Family history

Family history that shows its homework.

An old photograph can start a search. So can a half-remembered name. You do not need a finished tree to begin. These guides teach a method we call "AI that shows its homework". Every claim gets a source and a label: VERIFIED, INFERRED or UNCONFIRMED. You can see what supports a statement before you accept it.

You remain the person who checks the evidence. A confident answer cannot settle a disputed birthplace or identify a face in a photograph. Keep the original account beside any correction. Give an unanswered question room to stay unanswered. If you use Claude, your first step is turning off training on your Anthropic account. Follow the privacy walkthrough before entering family information.

Take the free course.

A free seven-part email course on Britain's free records: FreeBMD, FreeCEN, FreeREG, FamilySearch and the census, and how to use them properly. Written for beginners. You can do every search with a notebook; AI is optional.

  • Where 300 million free birth, marriage and death records actually live. FreeBMD's checked total.
  • The census years you can search free, and the honest gaps. FreeCEN's stated years.
  • When a certificate is worth paying for, and when it isn't.

Read the guides.

Choose the question you have today.

  1. How to trace your family history for free.

    Follow a free-records route from one family question to a checked research note, with clear limits on coverage and cost.

    9 min read

  2. FreeBMD, FreeCEN and FreeREG explained.

    Choose the right free database, check its coverage and search without turning a similar name into an ancestor.

    7 min read

  3. Why AI invents ancestors, and how to catch it.

    Use evidence labels, preserved contradictions and three family cases to stop a plausible story becoming a false ancestor.

    9 min read

  4. Before you upload family data to any AI.

    Turn off training first, remove living-person details and understand which files stay local before starting with Claude.

    6 min read

  5. Before you publish to any shared tree.

    Check the source, identity, reasoning and privacy of each family-history claim before adding it to a shared tree.

    4 min read

  6. GRO certificates: when to pay.

    Decide whether a certificate will answer your question, then compare the GRO's paper, PDF and Online View options.

    5 min read

  7. One family on a map.

    Four stories from Ed's archive show how places can connect records, expose mistakes and leave private questions unanswered.

    6 min read

The kit, in development.

The kit brings this method into a set of instructions, research templates and a local tree and map. It runs on a Windows PC or Mac with Claude Free; Pro helps for longer sessions. There is nothing to buy today.

Join the list and we will tell you when it is ready, and nothing else.

Help with a step.

Reply to a course email with the guide title and step number. Describe the problem without family details. Never email certificates, GEDCOM files or screenshots.