This page is designed as a step by step guide to researching your family history.
On this page
First steps
Gather the information that you already have.
Research principles
Work from the known to the unknown
Starting with yourself, work backwards through each generation.
Interview relatives
Write or talk to family members. Ask them about family names, where the people lived, when and from where they emigrated. Some records may be in family homes: e.g. letters, school yearbooks, wills, photographs, birth, marriage and death certificates.
Write down what you find and where
What institution? Which collection of records? What volume and page number? Which microfilm reel? Record the sources searched, even if the results are negative.
Search every possible spelling
Especially of names, including phonetic and typographic errors.
Re-check material already gathered
Clerical errors creep into documents and dates may have been entered incorrectly.
Recommended books
A. Bromell, Tracing family history in New Zealand
A. Bromell, Tracing family history overseas from New Zealand
R. Henry, Find your family on the internet: a New Zealand guide
A wide-ranging introduction to online genealogical searching from a New Zealand perspective.
Start your charts
Various family history charts recommended by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists can be downloaded from their web site. Genealogical computer programs are now available. A local family history group can give advice and support.
Online Family History and research topics - Starting your family history with charts and trees
Caring for family papers and photographs
A brief guide to caring for precious family records and links to further sources of information.
Next Steps
Decide what information to look for now. Keep filling in the details while following the basic research principles above.
When and where they arrived in NZ?
- Shipping and passenger arrivals - will provide a year of arrival
- Naturalisation records - can provide a year of arrival
- Electoral rolls - can help trace when a person was first entered on to the roll
- Burial records - can state how many years a person resided in NZ
What were the names of their children?
- Probate records - names of children may be mentioned in probates
- Funeral notices - can sometimes mention names of children
- Church registers - baptisms
- Electoral rolls - for children of voting age living at same address with parents
What were the names of their parents?
- Birth registration certificates
- Church registers - baptisms
- Marriage registration certificates
- Death certificates
What was the name of their spouse?
- Marriage registration certificates
- Church registers - marriage records
- Electoral rolls - for people with the same name at the same address
- Street directories - for people with the same name at the same address
- Death registration certificates - will include the name of their spouse
- Death notices in newspapers - can sometimes mention names of children
Can I get hold of a birth, marriage or death information?
Where were they buried?
- Cemeteries database
- Tombstone transcripts
- Church Registers - Burial entries
- New Zealand Cemetery Records
- Christchurch Burial Books
- Cremations
Can I find a will or probate for someone?
Can I find out where they lived?
- Street directories - will list individual if they were noted as the main resident of a household
- Electoral rolls - will be of use if eligible to vote
- Land resources - to help identify where they owned land
Where was the land they owned?
What was the school or church they attended?
Are there any details of hospitals or childrens’ homes they attended?
Is there any information about their work or company?
What other biographical information can I find?
- Cyclopedias - published in early 20th century
- War records - try our New Zealanders at War guides
- Newspapers
- Alexander Turnbull biographies
- Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
Can I get hold of police or court records?
What can I find about someone who was in the war?
- War death microfiche
- Our New Zealanders at War guides
Still looking for further information?
- Where to next - other national and international organisations and resources which may be able to help
- Work your way through our Finding Family Information pages - they may lead you to new pathways of research.
Writing a family history
Contact the Professional Historians’ Association of New Zealand/Aotearoa. They provide contact details for people experienced in researching and writing family histories.
Guides to writing a family history:
- Rosier-Jones, J. Writing your family history: a New Zealand guide
- Beaumont, J. How to write and publish your family history: a complete guide for Australia and New Zealand
Updated: April 2012
