Family history guides

Clear, beginner-friendly guides to tracing your family history and turning it into a living map. Start here, then build your own tree on RootsLore — free, private, and no signup to begin.

• How to trace your family history

  A beginner's step-by-step guide — from what you already know to a living map of your family's journey.

  6 min read

• How to build a family tree

  How to build a family tree from scratch — who to add first, how to connect generations, and how far back to go.

  5 min read

• How to map your family's migration

  How to turn names and places into a time-lapsed map of where your family came from and where they moved.

  5 min read