A few steps into the past....

(Broadcast on BBC Stoke & BBC WM, July 2014)

How much do you know about the lives of your ancestors?

Perhaps BBC Radio Stoke's Family History day helped you to unearth secrets about your great-great-grandparents.

If you haven't explored your past, it may have just got easier to do so.

Three million family records from Staffordshire are now online as part of a project by the county council's record office.

With parish records dating back to 1538 our reporter EMMA THOMAS has been to find if there's any surprises lurking in her family tree...