Family History

General

A2A - Access to Archives
Access to Archives enables you to search catalogues from archives throughout England. You can search for any term, including names of individuals. On the search page, click 'Help' to read how to search most effectively.
http://www.a2a.org.uk/

Ancestry Library Edition
Available free in Bedfordshire libraries. Click the link or the logo at the top of the 'Local and family history A-Z' page. To see a list of UK records, at the home page click 'Search' tab, then scroll down and under 'Browse by location' click 'UK and Ireland', then click the required country. At the list of records, click the 'View all...' link under each category
http://www.galaxy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/ webingres/ bedfordshire/ vlib/ 0.local_studies/ local_studies_a_z.htm

Ancestry.com
Search census records, parish and probate records, civil registration records, directories and many other databases. You can also view and share family trees online, take part in a 'message board' and download charts and forms. To see a list of UK records, at the home page click 'Search' tab then scroll down and under 'Browse by location' click 'UK and Ireland' then click the required country. At the list of records, click the 'View all...' link under each category
http://www.ancestry.com

Archon
Includes contact details for record repositories in the UK and for certain overseas repositories.
http://www.archon.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ archon

Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA)
Includes directory of professional researchers who abide by the association's code of conduct.
http://www.agra.org.uk

British Genealogy.com
Click 'Resources' for useful guides to major types of resource, for example parish registers, censuses, gravestone inscriptions.
http://www.british-genealogy.com

British Origins
Online records including England and Wales Gazetteer maps, Boyd's marriage records, English census records, burial records, court depositions, apprenticeship records, wills and more.
http://www.britishorigins.com/

BritishIslesGenWeb
A site made up of sites for each country and region of the British Isles. Each country site links you to county sites. This site is part of WorldGenWeb, a volunteer-based project.
http://www.britishislesgenweb.org/

BT Archives
Details of access to the archive in London of telephone directories dating from 1880.
http://www.btplc.com/ Thegroup/ BTsHistory/ BTgrouparchives/ index.htm

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
An extensive list of links to sites worldwide.
http://cyndislist.com

Electoral Registers at the British Library
A guide to the electoral registers held at the British Library's Social Policy Information Service. Includes an explanation of the content and history of electoral registers.
http://www.bl.uk/ collections/ social/ spis_er.html

Every Generation
"The online community resource to the black community" with family history and history resources.
http://www.everygeneration.co.uk/

Familia
Details of genealogical resources held in public libraries. For each library authority it details the libraries with the main collections, and their holdings of each type of resource, eg parish registers, census records.
http://www.familia.org.uk/

Family History and Genealogy Resources
Links to web sites and articles. At 'Expert links - England' there is a list of many databases and web sites enabling you to see quickly which are free and which are not
http://pricegen.com/ resources.htm

Family History Online
On-line records compiled by Family History Societies. Indexes (or fuller details of the entries) for baptisms, marriages, burials,monumental inscriptions, and census returns
http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/

FamilyRecords.gov.uk
Guide to government records and other sources. See especially the 'Topics' section for details of birth, marriage and death certificates, religious records, censuses, wills, immigration, emigration, military records and adoption. See 'Guides' section for beginner's guide to family history and other information. and links to major non-official sites.
http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk

FamilyRelatives
Includes births marriages and deaths indexes, selected parish records and miltary records.
http:/// www.familyrelatives.org

Familysearch
You can search millions of names on this site, which is produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Includes the IGI (International Genealogical Index), the 1881 British Census, and much more.You can find the nearest Family History Centre, run by the Church, by clicking the 'Library' tab.
http://www.familysearch.org

Federation of Family History Societies
Includes full text of leaflets to help with your research.
http://www.ffhs.org.uk

Findmypast.com
A range of original records for searching and viewing. Includes births, marriages and deaths indexes, selected censuses, death duty registers, divorces records and some passport applications. Also has a 'Living relatives' database that includes electoral roll searches
http://www.findmypast.com/

Genes Reunited
Add your family tree, search for lost relatives and discover your ancestors
http://www.genesreunited.co.uk

Genuki
The main gateway site to sources for the UK and Ireland with links to gateways for worldwide information. An entry point to a vast amount of information.
http://www.genuki.org.uk

Helpers (Higher Education Libraries in your PERsonal history reSearch)
A guide to using the resources held in London University's libraries and archives for family and local history research. Includes descriptions of relevant archival and manuscript collections, special tutorials and introductions to higher education libraries and archives, details of access arrangements and digitised examples of the material described
http://helpers.shl.lon.ac.uk/

Hertfordshire Names Online
Search for names in the local and family history indexes of Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies service
http://www.hertsdirect.org/ libsleisure/ heritage1/ HALS/ indexes/

Historical Directories
A digital library of eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth century local and trade directories from England and Wales. This is a project on progress being carried out by the University of Leicester.
http://www.historicaldirectories.org/

Immigrant Servants Database
Aims to identify all immigrants who went to America and are described in American and European sources as indentured servants, convict servants and redemptioners from 1607 to 1820
http://immigrantservants.com/

Medieval Genealogy
Very informative site for medieval genealogy and related historical topics.
http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk

Moving Here
Online resources that record and illustrate the migration of Caribbean, Irish, South Asian and Jewish people to England over the past two centuries. Includes a 'Roots Gallery' giving guides to tracing ancestors.
http://www.movinghere.org.uk

Name Thesaurus
A technology for finding surname and forename variants
http://www.namethesaurus.com/

National Archives
Click the 'Family History' link for beginners' guides and online documents. For a long list of detailed guides on a wide range of subjects, click 'Index to research guides' under the 'Getting started',menu option.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

National Archives: Change of Name Research Guide
Detailed information about recent and historical records. Only in a small percentage of cases is there a central record of changes of name by deed poll or otherwise.
http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=176

Origins.net
You can search online databases of major records and see results for a small fee. Origins.net links you to 'English Origins', 'Irish Origins' and 'Scottish Origins' and also includes 'Origin Search', a specialist search engine which crawls the web specifically for genealogical information.
http://www.origins.net/

Parish Finder
You can find the location of a parish, calculate distances between parishes and list all parishes within a specified distance of any parish.
http://www.parishfinder.co.uk/

Proceedings of the Old Bailey
A fully searchable digitised collection of all surviving editions of the Old Bailey Proceedings from 1674 to 1834. This is 'the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court'.The site also includes historical background and information about associated records (other books and documents about crimes tried at the Old Bailey).
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org

Roots Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
Dictionary of many common terms found in genealogy work, mainly taken from standard sources
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ ~randyj2222/ gendict.html

Society of Genealogists
Details of the society, including access to, and holdings of, its library (in London), in particular the list of countrywide parish registers held there.
http://www.sog.org.uk

The Genealogist
Includes birth, marriage and death indexes, censuses, parish records indexes, directories, land owner records, wills and testaments and Knights of England
http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk

WorldGenWeb
A site made up of regional and country websites. Select a country to see national and local information resources. All the country web sites have a system for submitting surname queries. Many also have free email lists. This is a volunteer-based project.
http://www.worldgenweb.org

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Page last updated: 2 December 2008