The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an agency of the U.S. government that keeps and organizes government and historical records. Visit the genealogy section of the organization's website, which provides guidelines on how to start your search. The site also features a list of online resources for starting your search, including a list of the genealogical records that the NARA has online (e.g. Fugitive Slave Case Papers, 1850-1860).The NARA also overs a Powerpoint genealogy tutorial, available on their website.
 Based on your knowledge of your family history and information provided to you by relatives, determine what records you should be looking for first from the National Archives. Note that the NARA keeps only federal records, and that very few of these records pre-date the revolutionary War (1775–1783).The NARA records most pertinent to finding your ancestors are:Census Records
Military Records
Immigration Records (Ship Passenger Lists)
Naturalization Records
Land Records

, There are a number of ancestry websites (e.g. Ancestry.com) that allow you to search your family history and organize your findings. Many link to state archives to simplify your genealogical search. Online databases are constantly updated and will allow you to search for your ancestors across countries and time periods.For a cost, some of these otherwise free websites offer DNA testing to provide unique details about your background.
 There are a range of genealogy-related resources available for free online that can offer dimension and insight to your ancestry search. These websites offer newspaper articles, birth, marriage, and death certificates, obituaries, census information, pictures and country-specific ancestry information. A few notable examples include:NativeWeb Genealogy: online listing of Native American genealogy resources and databasesIllinois Digital Newspaper Collection: a collection of archived US newspapers, searchable onlineFind a Grave: an online database of graves from cemeteries across the worldU.K. National Archives: the official UK archives, which allows you to order paper or digital copies of documents
Getting started.
Determine what documents you need.
Search online.
Refer to a variety of online resources.
{"src": "wikihow-all_validation", "title": "How to Find Your Ancestors Online2"}