Research – Ancestry and Genealogy.

We at Trace and Identify (Australia) have access to databases that will bring up details about most ancestors after a little digging. If you prefer to do the research yourself, we are able to get you to a point where you feel comfortable navigating the site/s, including adding some photographs.

Ancestry research can be fascinating and interesting, however, quite time consuming as well. In fact, it can even be overwhelming at times, as there is a lot to find, collect and collate into an organised, presentable document for your family to read and pass down to others.

It is quite trendy right now for families to be inquisitive about their roots and want to trace their ancestors or be in a position to reach out to distant relatives they have never met. Half brothers and sisters and stepbrothers and sisters, mothers who had to in the fifties give up their beautiful babies without even seeing them (yes, it did happen – often), are only some of the people who want to find this important information.

We all have ancestors/family who we do not know a lot about because our great grandparents and grandparents are now deceased and the information has (it seems) been lost forever. It isn’t lost at all. Records are available, even as far back as the 18th century (1700 to 1799).

You just need to know where to look.

Programs on television such as Ancestry.com (Australia), Who Do You Think You Are (Australia, Canada, U.K., U.S. and D.N.A. Detectives (N.Z.), Ancestry N.Z. (N.Z.), Ancestors In The Attic (Canada), Long Lost Family (U.S.), Finding Your Roots (U.S.) and many more are not only interesting but also usually manifest an urge within the viewer to start tracing their roots and compiling their own family tree.

Ancestry.com is perhaps my personal favourite and I have used it many times to assist clients to get a starting point in documenting their family tree. It is fun to add photographs of family members and/or find photographs that other family members have added beforehand.

I have personally completed my family tree and found many interesting, as well as scary, pockets of information. Accidental deaths, deaths in battle-related countries, ancestors who came out from England with virtually nothing. This can all be traced and identified if you persevere.

Ancestry.com for instance has birth, death and marriage records, military information, as well as Immigration Records and is reasonably easy to navigate as long as you have a computer at your fingertips either at your home or at the local library.

AncestryDNA is another very interesting source of information and is available in four continents and thirty-four countries around the globe as well as being the largest provider of consumer DNA testing in the world.