Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016
Explore Resources Online for Your English Family History
9:00 am – 11:30 am: Friday, June 3
John D. Reid
Before the start of the session please ensure your laptop or other device connects to the conference Wi-Fi system.
Identify a person of interest who lived in England for whom you have a name, place where they lived (preferably birthplace) and year (preferably birth year). It would be better if not a Mary or John Smith living in London!
Name.
Check for entries for that surname in the following databases.
Guild of One Name Studies – http://www.one-name.org/
Surname Society – http://www.surname-society.org/
Use the following database to examine where that surname is most common.
Public Profiler – http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/
Place.
Is the place the subject of a one-place study?
One-Place Studies – http://one-place-studies.org/.
What information can you find from the following resources that may be helpful in researching the person further?
Google maps – http://www.maps.google.ca/
Old Maps – http://www.oldmapsonline.org/
England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851 – http://maps.familysearch.org/
GENUKI – http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/
Time.
Use the English genealogy timeline to determine which records might be relevant.
1086: Domesday Book
ca 1150: Start of heraldry in England
13th century: Manorial Court records
ca 1300: Establishment of surnames
1384: Prerogative Court of Canterbury
1538: Start of parish records (BMB, parish chest)
1540: Church of England probate records
1642 to 1660: Civil War and Commonwealth (Cromwell)
1662-1689: Hearth Tax
1666: Oxford (London) Gazette
1696: Electoral registers
1752 (2 September): England converted to Gregorian calendar.
1754: Hardwicke’s Marriage Act (end of clandestine marriages)
1760: Start of British Army service records
1798: Army Lists
1801: 1st decennial census (statistics, no names)
1813: George Rose’s Act (standardized parish registers)
1834: The New Poor Law
1836 – 1855: Reduction and repeal of stamp tax on newspapers
1837 (1 July): National system of civil registration for BMDs
1841: First national decennial census with names, ages rounded
1849: Consular records of British BMDs
ca 1850: Street directories
1852: Burial Act
1858: Civil administration of probate
1884: Men over the age of 21 on electoral rolls
1890: Outgoing ship passenger lists
1910 – 1915: Valuation Office survey: land value and ownership
1918: Women over 30 on electoral rolls
1928: Equal Franchise Act
1939: National registration
1974: Significant changes in county boundaries
Online Resources
FreeBMD – http://freebmd.org.uk/
Ancestry – http://ancestry.co.uk/, or http://ancestry.ca/ or http://ancestry.com/
Findmypast – http://findmypast.com or findmypast.co.uk/
The Genealogist – http://thegenealogist.co.uk/
Deceasedonline – http://deceasedonline.com/
FamilySearch – http://familysearch.org/
The National Archives – http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Probate Service – https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills
Historical Directories of England & Wales – http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/landingpage/collection/p16445coll4/
(also in the Internet Archive (texts)and Google Books).
London Gazette – http://www.thegazette.co.uk/
Newspapers –http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
(also on Findmypast)
Additional Resources
https://www.myheritage.com/ and http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/
http://lostcousins.com/
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/
http://archive.org/details/europeanlibraries (Military Lists)
www.freecen.org.uk/ and www.freereg.org.uk/
www.ukbmd.org.uk/ and www.ukbmd.org.uk/online_parish_clerk/
http://www.ffhs.org.uk/
http://www.sog.org.uk/
http://wherethestorytakesme.ca/alban-leaf/