Tracing Your Family History on the Internet

by Paton, Chris

• ISBN13: 9781848842687
• ISBN10: 1848842686
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-19
• Publisher: Pen & Sword

Summary

The internet is revolutionizing family history research. Every day new records and resources are placed online and new methods of sharing research and communicating across cyberspace become available. Never before has it been so easy to research family history and to gain a better understanding of who we are and where we came from. But, as Chris Paton demonstrates in this straightforward practical guide, while the internet is an enormous asset, it is also something to be wary of. Researchers need to take a cautious approach to the internet information they acquire. They need to ask, where did the original material come from and has it been accurately reproduced, why was it put online, what has been left out and what is still to come? As he leads the researcher through the multitude of resources that are now accessible online, Chris Paton helps to answer these questions. He shows what the internet can and cannot do, and he warns against the various traps researchers can fall into along the way.

Author Biography

Chris Paton is a genealogist and writer based in Ayrshire. He runs the Scotland's Greatest Story research service at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Formerly he was a television documentary maker and worked on history series such as War Walks, Secret History, Time Flyers and Meet the Ancestors. He is a regular writer for several British genealogy magazines and is the author of Researching Scottish Family History. He also runs the Scottish GENES genealogy and events blog at www.ScottishAncestry.blogspot.Com and gives regular talks to local family history societies.

Table of Contents

Glossary	p. vii
Preface	p. 1
Gateways and Institutions	p. 3
Recording information	p. 4
Gateway sites	p. 4
Key Institutions	p. 6
Commercial vendors	p. 10
Genealogical Essentials	p. 14
Births, marriages and deaths	p. 14
Church records	p. 19
Censuses	p. 24
Probate and Confirmation	p. 26
Directories	p. 29
Maps and Gazetteers	p. 30
Newspapers	p. 33
Nobility and Gentry	p. 36
Occupational Records	p. 38
The Armed Forces	p. 38
Merchant seamen	p. 47
Workers' rights	p. 49
Mining	p. 49
Communications	p. 50
The Church	p. 50
The Law	p. 52
Theatrical	p. 53
Medical	p. 54
Business	p. 55
England	p. 57
Wales	p. 123
Scotland	p. 135
Western Isles	p. 162
Northern Ireland	p. 166
Crown Dependencies	p. 173
Empire and Migration	p. 175
Immigration	p. 175
Emigration	p. 178
Social Networking	p. 184
Bibliography	p. 188
Index	p. 190
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