Discover Your Ancestors and Family History
Who are your ancestors? What stories await in your family history? / Photo by Laura Fuhrman via Unsplash
Find your ancestors and discover details about their lives, so you can tell their true stories. Here are key places to look as you trace your family history.
You may know a lot, or only a little (so far) about your family background. There’s always more to discover! Even if you don’t know your ancestors’ names yet, it’s amazing what you can discover one step at a time. And you might be surprised how much information has been kept from decades and centuries ago.
You may never know about some ancestors, but even a few details about others will shed light on previous generations who made your life possible.
With more digital scans of paper documents added each day – and user-friendly apps to access info online – family history information becomes more available as time goes on. And there’s nothing like the real thing: living relatives who can pass on family stories, heirlooms and photos, and visiting places where your ancestors lived.
There are so many sources of information online and in-person, you may wonder: where to start? where to look next? where are the hidden gems?
Here is my list of top places to look – and key types of info you might find – to discover your ancestors and be able to tell stories of their lives. (They are numbered more so in order of steps to take, than in order of priority or importance.) This summary is based on my years of family history research – I hope it helps you focus your efforts and learn (more) about your ancestors!
1. Family Knowledge and Holdings
Start close to home! Do you have any old family photo albums, news clippings, or souvenirs passed down to you?
Ask your close family members – and any distant relatives you know (at this time) – if they can shed light on your family background:
did any of them meet an ancestor who’s since passed? visit the place your ancestors lived? attend a family reunion? what memories do they have?
have they heard any family stories or lore?
have they researched your shared genealogy and prepared a family tree?
did they get their DNA tested? (especially male Y-DNA if you seek your paternal lineage)
Physical items to seek include:
photos, photo albums, scrapbooks, film & video
letters, poems, journals and diaries, memoirs
family Bible (or other religious book), family history book, book written by ancestor
genealogy report or family tree (typed or written on paper)
legal papers (birth, marriage and death certificates, property purchases, Will & estate)
family heirlooms and memorabilia – and what ancestor or story is connected to an item
You never know if someone has an ancestral letter, photo or memento – until you ask! / Photo by Suzy Hazelwood via Pexels
I thought my family had kept nothing from before our parents’ day, besides some fancy dishware. Then my sister found our grandmother’s photo albums and a genealogy report in her storage locker! My other sister noticed, on her shelf at home, an original book written by our second great-grandfather. They just hadn’t looked until I asked. I’m grateful they kept these pieces of our family history.
Interview methods for life stories will help you to ask relatives about family history.
2. Ancestry and Genealogy Sites
A treasure-trove of information at your fingertips – along with the ability to build your own online family tree, attach documents and photos, and add DNA info to help find ancestors you share in common with others.
The main family history websites are portals to holdings of digitized documents. It’s remarkable what you can search for – and find – for free. If you subscribe for a fee, you can access more features.
The kinds of things to look as you identify your ancestors include:
records of birth, marriage, and death – View the original to check the names of witnesses too – they may be relatives or friends of the family.
census records – See where they lived, their occupation, who else was in the household, even the neighbours – and look over the years to see what’s changed.
life timeline – As you build an ancestor’s profile, it will show key milestones in their life. You can choose to show key events in history at that time and place – some of what your ancestor lived through.
other family trees – Other members will share ancestors in common with you. View public trees or ask to see private ones. Take the info as hints-only and fact-check everything yourself.
The largest sites, known as ‘The Big Four’ are:
Ancestry
Family Search
MyHeritage
FindMyPast
Other key sites with a regional focus (as well as worldwide) are: American Ancestors (U.S.) and Geneanet (Europe).
The main genealogy websites make new material and more resources accessible every day.
Some sites have an ethnic focus. JewishGen is a site for Jewish Genealogy. The International African American Museum has a Center for Family History. FamilySearch lists Native American Online Genealogy Records.
These are among the key apps and services to help you discover and share your family history and ancestors’ life stories.
3. Records and Archives
Government Records
Government records are physically located in archives, with digital copies of most available online (via ancestry and government websites).
In addition to the ‘vital statistics’ such as birth and census records (mentioned above), the kinds of records to look for include:
military records – e.g. attestation papers, incident reports, war ‘diaries’, medals, discharge papers, pension records
institutional records – e.g. prison, poor house, mental institution
court records – e.g. Wills and estates, divorce, custody, lawsuits
land transactions – e.g. applications, grants, purchase and sale, treaties with First Nations
National Archives and Libraries
National archives and libraries have so much, including:
historic photos and films
military records
citizenship applications
The ones I’m most familiar with, given my location and background, are: Library and Archives Canada, the Library of Congress (U.S.) and the National Library of Scotland. All are great resources, with online search capabilities.
Archives are a genealogy treasure-trove, and much is available online. / Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno via Unsplash
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that makes information in the public domain available for free. You can search their genealogy collection for family history books by surname, among many other items. (Note: to date, resource contributors are largely from North America and the UK.)
Regional Archives
Archives at the provincial, state and municipal levels have much to offer your family history research. These archives may have:
city directories – showing where people lived and worked, at what occupation
publications of industry organizations – e.g. agriculture, lumber, railroad
business records – financial, plus employees
school board, police board, fire protection & town council records
What might be of interest to you will depend on where your ancestors lived, and their role in the community.
Newspaper Archives
Newspaper archives hold a wealth of bits of information. Many historical newspapers are available online, and more are digitized every day.
You may seek and find:
birth, wedding, and death announcements and obituaries
advertisements for a business of your ancestor
social pages – e.g. who traveled where to see whom, which family had a reunion and who attended
lists of local people gone to war, school children’s overall records, sports team results
articles about events – e.g. local weather event or fire, accident, opening of a new building
legal notices – e.g. about creditors
There are so many stories embedded in newspaper articles.
I came across an article about how an ancestor and his friend ice-climbed a huge waterfall using just small axes, on a rare day when it froze over. It was fun to ‘connect then and now’ for my family, who are familiar with those falls!
4. People and Groups
Genealogy Groups
Genealogy groups are full of people with expertise and enthusiasm, most who volunteer (more are welcome)! Since the pandemic, many continue to have monthly presentations via Zoom – plus in-person meetings locally. You can visit or join several groups: where you live, and where your various ancestors lived. Often, there are local groups within a regional umbrella.
It's great to connect with people who are into family history, and benefit from their interest, know-how and support. / Photo via Unsplash
These groups tend to have an archive – donated by members and others – including:
family history books
family files – with documents, photos and printed family trees
local historical newspapers
On a modest budget, many are just starting to digitize documents and make them available online.
Surname (etc.) Groups
People who have either proven their genealogy or seek to find their ancestors form groups with common interests. Some members know much about their family history, have family history books, genealogy reports etc. Types of groups include:
Facebook and DNA-match groups – e.g. people with ancestors from the same genetic lineage, or geographic region)
clan groups – e.g. Scottish clans such as Clan Campbell, who welcome ‘family and friends’ for a modest fee
lineage societies – e.g. descendants of: a common ancestor, founders of a town, or those on one side of a war such as United Empire Loyalists
Ancestor Organizations
No doubt your ancestors belonged to one or more organizations. You might find out which one(s) by reading their obituary. These types of groups may have records of their meetings, members and more:
church – e.g. weddings, burials, baptisms, volunteer services
fraternity – ‘masons’, university alumni, women’s and other
trade – e.g. agriculture, industry
pastimes – e.g. sports, gardening
It’s interesting to find out how your ancestors spent leisure time if they had any, and see what was going on while they were involved. It makes them seem more human and may hint at their personality.
Professional Genealogists
A professional genealogist can do research work for you (e.g. in physical archives in a location far from you), and/or prepare a full genealogy report.
You can hire a pro via the large family history sites such as Ancestry and American Ancestors. Or, ask a local genealogy group or national association to refer you to a professional in your area of inquiry.
5. Places
Maps
Maps are a great way to find out more about your ancestors, and to relate how the landscape was back then with what’s there now.
Maps help you ground your ancestors in time and place, and imagine their real lives! / Image at London School of Economics via Unsplash
Try these approaches:
look at Google Maps, under satellite view – some landscapes and waterways are still similar
check Google Maps Street View to see if an ancestor’s house still stands, or what is there now (e.g. after finding the address on the census)
find historic town layout drawings, military maps, or other historic maps at archives (online and in-person)
see Native Land Digital, a worldwide project to map indigenous territories
view ‘historic overlays’ on top of current maps, with a slider to view more of ‘then’ or ‘now’ at the same location, e.g. free to view online at the National Library of Scotland (NLS)
Who Do You Think You Are magazine provides a tutorial on how to use the NLS maps site.
Notice if your ancestors lived in one place for generations, or moved from here to there. As you tell their stories, you might wish to make a migration map, or show indigenous territories at the same locations.
Cemeteries
Cemeteries are touching places to visit, and going in person is best if possible. They hold a wealth of information, much of which is now available online. The kinds of info you may find include:
death records – with cause of death, estimated age, the person’s address, attending physician, and informant’s name
etchings on gravestones, and transcriptions of what is written (on paper, online)
names of those buried nearby – they may be other relatives
a book of remembrance, with entries or profiles for individuals
In addition to the info they have, cemeteries provide a tangible link to generations past. / Photo by Waldemar via Unsplash
The largest sources of cemetery information online are FindAGrave and Billion Graves. You can search for your ancestor by name and place.
FindAGrave has local volunteers who will go photograph your ancestor’s headstone on request. Any information posted online is done by the person who manages the deceased’s profile, so you should verify the accuracy.
Local Historical Societies
Local historical societies are often ‘hidden gems’. They have a variety of donated items – including ‘period pieces’ such as clothing and tools through the decades – which they display if they have the space. Ask if they have:
books about the history of the area
historic photographs and paintings
minutes from town hall meetings
old diaries, journals and family history files
records of awards at farm fairs, sports events and the like
Even if the items are not about your direct ancestors, it gives you a flavour of life at that time and place.
My sister and I made a brief stop (on my way to the airport!) to find an ancestor’s grave in a cemetery. The local historical society in the adjacent church was open, for its one afternoon per week. ‘Lo and behold’, they had an entire file and extensive handwritten family tree, made and donated by a local resident. They allowed us to take photocopies. What a blessing!
Museums and Historic Sites
Museums, ‘living museums’ and historic sites are a fantastic way to get a feel for how things were at the time of your ancestors. It’s great for the whole family to learn about history in a tangible way.
Types of venues include:
pioneer villages – with ‘re-enactors’ dressed in period costume, playing roles such as blacksmith
forts, prisons, and institutions
historic houses with furniture and artifacts from a certain time period
museums with a focus such as black history, war, holocaust, transportation
Some have virtual tours to get a look online, but of course going there is best if you are able.
6. Technology
DNA
If you and/or relatives test your DNA and upload the data to a shared platform, you can see ‘matches’ who share ancestors in common. Along with genealogy research of documents, this may help you identify your ancestors.
The main platforms are: AncestryDNA, 23&Me, and FamilyTree DNA.
This may be the way you first develop an interest in learning more about your ancestry.
You never know what you might find via Google and other online browser searches, such as:
a family history book on the Internet Archive
a Wikipedia page about a an ancestor
public-domain images of a time and place where your ancestors lived
AI
AI is changing how you can search and find all sorts of family history information. Major ancestry sites – Ancestry, Family Search, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other large providers – use AI in many ways to help you find records and DNA matches. Some of their AI tools summarize your ancestors’ timelines and life story. Online newspaper archives use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to transcribe articles. These contain errors, but go a long way. A platform such as ChatGPT doesn’t act yet as a ‘robot researcher’ on specific queries, but this day will come.
It’s important to fact-check. If an AI tool pulls info about your ancestor and combines it with the historical context to write a biography, it may contain errors, describe traits that are not known to be the case – or generate an imaginary portrait. There are many other caveats, so it’s good to be aware of what’s possible and what’s problematic.
written by Barbara L Campbell, 2024