Researching Family History

Try www.familysearch.org It is a very comprehensive free site compiled by the Mormons and I have found lots of relatives on there.

You’re going to have to spend some money at some point Katykrunch -very few hobbies are free like walking! As has been mentioned, Findmypast is an excellent site with thousands of records. Didn’t know about the GRO’s pilot scene Elegran,I’ve been spending £9.50 on any certificates I’ve bought, but what a wealth of info unless, like me, you keep finding a blank or line drawn through the father’s name! Good luck anyway, it’s an absorbing pastime with every so often a Eureka moment which is so exhilarating - and it is cheaper than golf or a gym subscription (but probably not so healthy). On the other hand, it can get you out and about around the country!

It is worth getting a few certificates to give you firm evidence, and they are not all that expensive - the General Record Office are doing a pilot scheme supplying PDFs of birth and death certs for £6.

A birth certificate gives you details for both parents, including a maiden name for mother, and an address. From that you can move on to the nearest census for that adress and those names. A death certificate will have an informant and their relationship to the deceased, a marriage cerificate had fathers' names and occupations and full nales, ages and addresses for both spouses. Well worth £6 each.

Do your searching of the indexes first (FreeBMD has birth, death and marriage indexes for England and Wales, free to search) and note the reference numbers of what you find. If you can't quote these, the GRO will charge extra.

You do know that you can use library computers to consult Ancestry without paying for a subscription? The libraries have a bulk membership.

The LDS site has a lot of parish records too and is free - they are dependent on input from the general public though.

Do they have baptismal records on that site? If you can find her father's name and possibly mother's first name then you could try looking at the census records to find the family.

I did quite a lot without buying certificates although I did end up buying some just for confirmation that I had got things right. If you buy certificates don't do it through Ancestry or other sites as they charge more - do it through the government website.
www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

There are lots of free BMD records online too
www.freebmd.org.uk/

My advice is to check and double check to make sure you have the right family - and don't always trust other people's research as many researchers post family trees online with mistakes - but are convinced they are correct!

Providing your family are Britain based Census records go back to 1841. The census takes place every 10 years and all Census returns to 1911 have been released to the public.

I am not sure how old you are, but my mother's grandmother was born in 1850 and I have been able to trace her and her family that far, they came to England from Ireland in 1852, so it is difficult to go further back. My English ancestors I have been able to take back to the 1841 census so know where and when they were born. In some cases in the 18th century.

I have done all this without buying any certificates. I have a subscription to Ancestry, but there may be a Family History Society in your locality and often they are able to give members free access to all the online genealogical database.

My local FHS has its own centrewith free access to Ancestry and FindMyPast and offers help to people researching families from around the world. All for an annual subscription of £21