Useful Websites for Family History – with David Wood
David started with an apology that as his audience are all Family Historians he might be “preaching to the converted”. Hopefully we would all not leave tonight thinking ‘I knew those already’, but will find a useful site we hadn’t thought of before or had forgotten.
Firstly, David reminded us that you cannot do all your research on the internet and that all indexes are wrong, so look at the original document not just the index. He quoted in his own family tree a tale of two brothers who had their daughters baptised Charotte on the same day. Just using an index you would not spot two baptisms but it becomes obvious when you see the original register and that they are on the same page with a different set of parents!
Hints and Tips
- TNA website, sign in to get free downloads of up to 10 documents at a time.
- FreeBMD now has a new site but the old one is still available. Use registration details to order certificates from GRO.
- GRO gives mothers maiden name back to the start in 1837.
- GRO Will and Probate 1858-1996, the probate is free to read online although booking the Will download is currently £16.
- Cindy’s list although some sites are no longer available but ....
- Wayback machine holds many old websites which are no longer live online.
- Find a Grave may give information on the MIs you can use to further a search.
In his handout David gave several case histories showing how websites had aided his research.
At the end of the meeting several people said they had found the talk interesting and the discussion about how others used some website most useful. Plus we were all reminded of several sites that we had once used but had forgotten, and some we had not considered using.
Handout - Useful Websites for Tracing your Family Tree
- www.ancestry.co.uk (A massive pay-per-view site for family history- highlights include BMD indexes up to 2007, 1841-1921 Censuses, WW1 Soldiers’ Service and Pension Records, London Parish Records, National Probate Calendar, 1858-1966, PCC Wills, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892, and Passenger lists leaving and arriving in Britain, 1890-1960)
- www.findmypast.co.uk (Another pay-per-view site- highlights include Pre WW1 service records, BMD Indexes up to 2007 plus military registers, 1841-1921 Census indexes and images (+transcripts of Scottish censuses), British Newspaper Archives, POW records 1715-1945, Passenger lists leaving Britain 1890-1960, and scans of most Kent parish registers)
Both of the above: a limited version can be viewed for free at Public Libraries
- www.freebmd2.org.uk (The best site to search for the index entries of Birth (1837-1990s), Marriage (1837-1990s) and Death (1837-1990s) certificates; armed with Year and Quarter, Registration District, Volume and Page number, get the certificates from the site below)
- www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp (The site to order Birth, Marriage and Death certificates from at the cheapest price (£12.50). Digital copies of Births 1837-1923 and Deaths 1837-1957 can be bought for £3. Mother’s maiden names for births indexed from 1837)
- www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (Essential website, not just to search for records held at Kew, but for research guides to all manner of subjects. The National Archives are especially strong for service records, criminal records such as the Assizes, records relating to railways, the Metropolitan Police, and the PCC wills, but this barely scratches the surface of what is contained there!)
- www.gov.uk/search-will-probate ( Post 1858 Wills, Including Soldiers’ Wills. Each Will now costs £16 instead of £1.50!)
- www.genuki.org.uk (Links to useful websites, organised by county)
- www.cyndislist.com (Long-running A-Z site for searching for useful genealogical websites)
- https://familysearch.org (The website of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, with a massive collection of free record datasets. Free to use, but coverage not complete; Kent databases listed but only searchable at The Kent History and Library Centre or LDS centres)
- www.cwgc.org (Search for graves and memorials of British and Commonwealth war dead, and location and plans of cemeteries. For possible images of the grave, try http://twgpp.org (£))
- www.thegazette.co.uk (Slightly frustrating to search, but a great source for Military award citations, bankruptcies, and changes of name)
- https://leicester.contentdm.odc.org/digital/collection/p16445coll4 (Historical trade directories; easy-to-use site with trade directories from across the country. Also on Ancestry)
- www.oldbaileyonline.org (Superb free site (latest version from 2023) searching the Central Criminal Court records from 1674 to 1913. Also look at their sister site, www.londonlives.org, for other records of the poor in London in the eighteenth century)
- www.british-history.ac.uk (Useful site with primary and secondary sources, such as the Victoria County History series, Hasted’s Kent, etc, and old Ordnance Survey maps)
- https://booth.lse.ac.uk (Site for the Charles Booth Poverty maps of London and the casebooks- includes comparative images of current aerial views with the old maps)
- https://historicrecords.co.uk (The home of the British Army Ancestors search engine)
- www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/publications/quarto.html (Published record collections accessible as pdfs if a member)
- https://maps.nls.uk (National Library of Scotland collection of old Ordnance Survey maps)
- www.kent.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/libraries/learning-reference-and-research/reference-and-research (KCC’s online library services- include access to newspapers archives such as the Times online, The Gale newspaper collection, the Dictionary of National Biography, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Who’s Who)
- www.kentarchives.org.uk/our-collections/ (Records available at Maidstone)
- http://archives.canterbury-cathedral.org (Home page of Canterbury Cathedral Archives. The catalogue search on this site is now separated from Kent County Council's archive search page. Thisis the old database which is not currently being updated as there is a new database due to be uploaded once testing is completed.)
- https://cityark.medway.gov.uk (Medway Archives website to browse Medway parish registers online)
- https://www.library.wales (National Library of Wales online collections)
- www.proni.gov.uk (Northern Ireland collections)
- https://nationalarchives.ie (Site for the 1901, 1911 and 1926 census returns)
- https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/ (Church of Ireland parish records and civil BMD)
- Registers.nli.ie (Catholic online registers at the National Library of Ireland)
- www.johngrenham.com (Irish Ancestors website- Place name search)
- www.townlands.ie (Easy to navigate site for maps of specific areas within parishes)
- Free websites and software for recording family trees:
https://www.rootsmagic.com/try/rootsmagic
https://legacyfamilytree.com (Legacy Family Tree software)
www.treeview.co.uk (30-day trial of the full programme, then it becomes the lite version) Plus free family trees on the major commercial websites
- www.familyhistoryfederation.com (Want to track down a society in the area where your ancestors came from? Looking for a speaker? This is the site to visit!)
Some website suggested by the audience
- https://bb.ringingworld.co.uk/ (Has a search function from about 1901 for people involved with bell ringing in the UK and parts of Australia.)
- https://francearchives.gouv.fr/en/article/267930110 (National Archives of France. Can search digitised records although the site is translated into English, names need to be searched under their French spelling).
- https://archive.org/details/registersofwallo05egli/page/n11/mode/2up (Transcribed registers of the Walloon church at Canterbury. Baptisms 1684-1837: Marriages 1583 -1678.)
Report by Tricia Baxter