How to Find Descendants in the United States

The goal of descendancy research is to find the children (and spouses), grandchildren (and spouses), and so forth of an ancestral couple. Descendancy research starts farther back in time and moves toward the present.

Motives for descendancy research. Researchers sometimes do descendancy research in order to:


 * contact relatives who have moved to distant lands
 * show a relationship to a famous ancestor
 * find genealogical evidence such as the family Bible of a common ancestor
 * return a family heirloom such as an old photograph
 * find heirs of an unclaimed rich estate
 * locate possible compatable organ donors
 * identify family members who may have an inherited tendancy toward a disease
 * publish an article in a genealogical journal like the New England Historical and Genealogical Society Register
 * submit an application for certification with the Board for Certification of Genealogists
 * find more names to submit for LDS temple ordinances.

Value of Descendancy Research
More names per generation. One advantage of descendancy research is the potential number of names you could find. Most families have more than two children per couple. If all those children marry and have more than two children, there is a potential to find more relatives by descendancy research than in the same number of generations of pedigree research. However, to be fair, pedigree researchers also usually research the immediate children of each couple on their pedigree. In theory, assuming each generation has exactly four children who live, marry once, and have exactly four children, in three generations, pedigree researchers would find 42 relatives (counting spouses and immediate children), and descendancy researchers would find 106 relatives. With larger families the difference can increase dramatically. This way of counting names does not change the number of actual people who have lived—it only changes because of who you count as a relative.

'''Find people who are doing research for names that tie into your pedigree. ''' If you can locate a genealogical collection that someone else has done, you can get in touch with them and share information and sources--extending your pedigree.

More clues. Descendancy research can lead you to important clues, contacts, or records such as family Bibles that you might not find if you researched only direct ancestors and their immediate children. Collaborating with new contacts about the new clues you find may help you get past dead ends in your ancestral research.

To understand the family better. Understanding the children often leads to more information about the parents. The best researchers seek to understand a family in community context. Learning about descendants is part of understanding the family's community and why they lived their lives the way they did.

More recent records are usually easier to find, more complete, and easier to understand. Descendancy research takes advantage of more recent records over earlier, usually harder-to-find older records.

Risks of Descendancy Research
It may increase the chances of an error. If the goal is to gather as many names as fast as possible, there is a risk the research and documentation will become casual or sloppy. Undue haste may result in unnecessary duplication of research and name submissions.

Also, descendancy researchers are sometimes trying to prove their relationship to a famous ancestor. When celebrity is involved, there is a greater temptation to make child to parent linkage decisions than cannot be proved.

It may be harder. Some genealogists consider descendancy research more difficult than pedigree research. This is because finding children is sometimes more difficult than finding parents. There are always exactly two parents of each child, but the number of children of each set of parents can vary widely. In many cases there tends to be more documents that are likely to name the parents of a child, and fewer documents that list all the children of a set of parents. Finding children who died young and between censuses is often more difficult than finding parents.

On the other hand, some genealogists consider descendancy research easier—an opportunity to snatch the low-hanging fruit by the wagon full.

No shortage of pedigree names. It is true you can find more names in three generations of descendancy research than in three generations of pedigree research. So what? There is no shortage of names for a pedigree researcher willing to go back a few more generations and concentrate on the immediate children of direct line ancestors.

Latter-day Saints have the responsibility to research and submit for temple ordinances direct-line ancestors and their children. Private extraction programs are not appropriate. Further, living children and spouses may wish to have the ordinances postponed for near relatives. Acting in conflict with the wishes of the closest living relative can result in bad feelings. Mass descendancy research and submissions by an overzealous distant cousin often deprive more closely related family members of the joy of contributing work on their nearer relatives.

Protect privacy and the feelings of others. When doing descendancy research please be protective of the privacy of living people. Please be respectful and considerate of the feelings of living relatives regarding their deceased ancestors.

Step 1: Prepare
Fill in a pedigree chart, or locate a pedigree chart for your family. This chart will provide some dates and places to help you get started.

Step 2: Choose a Starting Family
Do you have an ancestor about whom you are curious? Have you heard intriguing stories about a great-grandparent? Possibly you are looking for a genetic connection to a great uncle who may have had the same illness you have just had diagnosed. Many reasons may spark your interest in a particular individual or family. Regardless of how you decide, the first step is to choose an individual or family to use as the starting point.

Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind as you get started:


 * Begin with what you know. If you already know the names of your great-grandparents and approximately when and where they were married, it will be much easier to search for their descendants.
 * Begin with individuals or families alive around 1850. People who lived in the period from the mid-1800s to the present are usually easier to find. In many countries, birth, and death records began to be created by the mid-1800s. Also, some countries began to keep census records showing the names and ages of each family member.
 * Record what you find on family group records. A family group record will enable you to record information for all the children in a family, parents and grandparents. As you search for the descendants of your ancestors, family group records will help you organize your work.

Step 3: Collect Previous Research
Someone else may have already started gathering information about the family you have selected. Your extended family members may have this information, or you may be able to find it in published family histories or on the Internet.

Finding family records. Contact family members for information. They may have access to family Bibles, photographs, letters, and personal histories, or they may know where you can go to find these records.

Finding published family histories. Family histories may give genealogical information about one or more generations of a family. They are a great place to start, but verify information you find in published family histories for accuracy.

You may find family histories in libraries in the area where your ancestors lived. The Library of Congress and the Family History Library also have extensive collections of published family histories. 

Finding Internet information compiled by others. Internet genealogical databases are another possible source. Someone may have already posted information on the family you are seeking. A quick search of web sites may yield complete and well-documented research that only requires verification. You may even discover family members with whom you can collaborate. A good place to start your search for family information that has been compiled by others is www.familysearch.org. This site has several compiled databases that may help you find information, including the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, and the International Genealogical Index (IGI). Web sites such as GenWeb and Rootsweb have collections of genealogies. You may want to post on genealogy boards the names and timeframe you are searching for, in order to get in touch with others who are looking for the same people. Ancestry has both genealogy collections and a board for posting notes. 

Internet search engines. Search engines, such as Google or Yahoo, help you learn if someone has posted information on the Internet about your ancestors or their descendants. Search engines may help you find pedigree charts, family Web sites, cemetery records, personal histories, family Bibles, and so forth.

Quick Reference Chart 1 – Where to Look for Previous Research

Broadening your search. A quick review of published family histories, compiled genealogies, and resources on the Internet will tell you how much research may still be needed. For information on how to do basic research, go to How to Begin a Search for Your Ancestor.

Step 4: Consult Additional Sources
Five record types are particularly rich in descendant information:


 * census
 * wills (probate records)
 * county and local histories
 * church records
 * obituaries

Census. Censuses show where a family lived. When you know where someone lived you can search for other records created for them in that place. Censuses also may list all living members of a family, and tell their relationship to the head of house. The best researchers use ALL the censuses available for every member of a family.


 * To use the British 1881 census index online click here and in the Census field select the 1881 British Census.
 * For links to the Canadian census indexes online click here and scroll down to the Census Records section to select a province and census year.
 * For links to the United States census indexes online click here and select a state and census year.

Wills and probate records. Some jurisdictions have wills or probate records useful to genealogists as early as the 1600s. Wills commonly list children by name. Even if your ancestor did not leave a will, a probate record containing a list of possible heirs may still exist. Wills and probate records are generally kept on a county level, so you will need to have some idea of where your ancestors died to find a will. To see probate records available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers, click here and follow these steps:


 * 1) In the Place field, type the name of the county where your ancestor resided.
 * 2) In the Part of field, type the name of the state in which the county is located.
 * 3) Look for "Probate Records" listed among the record types. Microfilms of the listed records are available in the Family History Library and can be ordered from a local Family History Center.

County and local histories. County histories often identify families and some of their descendants. To see what county histories are available in the Family History Library and Family History Centers, click here and follow these steps: '''Church records. '''Many churches kept christening (baptism) records showing a child and parents. If you can guess the denomination of your ancestor, look for church records. To see church records available at the Family History Library and Family History Centers, click here and follow these steps: If the Family History Library does not have the records, you may want to call a church directly. Many directories are available on the Internet to help you find the telephone number of a church.
 * 1) In the Place field, type the name of the county where your ancestor resided.
 * 2) In the Part of field, type the name of the state in which the county is located.
 * 3) Look for "History" among the record types. Microfilms of the listed records are available in the Family History Library and can be ordered from a local Family History Center.
 * 1) In the Place field, type the name of the town (or county) where your ancestor resided.
 * 2) In the Part of field, type the name of the state in which the town or county is located.
 * 3) Look for "Church Records" among the record types.
 * 4) Look for the denomination of your ancestor's family. Sometimes there is more than one church for that denomination, and sometimes none will be listed.

Obituaries. By the 1870s local newspapers often published obituaries listing the surviving relatives of the deceased and sometimes their residence. To find an obiturary you must guess the death date and newspaper where the obituary would have been published.

Modern newspapers archives in each state have microfilm copies of most old newspapers. Click here for the U.S. Newspapers Program and scroll to the state to learn the contact information for the newspaper archives for your ancestor's state. Ask the archivist how you can find obituaries in the best local newspapers, or arrange an inter-library loan for newspaper microfilms.

Some obituary archives are already available on the Internet. For example:


 * Ancestry.com Obiturary Collection
 * Free Obituaries Online
 * RootsWeb Obiturary Daily Times
 * or use a search engine like Google or Yahoo to search for an individual and his or her obituary.

Step 5: Compile and Share What You Have Learned
Each time you find information about an ancestor, document it as you go. Good documentation will increase the value of your work when you share it with others. Sharing research with others helps verify the findings, and leads to new information.

'''Document what you find. '''As you identify the members of your ancestral families, put the information on research logs and family group records. The family group record is the most widely-used means for recording information about parents and their descendants.

Several computer programs make the creation and updating of family group records and descendancy charts easier. A good no cost program is Personal Ancestral File (PAF). You can download this program starting from the FamilySearch home page.

Share Your Research. There are many ways to share. You could put up a genealogical web page, publish a genealogical magazine article, or publish a book, or contribute to a genealogical databases like the Pedigree Resource File.

Conclusion Finding the descendants of your ancestors can be rewarding. This approach to family history research will help you find hundreds of relatives you would have missed had you focused your research only on your ancestors. It might also provide the clues and information you need to get past dead ends in your search for ancestors. Descendancy research will help you locate living relatives you didn’t know about. You can collaborate with living relatives and share the workload with others. Learning about the children, grandchildren, and even the great-grandchildren of your ancestors gives you a more complete picture of your family.

Related Content

 * Descendancy Research: Lesson 1 (30 minute online video)
 * Descendancy Research: Lesson 2 (25 minute online video)
 * Descendancy Research: Lesson 3 (21 minute online video)


 * Perform Descendancy Research (pdf to accompany Descendany Research lessons 1, 2, and 3)


 * George D. Durrant, "Branching Out on Your Family Tree," Ensign, April 2007, 44-47.


 * Wiki Article, "Finding Genealogy Collections."