The Family Tree Toolkit

The popularity of family history has increased over the past five years due to TV shows like Genealogy Roadshow, Finding Your Roots, and Who Do You Think You Are? The ability to access records online has opened up the once hobbyist pursuit of genealogy to the mainstream.

Companies like Ancestry.com, Familysearch.org, Findmypast.com, and MyHeritage have spent millions of dollars making records available around the world. DNA technology continues to evolve and provides the instant gratification that we have become used to as a society. But the question remains, what does that really mean? Knowing your ancestry is more than just ethnic percentages; it's about creating and building a story about your family history. The Family Tree Toolkit is designed to help you navigate the sometimes overwhelming and sometimes treacherous waters of finding your ancestors.

While this is not a comprehensive guide to all things genealogy, it is a roadmap to assist you on this journey of discovery, whether you are looking for your African, Asian, European, or Jewish ancestry. The Family Tree Toolkit guides you on how and where to begin, what records are available both online and in repositories, what to do once you find the information, how to share your story, and, of course, DNA discoveries.