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All About Historical Records

As romantic and exciting as family history may be, the truth is, it’s based upon simple facts. That’s where the names, dates and places in historical records come in. These details connect people and events in history to create the big picture of how you got here today. Historical records also hold fascinating facts about ancestors’ cultures, interests and more — and can help you create timelines of their lives. How?

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How can you find your ancestors in historical records?

Ancestry.com is the world’s largest online collection of historical records. You can search these records directly. However, we think the best way to find your ancestors in historical records is to begin your online family tree.  Enter any names, dates and places you can from recent family history into your tree. We’ll use what you enter to immediately start searching Ancestry.com for missing details about your ancestors. You’ll see a hint (    ) in your tree when we find a related record.

Here are some details on specific historical records:

U.S. Census Records

Learn if ancestors owned homes or were born in other countries. You could get details about their ages, places of birth, ethnic backgrounds, marriages, children, occupations – even the value of their personal estates.

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U.S. Military Records

Find your family’s military heroes from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam. See enlistment dates, learn about famous battles, locate veteran gravesites and discover personal details like a physical description, signature and more.

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U.S. Immigration Records

Discover your ancestral homeland and recreate family journeys across oceans. Learn ancestors’ birthplaces, their ports and dates of departure and arrival, the names and types of ships they traveled on and the people they traveled with.

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Newspapers and Periodicals

Explore more than seven million pages in the web’s largest collection of newspapers covering hundreds of years of history. Find family members in wedding and birth announcements, obituaries, legal notices, classifieds and more.

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Many Other Useful Records

Ancestry.com also has millions of birth, marriage and death records, African American records, family and local histories, plus historical maps of America, photos from the mid–1800s, over 250,000 U.S. Library of Congress images, millions of member-contributed photos and audio stories – and so much more.

New to family history? Find out where to begin

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