Meet Megan Smolenyak, Chief Family Historian for Ancestry.com.

Use Ancestry Hints and other tools to build your family tree.

Discover valuable information by interviewing relatives and searching within your home.

Find out the basic information you need to begin your family tree.

Learn how Megan Smolenyak got started on her family history quest.

Megan shares some of the reasons family history is important to so many people.

Many different life events can inspire people to begin a family history search.

Find out how a family tree keeps your genealogy research organized.

Collaborate with your relatives by sharing your family tree online.

Studying your ancestors can teach you a lot about yourself.

Find out how much time it takes to succeed in your family history search.

You never know what research tactic or windfall will break down your brick wall.

Your willingness to accept different spellings of your name will open doors for you.

Megan shares the top 3 family history myths to watch out for.

Don’t assume someone’s related to you until you have enough information to be fairly certain.

Learn how to get past the wall of 1870 when searching for your enslaved ancestors.

Depending on the year, census records provide a wealth of immigration, occupation and other information.

You may find an ancestor’s birthplace, signature, physical description and more in war records.

Find out how citing sources properly saves time for you and for researchers.

Discover how a simple DNA test can tell you more about your roots.