How to trace your family tree

Create a family tree

Most people will think the answer to the question, ‘how do I trace my family tree?’ will be to jump immediately online buts it’s not necessarily the case. The first step to trace a family tree is to start simple. You might want to dive into the juicy stuff right away and discover some exciting far distant relative from centuries ago but it’s easiest and more productive to start with yourself. Tracing your family tree takes time and patience.

Upon deciding to trace your genealogy, the first port of call should be creating a family tree. This simple diagram allows you to present the current information that you’re aware of, including names and birthdays, so is a fantastic place to start.

Karen from Family Tree Magazine shares: “It’s tempting to dive straight in and start researching members of your family on the large subscription genealogy sites. But this can go quickly awry, and you may find yourself tracing the wrong family! So, I would say start with yourself and work backwards before hitting the internet, with good old-fashioned paper and pencil.

“Begin sketching out a basic family tree, recording your own life events, such as birth and marriage, and those of your immediate family and any older relatives you remember, such as aunties, uncles and grandparents. You now have a framework with which to begin your journey into your family’s past.”

It’s always helpful to have something actually written down on paper or recorded digitally as you start the process, so once you have created an outline of a family tree, add details about yourself and your immediate family as this will get the ball rolling quickly.

How to draw a family tree

Most family trees follow a similar format in order to link important people together whilst clearly illustrating their relationship. Vertical lines can be used to demonstrate the link between parents and their children, whilst horizontal lines can be used to dictate siblings.

Beginning with your information at the bottom of the page, you should then work backwards, listing your parents, and grandparents’ names and dates of birth.

This will become a crucial document whilst tracing your family’s history, so it should be easy to understand. After jotting down the relationships between parents and siblings, as well as your grandparents, you can begin to add in marriages. These are usually portrayed with two horizontal lines joining the two names together, with dotted lines used for presumed relationships.

Talk to relatives

As you get older, it becomes increasingly difficult to find people to speak to about your ancestors. However, talking with relatives and allowing them to share their memoirs is one of the best ways to start tracing your family tree. Not only will they have more insight into those who came before you than paper records can provide, but you may discover that they have photographs and letters to share with you.

By speaking to existing relatives, you can start to fill in the gaps, learn a maiden name or two, find out a grandparent’s place of birth, or the date of a wedding. It’s details like these that will be helpful in helping you to trace your family tree.

Beginning to trace your family in this way is recommended as it allows you to then work further back in time. Having both the names and birthdays means that diving into parish records will be easier, meaning that a skeleton of your genealogy can be quickly developed. Asking family members at this time will make it easier to establish if you’re following the right leads and can also provide you with fantastic stories about some of the people you’re discovering.

Lisa, a genealogy expert and family history speaker from Genealogy Gems, has shared that talking to relatives as soon as possible is her no.1 tip: “My top piece of advice is to interview your living relatives right now. Don’t delay! Talk to any genealogist and their biggest regret is not having interviewed relatives when they had the chance. Genealogical records will be online and safely stored in archives for years to come, but your relatives won’t live forever. Each person in your family has memories and experiences like no one else, and all are pieces of the puzzle. Start with the oldest relatives and be sure to branch out to distant cousins too. Those cousins may have photos or letters sent by your direct ancestors.”

Judith, who shares her passion for family history on her blog Genealogy Jude, shares the following advice: “My top piece of advice for anyone who is starting to trace their family tree would be to speak to the older generations of their family. They will have memories and stories about their lives that are priceless and cannot be found anywhere else. Some of them will be funny, others sad, but they will all tell you something about their character.

“For example, what about the story about when they fell in the river and their mother thought they had drowned or the story of how they met their sweetheart? In addition, they may have information about their parents or grandparents that will assist you in building up the family tree. It will also make your research much more interesting and fun as you delve into the past. Your ancestors will become more than just names.

“If you are one of the older members of your family, make sure you share your memories and experiences to ensure they are passed down and not forgotten.”

Karen, from Family Tree Magazine, believes that talking to family members is crucial in your search: “The one piece of advice I’d offer to anyone thinking about tracing their tree is to talk to your relatives, especially older family members, if possible, but even siblings and cousins will have lots of untapped memories and family knowledge. They may reveal family stories you’ve never heard before and details of crucial dates such as birthdays.

“Perhaps they have a collection of birth, marriage and death certificates to share with you (ask to photograph or scan them so you have copies), which will save you buying them (and a small fortune). Ask around to see if anyone has any old family photographs or memorabilia too – they may just show you a wonderful old album of photos you never knew existed, a picture of a relative during the First World War, or a family bible with a handwritten list of your ancestors’ names and dates. Start talking about your family history with your family and you’ll be amazed at what you can find out.”