How to Research Welsh Relatives
Filling in spaces on your family tree is a grueling but satisfying task, no matter where in the world its branches have reached. Many countries like Wales have kept reliable birth, death, marriage and military records for several centuries to give you a fighting chance. A variety of contacts --- online, via mail or by phone --- can help you get a good glimpse at your Welsh family's roots.
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Instructions
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Compile the data you already know about any of your relatives from Wales. This should at least include full names (maiden too, if possible) but you'll be closer to narrowing your search if you also know of any places of birth, death or marriage.
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Run the names of your first-generation Welsh relatives through the U.S. National Archives immigration record search, available in the Resources section. This will add full names to your list, if you lack them, as well as marriages and any children you may not know about yet. It should also indicate the city from which these relatives came.
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Access the United Kingdom's National Archives (see Resources). Run these same relatives names through search engines that pore over databases not just of Welsh births, marriages and deaths, but also census, wills, military, electoral and even divorce records.
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Pay special attention to census records that are likely to be available about your relatives before immigrating to America (a link to census and electoral roles between 1841 and 1901 is available in the Resources section). These surveys could include valuable information for coloring in more branches of your Welsh family tree, indicating not just older and younger generations but also valuable data on occupations or name changes.
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Run the names of all older or younger relatives you find in your research through the same databases for earlier or newer data about as many Welsh relatives as you can find.
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Contact the United Kingdom through the National Archives to order records that aren't available for online viewing concerning past relatives. Contact the U.K.'s Direct.gov.uk to order family documents from the past two or three generations.
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References
Resources
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