29 Key Questions to Learn (Almost) Everything About Your Ancestors

Discover 29 questions to ask yourself to learn a lot about the life of your ancestors, their close circle, and their place in history.

This was the focus of our 2022 Advent calendar: encouraging you to go beyond civil records to gather information about your ancestors.

We guide you through most of these questions with a detailed article. Discover some bonus questions that weren’t in our advent calendar!

29 questions to trace your ancestors' lives

1- Where do your ancestors' last names come from? 

2- What are your ancestors' birth and baptism dates? 

3- Who were their parents? 

4- Who were their grandparents?

5- Who were your ancestors' godparents? 

6- What was your ancestors' religion? 

7- Were your ancestors noble? 

8- How to find your ancestors' siblings? 

9- What was your ancestors' educational background? 

10- What were your ancestors' professions?

11- What was your ancestors' military past? 

12- Did your ancestors experience war?

13- What did your ancestors look like? 

14- What are the dates and locations of your ancestors' weddings? 

15- Who were the witnesses to the main events in your ancestors' lives? 

16- Did your ancestors sign a marriage contract? 

17- What were your ancestors' different places of residence? 

18- How did your ancestors' places of residence change over time? 

19- How to find your ancestors' children? 

20- What language(s) did your ancestors speak? 

21- Was one of your ancestors involved in a news story? 

22- What was your ancestors' role in history? 

23- Did your ancestors vote? 

24- Were your ancestors property owners?

25- Did your ancestors travel? 

26- What are the dates of death and burial of your ancestors? 

27- Did your ancestors leave an estate? 

28- What can a post-mortem inventory teach us about our ancestors? 

29- In which cemeteries are your ancestors buried?

Happy researching!