Genealogy Chat

I've been to the library this afternoon & borrowed a book called 'thegoodwebguide Genealogy'. It lists loads of really useful websites covering all topics, but best of all they have there own website - www(.)thegoodwebguide(.)co(.)uk (remove the brackets). Click on Genealogy & it takes you to a massive list of up to date sites and a review of them. Very interesting and well worth a look.

Great idea Andy, Nudging - so the thread is'nt lost Glynis

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The London, Belfast and Edinburgh Gazettes www(.)gazettes-online(.)co(.)uk are useful if you have rellies who were in the Civil Service, had commissions during WW2 or were awarded medals. My grandfather was in the Ministry of Transport for 35 years and I found most of his promotions. My father had a junior commission in the RAF during WW2 and I found his details too. I even found some details of other family members who sat Civil Service exams to join the Post Office. I also found a few references to wills and bankruptcies. The layout of the site has changed recently and I find it a bit more complicated to navigate than before. However, if you click 'Archive' on the tab at the top, you should get somewhere! And it's FREE! :-)

Thank you Andy for starting this thread and also thank you Dawn for the site goodwebguide I have been on it for ages and found a lot of good sites I didn't know about. Regards Jill

Nudge

Nudge...Nudge..great Tips people!

Only been at this lark a week meself, but have learned to begin a search as broadly as possible - be too specific and you may not get a record which was there all the time. Records on the Internet are usually transcribed by volunteers who do a marvelous job, but bear in mind that they're transcribing from hand-written records which may be difficult to decipher. Plus which, census enumerators, parish recorders etc were sometimes not as accurate in their spelling as they might have been. I was looking for someone and a search result came up with 'Stinker' Finnis. Stinker? Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't but in either case I very much doubt he was baptised as such. His name was actually Steriker, a name by which he turns up in other records. Use wildcards (*) in a search, for example a search for St* as the forename would bring up both Steriker and Stinker, bless 'im.

Wow, thanks everyone for your tips,very useful. Cas

nudging so as not to lose thread. excellent info thanks Liz

Great idea....nudging to read in the morning! Sally in Sydney

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GREAT IDEA...!! I'M checking this posting so that I can refer back to it over time. THANK'S.

What a lovely new years pressie Andy...Thankyou (Now I have added, I can find you again lol) Gerri x

Addition to Susan Bishop's thread of 15/10/05 - the Gazette web link is excellent that she quoted for the London Gazette. Go to 'Archives' at the top of the page, enter your name you are searching for at the top in the 'search' field and hit 'go'. It then comes up with a list of records it has found that may be relevant. If when you click on each document, to help you search for where your name appears (particularly if it is a long death notice and there are loads of names of deceased persons, solicitors and relatives to browse through) use a find function. Hold down the control key 'Ctrl' and then hit the 'F' key at the same time. This then lets you put in your name you are looking for in the document - you can even tell it to match the case (upper or lower) if you want to and then hit the 'Find next' field. This will then take the cursor to where you want it to and saves you reading loads of other names you don't need to. Very useful if you have loads of documents to search through and you don't want to be tied to the computer for hours! Don't forget to do 'Find Next' once you've got to the point you needed to get to in the document, just to check that there were not 2 references to you name you needed before you cancel and close the find screen. This control and F (Find function) can be used in many documents and programs including Word and Excel. It will save you time! http://www(.)gazettes-online(.)co(.)uk

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Thanks for all the great tips! Christine

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Great thread. No matter how long you've been at this, you never know it all and it is so easy to miss something. I live in Devon and all my ancestors come from East Riding so visiting the archives is a huge undertaking. The further back I go the more I am using the postal services of The East Riding Archives, Hull Archives and the Borthwick Institute. One Archive will do their first search for you without cost (I won't name them on list, just in cas!) Thereafter, for £10 they searched the apprenticeship and Freemans Rolls for me going back to 1700 for a family name. For a little more than the price of a certificate I had not only extended my family tree but discovered a lot more about their lives, as many were apprenticed through Patrimony. Borthwick hold PRs for parishes not covered by IGI and will do a search for £10 for 30mins. Wills are £5 a copy. I've just sent for 3. Most archives wil email you a form to fill in with your request if the form is not downloadable online. It took me a long time to develop the confidence to contact the Archivist by email with a request. However, I have found them all to be really helpful and happy to point me in the right direction when floundering. After all, that's what they are there for. Can't think of a better job!! There is so much more out there if we only ask! Jackie