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Stumpy

I've been using Ancestry.co.uk for quite some time now - it is highly addictive and you get so much information from them. At the moment you can see the census pages from 1851, 61, 71, 81, 91 and 1901 and they're about to put the 1841 one online too. They also have the birth marriage and death indexes which, yes, are primarily searched using the freeBMD records, however, you can also browse through copies of the actual records too which give you a little more information (depending on which year you're looking at).

I know it costs (although it is cheaper by the year!), but I'm saving plenty of money in other ways thanks to this site, and a girls got to have a hobby!

For free information, as mentioned previously, the lds are good and it is also worth checking with your local council/register office. Some of them are no good or patchy, but a fairly local one to me, Durham County Council, is excellent (although note that BMD records only started in 1837 - anything before that you have to look at parish records).

Speaking of parish records, another site with a huge amount of information is genuki - depending on county/town you can get quite a lot of information, some even have transcripts from the parish records online - one of the families I'm looking into came from Middleton in Teesdale, which gives an example of what sort of information you might get.

Others which are quite interesting are The Old Bailey and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Hope that is of some help - and if you want to look at my family tree it's here!!

Taplledraw

All Stumpys suggestions are excellent it is also worth checking the Rootsweb mailing lists for genealogy lists or surname lists. these are free to join and in general all the people on them are badly infected with the genealogy bug and pretty friendly however daft a question you ask. They are keen to help and give you free info on sites they find.
Its also well worth attending (not free unfortunatly) family history fairs where you can pick up lots of free information , assorted free pencils, mousemats, key rings etc although you always part with money buying those MUST have items. Also if you enter competitions there they e-mail you with reduced price subscriptions.
I have to go now as I need to look at Stumpys tree as my LOWES are from Northumberland and Durham we may be related!!!

jodrellcat

Sound advice Stumpy! I got hooked about 12 months ago and now researching four families. Even found a cousin I thought was dead.
Don't forget the Genes Reunited site - it can turn up some living rellies and uncover links to branches of your family. Ancestry.com has become too expensive so it is worth finding other ways of checking out rellies. Think twice before ordering birth, death or marriage certificates they are £7 each and costly if it is the wrong one. Marriage ones are the most useful as they also give names of both fathers and most times their occupation.
Any Hewitts in your tree, Stumpy? I have tracked the family from Cheshire to Oldham, around Sheffield and drawn a blank when they arrived in Durham

Taplledraw

There is a new Genealogy programme to go out on BBC1 in the next few months which will create more interest so join any free trials now before they get too busy! Its always worth Googling the name you are researching adding +genealogy to reduce the obscurer non gen sites.
Also dont forget to ask elderly living rellies for all they know, they can give you a wealth of information which can save you going down the wrong path or buying unnecessary certificates


Jodrellcat...you can't just give me a snippet of information...as you have the Genealogy bug too, you know we Love giving Free help to others..where did these HEWITTS go to /come from...I like a challenge and will try and find them for you most of my data is from Durham Northumberland and Yorkshire. not promising to find them but you never know! My e-mail address is on the Guild of one name studies page under GUSTARD as I don't know how you send PMs on here. Maybe we should have a find your rellie for free bit on MSE!!!

Stumpy

jodrellcat wrote:

Any Hewitts in your tree, Stumpy? I have tracked the family from Cheshire to Oldham, around Sheffield and drawn a blank when they arrived in Durham

Actually, there are a couple - just down as spouses of distant relatives, but feel free to have a look on the website!

I'd forgotten about the Genes Reunited site - of course, that is great value for money - I think it's a tenner for a year's subscription? It's primarily a way of getting people together to create a searchable database of all their trees, but I have had great success with it, despite not actively using it. My tree is expanding so quickly just using the Ancestry site, that I haven't had time to have a good look at the Genes Reunited site - all I've done it put my tree on it, and people come to me. You do get a lot who aren't related, but I have come across a few that have really helped - those I have referred to on my main site as a "source" for additional information.

Stumpy

Taplledraw wrote:

I have to go now as I need to look at Stumpys tree as my LOWES are from Northumberland and Durham we may be related!!!

Oooh, oooh - all excited!! I'm fairly convinced that there will be a link somewhere - most of my Lowes are from Middleton in Teesdale, but I know there was a branch up in Northumberland - in fact there were some who were in Ridley Hall, Northumberland at one stage (linked to the Queen mum) - I'm really hoping to find a link to those, but despite corresponding with Ridley Hall, we haven't found one yet!

irisrose

Thanks to Stumpys suggestion about the Commanwealth War Graves web site I have found where one of my relatives that died in the first world war is buried and that he was in 1st King Edwards Horse.You can also see pictures of the Cemetery.
It also gives the name of his wife and of his Mother and Father and said that they had three sons all killed in action
ps.If you think that you have a relative that went to America check out https://www.ellisisland.org

Stumpy

irisrose wrote:

Thanks to Stumpys suggestion about the Commanwealth War Graves web site I have found where one of my relatives that died in the first world war is buried and that he was in 1st King Edwards Horse.You can also see pictures of the Cemetery.
It also gives the name of his wife and of his Mother and Father and said that they had three sons all killed in action
ps.If you think that you have a relative that went to America check out www.ellisisland.org

Glad to be of help - the ellis island link looks like it could be useful too.

TOPSAVER_5

I have tried using all the site mentioned on here ,trouble is they all direct you to a fee paying site, eg FREEBMD and FREEGEN redirect me to Ancestry.co .Am I entering it in the wrong place?Any tips fellow money savers?

Stumpy

TOPSAVER wrote:

I have tried using all the site mentioned on here ,trouble is they all direct you to a fee paying site, eg FREEBMD and FREEGEN redirect me to Ancestry.co .Am I entering it in the wrong place?Any tips fellow money savers?

I think what you could possibly be doing is being mislead by the banner at the top of the freebmd website? Ignore that, then part of the way down, near the left hand side, is the "Search" button, you can then search the freeBMD site.

Hope that helps. And I'd not noticed the FreeREG bit before - so thanks for that!! Edit - although it doesn't seem to have much on at the moment!