There are a number of ways, but the ‘Search’ function provides the most straight forward method. The search box on the bottom right of the Home page provides a simple ‘Last Name’ and ‘First Name’ search. There is also a link for “Advanced Search” and one to “Search Families”. Advanced search (also as ‘Search’ at the top left of all other pages) allows you to enter various information about the individual you’re looking for. The Family search offers the best way to search for a woman if you do not know her maiden (unmarried) name. All methods present you with a list of possible matches from the database. There are some other Name types in ‘Other Search Criteria’ on the Advanced Search page: for example the person you are looking for may have changed their name or have been known by an alternative name. You might also want to try looking at ‘Surnames’ or ‘First Names’ if you don’t have a clear picture of who you’re looking for. You’ll find these in the Home page menu and the ‘Find’ drop-down menu at the top right of all pages. If you think the person is likely to be there but you can’t find them, then please contact us for help.

Once you locate an individual and have displayed the person’s details, the easiest method is to press the Ancestors tab. This will show you a graphical display of both the paternal and maternal ancestors. Once you have the ancestor chart displayed, you can click on the arrows located at the far right ancestor if you need to see additional ancestors. There are a number of formats for you to choose from (Standard, Compact, Box, Text, Ahnentafel, and Media) to display ancestors. Try clicking on the various options and see which one works best for you.

The tab marked Descendants can be used to display the descendants of an individual. There are four different formats in which descendants can be displayed. You can switch between these to display the information the way that works best for you.

Yes, Once in the Descendants are displayed, you can show a specific branch of descendants from the selected ancestor by pressing the descendant icon next to the descendant you wish to display.