Family Tree

Family Tree Magazine will help point the way toward the best research tools and practices to trace your family's history. Each issue includes tips on locating, collecting, and preserving photos, letters, diaries, church and government records, and other documentation, plus fun articles about creating scrapbooks, organizing family reunions, and vacation ideas that combine history with leisure!

Family Tree

out on a limb

TREE TALK • We asked about your favorite cemetery to visit. Here’s how you responded.

Around the World in 30 Pages • An unexpected find reveals an ancestor’s gift to future generations: his colorful story, in his own words.

MyHeritage Launches Photo Repair

NEW DATABASE FOR FAMILY STORIES

SEATTLE NARA BRANCH TO REMAIN OPEN

FREE MILITARY RECORDS

Genetic Communities Update

BRITISH NEWSPAPER ARCHIVE DEAL RENEWED

Bushels Full of Ancestors

branchingout

HEAVY WEIGHTS • Document your favorite cemeteries this fall using cemetery websites. We look at the pros and cons of the three largest: BillionGraves, Find a Grave, and Interment.net.

Honorary Salute

SET in STONE • Learn the do’s and don’ts of preserving your family’s tombstone with this guide to tombstone damage, plus what you can do to enhance faded inscriptions.

Casting Stones: Popular Types of Markers • Cemeteries contain a treasure-trove of gravestones. See if you can spot these 11 styles on your next visit:

6 Common Stones Used in Graves • The material used in a graveyard can offer clues as to what stones were readily available in the community and provide a glimpse into the socioeconomic status of its residents:

Showing Your Work • Though not glamorous, citing your sources can reap great rewards for your research. Here’s how to start.

Types of Citations

KANSAS

TIMELINE

TOOLKIT

MISSISSIPPI

TIMELINE

TOOLKIT

Digging Through the Ashes • Is the 1890 census really missing? With record substitutes and the right frame of mind, the answer is not so simple.

The Fate of the 1890 Census

1890 Census Questions

Sample Record Substitutes

All Souls • Catholic records are some of the oldest-kept documents in Mexican genealogy, dating back to the 1500s. Here’s how to find and interpret them.

Communion of Records

treetips

Death Records

At a Glance: Death Certificate

Using the FamilySearch Research Wiki • When you have a genealogy question—any genealogy question—one of the first places to look for answers is the FamilySearch Research Wiki <www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page>. FamilySearch <www.familysearch.org> is the world’s largest free genealogy website, and its Research Wiki is a hefty how-to portal now approaching 100,000 articles. Navigate to the Research Wiki under Search > Research Wiki.

Family Tree-Building Software • Note: Programs are for both Mac and PC unless otherwise noted. In addition, Family Tree Magazine is not affiliated with any of the following programs, despite having a similar name to some of them.

On the Back of a Postage Stamp • The stamp on the back of this photo gives clues to its date.

Saving the News

treetips NOW WHAT?

Prioritizing DNA Matches

Source Citation Extraction Form: Record from Online Collection • Save the details you’ll need to cite a record found in an online database, such as FamilySearch or Ancestry.com.

7 Ways to Use Maps in Genealogy Research

MAP OVERLAY TOOLS • Tools that let you overlay maps on top of each other make it easy to compare old and new maps to see how an area changed and learn, for example, where your ancestor’s address in 1870 is located now....