to family and for family history research
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The following sites are the most useful we have found for researching into family history or history in general and into the background. They are all very big sites and regularly updated and all of them have links to other sites. If you are unable to find any of them do let us know - people do change their addresses sometimes!
IGI and Family Files
(including Copes, submitted by Garry) on the FamilySearch site. Look for entries from parish records and other sources here but remember the details are only from copies and therefore subject to error. If important always check from the original records!- Births, Marriages and Deaths
Free BMD is not complete but has millions of entries and gives references so that certificates can be obtained easily from registration offices. 1837online is complete from Sep 1837, when registration began, almost to the present. Payment is for copies of the actual register entries. There are also now several other firms offering similar services such as Ancestry. For births from parish records before registration began there was littl available until recently except from from the IGI and of course the various mf or printed copies in local offices or at LDS Family History Centres, or printed register books for purchase or in local libraries. There are now at least two other sources. The Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) is publishing its own results of members research online at Family History Online and entries rarely cost more than 5p or so to download. There is also the FreeReg website run entirely by volunteers and free. This should begin to grow rapidly as the other projects FreeBMD and FreeCen near completion. (All three are always looking for more volunteers with an hour or so to spare - at home - in a week!)
- Census records
The original single CD of the 1851 census for the counties of Devon, Norfolk and Warwick, produced by the LDS church is still excellent value, second only to the 25 CDs of the 1881 census for which it was a pilot. These two are fully searchable both by name and place which is not the case for most other census CDs which are not searchable by name. The 1881 census is now online (and it's free). A very large number of the other censuses are now available on CD, (lists being printed in adverts in the family history magazines) and some are also now (2005) appearing on various pay-to-view sites such as Ancestry and 1837online. There is also the FreeCen project which relies on voluntary help and has in some instances produced complete results for some counties, such as for 1891 in Devon and Cornwall. See FreeCen itself for a report on progress.
Public Record Office
The Record Office at Kew can be explored on PRO Lots of information, special pages for children and schools, up-to-date topics, links, all PRO leaflets (otherwise only obtainable by going to Kew) and the 1901 census (with free index). The records at Kew are among the most important in the country - miles and miles of public archives and documents all carefully indexed and preserved. (They now also run guided tours and various courses - you can read all about them here) Other departments are the A2A which locates documents in record offices around the country, Documents Online and the CWGC with its lists of those who died in WW1 and WW2 both in action and in raids at home.Genealogy UK and Ireland
This site, Genuki, a genealogical forum for the UK and Ireland, is run by volunteers. It has been going for a number of years and was developed as a 'linking' system for all local record offices, local societies and just about every other history society. One very useful service to watch out for is the Look-up Exchange where volunteers offer to find information for you from a variety of local (county) sources with advice on how to submit requests. (There's scope for helping with this too!)Cyndislist
Everyone recommends Cyndislist and it really is invaluable. There are articles and links for beginners and plenty for the more experienced researcher. You can also meet the family on Cyndi's homepage! Cyndi and Mark Howell have both written books on family history and on the web - and have hundreds of useful links. A great site.Joe Houghton
Another very good (home-based) friendly site is Joe Houghton's - JHoughton - with lots more links. Joe Houghton has also written books, like "Computing for Genealogists" and has articles on every related subject on his pages.Our parish
We also run a website for Our Lady & St Edward's church. Of interest to family and friends are the many photos of walks and holidays included. The Site Map has links to every page.