Building your Family Tree
Although many of the web-building websites such as Ancestry do require a subscription, there are sources of information for which there is no charge. These include baptisms, marriages and deaths which have been transcribed from church records by dedicated teams of volunteers and a good number of census records are available at no cost.
Most free genealogywebsites, that is website listing old records, etc
The free-to-use websites I use are as follows:
- Familysearch.org
- Free UK Genealogy
- FreeBMD (Births, Marriages and Deaths)
- FreeCEN (UK Census Returns)
- FreeREG (registers of baptisms, marriages and burials of the Church of England and other organisations.)
Many of the websites shown in my Resource List are free for personal use to a greater or lesser extent, but please check on the given site to be sure.
I will write a more detailed report on these at a later date and maybe include a comparison chart.
FamilySearch.org
Birth certificates usually show:
- Date and place of birth
- Name and gender
- Names of parents (including mother’s maiden name)
- Father’s occupation
- Name, description and address of the informant
- Date of registration
Marriage certificates usually show:
- Date and place of marriage
- Forenames and surnames of bride and groom
- Ages of bride and groom (‘full age’ means 21 or over)
- Abode of bride and groom
- Father’s name and occupation for both bride and groom
- Names of witnesses
Death certificates usually show:
- Date and place of death
- Full name
- Age at death
- Occupation
- Cause of death
- Name, description and address of the informant
- Date of registration