Some helpful links for your genealogy research

UK General Records Office : This link takes you to the UK Government website where you can order birth/adoption/marriage/civil partnership/death certificates to help you research your English or Welsh ancestors from July 1837 onward.

The National Records of Scotland : This link takes you to the Family History section of the site and includes information on research guides as well as a link to the for-pay site ScotlandsPeople where records can be researched for a fee. No online searching is available at the National Records site.

The General Register Office of Northern Ireland: The website for the Northern Ireland General Register Office stores records of births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships, stillbirths and adoptions in Northern Ireland but is not searchable online.

The General Register Office of the Irish Republic : The General Register Office does not engage in genealogical/family history research but is the central civil repository for records relating to births, deaths and marriages in the Republic of Ireland. Civil marriage records date from April 1, 1845 and Roman Catholic marriage records are from Jan. 1, 1864. Copies of such records can be ordered online for a fee, but the records themselves are not searchable online. However, many of their records can be searched online through the Irish Genelology website. Registration is required but most searches can be conducted at no cost.

Public Records Office of Northern Ireland : PRONI is the official archive for Northern Ireland and aims to identify, preserve and make available Northern Ireland's unique archival heritage and community memory. Many of its files can be searched online, including the signers of the Ulster Covenant of 1912, the pre-1840 Freeholders Registers and Poll Books, an index of wills proved in the District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry from 1858 to about 1900, and a selection of 30 street directories covering many of the years feom 1819 to 1900.

Library and Archives Canada : The Canadian Library and Archives contains a wealth of information, much of which can be obtained by online searching. If your family has Canadian links, its well worth checking out.

Irish Census records : The Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin was destroyed in a fire during civil disturbance in 1922, resulting in the loss of many valuable genealogical records. Most of the census returns from 1821 to 1851 were among the records lost, except for a small number of volumes covering parts of counties Fermanagh and Cavan for 1821; parts of Co. Londonderry and for Killeshandra Parish in Co. Cavan for 1831; and for parts of Co. Antrim for 1851. Census returns covering the whole island of Ireland for the years 1861-1891 were destroyed by government order on grounds of confidentiality. However, the 1901 and 1911 census records for all 32 counties, which includes all the counties of both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, still exist and have been digitized and made available online for free. A very robust search capability is included, which allows searches by townland, religion, occupation, relationship to head of family, literacy status, county or country of origin, Irish language proficiency, specified illnesses, and child survival information. The search capability is being developed and additional search items are planned. The site also offers and articles on economic, political, social and cultural life at the time. The articles cover Dublin, Belfast, Kerry, Galway, Cork and Waterford and additional articles covering other areas are planned. Also contemplated for future inclusion is a follow-through exercise on Irish individuals and families who emigrated to Canada, finding them in the Irish census and later in the Canadian census.

The National Archives of the UK : Formerly known as the Public Records Office of the UK (at Kew), the archives contain a wealth of information. Online access and searching has been improving and more and more records are becoming accessible online. Searching can provide summaries of documents and information on where microfilmed copies of some records can be obtained. Many records can be ordered online for a fee. Well worth the visit and the regular revisit. Note: Some of the databases linked to through this site are behind firewalls at third-party sites such as Ancestry and FindMyPast.

The Scottish Genealogy Society : The society is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving people with an interest in Scottish genealogy. There is an annual membership fee, which includes a subscription to the quarterly magazine, The Scottish Genealogist. The society also has more than 2000 publications relating to Scottish genealogy available for purchase in its shop.

Scotland's People: Scotlands People is the official government source of genealogical data for Scotland. Online searching is available and most any document held in the General Records Office may be searched for online here for a fee and copies of documents can be downloaded, also for a fee.

UK & Ireland Genealogy : GENUKI has links to a large collection of genealogical information pages for England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man.

Ulster Ancestry : Mostly fee for service site, but a few free searches available.

The National Library of Scotland : An interesting site with some information useful to genealogists, but not an essential stop. However, be sure to check out their digital collections!

Scotland's Family : This website describes itself as a portal designed to help you explore your Scottish family tree with the aim of pointing researchers to free on-line data and information in diverse Scotland family history records, wherever you live in the world. Useful sections include links to dictionaries to help users understand Scots words and slang, parish maps, and a list and description of Scottish occupations and work terms. However, the site does not appear to have been updated in some time and there are a number of broken linkls.

The Scottish Register of Tartans : The Scottish Register of Tartans was established by an Act of the Scottish Parliament in 2008, to protect, promote and preserve tartan. In addition it includes photographs relating to Scottish dress and just about anything you want to know about tartans and the wearing of the kilt.

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