Guides by Daisy Goddard

Birth records are a key starting point for tracing your family history. They provide essential details about an ancestor’s early life, such as their full name, birth date, and parents' names.

Whether your ancestor's first cry echoed across the olive groves of southern Italy or the snow-lined streets of Montreal, international birth records can help you bring their earliest chapter back into focus.

A marriage record marks the moment that two family stories converge. If your roots span the globe, tracing your family's marriage records may prove trickier - here's how to delve deeper into this key milestone in your ancestors’ lives.

International death records help you understand not only where a life ended, but the path it travelled. They may bring you to the final chapter of a life lived far from where it began, whether an Irish labourer who died in Boston, a seamstress who spent her last years in New Zealand, or a merchant whose final voyage ended in Singapore.

Local history captures the everyday lives of your ancestors - the streets they walked, the churches they attended and the places they worked. By researching the history of a village or town, you can move beyond names and dates to understand the world that shaped your family’s story.

Do you have roots in the stone villages and historical market towns of Oxfordshire? Here's how to use genealogy records, old newspapers and handy tools to trace your Oxfordshire family history online and shed light on the experiences of your ancestors.

From the early morning drumbeats echoing across Highland camps to the bitter winds that swept the trenches of the Western Front, soldiers of the Black Watch Regiment carried themselves with endurance and bravery. Here's how to uncover their story.

Windswept cliffs, salt-sprayed harbours, and crofts tucked into green hillsides. If you have roots in the Orkney Islands, it's never been easier to uncover the experiences of your ancestors spanning hundreds of years.

Generations of island families have carved their lives between fishing tides, farm work and shipbuilding yards. If you have roots in one of the Isle of Wight's tight-knit communities, here's how to uncover the stories that matter - those of your ancestors.

An army number can be the thread that pulls an ancestor's military story together. Behind each number is a life shaped by duty, courage and sacrifice. From the Anglo-Boer War to the First and Second World Wars and every conflict in between, you can unlock meaningful military discoveries using an army number in your search.