50 Useful Genealogy Links
At Family History Gifts we use a number of government and useful genealogy websites in the course of research.
As part of our ‘aftercare’ practice used with our gifts days, in particular Getting Started With Your Family Tree and Research Day, we provide the gift recipient with tools and website links to facilitate their research (after a Gift Day we don’t just say goodbye to gift recipient!).
We thought it might be useful to list some of those links here so you can see in practice the tools and verified references we use. If you have never used these sites you may wish to visit them and have a look around. They are extremely useful.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, for that try Cyndi’s List. It is meant to be an indication of what we use and we are adding to it regularly.
Useful Websites
For searching:
Ancestry
Findmypast (includes Billion Graves project)
The Genealogist
FreeBMD
FreeReg
DeceasedOnline
British Newspaper Archive
FamilySearch
National Archives
Forces War Records
Society of Genealogists
Find a Will
London Family History Centre
Wales Newspapers Online
For ordering England and Wales birth, marriage, and death certificates:
General Register Office
England specific
Lancashire old parish clerk
Lancashire Wills
Wigan Archives
Greater Manchester GM Lives
Cemsearch (Lancashire)
Cheshire Archives
Forest of Dean Family History Trust
Medway Cityark
Black Country Muse
Scotland specific
Scotlandspeople – main site for bmd and census
Glasgow Family Album
Glasgow Virtual Mitchell
National Records of Scotland
Ireland specific
Rootsireland
Irish Genealogy government website
National Library of Ireland
Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland
National Archives of Ireland – for census
Wales Specific
Cynefin Tithe Map Project
National Library of Wales
Occupations
Historical Directories of England & Wales
Trade Unions
Documents/Books finder
Archives Hub
Manorial Documents Register
Google books
Internet Archive
Tools
Genuki
Cyndi’s List
Rootschat
FamilySearch Wiki
British History Online
Victoria County History
Maps
National Library of Scotland
Ancestry DNA
GedMatch
Family Tree DNA