Find the ancestor, not just the name
Most family history stalls for the same three reasons: the record set is wrong, the person is in it under a different spelling, or the county burned down. This site works through what is actually available in American records, in the order you will need it.
Where people get stuck
Census records, 1790 to 1950
What each decade actually lists, why the 1890 census is missing, and the 72-year rule that decides what you can read today.
Immigration & naturalisation
Passenger manifests from Castle Garden and Ellis Island, declaration of intent, and how to find a village from a ship record.
Military & pension files
Pension applications often name a wife, children and neighbours decades before any other record does. Where those files live now.
DNA tests compared
Which test answers which question — close-family matching, deep ancestry, or paternal and maternal lines only.
The free-first rule
Paid subscription sites are convenient, not necessary. A large share of what you need is free: federal census images through the National Archives, state archives and county courthouse indexes, the National Park Service's Ellis Island manifest search, and FamilySearch's record collections, which are free to read but require an account.
Subscribe when you know which records you are chasing and the free version is an index without images. Ancestry and MyHeritage both monetise the same underlying material to different depths, which is why the comparison page exists rather than a recommendation to buy the biggest plan.
Start in the right direction
Work backwards from what you know, not forwards from a name you found online. One documented generation at a time beats ten speculative ones, and it costs less. If you want a structure to follow, the roadmap takes you from family interviews to archival requests.