Useful Genealogy Sites

Widespread use of computers and internet access has added to a more recent spurt in the growth of what is now an industry. However, as we shall see, you cannot get very far if you limit yourself to the internet. But it is a catalyst, and attracts those who might never get started on the orthodox genealogical route. You can still have plenty of fun and, depending on your surname and what has been done already, you may strike it lucky in ancestral cyberspace.

Ancestry.com

This popular site holds huge set of databases. Much of the site can be searched without a charge, in particular 'vital' data on births, marriages and deaths. You can print or download whole ancestry (back) or pedigree (forwards from an ancestor) trees, being ready-made hierarchies of relationships that others have contributed. A single search with a date may provide the direct ancestral tree as far back as the data included on the site.

You can print out a family tree either as charts or text relationship hierarchies. If you strike lucky with your particular name you might produce a direct line back to the seventeenth or sixteenth century in an hour or so. This is where the computer comes into its own, as such a feat might take days or weeks of searching at record offices. The information in ancestry.com has been transcribed from civil public records and parish registers so will have a reasonable chance of accuracy. Spellings need not be critical as these databases use the Soundex system. However, only by reference to original records (such as birth and marriage certificates and parish registers of christening, marriage and burial), can you be sure of the validity of an online record.

Familia.org.uk

Familia is a web-based directory of family history resources held in public libraries in the UK and Ireland . It was originally created and maintained by the Family History Task Group of the EARL Consortium. It is now being developed by the Co-East consortia of libraries in the Eastern region.

Familia is the online starting-place to find information about materials in public libraries which will help you trace your family history.