Before you pack your bags, you should gather all the facts you can. Note your family traditions, and get as much information as possible from living relatives, family Bibles, and any papers that may have survived, particularly the dates and places of births, marriages, deaths, and details of occupations. A preparatory visit to a local library or Family History Center may uncover more helpful details. You may locate some census listings or vital records about the known family either online, on microfilm, or on microfiche. This will let you use your time in England for the bigger challenges.
In England, there are two major locations and hundreds of smaller ones where you can find records of genealogical interest. For records of 1837 and later, centralized indexes of births, marriages and deaths have been compiled by the General Register Office and the National Archives, both part of the United Kingdom government. Almost every individual in the country has been documented in these books, starting in 1837. The records are available to the public in large, handwritten books. You'll find these books at the GRO on 1 Myddleton Street in London. If you're not prepared to lift weighty volumes from shelves and back for several hours, you might prefer to seek out any transcribed summaries online or on microfiche or microfilm. Knowing the date and place of the event you're seeking will help you go right to the book you need. Once you find your ancestor's record, you can ask the General Register Office for a copy of the full original paper. Placing your request in person at the GRO will save you both time and money.
Once you've worked back to 1837, the real fun begins. The government did not keep track of births, marriages and deaths before 1837; so, these older records are not compiled in any one location. Fortunately, most churches religiously recorded christenings, marriages, and funerals. The local church may still have the original records, or they may have transferred them to a regional facility of some sort. Thanks to the efforts of the Society of Genealogists and many local genealogy societies, many of these records have been transcribed, and you can find them in book form as well as on microfilm, CD-ROM disks, and online. The next step is to locate the records you need.
The best place to start looking for these earlier records is in the library of the Society of Genealogists. This gem is located at Charterhouse Buildings, tucked into a cul-de-sac at the junction of Goswell Road and Clerkenwell Road in London. It is within walking distance of the Family Records Centre, the London Metropolitan Archive, and the Guildhall Library. It also is close to two stations of London's famous underground, or subway. You can reach this location within minutes from almost anyplace within metropolitan London.
The Society of Genealogists' library contains a wealth of material, including: compiled parish records from many churches throughout England, census records for all the British Isles, city directories, poll lists, school registers, lists of the landed gentry, wills, and much more. The same library is also equipped with computers you can use to view awide variety of records on CD-ROM as well as online resources.
The library is open to members and non-members alike. The fee for non-members varies from about $5.00 (U.S. money) for a 1 hour visit to roughly $20.00 for a full day. If you plan a multi-day visit, you may find it cheaper to join the society, which gives you unlimited free access to the library.
A day or two at the library of the Society of Genealogists is an excellent way to start your genealogy research in England. The education you get there will enable you to discover even more genealogy resources spread throughout the country.
You can fill any gaps in these details by searching the General Register Office records and finding as much additional information as possible about the family households and whereabouts from the Census Returns 1841-1891 at the Public Record Office. Some of these records have been indexed, which always speeds up your efforts. You can find many of these records on microfilm, which you can seek out in your pre-trip preparations.
If possible, you might also plan your vacation to England to include the Society of Genealogists' annual Family History Fair. This event is held on Saturday of the May Day weekend, a time when off-season discounted airfares are easy to find. Almost all the major genealogy vendors in England have stalls, or booths, at this event, as do most of the regional genealogy societies. Hundreds of books are available for sale, as well as computer CD-ROM disks and records on microfiche and microfilm. By attending the fair, you can examine the products before you buy. This is also a great place to pick up some tips for making your search easier and more productive; the Society of Genealogists staffs an "advice desk," with several of the best genealogists in England. They delight in giving advice on how to break through your "stone walls." Of course, the library at the Society of Genealogists is closed that weekend since the entire staff is working at the Family History Fair.
Every year, this Fair attracts attendees from the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as from all over the British Isles. I have been fortunate enough to attend this Fair several times and can vouch that it is a great event. You might want to plan on attending next year's Family History Fair in London on April 29, 2006.
You can find more information about the Society of Genealogists at: http://www.sog.org.uk
Once you've discovered your British ancestors' whereabouts, your trip can branch out to the county or shire where they lived. Be sure to check the location and address of the genealogical society for your destination shire. Even if you don't care to drive on the left side of the road or the right side of the car, you can take advantage of well-run trains and buses and see some lovely countryside as well.
With a little planning for your trip to England, you can pick up some souvenirs: a few postcards, a t-shirt, and even a few newly-discovered ancestors. There's no time like the present to start that pre-trip research. In fact, this might be a great time to contact your travel agent about a vacation you will never forget.
The title of the article is about British Genealogy, but the article seems to focus entirely on England. While I can't speak for Wales or Ireland, a trip "north of the border" to Edinburgh takes you to a great resource for Scottish genealogy at New Register House which holds all of the Scottish records.
Many of these records are available online from http://ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk/ so you don't "have" to go there, but a visit sure is worth the time.
Roger
Posted by: theKiwi | December 08, 2005 at 09:41 AM
My wife and I went to England several years ago. I knew that she wouldn't abide daylong trips to archives and libraries, so I developed an itinerary of towns and villages where our ancestors lived and combined it with more ususal tourist attractions along the route. I can't express how successful a trip it was. To see a memorial brass with one of your ancestors depicted and then to be shown the original 17th century parish register by the vicar was a never-to-be forgotten experience.
The added bonus of a trip such as this is that it takes you to places that few tourists ever visit. While departing from our B&B in Oxford, we were asked by the owner where our next stop would be. I told him that we were going to Marsh Gibbon, in Buckinghamshire. "Buckinghamshire?" he responded, "No one ever goes to Buckinghamshire. There's nothing to see there!" He was right about no tourists going there -- but we didn't miss the tour buses and mobs of people. He was wrong about there being nothing to see. We saw the house where my ancestor lived, had a very good lunch in a charming pub, and got a large dose of beautiful green countryside. It was a wonderful day, and a wonderful trip.
Posted by: Bill from Mill Valley | December 19, 2005 at 11:50 AM