Genealogy Chat

Many thanks for the info on GOONS - I can see a couple of my surnames on there so when I have exhausted all online resources I know I may have another useful route.

Thank you all so very much. This has helped me so much.

Don't forget the Guild of One Name Studies or GOONS for the rarer names that you have - always worth a look.

Jill

Thank you Joy! :-)

No, it seems no volunteers yet for Leeds.

So, I googled for parish records Leeds - see if any of the following help -

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/WRY/Leeds/index.html
http://www.leeds.gov.uk/page.aspx?pageidentifier=4CF7733EA3B3F6EC80256E150052D0C1
http://harrogatelinks.com/Leeds/Leeds_Links.html
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/county/yorkshire/parish_records/
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,44.0.html

Hi

I was going to post that question too. I went on your link Joy, but there isn't one for Leeds...

If you look at this site - http://www.onlineparishclerks.org.uk/ it gives details about the concept.

Brilliant - thank you so much. Not sure how to pick up a thread but will have a go. Not a very techie person!

OPC - online parish clerk. I shall bring forward a thread about these volunteers and what they do.

Wow - thank you all so much. Only get to log on at lunch so apologies for not coming back to you sooner. One more question, please can someone tell me what OPC stands for? Sorry for my ignorance. Not up to speed with all the abbreviations yet! :)

If you have an ancestor with a name that is not too common then it can be worth googling that name and the parish he lived in. I found one of mine mentioned in a Cambridge University research publication which I was able to purchase.

The OPC's are listed on...........

http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/

Also try..............

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

Google Online Parish Clerk for the counties you are interested in, or just try the name of the county plus parish records, there are some particularly good ones out there.

Happy Hunting

Do Internet searches for parish records in your location/county of interest - more and more are becoming available.

Some County Archives also have images of PR free to view on line, or their transcriptions.

In addition to familysearch, you could also try freereg - another (free) site which is loading transcribed records.

Look for family history societies: they frequently transcribe and sell CDs of PR, usually discounted to subscribing members.

Play around with the National Archive site - you may find a Will you can download (£3.50ish) or Military records for the same price.

Try Phillimore's parish register series. They can be browsed here

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Registers%20of%20births%2C%20etc.%20--%20England%22

It is the Mormons' site that holds many parish records. Also included in it is the 1881 census - the Mormons first published it on a CD and then put it, free, on their site.

Try subscribing (free) to rootsweb mailing lists, reading, and then posting in them,, for surnames / counties / countries.

If you can, obtain certificates for birth, marriage and death registrations for direct ancestors; they can lead you back another generation, and names of witnesses on marriage certificates can help.

Visiting records offices are well worthwhile.

I have only been researching since 1999, we are all on an upward learning curve.

Happy hunting :-)

Its free which is good in my book (lol).

One thing to be aware of though. There are 2 types of records, Extracted which are usually reliable, Submitted which can sometimes be inaccurate.

Good luck with your searching.

haven't heard of that one. is it good?

Have you searched ?

https://www.familysearch.org/

Hello

This is my first ever post on anything like this so I hope I do this right!

I have been researching my family tree off and on for 2 years solely through internet sites like freebmd and ancestry.com and I am pretty amazed to have got back to ancestors born in the early 1800's or even late 1700's.

Could anyone tell me whether this is as far as I can probably go via the net and different sites? Are my only other options now, to go further back, to go to county records offices or churches etc?

I would be grateful for any advice and am also excited to see that where I am stuck I might be able to ask people for help via this forum.

Many thanks in advance for any help and advice