STARTING GENEALOGY

Searching for your ancestors must begin with what you know!

Collect all the family documents you can and question your relatives: the older ones may know about letters, diaries, papers and dated photographs, while, if you are lucky, the Family Bible will have vital dates. They may be able to estimate ages and suggest locations, even if they cannot give exact details of births, marriages and deaths. Every fact and its source should be noted, as well as vague remarks which can prove unexpectedly useful at a later stage (such as 'that was before the war', 'she was grey at your aunt's wedding', '1 believe an elder brother lived on the south coast and went to Australia or New Zealand').

The further back you get, the more scanty such information will become in most if not all lines. Therefore, while you are visiting older members of the family (and recording what you learn about each relative on a separate card or page of a loose-leaf notebook), it will be necessary for you to read about the next steps. Of the many books of advice, the following are suggested: A J Camp, First steps in family history (Society of Genealogists, 1998); J Cole & J Titford, Tracing your family tree (Countryside Press, 1998); The dictionary of genealogy T V H Fitzhugh, revised S Lumas, A & C Black, London 1998). You may want to buy at least one of these, but may first like to borrow from a library (1ook at the end of the biography shelves).

From such publications you will learn that for births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1 July 1837, details of names, dates, ages, addresses and occupations can be obtained by visiting the Family Records Centre, 1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW (Phone: (020) 8392 5300 to check opening times). Here you may search the quarterly indexes of births, marriages and deaths without charge. However, the full connecting information is only available in the form of a certificate and each certificate costs £6.50 and takes four days to prepare. If there is more than one likely entry in the indexes for the event you require you may ask for each to be checked against a known fact (e.g. exact date of birth or name of father). If an entry does not agree with the facts you have given £3 is then returned to you. Copies of the indexes are available in some libraries on microfilm or microfiche; there are sets at the Society of Genealogists 1837-1920. Certificates may be obtained by post (from General Register Office, Postal Applications Section, Smedley Hydro, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale, Southport PR8 2HH) but cost £11 unless the exact reference from the indexes is known, when the charge is £8.

For such events in Scotland from 1855, apply to the Search Unit, New Register House, Edinburgh EH1 3YT (open Mon-Thur 9-4.30, Fri 9-4). There are copies of the indexes 1855-1920 on microfilm at the Society of Genealogists in London and on the Internet (Births and marriages 1855-1897 only) via the General Register for Scotland web site (http://www.origins.net); there is a charge of £6.00 for a 24 hour search period. The address for Northern Ireland events from 1922 is General Register Office, 49-55 Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4HL; earlier certificates and those for the rest of Ireland from 1864 (and Protestant marriages from 1845) can be obtained from the General Register Office, 8-11 Lombard Street East, Dublin 2, Eire.

Once you know the locations of some relatives a hundred or more years ago, you can consult the official Census returns for 1891, 1881, 1871, 1861 & 1851, which record the members of each household, their relationship to its head, ages, occupations and birthplaces. The 1841 Census is also available, but is less informative. Microfilms of census returns are often held by County Record Offices and City Libraries: a complete set for England and Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands can be seen without charge at the Family Records Centre, 1 Myddelton Street, London EClR 1UW. The Scottish returns for 1841 to 1891 are available at New Register House, off Princes Street, Edinburgh, where a fee is charged. The first complete Irish census extant is that for 1901, which, with that for 1911, can be seen at the National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 7, Eire.

Much useful information can be gleaned from wills and administrations, copies of which for England and Wales back to 1858 may be seen and photocopies obtained (£5.00 each) at the Principal Registry of the Family Division, First Avenue House, 42-49 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NP (open Mon-Fri 10-4.30). Photocopies (£2 each) may be obtained by post from York Probate Sub-Registry, Duncombe Place, York YO1 2EA. For those with something to bequeath, the annual will indexes are more informative than death certificates. Wills before 1858 are mostly in local repositories, described in J. Gibson, Probate jurisdictions: where to look for wills (FFHS, 5th edn.1997).

Before the central registers started (1837, 1855, 1864) births and deaths were not recorded as such, but baptisms, marriages and burials were entered in the registers of the appropriate churches or chapels. Some parish (Church of England) registers date from 1538. Most over a hundred years old are now deposited in County Record Offices, though a few remain in parish churches. Access to original registers in public hands is mostly free; for those at the church the clergy are allowed to make a charge. The whereabouts of any register may be determined from C R Humphery-Smith, The Phillimore atlas and index of parish registers (Phillimore, 1995) and the address and opening hours of the record offices mentioned are in the invaluable Record repositories in Great Britain (HMSO, 11th. edn 1999).

Over the years a great many parish registers have been copied (perhaps to 1812 or to 1837 or later) and the largest collection of these copies is at the Society of Genealogists. About eighty million baptisms and marriages from parish registers between 1538 and 1875 have been collectively indexed, county by county, by the Genealogical Society of Utah (Mormons) into the International Genealogical Index. Several editions of this Index have been produced on microfiche and it is widely available in county record offices and libraries and at the Mormon branch Family History Centres. Many also have it on computer enabling rapid countrywide searches to be carried out. The IGI is also available on line at http://www.familysearch.org

Most surviving nonconformist registers in England and Wales before 1837 are at the Family Records Centre, 1 Myddelton Street, London EC1R 1UW, and the majority (other than Quaker) have been indexed into the International Genealogical Index. For further detail see My ancestors were Methodists, My ancestors were Baptists, My ancestors we Quakers, My ancestors were Congregationalists and My ancestors were English Presbyterians/Unitarians; all published by the Society of Genealogists.

All Scottish parish registers are at New Register House in Edinburgh. Few beg before 1750 but all the baptisms and marriages prior to 1855 have been indexed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and again are available on microfiche at various libraries and Family History Centres. They are also available "on-line" through the GRO Scotland web site (http://www.origins.net). For further details about research in Scotland consult K B Cory, Tracing your Scottish ancestry (Polygon, 2nd edn 1996).

Many Irish registers have not survived: in the rural areas those which have date only from the early 19th century. In the Republic of Ireland many Church of Ireland Registers have been deposited at the Representative Church Body Library, Braemor Park, Rathgar, Dublin 14 and most of those of the Roman Catholics are on microfilm at the National Archives, Bishop Street, Dublin 7. Records from parishes in Northern Ireland, which are not retained in parish custody, are deposited in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast. For further details about research in Ireland consult T McCarthy, The Irish roots guide (Lilliput, 1995) and J Grenham, Tracing your Irish ancestors (Gill and Macmillan Dublin, 1992).

When you have exhausted the records of civil registration and have begun to look at the parish registers of the area from which your family came you will need to consult the other sources available in the County Record Office. Here you will find other parish records, the local wills proved before 1858, the records of the administration of the county (including the Land Tax records, at least from 1780 onwards), and the records of local land or estate owners.

At this stage it will also be worth your while to visit the Society of Genealogists at 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA (open Tues, Fri, Sat, 10-6; Wed & Thur 10-8). Its library of over 90,000 books and microforms includes census indexes; family histories; biographies; service, professional and trade directories; an apprenticeship index 1710-1774(*); school and university lists will and marriage licence indexes(*); runs of Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry; a large number of manuscripts arranged by surname; and a miscellaneous card index of 3 million references. The Society owns one of the few typescript copies of Boyd's Marriage Index (531 volumes with 7 million names from the registers of almost 3,000 parishes in England between 1538 and 1837); Boyd's Citizens of London; the International Genealogical Index (on microfiche and CD-ROM) with some 240 million entries worldwide; and a microfilm copy of the Bernau Index of Chancery Proceedings (4 million names). An outline guide, Using the library of the Society of Genealogists, is available (£1.00 or £1.50 by post).

You need not be a member of the Society of Genealogists as the collection is open to searchers at a minimum charge of £3 for one hour, £8 for four hours or £12 all day. If, however, you join (details on request) you also benefit from the quarterly Genealogists' Magazine, discounts on some publications, lectures and seminars, courses for beginners, and days on which new members are taken round the Library and shown its resources.

In addition to this Society there are many local family history societies and membership of those in your area and where your family came from may be helpful. A full list can be obtained from the Federation of Family History Societies, PO Box 8684, Shiley, Solihull, B90 4JU, and is published twice-yearly in its journal Family history news and digest. The Federation has no library and does not undertake research.

As there are many thousands of people throughout the world who are tracing there ancestry it is as well to see if there is anyone else working on the same line as yourself. Many have advertised the surnames on which they are working in the various volumes of the Genealogical Research Directory published annually since 1982. The latter contains useful details of all known genealogical societies worldwide. Other searchers publish their interests in the monthly Family Tree Magazine (available on some bookstalls or from 61 Great Whyte, Ramsey, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE17 1HL).

The World Wide Web may provide a useful gateway to genealogical archive addresses and communication between family historians. Two useful genealogical information services are GENUKI (http://www.genuki.org.uk). The Society of Genealogists has its own web site http://www.sog.org.uk

If you are not in a position yourself to trace your family, or if you need help in distant parts of the United Kingdom, or with documents in Latin or difficult handwriting, there are professional searchers who undertake such work. The Association of Genealogists & Record Agents was founded to promote high standards among genealogists and publishes a list of members who undertake research. This is available from the Society of Genealogists (£2 or £2.50 by post).

It is well to remember that, when asking for information from anyone, private or official, there may be no reply unless you provide an addressed envelope with appropriate stamps (or, for correspondents abroad, two International Reply Coupons obtainable from Post Offices).

On-line access to the indexes is available at http://www.englishorigins.com. A free surname index search is possible with the option at viewing additional information of a paid for basis.