Discover Your Family History

Your family story may begin with a name you already know.

An old photograph or a grandparent’s birthplace could reveal the next clue.

Explore Your Family History

Start with a surname and discover generations of family history

Start Exploring ↗

Genealogy apps help you connect those details and explore earlier generations.

You can start for free, even if your family tree has only a few names.

Here’s how to choose a tool and take your first steps toward discovering your roots.

Where Can You Start for Free?

If you want to research your family without paying for a subscription, FamilySearch is a practical first choice.

Its free tools let you explore historical records and contribute to a shared family tree.

Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast also offer ways to begin for free, although many records and additional features require payment.

The right choice depends on what you want to discover and where your ancestors lived.

You don’t need to download every app. Choose one, enter the information you already have, and focus on one relative or family branch first.

Four Apps and Websites to Explore Your Family History

FamilySearch Tree

A useful starting point for free research.

FamilySearch combines historical-record searches with a shared family tree. Its mobile app, FamilySearch Tree, lets you explore relatives, review record hints, and add information while keeping your research close at hand.

The collaborative structure is its main difference. Profiles of deceased ancestors may already contain information contributed by other researchers. Instead of starting every branch from scratch, you might find an existing profile with sources worth examining.

That can be particularly helpful when you know a grandparent’s name but little about earlier generations. A documented connection could point you toward parents, siblings, or places to investigate next.

How to download and begin: Get the official FamilySearch Tree app through the links on the FamilySearch website, or use the website directly. Create a free account, enter your known family details, and check for existing profiles before adding deceased ancestors. Open a relevant profile to examine attached sources and available record hints.

What is free? FamilySearch does not charge a subscription for its family-tree and research services. However, some record images have access restrictions. You may need to visit a FamilySearch center or affiliate library, and some images are available through external websites that can charge fees.

For a beginner, it offers room to learn the research process without committing to a paid plan.

Visit the official FamilySearch website

Ancestry

Useful for building your own tree and following record hints.

Ancestry brings family-tree tools and historical-record collections together. You can create a tree, organize relatives into branches, and investigate suggested records as more details are added.

Its hints provide possible leads, which can make it easier to decide what to investigate next. Rather than repeatedly starting a broad search, you can review suggestions associated with a specific person in your tree.

For example, when researching a grandmother, you could compare a suggested record’s age, residence, and family members against what you already know. The value comes from the supporting details, not simply a matching name.

How to download and begin: Download Ancestry from the Apple App Store or Google Play using its official website links. Sign in, create a tree, and add a few known relatives. Select a person to review available hints, or search for that relative using a name, approximate date, and location.

What is free? A free registered guest account allows you to create and edit family trees and access free databases. Most historical-record images and transcriptions require a membership, as does viewing other members’ public trees unless you have been invited to them.

Start with the free account to organize your family information. Before subscribing, check whether the membership covers the countries and collections relevant to your research.

Visit the official Ancestry website

MyHeritage

Useful for organizing family branches and exploring suggested connections.

MyHeritage offers a family tree, historical-record searches, and matching tools. You can add relatives and photographs, then investigate potential connections with records and other users’ trees.

The platform distinguishes between Smart Matches, which suggest connections with other family trees, and Record Matches, which suggest historical records. These provide different kinds of leads: another researcher’s work might suggest a relationship, while a document may help establish whether it is accurate.

If your family has branches in several countries, use known birthplaces and residences to guide your searches. International coverage can be useful, but the availability of relevant records still depends on the location and period you need.

How to download and begin: Get the official MyHeritage app from Google Play or the Apple App Store, or register on its website. Create your family tree, add a small group of relatives, and include known dates and places. Review available matches and use the record search to investigate a specific person.

What is free? The free Basic family site currently supports up to 250 people in your tree, with limits on storage and features. You can start building without paying, but broader record access and certain matching functions require an appropriate subscription.

Before upgrading, check which features and collections the plan includes. Tree-building subscriptions and historical-record access are not necessarily the same thing.

Visit the official MyHeritage website

Findmypast

Especially worth considering for British and Irish family connections.

Findmypast offers family-tree tools and record collections with a particular emphasis on Britain and Ireland. Its resources include parish records, censuses, and historical newspapers that can help add context to an ancestor’s life.

A newspaper notice or parish entry may offer a different perspective from a basic list of names and dates. Depending on the document, you could find a residence, an occupation, a marriage announcement, or a reference to another relative.

The mobile app also lets you work with your tree, receive hints, and add photographs or documents while away from your computer.

How to download and begin: Visit the official website for links to the Findmypast app. Availability varies by country and operating system; if it is unavailable in your app store, use the website through your browser. Create an account, begin a tree, and search for a relative using a town, county, or parish alongside their name.

What is free? You can build a family tree and explore designated free record collections without a paid subscription. Much of the wider collection requires paid access, and coverage varies by subscription.

If you have a British or Irish ancestor in mind, check which records exist for their area before choosing a plan. A relevant local collection matters more than the overall size of a database.

Visit the official Findmypast website

How to Start Your Family Tree in Five Steps

Once you’ve chosen a platform, you don’t need a complicated research plan. A few reliable details are enough to begin.

1. Write down what you already know.

Start with yourself, your parents, and your grandparents. Include full names, maiden names, birthplaces, and approximate dates when available. Leave unknown details blank instead of guessing.

2. Ask a relative one focused question.

“Where was your mother born?” is often easier to answer than “Tell me our family history.” Follow up with questions about siblings, former homes, schools, or old photographs. Record who provided the information so you can return to them later.

3. Choose one person to research.

A grandparent or great-grandparent with a known birthplace is a manageable starting point. Look for a record connected to a specific event, such as a birth or marriage, rather than trying to uncover every branch at once.

4. Compare the details.

Check whether a possible record fits the person’s age, location, and relatives. If something conflicts, keep it as an unconfirmed lead until you have more evidence.

5. Save the source and follow the next clue.

Record where each detail came from. A marriage entry might identify parents; a census might reveal siblings. Use that new information to shape your next search.

Your first session does not need to produce a distant ancestor. Confirming one relationship or identifying an unfamiliar birthplace is useful progress.

What Can Your Last Name Tell You?

Your surname can spark questions about language, places, occupations, and family traditions. It is a starting point for exploration, but it cannot establish your personal ancestry on its own.

Unrelated families can share a surname, and the spelling used today may differ from the version in older documents. A general explanation of a surname’s origin is different from evidence that your own family came from a particular place.

To make a search more useful, combine several clues:

• A full name, including a maiden name when known
• An approximate birth or marriage year
• A town, region, or country
• The name of a spouse, parent, or sibling

If an exact search finds nothing, widen the date range or try a spelling variation. For common names, adding a family member’s name can help separate plausible results from unrelated people.

Why Discovering Your Roots Matters

Knowing your family history can turn unfamiliar names into people with lives you can begin to understand. An address places someone in a neighborhood. An occupation hints at their working life. A migration record may help explain how your family arrived somewhere new.

These details can also give familiar traditions more context. A recipe, a repeated first name, or a story told at family gatherings may lead to questions you had never thought to ask.

Research can help you:

• Understand connections between generations
• Explore places connected with your family
• Preserve photographs and memories before their context is lost
• Share a documented family story with younger relatives

You don’t need a famous ancestor or an extraordinary discovery for the research to matter. Learning where a great-grandparent lived, who raised them, or how they supported their family can make the past feel more personal.

Turn Records Into a Family Story

Once you find a document, look beyond the first matching name. Depending on the record, witnesses, neighbors, occupations, and addresses may supply useful leads.

A hypothetical marriage record, for example, might identify a bride’s father and the town where the family lived. That gives you two new details to investigate. A later record may confirm the connection or show that you need to reconsider it.

Other people’s family trees can help you find leads, but look for the evidence behind each relationship. Likewise, treat an app’s hint as a suggestion to review rather than a confirmed discovery.

If one database produces no useful results, try another platform or a relevant local archive. Coverage differs, and not every surviving record is digitized or searchable by name.

Keep brief notes about searches that did not work, too. Recording the names, dates, and collections you tried helps you avoid repeating the same search and makes your next session easier to plan.

Preserve More Than Names and Dates

As your tree grows, save the stories that make it meaningful. Label scanned photographs with names, places, and approximate dates, and keep original image files alongside edited copies.

When a relative shares a memory, write down who told you and when. Distinguish family recollections from details confirmed by documents; both can be valuable, but they play different roles in your research.

Keep a separate copy of important materials so your only record is not inside one app. Before sharing information about living relatives, ask permission and review the platform’s privacy settings.

Start With One Name Today

Choose a family-history tool, enter the names you know, and investigate one relative. Your surname can open the conversation; dates, places, and records help you follow it further. You don’t need a complete tree to begin discovering the story behind it.