Roots to Records

a historicalpresent.com project

Genealogical research done together. Get started or bring us your brick wall

Tell us who you're looking for and what you already know. We document the search of real records, showing every step. You watch the research happen; and you will grow in confidence of your own skills.

Request an account

Cases are worked privately unless you tick the on-stream box on the request form. Livestream details.

01 · FileRequest an account and fill out the request: names, dates, places, and what you have already checked. Confirm your email, we approve the account, and you choose a password. More detail means less time spent re-covering ground you have covered.
02 · QueueYour request goes into the case queue. We email you when yours comes up.
03 · Wait or WatchWe email you the findings when the case is worked. If you tick the on-stream box on the request, it is worked live on the stream and you can watch. The research is the same either way.

Every record we open belonged to a person, and most of them were never meant to be read by strangers. Ordinances, causes of death, adoptions, illegitimacy, court and asylum files, the things a family decided once not to repeat — we treat all of it as held in trust rather than as content. We work slowly where slowness is the respectful thing, and we would rather hand back a thin, honest finding than a complete one that costs your family its privacy.

Your case is not content to us. It is someone's people, and we handle it the way we would want ours handled.

Some tickets may be declined, if they touch on case work we won't monetize — for example, LDS Temple work. Read more

Request an Account

Step 1 of 4

Roots to Records takes requests at its own desk. It asks the same questions the old slip did, plus a username, and it keeps your request as a ticket you can follow.

  1. Confirm your email address.
  2. The team approves your account.
  3. You choose a password.
  4. Your request is waiting as your first ticket.

Request an account

Your information goes only to us, by email, to work your case. It is never sold, shared, or published without your permission. DISCLAIMER: Living people's details need to be clearly marked.