First of all, although I work very hard on collecting this
data, I am not an experienced genealogist. Although I've been putting my
family tree together ever since my first child was born in 1983 it has been
very slow progress and most of the information you see on this site is research
or collected data gathered from the Internet since 1997. The vast majority
has been done in 2002. It's an interesting and absorbing hobby, as it coincides
nicely with two of my other passions, i.e. history and webpage design. Those
are where any real expertise I have lie. But I do like a good puzzle. Genealogy
is a special type of jigsaw with people as pieces. A lot of detective work
is required, and my knowledge of English history comes in extremely useful.
I double check everything I upload, but THERE MAY STILL BE ERRORS, as I
have NOT yet aquired many of the official documents to confirm my findings.
I rely very much on the kindness of strangers (albeit often related ones)
sending me info both on-line and off, and although their intentions are honourable,
sometimes memories aren't always reliable.
The purpose of this site is to share my findings with other people. It
concentrates on my own ancestors, with some basic advice for those just starting
out - advice I could have used myself! It is very easy to find onself following
leads that turn out to be red herrings, but even these are not a true waste
of time as research can be handed on. The BEST way to trace your family
is by visiting records offices in the places they lived. That's not so easy
if you live on the other side of the world, so these days most of us take
full advantage of all the Internet resources available.
On-line I find the following sites to be invaluable when I am searching:
www.familysearch.org
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' vast database of
names and familial connections. On-line searching is free. CD's are available
for a modest fee.
www.rootsweb.com
Large free search database donated by site users. Well-used
message boards. Search facility could do with some improvements.
www.ancestry.com
Some free searches on-line including Free BMD - Births, Marriages,
and Deaths. This resource is incomplete but well worth your time. Other
services are chargeable. Links to same free database and forums as Rootsweb.
www.gencircles.com
Free searches on the database. Still growing and looks promising.
www.gendex.com
An older free search database which links to other sites. Lots of
errors on some of these, but still worth using.
www.censusuk.co.uk
Free searches of 1881 census, with full records available at
a ridiculously low fee. I happily paid for this friendly personal service.
www.census.pro.gov.uk
Temporary test site for on-line searches of 1901 UK census. Free basic
search, chargeable for details. Full of (sometimes) amusing, (sometimes)
irritating errors, but an absolute delight nevertheless.
www.genealogy.com
Not one of the better sites, forum is not used very often, and free
searches are quite limited. But I've had some successes there.
www.genuki.co.uk
This has a wealth of information but it varies dramatically in quantity
from area to area. Also contains a great how-to section for beginners to
genealogy. All info pertains to UK.
www.multimap.com
Downloadable maps, infinitely better than Mapblast.
Cambridge BMD
I must also mention the wonderful people who frequent the soc.genealogy.britain
usenet group who have cheerfully looked up census returns for me and offered
help, advice, and good humour. See their FAQ at
www.bigwig.net/genealogy
Don't forget to make full use of your search engine when looking for
people. I always use
Google
.
You have been warned.