Trace your family heritage to find long lost relatives, update your family genealogy and find more about your family name. Talk to your relatives to tap their history and help you uncover your genealogy.
Sign up for ancestry message boards to take advantage of others who have traveled further along the ancestry research road than you have and learn from their experiences. You can gain valuable insight to the process as well as learning how to search records to find more about your family name.
1. Learn how to complete family research.
2. Hire a professional to trace your family name.
3. Use DNA for ancestry search through genes.
Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done
Search free ancestry records to trace your family name
Start with public records to trace your family name. Find out how to locate birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates by talking to your clerk of court in your county courthouse. Find the public records for your parents and begin working backwards from there so you learn how to find the information easily and quickly.
I recommend: Ancestry and Genealogy Research offers free software to help you organize your information and information on the most commonly used public records to help you track your family ancestry.
Ancestry.com allows you to input your name and the names of your relatives to search for information from birth records, death records and other free ancestry records.
Take advantage of companies that specialize in the locations relevant to your family heritage
Locate a company that can complete the ancestry research for you in locations you may not be able to explore. By locating a company that specializes in the nationality of your family heritage, you're assured they know how to find the records most important to your ancestry search.
I recommend: Morrigan Research Services does your ancestry search for you, providing you with a list of information regarding your Irish family genealogy.
Yorkshire Research specializes in tracing family genealogy specific to the Yorkshire England area.
Use your DNA to track your family genealogy
Test your DNA using simple kits sent to you from companies that will trace your DNA and help you link up with others who share the same DNA. The kits consist of a cotton swab you rub on the inside of your cheek and send back to the company for analysis, getting you started on your ancestry search through genes only you and your ancestors will have in common.
I recommend: Genetic Genealogy will send you a DNA test kit to help you with your ancestry search through genes.
African Ancestry is a company geared toward researching the family ancestry of African Americans to help them uncover their family heritage using DNA as well as other processes.
Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide
- Track the history of your surname to find out the origination of your family tree. You can find out if others who share your surname came from a branch of your ancestry family tree.
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