Genealogy It isn't geneology !

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Researching ones ancestry is very popular these days and the Internet has made the task much easier. This page is just an initial pointer for people who are making a start.  There is even a regular magazine devoted to Genealogy on the bookshelves these days. 

People who are interested in undertaking personal family history research may wish to consider contacting the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA) or the Association Of Professional Genealogists (APGN), who are able to advise on family history research and who have a list of recommended researchers.

April 09 There has been renewed interest in tracing money left by relatives.  The BBC site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nms5 has videos of the most recent programs.  The Government site on these unclaimed amounts is at http://www.bonavacantia.gov.uk/output/ Bona Vacantia means Vacant Goods, which, if unclaimed, goes to the crown.

Jan 09 A portion** of the 1911 Census for England and Wales is now on line. See http://www.1911census.co.uk/

Accessing the 1911 Census. The records have been input by findmypast.com. There are two type of record: a Transcript and an Original Schedule. There is a charge for viewing. Not all information is included in the transcript. For example the information against married women of the number of children in the current marriage can only be seen if you view the Original Schedule. You can purchase credits for Findmypast. Once you have bought the credits from the main Findmypast site, you can then use them on their 1911 census site, www.1911census.co.uk for viewing the transcriptions and the original schedules. Do not buy a subscription - initially, transcriptions and schedules can only be viewed using "PayAsYouGo" credits; they are not covered by the Findmypast subscription packages. Customers who are already registered on Findmypast will be able to enter their username and password and use any Findmypast credits across both sites, the existinging site and the new 1911 census site. Findmypast say that later the 1911 census will also appear on findmypast.com, which will then provide unlimited access to the records for a fixed annual fee but what's not clear is when that will happen; they say "later in 2009".

**Findmypast are still scanning and indexing the 1911 census across England and Wales in the order of the National Archives catalogue number, basically starting in London, moving outwards and upwards through the English counties, then the Welsh counties, and finally the islands and military establishments. This is not yet complete and it will probably be towards the end of 2009 before the entire census is available online. The counties currently available are Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Derbyshire, Devonshire, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire (no such place!), Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, London, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire West Riding (apart from two volumes covering parts of the Knaresborough and Doncaster areas, each affecting about 1500 individuals).

Outstanding are Durham, Cumberland, Northumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire East Riding and Yorkshire North Riding in England, all the Welsh Counties, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, the Royal Navy and finally Overseas Military Establishments.

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Government plans to give free access to all Births Marriages and Deaths from 1837 to the present day have been delayed, with only 130 million having been scanned

I hear that libraries usually have free access to the records of Ancestry.co.uk (which is virtually the same as Ancestry.com ) So, if you want unlimited access do visit your local library.

If you are searching for people who you think are alive take a look at Bob Rankin's page HERE for free search programs.

People are becoming more interested in DNA testing and its relationship with genealogy.  Interesting information on this complex matter is held on http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/bigmisc/DNA.html and also at http://www.familytreedna.com/dna101.html (American). It certainly would be interesting to hear whether your ancestors came from far off lands. Of course this research is bound to cost cash.  The above site quotes from $129 to $489 depending on whether the Male (Y-DNA) or Female (mtDNA) line tests (or both) are ordered.  A company in London http://www.dna-bioscience.co.uk/ provide a service with prices starting at £159. But their service appears to be more concerned with 'paternity proof'. Ancestry.co.uk is now providing a DNA checking service for £74. Another search service for people thought to be in the USA is http://www.intelius.com/. A friend found a long lost sister and whole new family that way !

  You can find some new and inexpensive software on the net  at www.focusmm.co.uk.  Click HERE for more detail on their Genealogy program.

Focus Genealogy

One way to get information is to join a 'forum' such as http://forum.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk.

If you require copies of certificates you can contact  www.ukcertificates.com but there is a charge

Another good search site is at http://www.tracesmart.co.uk/  Again, it costs to join

There is an interesting site at http://www.linkedin.com/ It is mainly for business networking and many are on the other side of the Atlantic.  It is free to join

Brian O'Connor is keen to develop 'Oral History' for people.  See and example at www.allourlives.co.uk   Brian is willing help your family develop such an oral history. It can contain not only tape recorded sound but also video. He is willing to travel in the London, Essex and Herts areas. But, of course, this service will cost.  Interested ? Email him by clicking here.

Lost touch with an old friend ? Ken Tovey is now willing to search for anyone who you have lost touch with in this country or possibly Australia. He may also be able to start you on the right lines to find ancestors.  It is a free service.  Contact him by email ken@kentovey16.wanadoo.co.uk He needs as much information as he can get : All names, date of birth, marriage, the regiment if in the HMF, last address. He is especially able to find records of people who would have been around in the 19th and early 20th Century.  Ken is now paying for access to the Electoral Roll and has already managed to reunite someone with their long lost father.

A fascinating piece of research has been carried at by  the University College, London.  See http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/Surnames.aspx and type in your name, then look at the map and then find the towns in which there were large concentrations of the name.

Get a program. e.g. Family Tree Maker by Broderbund, Roots Magic 1, Brother's keeper, Heritage Family Tree, which can be bought on the net or from a computer store. There are many others.  Apart from the program, which should help you keep the data in order they mostly contain a large number of disks with millions of records, admittedly many are those from the U.S.A., where genealogy is particularly popular.  The programs will also point you to places on the 'net' where you can get more information. A useful link for British oriented software is www.my-history.co.uk

There is also a book entitled "The Genealogist's Internet" by Peter Christian £7.69

How to start ? You may be able to join a local Family History Society.  See www.ffhs.org.uk. Have a look at the government site www.familyrecords.gov.uk. This is the Family Record Centre at 1, Myddleton Street, London EC1R1UW.  It is better to concentrate on one specific 'root' name and try to track this back as far as you can.  In my case a great deal of the research was already completed and there is a five yearly reunion in the USA of people of the same name, all of whom who are related.

One of the best starting points is http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/guides/internet_links.htm There you will find links to other sites

Here are some suggestions how to go about tracing people, alive or dead.  First, try typing a name in various search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Askjeeves, Copernic and look carefully at the links which are displayed.  Obviously if you enter a common name you will get offered thousands of links, many not related to genealogical records.  But, if you go through the list you will begin to find other people doing precisely what you are attempting to do.
The second thing to do is contact the Mormon site, www.familysearch.com. For religious reasons the organisers of this free site is attempting to record the names of everyone who has ever lived !

The 1901 Census for England and Wales. One of the main sources of UK information is the census.  However, information is not published about these records until 100 years after each census. The 1901 Census (England, Wales and the Channel Islands), is now available from http://www.1901censusonline.com/  Jan 09 The 1911 Census for Great Britain is now on line.  See http://www.1911census.co.uk/Content/default.aspx?r=24

What does it cost?  Searching the index is FREE. Viewing transcribed data costs 50p for an individual and then 50p for a list of all other people in that person's household. Viewing a digital image of the census page costs 75p.Payment is by Credit or Debit Card. .A credit card session will last for 48 hours but in this period you may suspend and resume your search and use up any credit left on your £5 charge.If you do not have a credit card or do not wish to use it you will be able to buy vouchers to use the service.

 The entries for households on the census returns for 1851 to1911 have the following information  : Road, street, town or village· number or name of house; whether the house is inhabited or not; name and surname of each person; relation to Head of Family· Condition as to marriage; age last birthday; profession or occupation; whether employed or not; where born; whether deaf and dumb, blind, lunatic, imbecile or feeble-minded !

Each page of the census has been photographed and you can download these images, which cover the whole page from the census enumerator's book on which the individual's entry appears. Each image (in TIFF format) is about 250 kilobytes.

You can print an image but note that the images are large and print best on A3 size paper or you can place an order through the online service and a copy will be posted to you. The prints are A3 size and cost 50p each plus a charge for postage and packing.

Earlier censuses (1841 to 1891) are kept on microfilm  and are available at the Family Records Centre, Islington but local libraries and record offices usually have the returns for their local areas.

For Scotland look at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (Many earlier records than 1855) www.scottishdocuments.com (wills 1384-1858) and www.scotsorigins.com . Northern Ireland is at http://proni.nics.gov.uk Eire is www.nationalarchives.ie and www.irishorigns.com

You can try any of these:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/  a new service connected to the well-known (free) Friendsreunited
Ancestorsonboard.com has added another decade of records to the UK Outbound Passenger Lists currently available. Records now include an incredible 15,749,960 names within 97,614 passenger lists spanning 1890 to 1929.
London Records The London Metropolitan Archives, 40, Northampton Road, EC1R 0HB has records of 800+ chapels and churches, Poor Law records, workhouses, school and electoral registers. http://www.parishchest.com/  Many links to sites, mainly charging for information www.sog.org.uk (Society of Genealogists) Find my past specialises emigrants passenger lists and British Service personnel killed in the World Wars but also includes census records for 1841 and 1861, London, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex, Lancashire and Worcestershire) also see http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet  www.lookupuk.com  www.ukbirth-adoptionregister.com (both good for adoptees) http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com, (1837-1983: BMD=Birth marriages and Deaths),  which now has 133 million records http://www.pasttimesproject.co.uk/links.php?page=2  cindislist.com   www.lookupamerica.com   http://www.genealogyontheweb.com/  familysearch.com (Mormon church), www.origins.net.gro   genuki.org.uk  Family.com, Rootsweb.com   gro-scotland.gov.uk  www.censusonline.com (for 1881) www.censusuk.co.uk  http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.htm (Public Records Office) familyrecords.gov.uk   www.a2a.org.uk is a government site which means access to archives dating back as far as the year 900 !   Holocaust victims : http://www.yadvashem.org/wps/portal/IY_HON_Welcome

www.electricscotland.com

Electric Scotland brings you comprehensive information on Scotland, Scots and people and places of Scottish descent with over 12,000 pages of information

The following have a payments system, although most are initially free :  Ancestry.com   (recent British/irish update) FamilyHistoryonline.net   www.genesconnected.com,
 OTHER SITES TO TRACK DOWN LONG LOST FRIENDS OR RELATIVES .  Some may charge to do research for you. ......http://publicrecord.cc/?rid=521669  www.18370nline.co.uk  www.familysearch.org   www.intellius.com (paid search- USA) www.missing-you.net   http://people.yahoo.com  www.bigfoot.com   www.smartgroups.com   www.probate.com (charge made)  www.british legion.org.uk   www.servicepals.com   www.missingpeople.com. www.infospace.com  www.whowhere.com   www.switchboard.com  www.192.com (phone number, address, electoral roll), www.411.com (U.S. private phone numbers) Track old school/work/clubs friends:  www.friendsreunited.com  www.locatefirst.com/uk (UK Electoral roll) www.locatefirst.com/us (USA people finder) www.essexvillages.net, www.google.com, www.askjeeves.com, www.copernic.com  www.PRO.gov.uk (Public Records Office)    www.Army.mod.uk.  http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/default.asp

My own 'clan', Patersons, were Scottish Borderers. See HERE regarding where we came from and at http://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/ian.paterson/index2.htm

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