🗺️ Where to find your ancestors: digitized parish registers
Good news for every beginner genealogist: a huge part of European parish registers can be searched from your couch — for free. Archives across Europe have digitized their records and put them online. You just need to know where to look.
Why parish registers are a gold mine
Parish registers are books of births, marriages and deaths kept by parishes (and later civil authorities) for centuries. They contain names, dates, places, parents' occupations, godparents and the priest's notes. For most families they will take you back to the 17th–18th century — sometimes further.
Where to look
Start with the archives of the region your ancestors lived in — most state and church archives run their own research portals. Large free databases such as FamilySearch also index millions of European records. Always note the book signature and image number, so you can return to your find later.
Older entries are often written in Latin or German script. Don't panic — the entries follow the same structure for decades, so you will learn to read them surprisingly fast.
Turn your findings into a family tree
The names and dates you collect deserve more than a spreadsheet. Pick a family tree template in Geneagram, fill in your ancestors manually or via GEDCOM import, and download the finished tree as a print-ready PDF. You can try the editor for free without registration — and our guide on how to make a family tree will walk you through the whole process.