Accompanies ppt for session delivered on 22nd November 2012.

1. Urban Archaeology: Session 8 (Add-on) - Genealogy &Family History
Genealogy & Family History
Genealogy…
o The construction of a family tree through research
Family History is…
o The writing of a biography of a series of related ancestors of common genealogy
Genealogy
Society of Genealogists: http://sog.org.uk
Genealogy links:
o GENUKI Includes details of County Record Offices
o Cyndi's List LOTS of useful links to software, databases and resources
o Genealogy Mailing Lists by John Fuller
o LookupUK Resource Centre for finding friends or relatives
Gov’t repositories:
o General Register Office
o The National Archives
Libraries:
o British Library for Family Historians
o National Library of Scotland
o National Library of Wales
o National Library of Ireland
National Repositories:
o College of Arms
o National Maritime Museum – PORT. Catalogue of maritime-related resources
o ArchivesHub - 20,000 archives in UK's universities and colleges
o ARCHON (Archives On-line). - Managed by the National Archives

2. o British History Online - British historical sources, inc. text and information about people,
places and businesses from the 12th century to the present day. Built by the Institute of
Historical Research and the History of Parliament
o Moving Here – a National Archive initiative of 150,000 free images. Mostly from four
communities coming into Britain since 1800s: Jewish, Irish, Caribbean, South Asian
Useful Organisations:
o Federation of Family History Societies.
o Scottish Association of Family History Societies
o Family History Societies - More Family History Societies indexed at GENUKI
o New England Historic Genealogical Society, oldest and largest genealogical society in the
USA
o Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies
o The Heraldry Society – covers heraldry, armory, chivalry, genealogy and allied subjects
o The Heraldry Society of Scotland
o AGRA - Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives
Online Databases:
o findmypast.com - entire copy of the indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England
and Wales from 1837 to 2001 – small charge for copies
o Family Search site (LDS Church) - largest collection of free family history, family tree and
genealogy records
o The Origins Network - 80 million + British and Irish genealogical records
o Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register - personal and service
details for the 1.7 million members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the First or
Second World Wars
o Burke's Peerage and Gentry - genealogical records of Britain's titled and landed families
throughout the centuries. Good for terms related to British history, society and tradition
o The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum at Caernarfon
o The Monumental Brass Society - brasses and the MBS's activities
o Police Orders - police orders of police officers serving in London's Metropolitan Police
Service. From 1891-1895 and 1899-1932. Includes joined, resigned, retired, died,
transfers and medals.
o The Bookplate Society

3. o Naval Biographical Database - People and ships associated with the Royal Navy since
1660. Charges.
o Vision of Britain - by Great Britain Historical Geographic Information System (GBH GIS).
Uses 200 years of UK Census statistics, assorted historic maps and gazetteers and the
observations of travel writers from as early as the 11th century
Get someone to do it for you!
Costs money. Useful if you’re coming up against Latin texts!
Association of Genealogists Researchers in Archives (AGRA) has a list of members who will
do research, www.agra.org.uk
Types of Resources
General resources relating to a whole county:
o Bibliographies
o Clergy
o Histories
o Maps
o Newspapers
o Place Names
o Record Office Guides
o Visitations
o Wills – some online at www.Ancestry.co.uk , then try National Will Index at
www.Britishorigins.com . Most have to be accessed from
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/family-history (can be expensive).
Local:
o Local histories, church guides, etc.
Registers:
o Births, marriages, deaths, held by General Register Office (1837 onwards). Each
certificate costs just under £10. More and more available free through:
www.freebmd.org.uk Paid online versions available here: www.findmypast.com,
www.ancestry.co.uk, www.bmdindex.co.uk, or www.familyrelatives.com
o General indexes such as Boyd’s Marriage Index and the International Genealogical Index.
Before the mid-1800s, you can look at parish registers, some go back to 1500s. Many
non-conformist registers here: www.bmdregisters.co.uk and www.familysearch.org

4. o There is the International Genealogical Index (IGI) - An index of c.800 million births,
baptisms and marriages from around the world, at www.familysearch.org
o Name indexes. E.g. Census indexes for England and Wales on The National Archives
website, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/censusrecords.htm Scottish census
indexes at Scotland’s People, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk Irish censuses,
www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
Monumental Inscriptions
Censuses
o 1911,1901,1891, 1881, 1871,1861 1851, 1841. Often microfilms or microfiche of census
returns held by County Record Offices, Local Libraries or the Society of Genealogists. A
complete set for England and Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands is free at
The National Archives in Kew, www.nationalarchives.gov.uk The Scottish returns for
1841 to 1911 are available at Scotland’s People Centre in Edinburgh,
www.scotlandspeoplehub.gov.uk/
Lists:
o Lists of people living in counties such as Directories and Poll Books (those who voted in
Parliamentary elections, 1690s onwards).
o Provincial town trade directories – including street lists, such as Kelly’s Directory.
Available from 1770s onwards.
o National and county trade directories. Available from 1780s onwards. More details from
1840s onwards.
Family History- Beginners’ guides
o www.genuki.org.uk
o www.bbc.co.uk/familyhistory/
o Herber, M. 2005. Ancestral Trails, Alan Sutton
o Barrat, N. 2008. Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy, Harper Collins
Federation of Family History Societies – Has a world index of Family History societies
 E.g. The Hampshire Genealogical Society
Family History- Major websites
Major Websites:
o www.ancestry.com
o www.ancestry.co.uk
o www.findmypast.co.uk

5. o www.familyrelatives.com
o www.originsnetwork.com
o National Archives Discovery website
Family History – Finding support
Social Network Sites:
o Roots Web Mailing Lists
o The Guild of One-Name Studies – Register the surnames you are researching to see if
anyone else is doing the same thing!
Family History – On your computer
Data formats:
o GENCOM (most common)
o GedML (XML-based)
o FamilyML (XML-based)
Don’t worry if you’ve been using a spreadsheetup until now!
Excel2GED – for taking Excel spreadsheets and converting them to GEDCOM file format
o http://godskingsandheroes.info/software/index.htm#12
Software to build family trees
GRAMPS – free, but bit of work needed initially to learn how to use
o http://gramps-project.org/
FamilyTreeBuilder – free, with paid Premium version (that you can sign up to at any point in
using the free version). Easy to use, very popular
o http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder
GEDitCOM II – free, this software is for Macs
o http://www.geditcom.com/
Web Family Tree – free, really easy to use
o http://www.simonward.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?family/tree
Software to visualise family trees
Geneaquilts – advanced, great for visualising large genealogy datasets
o http://www.aviz.fr/geneaquilts

6. Misbach Enterprises - specialises in making family tree charts. They generally charge for this
service, but there are some nice free charts you can download and use
o http://misbach.org/freecharts.html
Software to visualise family trees
GedView – a way to look through GEDCOM files on your PC. If you’ve downloaded or been sent
any files from other researchers, you can use this software to navigate the data
o http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tmark/GedView.html
GedView for iPads, iPhones, etc. – costs £2.49, great to look at your work on a mobile device
o http://www.ritter.demon.co.uk/Projects/gedview.html
Software to share family trees
Websites:
o GED-GEN for making websites, works with any GEDCOM files
 http://www.ged-gen.com/