Duckweeds Guide for Beginners

[duckweed]

Here is a guide for beginners based on my experience.

First gather as much family anecdotes previous addresses photos you can find. Then start by using a document birth marriage or death to start your search. Remember family stories may be faulty. I spent ages looking for a Scottish Ancestor who turned out to be born in Lancaster (his mother was Scottish.

If you can go to local Family History Centre (usually in a central library or local archive) do as you will get so much there free, even if your family comes from another county you will still have access to the GRO index (goverment Records Index) which list births marriages and deaths since 1837.

If you can't do this. Here are a few free sites to help you start your research but remember basing all your evidence on online sources alone is not advisable.

http://www.freebmd.org.uk
This lists births marriages and deaths from 1837 - 1910 , it will also give you a link to some census records improving but still patchy and parish records still patchy but worth looking at.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/Country/England.htm
These are Parish records and I have found them on the whole reliable but many records haven't been transcribed for various reasons so whole timescales are missed out and some towns.

http://www.nationaltrustsurnames.org.uk
This can tell you where most people with your family name were in 1881. Helps to find where your family originates from.

http://archivemaps.com/mapco/lewis/lewis.htm
Gives you views of old county maps helps you work out if the reason for differing birthplaces is because they are close together.

http://www.familysearch.org/ENG/search/frameset_search.asp

 

[duckweed]

continued
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordssearch/start.htm#start

These are Mormon sites like the IGI batch numbers but are much more unreliable though You can get 1881 census free on Family Search. By all means take note of what it says about family members but don't accept it as gospel till you have other sources to back you up.

http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd
This has a lot of the trade directories but isn't the easiest to search but I've found a number of relatives who are listed as farmers or Business men etc.

If you are searching Leeds and Sheffield I can give you a few more useful sites,

 

[laxdoc]

thanks for the sites. I am not happy with the Morman sites. A family member gave them info on family, but she flip-flop two sides of the family. I called her on it, so she sent a correction. the mormans have both records in their data base with the incorrect data taged as more correct as it is older.

 

[duckweed]

thanks for the sites. I am not happy with the Morman sites. A family member gave them info on family, but she flip-flop two sides of the family. I called her on it, so she sent a correction. the mormans have both records in their data base with the incorrect data taged as more correct as it is older.

This is why I say take them with a large pinch of salt. On the other hand I was lucky and found one family member had left contact details and we were able to exchange information. None of these sites stand up on their own. If you are in another country and can't get a look at the local archives ask someone here to look it up for you when they are going to the archives. If its only one item I'm sure they won't mind.
It's amazing what information you can get just by googling the family name and place. You may find other people searching the same family but remember not all researchers are thorough and their so called facts may not prove to be so.

 

[duckweed]

Just tested IGI batch numbers and it doesn't seem to be right.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers/CountryEngland.htm
Don't know if this will come through this time

 

[duckweed]

The National Trust surnames site isn't working when I click Try this
http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ and for some reason the family search addresses work for me but not from Family History.
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start
Sorry for the problems hope this has sorted them

 

[duckweed]

Here's some useful sites for those searching in the north of England
http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk/covers Leeds Hull and York
http://www.yorkshireindexers.co.uk/forums/ covers Leeds
http://www.sheffieldrecordsonline.org.uk covers mainly Sheffield but some Rotherham data
http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ for lancashire data
http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/
Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Projects has some very valuable parish records but does not cover all churches or all parish records for a particular church but often the parish records transcribed are more detailed than IGI

 

[duckweed]

sorry got gremlins Have tested all and only one faulty now except ordinary family search but if you just google family search you should get online.
http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk./

 

[leefer]

Well done,,,,good sites in fact so many Ducky they are driving me Quackers!
Will keep them tucked away for when i need them...regards Lee.

 

[duckweed]

I just thought it would be helpful particularily to overseas searchers who do not have money or access to local archives. I did a lot of my early research this way and then when I had a framework went over it all again to check it using several sources. Don't think because you have an unusual name in your family there couldn't be someone with exactly the same name in another part of the country. Check for local marriages and deaths to see if the person married or died near where they were born and the chances are the person with the same name across the country is just coincidence or at least not immediate family.