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Census Records Family Trees Military Records Birth, Marriage & Death Newspapers and Periodicals Immigration Records US Public Records Ancestry Community Directories and Member Lists Family and Local Histories Court, Land and ProbateCensus Records
Ancestry offers the most complete online source of indexed census data and images in the world with over 700 million names. Census records are an excellent source of information about your ancestors. Get a snapshot of your family at a given place and time. Find vital information such as:
- Names, ages and family relationships (head of household, son, boarder, etc.)
- Location (address) and listings for their neighbors (often other relatives you are looking for!)
- Citizenship, native languages and ethnic backgrounds for the individual and their parents
You can use these clues and more to gain a better understanding of the individuals in your family tree.
Family Trees
A great place to begin work on your family tree.
- Build your family tree and see where it connects with trees submitted by others around the world
- Let Ancestry.com search for matches in the ever-expanding OneWorldTreeSM, a search engine that gathers family trees and family history records for millions of people, analyzes the birth, death, and marriage data and then displays the most probable matches for your ancestors
- See who's submitted information about the people you're interested in and contact them without revealing your name or e-mail address until you think it's appropriate
Military Records
Identify and honor your family's military heroes. Search the military records of 64 million names on Ancestry. Our databases include draft registration cards, casualty indexes and pension records from a number of wars:
- Revolutionary War
- Civil War
- World War I
- World War II
Find enlistment dates, learn about famous battles, locate veteran gravesites and discover unique details of service that will help you chronicle the lives of ancestors who served in the United States military.
Birth, Marriage & Death
Mark the milestones of your ancestors' lives with the help of birth, marriage, obituary and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) databases that include over 540 million records. These vital records offer simple details that can form the foundation of your family history research. Vital records can help you:
- Prove or disprove other historical sources
- Create a more complete picture of your ancestors
- Distinguish between two people with the same name
Newspapers and Periodicals
Get details you can't find anywhere else in centuries of historical newspapers. Learn about your ancestors' everyday lives in these rich chronicles of history.
- Discover the foods they ate, the fashions they wore and the prices they paid
- Review arts and entertainment listings
- Explore the classifieds
- Witness changing patterns in politics, religion and technology
- View wedding announcements and obituaries
- Find family addresses, important dates, individual occupations and more
Immigration Records
Discover your ancestral homelands and recreate your ancestors' journeys across oceans. Access over 36 million names from 100 nationalities and five centuries of immigration records on Ancestry.
- Search ships' passenger lists
- Find out your ancestors' ports and dates of departure and arrival, and the names of the ships on which they traveled
- See photos or paintings of the actual ships
- View naturalization records that could provide your ancestors' names, ages, occupations and physical characteristics
US Public Records
The US Public Records Index, sometimes known as the living people directory, is a compilation of over 615 million names spanning all 50 states in the United States from 1984 to the present. These records are all accessible through various public sources including government or municipal agencies. Ancestry has made the process of finding public records easier by making them available in an online searchable database.
Ancestry Community
Easily connect with a worldwide community of Ancestry members who share your family history interests and activities - without sacrificing your privacy. Contains over 165 million names.
- Use a variety of tools, including message boards and a member directory to get in touch with other members
- Ask questions and offer advice
- Share stories and make additional discoveries about your family history
Ancestry Community members only know you by your user name. Your identity remains private unless you choose to share it.
Directories and Member Lists
Search compilations of printed and electronic databases representing over three centuries of directories and member lists—the predecessors of the modern phone book. These databases include over 950 million names and contain contact information for individuals and groups in both the US and the UK (including Ireland and Scotland), listing inhabitants of a given locality along with their addresses, occupations and sometimes more. Most directories list people alphabetically, which makes these resources particularly easy to search and reference.
Family and Local Histories
Take family history to a much more personal level with information compiled by historians and genealogists. Learn if historians have already written about your ancestors, their activities and accomplishments. Find journals, memoirs, photographs and more in the web's largest collection of family and local histories—more than 20,000 titles and growing, including over 96 million names.
Court, Land and Probate
Access an extensive collection of court, land and probate records that form a uniquely important part of genealogical research. For example, court cases can often involve dozens of litigants and defendants, many of whom may be related. Find one court record containing one of your ancestors and open the door to more details. Land records, such as deeds, are among the most important documents available for tying a specific person to a specific place. This is especially important when vital records have proven difficult to track.