Four websites to help you grow an international family tree

Four websites to help you grow an international family tree

Trace your global family tree with these hand-picked leads to help you trace and treasure your worldwide family.

Many of us are more interconnected than we think. As more and more of us trace the branches of our family tree and international clues are revealed by family stories or DNA, we might well find that our roots reach across the globe to countries we never imagined.

Here are some online leads to help you trace and treasure your worldwide family.

1. FAMILY SEARCH

With over 2,500 record collections spanning every continent, FamilySearch is a must-visit website when tracing your global family tree.

Explore more than 90,000 FamilySearch Wiki pages by topic or place and then add our forebears to the online FamilySearch Family Tree – a collaborative tool to help you research and preserve your ancestry.

With family history centres to visit across the globe and free webinars to help your online research, FamilySearch is an essential website for anyone tracing global ancestors.

2. CYNDI’S LIST

Track down records and research advice from around the world at Cyndi’s List. 

On her mammoth online directory of 336,671 (and counting!) links, Cyndi has 1,235 listed in the births & baptisms category, for instance, covering information from Argentina to Ukraine.

3. ISOGG

Learn about the geographical DNA projects that gather DNA from a specific locality – allowing you to pinpoint ancestors in other countries.

The International Society of Genetic Genealogy provides links to more than 200 such diverse projects covering people from Algeria to Aboriginal tribes, Azerbaijan to Armenia – and those are just some of the ‘As’.

4. OLD MAPS ONLINE

Of course, tracing your ancestors can lead you ask ‘Where on earth is that?’ Find a vast collection of historic maps freely available at Old Maps Online.

Don’t miss the online mapping and satellite view sites too – very addictive!

(image copyright NASA)