measures how closely two people are related. Sort your matches into family groups and you can break walls that no document can.
How it works
- Write down what you already knowAdd yourself, your parents and your grandparents to the tree builder. Leave blanks where you are unsure.
- Talk to the oldest people in your familyTheir memories are the only record that cannot be ordered from an archive later.
- Prove each generation with recordsUse the checklist to work through every record type for one ancestor before you move to the next.
- Test your DNA and sort your matchesUse shared DNA to confirm the tree and to find the people the paper trail lost.
Guides, from first steps to hard cases
- AI research assistantDescribe an ancestor you are stuck on and get a step-by-step plan of which records to search next.
- How to start your family treeA seven-step plan for your first weekend of research. Written for complete beginners.
- Genealogy research methodsThe proof standard professionals use, how to weigh conflicting records, and how to investigate one person completely.
- DNA testing for genealogyWhich test to take, what centimorgans mean, and how investigative genetic genealogy identifies unknown relatives.
- Free genealogy recordsThe best no-cost archives and databases, grouped by what they hold.
- Ancestor research checklistEvery record type to check for one ancestor. Tick them off and print the page.
- Getting past the 1870 brick wallHow to trace African American families back through emancipation and into the records of slavery.