What’s a Family Tree? A family tree is a tool used to keep track of your ancestors. Many tools have nice little graphics to display your ancestry while others are purely text based and oh so ugly.

What Family Tree Tool to Use? There are many family tree tools out there today. You have the option to purchase family tree software for your computer, find a free software option, create your own family tree through a few web programs, but the one that we’ve found is really cool is a free service by Ancestry.com. Start Your Family Tree and you only have to register a user name and password, and you’re on your way.

What we think is neat about the Ancestry Family Tree Tool:

  • Ease of Use – Export a Gedcom file from your computer and upload it to populate your tree.
  • Collaborative – Share family history information with only those whom you want to see it. Give accounts to your family members across the world, and they’ll be able to upload information that they have. No more losing information in the mail or having to send lots of email attachments with records. Now, you can share all your research with the whole family. Leave a legacy of research that won’t be lost in a box in the attic!
  • Looks Good – The tree has a very professional look to it.
  • Rich Content – Don’t be satisfied with just looking at dates and names on your tree, upload pictures, records, and stories. You can add oral histories over the phone. It couldn’t be easier.
  • Researches Genealogy for you While You Sleep – The family tree makes record searches in the background for each individual. That means that you can take a break while the system researches if your ancestors are included in certain censuses in the US or England, if they’re included in war records or old newspapers. What a great resource. We highly recommend it.

So, if you’re in the market for a family tree tool for your genealogy research, the Ancestry.com tool is great. However, if you’re still looking around for different options, we’ve listed a few below.

Comparing Options: