Getting started

Everything you need to know to start growing your family tree

FamilySearch have released the latest version of GEDCOM, their family history file-sharing format

Getting started

What is a GEDCOM file?

Cousin relationships

Getting started

How to work out cousin relationships

How to start a family tree

Getting started

How to start a family tree

FamilySearch free genealogy websites

Getting started

The best free genealogy websites

A wedding party in Hellidon, Northamptonshire, c1896-c1920 marriage registers

Getting started

Where to find marriage registers in the UK

How to find birth records

Getting started

How to find birth, marriage and death records

1603, An English blacksmith using an anvil in a forge. The surname Smith comes from the occupation of blacksmith

Getting started

Where does my surname come from?

Trace your house history like David Olusoga on A House Through Time

House history: The best websites for tracing the history of your house

Best family history website

Getting started

What is the best family history website?

Highgate Cemetery stone angel death records

Getting started

Where to find death records

DNA family history

Getting started

The best websites for DNA family history research

Illegitimate child

Discover your past

How to find the father of an illegitimate child

Census records

Getting started

What census records are available?

British actor Alec Guinness (1914 - 2000) with his fiance Merula Salaman 19th May 1938. They met while both working for John Gielgud's stage company at the Queen's Theatre in London. 1939 Register

Discover your past

What is the 1939 Register?

An early photograph of a baptism ceremony, c. 1860 baptism records

How to find baptism records