My Tips to You Part 2

I have been doing my family tree research since 2002 to help me where my families have come from and how they used to live. Since then I have moved onto helping others with their research, but there is so much you can do until new records have been realised to the public.

I have put some websites and tips to help you get started or to help you continue your journey into the unknown.

Websites

• Free BMD- this is limited to England. 
  • FreeBMD – Search
• Ancestry- they have many different types of membership which gives you access to different/more records. You can sign up for free but will give you very limited access.
  • Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online – Ancestry.com
• Findmypast- with this site you need to subscribe to access their record. Currently this is the only site to access the 1921 census for England. 
  • Dashboard | findmypast.co.uk
• Deceased Online- This will help with locating graves. Sadly not every grave location is on this.
  • Burial records, cremation records, grave maps, genealogy and ancestry at Deceased Online
• ScotlandsPeople- this site may help if you have Scottish family members. It is free to search, but may need to pay to see/view images/records.
  • Find your Scottish ancestors | ScotlandsPeople
• General Register Office- this will help you buy Birth and Death certificates in England/Wales. These will be available in PDF and other formats. It is free to search but will cost to buy.
  • General Register Office – Online Ordering Service – Login (gro.gov.uk)

Tips

• Start from the roots up. This means starting from YOU. 
• Gather as much information as possible about your grandparents/great Grandparents. This includes Date of birth, Place of birth. If they have passed also their date of death and place of death.
• Ask family members for information (if this is possible)
• Use more than one website to research with.
• Sign up to ancestry (free account) to use for your family tree. Having all information in one place will help with arranging your information and keep you on track. 
• If you are confused join Facebook groups to ask for help. Most groups will not allow conversations about living people. 
• Keep a folder on pc/laptop will all the images you have gathered and use sub folders for different surnames.
• Print off anything that is important. This is top make sure you don’t lose back up information. 
• If you pay for ancestry and you come across a ‘cousin’ don’t to scared to message them for information they may have. 
• Use Ancestry DNA- This will help you in a huge way. This would help you if you were adopted or if your grandparents/great grandparents and further generations. 

I hope these websites and tips will help you to discover new information about your families past.