Genealogy Chat

Hi, I have now reached a point in my tree where the birth/marriage/census records haven't yet begun. Any advice on how to proceed?
Many thanks for your time
Lorraine

You'll have to use Parish Records now. Depending where you are searching, you may find a number transcribed on line. First port of call ought to be

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
and also from the same site
IGI which comes under > Advanced search

http://www.freereg.org.uk/

Ancestry have a number of London and Middlesex transcribed images and the images themselves. If you don't have a sub, ask on Find Ancestors and some one will help. The same applies to Findmypast.

Online Parish Clerks (OPC) for your area


Use Genuki as a gateway for your area.
www.genuki.org.uk

edit - always make an internet search for parish records (plus your county)

Thank you so much for your reply. I was feeling a little despondent at the prospect of finding no more but am now heartened :-).

I will check out the links you have provided.

Again, thanks x

Glad to help - if none of your areas are on line, see if a FH group has transcribed records they sell on disc. They may cost £10-£15 but if your 'lot' stayed in the same area, could be invaluable. There are usually a number of parishes on one disc.

Derek has a thread on here for Derbyshire, and Victor for Gloucestershire (I think). Wendy has a collection of Nottingham records on disc and often goes to Notts Archives. It really depends where you are looking. Lots of us have purchased CDs for our areas of interest, so always feel free to ask.

If you have the time and inclination as well as being in the ancestral locality, you could check out the local archives or larger libraries.

If you think some of your were non conformists, try
/www.bmdregisters.co.uk
That's free to search but pay to view (no sub)
Ancestry have some RC records, but predominately, the PR on line are CofE.

There are probably loads more sites - google, google, google!!!


:-) :-)

I often find a google search on the name of the place + parish register transcripts yields gold!

Medway council has cityark, where you can browse images of the registers for the Medway towns of Kent free of charge. Essex County Council has some images to browse: free at present but I hear this may change.

http://sheffieldindexers.com is good for Sheffield and is being updated regularly.

The Mormon church has a huge collection of parish registers for viewing at its network of family history centres. Usually, a centre will have most of the films for its locality and any others must be hired in via their website.

You could also go to the council archives covering the places you're interested in....it's how I spend my holidays...but then I am sad..... ;-)

Best wishes

Kim in Hull
Who, having no local ancestry, is happy to do look-ups in Hull & E Yorks

Everyone on here is so helpful :-) Thanks Kim. I am doing this for my grandson and will obviously copy info for any others who may come along in the future so it is rather important to me to get as much as I can.

Most of ours hail around dudley and wolverhampton and those that moved away (to mountain ash in wales and barrow-in-furness) all returned..... why is anyones guess but there you are.

I would willingly buy a CD or two as described by +++DetEcTive+++ if anyone knows where I can get them from.

Thanks all........... x x

Glamorgan Family History Society has some publications on CDrom - whether they have the dates you want, I'm not sure

I would start with familysearch.org and freereg.org.uk for the west midlands as there doesn't seem to be many transcripts available to buy.

There are two companies on the web who specialise in data CDs : S&N genealogy supplies and genfair but before you part with your cash, search google to see if what you want is available elsewhere for free. For example, quite a few registers are available on www.archive.org