Census
Online: The 1901 British census was posted
on the internet on the 1st January 2001. The Public Record Office
says it will be invaluable for people all over the world who want
to trace their British ancestors. Margaret Brennand, from the Public
Record Office, said: "A huge amount of work has gone into taking
the original census forms, scanning them, creating digital images
and a comprehensive index to enable people to search for more than
32 million individuals living in England and Wales in 1901."
The database also includes details of over 6 million properties. A
basic search of the site will be free of charge but to download a
census image will cost 75p per page. The
initiative is part of the PRO's wider effort, Census Online, which
aims to digitise all the earlier censuses before 1901.
Family
Search: Maintained
by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, this is a massive
resource for anyone studying family history. As well as providing
access to over 600 million names via the International Genealogical
Database, it includes church, census, legal and military records.
The website also provides a very good online research guide on searching
for your ancestors.
Victorian
Census Project: The Victorian Census Project at Staffordshire
University aims to computerize source documents relating to Great
Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth century. These sources include
nineteenth century census abstracts, vital registration statistics,
returns of the Poor Law Commissioners, agricultural statistics and
crime statistics. The unit is also adding the Pigot's and Slater's
Topographies of Great Britain and Ireland.
Family
Tree Searcher: This free service makes your search for family
trees on the Internet easier. Once you've entered your family information,
you won't need to enter it again. You can then search multiple web
sites from this web site. When you go to this site, be sure to use
the Active Searches page. It allows you to save up to ten ancestors
for repeated searching. This helps you check sites every so often
to see if any new family trees are available. You can do this checking
quickly without having to re-enter ancestor information.
Origins:
This website offers the opportunity for users to view and order British
primary source data online including births, marriages, deaths and
wills, dating from the 1550's to 1925. Origins is the exclusive online
publisher of the records from the General Register Office for Scotland,
and the prestigious Society of Genealogists in London, England. Unlike
many commercial genealogy databases, Origins does not force its customers
into a monthly or annual subscription charge. Instead, it offers a
simple, secure, and affordable pay-per-view mechanism.
Genealogy:
Advice for Effective Searches: Answer a series of simple questions
at this site and get free, customized advice on the most effective
next steps in your genealogy search. If you are not sure how to use
certain records, this site also provides hints on how to use the records
recommended for your search plan. This unique feature starts with
what you know and provides ideas on what you might do and where you
might look in order to develop your search more fully. If you are
new to investigating your ancestry, this will be helpful in getting
a positive start. If you have been working on your family history
for some time, this can help you get some new ideas to move further
in your research.
Commonwealth
War Graves Commission:
The Commonwealth
War Graves Commission (CWGC) was established in
1917. Its duties involve marking and maintaining the graves of the
members of the forces of the Commonwealth who were killed in the two
World Wars. The CWGC is also responsible for keeping records of those
who lost their lives and over the years has become an important source
of information
for those carrying out historical research. The CWGC has now made
this material available on the Internet. It is now possible to obtain
details of the rank, regiment, date and burial of all members of the
armed forces killed in the First
World War.
Ancestry:
The Ancestry website now has a collection of new databases with family
names. To date, Ancestry has (last name) names in over 3000 databases.
This includes the
1850 Federal Census Index, the American Civil War Soldiers database,
the Gene Pool Database, the Biography & Genealogy Master Index
(BGMI) and the Social Security Death Index. The Ancestry website is
currently offering a 14 day free trial.
Burke's
Landed Gentry Ireland: The 19th Edition of Burke's Landed Gentry,
Vol. 2, features Irish records. The online version features the significant
non-titled land owners in Ireland and their family histories, most
of which stretch back many centuries. Many of the individuals recorded
held senior military and political posts, and owned some of Ireland's
major castles and stately homes. They were the influential people
who shaped and contributed to Ireland's heritage. The launch of this
online collection is backed by articles and useful resources, and
is therefore a key website to anyone interested in Irish nobility
and family history.
Origin
Search: Origin Search allows searching, via a single search request,
of millions of web pages containing genealogy data. By entering a
surname, and any other relevant information such as forename, year,
place of birth, residence, the search engine will link you directly
to sites where that name and information appears. Origin Search is
not an interface for databases, but a specialised genealogical search
engine saving users time and ensuring that they find information which
may not be found on other general search engines. This search engine
currently covers over 300 million names from around the world.
Family
Records: This website helps you to find the government records
and other sources you need for your family history research. The site
is divided into two main sections: Topics and Partners. In the topics
section you will find information on Births, Marriages & Deaths,
Census, Immigration, Emigration, Military Records and Adoption. In
the partners section, you will find information on each member of
the Family Records consortium.
Digital
Library of Historical Directories: The University of Leicester's
New Opportunities Fund project is creating a digital library of eighteenth,
nineteenth and early twentieth century local and trade directories
from England and Wales. Directories of counties and towns are among
the most important sources for local and genealogical studies. They
include lists of names, addresses and occupations of the inhabitants
of the counties and towns they describe, and successive editions reflect
the changes in the localities over a period of time. High quality
digital reproductions of a large selection of these comparatively
rare books, previously only found in libraries and record offices,
will be freely available online to anyone with an Internet connection.
There is also a powerful search engine available so that names, occupations,
addresses and other key words or phrases can be located to their exact
places on pages within the text. Those who will reap the benefit of
these historical sources include not only academic local, economic
and social historians, but also school students, amateur genealogists
and members of the public. Particular target audiences will be school
students, University students of history, family history societies
and researchers working on their own.
North
East History: This is the place to visit for information about
the history, legends, dialect, songs, place names and famous people
of the North East of England and Yorkshire. This website was developed
and designed by David Simpson, author of The Millennium History of
North East England. If you are looking for a place in the Tees to
Tweed region (Northumberland and County Durham) visit The North East
Map and click on the locality of your interest. Visit The Yorkshire
Map for the Tees to Humber region. Roots of the Region has lots of
information on the origins of Dialects and Place Names, many of which
go back to Anglo-Saxon and Viking times. Other important pages include
Border History, Christian History, The Kingdom of Northumbria, Coal
Mining and Railways, Industrial Pioneers and Legends, Songs and Poems.
Important towns and cities covered by this website include Newcastle
upon Tyne, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham, Leeds, York, Sheffield
and Hull.
Census
Data for Essex and Suffolk:
This website incorporates census data, family trees, wills, christening
and marriage data of Essex and Suffolk parishes. Research, so far,
includes 1841 census information for Doddinghurst, Navestock, Blackmore,
Stondon, South Weald, Warley and more; where descendants farmed the
land prior to cheaper American grain imports leading to migration
into the towns. The
website focuses on Doddinghurst, a place where the 450 inhabitants
in 1841 branch out into many smaller family trees, and often there
are many links between the neighbouring families.
Murder
Research: Serious crime down through the ages has affected every
class of family. Today genealogists are more interested than ever
to find out the facts behind a story, legend or suspicion that has
either been passed down through the generations or has recently been
uncovered. Anyone who participates in family history or historic research
is aware that murder - or at least serious crime - has been a fact
of life down through the centuries. There is a very high possibility
that a member of your family at sometime during the past few hundred
years was involved in a criminal activity, either as the victim or
the criminal. The good news is that there is an equally high chance
that the crime was reported in the newspapers creating an opportunity
to learn more about the person you are researching. The press, particularly
in days gone by, are extremely revealing and a fantastic source of
information. Murder Research is an online historic murder research
service for history explorers worldwide.
Chartist
Ancestors: Millions
of people signed the three great Chartist petitions of 1839 to 1848.
Thousands were active in those years in the campaign to win the vote,
secret ballots, and other democratic rights that we now take for granted.
Chartist Ancestors is a resource for family historians and others
with an interest in the Chartist movement of the 19th century. It
lists the names of those involved in Chartist organisations, and those
arrested and charged for their activities. Where names are provided,
the site also seeks to place the events in context.
Durham
County Record Office: This website contains a wealth of detail
about the archives we care for and information about local and family
history. You can search the database, which contains all of the catalogues,
and you can access images online. One section of the website, The
Learning Zone, is aimed specifically at schools. Images of documents
are presented, with supporting commentary, teachers' notes and suggested
classroom activities, linked to the National Curriculum. At the moment,
there is only one topic, The Story of Jimmy Durham, a Sudanese soldier
who was raised by and served with the Durham Light Infantry, with
activities particularly for History and Citizenship aimed at Key Stage
3 pupils. The next planned topic is about the Holocaust.
Online
History Detective: If you are interested in tracing the history
of your house, or indeed any building in your town or village, this
site has been designed for you! Inspired by the BBC TV series 'The
House Detectives' and based on a new book on the subject, Tracing
the History of Your House, this website will provide you with realistic
and practical advice about house history research and how to start
researching, with online assistance if you require further advice.
It will also help with Architectural History and property history
research in general.
Scotlands
People: Containing nearly 40 million records, the Scotlands People
database is one of the world’s largest resources of genealogical
information and one of the largest single information resources on
the Web. It provides a fully searchable index of Scottish births from
1553-1903, marriages from 1553 to 1928 and deaths from 1855 to 1953.
In addition, indexed census data is available from 1881 to 1901. To
respect privacy of living people, internet access has been limited
to birth records over 100 years old, marriage records over 75 years,
and death records over 50 years. From the results of an index search
made on this site you may view, save and print images of many of the
original documents, and order extracts of any register entries of
interest.
Family
Records: This is the government's gateway to official websites
for British genealogy. The site is divided into two main sections:
Topics and Partners. In the topics section you will find information
on Births, Marriages & Deaths, Census, Migration etc. In the partners
section, you will find information on each member of the Family Records
consortium (British Library, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Family
Records Centre, Imperial War Museum, National Archives, etc.). The
website also contains explanations of the main types of public record
and details of how and where to access them.
RootsWeb:
The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb is to connect people
so that they can help each other and share genealogical research.
Most resources on RootsWeb are designed to facilitate such connections.
The quickest way to make progress in genealogical research is to connect
with someone who is further along or is more experienced than you
are. One way of doing this is to join a mailing list. A mailing list
is simply an e-mail party line: every message that a list subscriber
sends to the list is distributed to all other list subscribers. There
are more than 28,247 genealogy-related mailing lists on RootsWeb covering
surnames, countries and regions, ethnic groups, and other topics.
Another possibility is to post a message to a message board. There
are more than 132,000 message boards on RootsWeb related to surnames,
localities, and other topics. By posting a message to the appropriate
message board, you create a record through which other researchers
can find you.
Sheffield
General Cemetery: Within
this website you will find information about the history of the cemetery
and the people buried there. There is a timeline exploring key events
linked to the Cemetery and a database of burial records, images and
historical documents. Gary Clemitshaw, a PGCE history tutor at the
University of Sheffield School of Education, has created a five-lesson
sequence using the location and history of the cemetery as a resource
for history, citizenship and ICT.
Family
History Research Guide: If you are new to doing family history,
this Family Search guide will help you start. It provides copies of
Pedigree Charts and Family Group Records forms. It also provides a
Personal Ancestral File, a family history computer program available
free on this site, to help you keep track of your information. The
website also includes 957 million records relating to family history.
This includes 100 million that relate to the British Isles, including
several baptismal registers and the England and Wales 1881 census
index.
1837
Online: On this site you will find the entire copy of the indexes
of Birth, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales from 1837 to
the present day. You will need to download special software to view
images. The website charges £5 for 50 page images. It also offers
advice on how to find information on divorce records, adoption records,
birth, marriage & death certificates, parish registers, wills
& probate and how to trace living relatives.
Online
English Names Research Directory: This website provides a large
collection of English surnames being researched by family historians.
Names are listed alphabetically by country and dates are given for
the period being researched. The website includes contact details
of family historians researching the same surname. You can also upload
your own details to the directory. This site is especially useful
if you have an uncommon surname.
Irish
Genealogy: If you've ever thought of tracing your Irish roots,
you're not alone; world-wide, there are an estimated 60 million people
who claim Irish ancestry. Irish Genealogy has been established to
co-ordinate the Irish Genealogical Project, a unique undertaking that
helps you find answers to the questions you have about your Irish
roots. What makes the Irish Genealogical Project unique is that it
embraces the whole of the island of Ireland, and is supported by Government
agencies. Partners in the project include the three most prestigious
family history and genealogical research associations in Ireland (The
Irish Family History Foundation, The Association of Professional Genealogists
in Ireland and The Association of Ulster Genealogists and Record Agents).
Archives
in Focus: Established in 1869 by Royal Warrant, the Historical
Manuscript Commission (HMC) is the principal source of information
on the nature and location of records and a leading source of advice
on matters relating to them. HMC is the UK's central advisory body
on archives and manuscripts relating to British history. The Archives
in Focus website is an introduction to archives. It includes information
on online archival resources designed for teachers, practical advice
on what can be expected and what you may find when you visit a record
office and guidance on how archives can be used for family, local
and house history.
Do
you want to have your website listed in our web directory? If so,
send a brief description (about 150 words) and the URL to spartacus@pavilion.co.uk.
