JOHN'S GENEALOGY LINKS
Genealogy can be a fascinating hobby; to discover that your ancestors had money, or didn't have money but made good anyway, is only the start. Finding that 4th cousin who bumped his wife off, or that distant aunt who ran off with the milkman can be most entertaining; what you need to know is where to start looking.
In recent years, a huge number of websites have been established which contain genealogical and family history information. Some of these are free to use while others are subscription or pay-per-view sites,
and while some are invaluable, others may be of little practical use. Listed below are a few of the websites that I currently use and have found most helpful; inevitably, many of these relate to research in the UK although quite a few hold records from a variety of places and others relate to specific countries. There are, at least, hundreds and probably thousands of others but life is too short to list them all - please do NOT send me messages to advise me of those that are missing !
Cyndi's List is a website that lists a vast number of links to helpful sites for genealogy worldwide. If you're not sure what resources are available for researching in those distant places, Cyndi's List may well point you in the right direction.
Genuki is a solid starting point for UK genealogy. It references just about every place in the UK, with details of churches, graveyards, parish registers and much more. A great place to start to get to grips with UK genealogy.
For their own purposes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, usually known as The Mormons, has an ongoing project to collect and publish vast amounts of genealogical information from all over the world. They have made this astonishing collection, which now comprises billions of records, available as a free resource to anyone who wants to use it. It is an invaluable source of information which continues to grow by the day.
This subscription service provides access to a huge range of records worldwide, including censuses, electoral rolls, birth, baptism, marriage and burial records, probate indexes, military and school records and much more. Subscribers can opt to pay for access to their own country's records or to have worldwide access.
Ancestry has individual websites for a number of countries, specifically the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, France, Sweden and Mexico, plus a number of other associated sites. A great benefit of the sites is the ability to upload, or build from scratch, your own family tree and access those set up by other subscribers as well.
Rootsweb is part of the 'Ancestry' family and hosts a variety of genealogy services, including mailing lists and message boards for a great range of names and places. It provides easy access to numerous search sites, family trees and other resources.
This is the UK's answer to 'Ancestry' and offers access to a large number of records, concentrating initially on those from the UK but increasingly including records from Ireland, the USA, Australia and other countries; there is also access to the British Library's digitized newspaper collection. As with 'Ancestry' there are differing levels of subscription depending on the access that is paid for.
This is another subscription site similar to 'Ancestry' and 'Find My Past', but it concentrates on UK records. It has extensive collections of parish registers and con-conformist records, military records and censuses from England and Wales. There are also many old maps - 'Tithe Maps' - which are linked to millions of other records and show the layout of towns and villages from hundreds of years ago.
This is a sister site of the above and concentrates on the marketing of a range of genealogical supplies. Whatever you wan - family history software, folders and storage materials, data CD's, books and magazines and much more, this is a site to have a look at.
Genes Reunited is a subscription site that started out allowing members to enter their family trees and thereby make contact with other members who had similar heritage. It continues to provide this service but now also has access to many UK records, though not as extensive as some other sites. Its records include census, birth, marriage and death, military, newspapers and more.
Freebmd is part of a project aimed at providing free access to a range of UK genealogical records. To date, FreeBMD has searchable database for the vast majority of birth, marriage and death registrations in England and Wales covering the period from 1837 to 1980, the intention being to complete the index up to 1983.
FreeCEN is a sister site of FreeBMD and provides free access to transcriptions of parts of the various UK censuses from 1841 to 1891. It is an ongoing project which welcomes volunteer transcribers !
FreeREG is another sister site of FreeBMD and provides free access to parts of some UK parish registers. FreeREG is very much a work in progress and, like FreeCEN, welcomes transcribers.
Lost Cousins invites members to identify ancestors from a range of censuses and enter them into their account. The site then attempts to match entries from different members, thus putting 'lost cousins' in contact. The service began by using only the UK's 1881 census but has now expanded to use the UK's 1841 and 1911, as well as the Ireland 1911, US 1880 and 1940 and Canadian 1881 censuses.
There is the added benefit of a regular newsletter. Membership of the site is free, although paid for subscriptions with enhanced benefits are also available.
This is the main site for the UK's national archives with on-line access to a range of digitized records including certain Wills, military records and much more; some 9 million records are currently available for download. An on-line catalogue, 'Discovery', allows a total of over 32 million records, held in both the National Archives and in more than 2,500 other records repositories around the country, to be searched.
There are a number of detailed guides that provide invaluable assistance to researches and there is a facility to order documents to be sent by e-mail or post. The National Archives also provides a paid-for research service for those who cannot visit in person.
There are also many local records' offices, usually identified by county, and which have their own websites, catalogues and research facilities. These often have many parish and other local records which can provide exciting incites into the lives of past generations.
ENGLAND & WALES GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
The GRO is the body responsible for all birth, death, marriage, adoption and other registrations in England and Wales from July 1837. Indexes have been available at a number of commercial websites, and copies of registration certificates can be ordered online and direct from the GRO for delivery by post.
The Office has recently launched it's own free-access indexes for birth registrations from 1837 to 1915 and deaths from 1837 to 1957; these include some additional information not currently available in other online indexes. A service providing e-mailed copies of register entries is being trialled and is expected to be extended soon.
Scotland's People is a web service of the Scottish Government which provides access to a range of information including census returns, birth, marriage and death registrations, parish records and more for Scotland. Online free basic search facilities can be enhanced by the use of purchased 'credits' and some documents can be purchased and downloaded.
COMMONWEALTH WAR GRAVES COMMISSION
The C.W.G.C is the organisation responsible for the care and maintenance of all British and Commonwealth war graves and memorials world-wide. As a by-product of its main purpose, the Commission also provides a searchable database of those killed in the two World Wars, with additional information about the cemeteries and memorials and a facility to purchase commemorative certificates.
This site is the main resource for UK burials and cremations. It contains a searchable database of records from all over the UK although it remains a work in progress, with new records being added from time to time. It allows access to digitized images of burial registers on a pay-per-view basis and also provides details of grave locations and the names of others buried in the same grave.
This is a worldwide analogue of Deceased Online, providing access to millions of records from many countries including the US, Canada, UK and Australia, plus many more. Some entries have additional information including gravestone or memorial photographs, links to other potentially related burials and even extracts from newspaper obituaries. Searching for and viewing records is free.
The SoG is the pre-eminent society for genealogy based in the UK. Its library in central London has a collection of thousands of books containing millions or records; its main focus is on the UK but it also has many records from elsewhere in the world. Access to the library is by annual membership or through payment of a daily charge; membership carries the added benefit of access to thousands of records that are now available online.
FEDERATION of FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES
This organisation represents, advises and supports more than 180 family history and genealogy societies in the UK and Australia, as well as a number of one-name and specialist societies with wider remits. Their website provides links to these societies, information regarding current developments, access to various guides and a newsletter, and more.
Archive CD Books began as a project to create digital reproductions of old books and documents relevant to the UK but has since expanded to provide a similar service worldwide. Researchers can purchase CD copies of old books, directories, censuses, parish records and more, relating to England and Wales, Ireland, Australia, Canada, USA, India and South Africa.
IRISH GENEALOGY
There are many websites devoted to genealogy and family history in Ireland. A few of these are listed below. Those mentioned below relate to all of the island of Ireland before 1922 and to the Irish Republic thereafter. Records for Northern Ireland from 1922 onwards are held separately.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND GENEALOGY WEBSITE
These archives hold many collections relevant to family history including surviving census returns, many Wills, marriage licence bonds and more. Many records are available, free, online and it is intended to add more in due course.
THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF IRELAND FAMILY HISTORY WEB PAGES
The National Library of Ireland holds an important collection of catholic parish registers, in some cases dating back to the late 1700s. These can be browsed freely and there are indexes for some at FIND MY PAST
THE IRISH FAMILY HISTORY FOUNDATION
The IFHF has facilities which allow for millions of parish register entries to be searched. It has links to individual web sites and search facilities for each of the Irish counties or they can be searched all together. Access to the records is by subscription only.
USA GENEALOGY
Much family history research for citizens of the USA relies on access to records in the countries from which their forebears arrived and many of these records can be found at the ANCESTRY.COM and FAMILY SEARCH
web sites referred to above. Many more recent records are also to be found at these sites and sites such as FIND-A-GRAVE also have large numbers of US records.
The individual states maintain their own archives and there are well established local and family history societies in many places.
HISTORY AT HOME : A GUIDE TO GENEALOGY
This is a particularly interesting and helpful US based genealogy guide of which I was advised by a group from After School Care Programs in El Paso County, Colorado. There are links to many other web sites which are likely to prove of considerable assistance to anyone researching their family background in the United States and beyond.
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND GENEALOGY
In Australia, some records are held at national level and others are held by the individual states; the web sites listed below provide information and links of assistance to family historians and other researchers. Some easily available records, including births, marriages and deaths, immigration and ships' lists and some electoral rolls, are accessible on the ANCESTRY.COM.AU, FIND MY PAST and
FAMILY SEARCH web sites.
New Zealand records are held at National level and the principal web sites are as mentioned below.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF AUSTRALIA
NEW SOUTH WALES STATE ARCHIVES
VICTORIA STATE ARCHIVES
SOUTH AUSTRALIA STATE ARCHIVES
QUEENSLAND STATE ARCHIVES
WESTERN AUSTRALIA STATE ARCHIVES
TASMANIA STATE ARCHIVES
NEW ZEALAND ARCHIVES
NEW ZEALAND BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
SOUTH AFRICAN GENEALOGY
Researching in South Africa is far from easy as records are not centralized and access to many is subject to both delays and the whims of local repository management. The web sites mentioned below may be of some assistance.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The South African national archives web site with a number of searchable databases. Copies of documents from some of the repositories can be obtained either by visiting in person or through the GGSA (see below).
A web site with the facility to search more than 1 million South African family tree records.
CONROD MERCER'S GENEALOGY SITE
An excellent site with much helpful information for those researching in South Africa.
THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA
The web site of the Genealogical Society of South Africa. Membership of the GGSA is an absolute 'must' for anyone trying to find their ancestors in that country. For researchers living elsewhere, there is the virtual branch which is wholly internet based : THE VIRTUAL BRANCH OF THE GGSA
There are very many other relevant websites and the list above is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. See my GENEALOGY FOR BEGINNERS blog for some further advice and pointers to other useful websites and try searching with relevant terms on GOOGLE for still more; sometimes just a name will bring up amazing details.
By the way, I have no connection with any of the sites above, except as a user, so you can use them as much as you like without any fear that I will be making any money out of it !
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA including the searchable TROVE archive of newspapers, journals, books and much more.
NEW SOUTH WALES BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
VICTORIA BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
SOUTH AUSTRALIA BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
QUEENSLAND BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
WESTERN AUSTRALIA BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
TASMANIA BIRTHS, MARRIAGES and DEATHS
NEW ZEALAND NATIONAL LIBRARY including searchable newspapers, magazines and other papers at PAPERS PAST
Last updated : 19th January 2017