Starting out

Contact all your living relatives, especially the elderly ones, and collect copies of birth, marriage and death certificates – they all contain valuable information – plus as much biographical information as you can extract. In addition, collect and copy examination certificates, diplomas, awards, newspaper cuttings – anything that contains names and dates. Check family Bibles – they are often handed down through the generations and may be inscribed with the names of your ancestors in some sort of order. While you're at it, get your older relatives to index/annotate old photographs – your granny will know who the people in the photos are, but when she's gone, will you?

Next, make out an index card, sheet of paper or proprietary prepared form for each person in your family. Write down:

• full name (including married women's maiden names)
• date of birth and/or baptism
• names of parents
• place of origin (town, village or parish)
• date of marriage
• name of spouse
• names of children
• date of death and/or burial

  Using a computer
  Software packages are available to make sense of this data – for example, 'Family Tree Maker' (PC) and 'Reunion' (Mac). After you have entered all the details you have been able to discover, you will be able to print out various charts and family trees – you can even publish your results on the internet. There is also some good shareware around – for instance, Heritage for Macs.

Most people start by tracing back their father's ancestors (the direct male line), as this is usually the easiest to do since there is only one surname to concentrate on.

Work backwards, methodically, generation by generation, starting with your parents, then your father's parents and so on. With luck and time, you may get back to the 1700s.

As you go further back, sources of information become much more sparse, as well as more difficult to read. You may find that some records have not survived. Surnames may also be spelt differently – before the 19th century, many people couldn't write and had to rely on scribes, priests and officials to get it right.

Need help and support? Find your local family history society through the Federation of Family History Societies <http://www.ffhs.org.uk/>.

Need professional help? Find a genealogist through the Society of Genealogists <http://www.sog.org.uk/>.

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths

If your family is from England or Wales, fill in the gaps by visiting the Family Records Centre <http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm> in London (not to be confused with the Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, see below). The Family Records Centre is now the home of the research facilities previously provided at St Catherine's House in Aldwych and the Census Reading Rooms in Chancery Lane.

Family Records Centre
1 Myddelton Street
London EC1R 1UW
Tel: 020 8392 5300
Fax: 020 8392 5307
Textphone: 020 8392 5308
Certificate enquiries
Tel: 020 7233 9233
Textphone: 0151 471 4530
E-mail: certificate.services@ons.gov.uk

The Family Records Centre holds the following indexes:

• Births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837.
• Legal adoptions in England and Wales since 1927.
• Births, marriages and deaths of some British citizens abroad since the late 18th century, including deaths in the two world wars.

It also holds:

• Microform copies of Census of Population returns, from 1841 to the present.
• Microfilms of Estate Duty Office death duty registers for 1796–1858, with indexes for 1796–1903.
• Microfilms of registered copies of wills and administrations up to 1858, from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.
• Non-parochial registers, 1567–1858
• Miscellaneous foreign returns of births, deaths and marriages, 1627–1960.

  London Metropolitan Archives
  40 Northampton Road
  London EC1R 0HB
  Tel: 020 7332 3820

  The Family Records Centre is within a few minutes' walk of the London Metropolitan Archives (formerly the Greater London Records Office). Its 'Quick Start on Genealogy' <http://www.pro.gov.uk/genealogy/starthere.htm> is well worth a read.

The indexes for the civil registration of births, marriages and deaths – which began in England and Wales on 1 July 1837 – are organised alphabetically for each year in quarterly volumes to 1983, thereafter annually. They can be inspected free of charge.

Microfiche copies of the indexes are also available at some local libraries and record offices, and at the Public Record Office (see Resources). Microfilm copies of the indexes can be searched at Family History Centres of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To find the nearest one to you, contact:

British Isles Family History Service Centre
185 Penns Lane
Sutton Coldfield
Birmingham B76 1JU
Tel: 0121 384 2028

Copies of the entries in the registers – that is, the actual birth, marriage and death certificates – cost £6.50 each. (Check the http://www.ons.gov.uk/register/certfees.htm website for any changes in fees.) Copies of certificates can also be obtained by post for £11 each (arriving within 28 days) or £27 (arriving by return of post).

For certificates registering births, deaths and marriages in England and Wales, apply to:
General Register Office
PO Box 2
Merseyside PR8 2JD
Tel: 0151 471 4800
E-mail: certificate.services@ons.gov.uk

For certificates from Scotland:
General Register Office for Scotland
New Register House
Edinburgh EH1 3YT
Tel: 0131 334 0380
Fax: 0131 314 4344
E-mail: nrh.gros@gtnet.gov.uk
For enquiries about registration issues including copies of certificates, look at: http://www.open.gov.uk/gros/groshome.htm
You can also search the Scottish indexes on the internet, using your credit card: http://www.origins.net/GRO/

For certificates from Northern Ireland:
General Register Office for Northern Ireland
Oxford House
49–55 Chichester Street
Belfast BT1 4HL
Tel: 028 9025 2021
http://www.nics.gov.uk/nisra/gro/

For information about applying for certificates from the Republic of Ireland, write to:
Ofig An Ard-Chlaraitheora
Joyce House
8–11 Lombard Street East
Dublin 2
Eire

Lots of links on The Irish Ancestral Research Association website
tiara.ie/links.html

BMD
This stands for 'Births, Marriages and Deaths'. The objective of the FreeBMD Project <http://FreeBMD.rootsweb.com/> is to provide free internet access to the civil registration index information for England and Wales.

You can swap unwanted certificates through the UK BDM Exchange <http://web.ukonline.co.uk/graham.pitt/bdm/>.

Census returns

Census returns contain lots of interesting information. For example, if you know the address where one of your ancestors was living at a particular time, you can also find out who else was living in the house then, their relationship to the head of the household, their ages, their birthplace and their occupations.

The census has been held every ten years since 1801, except for 1941, when World War II took precedence. Only the census returns from 1841 and later are really of worth to genealogists – the earlier censuses were the responsibility of the clergy and overseers of the poor and record scanty details. All census returns can be viewed on microfilm in larger local libraries and at Family History Centres.

Census
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/census.html

Victorian Census Project
http://www.staffs.ac.uk/schools/humanities_and_soc_sciences/census/vichome.htm

National Archives of Ireland
Bishop Street
Dublin 8
Eire
Tel: 003531 407 2300
http://www.nationalarchives.ie/
These include the Irish census returns of 1901 and 1911, and some transcripts of earlier returns, the originals of which were destroyed in 1922. The 1901 returns can be seen on microfilm at Family History Centres, but a fee may be payable.

DNA testing

Viewers who wish to have more information on DNA testing can:

• look at the www.oxfordancestors.com website where they will find more information and an email address.
• or write to:
  Oxford Ancestors (IMM)
  Freepost (SCE 9896)
  Oxford OX3 9YN.

Other sources of information

If your ancestors were well off, more information can be gleaned from probate records (wills). Electoral registers (from 1832), tithe maps, trade directories and old telephone books can also be useful sources of information. Most of these will be found at county records offices.

Black peoples map of Britain
The Black & Asian Studies Association is embarking on a project that will attempt to 'map' the presence of black peoples in Britain since the 16th century. ('Black' here means peoples of Asian and African origin/descent.)

Except for a few individuals who became well known, the black population of Britain has remained obscure and unquantified. However, with the aid of the members of family history societies around the UK, we are collecting information from parish records on the baptisms, marriages and deaths of black peoples since the late 16th century. There should also be more (and more detailed) information in records from gaols, hospitals, workhouses, settlements and, especially, naval hospitals, as well as in police and inquest records. We are looking for anything at all that we can enter into our proposed database, which we plan to make accessible to everyone. Eventually, when enough data has been accumulated - for example, for a particular area - it should be possible to persuade local colleges/universities/researchers to attempt to put flesh on the often bare bones of such records.

If you want to take part in this project, or if you have information that you wish to impart, contact:

Marika Sherwood
Secretary, Black & Asian Studies Association
c/o Institute of Commonwealth Studies
28 Russell Square
London WC1B 5DS
Tel: 020 7862 8844
Fax: 020 7862 8820
E-mail: marikas@a1.sas.ac.uk

Extraordinary Ancestors is a brand new prime-time programme going out as part of Channel Four's next Black History season. We are looking for young, lively, energetic people living in Bristol, Cardiff and Edinburgh who think they may have interesting ancestors and would like to know more about their family history. Anyone interested should contact Freeform Productions on 020 7407 4002 or e-mail jesso@freeformtv.demon.co.uk.