How to Research Your Family Tree for Free

By the Public-Libraries.com Editorial Team · Updated October 1, 2026

Can you research your family tree for free?

Mostly, yes. The big paid service, Ancestry.com, needs a subscription for home access — but nearly everything you need has a free route. FamilySearch is free to everyone; the government’s own census, military and immigration records are free; and public libraries hand you free access to the paid databases. You’ll pay only for the occasional certified vital-record copy from a state or county office. Here’s where to look and how to begin.

The best free genealogy websites

These are the free resources that do most of the work:

FamilySearch is the natural home base: it’s run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, free to anyone regardless of faith, and lets you build your tree at no cost. A few record images are restricted to viewing inside a library or FamilySearch Center — which is where your public library comes in.

How to get Ancestry free (through your library)

This is the trick most people miss. You don’t have to pay for Ancestry to use its records:

• Ancestry Library Edition — most public libraries subscribe to it, and it’s free to use inside the library (on its computers or Wi-Fi). It carries the same core census, immigration, military and vital records as paid Ancestry. See our full guide on how to use Ancestry Library Edition free.
• HeritageQuest Online — also offered by many libraries and usually works from home with your library card. It includes US census records 1790–1940, local histories, city directories and millions of probate and military records.
• FamilySearch affiliate libraries — if your library is a registered affiliate, visiting in person unlocks millions of restricted FamilySearch images you can’t see from home.

Which databases your library offers varies, so check its website or ask at the desk. Our state-by-state list of libraries with genealogy collections is a good starting point.

How to research your family tree, step by step

1. Start with yourself and work backward — you, then your parents, then grandparents. Build a documented chain; don’t jump to a famous ancestor.
2. Interview older relatives first, and record it. Collect full names, dates, places and any documents they have — certificates, letters, photos, military papers. Memories fade, so do this early.
3. Gather vital records (birth, marriage, death). These are the backbone of proof; older ones are increasingly online, newer ones come from state or county offices.
4. Search the census every 10 years. US federal censuses (1790–1950) list each household’s members, ages and relationships — a decade-by-decade map of a family.
5. Build your tree on a free platform. FamilySearch’s tree is free; it also offers free pedigree and family-group forms.
6. Cite every source and verify against original documents, not just other people’s online trees.
7. Contact local institutions — many records are undigitized and live only at county courthouses, state archives and local libraries where your ancestors lived.

Free census records

US census records are released to the public 72 years after they’re taken (a privacy law), so the most recent available is the 1950 Census, released free in April 2022 at the National Archives; the 1960 census won’t open until 2032. You can search all censuses from 1790 to 1950 free on FamilySearch, the 1950 census free at 1950census.archives.gov, and 1790–1940 through your library’s HeritageQuest. One famous gap: most of the 1890 census was destroyed in a 1921 fire, so researchers bridge 1880 and 1900 with city directories, newspapers and state records.

Finding obituaries and old newspapers for free

Obituaries and death notices are gold for family history. For free: search Chronicling America for historic papers (through 1963); check Find A Grave, where volunteers often post full obituary transcriptions on memorial pages; and use Legacy.com for recent obituaries (free to search). For the decades in between, many libraries give free access to Newspapers.com Library Edition or NewsBank — sometimes from home with your card. Your local library’s own microfilm and obituary-index files often cover small-town papers that aren’t online anywhere.

Start at your public library

The library ties all of this together for free: paid databases (Ancestry Library Edition, HeritageQuest) at no charge, a local history and genealogy room with microfilmed newspapers, county histories, city directories and cemetery records you won’t find online, and reference staff trained to help you past a brick wall. Many are also FamilySearch affiliate libraries. Bring your research notes — names, approximate dates and places — and ask what genealogy databases and collections the branch has.

Frequently Asked Questions