Starting to trace your Family History

How do I start?

Depending on what you already know about or, as it often turns out, think you know about your family history will determine how you trace the ancestry and draw a Family Tree.

The following is what genealogy records and other information I, and many others, use as a starting point and it usually works!.

  • Start with what you know. Find out how below.


  • Talk to the family. Find out what you need to ask relatives to help you trace your ancestors. here.  


  • Look at Census returns. Find out how Census records can help trace your English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish ancestors and provide valuable insights into how they lived.


  • Look and BMD records. Find out how Birth, Marriage and Death records can help you trace your roots. 


Using a combination of Census returns and BMD records, and cross matching the two types of information, it is usually possible to trace your genealogy and confirm if people are related to you.

For example, By asking my father, I knew where my grandfather lived when he was young. By looking at the 1901 Census , I found my Grandfather's family (he was aged 1 at the time). The 1901 Census gave me details of my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother which I checked on earlier Census returns and got a rough idea of when they were born. I could then look them up in the BMD records. I found a likely record and got birth certificate copies. On these were the names of my Great, Great Grandfather and Great, Great Grandmother which I could then look for on census returns and repeat the cycle.

What do you know?

Begin by writing down everything you know: where people lived, when they were born, the name of their partners and children. You can start to draw a Family Tree starting with yourself.

If possible, you are trying to find a UK ancestor who was alive in 1901. The reason being the 1901 Census is the latest census to be released to the public by the UK Government this as a starting point is a very effective way to start searching for your ancestry.

If you are lucky, a relative may have an old birth certificate that will allow you to go straight back to earlier Census returns. However, most people find that the 1901 Census is a very good starting point because it comtains ancestors from over 100 years ago but is modern enough to be both easily readable and relatively reliable.

It is possible to get later Census information from commercial search firms (see the Other Records section) but this will be more expensive and is usually far less interesting than trying to find contacts yourself by researching your Family History then using the communities of other people researching their roots to find any common ancestors. You can find details of some of these in the links section.

Sites such as Genes Reunited . and Ancestry.co.uk allow you to search the Census free - although not see the actual records. Ancestry does have a 14 Day FREE trial though!

It's a good idea to keep a scrapbook or notebook as you will be collecting lots of information which is easily lost. It is very important to be organised. I learnt this the hard way after wasting money on ordering several copies of the same birth certificates! You don't really need a computer program at this stage as you want to collect things in a form which other people can see and gathering round a computer is not always ideal. Computer programs are very useful once you have started to collect a lot of information this becomes difficult to organise any other way.

You may also want to get a family tree chart to record your ancestors. A great chart has been developed by Paul Goodridge.

Although not so impressive or large, you can use a free Family Tree Chart to record ancestors initially and then, when you start to get too many to fit on the free chart, upgrade.

Continue to - Find out what you need to ask.

Continue to - Finding and using Birth, Marriage and Death Records.

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