A family tree is a way to keep a record of your ancestors.
It is generally represented by a genealogy chart that shows family relations.
The chart essentially contains the names of the family members, important days such as their birthdays, states or countries where they lived and sometimes their occupations.
Each individual is connected to the other using lines that represent different types of connections such as marriages etc.
Building your family tree is quite easy.
There is absolutely no need to make expensive phone calls or travel to different parts of the world to meet your distant cousins.
You can also purchase family tree software at reasonable prices and some are free.
Family tree software uses very user-friendly step by step techniques to help you get the complete family tree.
It helps you to organize all the data, pictures and heirlooms you have from your family.
Best of all is that it can search online databases of family histories, so that you can access related information and decide if it is connected to your tree.
This is an easy way to find your relatives.
Genealogy has become a favorite past time for many who are interested in their family history.
Easy access to the internet has made searching the family tree relatively easy and no longer poses a challenge.
But the most difficult part is to start the searching.
Initially you may feel to have a snow ball effect.
But you will gain speed by gathering information from your immediate family members.
Before long, you will have loads of paper, photos and also documents.
This large mass of information may be confusing for you as you may not be prepared to store and plan the information.
You might know which person belongs to which part of the family tree or to which branch.
Now after all the hassle of gathering information you get tired.
It no longer is a past time, its more of a chore.
Hence you give up.
Does this sound like you? Researching about your family should be an enjoyable and a fun past time.
You should feel a sense of achievement on finding a long elusive relative.
Having direction and focus will help you greatly.
To begin with you need to find a chart on which you can write on or in your computer where you can document them.
There are several such family tree charts available online which you can download and print for free.
There is software which you can buy and which allows you to record your genealogy findings, add pictures and documents, and will even do searches for you.
But I would advice you not to buy unless you are absolutely ready for it.
It is harder to find free information on the Internet.
There is a wealth of information out there but you need to find where to get it.
I advice you to do a thorough search of all the free sites on family tree until you can find no more information before you spend your hard earned money on buying any software.