How to trace your family history for free.

Start with one person and one question. Perhaps you want to know where your grandmother lived before she married. Perhaps an unfamiliar surname appears on a photograph. A useful first result is a record you can find again, with a clear note about what it tells you.

You can follow this route with paper and a pencil. You do not need to install anything.

The examples below start in England and Wales. FreeBMD and the General Register Office (GRO) index cover those countries, rather than the whole UK. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate certificate services. GOV.UK explains the distinction. Record the country beside your question before choosing a source.

Step 1. Write down what you already have

Take a fresh page and write your question at the top. Under it, record the name, approximate date and place you remember. Write who supplied each detail. Keep their words when you can.

Note whether the teller saw it themselves or was told it by someone else. That note says where the memory came from. It does not suggest that the person who told you was careless. A memory can be a good starting point without proving every detail.

Make separate notes for separate statements. “She married in Wigan” and “she worked in a cotton mill” need different checks. Do not let a confirmed marriage location make the work story look confirmed too.

Before searching, choose a stopping point. For a first session, aim to find one plausible record and save its reference. There is no need to add a generation today.

Step 2. Choose the record that can answer the question

An index points you towards an entry. A transcript copies text from a record. An image lets you inspect the writing yourself. Keep those forms separate in your notes. An index result and a transcript of the same entry are not two independent witnesses.

Use this table to choose your first search. Check the linked coverage page for your place and period.

Keep a short search log beside this table. Record your search terms, the date and the result. If the search produces nothing, write “no result with these terms”. Save “no record exists” for a conclusion that the evidence can support.

Step 3. Find a civil registration reference

Open FreeBMD’s search form. Choose one event type. Enter the surname, first name and a short date range. Add a district only when you have a reason to expect it.

If there are too many candidates, narrow the dates. If there are none, remove one restriction at a time. Keep both versions in your search log. This makes it possible to see which assumption excluded a useful result.

For older entries, save the year, quarter, district, volume and page. The quarter records registration, which can follow the event. A birth near a quarter’s end may appear in the next quarter. FreeBMD’s search help explains these fields.

Write a cautious result: “Later copy or index, high: this entry exists under this name.” Keep “this is my relative” as a separate identification question. A matching name alone cannot carry that second statement.

Step 4. Compare the official index

The General Register Office, usually shortened to GRO, provides a free historical birth and death index. You need to register to use its online service. Start through GOV.UK’s family-history page.

Compare your candidate with what you already know. Keep the reference exactly as displayed by each service. If two entries disagree, save both readings. Do not repair one silently because the other looks more familiar.

Ask what information would distinguish the candidates. You may need an address or a named parent. Write that missing detail down before considering a purchase. Our certificate guide helps you decide whether the next record justifies its cost.

Step 5. Place the person in a household

FreeCEN offers free census transcripts for its stated five years. Coverage varies by place and year. Use its Records menu to check the relevant area before searching. FreeCEN explains how to inspect coverage.

Search for the household you expect, then consider other candidates. Compare the people around your relative. A sibling or an unusual occupation can help distinguish two people with the same name. Keep those comparisons as reasoning, with references to the entries you used.

Read each relationship as a relationship to the household head. The census questions changed over time. The 1841 return did not include the later relationship column. The National Archives explains the census fields.

Do not turn an age into an exact birthday. Keep the recorded age, the census date and your estimated birth year in separate spaces. This preserves the route from the record to your estimate.

Step 6. Search parish registers

FreeREG holds transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials. Its coverage pages break these down by county, place, church and register. Some pages explain gaps or restrictions. Check FreeREG’s contents.

Choose the event you need before entering a name. Record a baptism as a baptism. Record a burial as a burial. If an entry also supplies a birth or death date, copy that as a separate detail.

If your first parish produces nothing, make a list of nearby places worth checking. Give each place a reason: a later address, another child’s entry or a family memory. Avoid widening the search so far that any matching name starts to look useful.

For a fuller search lesson, read the three free databases explained. It includes ways to change your search without losing track of what you have tried.

Step 7. Use another collection when the first has a gap

FamilySearch has no subscription charge. Some links lead to other providers whose images require payment. FamilySearch explains its free access.

An image restriction may require a visit to a FamilySearch centre or an affiliate library. The message beside the image explains the available route. Some images remain unavailable there too. Read FamilySearch’s image restrictions.

Save the collection title and entry reference before arranging a visit. Ask the centre or library about that particular collection. A general promise of family-history access cannot tell you whether your image is available.

If the record remains inaccessible, keep it on a future-search list. You can work on another question while it waits. A gap in access does not need a guessed answer.

Step 8. Prepare a library visit

Library access can provide another free search route. For example, Dorset offers Ancestry Library Edition on its public library computers. Dorset publishes its access arrangements.

Plan for on-site use, usually on a library PC. Ask your own service about availability, booking and saving records before travelling. Provision is not universal. Do not assume that a library card provides access from home.

Library Edition is a reduced product. It lacks personal tree-building tools and some content found in the consumer service. ProQuest’s comparison, hosted by the State Library of Queensland, explains the differences.

Bring a short list of questions and references. Ask about any computer or printing charges. Keep your research notes with you, so you can record a finding without relying on a saved browser session.

Step 9. Write one checked conclusion

Give each statement two marks:

• How we know: official record, written at the time, newspaper, later copy or index, someone who saw it, told second-hand, or worked out.
• How sure: low, medium or high, with a line saying why.

A verified transcription can still contain an error made in the original record. The marks do not remove the need to compare evidence. State “the register says” when that is all you have established.

Step 10. Save a useful stopping point

Before closing your notebook or computer, write four things:

1. State the question you investigated.
2. List the records you inspected and where to find them.
3. Explain your present conclusion and any contradiction.
4. Name the next record that could change your mind.

Then use the publication checklist before adding anything to a shared tree. Keep doubtful parent links out of a finished family tree. A note about a possible connection can wait in your private working file.

Free research has limits. An untranscribed register, an inaccessible image or an unresolved identity may stop this branch. Travel, copies and certificates can still cost money. Decide against your question and budget, rather than the wish to fill an empty box.

If you would like one step at a time, the start-here list puts every guide in the order we suggest.

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