Primary Genealogy Links

When I started my own tree in 2002, I had very limited resources, so avoided paying for anything if at all possible. My one luxury was a premium UK and Irish subscription to Ancestry. Although a fairly substantial investment, if it's a hobby you expect to pursue at some length, I find it's a worthwhile purchase - currently an annual subscription runs at just over £100 so, at a couple of quid a week, it's not an extortionate amount to pay for such a rewarding pastime.

 

I do now also hold a subscription for Find My Past. Though I don't find this search facility as user-friendly, I admit to being much more familiar with Ancestry's interface, but it also permits a range of cross-record search options, such as family members, and the keyword search is an absolute Godsend, allowing a basic name and county or town search. Find My Past permits very little in the general search across all records, which means the results are often too numerous. There is the option to refine the search in specific database results, but it's still very limited. The newspaper refined search option does allow keywords, but I would be much happier to see a keyword option in the primary search page.

The two sites double-up on a lot of databases, though Find My Past's census transcriptions do seem more accurate, I can usually find what I need in Ancestry, and will try Find My Past on the rare occasions I draw a blank on Ancestry after employing my usual tricks to bypass mistranscriptions.. What I use Find My Past for most at present is the Merchant Sailors' records, which Ancestry doesn't hold. Ancestry is also excellent for its Lancashire & Yorkshire records, especially Liverpool church records (including the previously elusive Catholic events). They also hold good London church records. Find My Past specialises on other datasets from other counties. Though these have proven less useful to me, it's worth researching what they hold if you're planning to choose one, as your area of interest and which site holds more of them could strongly influence your decision.

 

Both sites have a range of outbound and inbound passengers which are useful, and I have no reason to doubt that the coverage of these will further improve over the coming years. They also both have armed forces records, with Find My Past winning on the time periods covered. Find My Past also has some wonderful early probate summaries, including some full original wills and an ever-increasing collection of British newspapers. Ancestry offers scans of more recent probate records that provides death dates, addresses and names of executors (usually close relatives).

 

With a subscription to at least one of the above sites and a list of useful free sites, you have what you need to make good progress. When you meet brick walls, persistence with what you currently have often pays dividends, but you may occasionally have to resort to buying copies of certificates - as an indication of how often, I should share that in a tree of just over 13,000 people, I have probably bought less than 10 certificates - though often I have used Liverpool Record Office to obtain the same information, so I did invest some time and effort to avoid the certificate fee.

 

There are so many free records out there that are invaluable to the family historian, it would be impossible for me to get round to them all in one sitting, so I will add to this list as I go along, but here are the main ones I use on a regular basis (due to my areas of interest, you'll note a strong leaning to the excellent range of Lancashire resources, but I'll prioritise the general UK sites):

 

FreeBMD - This site is amongst the first offering really useful free information. It took some years for the volunteer contributors to complete the database, but it now holds the full national Birth, Marriage and Death indices for the UK from their introduction in July 1837 to the early 20th century. Though not entirely complete for later records, a great many run into the mid part of last century. This resource is invaluable for narrowing down event dates to a three month period (but be aware that a birth or death record occurring very close to the end of one quarter may have been recorded in the next, so a child born in late March may have been registered in the April-June quarter. In BMD records, the month listed refers to the 3 month period ending with that month, so the June Quarter covers events registered April 1st - June 30th.

 

FamilySearch - The original free genealogical resource. This is built upon the enormous database developed many years before the web by the Church of Latterday Saints called the IGI (International Genealogical Index). This contains mostly church records from across the globe, and covers a huge proportion of protestant records. Most church records don't survive (or weren't effectively kept in the first place) much before 1600 - in Britain, it wasn't until later in the reign of Elizabeth I that there was any effort by the state to ensure that family events were accurately recorded. the IGI has transcribed many of these. In addition, over recent years, the LDS site has added other types of records, anjd includes references to many census returns and other records. The only disadvantage is the there are standard details transcribed (family members named in the record and date & place of event), but many additional details are not transcribed, so where an address or father's occupation is also included in the original record, this won't show on the IGI. However, it's an excellent place to start, and will provide the church and date which will enable you to seek out the original for further information (from the local record office or one of the many LDS libraries around the world).

 

UKBMD - This site is searchable by county and provides information on what, if any, local BMD indeces are available online. Some UK counties are signed up to the UKBMD project and have their own searchable sites (LancashireBMD being one of them). I find the Lancashire site useful for searching marriages alongside the FreeBMD record. LancashireBMD provides only the year of the event, and rarely includes middle names (FreeBMD provides middle names for most years and the quarter year of the event). However, if the event took place in the established church, LancashireBMD will provide this (the statement "register office or registrar attended" means a civil ceremony or a place of worship where a registrar was required to issue the licence - such as a Catholic Church). The information from the two sites combined enables you to visit the local record office armed with a church and three month period to easily track down the church register, which includes the same information as the certificate.

 

Rootschat - This is a remarkable site which can be a lifeline for the foundering researcher, especially those new to the pastime. Here you can ask for help making sense of the records or ask for an occasional lookup (someone to check out resources you don't have access to). It's a voluntary cooperative of fellow researchers, and you'll find some very helpful people willing to offer their assistance for free. As a result, I would advise being prepared to return the favour. Though people will look up census returns through their subscriptions, if you know you'll want a lot, you may need to invest in a subscription yourself, rather than rely on the investment of others. I have often assisted others on this site, and those with Worldwide Ancestry membership have helped me out with non-UK records. As your skills and resources develop, I strongly recommend helping others out to return the favour and put something back into this wonderful community.

 

Google - I have to include the basic Google search (or other search engine of your choice) as a great way of getting past a hump in the road. When stuck, Googling a name and town can often turn up some interesting and informative results. Doing this has resulted in countless small, personal sites that contain parish transcriptions and even once threw up a book written about an ancestor, which opened a door to Scottish Kings, William the Conqueror and beyond.

Lancashire Online Parish Clerk Project - OK, here's where I indulge my Lancashire-centric leanings. This is a wonderful project and those of us with a plethora of Lancashire folk in our trees are incredibly lucky to have this resource. It's an ongoing project to transcribe (mostly) church records in the county. It's very easy to use and is absolutely free!

Should anyone require information or help on a particular resource, leave a comment and I'll work on a guide/tutorial.