How to make a family tree, step by step

A family tree is not built in an afternoon, but getting started is easier than most people think. You do not need a subscription or special software: paper, a pen and a few conversations are enough for the first generations. This guide takes you step by step from what you already know to church registers and archives, and shows you how to record your findings so you never have to start over.

1. Start with yourself

The golden rule of genealogy is to work from the known to the unknown. Write down what you know for certain first: your full name, date and place of birth. Then add your parents, then your grandparents. For each person, record:

• the full name with all given names, and for married women the maiden name,
• birth and baptism, with date and place,
• marriage, with date, place and spouse,
• death and burial, with date and place,
• occupation, religion and places of residence where known.

Gaps are normal. Leave them open rather than guessing: an empty field is more honest than an estimated date that, a few years later, nobody remembers was a guess. With four grandparents and eight great-grandparents you will soon see how quickly a tree widens as it goes back. It is perfectly fine to focus on one line at first, for example your mother’s family, and work through it carefully before starting the next.

2. Talk to your relatives while you can

Older relatives are the most valuable source you have, and no archive can replace them. What a great-aunt remembers about her childhood is not written down anywhere. Treat the conversation like a small interview and bring a few questions:

• Where did you grow up, and where did your parents and grandparents live?
• What were your grandparents’ names, and what do you know about them?
• Were there brothers or sisters who died young, or branches of the family the others lost touch with?
• When and where did people marry, and where did their spouses come from?
• Has anyone in the family researched its history or kept papers before?

Record the conversation with permission, or take notes. Bring old photos: names and stories often come back while looking at them. Memories are precious but not always precise. Years shift, places get mixed up, an uncle turns into a great-uncle. So note who told you what, and check it against documents later.

3. Look for documents at home

Many answers are sitting in drawers, folders and boxes in the attic. Typical finds include:

• birth, marriage and death certificates, and baptism or confirmation certificates,
• a family Bible with handwritten entries of births, marriages and deaths,
• obituaries, funeral cards and memorial notices, which often give dates, maiden names and places of origin,
• photos with writing on the back, letters, postcards and diaries,
• school records, military service papers, passports and naturalization documents.

Photograph or scan everything and note where the original is kept. Older documents may be written in old-fashioned handwriting or in another language. That looks daunting at first, but with an alphabet chart and a little patience your eye gets used to it after a few pages.

4. Civil records, church registers and archives

Once you have gathered everything within reach, turn to the official records. Most countries began the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in the 19th century: England and Wales in 1837, Scotland in 1855, while many US states only registered births statewide from the early 20th century. Recent records are usually held by the local or national registry office, older ones often by regional or national archives. Access rules for recent records vary by country; direct descendants generally find it easiest to obtain copies.

Before civil registration, church registers are the main source: baptisms, marriages and burials kept by each parish, in many places going back several centuries. They are usually held by the parish, a diocesan or church archive, or a county record office. Catholic entries are often in Latin, but they follow a fixed pattern, so a short word list takes you a long way.

A few more sources are worth knowing:

• Census records list whole households with ages and birthplaces. The US federal census has been taken every ten years since 1790, and the records are released after 72 years. Most of the 1890 census was lost in a fire, so expect a gap there.
• Immigration and naturalization records, such as passenger lists, often name the town of origin, which is the key to research in the old country.
• FamilySearch (familysearch.org) is free with an account and holds filmed parish registers, civil records and census records from many countries, many of them indexed by name.
• National and regional archives often have online catalogues and research guides for beginners.

Many records are available only as images of the handwritten pages, without a name search. You need the place and the parish, and that is exactly why the clues from steps 2 and 3 matter so much.

5. Record everything, on paper or in software

Paper is perfectly fine for a start. Our free printable family tree charts include a pedigree chart, a fan chart, a descendant chart and a family group sheet for one couple and their children. A tried-and-tested trick is ahnentafel numbering: you are number 1, your father 2, your mother 3, your father’s parents 4 and 5. A person’s father always has double their number, the mother double plus one. That way you can find anyone again, even in loose notes.

Once you pass a few dozen people, paper gets hard to follow. That is the time for genealogy software such as Gramps (free and open source) or an online tree on Ancestry, MyHeritage or FamilySearch. Whatever you choose, make sure it can export your data as a GEDCOM file. GEDCOM is the shared exchange format of genealogy, so you are never tied to one provider. Our explainer What is a GEDCOM file? covers what is inside, and the export guides show how to get the file out of the common programs.

6. Common mistakes to avoid

• Not noting sources. Write down where every fact comes from, for example “St Mary’s baptism register 1871, no. 34” or “told by Grandma Ann, 2026”. In two years you will not remember, and you will not be able to resolve contradictions.
• Missing name variants. Spellings changed all the time: Smith, Smyth and Smithe can be the same family, and names were often anglicized after emigration. Always search for variants and keep the spelling used in each record.
• Ambiguous dates. 03/04/1902 is 4 March in the US and 3 April in most of Europe. Write the month out (“3 April 1902”, the usual genealogy style) and mark estimates clearly (“about 1850”).
• Mixing up people with the same name. Two John Millers in the same village and decade are not unusual. Check parents, godparents and spouses before you merge two entries into one person.
• Copying other people’s trees unchecked. Other researchers’ online trees are good leads, but not proof. Only adopt what you can trace back to a record yourself.
• Publishing living people. Details of living relatives do not belong online without their consent. If you share your tree publicly, hide living people or ask them first.

7. Show your family tree

A family tree that lives only in a file is rarely seen by anyone. Printed, it gets people talking at the next family gathering, and often someone comes forward with exactly the detail you were missing. A filled-in paper chart has a charm of its own, and most programs can print simple overviews.

If you would like your tree as a poster for the wall, that is what we do: upload your GEDCOM file or type your family into our online wizard, choose a template and a size, and see a preview before you order. Living people appear without years by default. Design your family tree. And if you are not there yet, start today with the first conversation. The rest follows step by step.