How to Expand Your Family Tree: 5 Top Tips

When you’ve been working on a family tree for a while, there might come a time where you feel like you’ve exhausted all potential opportunities to expand and grow it further. This can be frustrating when it feels like there is still more untapped history to explore. In this guide from FamilySearch, we'll delve into the five top tips that will help you expand your family tree and unlock new avenues of exploration. From leveraging new software to tapping into historical records, these strategies will empower you to unravel the mysteries of your lineage, breakthrough into new generations, and uncover hidden gems within your family's story.

1. Review Your Tree

Reviewing your family tree for potential errors is a good place to start when you think you have hit a wall. Check that the relationships in your tree make sense.  Not being able to find the next generation is sometimes because the generation you are working from has errors. Take a look at your ancestor and see if the dates and relationships look reasonable.  You want to avoid obvious errors such as your grandfather marrying his mother, or a grandmother having children at age 65.

Look for Duplicate Records

Keep a close eye out for duplicate records.  You many find valuable additional information in a duplicate record that hasn’t been merged with the record you have for your ancestor. You can often resolve problems like these by doing a little more research. Merging and correcting records can sometimes help you break through to new generations.

2. Add Sources

Annotating your family tree and referencing sources you used to find certain snippets of information can be a good way to stumble across additional information. Here’s how to do this on FamilySearch:

• Click on the blue Search Records icon on the home page.  This will start a search through FamilySearch’s indexed records.  In the search results screen, open all records which may pertain to your ancestor.  
• You can quickly add all related sources to your ancestor’s page by clicking on the blue “Attach to Family Tree” button. See if you can find your ancestor in the census records that appear.  
•  Find any vital records belonging to your ancestor.  You will begin to get a much better understanding of your ancestor by seeing the records that you attach to their profile. And, you are very likely to find associated family members in some of these records. You will then begin to expand your tree by finding forgotten family members who may be listed with your ancestor in their records.

3. Look at the Families who Descend from Your 3rd and 4th Great-Grandparents

Descendancy research is a branch of genealogy that focuses on the descendants of a particular individual or couple, following their lineage as far as possible. This method can be great for growing your family tree, particularly if you start with the right people.

Begin looking for the children of your ancestors - these may be your aunts and uncles, or cousins. They may also be the spouses who marry someone in your direct line. These people may not be your direct-line ancestors, but they are the children of your grandparents.

Remember to be aware of the 110-year rule. This rule states that if your ancestor was born within the last 110 years you should not submit their name for temple work unless you have permission from the closest-related family member. Researching descendancy lines gives you the opportunity to significantly expand your family tree.

4. Look for Ancestors with No Spouse Listed.

If your ancestor lived to a marrying age, look for a spouse.  Census records are a great place to start looking for spouses.  To locate U.S. marriage records, go the FamilySearch Wiki and search for How to Find United States Marriage Records.  For other countries, go to the FamilySearch Wiki and look up the county name you are interested in. Search for vital records in that county to see if you can find links and research suggestions.  Cemetery records and death records of children may also list spouses.

5. Look for Ancestors in the Family Tree with No Death Dates.

Pay special attention to whole families where only birth information is recorded.  This is a clue that this family has not been carefully researched or kept up to date.  A family with only birth information is often missing spouses and children in the subsequent generations.  These are all people who can be used to expand your tree.

Use the wiki to help you learn the best resources to use to find death records. Click How to Find United States Death Records or look up your county name and vital records for links and research suggestions in the FamilySearch Wiki.

Bonus Tip: Run the Family Tree Through Analytical Software

Some companies are now developing software to help you locate people in your tree who need further research. A company named Puzilla is an example of a program that works well with FamilySearch to find where more research may be needed.  It uses these same tips to look at your own tree and it analyses data patterns to determine where additional research needs to be done. Go to the Puzilla website to view instructional videos on how this can help you. You may be surprised to see how easy it is to find ways to expand your family tree.

What to do After Completing a Family Tree

If you have exhausted all the tips in this guide, how do you learn more about your family history when it seems as though you have a full tree and all the work is done? This problem proves to be frustrating for many who want to engage with family history and try out FamilySearch.org.

With innovations and technology improving every day, this problem is quickly disappearing. There is always something that can be done with your family tree.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started right away.

Discover and Make Connections

At RootsTech 2019, Bradley D. Foster shared some great advice for those who say their family history work is done. “Until you know a story or connect with your ancestors, your work is never done,” he said.

Search for stories that can be shared on FamilySearch.org. One way is to read the weekly messages that come from FamilySearch with facts about family members. If you’re registered on FamilySearch.org, these messages come either to your email or your Facebook messenger account.

Tell the Story of Your Family Tree

Your own story is family history! FamilySearch’s Memories app is a perfect way to get you started. The app contains prompts for you to add a document, write a story, add photos, or record audio.

This is an easy way to do family history because you know your own story—it requires no extra research! Don’t be afraid to start small. Start with the last three to five years—gather photos, stories, and thoughts, and start uploading them to FamilySearch.org.

You can write about your first love, your first job, being a parent, your faith—the list goes on. Once those documents are uploaded to FamilySearch.org, they are there for your future generations to see.

It’s not just your own profile page that you can attach memories to; you can add your memories of your parents, your grandparents, and any other members of your family!

A picture really does tell a thousand words. Find the photos lurking in yours or your grandma’s basement, upload them to FamilySearch.org, and talk about them.

You can now record a description of photos. Your voice, not just your words, can tell the story. Imagine if you had one of your children describe the first time they met Mickey Mouse or jumped off the diving board. These are precious family memories!

Index Your Family Tree

If you feel your tree is full and just want a quick way to do some family history work, indexing is the answer. Indexing helps create searchable digital indexes of scanned images of historical documents.

This effort may not be for your own family line, but it will definitely help someone else’s family. Join the FamilySearch community and share your family tree today.

Take Part in Family History Activities

Activities are a fun, hands-on way to explore your family history and discover the past. They are also a great way to get your children involved. Play games, dress-up, create a time capsule, stage plays about the experiences of your ancestors, and much more!

While you are doing these activities, take photos and upload them to FamilySearch.org—by doing this, you’ve created a double dose of family history. The FamilySearch site has a whole slew of ideas for family activities.

Family history work is never truly done. There are always exciting discoveries to be made. They are fun and interesting. This is not your grandma’s family history of the old days; it is yours for the taking.

Register with FamilySearch Today!

At FamilySearch, we can help you unlock your family history. Our free online tools and extensive database of records can help any genealogy beginner or enthusiast discover more about their ancestors. Create or login to your account now and begin your journey today!