You are here: Home: Leisure and culture: Local history and heritage: Family history research

Family history research

Useful websites

Births, marriages and deaths indexes

Find My Past|
Contains entire copy of Civil Registration Index for England and Wales, 1837-2001.  Site operates on a 'pay as you view' basis.

FreeBMD|
Objective is to provide free Internet access to the Civil Registration Index for England and Wales, and when completed will cover 1837-1983.

Yorkshire births, marriages and deaths index|
Database will eventually cover Yorkshire Births, Marriages and Deaths Index 1837-1950.

Census

1901 Census for England and Wales|
British census, searchable by name and address, fee payable.

Family Search: Census Records|
Contains the British census for 1881 and Canadian and US censuses for 1880.

Other primary sources

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Search|
Contains personal service details for people on the Roll of Honour for both world wars as well as location of graves.

Ellis Island Records|
Contains records of the 22 million passengers and crew members who passed through Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924.  In addition to a basic passenger record, users can also view a copy of the original ship manifest and a picture of the ship.

LEODIS|
A digitisation project, delivered by Leeds Library and Information Service, putting local photographs on the Web, enables users to print out images, add comments and order photographs.

Family Search|
Contains the International Genealogical Index (record of births, christenings and marriages from 1500's to early 1900's extracted from church records), 1881 British Census and 1880 US and Canadian Censuses.

National Archives|
National archive of England, Wales and Scotland.  Online information includes 1901 census (fee payable), military records and wills etc. through 'Easy Search' links.

West Yorkshire Archive Service|
Records of interest to family historians include Official, Ecclesiastical, Family and Estate and Business records.  The unified index of archive collections within West Yorkshire can be searched on the Internet.

Other useful sites

Cyndis list|
A categorised and cross-referenced index to genealogical resources on the Internet.

An on-line starting place to find information about what is available in public libraries, which will help you trace your family history.

GENUKI: UK and Ireland Genealogy|
Aim of this non commercial service is to serve as a 'virtual reference library' of genealogical information, particularly relevant to the UK and Ireland.

Society of Genealogists|
Offers a unique combination of research material, guidance and support for those interested in family history.  The library has a large collection of family histories, civil registration and census material, and the widest collection of parish register copies in the UK.

back to top