Researching your family history and family tree (genealogy)
Tracing your family history is a rewarding and exciting hobby which many people enjoy, but it can also be time consuming, complicated and frustrating.
You can either read through the introduction to family history research below (so where do you start?), or skip that and jump to the useful family history research external websites (further down this page)
So where do you start?
The best first step is to gather as much information you can from your living relatives and family friends, especially your older relations. You are looking for as much information as they can remember about your relations including: names, dates (of birth, christening, baptism, marriage, divorce, work, death and burial or cremation), addresses (of places lived or worked), occupations, military service, religion(s) and places of worship they may have attended, criminal records, countries they came form (or went to, or visited or worked in) and also any health problems or disabilities they may have had.
They may also be able to give you other types of valuable information that will be very difficult to track down from official records, such as hobbies or interests, nicknames, personality traits, exploits they were involved in and other interesting bits of information (if they were builders then what did they build and where, eg schools in Brighton, houses in Tunbridge Wells, etc). Unfortunately when your older relations die this sort of valuable information will go with them and be lost unless it has been written down and recorded.
The next step is to track down and make copies of as many documents as possible that are still in the family such as birth, death and marriage certificates, wills, family bibles, photographs and newspaper cuttings. These documents will allow you to confirm what you have been told so far and will also help you fill in dates and gaps - and sometimes uncover family secrets!
Next start to draw up a family tree based on the information you have found so far. This may help jog your relations' memories and they may also be able to fill in gaps and add more details. Add photos if you can so you can spot family likenesses and put a face to a relation's name.
Next you will need to further verify what you have found out and take your family tree further back. You can do this by tracing and applying for documents for your relations from archive sources. This will help you make sure people really are related to you. If, for example, you know your grandfather's date and place of birth, you can apply for his birth certificate. Doing this will give you full names of his parents, including his mother's maiden surname, and possibly other valuable information (such as addresses or occupations). Your could then search for his parents' marriage certificate and so on. Remember that there may well be a cost associated with getting copies of certificates and documents.
It is always worth trying to find out more general background information about your descendants, rather than just the hard facts, that way they become 'real people' rather than just names on a tree, and you will end up with a fuller more interesting family history.
The links below will help you in your searching - but most of all remember to take your time and enjoy your searching!
Useful family history research external websites
Note:
- Most of the websites below are free to use, but some of them make a charge to fully access the information or use the services they provide. Please make sure you read their rules and scales of charges before using their websites.
- Adur & Worthing Councils do not recommend or endorse the websites listed below, and cannot be held liable for their content or services offered.
The links below have been grouped into 'types' of sites. Either click on a heading below to jump to that section, or feel free to browse down the whole list.
Apply for copy certificates:
Family history (genealogy) research websites (sorted by category):
See also - other useful links:
General information and research sites
- BBC: Family history - Who do you think you are?
- British History On-line
- Cyndi's list of genealogy sites on the internet
- General Register Office on the gov.uk website
- Family History Federation
- West Sussex Past
- WSCC website: Copy certificates
- WSCC website: Family History
- WSCC website: Births, deaths and marriages
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Archive and record office websites
- Brighton & Hove: Researching your family tree
- British Library
- East Sussex County Archives and Records Office
- Essex Archives (SEAX)
- General Register Office on the gov.uk website
- General Register Office: England & Wales
- General Register Office: Northern Ireland - see 'other countries section' below
- General Register Office: Scotland - see 'other countries section' below
- Kent Archives
- London Archives (LMA)
- Medway Archives
- National Archives: (see also their 'catalogue' section, formerly PROCAT) (The National Archives was previously known as the Public Record Office (PRO) which was officially merged with the Historical Manuscripts Commission in July 2003 to form The National Archives)
- National Archives A2A: Access to Archives
- National Archives: Divorce Registry
- Norfolk Archives
- Suffolk Records Office
- The Gazette - Official Public record: notices; wills and probate; insolvency; awards and accreditations
- The Scotsman Archives: Every issue of The Scotsman from 1817 - 1950
- West Sussex County Record Office and archives
See also:
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Burials, cremations and cemetery records
On our website:
- Local cemeteries, graveyards, memorial gardens and crematoria
- Broadwater and Durrington cemeteries on-line burial register search
External websites:
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Censuses on-line
- National Archives - Census
- Census data on the Office for National Statistics website
- Find my past
- Family Search Collection
- FreeCen: UK Census on-line project
- Shoreham-by-Sea history portal
See also our facts and figures section for population and census data
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Directories (including parish transcripts)
- Historical directories: of England and Wales - Local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 - on the University of Leicester website
- Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London: 1674 to 1834
- Shoreham-by-Sea history portal (including parish transcripts)
Modern directories:
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Family tree sites
- Ancestry.co.uk
- Ancestry World Tree
- UKBMD: Births, marriages, deaths indexes and census transcriptions for the UK
- Family Search
- Family Tree Resources
- Genes Reunited
- Roots web
- Family Tree Searcher (searches family trees at eight sites)
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Genealogy websites
- British Genealogy
- Find my Past
- My Heritage
- Genealogy.com family finder
- GeneaNet
- My Trees
- Society of Genealogists
- The Genealogist
- UK Genealogy
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Maritime, shipping and passenger lists
- Ancestors on board - part of Find my Past (a new database of outward passenger lists for long-distance voyages leaving the British Isles from 1960 right back to 1890. More years are being regularly added to the searchable database of all UK ports)
- AUSNZ Passenger Lists
- Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
- Maritime Memorials, National Maritime Museum
- South Australia Shipping Lists
- The Ships List: Passengers, ships and shipwrecks
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Military, cemeteries and war sites
- 1914-1918:
- Army Museums Ogilby Trust
- British Legion (RBL)
- British War Graves (BWG) - International War Memorial / International Armed Forces Memorial
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (with searchable database)
- Imperial War Museum
- Naval and Military Archive
- National Army Museum
- Roll of Honour
- Search memorial records - on the IWM Imperial War Museum website
- Veterans UK - Armed Forces Memorial
- War Memorials Trust
- Western Front Association
- World War One Cemeteries
- World War Two Cemeteries
See also: War memorials
Current armed forces external website links:
- Army Records Office
- Royal Air Force Records Office
- Royal Navy Records Office
- MOD: Ministry of Defence
- Veterans Agency - on the gov.uk website
Other miscellaneous:
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Name research
- Ancestry.com: Search by name for: Life expectancy, name distribution (UK and US), name meanings, occupations, place of origin and more ...
- Behind the Name: The etymology and history of first names
- The Guild of One-Name Studies
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Other countries or nationalities
- American Family Immigration History Centre: Ellis Island
- Asia: BCSA - British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia
- Asian seamen working on British ships: Lascars
- Australia Genealogy Search
- Canadian: Library and Archives of Canada's Genealogy Services
- Irish: General Register Office of Northern Ireland
- Irish: Roots Ireland
- Irish: National Library of Ireland
- Irish: The National Archives of Ireland
- JewishGen: The Home of Jewish Genealogy, an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A living memorial to the Holocaust
- Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB)
- Scotland: Am Baile - Highland history and culture
- Scotland: National Records of Scotland
- Scotland: National Library of Scotland
- Scotland: Scot Clans - Scottish clans and clan history
- Scotland: Scotland's People
- Scotland: Scottish family history research
- Swiss Centre - see their genealogy section
- Wales / Welsh:
- Censuses - Historical Record Collections- Family Search
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Miscellaneous
- British Newspaper archive
- Burke's Peerage
- Debrett Ancestry Research
- English Handwriting 1500 to 1700: An On-line Course
- Free Ancestry Records: Secrets to Finding Completely Free Ancestry Records
- People's History Museum
- The Salvation Army: Family Tracing Service - Reuniting Families
- Useful family history links (Suffolk CC)
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Ancient research
Go back to family history links index or Back to top
Heraldry, armorial bearings and coats of arms
On our website:
- Borough Seal, Council Coat of Arms, Civic Regalia for Adur and Worthing
- Past Chairmen of Adur District Council
- Past Mayors of Worthing Borough Council
- Freemen of Adur and Worthing
External websites:
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Page last updated: 20 September 2024