We have many visitors from all over the world, who are coming back to the country their ancestors left, I will add links to this page for the sites which may be able to help with tracing your genealogy.

About.com guide Kimberly Powell has an extensive article on finding surname and family pages for genealogy research on the Internet:
http://genealogy.about.com/hobbies/genealogy/library/weekly/aa041700a.htm

This is an article copied from Freepint, a newsletter you can access at Freepint

Tracing your ancestors is an increasingly popular hobby and one I would like to encourage you to take up. The Internet has transformed genealogy and today the majority of searches can be done at your PC rather than sifting through dusty archives. I will focus on research that can be done without leaving your home rather than making personal visits.

Family Historians Start Here - a quick way into genealogical information from the Family Records Centre

http://www.pro.gov.uk/genealogy/starthere.htm

The Public Record Office http://www.pro.gov.uk/ is the repository of the national archives for England, Wales and the United Kingdom. It was founded by act of Parliament in 1838 to bring together and preserve the records of central government and the courts of law, and to make them available to all who wish to consult them.

The records, beginning with Domesday Book (1086), span an unbroken period from the 11th century to the present.

The Family Record Office, located at 1 Myddelton Street London EC1R 1UW ( Tel 0208 392 5300) has the following records: - indexes of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837 and indexes of legal adoptions in England and Wales since 1927 - Microform copies of Census of Population returns, 1841-1891 - Microfilms of registered copies of wills and administrations up to 1858 from the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.

The centre provides a family history service to visitors, advising them on how to use the wealth of genealogical records. It can also advise on matters relative to the registration of births, adoptions, marriages and deaths, because the Public Record Office shares its facilities at the FRC with the Office for National Statistics.

http://www.pro.gov.uk/about/frc/default.htm

To order birth, marriage and death certificates online, try Big Family - UK/Ireland Family History Research Centre http://www.bigfamily.co.uk. Enter the info you have and the research you require and they reply with a quote.

The 1901 Census for England and Wales was taken on 31 March 1901. The population of England and Wales at the time was over 32 million. The 1901 Census returns will be made available for public consultation at the Family Records Centre on the first working day of January 2002. The Public Record Office is planning to digitise the 1901 Census returns and make them available electronically via the Internet. This project is seen as one of the first steps towards achieving the PRO's vision that in the 21st Century, its services and records will be accessible electronically on-site and around the world.

An essential site to bookmark is GENUKI: the UK and Ireland Genealogical Information Service http://www.genuki.org.uk/. The aim of GENUKI is to serve as a "virtual reference library" of genealogical information that is of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland. It is a noncommercial service, provided by an ever-growing group of volunteers in cooperation with the Federation of Family History Societies and a number of its member societies. Have a good look at the wide range of resources available.

Rootsweb: this claims to be the Internet's oldest and largest free genealogy site. Join an email mailing list to share your research with others who have similar interests and have more experience. See the Rootsweb site for individual counties at http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail_country-unk.html and surnames at http://www.rootsweb.com/~jfuller/gen_mail.html#SURNAMES. Cyndi's List http://www.cyndislist.com/ has an amazing 62,000 links to other genealogy resources, with "Internet stuff you need to know" (helpful technical advice) at http://www.cyndislist.com/internet.htm and an excellent list of genealogy software at http://www.cyndislist.com/software.htm#Software.

Ancestry http://www.ancestry.com offers to help find your ancestor from its database of 550 million names. It is a subscription service but there is lots of helpful information available for free.

The Society of Genealogists http://www.sog.org.uk/ is slowly adding material to the web site - currently available are several information leaflets, a list of Parish Register copies in the Society's Library, details of articles in Genealogists' Magazine and Computers in Genealogy. The Society has an extensive library at 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London, EC1M 7BA (Tel 0207 251 8799) - I would highly recommend becoming a member. The Society runs two electronic mailing lists: one is a discussion list for Society members, the other is a news and information list open to all.

Scots Origins http://www.origins.net is the official, Governmental source of genealogical data for Scotland. It is an online "pay-per-view" database of indexes from the genealogical records of the General Register Office for Scotland - the GROS. It costs 6 UK pounds for 30 "page credits". Each page consists of a maximum of 15 search results. The initial 30 page credits are valid for 24 hours from the time of payment (ie the clock starts when you pay). Further credits can be bought in 30 page increments for a further 6 UK pounds charge each time. Each further purchase restarts your 24 hour user period from the time of payment.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) produce the International Genealogical Index http://www.familysearch.org/ - over 600 million names extracted from vital records from throughout the world. Easy to search.

Familia is a web-based directory of family history resources held in public libraries in the UK and Ireland - updated and maintained by the Family History Task Group of the EARL Consortium, Familia is the on- line starting place to find information about materials in public libraries which will help you trace your family history. http://www.earl.org.uk/familia/about.html

Useful books:
Genealogical Services Directory 2000 4.95 UK pounds - details of over 3500 organisations with Internet and email addresses. http://www.genealogical.co.uk

Ancestral Trails by Mark D. Herber and John Titford paperback, publ. 2000, Sutton Publishing; ISBN: 0750924845

Useful journals:
Family Tree Magazine http://www.family-tree.co.uk. Rootsweb Review: receive two free weekly e-zines. See the Rootsweb site listed above.

Finally, for finding people who are still alive... try PhoneNetUK http://www.bt.com/phonenetUK/.

David Ogden is Director of Library and Information Services at Sinclair Roche and Temperley, a major law firm specialising in international trade and transportation. For several years David has sought to trace his family history: the family mostly lived in Liverpool during the nineteenth century. Please note that he is not a professional genealogist and does not undertake research, but would be delighted to receive comments on the above information sources and exchange ideas. He may be contacted at portrise@hotmail.com.