How to Use ancestry's Genealogy to Expand your Family Tree

Step 1

First, of course, head to ancestry.com. DON'T hit the button that says "Subscribe" in the top right corner. Instead, on the ad for the 14-day free trial, click "Sign Up Now". (Even if you want to get a subscription, why not avoid paying for 2 whole weeks?) Choose a membership type (this will be billed to your card if you do not cancel before the 14 days are up). Fill in all of the needed information.

Step 2

Are you ready to start your tree? Hover over the category "Family Trees" on the top bar, and then click "Start a New Tree". Then, enter the information of the home person for that tree. (If it's you, check the box at the top stating so.) Once you have created the new tree, you should be taken to a sharing page. If you would like to share the tree with someone (either just to look, as a guest, or to help out, as an editor/administrator), enter their e-mail here and they will recieve an invite.

Step 3

Make sure that you have entered all the information you know on yourself and your parents; this will help ancestry.com search through all kinds of records that may concern them. Also, if you have any information on your grandparents, this would help. What? You don't know how to add people? Well, that's easy!

Step 4

You see how there is either "Add Mother" or "Add Father" where you have not entered information? Click on that to add any information needed.

Step 5

By now you have probably seen a green leap pop up over someone's name. Hover over it. It says, "# Ancestry Hints". Click on this, and it will take you to all of the "hints" available (such as birth and death records among various other records, and information compiled from other family trees containing that person). Click "Add Hint" if you want to add information from one of the hints, or even just take a look at one in more detail.

Tips and Warnings

• Contacting other ancestry.com members may help you discover more about your family, or even find more family members!
• You can add media, such as photos, stories, and videos, to each member on your family tree. Click on that person on the tree and hit "View Profile". There you can edit all of the above.
• If you work hard enough, you can get a LONG way back! I reached back to roughly 284 B.C. using ancestry.com's records and an occasional Google reference.
• Be VERY careful when it comes to adding new family members. Look at the birth and death dates, and make sure they match up. If they don't make sense, but you continue on, you can potentially create a family tree that's not yours! When in doubt, do your own bit of research.