Family Genealogy Sites: From Family Tree to Living History
Family genealogy sites have made exploring your family history accessible to everyone. My retired mother, a self-proclaimed technophobe, mastered Ancestry.com and single-handedly traced one line of our family back to the 1300s! You can do this too!
As our family tree sprawled ever-outwards, we learned something important. While it’s exciting to discover ancestors and add names and dates, we were left guessing who these people really were. What were their personalities like? What were their lives like? It’s almost an anti-climax—discovering a new branch of your family tree, only to realise you know nothing meaningful about the lives behind those names.
In this article, we’ll cover the top family genealogy sites, how to begin your research, and ways to capture the stories that bring your family tree to life.
Jump to section:
- What Is Genealogy and Why It Matters
- Leading Family Genealogy Sites
- How to Get Started With Genealogy Research
- Combine Family Genealogy With DNA Testing
- The Limitations of Traditional Genealogy Sites
- Go Beyond Just Names and Dates…
- Solutions for Complete Family History Preservation
- Overview of Family Genealogy Sites
What Is Genealogy and Why It Matters
Genealogy is the study of the people in our family line, beginning with our parents and working back in time to grandparents, great grandparents etc. You can go back hundreds of years, discovering connections to people and places you never knew about.
The output of genealogy focuses on the family tree, with details such as:
- Names.
- Dates (birth, marriage, death).
- Places where they lived (via censuses).
What value does such information offer?
I think a part of us is always curious about where we come from and the impact our ancestors had on our lives today. So many lives came before us, and seeing them all connected in one big family tree can really make you feel how lucky you are to be alive.
Simple details like names, dates and places, are an important start to solving the mystery that is your family’s history. They’re essentially the first step, upon which you can add extra details, like who they married, their livelihood and achievements. As your family details mount up, so too does the sense of family identity and belonging.
As you’ll discover next, finding your ancestors has never been easier using the following family genealogy sites.
Leading Family Genealogy Sites
Many family genealogy sites are available, but four dominant ones (discussed below) are supported by additional databases or complementary services such as family tree apps. A comprehensive overview of 101 genealogy-related services can be found at FamilyTreeMagazine.
Some apps are free, others can be accessed with monthly or annual subscriptions.
All the research tools listed below require your effort and patience to make discoveries. If you are seeking help from experts, try a service like Legacytree (packages start at $2,950 for 25 hours of research).
1. Ancestry
Ancestry.com is the most extensive database with 30 billion records users can search, but it comes at a premium price. The cheaper subscription option gives access to the US records only. A subscription giving full access, including information about people abroad and all news articles hosted on newspapers.com (so you can search for press articles about your family), costs $539.99 per year
2. MyHeritage
MyHeritage.com is a rapidly growing family genealogy site with 19 billion records to explore. It also offers additional tools to help restore and animate old family photos. A full-access subscription costs $199 per year.
3. FamilySearch
FamilySearch.org has nearly 2 billion records, and they also provide a digital library of scanned books that can be searched. Their service is free. It is provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who describe FamilySearch as a “non-profit family history organization dedicated to connecting families across generations.”
4. Findmypast
Findmypast.com is a smaller family genealogy site but has the best coverage in Britain. So if you are searching for ancestors in the UK, you might stand a better chance of finding them here. Their premium subscription costs $299.99 per year.
Many other family genealogy sites are available, but these are widely considered the ‘leading’ sites for most families.
Your family’s past, present & future—woven together in Simirity
How to Get Started With Genealogy Research
It’s tempting to pick a service and jump right in. But hold off, at least until you have a clear idea of what you hope to achieve with such a service.
Try these steps to get started:
1. What is it you want to find?
- Is your focus on building out your family tree?
- Are you searching for an ancestor that is hard to find?
- Are you looking for family links to foreign countries?
- What other information about your family are you trying to uncover, perhaps press clippings, about someone specific?
Your needs will help you pick the best service.
2. What information do you already have?
Explore your family history by talking to family members.
Try to build your family tree as best you can. Dust off those old family albums and start asking questions about who is who. By doing so, you’ll better understand what information is missing.
3. Which service or services are most likely to have the information I seek?
Based on your family tree, particularly what’s missing from it, identify which service best matches your needs. Pay particular attention to the region in which you want to search.
4. Try their free trial or opt for the monthly subscription plan to start
Most genealogical services offer a free trial to get you started. Give it a try and see how you get on. If you want to upgrade, you can always opt for a monthly rather than annual subscription. It’s more expensive of course, but perhaps you won’t need access for a full year if you want to work intensively.
5. Capture the information you find
Build your family tree and add relevant information to the family profiles. Most services allow you to download your family tree information as a GEDCOM file, which you can upload to alternative services if you wish.
Combine Family Genealogy With DNA Testing
Adding DNA testing to your genealogy research gives you the most complete picture of your family history:
1. Find lost or unknown relatives
Genealogy research won’t help if any close relatives are missing from your family history. These might be estranged family members or those adopted into another family. Your DNA might match theirs, or a relative of theirs who could put you in touch.
2. Confirm family connections
When you suspect someone belongs in your family tree but can’t find documents to prove it, DNA testing provides scientific evidence of these relationships.
3. Find other genealogists within your family
Many genealogy enthusiasts take DNA tests to further their research. If you do the same, you may find a distant cousin who’s already researched their branch of the family—saving you countless hours and adding rich details to your family’s history.
4. Expand your search globally
If your research hits a dead end in your home country, DNA results can point to unexpected regions where your ancestors lived. This might be exactly what you need—helping you refocus your efforts in other countries.
The Limitations of Traditional Genealogy Sites
Discovering our family roots through genealogy or DNA is fascinating. But they will never be able to address our underlying desire to know who they were.
You might get some crumbs of information, but the most interesting details are likely to remain a mystery:
- The things they did in their daily life.
- Their views on world events (e.g. inventions, cultural changes, wars).
- Their personality and character.
- Their challenges, setbacks, and achievements.
- Their beliefs, values, and dreams.
These personal details transform faceless ancestors into real people.
Personally speaking, I am far more interested in my ancestors’ experiences than details like names and dates that genealogy can provide. Knowing that your great grandmother was born in 1911 is one thing, but knowing how she raised her children through the great depression is far more meaningful (and magical).
Your memories, their legacy—Simirity keeps family history alive
Go Beyond Just Names and Dates…
The real treasure of family history isn’t in documents—it’s in the stories and everyday moments:
- What made them laugh.
- How they handled tough times.
- The wisdom they shared with their children.
- Their favorite recipes and holiday traditions.
- The dreams they had for future generations.
When you spend time on family genealogy sites, you’ll quickly realise something important—they’re great at telling you ‘when’ and ‘where’ your ancestors lived, but not ‘how’ they lived. Ultimately, genealogy focuses on building family trees, not preserving family legacies.
The most precious thing you can leave to your descendants are stories from your life.
While searching for ancestors on genealogy sites, remember that you’re creating family history right now. Your stories, your parents’ experiences, and your children’s milestones will one day be family history too. You have a special opportunity that your ancestors never had—to preserve these living stories while they’re happening.
Future family genealogists will thank you for capturing not just names and dates, but the rich, meaningful experiences that show what life was really like.
Don’t let your family’s present become another mystery for future generations to solve.
Solutions for Complete Family History Preservation
So how can you preserve all the history you currently know about your family, and the precious family moments as they unfold? Ensuring precious details won’t be lost, like the stories of your ancestors.
Here are 8 ways to record family stories, ranging from diaries to digital storytelling.
After discovering these options, we soon realised that no existing services perfectly matched our needs. That’s why we created Simirity—to offer families like ours an alternative way to preserve their family history and connect with each other in the process.
Simirity is your family’s digital scrapbook of memories.
Beyond photos, videos and voice notes, Simirity app uses real-life stories from your family’s past and present to enrich family relationships while storing cherished memories for tomorrow.
Your stories blossom into rewarding conversations that take your family beyond everyday small talk—creating moments of genuine connection that you’ll treasure forever.
Start recording your family’s history today with a free account.
Overview of Family Genealogy Sites
As we’ve seen, there are several aspects to your family history.
- Genealogy research helps you add people to your family tree.
- DNA tests can assist with genealogy research and if you’re lucky, you might discover a living relative.
- Storytelling can be used to bring your family’s history to life, so future generations can connect to their ancestors with more than just names and dates.
For inspiration on the type of stories families treasure, explore these story ideas.
Your family history is your origin story—how you and your loved ones came to be.
Discover it. Treasure it. Preserve it for future family.
Simirity connects generations through the power of storytelling
