Mission Roadmap
Follow the trail from beginner to advanced. Published missions are unlocked—click to open the case file.
Identity Confirmed
Start with five practical steps for a sound genealogy research foundation.
Read Mission →The Biscuit Tin Dossier
Sort, catalog, and preserve family documents, photos, and heirlooms.
Read Mission →Branch Mapper – Initiate Tree Growth
Build a pedigree chart, family group record, and research log.
Read Mission →File Before You Forget
Organize research with durable naming conventions and software choices.
Read Mission →Count Me In — Census Records
Decode federal and state census records and work around the lost 1890 census.
Read Mission →Born, Wed, Dead — Vital Records That Map a Life
Use birth, marriage, and death records to map a life.
Read Mission →Extra! Extra! - Newspapers That Bring Your Ancestors to Life
Use historical newspapers to reconstruct everyday lives and relationships.
Read Mission →The Neighbor Effect — Cluster Research & Community Links
Find ancestors through their neighbors, associates, and community networks.
Read Mission →Blueprint for Your Own History Project — Genealogy 101 Capstone
Turn scattered research into a plan you can actually follow.
Read Mission →The Spit Test — DNA Testing & Genetic Genealogy
Use genes as evidence through testing, matching, and interpretation.
Read Mission →Baptisms, Burials, and the Books That Came Before
Navigate parish registers and denominational archives.
Read Mission →The Paper Trail Across the Water
Trace passenger lists, naturalization records, and border crossings.
Read Mission →Reporting for Duty — Military Records and Your Ancestor's Service File
Find service records, pensions, and draft registration cards.
Read Mission →One Iron Skillet, Well-Seasoned
Decode wills, inventories, and estate records to reconstruct family relationships.
Read Mission →Staking Your Claim — Land Records and the Dirt Your Ancestors Stood On
Decode land patents, deeds, and property transfers.
Read Mission →The Courthouse Files — Court Records Beyond Probate
Find guardianships, divorces, and disputes in court records beyond probate.
Read Mission →The Shifting Map — Historical Geography, Gazetteers & Boundary Changes
Use gazetteers and boundary-change tools to learn where your ancestor's records moved.
Read Mission →Weighing the Evidence — Introduction to the Genealogical Proof Standard
Learn to evaluate sources, information, and evidence against the Genealogical Proof Standard.
Read Mission →Breaking Through Brick Walls — When the Trail Goes Cold
Five moves to try when your ancestor vanishes from the record.
Read Mission →The Paper Trail of Everyday Life — City Directories, Social Security & More
City directories, Social Security, and the records that fill the years between censuses.
Read Mission →Finding Freedom — Tracing Family Through America's Hardest Records
Freedmen's Bureau records, cohabitation registers, and a path through the 1870 brick wall.
Read Mission →Advanced DNA — What Your Match List Is Actually Telling You
Shared-match clustering, the Leeds method, and chromosome mapping for genetic networks.
Read Mission →Writing Your Family History — From Research to Narrative
Turn research and source documents into an accurate narrative people will want to read.
Read Mission →The Complete Genealogist — Your Volume 1 Capstone
Complete a documented research project and proof summary using the full Volume 1 toolkit.
Read Mission →Crossing the Ocean — Scandinavian & Nordic Research
Decode patronymics and follow Nordic families through parish, household, and emigration records.
Read Mission →Frozen in Time — Photos, Artifacts & Oral History
Date family photographs, preserve artifacts, and capture the voices behind the records.
Read Mission →Graveside Intelligence — Cemetery Records & What the Stones Tell
Read headstones, plot layouts, sexton records, and cemetery symbols as evidence.
Read Mission →Before the Revolution — Colonial & Pre-1850 Research
Push past the 1850 wall with tax lists, colonial records, pension files, and paleography.
Read Mission →Building a Legacy — Preserving, Sharing & Publishing Your Research
Preserve, organize, and publish your research so it remains usable for future generations.
Read Mission →Her Name Was Lost - Tracing the Women Your Records Tried to Erase
Recover a married woman's lost maiden name using coverture-era records: dower releases, probate, church registers, children's vital records, and obituaries.
Read Mission →The Machine Reads the Handwriting — Full-Text Search, AI Transcription, and What Just Became Possible
Use full-text search and AI handwriting transcription to find new leads, then verify every result against the original record.
Read Mission →Crossing the Channel — England & Wales: Parishes, Counties, and the Records That Survived
Find the parish first, then use censuses, civil registration, and surviving parish records to trace English and Welsh roots.
Read Mission →When the Records Burned — Ireland, Scotland, and What to Do When the Archive Is Gone
Ireland's archive burned in 1922, but not every record went with it. Learn the substitution method that works in Dublin or a burned Georgia county.
Read Mission →The Surprise in the Spit Kit — When DNA Tells You Something the Family Didn’t
An unexpected DNA match is a question, not an answer. Learn to verify carefully, reach out gently, and decide who needs to know before you tell anyone.
Read Mission →Bringing a Kid Into the Work
Kids don't want a family tree chart. They want a mystery. Age-by-age ways to bring a child into genealogy, and make them ask for more.
Read Mission →The Shared Tree — Collaborating Without Wrecking Anyone’s Work (Including Your Own)
FamilySearch has one tree, and it isn't yours. Learn when to merge, when to walk away, where Undo stops, and why every edit needs a reason statement.
Read Mission →The Norwegian/Danish Line — Deep Research in Scandinavia’s Secondary Records
Found the Norwegian or Danish parish? Now read it: the two-book rule, patronymic and farm-name decoding, and the records that confirm a family.
Read Mission →Raíces: Why Your Mexican Ancestors May Have Better Records Than Your English Ones
Your Mexican ancestors may have records back to the 1500s. Learn where parish and civil records live, how to read them, and why both surnames matter.
Read Mission →The Family Historian’s Field Manual — Your Volume 2 Capstone
No new record types, just the system that keeps them paying off: a research log, a citation card, a specialty lane, a reference shelf, and a handoff.
Read Mission →Start at the Beginning
Mission 1 takes 15 minutes and will change how you think about your family history.
Read Mission 1