Quick Tips for Finding Your English Ancestors
Did your ancestors come from Europe - in particular England or
Wales? It's quite possible to find their records. You may even
be lucky enough to find records online, because as more and more
people become intrigued with their origins, more are being made
available.
Most genealogical resources group England and Wales together,
because they were administered together. Where you go to find
records depends on how far back you want to go. If you're
looking for birth records after 1920, you'll probably find them
at the national government level. If you want a birth record
from the 18th century, you would need to look at the parish
records, and those records are now held at the county level.
Therefore, the more you know about where your ancestors came
from, the more you will be able to focus your research.
Start your search at the Family Records Centre in London
(http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc/), which holds indices to
births, marriages and deaths registered in England and Wales
since July 1, 1837. You can order copies of the certificates
online. The site is well laid out, and explains that if you need
a document earlier than 1837, you need to search parish
registers, which are very variable:
http://www.familyrecords.gov.uk/topics/religious-2.htm.
Parishes once managed all local affairs -- they kept records of
marriages, baptisms and burials, looked after the poor, and
maintained the local roads. The parish records are now held at
the various County Records Offices throughout England and Wales.
Some have their own Web sites, and even provide online access to
catalogs and records. Genuki at http://www.genuki.org.uk/ will
help you to find the County Records Office for the county you're
interested in.
Census Documents in England and Wales
Censuses were conducted in England and Wales every 10 years
starting in 1801, but the early censuses, up to 1841, were
purely statistical, and did not contain names. Census records
are released after 100 years, and the 1901 census is online at
http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
This huge database contains information on 32 million
individuals, along with original census pages. Access is free,
but you're charged for viewing transcribed data, at 50p (around
90 cents U.S.) per individual, and then 50p for all the other
people in that person's household.
The index links to digitized images of the actual returns, so if
you have a large-format printer which prints A3-sized paper
(which is standard in Europe), you can print them out.