Start with what the family knows
- Talk to the oldest living relatives first. Note names, nicknames, places, rough dates and any documents in drawers: old passports, ship tickets, naturalization papers, military records.
- Fill out our family tree worksheet as you go.
- Find the three facts most countries hinge on: where and when the ancestor was born, when they emigrated, and whether and when they became a citizen of another country.
Free places to search
Anywhere
- FamilySearch: a free site with billions of records from many countries, including church registers. You need a free account.
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland
- GRO index for England and Wales births (1837 to 1934, and 1984 to about two years ago) and deaths (1837 to 1957, and 1984 to about two years ago), free with an account. FreeBMD is a free volunteer transcription of the older birth, marriage and death indexes.
- ScotlandsPeople: Scotland’s official records. Searching is free, viewing images costs a small fee.
- IrishGenealogy.ie: the Irish government’s free site with images of many historic civil births, marriages and deaths.
Emigration and naturalization
- US National Archives: naturalization records, including declarations of intention and petitions, which give the date someone became American.
- USCIS Genealogy Program: a paid service that searches US immigration and naturalization files. Useful for proving whether, and when, an ancestor naturalized.
- Ellis Island passenger records: free arrival records for New York, which often give the town of origin.
- Library and Archives Canada, the National Archives of Australia and the UK’s National Archives hold naturalization and immigration records for their countries.
In the ancestor’s country
- Italy: Antenati, the Italian state archives’ free portal of civil records.
- Poland: Szukaj w Archiwach, the Polish State Archives’ free search.
- Germany and Central Europe: Matricula has free images of many Catholic church books. The Arolsen Archives hold records of Nazi persecution, useful for restoration claims.
- Everywhere else: start with the national archives, then the town or parish where your ancestor was born.
Paid genealogy sites
Subscription sites such as Ancestry, Findmypast and MyHeritage gather many records in one place, including passenger lists and census returns. They can save time, but much of what they hold is also in the free sources above. Try the free ones first. Remember that a genealogy site’s transcription is a lead, not proof: for your application you still need certified certificates from the official register office.
Do DNA tests help?
Not for citizenship. No country accepts an ancestry DNA test as proof. Governments want civil certificates and official records showing each link in the chain. A DNA test can suggest relatives to contact, but it won’t replace a single document.