How to start tracing your ancestors

May 3 2008 by Laura Davis, Liverpool Daily Post

IN the first of a series of features on genealogy, marking Local History Month, Laura Davis finds out how to start tracing your ancestors

THE internet is an excellent tool in the search for family history. Some sites offer free trials while others require a fee. There are thousands to choose from, but here are a few to get you started.

www.ancestry.co.uk – This site boasts the largest collection of UK family records on the web as well as access to censuses between 1841 and 1901. It also offers tips on searching as well as a video tutorial by Tony Robinson. The site is currently offering a free 14-day trial, but beyond that you have to pay to view records.

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com – Powered by US site ancestry.com, rootsweb is like the Facebook of genealogy sites, offering users the opportunity to share your research and get help from other family historians via message boards.

www.genesreunited.co.uk – The Friends Reunited spin-off allows you to search more than 500 million ancestors through births, deaths and marriages and census data, build your family tree online – and you can register for free.

www.1901censusonline.com – If you know the first and last names of relatives who were alive in 1901, you can find them here on the census returns going back to 1841. The site is very easy to use, and you can search the indexes for free, but you have to buy credits to download and print a copy of the actual record.

www.cyndislist.com –This site is an online reference book for family historians, with links to hundreds of thousands of genealogical resources on the internet from Australia, to Wills & Probate.

www.genuki.org.uk – Genuki is a virtual reference library of genealogical information for the UK and Ireland. It includes links to sites offering information on diverse topics, such as how to read handwriting and where to find out about your ancestors’ military history.

www.sog.org.uk – The Society Of Genealogists is a charity offering help and resources for those interested in finding their family history. The site includes a link to the society’s online library catalogue and free information leaflets to download as well as details of the society’s events and lectures.

www.britishorigins.com – This site provides internet access to many of the Society Of Genealogists’ databases and indexes, including apprentice and military records. You can search records for free, but it costs £6.50 for 72 hours to access the originals.

www.ffhs.org.uk – The Federation Of Family History Societies exists to help family history societies throughout the country. You can search for your nearest society or those near where your ancestors lived and there are some handy search tips.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk – The National Archives, based in Kew, is the official archive for England and Wales, boasting 900 years of history from the Domesday Book to the present. The site has video guides on researching your family and you can search online for records.

www.familyrecords.gov.uk – This site is a consortium of organisations including the National Archives and the Imperial War Museum. It allows you to search the quarterly indexes of births, deaths and marriage records, immigration, census, wills and military records for free, before you order them from the General Register Office (see below).

www.gro.gov.uk – The General Register Office keeps all the official certificates of births, deaths and marriages. Once you have found your ancestors you can order certificates about them online.

www.freebmd.org.uk – This site is a collaboration between family historians to transcribe births, deaths and marriages indexes from 1837 onto the internet and you can access records for free.

www.familysearch.org – This site allows you to search the International Genealogical Index – a collection of hundreds of millions of baptism and marriage records from parish registers between 1538 and 1875 indexed by the Genealogical Society of Utah (Mormons).