How to start a family tree when you know only a few names
Start with yourself and work backwards, one generation at a time. You need far less than you think: a name, a rough year and a place are enough to find someone in the records. Write down what you know, ask the oldest relative what they know, then let each record lead to the next.
What you need to begin
- Your own parents and grandparents, with whatever you know: a name, a year of birth, a town.
- A year is enough. “Born about 1930 in Cork” will find more than you would expect.
- Married names and maiden names. A grandmother is found under the surname she was born with.
- Places. The county or town a family lived in narrows the search more than anything else.
Ask before you search
The quickest records are in your relatives’ heads. One conversation with an aunt or a grandparent can give you three generations of names in ten minutes. Ask who their grandparents were, where they lived, and what they did. Ask for nicknames too: “Uncle Bob” may be Robert in the records, or something else entirely.
Then the records
In Britain, the census returns are the backbone of a family tree. Taken every ten years, they list everyone by name from 1841, and are open to read up to 1921. Each one shows a household: who lived there, their ages, where they were born and what they did. The 1931 census for England and Wales was lost in a fire, and the 1939 Register fills much of that gap.
In Ireland, the censuses of 1901 and 1911 survive almost whole; most earlier ones were lost. Find a family in one census and you can usually find them in the one before. Births, marriages and deaths fill in the rest.
Work backwards and check each step. Two men of the same name in the same town is common. Look for a second detail that matches, such as a wife’s name, a child’s name or an address.
Mark how sure you are
Some of what you write down will be proven by a record. Some will be worked out, like a year of birth from a census age. Some will be what a relative remembers. Keep all three, but keep them apart. It saves a lot of untangling later.
Starting a tree on Heirstory
Heirstory begins with your name. A few questions about the people closest to you follow, typed or spoken, and each answer appears on your tree as you go.
- A name is enough, and a date can be just a year. You can correct anyone you added later.
- Census households can be added as you find them. Heirstory matches each person against your tree and adds the rest.
- Research starts when there is enough to go on. Gene, an AI genealogist, can research a family once its founders are named in full. Three of its people who have died need to be on the tree too, across two generations. Until then, Heirstory says exactly what to add, and for whom.
- Every fact says how sure it is: proven, probable or remembered.
Questions
Do I need a subscription to a records site?
No. Heirstory is free to build, and Gene’s research uses credits rather than a subscription. Gene searches records that are openly online, and where a record sits behind a paywall, names it as a document to order. If you already have a tree on another site, bring it as a family-tree file.
What if I know almost nothing about one side of the family?
Start with the side you know, and ask relatives about the other. A single name and a place can be enough for the records to find the rest.
How far back can I go?
Many British families can be traced to the early 1800s through census returns and civil records, and further through parish registers. Irish families are often harder before 1864, when the registration of every birth began, but church records can reach back further.