How to research your British Genealogy
In my hunt for
the family of John Beach Snr, I've become used to searching English
Genealogy records in particular. This page aims to share what I've
learned about the sources of information. I hope this is useful
to others researching their own British roots.
1. Start with what you know!
Common sense obviously says to start with what you know. That is,
speak with members of your family, particularly older members, to
see what records may exist, and whether anyone in the family has
looked into your family history ("genealogy") before.
I was lucky enough find that my grandfather had looked in this,
and traced back to the mid 1800's already. I also was able to get
all the records he had, which include random family letters and
photos, which I went through in search of information!
2. British Census Records
There are census records every 10 years in the UK, since 1841.
These record the households across the UK and basic information
on the individuals within them.
I always use these as the primary source of information, as once
you know the name of a person, rough age and location, a census
search becomes possible. There are lots of online sources where
you can search these records. I would recommend the below sources
(using the FREE functionality only, there is no need to pay for
an expensive subscription at this stage in your search!).
www.findmypast.co.uk
- Personal favourite, this site is clear and concise
www.ancestry.co.uk
- Best known site, but not so clear in my view
http://freecen.rootsweb.com
Your aim in using the census should be to identify where your ancestor
was every 10 years of their life, and who they were with. A census
search can help identify unknown children or parents for your family
tree.
Note:
a. Historical censuses were handwritten. As a result electronic
means of searching censuses are based on intepretation of someone's
handwriting, and may be inaccurate in places.
b. Early censuses were written at a time when literacy was not what
it is today. It is also possible that poor literacy (of town clerks
taking the census, or individuals providing input) means the spelling
of names may change between censuses (e.g. BEACH may become BEECH
or even PEACH or REACH).
c. On early censuses particularly, it is possible for people to
be missing, either deliberately (e.g. seeing it as an invasion of
privacy) or accidently. It is also possible that they will have
lied about their age in particular, so be flexible in your searches,
and don't be surprised if an individual appears to have avoided
the census on multiple occasions.
3. BMD Records (Birth, Marriage and Death records)
Having identified key ancestors in your British Genealogy from
census record searches, I would recommend looking at key event record.
In the UK Births, Marriages and Deaths are key events which the
British have had to record since late 1837. There are Birth, Marriage
and Death indexes for the whole of the UK, created for each quarter
of each year. These have been translated by most online genealogy
sites, and are freely searchable on most sites.
www.findmypast.co.uk
- Personal favourite, this site is clear and concise
www.ancestry.co.uk
- Best known site, but not so clear in my view
http://www.freebmd.org.uk
It is worth noting that BMD records will confirm key events, the
indexes do however only have basic information. When you need further
information it is well worth ordering certificates for one of your
ancestors. Certificates have to be obtained from the UK government
General Register Office (GRO), and cost approximately £8 each
(at time of writing). More details here: http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/
4. Council Records/Local area search
If you're still searching for information, I would recommend finding
out what information exists for the region of the UK that you are
looking into. Each country in the UK is broken into counties, and
these each hold records. I have personally visited the local office
in Dover, Kent as part of my research, and found it fasinating and
helpful to see some of the records that only exist in hardcopy.
I took the opportunity to also visit the family grave and key properties
in our history. Don't forget to arrange meetings in advance as council
offices are only open to genealogy searches by appointment.
Check out whether you can get free subscription access to pay
sites
I'm certainly not going to run down the idea of getting a subscription
to one of the major genealogy websites, but I can confirm that my
local library provides free subscription level access to Ancestry.co.uk
and FindMyPast.co.uk.
It's worth checking your local library, as you may have a similar
deal which can save you money on a subscription.
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