Genealogy Chat

I'm a bit confused at all the places that hold records.. Is there one place I can go that will tell me everything? Annie

Thanks Steve, You've been a great help. Annie

Ann, The National Archives is more helpful for Military Records, and pre-1837 Birth and Baptism records. If you want to look for records post 1837 then Family Record Centre at Islington is the place to visit. Census records can be viewed at both. Take a look at the following site which will tell you more about what each Centre has to offer. www(.)familyrecords(.)gov(.)uk/default(.)html remove brackets of course. Kathleen

Kathleen All I get is....The page cannot be found :o(

If you put Family Records Centre into Google you should be able to get their website. It is quite userfriendly and will tell you what records they hold. What they have is all the censuses 1841-1891 on Microfilm, the 1901 census online, a number of databases where you can look up things on their computers and some old wills. They are all on the first floor. On the ground floor are all the registers for births, marriages and deaths since 1837. They are in big books - the names are alphabetical and each book contains one quarter of a year. If you find what you are looking for, you make a note of the reference number and you can order a copy of the certificate at the counter.

Don't forget all the County Record Offices which holds millions of documents, most of which will NOT be online in our lifetime. National Archives holds many records of different sorts. You can download at least 100 leaflets on various areas of research but holding 'everything' may be going OTT just a little! Janet

Everything about what? You certainly can't trace your entire family tree (or even one branch!) just from visiting one archive. Most archives hold material relating to a specific place (county record offices) or hold particular subject records (LDS family history centres have baptism and marriage parish register transcripts - you don't go there to research military history). Even county record offices don't have everything relating to their county, for example churches are not compelled to deposit their parish records!

Can we please use some CORRECT TERMINOLOGY for the various record offices. The Family Record Centre known as FRC is situated near Farringdon in London and is used mainly for the Births Marriages and Deaths registers from 1837 to the present day. Other records at the FRC are Census records but address only, some adoption records, overseas, army, navy and some consular records. Most of what is contained at the FRC is also now online at 1837 online. This is the first source to be used by all would be Genealogists and Family historians. The Latter Day Saints known as LDS is responsible for all the IGI, the 1881 Census, done in collaboration with the Family History Societies, the Pedigree Resource Files, the Vital Records and possibly a few other more minor records. The 1881 Census was the first indexed census in this country UK, so we are very grateful to the LDS for this initiative because it led the way to other census now being indexed. The IGI is very hit and miss as some is taken direct from parishes but some has been sent in by people who have not necessarily researched their trees particularly well so there are many mistakes and many churches refused permission for their registers to be filmed. The IGI is NOT the first port of call for newcomers and needs to be used with care. The National Archives (TNA) is at Kew and whereas they do contain registers for BMD and census, their main reason for existence is as a repository for the main Historical Documents that have been accrued over the centuries and include much documentation on both world wars as well as documents from the Domesday Book to present times. Family Historians and Genealogists can use these archives to further their own Family history in many ways, but also many serious Historians get much of their infrmation from TNA to write their book so TNA is there for those people who are going to take their FH or Genealogy that step further as in Military History but please do not think that that is all TNA has. Please look at the web site to see the ENORMOUS amount of info they have on a vast area of subjects to include Companies, Apprenticeships, Hearth Taxes, Militia Records, Estate Papers, Manorial Courts and Rolls, the list is ENDLESS!! County Record Offices (CRO) is for the really committed Family Historian or Genealogist who really wants to research not only their family but the county, town, village, hamlet and delve into Poor Law Records/ Settlement Records/Wills/Estate Papers and a whole host of other areas that really bring your ancestors alive. Some of these records MAY be in TNA but many are not. The London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) and the Guildhall Library deal with London matters of History. These are only the main areas of research. There are thousands of other places that one could also use. The British Library in London is another one as well as all the Main Libraries in the country. NO, you will NOT find the records under one roof but I will put in a plea for EVERYBODY to use the CORRECT TERMINOLOGY at ALL times. If you cannot use the correct terminology with regard to the record offices then I am bound to ask 'How correct is your Research?' Those people who have studied Family History/Genealogy for many years are beginning to question the slack way that many people are now approaching this subject today as the slackness is giving the hobby a bad name. Janet

Hi All, All this information is so valueable.. for beginners it would be good to always abbreviate and then type in full if you could please (thank you so much). Can anyone get me out of a hole? I need to find a marriage certificate for my granddad's mother and I just don't know how or where to look? Can you tell me what is the best route? Look forward to hearing from anyone. Thank you anniex

Ann, Janet is absolutely right. For you grandads mothers marriage certificate, look at Free BMD website (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com), or you could look at 1837online website (www.1837online.com) or even Family Relatives site (www.familyrelatives.org), for the previous two you have to purchase credits to look at the original marriage indexes. I would recommend Free BMD first, and then Family Relatives if Free BMD comes up blank. The good thing about Family Relatives is that you can put in a full name, area, year etc and get the results you want, and if they're aren't any, it will say no results. 1837 online won't do that. If you give me the details you have, I will have a look for you and get back to you. Steve

Janet, What do you mean by correct terminology? I'm pretty sure everyone here is capable of doing correct research, its pretty difficult to do it wrong to be honest.

Oh Steve, would that everyone did do correct research. A relative I contacted on this site had used mainly the Latter Days Saints records to trace our mutual gt gt grandfather, and as he hadn't used county records offices, or even common sense, he had the family, all born in London between 1842 and 1860, linked to a convenient couple with the same name who had never moved out of Devon, and whowould have been nearly 60 when the last child was born! He had then wasted his efforts tracing that couple's ancestry a further 3 generations. I agree with everything Janet said. If we want to help beginners we must be very clear what archives we arer talking about and what can realistically be found in them. For instance your original answer that 'the national archives in Kew holds records of everything' might send someone hopefully there when in fact Kew does not hold much in the way of births/baptisms marriages, deaths and census returns which will variously be found in county records offices and the Family Records Centre in Myddleton Street London Good hunting Judith

Surely none of us will be capable of visiting london, not too soon anyway. Some other people may be. But true, county offices are the first port of call I would say. thats the advice i have to the beginner really. if you want to progress in detail about your relatives the national archives, family records centre and LDS centres dotted over the place are next port of call. Advice to beginners..... go to your county record offices.

Just to clarify: don't go to *your* county record office; go to the one in your ancestor's county. And be aware that county boundaries have moved over the years. Don't forget that the Society of Genealogists (http://www.sog.org.uk/) in London holds vasts quantities of information as well.

Steve I think that Judith has answered my point, hopefully to your satisfaction. No, not everybody has the privilege of being able to use the London facilities for Family History and that is where you have to learn to be resourceful. To be a family historian you must have some sort of detective instinct otherwise it will all get too much, If you live in the UK then holidays near to the Centres can be arranged but if you have young children then that can also be difficult. Living in another country is also difficult but that is where you need to belong to Family History Societies. Your local main ref library will have all the BMD for free on fiche, the same as the FRC. Your local LDS centre will have all the BMD for free on fiche. The 1837 online is available to all those with computers who are unable to use libraries or LDS Centres and do not mind paying for the info. You can use your Local LDS centres to pull in Parish records from the counties of your interest and they also offer other facilities and their rates are very reasonable. The Colindale Newspaper library may be difficult to access unless you live in London, but you can access the same newspapers at the Library nearest to the CRO from where your ancestors came. The CRO is the same for everyone. We never seem to live near the County Record Office that is interesting to us, the one which will relate to our ancestors. I could go on! Correct Terminology. If the place of research is called the Family Record Centre and everybody calls it the FRC for short then to call it the Family Record Office then becomes FRO and newcomers to family history may wonder what you are talking about, so let us all stick with the correct name. Family Historians and Genealogists are sticklers for correct procedure and therefore correct research and yes there is such a thing as correct research. I suppose you did not mean to sound flippant but your first senetence about the National Archives containing everything made me wince, as you were not explicit enough as to what they contained. It is a vast site with so much history and to dismiss it it in a one liner was not correct Genealogy to me. Janet

I stand corrected lol! I agree wholeheartedly.... so easy to be side tracked and misunderstand the terminology, so much of it, it kinda overwhelms you. I guess my comment about the National Archives was on what other people told me. Its all to do with your ancestors, all my ancestors are where I live so for me my local records office had everything I needed or could ever want.

Ok Steve Point accepted. Good luck everybody to their family hatory. Janet