08 September 2024
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Creating your family tree can be an emotional but rewarding experience
Creating your family tree can be hugely rewarding, giving you a sense of self, an idea of where you came from and how your family was shaped. Of course, it can be challenging and emotional too, but there are many resources, tools, and experts to help along the way.
What do you know about your own family?
This is the first question to ask yourself as you begin to create your own family tree. Whether you have a lot of information to hand or just a few details, this first step can be very useful, giving you the basis (or 'roots') of your tree and also revealing how much you still need to find out. Filling the gaps is all part of the appeal.
Work your way through the following checklist to create your tree (but be warned, genealogy is addictive!)
- Join the free Family Tree newsletter for tips and advice
- Start with your own family
- Gather family history records
- Create your family tree
- Work backwards
- Discover those first crucial records
- Explore the internet
- Keep track of your research
- Join a family history society
- Break through that brick wall
- Visit an archive
1. Join the free Family Tree newsletter for tips and advice
It's always good to have a helping hand when creating your family tree, and that's what we do here at Family Tree! Every Monday, Family Tree's Helen Tovey sends out our popular genealogy newsletter, featuring handy tips and expert advice. It's a great way to keep updated on our latest webinars and online courses too. And it's free.
We won't share your data with anyone else and of course you can unsubscribe at any time. But we think you'll love it!
Sign up for the newsletter here and claim your free 'Getting started with Ancestry' video
2. Start with your own family
Begin by writing down the date and place of your birth (and marriage if applicable) for yourself, spouse and children, and the crucial dates for your parents, including birth, marriage and death. This is the start of your family tree and you can now work back methodically, generation-by-generation.
Getting this initial data will be relatively straightforward for most of us, and it may be that you have relatives who can tell you vital information about some more distant ancestors. Make a note of everything you already know and what you can gather from interviewing relatives (though remember, some family stories and dates will need checking), focusing on names, dates and locations.
3. Gather family history records
Search your attic and ask other family members for family history treasures such as:
- photographs
- birth, marriage and death certificates
- baptism certificates
- wedding orders of service
- memorial orders of service
- newspaper clippings
- address books
- family correspondence
These will form the basis of your research and will give you clues to start you on your journey of discovering the next generation of your ancestors. it can also be fascinating to see and read these documents (handle them with care), giving you a taste of the appeal of family history.
4. Create your family tree
Now that you’ve collected some information, it’s time to get these details on paper (or online) and begin creating your basic family tree.
How to create your family tree using paper
Plot the youngest generation of the family at the bottom of the page, allocating a box to each person, with the oldest child on the left and subsequent siblings listed to the right of the previous name.
Next, create vertical lines to connect each sibling to the two parents (with the father shown to the left of the mother) and write the parents’ crucial dates as in generation one, creating a new horizontal line of ancestors for each generation.
We would recommend always drawing up your family tree in pencil first (it’s amazingly easy to write a name or date in the wrong place). Then, once you’ve checked it’s all correct, go over in pen.
We have a great family tree template bundle you can purchase for just 99p which includes 4 charts to download and print (as many times as you like).
A family tree chart inevitably needs to include quite a bit of information in a tight space. To help make your chart intelligible to others here are a few conventions:
- Be sure to write the names of people in the same generation on the same ‘latitude’ as each other.
- To save space, use abbreviations such as: b for born, bp or bap for baptised, m or = for married, b or bur for buried.
- If an ancestor marries more than once put a small number 1 or 2 next to each spouse.
- It is traditional to place the male of each couple to the left, and the female to the right.
- Many people put surnames in UPPER CASE to help them stand out.
- It can be interesting to include as many brief details as you can fit. For example, in addition to names and key dates, include places of birth, marriage and death, and occupations too. These can help you spot things that run in the family.
Create your family tree online
Creating your family tree online is a simpler method. Many online tree builders are easy to use, and include useful features. Helpful ‘hints’ automatically match the names, dates and locations you have logged for each ancestor to potentially relevant records, speeding up your research and improving the accuracy of your tree.
There are many online options for you, including these major websites:
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FamilySearch - the free family history website (FREE)
FamilySearch is the world’s largest, free, genealogy site with billions of searchable historical records and research guidance via its Research Wiki, online courses and more. Provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church).
Read our quick guide to creating a family tree on FamilySearch and our dedicated guides to using the website -
Ancestry is home to the world’s largest online family history resource, bringing together millions of people around the globe. The website has many different features, including:
An online record of your ancestors
The chance to find and work with others who are tracing the same family lines
Access (via a paid subscription) to millions of Ancestry records from around the world
The chance to take a DNA test and connect it to your tree
You can find out much more in our dedicated guides to Ancestry
Sign up for the Family Tree newsletter here and claim your free 'Getting started with Ancestry' video -
MyHeritage is another hugely popular website with a growing number of features including tree creation, DNA testing, photo colourization, and much more. You can find out more in our dedicated guides to MyHeritage
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Findmypast offers a family tree builder and will send you hints about your ancestors as you add them. The site boasts over 10 billion genealogy records, including the 1921 Census.
You can find out much more in our dedicated guides to Findmypast
Wherever you build your online tree it’s important to think about protecting the privacy of living people. Most online trees will do this automatically (hiding living people from public view, so that only you, as the tree creator, can see them).
Create your tree using family history software
There are a range of family history software companies that provide programs for you to instal on your computer, including: RootsMagic, LegacyFamilyTree, TreeView, Family Historian, and FamilyTreeMaker.
5. Work backwards
However tempting it might be to try to prove a link to someone far in the past, always work backwards from yourself when creating your family tree, finding your parents, then their parents, and so on.
If you discover information about one of your ancestors on an internet forum or online tree, always double check the facts before adding the data to your own tree.
6. Discover those first crucial records
With your fledgeling tree created, it’s now time to start exploring birth, marriage and death records to discover more ancestors. You can search for certificates for each of these events using the free General Register Office indexes at websites such as FreeBMD.
A birth certificate will give you the names and occupation of the parents (your next generation of ancestors); marriage certificates provide age and occupations, plus details of the father of the bride and groom (another generation); whilst death certificates give age and cause of death.
Read our guide to getting started with Birth, Marriage, and Death certificates
7. Explore the internet
Family history doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby, there are lots of free of charge websites to get you started.
The National Archives catalogue allows you to search 32 million records to find out where in the UK and online more than 2,500 different archives are located. Cyndi’s List is another great starting point for exploring family history online.
8. Keep track of your research
As you discover new ancestors, it’s all too easy to lose track of your paperwork or online research. Start a research log as soon as you can and use this to record which ancestors you’ve searched for and where you looked; saving yourself from repeating the same search further down the line.
If your findings are mainly recorded electronically, use a memory stick or cloud storage as a safeguard should you lose access to your data.
9. Join a family history society
Consider joining a family history society, either in your local area, or the society that covers the area where your ancestors lived.
Not only will you benefit from a regular journal, talks and events, you’ll also be able to socialise and share tips with other enthusiasts, both in person and online.
10. Break through that brick wall!
If you reach what seems like a dead end with our family tree, don’t despair!
Even the most experienced family historians face research challenges. Online forums can be a great source of help and encouragement, or consider leaving the query and moving to another branch of your tree, coming back to look at the problem with a fresh eye further down the line.
11. Visit an archive
Now that you’ve mastered the basics, plan a trip to your local history or library, where you can consult original documents, browse maps and plans, or perhaps attend a help session or workshop.
Once you're ready to go digital, check out our online tree best practices for avoiding common mistakes.
