« San Francisco to revise 1906 Quake Death Toll | Main | Pocket Genealogist version 2.93 »

January 27, 2005

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c767353ef00e55065e1fc8833

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference How About a British Genealogy Vacation?:

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Ellen Hackett

Just found this for first time and the newsletter was interesting. Please remember however that our cousins in America do not simply hail from ENGLAND. A large percentage are of Irish descent but they also have roots in Scotland and Wales. When recommending holidays for Genealogy purposes, please remember to direct them to Archives in Edinburgh for those of scottish roots and likewise for Welsh and Irish connections. Americans are already under the illusion the the United Kingdom is called England but the UK consists of 3 other countries who contributed to the U.S. blood pool.

E.A. Sloan

The Records Office also has nonconformist records dating before 1837. I was able to trace my Wyatt line back to the 1500's at this office. And using the PPC books I found wills of another line dating from the 1348 period. The Guildhall was also a great find and the people working there were most helpful...it is free! If you have Quaker ancestors the Quaker Library near King's Cross rail station is another great source, but be sure and make an appointment as they only have one or two readers and have a very limited open periods. If you plan to visit county records office also check web sites for open hours. I found taking the train to the towns was much better than trying to do the traffic roundabouts and stick to the "other side" of the road. Another souce: before I left the states, I checked websites for local historical societies and found the people there most helpful and very kind in getting me to the right place.

E.W.Wallace

Although it is great fun to do onsite research in England, one should know that the Family History Library in Salt Lake City is a great repository of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh records and some for all the rest of the UK (Channel Islands, for example). However, if the research is of recent vintage, I have found at least two county record offices most cooperative in conducting research for me--for a fee, of course. Each county record can be located on the web through what is called genuki [a URL, which is incomplete here). Then researcher should ask about records pertaining to the parish in which his ancestor lived and perhaps records for his occupation (beer sellers, for example). Also, the various county family history societies have some wonderful publications, such as monumental inscriptions, some census indexes, etc. Those walking distances between genealogical buildings in London are mighty far apart for a senior citizen--I know I walked several of these so-called blocks!!! E.W.Wallace

Alan Stewart

Don't forget that before you come over to Britain, you can do a lot of the preliminary work online. For England and Wales, there are several websites with census records: FamilySearch for the 1881 census (transcription), Ancestry.com for the 1881 and 1891 censuses (digitized images), with parts of the 1871 and 1901 censuses too. The 1901 census is also at www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Although the English and Welsh vital records are not online, you can find indexes to them at freebmd.rootsweb.com, www.familyrelatives.org, www.1837online.com, www.bmdindex.co.uk and www.ukbmd.org.uk. Having found the relevant reference number in one of these indexes, you can order the actual birth, marriage or death certificate at www.gro.gov.uk.

The IGI on FamilySearch indexes the baptisms and marriages in a large number of the English and Welsh church parish registers, and almost all of the Scottish ones. The earliest registers began in 1538 in England and 1553 in Scotland. The first 21 years of the Scottish vital records (1855-75) and first three years of the Irish ones (1864-1867) are also indexed in the IGI.

Digitized images of the Scottish vital records from 1855 (births up to 1904, marriages to 1929, and deaths to 1954), the Scottish censuses for 1881 (transcription), 1891 and 1901 (images), and indexes of the baptism and marriages in the Scottish parish registers are all online at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk.

Wills and administrations (where no will was made) for most of England and Wales are at www.documentsonline.nationalarchives.gov.uk, and for Scotland at www.scottishdocuments.com.

Griffith's Valuation of Ireland, which acts as a mid-19th century census substitute is online at www.irishorigins.com and www.otherdays.com (if OtherDays is still around).

Happy ancestor hunting!

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

Receive FREE daily newsletter updates by email

  • Enter your email address


    Click here to see a typical e-mail message you will receive.

    I promise that:

    1. I will never sell, rent, or give away your address to any outside party, ever;
    2. I will never send you any unrequested e-mail, besides newsletter updates; and
    3. All unsubscribe requests are honored immediately, period.

My Photo

Search This Site for Past Articles

Meet Dick Eastman in Person

November 2009

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30          

Amazon Kindle

Offers

Blog powered by TypePad

Amazon Picks

Receive daily newsletter updates by email

  • Enter your Email


    Preview

    (Don't worry, I hate spam as much as you do and you will be able to UNSUBSCRIBE within seconds at any time!)