There is more to a family than a family tree.

A family tree can tell you who was related to whom. It rarely tells you what a journey cost, why someone changed their name, or who kept a photograph for fifty years. Those smaller questions are what interest us here.

Before Us is an independent family history website run by Luojia Zhang in Australia. It brings together practical reading, links to archives and a workspace for your own research. You do not need a complete family tree to begin. One name, place or question is enough to start organising what you know.

The aim is to make the first steps easier: ask a better question, find a useful collection and keep enough information to check a claim later. A gap in the record is allowed to remain a gap.

Learn how to look

The reading library covers family interviews, photographs, names, migration records and ways to compare evidence. You can read every guide without an account.

Work on your own question

Sign in with Google to save your clues, search public sources and keep a private research record. The research tool helps organise findings and links for you to inspect. It does not own a worldwide archive, offer DNA testing or certify family relationships.

Keep the source close

A useful finding includes a source you can return to. A catalogue entry, a newspaper report and a scan of an original document tell you different things. Our guides explain those differences and link to the collections or guidance behind them.

Separate memory from a conclusion

A relative’s recollection is a lead worth recording. It is not automatically proof. People with the same name may be unrelated; dates may conflict. Research notes should make those uncertainties visible instead of quietly resolving them.

Correct what is wrong

Luojia Zhang is responsible for the website and its published content. If a guide has an incorrect fact, outdated link or missing credit, send the page address and the relevant source. Accepted factual corrections should explain what changed; routine spelling and layout fixes may be made without a separate note.

Keep private research private

Opening research to the public means visitors can use the tool after signing in. It does not make their family records public. Your saved investigations are separated by account, and you can export or delete them.

Before Us is operated by Luojia Zhang, based in Australia. It is a small independent project, not an archive institution or a genealogy certification service. The public contact address is lucaszlj821@outlook.com.

Reading is free. Research currently has no visitor payment process and uses fair-use limits so the service can remain available. We plan to support the website with clearly labelled advertising. No advertising is currently served. If ads are introduced, they will be distinguishable from articles, sources and navigation.

Google Analytics and Cloudflare Web Analytics are used on public pages only when you choose to allow analytics. Private research pages are excluded. You can change that choice at the bottom of any page.