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Genealogy

Scouts BSA · Merit Badge · Hobbies

Printable worksheet (PDF)

Genealogy is about discovering where you come from and the stories of the people in your family. You'll interview relatives, search records, and build a family tree. Many Scouts find surprises and feel more connected to their families.

Why it's worth it

Somewhere in your family's past is someone who crossed an ocean, started a business, served in a war, or just got up early every day to keep a farm going. Genealogy is how you find them. You'll learn to interview people, dig through records, and check facts the way historians do. Along the way you'll save stories that could disappear if no one asks, and give your family something to keep for the next generation.

Start this week

  1. Write down everything you already know about your parents and grandparents: full names, birthplaces, and birthdays. Mark the blanks with question marks.
  2. Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Genealogy counselor, and send them a short message with a parent copied to set up a first meeting.
  3. Ask a parent or guardian which relative or family friend knows the most family stories, and whether they'd let you interview them.
  4. Look around home with a parent for old photos, letters, certificates, or a family Bible, and keep anything you find in one folder.

Stay safe

  • Search family history sites with a parent, and don't post living relatives' names, birthdays, or addresses in public online trees.

Requirements · 9

Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab) (updated 2025).

  1. Requirement 1

    Genealogy basics

    Tips for this section: Look at a sample family tree and family group record to see how they work before you start filling in your own.

    1. Requirement 1a

      Explain to your counselor what genealogy, ancestor, and descendant mean

    2. Requirement 1b

      Explain what a family tree is and what details you'd record on one

    3. Requirement 1c

      Describe a family group record and the details you'd record on one

  2. Requirement 2

    Timeline or journal. Choose 1 of 2

    Tips for this section: Pick a timeline of your own life or a family member's, or keep a journal for six weeks. Add dates and photos.

    Example for this section: A family timeline could start with a grandparent's birth year and add big moments: moving to a new city, starting a job, the year each child was born, alongside world events like a war or the first Moon landing.

    1. Requirement 2a

      Make a timeline of your life or a relative's, then write a short biography from it

    2. Requirement 2b

      Keep a journal for six weeks, writing in it at least once each week

  3. Requirement 3

    With your parent or guardian's help, pick a relative or family friend to interview in person, by phone, or by email or letter. Write down what you learn so you won't forget it

    Tip: Prepare questions ahead of time and ask permission to take notes or record. Grandparents often love sharing stories.

    For example: Bring 8 to 10 questions to your interview, like "What was your house like when you were my age?" and "Who was the oldest relative you remember?" Ask permission to record, and follow up on anything that surprises you.

  4. Requirement 4

    Genealogy resources and records

    Tips for this section: Look for birth certificates, old photos, letters, and family Bibles at home, and search records online with a parent.

    Example for this section: Make a list with two columns. Physical: a birth certificate, a photo with names written on the back, an obituary clipping. Digital: a census record, a ship's passenger list, a military draft card you found with a parent's help.

    1. Requirement 4a

      Name three kinds of physical genealogy resources, where to find them, and how they help you chart your family tree

    2. Requirement 4b

      Name three kinds of digital genealogy resources, where to find them, and how they help you chart your family tree

    3. Requirement 4c

      Get at least one genealogy document that supports an event you have recorded, or could record, on your family group record or pedigree chart

    4. Requirement 4d

      Tell how you found the 4c document and how you'd judge how reliable its information is

    5. Requirement 4e

      Tell where you'd likely find a birth record, a marriage record, a census record, and burial information

  5. Requirement 5

    Contact ONE of the people or places below. Ask what genealogy services, records, or activities they offer, and report back:. Choose 1 of 5

    Tip: Contact a local genealogical society, or a library or courthouse with family records, and ask how they can help.

    For example: Have a parent help you email a county genealogical society: "I'm a Scout working on Genealogy. My great-grandparents lived in your county in the 1920s. What records do you have, and how could I search them?"

    1. Requirement 5a

      A genealogical or lineage society

    2. Requirement 5b

      A professional genealogist (someone paid to do genealogy research)

    3. Requirement 5c

      A surname organization, such as one for your family name

    4. Requirement 5d

      A school or institution that teaches genealogy

    5. Requirement 5e

      Any kind of genealogy record repository, such as a courthouse, genealogy library, state library, or state or national archive

  6. Requirement 6

    Start your family tree with yourself and at least two more generations, using the chart in the Genealogy pamphlet or any genealogy software you like

    Tip: Start with yourself, then add parents and grandparents. Fill in names, dates, and places as you find them.

    For example: Draw it in pencil: you at the bottom, your parents above, and your grandparents above them. Fill in names, dates, and places you know for sure, and mark guesses with a question mark until you find a record.

  7. Requirement 7

    Fill out a family group record listing you and your siblings as the children, and a second one listing your parent or guardian and their siblings as the children. You may use the chart provided or any genealogy software

    Tip: Use the forms to organize what you learn about each family unit. Write in pencil so you can update it.

  8. Requirement 8

    How technology changed genealogy

    Tips for this section: Notice how online databases make old records searchable. Ask about the volunteers who help index records.

    Example for this section: Explain indexing: a volunteer reads a handwritten census page and types the names into a database. Now anyone can search for a name in seconds instead of scrolling through thousands of pages, but typos in the index can hide people.

    1. Requirement 8a

      Explain how computers and the internet are changing genealogy

    2. Requirement 8b

      Explain how photography, including microfilm, has shaped genealogy

    3. Requirement 8c

      Explain how indexing records works and how it has shaped genealogy

  9. Requirement 9

    Talk about what your genealogy research taught you about your family and its members

    Tip: Share your favorite discovery with your counselor and family, and talk about how it changed how you see them.

Places to visit

Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.

  • A public library family history room or local historical society

    Librarians and volunteers know which local records exist, like old newspapers, city directories, and cemetery listings, and how to search them.

    How: Have a parent call ahead to ask about hours and whether a volunteer can show you how to start. Bring your three-generation tree.

  • A cemetery where relatives are buried

    Headstones can confirm names, dates, and sometimes family connections you didn't know about.

    How: Go with a family member. Check the cemetery's rules first, take photos instead of rubbings, and be respectful of other visitors.

Where it can lead

  • Professional genealogistResearches family histories for clients and proves relationships for things like inheritances.
  • ArchivistPreserves and organizes historical records so people can find them; often needs a graduate degree.
  • LibrarianHelps people find information, including family history records and local history.
  • HistorianStudies the past using records, interviews, and objects, and writes about what they find.

Ask yourself

  • What do you most want to find out about your family, and why does it matter to you?
  • Which question felt hardest to ask, and how did the person respond?
  • When two records disagreed, how did you decide which one to trust?
  • What did you learn about a relative that changed how you see them, or yourself?
  • Who in your family should hear the stories you collected, and how could you share them?

Good questions to ask a relative or family friend you interview

  • What is your earliest memory, and where were you living?
  • What did you do for fun when you were my age?
  • Who in our family do you wish I could have met, and what were they like?
  • What's a family tradition, recipe, or saying, and where did it come from?
  • Is there a family story that might not be completely true, and what do you think really happened?

Helpful reads

For leaders & parents

  • Be sensitive to adoption, blended families, and family situations that may be hard to talk about.
  • Arrange a visit to a library's family history room or a local genealogical society.

People & places that can help

Pairs well with

Into this? Explore more

Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.