August 2008
This list of genealogy sources was originally prepared for the benefit of newcomers to family history and to the Manchester and Lancashire FHS. For that reason explanations are provided which an experienced researcher would find superfluous, and abbreviations are usually given in full. Also, some of the sources relate specifically to Lancashire, though the great majority are of general interest.
There are over nine million genealogy sites on the web, and a search engine such as Google will find most of them. However, the great majority of these are concerned with particular surnames or places. The sites listed below are those that family historians are likely to find of most general value. This is very much a matter of personal choice, and I am sure that there are many of which I am not even aware yet.
I am providing this list of web sites as a serious web research tool, but cannot of course guarantee the accuracy of the data. If any information becomes outdated or wrong, please contact me by clicking the link below.
Tip for beginners: By all means browse the entire List or use the links below, but if you are looking for a particular topic, you can use the Search/Find facility in your PC by pressing Ctrl+F (or whatever your operating system requires). Enter the topic of interest in the search box and click on Find Next. Try it now with ‘Census’.
Yours sincerely
John Gough
If you prefer to read this information offline, a copy can printed but don’t forget to revisit this site from time to time to see the latest updates. You will find the date of the current version at the top of this page.
For the sake of clarity, I have divided the suggested sites into four main sections and a number of sub-sections which can be accessed by clicking on the links below. Sites in the Genealogy Data Section contain specific information about individuals, whereas those in the Genealogy Resources Section are mainly background information and links.
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Contains specific information about individuals |
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Ways of getting in touch with other family historians who may have information on your family |
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Contains mainly background information and links |
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New additions in this update |
Official Government Sites for the
Genealogist
Local Sources of Genealogical Data
Sources Specific to Manchester and
Lancashire
Publishing your Family Tree on the Web
For the benefit of regular customers,
the following sources have been added since the last update.
The Adelphi Theatre 1806-1900 @ http://www.emich.edu/public/english/adelphi_calendar/perfactr.htm
The General Register Office – Ireland @ http://www.groireland.ie/
Royal Airforce WW2 @ http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/News%20Letters/News%20Letter%20archives.htm
Small & Special @ http://www.smallandspecial.org/
Ancestor Search @ http://www.searchforancestors.com/archives/google.html
Romany Genes 2 @ http://romanygenes2.webeden.co.uk/
American Romanichals @ http://americanromanichals.webeden.co.uk/
Parish Chest @ http://www.parishchest.com/shop/about_us.php
PhpGedView @ http://www.phpgedview.net/
Chartist Ancestors @ http://www.chartists.net/
National
Archives of Australia @ http://www.naa.gov.au/
Irish
Genealogy @ http://www.irish-genealogy.com/the-freedom-of-ireland.php
Costume Detective @ http://www.fashion-era.com/Dating_Costume_History_Pictures/costume_detective_1910_crowd_1.htm
Life in
the Shtetl @ http://www.shtetldoc.com/
Genealogy
Freeware @ http://www.godskingsandheroes.info/software/
Wills
and Probate Records @ http://www.tamesidefamilyhistory.co.uk/wills.htm
Lancashire
Will Search @ http://www.xmission.com/~nelsonb/lws.htm
Cheshire Wills Database Online @ http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/RecordOfficeWillEPayments/search.aspx
To go direct to any of the new additions, just paste the title into your ‘Search/Find’ box.
These are the sources where you might hope to find information on the birth, marriage, death, will, military service, etc. of a named individual.
LDS Family Search @ http://www.familysearch.org/
This is the home of the IGI (International Genealogical Index), the 1881 Census on-line and various other search facilities. These sources have been compiled by members of the LDS church and others. They are incomplete and may contain a significant number of transcription errors. They constitute invaluable evidence, but should be checked against a primary source at the earliest opportunity. Don't neglect the "Share" option - you might find that someone else has done the work for you. Also, on this site you can download the free PAF (Personal Ancestry File) genealogy database to enable you to store all your findings on your computer, and find an on-line, interactive tutorial for it. The site also has a facility to enable you to find your nearest LDS (Church of the Latter Day Saints / Mormons) Family History Centre, where you can use their excellent facilities free of charge, and get helpful advice. Don’t be afraid that they will try to recruit you; that isn’t part of their agenda.
IGI Batch Numbers @ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm#Page
This site provides an additional and powerful way of accessing the IGI. All events (such as marriages) which took place at a particular church over a specified period of years have the same batch number. So, if, for example, you know that an ancestor was married in Manchester Cathedral in 1855, this site will tell you that the batch number associated with that event will be C073544, and that this covers the period 1854 - 1857. If you then search that batch number in the IGI, you could well find marriages of siblings or cousins of that ancestor. Other ways of using batch numbers in your research are suggested on the site.
This is the NA(National Archives) site, and it is here that you can access the 1901 Census Online - a pay per view facility, which hit the headlines when it first opened through being disastrously oversubscribed. Things have now settled down, and you can use the site with confidence. (Go directly to http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk ).Also on the main site you will find a selection of wills, though most relate to the south of England or large estates in the north, and also a variety of more specialist documents.
A
recent development is a new project to digitise the First World War
Campaign Medal Index cards (also known as the 'Medal Rolls Index'). These
5.5 million cards record the medal entitlement of almost all individuals -
men and women, officers and soldiers - who fought in the British Army and
Royal Flying Corps during the Great War, and form perhaps the most complete
listing of all those who fought. You can access the index free of charge,
though there is a modest payment to download an image of the actual card. In
fact, most of the information, such as regiment, regimental number and rank are
available in the index, but you may feel that an image of the actual medal
card, is an almost tangible link with your ancestor.
Ancestry.com
@ http://ancestry.com/
This is the largest of the commercial genealogy websites, with a huge range of US and UK databases covering BMDs, Census records, Military records, immigration, obituaries, etc.,etc.. It operates on a subscription basis from a single search of their “People Finder” at $9.95 to access to all their databases at $189.95 p.a., though a few of their databases are free. Some public libraries and family history societies have subscriptions which cover their members, and this is certainly the cheapest way to access this site if you can find such a facility near you. It should be noted that the UK BMDs (one of the free facilities) is sourced from the Free BMD website but, as the two sites use different search engines, they don’t always come up with identical results. To be safe, it is best to check both.
The Borthwick Institute for Archives is one of the biggest archive repositories outside London. It tends to specialise in northern material and is well known as the source for Wills and Admons from northern counties. Unfortunately, there is as yet no online index for these, though the Institute is prepared to do research at a cost of £20 per hour with a minimum charge (in advance) of £10. Much more information on their collections is available on the website. (NB. Wills and Admons for both northern and southern counties are available on the British Origins site q.v.)
British Origins @ www.britishorigins.com
British origins incorporates a vast range of searchable databases including the 1841 census and a partial coverage of the 1871, Boyd’s Marriage Index, Wills from a variety of sources including Canterbury and York, Passenger lists etc.
A variety of subscription plans are available for 72hrs, monthly, quarterly, or annual.
Procat
(Public Record Office Online Catalogue) @ http://catalogue.pro.gov.uk/
As you might expect, this is a complex site, but worth the effort of getting to know it. The Help facility can be used as a tutorial, which makes things much more friendly than they seem at first sight. Try putting in one of the names that you are researching, and see what comes out!
A2A is a searchable database of abstracts from English archives. It is a very effective way of finding information about our ancestors which would be extremely difficult to locate in any other way. The abstract provided is only short, but it should be enough to decide whether it might be worth the effort of trying to obtain a copy of the original document. The database currently contains over five million abstracts from over three hundred repositories, and is still expanding.
The London, Edinburgh, and Belfast Gazettes
are the official newspapers of record in the United Kingdom. Several legal
notices, including insolvency notices, are required by law to be published in
the Gazettes. In addition, you will find announcements of Honours, Awards and
Medals (other than campaign medals) – in fact such events only become effective
once they have been “Gazetted”. The archive is searchable online.
This is a meta search engine for genealogy, and works very well. Just remember to deselect all the sources that you have already checked, otherwise you could find yourself trawling through pages of data that contain nothing new.
This is a first class site for finding the geographical distribution of your surname, which could prove very helpful in your research. It is certainly a lot easier than counting them in every UK telephone directory, which is how I did mine! In addition you can see distribution maps for 1881 and 1998.
This is a Federation of Family History Societies site with a good range of pay per view databases, The charges are very moderate, and the funds are ploughed back into providing more facilities for family history research, so you can think of it as an investment. The vouchers that you have to buy remain usable for up to six months, which is also better than many such sites.
This is a very substantial set of genealogy databases available on a subscription basis. There are several subscription options which enable you to join for anything from 72 hours to a full year. There is also a free surname search.
British
Roots @ http://www.britishroots.plus.com/index.htm
This
site provides pay per view access to a considerable amount of data, though
most, if not all, of it can be found in other ways. The most impressive part of
the site for me was the background data on each of the English counties, with
population statistics, lists of parishes and local directories etc.
Find My Past @ http://www.findmypast.com/HomeServlet
This site, previously known as 1837 Online, is a pay as you view database of UK Civil Registration information from 1837 to the present, Census transcriptions with facsimiles of the originals for 1861 & 1891, military data etc. It has now acquired the records of The National Archivist, and is a very substantial and popular source of family history data. There are a range of price plans ranging from 50 units for £5 and lasting 90 days to various combinations of longer times and more (and cheaper) units. In each case, if you buy more units before your time elapses, the remaining old units are carried forward; otherwise you lose them.
UK Ancestor.com @ http://www.ukancestor.com/modules.php?name=Ancestral_Addresses
This unusual site concentrates on addresses rather than names, and could prove very useful. It has an excellent search facility which enables you to look for addresses direct or by county, town etc. At present the addresses are rather thin on the ground, but the remedy for that is in our hands – I shall certainly be submitting mine.
Gravestone Photographs Resource Project @ http://www.gravestonephotos.com/az.php
This project is in its
infancy, but deserves support. If you have a little spare time, a digital
camera and a CD writer on your PC, consider volunteering to record your own area.
The project appears to be efficiently organised and the data is well presented
on the website. At present the project is limited to E. Anglia – but you could
help extend it.
This unusual site is a
collection of extracts from old parish magazines, indexed by parish. You chance
of finding anything relevant to you own
family must necessarily be quite small, but then it doesn’t take a moment to
have a look.
Family Chest @ http://www.familychest.couk/index.htm
Any
ancestor who bought, sold or leased a house or land, must have left a trail of
legal contracts. Many are lost, but FamilyChest has acquired a vast pile of
original, parchment documents that are for sale, and available on this website.
The documents themselves are expensive, but you can get a transcription for a
more modest outlay, or simply look at the free summaries, which are quite informative.
Internet
Archive @ http://www.archive.org/index.php
This
is a general archive, but contains a good deal of information that is relevant
to family history. Put the name of a place or even a person into the search box
and see what comes up.
Family Search Labs Record Search @ http://search.labs.familysearch.org
This is a site provided by the LDS and gives access to a large and growing selection of family history records.
Births, Marriages and Deaths:
This is a searchable database to the civil registration index for the UK from 1837 to 1983. Or it will be when it is finished - though it is already extremely useful. It is based on the records held at the GRO (General Register Office) in London, which are a transcription of the records held in local register offices. (See UK BMD below) It only provides the information that you require to send off for the birth, marriage or death certificate, but that is enough to get you going. It is part of a larger project called Free UKGEN, and will probably be the first part of that project to be completed. Some years are complete, some are barely started. You will find bar charts giving the current status @ http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/progress.shtml
Ancestry.com uses the FreeBMD database but, as the two sites use different search engines, they don’t always come up with identical results. To be safe, it is best to check both.
FreeCEN
@ http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ and
These are the other two components of the FreeUKGEN project and deal respectively with census data and church registers of baptism, marriage and burial. Both are in the very early stages of construction, but will be extremely powerful tools when complete. Keep an eye on them, and volunteer to help if you are able to do so.
UK BMD@ http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/
This is a similar project to Free BMD, but is based on the primary data held at local register offices. This site has recently been completely rewritten, and now contains links to all local sources of birth, marriage and death data. Only a selection of counties currently contribute to this project, but the number is growing, and there is a cluster of them in the NW of England. Of particular interest to members of MLFHS is Lancashire BMD @ http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ Like Free BMD, the project is far from complete, but will be of enormous importance when it is. Also, like Free BMD it is looking for volunteers.
This is an information sharing site. You submit details of any B, M, or D certificates you may have, or any pre 1837 (Start of Civil Registration) church records of baptisms, marriages or burials, for others to access via a searchable database. You can also access the database for your own research. Unlike some sharing sites, you are not required to submit data in order to access other data. However, it is expected that you will do so if possible. The site was originally free, but you now have to pay £5 pa in order to access all resources.
Copies
of Civil Registration Certificates
These can be ordered on line using:
Certificate
ordering service @ http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificate/
For this, you simply require a valid credit card. Until recently you had to be a UK resident, but this restriction has now been withdrawn, so you can order from anywhere in the world. There are also sites that give guidance on how to apply for certificates by post. You can find some of these below under 'Official Government Sites', in the 'Genealogy Resources' section. However, you can obtain cheaper and more reliable copies (remember that the records at the General Register Office are transcripts of the original data from Local Register Offices) at the local office for the area in which the event occurred.
These can be found in GENUKI, but the address of the Manchester Register Office, which is of interest to many of us is:
Manchester Register Office,
Heron House,
47, Lloyd Street,
Manchester,
M2 5LE
You need to know the place and year (preferably the quarter) of the event, and the current charge for the certificate is £7.00. If you have a credit card, and the equipment at the office is in working order, you can order from Manchester Register Office by telephone on
0161 234 5503
Boyd's
Marriage Index @ http://www.englishorigins.com/help/bmi-details.aspx
This is available on a subscription basis (£6 for seven days) on the English Origins site. It is an incomplete index of marriages during the period 1538 - 1840. It covers some of the same ground as the IGI, but tends to be strong where the IGI is weak - for example in East Anglia. The coverage for Lancashire is 48%.
A very ambitious voluntary project to record the data from monumental inscriptions in cemeteries throughout the world. It has a good search facility with a lot of useful features. It has to be said that your chances of finding any particular individual must necessarily be low, but the site is set to keep on growing.
National Archive of Memorial Inscriptions @ www.memorialinscriptions.org.uk
This new site enables you to check whether or
not there are any memorial inscriptions which are relevant to your researches. If there are none, then you pay nothing. If you find what you
want, then you can download, and print out if you wish, not only the
inscriptions themselves, but also a brief description of the memorial, a
photograph of the church or chapel, a plan of the burial ground, and usually
some historical information as well. For this, you pay a fee of between £4 and
£7, depending on how much information you choose to retrieve from what is
available. The site is in an early stage of development and, at present
contains only MI data from Norfolk.
JewishGen
Online Worldwide Burial Registry @ http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/
The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) is a database of names and other identifying information from cemeteries and burial records worldwide, from the earliest records to the present.
There
is an ongoing project by genealogists to put the censuses from 1841 - 1891
online for free (but excluding the 1881 as that is already here).
It's a huge project and will take years to accomplish. Many Family
History Societies have or are transcribing the 1891 at this moment. This is
followed by links to a wide variety of census data - from the complete 1901 to
fragments of many others.
Automated
Genealogy (Canada)@ http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/index.html
The site hosts a volunteer project to produce a free, online index to the 1901 Census of Canada. The site is based on transcribing from the census images provided by the National Archives of Canada and anyone with a web browser and an internet connection can participate. The site has over 2,000,000 lines transcribed, has approximately 40,000 links to other records, and is completely free to browse!
The 1831 Census @ http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/humanities_and_soc_sciences/census/vichome.htm
Yes there was a census in 1831, but one that was very limited in scope compared with the later ones with which we are all familiar. You can download a copy from here.
There are many fragment of census data on the web, but apart from the LDS 1881, most of them cover very small geographical areas. This one is quite outstanding, in providing a full transcript of the 1841, for the whole of the Channel Islands.
This is the very beginning of an ambitious attempt to transcribe the 1861 census, and put it on line. They have completed the city of Halifax – no mean feat in itself, and they plan to go on from there to cover Yorkshire, and then spread out to the rest of Britain. If your ancestors lived in Halifax, you are in luck.
See also above FreeCEN @ http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ , part of the FreeUKGEN Project
The last two sites in the section are really just a bit of fun, but I offer them with the aim of leaving no stone unturned.
This is another sharing site, where people who have paid to access the 1901 Census, put the information they have found online for the benefit of the rest of us. Far from complete of course, but worth a look.
2% of 1851 Census @ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bewickgenealogy/census/
An unusual sharing site, where the author, researching Bewick family genealogy has recorded online all the information that they extracted from the 1851 Census in the course of their research. If you fancy a free bet on a 50:1 outsider, then this is the site for you.
Military Data:
Commonwealth
War Graves Commission @ http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search.aspx (New URL)
This is where you will find details of ancestors killed in the two world wars. The site is easy to use, but there seems to be no consistent policy for dealing with combatants who were sent home, and subsequently died of their wounds.
This is an excellent pay per view site for both the First and Second World Wars. The charges are modest, and the credits last indefinitely, which is very helpful. In addition to a considerable amount of information about the individual, you can also download a replica of the memorial scroll issued to his next of kin.
The information on this site comes from war memorials, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Naval & Military Press and a variety of other sources. It covers the 1st & 2nd World Wars, the Boer War, and several other conflicts. The search engine enables the data to be accessed geographically, by regiment, airfield or by the foreign country in which the men fell. In many cases there are photographs of memorials or even individuals.
This is a list of British army officers who died in a large number of military campaigns around the world taken from a great variety of sources. If your ancestor was an army or naval officer who was killed in action – or maybe was murdered or died an accidental death while on active service, you could find him here.
A similar site to the above, for other ranks.
For Medal Rolls Index
These reports, concerning Officers and Men of World
War One, consist of:
Obituaries giving personal
& service details
Medal
citations - brief accounts of the action which led to a medal
Photos
(usually head and shoulders) with brief details
Photos/accounts
of actions especially medal winners
Copies of these reports
may be ordered for £4.
Includes stories of RN and
MN ships and campaign details of RAF Squadrons and Army Regiments.
The Roll
of Honour lists head and shoulders photos of those who fell, usually with brief
details.
Copies of these reports
may be ordered for £6.
A valuable database of war memorials together with links to other related sites.
The Asplin Military History Resources @ http://hometown.aol.co.uk/kevinasplin/home.html
The Boer War and a variety of other Victorian military campaigns are covered here, together with a searchable database for nearly 40,000 men of the Imperial Yeomanry, Lovats Scouts and Scottish Horse who served in the Boer War; The Army Death Indexes for 1901-1905; Recipients of The Queen’s South Africa Medal etc. etc. You really have to visit to appreciate the scale of this resource.
Register
of the Second Anglo-Boer War @ http://www.casus-belli.co.uk/
A useful source for researching the Boer War from which you can get some basic information on individuals at no charge. However, once you start looking for more detailed information, you have to buy credits, and the costs could mount very rapidly, as they are essentially search fees for particular documents. These vary between £3
and £25.
Lost Generation @ http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/L/lostgeneration/index.html
This Channel 4 site provides access to a very large database of war memorials which can be searched either by location of the memorial, or by the names of individual servicemen and women. I found several family members who were not listed on any of the other sites.
Genealogy
World @ http://www.genealogyworld.net/
In spite of its rather general title, this site specialises in events in southern Africa, including the Boer War and Zulu War. It is a mine of information with links to a huge range of related sources.
The Army Nursing Service & Princess
Christian’s Army Nursing Service(Reserve) @ http://www.pcansr.net/
This site explores the history of the Army Nursing Service & Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service (Reserve), and in particular those individual nurses who were in service at the time of the Boer War. The records of individual nurses have been put together from a variety of sources to create a rich resource for anyone interested in Army Nursing, or trying to find out information about an individual nurse.
Naval Biographical Database @ http://www.navylist.org/
People, Places, Ships, Organisations
and Events associated with the Royal
Navy since 1660. There are searchable databases for all the above.
Royal Airforce WW2 @ http://www.worldwar2exraf.co.uk/News%20Letters/News%20Letter%20archives.htm
Searchable database of personnel.
This
is a searchable database of members of the British armed forces who lost their
lives in conflicts between the end of WW2 and 2006.
Trades and Professions:
Digital Library of Historical Directories @ http://www.historicaldirectories.org/
This is a Leicester University site in which are collected together a number of old street and trade directories. It is particularly useful if you are researching someone who had his/her own business, though the later directories often list private citizens by address.
The database is searchable by means of a search engine which has recently been enormously improved. If you have used it in the past, you will be impressed by the upgrade.
Family History Resources for travelling fairground showmen; circus proprietors; ghost illusion shows; bioscopes (early travelling cinemas); other show and exhibition proprietors; waxworks and menageries; gymnasts, acrobats and equestrians; stall holders; travelling photographers and confectioners; hawkers; musicians; comedians and other performers; proprietors of travelling theatres and fairground rides; and other "frequenters of fairs".
A
performing arts gateway to the UK, in which you can search for your actor
ancestor by name.
The Adelphi Theatre 1806-1900 @ http://www.emich.edu/public/english/adelphi_calendar/perfactr.htm
This site provides a searchable list of all actors appearing at the Adelphi over the period in question.
Major and Minor reports of accidents to
railwaymen of all classes
Includes some Railway Police. Copies of reports may be ordered for prices
ranging from £3 to £14.
The
London and North Western Railway Society @ http://www.lnwrs.org.uk/index.php
The London and North Western Railway Society’s website has a searchable database of staff, as well as a lot of background information on their wages, salaries and working conditions.
Naval Biographical Database @ http://www.navylist.org/
People, Places, Ships, Organisations
and Events associated with the Royal
Navy since 1660. There are searchable databases for all the above.
A good place to find your clergy ancestor, being a relational database documenting the careers of all Church of England clergymen between 1540 and 1835.
Remembering Police Officers who have lost their Lives @ http://www.policememorial.org.uk/
This site is described as The National Police Officers Roll of Honour, and lists all British police officers who are known to have died in the line of duty.
Police Index @ http://www.lightagedemon.co.uk/POLNOTES.htm
An index of reports from a wide variety of sources concerning police officers. Copies of major reports may be ordered for £6 and minor ones for £3.
Mines and Quarries Index @ http://www.lightage.demon.co.uk/MINING.htm
The reports give details of the
accidents/disasters and sometimes
include inquest details. Copies of reports may be ordered for prices
ranging from £4 to £14.
The
Blacksmiths Index @ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blacksmiths/index.htm
This is a new but rapidly growing site dedicated to all kinds of smiths and related trades (did you know about brownsmiths?). It includes such occupations as farrier, cutler, wheelwright etc.. We all have smiths in our family somewhere – why not send details of yours to this site and help it to grow.
You can search the archives for references to your nursing ancestors, and there is a helpful section for family historians on tracing nurses. Please bear in mind however that the term ‘nurse’, as used in the occupation column of the census, may well have referred to an untrained person looking after young children.
Small & Special @ http://www.smallandspecial.org/
Small and Special is a collection of resources relating to
the early years of The Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street,
England’s first in-patient children’s hospital. Here you can trace a patient,
learn about childhood diseases, or investigate a member of the medical staff.
Corkcutters
in England @ http://corkcutter.info/
Corkcutters
were working in England from the 17th – 19th century. If you had ancestors who
were corkcutters, I hope you find this site and index useful.
Irish Data:
Irish
Family History Foundation @ http://www.irishroots.net/
This site provides links to family history data in each of the thirty two counties. It is fee based, and not particularly cheap, but you may feel that it is a reasonable price to pay to get through a brick wall. Bear in mind that a great deal of Irish genealogical data has been destroyed by civil disturbance over the years.
This
was a survey of property occupiers in Ireland made between 1848 and 1864 and
it's importance lies in the fact that it lists almost every head of household
for each county. The information given in the Griffiths is the following:
The townland address and householders name; the name of the person from whom
the property is leased; a description of the property; the acreage and the
valuation. If a surname was common in an area then the surveyors adopted the
practise of indicating the father’s name to show the difference between two
people of the same Christian name and surname (usually).
Irish Genealogy website with online access to
over 1 million birth, marriage, death and census records for Northern Ireland.
Most of the information is provided on a subscription only basis. For current
subscription, see the website.
Irish
Pension Search @ http://www.pensear.org/
The Irish census records were destroyed by the fire of 1922, but much of the data from them is apparently duplicated in the pension records which still exist. This pay per view site enables you to search those records. I am not sure how complete they are but was surprised to only get 11 hits from the name Flynn, so don’t expect too much.
This web-site presents an inventory of war memorials in Ireland. It includes photographs of each memorial, the text of all inscriptions, and details of the site of the memorial. A database of all of those named allows a search for individual persons, with links to the photographs of the memorials. The site is work in progress, but should become very useful in time.
Irish
Family History Foundation @ http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/index.php?&set=yes
This
site contains the largest collection of Parish records for Ireland that are
searchable online. The complete indexes, listing surname, first name, year and
county of ALL records is yours to search freely. To view a detailed record you
can purchase credit online for instant access.
Irish
Genealogy @ http://www.irish-genealogy.com/the-freedom-of-ireland.php
A
subscription site where you can search for information on your Irish ancestors
as well as learning about Irish history. There is a free trial to enable you see if it is worth your while
to take out a subscription.
Index of Irish Merchant Seamen 1918-1921 @ http://www.irishmariners.ie/index.php This website contains an index of Irish born merchant seamen contained in the CR10 series of index cards in the Southampton Civic Archives. The CR10 Archive holds 270,000 cards covering the multinational workforce of the British Merchant Marine during the period from late 1918 to the end of 1921. All ranks and jobs at sea are covered from master to scullion. A unique feature of the CR 10 cards is that they usually contain a good photograph of the seaman. At this time RS2 Identity books, with matching photographs were issued to the seamen.
Kabristan Archives is a non-profit making organisation dedicated to preserving memorial inscriptions from graveyards in the west of Ireland and the Indian sub-continent including many which no longer exist. They are presented here in a form which is easily accessible to the family historian.
Scottish Data:
General
Register Office for Scotland @ http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/
This is the primary site for Scotland, from which you can purchase copies of civil registration certificates and find general census information. There is also a link to Scotland’s People (see below). There are some good articles on searching the records, and some very useful tables of districts and parishes.
Scotland’s
People @ http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/
This site belongs to the General Register Office for Scotland, and is described as “The official government source for genealogical data for Scotland”. It is very useful, but unfortunately, access costs £6 for 30 ‘page credits’ valid for 168 hours. Each page of index entries you download costs 1 credit, and each image costs 5 credits. I hate that sort of charging system, it makes me feel that I should spend all night on the PC to get my money’s worth. On some sites, the credits last indefinitely, and I don’t see why they couldn’t on this one. However, it has improved; it used to be 48 hours.
Part of the Origins group of sites, this is a useful contribution to Scottish genealogy research. It includes an IGI search engine for Scotland which has some advantages over searching the IGI in the usual way. It also has a free place search compiled from the place names in the 1881 census.
Scottish Genealogy @ http://www.scotroots.com/
There is a great deal of generally useful information about Scots and Scotland here, including such things as a list of Scottish names for occupations, some of which might otherwise be incomprehensible to those of us from south of the border. There is also a lot about coats of arms and Scottish clan crests, which I find a little worrying – it is too reminiscent of the heritage industry to be convincing. Discovering whether an individual has a genuine right to a particular heraldic achievement is far more complex than simply finding one which is associated with his surname. Having no Scottish ancestors (so far as I am aware) I cannot try it out, nor can I try the “Guarantee successful Scottish ancestry search results (or no fee)” offer, but whether their idea of success would correspond with yours or mine, I have no idea. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried these offers.
Scottish Emigration Database@ http://www.abdn.ac.uk/emigration/
The Scottish Emigration Database, a project from The University of Aberdeen, currently contains the records of over 21,000 passengers who embarked at Glasgow and Greenock for non-European ports between 1 January and 30 April 1923, and at other Scottish ports between 1890 and 1960.
Welsh
Interest Group of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists @ http://www.rootsweb.com/~nzsgwig/
If you are a Kiwi researching your Welsh ancestors, then this is the site for you. However, the value of the site is not limited to Kiwi’s, and could be of use to displaced Welshmen (or women) the world over.
Jewish Data:
JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy @ http://www2.jewishgen.org/
This very substantial website is the first port of call for anyone researching their Jewish ancestry. Just scan the home page to see the remarkable scope of this facility.
Genpals
Cemetery Project @ http://www.genpals.com/
Transcriptions and photos from Jewish Cemeteries in the UK,
over 1,000 entries, historical narratives and mini family trees
Life in
the Shtetl @ http://www.shtetldoc.com/
ShtetlDoc will
provide you published information from many sources including newspapers
in pre-war Europe and America that may not be available on
Jewish geneology sites. We also can translate Yiddish documents.
Romany Genes @ http://www.romanygenes.webeden.co.uk/
If you have Romany ancestry, this is the site for you. It has recently undergone considerable expansion.
Romany Genes 2 @ http://romanygenes2.webeden.co.uk/
This is an extension to Romany Genes 1, incorporating records of Romanies in the IGI, censuses, parish records etc.
American Romanichals @ http://americanromanichals.webeden.co.uk/
Another sister site
for the original RomanyGenes 1&2 But devoted to the many English Romanies
who emigrated to America contains many newspaper articles and Census from
America and Passenger lists.
Offenders:
Black Sheep Index @ http://www.blacksheepindex.co.uk/
This is a searchable database of some of the people who appeared in court (not all criminals), in the period 1860 - 1900.
Capital
Punishment @ http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/contents.html
If your ancestor paid the ultimate price, you might find him here
This site contains information, on
Industrial/Reformatory Schools and the like in
England and Wales during the 19th and early 20th century. These schools
were used for the punishment and possibly rehabilitation of young offenders.
The databases include teaching staff as well as pupils.
A fully searchable online edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, originally containing accounts of over 100,000 criminal trials held at London's central criminal court. The database has since been extended to include trials for 1834-1913 i.e. another 100,000 trials. The website itself has also had some changes.
Emigration / Immigration:
New
England (MA) Pilgrim and Great Migration Ship Lists Early 1600's @ http://www.packrat-pro.com/shiplist.htm
This site provides passenger lists and other details of some of the earliest migrations to the New World, including the Mayflower, which in spite of not being the first, was certainly the most famous of these of these early ships.
Ellis
Island Database – One Step Search Tools @ http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/eidb/
Although this is on the JewishGen database, it uses Dr. Stephen Morse’s one step search tools to enable you to look for both Jewish and non Jewish passengers entering the USA via Ellis Island. Registration is free.
Immigrant
Ships Transcribers Guild @ http://www.immigrantships.net/
A volunteer site which aims to transcribe passenger lists of ships taking immigrants to the USA, and present them on line, free of charge. Around 5000 ships have been completed to date, and the project continues. Can be searched by passenger name, ship, port of departure, etc.
American
Family Immigration History Centre @ http://www.ellisisland.org/
This is the site where you can find your ancestors who entered the USA via Ellis Island in the years 1892 - 1924. You can search by name only, and then add other data to refine your search.
If your ancestors emigrated (or even immigrated) to Canada, you will find this a very helpful site. Click on either ‘ArchiviaNet’ or ‘Genealogy’ under the ‘Research’ heading to find passenger lists and other useful information.
Pier 21 was where immigrants to Canada landed throughout the period 1928 – 1971
If your ancestors were among them, you could find them here.
The
Ships List @ http://www.theshipslist.com/
This is a big site which covers just about anything to do with ships. The reason it is in the Data Section is that it includes some free to view passenger lists - which is pretty unusual. A fascinating site for anyone with a seafaring ancestor, or one who emigrated.
If your ancestor emigrated from the Channel Islands to New Zealand, you will probably find him here, along with a Register of pupils at Elizabeth College Guernsey from 1824 – 1911.
Boston Ship Arrivals @ http://stevemorse.org/ellis/bostfolder.html
Philadelphia Ship Arrivals @ http://stevemorse.org/ellis/philfolder.html
Find ancestors in these One-Step Searches of Boston and Philadelphia passenger records from 1891 to 1943. There are three tools - one that searches for passengers, one that gives direct access to the manifests, and one that allows you to find ship arrivals.