'Cheap & Free Ways to Trace Your Ancestry'

fluffyb · 18 March 2009 at 10:34PM

www.genuki.co.uk gives county by county info and links to some free resources :T

nearlyrich · 18 March 2009 at 10:42PM

Don't forget to use Quidco when you splash out on Ancestry membership. This is a recent hobby of mine, great source of info is all your older relatives, get them to write down their interesting stories and don't switch off when they start reminiscing...LOL

scottish_lassy · 18 March 2009 at 11:05PM

Another good site packed with helpful people from all over the world is rootschat.com. I have had some invaluable help from others on there.

Seashelldays · 19 March 2009 at 8:56AM

If your county is listed this is the best free sites for church records and sometimes gravestone info -
http://www.onlineparishclerks.org.uk/
The content is growing all the time - my interest is mainly Lancashire and there are loads of transcriptions for this county.

Karmacat · 19 March 2009 at 11:04AM

I've been researching my family tree for a loooong time, and there are some websites I didn't know about on this list! So thanks, peeps. What I'd recommend:
- talk to older relatives first, thats essential.
- copy any photos and documents they have - with their permission, naturally.
- make sure you know who's who in those photos. You think you'll remember but ....
- note the sources of your information. With every family, I have a separate document called "History of the Search" - when I went to places, who I spoke to. I also note the sources when I'm collating the data into a coherent story.
- census records are invaluable - some are free online, and some are free when you get to the National Archives, a library or a County Record Office.
- you eventually need to actually go places, rather than doing it all online - going to an ancestral church or village is very moving, and very valuable.
- specialties like freemasons - check online, bu the central London freemasons run free study days sometimes, I went to one and a tour of the building was included, which was fascinating, then they let 40 or so of us loose in their library for an hour or so. It was great.
- army records - of course, a lot of WWI records were burnt during WWII, which is agonising, but some records still exist. Also, check online for private websites about individual battalions - I just found some very detailed medical records for my great grandfather, who joined one of the Liverpool Pals regiments. I also had an hour's interview a couple of years ago with a retired major who ran the regimental museum of an ancestor who fought at Waterloo, who explained quite a few things about why a sergeant might be demoted (!).
- I confess, I don't use any special family history programme for my records. I use a Word document for text, and an Excel document to write the family tree in.
- a huge leap forward for me came when I got in touch with a group of distant cousins who'd found one another on Genes Reunited - an American cousin had done a huge amount of research on my great great grandfather, including finding his signature on some documents, which was amazing.

pianoman · 19 March 2009 at 1:08PM

My best tip is use your local library as you normally find all sorts of information there and people to help you including free access to the Ancestry website, family history periodicals (and all back issues), most local parish records.

Also join a free rootsweb list where you can post your family history information in an email and other members will reply sometimes with free census lookups. It is best to search the archives of the list you intend to join first, to save time requesting information that has already been provided in the past. If you do join a list, in your first email to introduce yourself to a group include as much information as possible (names, dates, area you think the person lived etc) it's no good just providing a list of surnames.

For all rootsweb lists:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/index.html
For England regions rootsweb lists:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/ENG/
For Scotland lists
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/SCT/
For Wales lists:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/WLS/

pianoman · 19 March 2009 at 1:15PM

Also should have mentioned, if you are going to join Ancestry use this link:
http://!!!!!!!.com/3rxlmj

and join for £54.77 for the year.

pianoman · 19 March 2009 at 1:21PM

Oops sorry didn't realise a tiny url wouldn't work.

rhian77_2 · 19 March 2009 at 2:35PM

All Libraries and Archive Services in Wales offer free access to Ancestry.com, which is a pretty comprehensive genealogy site, including bmd information and all censuses from 1841-1901, plus sources on immigration, telephone books etc.

flashgit · 19 March 2009 at 8:36PM

There are a host of web sites selling BMD certificates for up to £70 each, which is nothing but a rip off. If you want to save money when purchasing BMD certificates either buy them from the register office where the event is recorded or buy direct from GRO at https://www.gro.gov.uk. Lists of registration districts and addresses can be found on GENUKI.

Through either location the certificates will cost £7 each - GRO will charge more if you don't have their reference number (usually available via FreeBMD or Ancestry). Most register offices don't charge for a straightforward search through their indexes but always try to provide as much detail as possible. Date of event (or at least the year and quarter in which it occurred), full name of person(s) concerned, type of event and their address (or at least place of residence) is usually the minimum amount of detail. Better still, details of relatives (father, mother, children) can also help.

Flashgit
Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths

'Cheap & Free Ways to Trace Your Ancestry'

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