Ancestry

Imagine taking a walk in the footsteps of your forebears – literally, that is – or visiting an ancient dwelling where one of your descendents once called home. In recent years one of the fastest growing trends in the tourism industry has been the increase in ancestral travel. While there has always been a healthy contingent of amateur genealogists, combing parish records and researching their family history, it seems many now want to take their sightseeing visits to historical sites a step further with a view to exploring their own lineage. The advent of the internet has certainly helped fuel such exploration and has meant such information is now easier to document and therefore much easier to research.

Start at the beginning

If the idea of reaching into your past and connecting with your family history sounds exciting, there are a number of different ways to approach such a search. You may find the easiest starting point is via an archive website, such as UK Genealogy Archives, or www.familyrelatives.org. The Official Electoral Roll Online may also be a good place to begin when compiling information about your family. One of the best and most spectacular venues to visit in pursuit of family history and roots is the British Library in London. Its collection of over 13 million books and 920,000 journals and titles is a great place to start your journey. And while you’re there don’t miss some of its greatest treasures including 200 beautiful and rare items from Magna Carta to the Gutenberg Bible to Shakespeare’s First Folio to artefacts from Mozart to the Beatles.

Planning your ancestral trip

Whether you choose to research some preliminary information about your roots or not, there are a number of organisations which can assist you in finding out more about your heritage. Ancestral Roots Travel specialise in tailor-made ancestral travel and genealogical tours across England and can arrange your for you to stay in the towns and villages where your ancestors once lived – whether you’re travelling alone or as par of a group.  They also organise scheduled research trips should you require more time to look through archives. Roots Bound Travel provide a similar service and can create a unique trip with an emphasis on the cultural and historical points of interest to be visited.

Jamestown 1607 – 2007

This year sees the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in North American, Jamestown, Virginia. It’ll be marked with a series of events, starting this summer. London will be a focus of anniversary events as well as the counties of Kent, Suffolk and Lincolnshire where many other commemorations are being planned during the year.

For more information on Jamestown and ancestry travel, see: Begin your Adventure.

Additional sources of information:

Civil Registration

You can find certificates of all births, marriages and deaths since 1837 at the Family Records Centre, General Register Office.

Smedly Hydro,
Southport,
Merseyside PR8 2HH

Parish Registers

Some of the most valuable information in a genealogical search that predates 1837 can be found in the registers of 14,000 parish churches throughout England. Some date back to 1538, and you can usually find them in the county record office. Bear in mind that the registers of many parishes are extremely large and can take some time to sift through. Contact the county registers office of the area you are most interested in order to figure out how to proceed in your search.

Record Repositories and Libraries

Family Records Centre
1 Myddelton Street
London EC1R 1UW

A great sources for census returns, non-parochial registers, and wills.

Public Record Office, Kew (London)
Ruskin Avenue
Kew, Surrey TW9 4DU

Society of Genealogists

14 Charterhous Buildings
Goswell Road
London EC1M 7BA
www.sog.org.uk

The Society library offers a large collection of registers, an index of more than three million names, and documents on the history of 14,000 families. For a small fee, researchers are allowed to access the collection.