Family History Guides
Plain-language guides for building a family tree and keeping the stories that go with it.
How to Build a Family Tree (Step by Step)
Where to start, how to interview relatives, what records to trust, and how to organize what you find.
GEDCOM Files Explained: What They Are and How to Use Them
What GEDCOM is, why it exists, and how to move your family tree data between platforms without retyping it.
What Is a Fan Chart in Genealogy?
How fan charts display ancestry as radiating arcs, and why they beat a standard tree for dense pedigrees.
How to Interview Relatives for Family History
What to ask, how to record it, and where to put it afterward — before the stories are lost.
Family Reunion Planning Checklist
Timeline, budget, venue, food, and RSVP tracking for a family reunion that actually comes together.
How Living People Are Kept Private on a Public Family Tree
What each platform hides about living relatives, how the living/deceased test works, and where the protection still has holes.
What Happens to Your Family Tree If You Stop Paying?
Your tree usually survives cancellation. The attached records and photos are the part you lose — and what to export first.
Family Recipe Box Ideas: Saving Recipes Before They're Lost
How to build a family recipe collection that survives beyond a shoebox of index cards.
How to Trace Your Surname's Origin and History
What your last name meant, versus what your specific family's records actually prove.
How to Read a Sunburst Family Chart
Whole branches of a family, read by the width of their arc instead of the length of their line.
How to Start Tracing Military Ancestors
Where to look first, and what a service record actually tells you.
Ancestry Alternatives for a Private Family Tree (2026)
The research phase of family history needs a records library. The keeping phase does not.
MyHeritage Alternatives: When the 250-Person Ceiling Arrives (2026)
The ceiling is not the real decision point. The renewal price is.