Family History

Is anyone else researching their Family History?

 I am seriously like a woman possessed!

I've been researching the british branch of my family (which starts with my great-grandmother) and recently spent an afternoon at the Family Records Centre on Myddleton St. in London- what a *wonderful* place! I should have given myself more time because I hadn't a clue how  time consuming it is to go through the Registration books for each quarter of each year.  I have promised myself to be better organized when I return because I have specific puzzles I just can't seem to solve!

Does anyone have any favourite sites they use? I'd love to join Ancestry.com/co.uk but I don't have the cash- that itself is very frustrating because they seem to have a lot of the records I'd like to get my hands on. 

For all of you researching your family in the UK, these are some of my favourite sites:

The Family Records Centre (London)-you can search by hand through BMD books from 1 July 1837, also can scan census documents on microfiche, etc. Love this place!
www.familyrecords.gov.uk/frc

The National Archives (Kew, Richmond, Surrey)
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

FamilySearch (Church of Latter Day Saints- Mormon)
www.familysearch.org

Society of Genealogists
www.sog.org.uk

GENUKI- a reference site for family history in the UK
www.genuki.org.uk

Cyndi's List (links to genealogical websites worldwide)
www.cyndislist.com

FreeBMD (an incomplete index to births, marriages & deaths in England and Wales. Remember that events were often reported up to 6 weeks after they occurred so you should check a wider date range when searching on this site or even when viewing the original documents)
www.freebmd.org.uk

Historical Directories Online (what the name suggests! Things like Post office books, etc. I found my Great-great-grandfather's portmanteau London business listing in 2 directories! Awesome!)
www.historicaldirectories.org


Although I've gathered a goodly bit of data, I'm still in the beginning stages of my search and would love to know if anyone else has success stories or tips? Does anyone have paid access to any of the UK Census data and would they love a challenge? 


Jen 

My family on both sides have the same (quite well documented) history.  Though we are such a small population that there is very little on-line--but lots of letter writing and books shared within the popluation.  Though this is a great link to get others started: http://www.ahsgr.org

We are "Germans from Russia". 

In the early 1700s, the Russian Czar Catherine the Great invited loads of Germans to her land to farm and have freedoms not permitted in Germany (some due to religious causes).  The people lived in little villiages where they kept to themselves, and altered their ways based on the new land (food, customs, etc).

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, things changed for the Germans and they felt the need to move on, often going to the Dakotas in the states.  Then again durring WWII the remaining population was "politly asked to leave" (being German and all) so there was another flood to America.

It is a very intersting pocket population, and very "un-heard-of" as well.  But...my goal in life is to introduce people about the Germans from Russia...I have some great receipies too.... ;-)

Hi Jennydee,

Good luck to you with your research. I recently finished a family tree for my family as a Christmas gift--got all the way back to 1500s using online resources and the family records centre (it is fab). Half the family was easy to trace as we have well documented info, but the other side was a bit of a challenge. However, one perk to living in the UK is to have access to all the records.

One tip for you re: ancestry.co.uk--I used this site primarily as it seems to be the most comprehensive site. I signed up for 2 week free trial and did all my research in the two weeks, and then cancelled the membership before they charged my credit card. Yes, I had to enter a credit card even for the trial, but cancelled it with no problem one day before expiry. Give it a try--if the .co.uk site isn't having a free trial then try the .com site...I can't remember which one I used, but a pop-up free trial came up when I logged on. 

Elizabeth

Thanks so much for that, Elizabeth!!

I've used Ancestry.com/co.uk for their free searches and you confirmed what a friend of mine said about using their free online trial. I should. I do love going to the records office but I found I was more fascinated on just looooking and didn't get as much done as I would have liked 

Would *love* to hear more of your tips- sounds like you are an experienced geneologist!

Thanks for posting! Feel free to message me if you want to chat about it!
Jen

Thanks for listing all of those great websites, Jen!  
I just learned that one of my g-g-g-grandfathers was from England.  (We thought that whole side of the family was from Germany.)  These websites will certainly help.
Do you have any idea if there happens to be a UK-Emigration Index?  i.e. did people need to register to leave the UK in the early- to mid-1800s?
Jeannie

Thanks for listing all of those great websites, Jen!  
I just learned that one of my g-g-g-grandfathers was from England.  (We thought that whole side of the family was from Germany.)  These websites will certainly help.
Do you have any idea if there happens to be a UK-Emigration Index?  i.e. did people need to register to leave the UK in the early- to mid-1800s?
Jeannie

You're very welcome, StuzGirl! I find this whole process totally fascinating and I'm just aching to make more "finds", you know? I don't know if there is a UK-Emigration index but I'm in need of it, too! I'm trying to find details of my hubby's Granny's Dad's family (oh dear- convoluted hehe) Since they went to the USA in 1861- and her Dad was born on the ship over! I'll keep my eyes peeled but please do let me know if you find anything in your research!

It will be a crazy few weeks coming up but I hope to have more time to devote to researching at the end of January- can't wait! Thanks for posting!!!

When I was about 14 I went with my father to visit an old (and aged !) friend of the family. It was on a small island so the old fellow knew most of the families and their geaneology many generations. Just from memory he told all ours back to the time of the '45 rebellion (in Scotland)