Would you like to start researching your family tree, but not sure where to begin? Here are some tips to get you started.
TALK TO RELATIVES
The best place to start is to find out as much information as you can from family members. Ask questions to older generations of the family, and use prompts such as any family photographs or artefacts to start conversations about your ancestors.
GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE RECORDS OF BIRTH, MARRIAGE AND DEATH
From there, sites like https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ can be used to look up the indexes of General Registration. From July 1837, births, marriages and deaths were formally registered, and to obtain a copy of these from the General Register Office, the relevant quarter, district, volume and page number are required. This detail is provided in the quarterly indexes, and then certificates themselves can be ordered from https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/
CENSUS
The next step would be to look for the family in census returns. Census enumerations were taken from 1801 onwards, although it is only the returns from 1841 which provide the names of individual household members. Thus, a snapshot every ten years can be found of your ancestors, showing where they were living, with whom and what occupations they were then undertaking. These are available via subscription websites such as www.ancestry.co.uk or www.findmypast.co.uk
Once you have drawn up a skeleton family tree, this can be augmented with sources such as military, probate or newspaper records as appropriate, to find out more about your ancestors. If you would like our team of professional genealogists to undertake research on your family tree, why not contact us today for a free quotation.
