If you'd like to join the search for family members and think software might help, Live Science's sister site Top Ten Reviews has genealogy software rankings to help you choose. 'It was like a total genealogy happy dance for so many genealogists,' Moore said. Once they found that handwritten tree, however, the new maiden name opened up the door to all sorts of new knowledge. For example, someone once found a handwritten family tree in the bottom of a trunk that had the maiden name of an ancestor Moore and others had been researching for decades, without making any progress. Even if you decide not to delve too deeply into your family tree, information you post online can help others. 'So many of us are writing blogs now where we're writing about our ancestors. The ability to sync your tree with an online site can be a huge boon, too, because it connects you to other people, including distant cousins who may have also been investigating your shared ancestors. The more advanced genealogist will want something with sophisticated search-query possibilities (to look up everyone born in a certain place in a certain year, for example). Most programs have enough features to grow with you, she said. 'There is starting to be more recognition that there are different types of families,' Moore said. Obviously, that's not the case, so you may want to be sure your program allows for multiple family structures.

For example, some programs automatically assume that if two people have a child together, they're married. To bring your genealogy research to your desktop, she recommends looking for a program that is simple - but also flexible. Moore recommends starting online, with a site such as, which allows you to search some records for free, even without a subscription.

'For beginners, you really need something that walks you through it and has an easy-to-use interface,' Moore told Live Science.

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