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Genealogical Resources

You're not alone - there are countless others trying to discover more about themselves or their communities. Contacting them can only help you with your own researches.

The study of family history is not a recent phenomenon - genealogies are among the very earliest historical narratives. All you need to do is identify who else is investigating in your area of interest.

Finding others who are actively working on the same genealogical lines as you are allows you to tap into a valuable, usually unpublished, research source. Perhaps they have already covered the ground you hope to tread, thus helping you with your research. In addition, there are numerous everyday lists that can aid you in your efforts to discover these folk.

Try looking in telephone directories or at the voting lists for your areas of interest if you're attempting to locate potential unknown relatives. These can be found via the local reference library or, of course, can be accessed on the internet (see www.192.com), although there may be a charge involved.

Family history societies throughout the world collect and publish the surnames being researched by their members (members' interests) - basically, 'who' is researching 'what' surname and 'where'. These are usually published in book form, on CD, on microfiche or on the society website. Many family and local history magazines, usually published monthly, also contain lists of research interests, offering this service to their readers usually free of charge.

There are also several specialist genealogical directories that are published annually specifically for the purpose of enabling people to make contact with others researching the same names in the same places. These can be purchased as books, CDs or microfiche. Copies of these publications may also be found in your local reference library.

Always check to see if anyone is undertaking a one-name study of any of the names you are interested in. Often the 'one-namer' will be researching all occurrences of a surname, as opposed to a particular pedigree. Although some one-namers may restrict their research geographically, perhaps to one country, many one-namers collect all occurrences found anywhere in the world. Many commercial family history data providers also have the facility for you to record and submit your own family tree to their websites, allowing you to help create one large worldwide family tree. Conveniently for researchers, these are held in a searchable database to allow easy access and show links to potential relatives. These sites also enable you to create your own profile so that other researchers or family members can find you. Many of these commercial sites also host message boards or run news lists.

The various publicly available online regional (usually county-based) genealogy news lists, chat rooms or message/query boards are other great places to 'bump' into other people researching one of your family lines. They are designed to be a practical resource for today's family historian and they are exceptionally good value for money as, generally, they can all be accessed free of charge.

Online auction houses are another place that you can find genealogical gems. Try typing your name or your ancestor's surname into their search engine and see what comes up. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Other innovations on the internet are the online community websites specialising in finding old school mates, friends or relatives - be they close or very distant - with the of aim of reconnecting relations and generations. Again, free to register and search, but they make a flat-rate charge for you to access contact details.


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