Getting started building your family tree

Technology has changed the way we build our family trees.

Even a few years ago, people who wanted to begin their family trees started with nicely sharpened lead pencils and a little stack of "Family Group Sheets".  This method was useful to organize the information already in their possession but did nothing to help in their search for new information. To find new information they utilized tools like mail-in requests for hard copies of records or travels to libraries and county seats. It was a lonely and solitary pursuit that provided very little collaboration with folks who were working on our same lines. None of us who industriously filed hard copies of documents into binders and completed family group sheets by hand dreamed of the future that lay waiting for genealogists.

In this computerized society starting your family tree is at your fingertips. With the click of a mouse and a good browser (Mozilla Firefox works best here) you are ready to begin. On FamilySearch, you can build your family tree and on the FamilySearch Research Wiki you will find the records that you need at no expense...ever. As your tree grows, you will be connected to information from other trees that also contain your ancestors. You'll find that growing your family tree is easy, and rewarding. It's simple; it's easy; and it's free.

Get started...right now.

Get started by going to https://familysearch.org.  In the upper right corner, you'll see "Sign In/Join for free".  It will be necessary for you to provide a username and a password so that each time you come to this site you will be able to access the information that you have entered into your tree. So sign in, and get started by entering the information that you already know. Familysearch.org will not allow you to research ancestors or descendants who are still living, so be sure to start your tree with your nearest ancestors who have passed on. As soon as you join family tree and sign in with your username and password, you'll be able to begin searching for your ancestors.

As your information is collected, the site will begin the construction of the tree.