Guides by Daisy Goddard

Birth certificates contain key details that allow you to delve deeper into your family history. Along with marriage and death records, they form the building blocks of your family tree. Here's how to find the birth certificate you're looking for in a few simple steps.

Marriage records are important for family history research, as they help you to trace connections and uncover important details about your ancestors' lives. After finding a marriage record online, you may be able to order a physical copy of the marriage certificate.

When starting your family history research, there are several websites to choose between. Each offers different records and tools. This outline can help you to decide which is right for you.

Historical newspapers help us to understand our ancestors and the world they inhabited in vivid detail. From community stories to national headlines, they reveal telling moments from our shared past.

From scandalous headlines to tales of wartime tragedy, understand the world your ancestors lived in with vivid details that you'll only find in historical newspapers. Here's how to uncover meaningful family stories in the archives.

Census records offer a rare snapshot of the entire population, helping you to trace movements, uncover relationships and really understand the daily lives of your ancestors as you build your family tree. Discover the most recent census available for you to search, and when more censuses will be made accessible.

If you’ve already started building your family tree on another platform, you don’t have to start from scratch on a new one. Genealogy websites like Findmypast allow you to upload a GEDCOM file and quickly pick up your research where you left off.

With free genealogy records and family tree building software, you can discover key details about your ancestors – what their households looked like, where they worked, where they grew up, and where they grew old.

In Britain and Ireland, marriage records are considered public records. Anyone can search them online using genealogy websites, and you can also order a copy of the original marriage certificate.

Coal miners. Seamstresses. Soldiers. Our ancestors’ occupations reveal a lot about their character and how they lived their lives. Here’s how to find out what your relatives did for work with family history research.