Millions of people around the world spend time, energy and money tracking down dead relatives. In the vast majority of cases these enthusiasts are ordinary people, direct or indirect descendants, with a personal rather than professional interest. As a hobby, it seems this gives a lot of pleasure over a long period.

‘Family history research’ is said to be the fastest growing hobby in the UK, as well as being the second most popular topic on the internet. Tracing ancestors has been especially popular in the USA since the days of the epochal Alex Hailey film and novel Roots . It seems to go deeper than your average hobby, fulfilling some sort of basic need to get to know our origins and, presumably, understand ourselves better in the process. It can certainly throw up some great stories, quotable even outside your own family circle, and provide no end of fun and pleasure.

Based on the number of generations we have clocked up in a few centuries, and the remarkable effect of compound growth, we all have recorded ancestors in plenty. It seems that statistically even the most anonymous of 21st century families are the progeny of a motley congregation of the good, great, sick, sad, strange, evil, infamous and interestingly mediocre.

Like leaves on a summer tree, those early branches (we must come from somewhere) soon make big numbers, harbouring more Toms and Marys, let alone thieves and paupers, than you would have thought a respectable family tree could bear. Each Tom and Mary has a story, as rich and unique as yours or mine. Most – let’s be realistic – are lost for ever, as their history depends on written records, and back beyond a certain point they could neither read nor write. That loss is sad, however ordinary they were.

Some, however, because of our rich genealogical resources and the internet, can be tracked down across the centuries. In a sense that true family historians know well, these people can be made to live again. That’s a privilege for them and us, their space age descendants.

Tracking down your ancestors can involve family history, genealogy or both. What’s the distinction?

• Genealogy usually refers to recording your family tree, or pedigree, as far back as you can go, over one or more family names.

• Family history, on the other hand, puts the people you find into their historical context and the aim is to find out as much about them and their contemporary history as possible – their stories.

The history or story part is what makes it addictively interesting.

Look at it this way. Family history research tends to take you off horizontally, exploring the historical context. A single person may be researched in as much detail as the records reveal. Genealogy, however, goes vertically down a top to bottom hierarchy, and is more concerned with the chronology and vital events. It deals much with names and dates and although it can be very challenging, when compared to family history it has been likened to trainspotting.

That’s unfair, as who will not get some satisfaction when they prove a direct family line going back maybe to the time of Shakespeare? But most people intuitively want to know much more about their ancestors, even if just in respect of a few of them. For example:

• What did they die of?

• Did any of them emigrate?

• Where to and how did their lives change?

• Were any transported – or hanged? For what offence?

• Are there distant cousins today in other parts of the world – or across town?

• Were any ancestors famous – or infamous?

• Any juicy crimes in that innocuous genealogical pedigree?

• Paupers? Workhouse inmates?

• What about their trades or professions – even titles?

• Any fortunes made during the industrial revolution?

• What’s the record number of children (a) born and (b) that lived to adulthood?

• How about recurrent twins over the generations?

• What Christian names predominated?

• Did any hit the local newspapers – 15 minutes of fame?

Family history is replete with stories of your own folk that will bring them to life in fascinating and often extraordinary ways.

Widespread use of computers and internet access has added to a more recent spurt in the growth of what is now an industry. However, as we shall see, you cannot get very far if you limit yourself to the internet. But it is a catalyst, and attracts those who might never get started on the orthodox genealogical route. You can still have plenty of fun and, depending on your surname and what has been done already, you may strike it lucky in ancestral cyberspace.

The US leads the way in family history as a serious hobby. Americans are probably better represented in research into UK, ‘old country’ ancestry than UK residents themselves. So, although some of the top websites are US biased, they none the less have plenty of content about British ancestry, useful to British researchers.

The UK is certainly blessed with a wealth of archived material housed in public records offices and libraries, stretching back to the Norman conquest. Anyone prepared to delve into a little Latin and Old English and expand their school history can search these very early dates – if not there is no end of help available. This is attractive to many thousands of new world descendants of the islands – including Australians – who have no less affinity with their Anglo Saxon roots than natives and whose ranks have fuelled the growth of family history to its present popularity.

Most of the material the serious hobbyist will wish to explore in public record offices is accessible either free of charge or at a nominal cost if you can go to the location of the records. So it need not be an a expensive activity. It is the sheer diversity and detail of information about our ancestors, in addition to the increasing accessibility of records of births, deaths and marriages, that makes for such a rewarding hobby.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) has probably had the single greatest influence on the growth of genealogy and family history as an amateur activity. They have their own special reasons connected with proxy baptism for ancestors, but they have made their staggeringly large databases open to the public through their Family History Centres, the central library at Salt Lake City, Utah and the FamilySearch website.

Family History Centres are located in towns throughout the country and anyone can use them. LDS members have contributed a large part of the International Genealogical Index (IGI), a major surname index of parish records, accessible online as well as at Family History Centres.

Most readers will have access to a computer, and probably the internet, and this is increasingly likely as usage continues to grow. In the case of a hobby like family history, help from within the family is also more likely, and young computer whiz kid relatives are usually ready to display their talents.

For readers considering going online, the attractions of family history and the benefits of online resources may be enough to tip the balance and justify the decision. Having said that, we shall see that you certainly cannot rely solely on the internet to do serious family research, as it does not give access to primary, or original records upon which reliable research must be based.

But what the computer does well, it does very well. At minimum, it can save you a lot of time, effort and expense. In particular, important genealogical data is gradually being indexed and made freely available through the internet. This can help to point you in the right direction, both in terms of the availability and nature or content of the records you need, and – through world wide web searching – whether they contain a reference to your family name.

Perhaps most of all, the internet offers access to literally millions of people with similar interests. There is a spirit of sharing and mutual support that cannot be compared with the support you might get in more traditional research, other than very locally in a family history society. Through email lists and newsgroups, communication is also very fast, so help is more or less on demand around the clock.

Another big advantage is access to research already carried out that may be accessible only through the internet. In other words, somebody may have already researched all or part of your own family line, and what you can download in minutes may represent many years of painstaking work. The internet offers therefore a worldwide clearing house for such data, offering obvious mutual benefits. This usually affects the genealogical (family trees or pedigrees) more than family history nature of research. You can then devote your attention to what for most people is the more interesting and rewarding, hands-on aspect of the hobby – getting to know your ancestors through the diverse types of records that exist.

After a few ‘hits’, in practice it is rare to get very far using just the internet. So you will not be spared the necessary experience of more conventional spadework, and the obstacles and frustration that accompany it. In the long run this is for the best.

With sensible planning, the hobby need not involve much expense. In many cases you can obtain information by post in far less time and at lower cost than travelling up and down the country.

For many, however, travel – such as to old church graveyards, houses and places connected with individual ancestors, and at some impressive libraries – adds an extra dimension and more pleasure. Except for a few visits to record offices that may be almost obligatory – especially to make a good start – you have the choice about how mobile or sedentary an interest you want to pursue. You have a similar choice in the way you conduct your research when collecting, at the outset, information from living relatives.

Family history can be anything you want it to be. For instance, a one-off project, a lifetime hobby, or a bit of fun. You can approach it at any level, from deadly serious to 100 per cent leisure mode – or a healthy mixture. Likewise, it can be highly technical and mentally demanding, or a therapeutic alternative to your main line of work. Having said that, it may not finish up the way it starts. Family history research tends to evolve and grow in a person’s life as their knowledge and skills increase, and as they experience its unique pleasures and challenges. Hence often an increasing enthusiasm over the months and years, and pleasure from time to time bordering on euphoria as you make surprising discoveries. A caveat: commitment leading to straight addiction is not unknown.

Chapter 1 gets you off to a start without getting stuck, losing interest or spending unnecessary time, energy and money. The tips and guidelines are with a view to a long-term interest rather than a flash-in-the-pan genealogical excursion. In Chapter 2,1 describe two main websites where you can do early family name searching and pick up a lot of basic help in the process. Many other websites are equally useful but either cover similar ground or are for more specialised purposes.

You will probably need to do some conventional digging in local public record offices before reverting to these later in your research, and wider online resources feature later in the book also. This chapter allows you to taste the internet resources straight away and hopefully find a few ancestors that somebody else has already taken an interest in.

From the main sources featured in Chapter 2 you can also print or download helpful guides and articles so you can programme your own pace of DIY learning. A single book cannot begin to tap what is out there, and an aim of this book is to get you off to a good start so that you can progress as far as you wish under your own steam.

As with most topics on the internet – and very few topics are not represented – a handful of sites cater for maybe 80 to 90 per cent of what you will need, and even these repeat and overlap information. Thereafter your needs will probably be more specialised, such as geographically, by name, or in the kind of research you happen to be doing at the time. So the book introduces a variety of representative websites, including those hosted by genealogical organisations and the main public record offices.

Some of the most popular sites are very large, having grown by the contributions of ordinary people adding information and ‘links’. Much of a site comprises hyperlinks to other useful sites. This is fine, as invariably you will need to get to sites covering more specialised topics or localities as the need arises. But size means that even the site index, or menu, can take some getting to grips with and we cover this, as well as using internet resources generally, in Chapter 3.

The motley sources represented, as well as the size, also present their own problems in terms of the quality and accuracy of data, so it is as well to be sceptical and cautious, and this theme recurs throughout the book. When doing specific online name searches, don’t be too disappointed if you draw a blank.

The indices are far from complete, although they are gradually being added to by volunteer family historians around the world. If you do locate an ancestor, hold off your celebration until you corroborate the data either from different secondary sources or from original records you access at local records offices.

Don’t depend on either accuracy (of transcription, say), validity (of the source or an interpretation) or completeness of data drawn from a website. You will appreciate this caveat for yourself all too soon, but it is as well to be forewarned. By history or ‘stories’ of your ancestors I don’t mean straight fiction.

Apart from using a personal computer, a few basic skills are useful, and a little foundational knowledge. Chapter 3 covers the various internet resources that can make for an easy life once you get to know and use them. Chapter 4 concentrates on the important task of transcribing information from original documents to create a dependable database and, if you wish, a worthwhile publication of your good work.

Chapter 5 introduces some of the organisations, such as the Society of Genealogists, that hold their own extensive archives and will probably play a big part in your activities. These are no less than a treasure trove of information that may include some of your own ancestors waiting to be found.

Much of your research will involve records of births, deaths and marriages rather than knighthoods, hangings or nine o’clock news items. Chapter 6 explains all about the so-called ‘vital’ records, which include also parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials, as well as regular censuses.

Older records can sometimes appear like a foreign language and Chapter 7 focuses on these especially. This covers meanings that can be misleading, abbreviations, and the norms and idiosyncrasies of earlier times.

Chapter 8 opens up doors to all manner of record types that can start to put flesh on the skeleton of your family tree and bring your ancestors to life. These are non-vital public records that may reveal the personal, family history facts that your searching is all about. This aspect of family history research reveals another world, to be sure, especially to younger researchers. But given commitment and enthusiasm, that world, and its citizens that held your name, is within your reach, just waiting to be discovered.