Starting a free or paid family tree
TIP: Concentrate on adding just yourself then, your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents (x3) on both sides (your mom and dad). Create a second tree for your partner. Adding children and cousins should be a secondary option to adding ancestors who you descend from.
From any page on Ancestry, click the Trees tab and select Start a New Tree (if this is your first tree) or Create & Manage Trees > Create a new tree.
Click Add Yourself or Add home person.
Enter information and click Save or Continue.
Click Add Father or Add Mother, enter their information, and click Save. If you're adopted or don't know the names of your biological parents, see this article for help.
Follow the prompt to add more people or to name the tree. Save the tree. Once your tree is created, you can access it from the Trees tab.
After you add discover and add four or five generations on your family tree... Its import to add 'PROOF' (vital documents) documents to each of the family members and ancestors on your tree.
Entering information in a tree
Names: Enter full names when possible. Use maiden names for women (leaving off their married names; these are implied by any spouses they have in the tree). For more information about maiden names, see When to Use Maiden Names.
Dates: List dates in dd mmm yyyy format (for example: 25 Dec 1928). If you’re unsure of the day or year, use the words before, after, or about before the date. You can also use ca. (circa) to indicate an estimate.
Places: Record as much information as possible about where an event happened. List the smallest level first and the largest level last (for example: “Venice, Veneto, Italy”). When you begin entering a location, select it from the drop-down menu, if it appears. If it's not there, put a comma and a space between the location levels (like "City, State, Country") and include the country. Include all known levels of a place when not all levels are known.
Correcting mistakes
For help changing relationships in your tree, see Fixing Relationships in Trees. To merge duplicate people, see Merging Duplicate People.
To change name, gender, living status, or birth or death information you entered for someone in your tree:
Click on someone in your tree whose information has an error.
In the card that appears, click Quick edit.
Change the information and click Save.
There is only one single way to CONFIRMING your ancestors!
Vital records most commonly refer to records such as birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and divorce decrees, wills and the like. These records are created by local authorities, and with possible exceptions for events overseas, in the military, or in the District of Columbia.
National Archives: Vital Records