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The following URLs are those I use most frequently for research of my relatives in the UK (in general), Lancashire, Cheshire, Caernarvonshire, Anglesey, Devon, Cornwall, Cumbria (Cumberland), Shropshire, and the borders area of Scotland (Selkirkshire and Dumfries-shire), together with programs, webinars, and blogs I like.
See also Regional Links, Miscellaneous Links, Webinar Links, Useful FamilySearch.org URLs, Family History Societies, Blogs & Mailing Lists, and Surname Page Links
Category | Website | Payment | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Records/Sources | Ancestry | Subscription | World subscription also gives access to Ancestry.co.uk (and other regional sites). Although initially it sounded expensive, it is the most comprehensive of all the websites and excellent value. ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. In addition to the records, there is a huge number of family trees available, which can provide clues to relatives. |
Find My Past (UK) | Subscription | In addition to 1841-1911 censuses (and the 1881 Census is FREE for everyone) and birth/marriage/death indices, has parish records (including those for Devon where my Beer family originates) plus marriage bonds from Lancashire/Cheshire not available on Ancestry.com, travel, and other miscellaneous records. Complementary to Ancestry.com, easier for certain searches, and I use both ALL THE TIME – each has pluses and minuses. FindMyPast is the only site where you can search on Address and Occupation on the census records (occupation not available for 1841 and 1871). Also useful to have a second comprehensive website for finding records that have been transcribed incorrectly on Ancestry. Also has a World subscription, but (in my opinion), that's not worth having. | |
The Genealogist | Subscription (various packages) | Has British genealogy records (and I think a few Australian and New Zealand) that aren't available elsewhere, such as Non-Conformist records. Is now adding many Parish records, but I'm not sure how exclusive these are. See Complete List of Records for the full content available (at the highest subscription level) and List of Parish Records that are (or will be) covered. NOTE TO SELF: Check for availability of Parish records and consider another subscription. | |
General Register Office (England and Wales) | Pay-per-certificate (£9.95 each) | The way to obtain birth, marriage, and death registrations (the "certificates") in the UK, which were required from Jul 1837 onwards (although not always registered, especially early on). Unfortunately there is no option to have an electronic image (paper copy is mailed). Certificates (including electonic versions) are available for a fee via Ancestry, but they are much more expensive. I have bought all available BMD certificates for my direct-line relatives in the UK, although I can't locate a few – am happy to share these with others who are related. | |
Scotlands People | Pay for credits | The only way to obtain the original records from Scotland (the actual censuses, birth/marriage/death information, and wills/probate). Although pay-per view, it is inexpensive and allows some searches without any payment. ESSENTIAL for Scottish records and because of the Old Parish Registers, may provide information back to the 1500's. | |
Family Search | Free | The genealogy website for the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS; Mormon Church), which has the largest collection of genealogy records in the world. Most of the records available on-line are transcripts, but some images are also available – images not available on-line are available on microfiche (free) at LDS Family History Centers (I really must go to one!). See List of Historical Record Collections for what is available, which can be filtered by location, type of record, and date. | |
FreeREG | Free | FreeREG is a database of Parish REGisters. Allows searches of indexes of baptism (>13 million), marriage (>4 million), and burial (>9 million) records that have been transcribed from parish and non-conformist registers of the UK. More are being added continuously. Although records aren't available to view, it provides useful information for genealogy research, especially when the actual Parish registers aren't available on-line – and witnesses at marriages are also indexed. Companion project to FreeBMD and FreeCEN (below). | |
FreeBMD | Free | FreeBMD is a database of Births, Marriages, Deaths of the GRO (General Register Office of England and Wales – see above) from 1837. More are being added continuously. See instructions Here for how to view the original image. Companion project to FreeREG (above) and FreeCEN (below). | |
FreeCEN (Census) index | Free | FreeCEN is a database of the CENsuses of 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 of England and Wales. More records are being added continuously. Companion project to FreeREG and FreeBMD (above). | |
Lancashire OPC | Free | OPC = Office of Parish Clerks. A great, free, website providing transcripts of Lancashire records from the LDS, including details not available (e.g., Father's Occupation, Abode, Witnesses, etc.) on FamilySearch, and information on the various churches. | |
Cornwall OPC | Free | Similar to Lancashire OPC but for Cornwall. | |
Find A Grave | Free | A website where kind souls across the world upload information (often including images) of gravestones (over 100 million to date). If you know that there is a gravestone in a particular cemetery, you can put in a request for someone who is based locally to take a photo of the gravestone. This is a wonderful resource. | |
Commonwealth War Graves Commission | Free | Commemoration of the 1,700,000 people of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. Photographs of individual graves are available for a small charge at the War Graves Photographic Project. | |
Origins.net National Wills Collection | Pay for credits | The National Wills Index is the largest online resource for pre-1858 English probate material, containing indexes, abstracts and source documents, most not available anywhere else online. Also check Wills and Probate Research Guides and Pre-1858 Probate Jurisdictions: Where to Look for Wills. | |
British Newspaper Archive | Various packages | Digitization program from the British Library. The largest collection of British newspapers on-line. Also available with FindMyPast subscription. | |
National Archives (UK) On-line | Free searches – downloads for a fee | Only ~5% of The National Archives’ records have been digitised – continuing to put records online. Available to view in person for no charge. | |
Historical Directories (UK) | Free | Has recently changed. The previous website (referenced on the new one) was useful, but rather awkward to do searches, so I'm hoping this new website is easier to work with. | |
Cyndi's List | Free | "A comprehensive, categorized & cross-referenced list of links that point you to genealogical research sites online." | |
Key Information | GENUKI (UK & Ireland Genealogy) | Free | "A virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland" – pretty much everything you need to know. |
FamilySearch Research Wiki | Free | Obtain research advice, or learn where to find record collections in over 75,000 articles, including those from England, Wales, Scotland, and Isle of Man. | |
Software, etc. | Family Tree Maker | Fixed cost (inexpensive) | SYNCHRONIZES with and allows copy of Ancestry family tree to be stored on your laptop, including all the records (even if Ancestry subscription is not maintained). Although I tend to use Ancestry to add individuals, information, and records to my family tree, Family Tree Maker allows for searching for, filtering, and creation of Charts and Reports not possible on Ancestry. |
Transcript | Freeware | A great little program, designed to help you to transcribe the text on digital images of documents. Free for non-commercial use, but there is an inexpensive (€15) registered version with additional program features, which I may go ahead and purchase. | |
Parish Locator (UK) | Freeware | Really helpful program allowing a list of parishes to be supplied within a user-defined radius. | |
Ancestry Family Search Extension | Freeware | An extension for the Chrome browser, which takes the key information from an Ancestry Family Tree person page and searches FamilySearch using those details | |
Roots Search Extension | Freeware | An extension for the Chrome browser allowing you to search for matching records on other genealogy sites when viewing an ancestor in an online tree or a record from a genealogy website – it saves having to retype everything | |
23++ Chrome Extension | Freeware | An extension for the Chrome browser, which adds functionality to 23andMe | |
Training | Ancestry.com webinars | Free | ~30 min presentations on a variety of genealogy topics (mostly relevant to the US, but translatable to the UK) @ 10:00 Pacific Time (13:00 Eastern Time) on Tuesdays and Thursdays (Ancestry.com). Also available after the event on YouTube–Ancestry. |
Legacy Family Tree Webinars | Free (within ~7 days) | 60-90 min webinars, generally once a week @ 11:00 Pacific Time (14:00 Eastern Time) on Wednesdays and some Fridays. Free when viewed live and for about 7 days afterwards. | |
Webinar & Tutorial Links | Also see Webinar & Tutorial Links for more. | ||
Blogs | Blogs and Mailing Lists | See Blogs and Mailing Lists for blogs I subscribe to |
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Page updated 22 April 2014 |