Where to find useful websites for researching your family history

Introduction to useful sites for family history research

So, you are researching your family history! You may be a newcomer to the hobby or you may have already made great progress. One thing is for sure, all of us doing family history research need good sources of information. These days we have the wonderful world wide web and numerous online sources that can prove very useful in our research.

Of course, you can cough up a monthly or annual subscription to one of the paid Family History sites such as Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast (there are several others too). I have used several of these over the years and currently MyHeritage is the one I subscribe too though I have free accounts on others (limited features of course but still useful).

However, this post is not about which paid site you should go for (that's a whole topic in and of itself) - maybe the next one). Instead this is to share some of the free sites that I have found useful.

First up is Historic UK

Historic UK is a basically a site of two halves. The first is the Historic Accommodation Guide and the second is the History Magazine. The site started in 2000 and was something of a trailblazer. Think about it, the site is over 20 years old and if you can cast your minds back then, the internet and the world wide web were in their infancy. Web design was, let's be honest, not pretty or easy on the eyes!

Now, with over a million page views a month, the site is something of a goldmine and an authority on the topics it covers. It also has some fascinating articles about historical events and people so even if you are at all interested in history (and not just family history) it is well worth a visit and bookmarking for future visits.

In terms of researching your family history it has excellent articles and links on topics such as:

• How to Trace Your Family Tree for Free
• The History of Welsh Surnames
• Newspaper Archives

So, why not check it out and sign up for its newsletter? You will be glad you did. Find the Family History section here: https://www.historic-uk.com/Family-History/

Second up is GENUKI

GENUKI is a site that provides genealogical information relevant to the UK and Ireland. It not only includes a vast repository of information on topics such as tips for those starting out and about the various parts of the UK and Ireland, but has links to useful things like online parish records (though not all parish records are on the site so your area of interest may not be included).

Particularly useful areas of interest covered are:

• GENUKI Gazetteer
• GENUKI Church Database
• Surname Interests Lists
• Genealogy Discussion Groups
• Societies

This site has got to be at the top of your list, especially if you are just starting out. The amount of information there is will prove to be extremely useful and by starting here you will often save time compared to searching via Google.

To start your journey researching your family history visit:

https://www.genuki.org.uk/

Third up is The National Library of New Zealand

Many of us from the UK and Ireland discover that we have links to Australia and New Zealand. If you want to know if you have any links to New Zealand (or if you know you have but are searching for more information) then you need to start with the National Library of New Zealand. The Government of New Zealand seem to get many things right and one of them is that they have put many records online. Even if some information was not able to be digitised (such as personal diaries or letters) you can more often and not find exactly where  it is stored and how to be able to access it. Of course this may mean going in person to the archive to view it (once you have permission) but of you ever visit New Zealand this is something to bear in mind.

I have found that a lot of interesting stuff has been digitised including letters and especially newspapers. In fact I believe every newspaper that was ever printed in New Zealand has been digitised. I know for a fact that the very first newspapers published soon after settlers arrived are available online. How do I know this, because it turns out that a direct ancestor of my wife was in fact the first editor of the first newspaper to be published in New Zealand; the New Zealand Gazette! His name was John Tylston Wicksteed and he arrived in New Zealand in 1841 aboard the sailing vessel London.

John Tylston Wicksteed

So, if you think you may have ancestors from New Zealand or want to dig deeper into the lives of those you know you have, why not start your journey of discovery by visiting the National Library of New Zealand at https://natlib.govt.nz/

So, that concludes the first part of my series looking at useful websites for conducting your family history research. I hope you find it useful. Please bookmark my site and return for future posts. I promise it won't be such a long gap before the next one!