How to research from your armchair

You may be wondering why I’d want to research solely from home, and in my case I had no choice. If you find you’re in the same position, and are unable or don’t want to make the long trips to the archives (whether it’s constraints of time, money, health issues or other responsibilities), but you’re wishing you could research your family tree, let me show you how I did it. Hopefully following these steps will help you too.

I started tracing my family’s past in 2000, after a long-time yearning to find out about my roots, especially as my father had disappeared back to his family when I was three years old. I must admit I had very little to go on at the time – a newspaper cutting of my father’s death, some notes I had written from my mother’s stories – and a computer. I can tell you it felt daunting, wondering where to begin. But once you start researching online, you’ll find not just records to search, but many friendly like-minded family history researchers who are often more than willing to help you.