Getting started

8. Branching out

Using the birth, marriage and death records, and the census returns, you will be able to trace ancestors and build an extensive family tree. There are, however, many more avenues of research that you can undertake, not only when you hit a brick wall. As your interest deepens you will begin to develop a real understanding of the history of your family, their movements through time, around the country and indeed perhaps across the globe.

World War One and World War Two cast a long shadow over the first half of the twentieth century. Findmypast's extensive military collection is the perfect resource for discovering the role that your family played in both wars, and in earlier ones. Search roll calls and lists to find out important and unique information about the sacrifices that they made, medals they were awarded and notes about their careers, and add it to your family tree.

It may be that an ancestor emigrated to begin a new life in Australia, Canada, the USA or elsewhere. If that is the case the exclusive Passenger Lists on findmypast can help you to find them travelling out from the UK, who they went with, and to where. This means, for the first time, you can know not only that they went, but when and where, giving you a far better chance of finding them in the records of their new home.

There are more than 550 million records on findmypast.com, including other migration records, occupations listings and directories. The Living Relatives section allows you to find family members residing in the UK using the current electoral roll. Don't forget that genealogy is not merely a study of the past, but of your family's present and future also.

The Explorer subscription allows you unlimited access to all of the records on findmypast, including new records as they're added. Find out more.