The study of family history and lineages is commonly referred to as genealogy. There are many factors that prompt you to search for your family history, including the desire to find your place in the family, a sense of responsibility to preserve your past, and a sense of satisfaction of purely knowing where your family roots begin.
Tracking down family history is a monumental task, which is why the following websites can ease your task of doing so.
Ancestry records
With over 20 billion records at your disposal with data from 80 countries around the world, you are in good hands to narrow down the search for your family history. All you need to do is enter the names and birth dates of close family members to start creating a family tree. With a premium subscription, you get access to data and historical records that date back to the 13th century. You can also buy a DNA kit to further enhance your search parameters. While it is one of the most comprehensive ancestries and family history search services, you still have limited options when it comes to adding second marriage details and subsequent children on the family tree. In terms of user interface, Ancestry records is easy to use and features a mobile app to stay updated on the go.
FamilySearch
Family Search offers the best value as it is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, for the free service, you can only build one family tree per subscription. With just over 5 billion records available at your disposal to build your family tree, it is a cheaper alternative to the premium services offered by Ancestry records. The service does not necessarily have a comprehensive database when it comes to searching historical records. However, you can still view old documents and records. On the downside, the website does not offer DNA kits to further test and provide evidence for a proper genetic match, thus narrowing down the search results. The interface is fun to use and provides multiple tabs and tools on the family tree to identify relationships.
MyHeritage
In case you don’t have the time and resources to search extensively to find your ancestry records, MyHeritage provides one of the quickest DNA test results to build your family tree. MyHeritage features more than 9 billion records and uses DNA testing to show you which ethnic groups you and your ancestors belong to across multiple geographic locations. MyHeritage promises the fastest results for testing and provides detailed reports of your family ancestry for a premium. The only drawback of the service is that you must pay for the one-year subscription in advance.