My Favorite Free Genealogy Tools

Family trees don’t really matter. Unless they do, in which case, they are delightful, all-consuming rabbit holes.

Thanks to the hard work of those who came before me, some of my ancestral lines are remarkably well-documented. Other parts are much more mysterious. And other parts have conflicting information.

These are the tools I’ve collected along the way that have been remarkably helpful in my documentation journey. I hope you find them as illuminating as I have.

• Gramps: a software for tracking it all

  There are loads of tools out there that you can pay for, or not, to help you build your family tree. I like Gramps. There’s a learning curve with it, and it isn’t an especially pretty interface, but I’ve found it remarkably powerful once I got the hang of it. Like everything else on this list, it’s free. For better or worse, it isn’t connected to the internet, so you can’t tap into other data banks from it – it’s just a dumping ground for you to put your own notes and build your own tree.

  Download

• Ancestry Library Edition

  My local library provides free access to Ancestry.com on any device that’s connected to the library’s WiFi. Check to see if your local library has this. It isn’t quite as powerful as a paid Ancestry.com account, but I still have found it excellent from time to time when it has something I haven’t been able to find elsewhere.

• FamilySearch

  It’s owned by the LDS church. If that doesn’t bug you, then it’s a free, universal family tree that anyone can edit. I have found tons of inaccurate or unsupported stuff on there, but in general it’s been a remarkably useful source. I have found it to be my most fruitful tool.

  FamilySearch.org

• Find A Grave

  Findagrave.com doesn’t just offer free grave lookups, but it also occasionally lists biographies or links family members together. I’ve even found the occasional photo of a long dead relative. Like any open database that’s managed by volunteers, some information may be faulty.

  Findagrave.com

• Bonus: Specialty Genealogy Websites

  There are so many forums, Reddit threads, Facebook groups, and more that are dedicated to helping others with their family searches. Geneanet is like a free Ancestry.com website, but focusing on European family lines. And JewishGen is a project dedicated to unearthing the ancestry of Jews that has been lost to history.

The images I pulled for the main image for this post are my own ancestors from the Rittenhouse and Welty lines. I have spent way too many hours digging ancestry information up not just on myself, but on poor unsuspecting souls around me.

If this is something that interests you: Sorry. The hunt for more information will never be over.