Genealogical research
Building a pedigree
We create a visual family tree in which every person, marriage, and branch stands in its place: from you and your parents to ancestors who lived two or three centuries ago.
We restore family ties through birth records, census records, and civil records. We check each name and date against multiple sources and organize the findings so that the family history can be understood at a glance. You can even start with a single name and village name.
Building a pedigree
This is not a long list of names that is difficult to understand, but a complete picture of the family. It shows where the family comes from, how it branched out and what connects you to people you have never met. Such a family tree can be shown to children, reviewed with older relatives and supplemented with new finds so that the family history lives on.
Which pedigree to choose?
It all depends on what you want to know: where you come from, who your relatives are today, or both. The direction of the search, the number of archives, and the time of work depend on this, so it’s worth deciding at the start. If in doubt, we will ask about your goal during the consultation and suggest which option is right for you. And starting from one direction, you can always expand your family tree later.
From you to your ancestors
Ascendant lineage
We start with you and go up step by step: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and their parents. With each generation, the number of ancestors doubles, so even a few generations give a broad picture of the family.
- your direct lines on the paternal and maternal sides
- Where did the ancestors come from and where did they live?
- who they were: peasants, burghers, merchants, clergy
Suitable ifwant to know your roots or confirm your ancestry for citizenship
From ancestor to descendants
Descendant lineage
We choose one ancestor and trace all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, generation after generation. We also look for those who have moved to other regions or countries and with whom the family has long lost touch.
- all known descendants of the chosen ancestor
- how the branches of the family diverged and where the families moved
- your distant relatives who are alive today
Suitable ifAre you looking for living relatives or want to reunite a family that is scattered around the world?
The full picture
Mixed pedigree
We combine both directions: the direct lines of your ancestors and the lateral branches with their brothers, sisters, and descendants. This way, you can see not only who you come from, but also who you are related to.
- your ancestors in all major lines
- siblings of ancestors and their families
- the complete family structure with all marriages and branches
Suitable ifyou want the most complete family history, for example for a family book or as a gift to loved ones
How we build a family tree
- AdviceWe collect everything the family knows: names, dates, places, family traditions, old documents and photos. We determine what kind of pedigree you need.
- Search planWe identify ancestral villages, their administrative affiliation, parishes, and archival funds where records are preserved.
- Search the archivesWe are working on Soviet civil records, birth records, confessional records, and revision tales from the Russian Empire and other states.
- Checking connectionsWe link people between documents by first names, middle names, age, occupation, and place of residence. We deal with different spellings of surnames.
- Building a treeWe compile all the findings into an interactive family tree with links to sources and submit it along with the report.
As a result you will get
- Interactive family tree
- Report with description of each branch and sources
- Copies of found archival records
- Decryption of old documents
- Recommendations on where to look next
Do you want to preserve your family history in a book? Let's create a family book →
From one grandfather to several centuries of history
At the start, the client had only scant information about one of his grandfathers from the Kharkiv region: name, approximate years of life, and the name of the region. First, we identified the villages where the ancestors lived, their administrative affiliation, and parishes, and then we moved step by step into the past. We went through Soviet act records, metric books of the Russian Empire, and reached records from 1732 and 17th-century documents written in old cursive.
The most difficult part was connecting people between documents from different eras. Surnames were written differently, and some of them changed over time. Therefore, we checked each person at once according to several characteristics: name, patronymic, age, occupation, place of residence and relatives. This way we managed to restore marriages, births, deaths, connections between brothers and sisters and trace several family lines.
Result
A branched family tree spanning several centuries, with branches the family was previously unaware of. Each person in it is confirmed by an archival source. The work took over 6 months.
Frequently asked questions
Start a family tree with one name
Tell us what you know about your ancestors.
Before we start, we'll tell you how deep you can go and what archives are needed for this.