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 where your family was during the 1940s. Here’s how you responded.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Fascinating Photo Find • One researcher sees himself as part of an ancestral community in a whole new way.

1921 Census Launches

MILLIONS OF PATENTS ON ANCESTRY.COM

CANADA NEWSPAPER INDEXES ON ANCESTRY.COM

MyHeritage DNA Labels

NEW WEBSITE: ‘DNA FAVORITES’

Sowing Your Roots

branchingout

LIFE BEGINS at ‘40 • Follow your relatives through the 1940s (and up to the soon-to-be-released 1950 census) with these records.

GLOBETROTTING • MyHeritage has digitized records from around the world. Here’s how to find them using the site’s main search form.

out of focus • These 12 underused sources will help you find family photos.

Suspicious Minds

Point and Click

RHODE ISLAND

TIMELINE

TOOLKIT

TEXAS

TIMELINE

TOOLKIT

Find Your U.S. Ancestors

Old Norse • Over the North Sea and through the fj ords—back to Old Norge we go! This guide to Norwegian genealogy will help you trace your kin, Viking or not.

TIMELINE

Toolkit

5 STEPS to 160,000 • Take your family history book from pipe dream to words on a page with these tips.

EXCERPT: The Wedding of Elska Mattias Christians and Christian Jans Rose • Here’s an excerpt from my manuscript, which I created in Scrivener. As you’ll note, I combined factual information with storytelling elements to create a narrative that readers will hopefully find more engaging. In addition to facts, I included reminders of my ancestors’ ages; notes about contemporary structures, cultural norms, or places; and details about what they may have seen, smelled, tasted, touched or heard.

treetips

Local Histories

At a Glance: Town Histories

In the Dark • Age has darkened this tintype, but digital enhancements and clothing clues shed light on its subjects.

Finding Newspapers with Chronicling America • Chronicling America <chroniclingamerica.loc.gov> is a free portal to finding and exploring historical US newspapers. A project of the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities, the database’s goal is to grant access to newsprint that represents the diverse stories and viewpoints of the American past.

Saving Recipe Cards

NOW WHAT?

Family Website Hosting Services

Ethnicity Estimates Changes

GET ORGANIZED

Online Course Calendar • Highlights from March 2022*

SURNAME • EDITORS OF FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE

TIPS FOR RESEARCHING COMMON NAMES

UNUSUAL SURNAMES: BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE

TUTORIAL: SEARCHING RECORDS USING NAMES

SURNAME VARIANT CHART • If you’re not having luck finding records of your ancestors, consider the possibility that their name was mistranscribed or misindexed in online databases. Record possible misspellings or alternate spellings of your ancestor’s surname using the form below, then search for those variations. View and download a free, typable version of this form at <www.familytreemagazine.com/freebie/surnamevariantchart>.

USING SURNAMES WITH DNA

SURNAMES AND ETHNICITY • Every culture has its own naming traditions, and your surname can give you clues about your paternal line’s...