How to Trace a Family History in the United Kingdom

Find families in Great Britain using many resources.

England was once a vast empire, owning a great portion of the world's land. As a result, many individuals have a family history linking them to England, Ireland and Scotland, or the United Kingdom, as the countries are referred to collectively. Modern day individuals from all over the world are interested in digging through the United Kingdom's past to discover the origins of their families and finding their heritage.

Things You'll Need

• Accurate genealogical details
• Accurate surname spelling
• Dates and birthplaces of ancestors
• Marriage, birth and death certificates

Instructions

1. Ask relatives for the names of their ancestors, or gather marriage, birth and death certificates from older relatives. Search these documents for last names, first names, places of birth and dates. This information will be the starting point for ancestor searching in Great Britain.

2. Employ websites, paid and free, which cater to the growing worldwide demand for British genealogy. Websites such as FamilyHistoryUK.com, SilverSurfers.net and Origins.net offer services to help genealogy seekers discover family from the United Kingdom. Services vary from free to charged searches.

3. Enter your family surname into the websites along with as much information as you have gathered, such as ancestors' first names and places of birth. Allow the search time to process. Use the resulting records to follow lineage backward through Great Britain's history. For example, John Q. Smith will start with his parents, Sam and Suzy Smith, finding Sam's parents born in England, and Suzy's (nee O'Doule) parents born in Ireland. From there, birth certificates on both sets of parents will state the name of their parents, so John is working backward through his ancestry.

References

• Family History UK
• Silver Surfers: Ancestry
• Origins: The Premier Source for Tracing Your British and Irish Ancestors
• Genes Reunited