My Suggestions on Starting FH Research (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, November 02, 2012, 01:29 (4479 days ago) @ unknown

Hi Peagreen,
re first steps in family history research, this BBC website offers a lot of very good advice, alternatively your local library will have many reference books which will offer the same basic suggestions to follow. I believe all UK public libraries offer members free in-library pc access to the Library version of the Ancestry and possibly FindMyPast subscription websites, these hold all sorts of records including Parish Records, plus the ten-yearly British Census's right back to 1841. Before this period you're relying on Parish Records aka BMD. You can of course subscribe to these sites, altho I'm only 15 minutes walk from a large Borough library so I don't subscribe, yet - I use it regularly for 2 hour sessions when it's VERY! quiet (weekday afternoons) and can download Census images, Census transcripts, PR screenshots etc etc onto my own Word documents all on the same cheap & tiny memory stick. The Library also offers free morning beginners sessions with skilled assistants to get you started on the subs websites etc, I'm sure yours might too ?. I live in Uxbridge so not far from you, knowing St Albans has a rich & ancient history pedigree I'm sure your library will be very helpfull as mine was for me. Please study
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/
And
http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/local-history-and-heritage/Family-Histor...

For research into Dean and on down into Newport & South Wales the FreeBMD website offers very good coverage which is freely accessible, as is it's sister site Free CEN which has less coverage thusfar but is worth trying. The "biggest" free site is the USA based LDS/Family Search which takes some mastering for best results but does offer full Census data especially the 1881 Census (which gives family groups in one "hit" like Ancestry etc), altho you only see transcripts not actual census images so transcription errors are more common.
All of these sites and search methods are fully discussed in the BBC site and the various text books, also see this thread.
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=35197

For Newport hence Monmouthshire as it was, see the recent thread on this excellent Monmouthshire dedicated website
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=38568

I suggest first, if possible, trying the online approach as it's far quicker & easier especially this time of year weatherwise. Not ALL Records are online, but most are going that way, and certainly the more recent BMD records are (and freely) to get you back to the 1911 Census which is the key start point. Also sadly many Churchyards are difficult to access and old Monumental stones get weathered even unreadable, as are the old Parish Records books themselves. However often their Monumental Inscriptions will have been transcribed and may be accessible on websites such as this one, certainly if you have Chepstow ancestors they come within the remit of this FoD website which is one of the very best in the UK in my experience; almost all of this area's Parish Records are here and free-of-charge to search, altho donations are always welcome towards the site's upkeep. Monumental Inscriptions(MIs) etc are also available to buy on data cd from the various Local History Societies (consider joining one), or may be on "smaller" free access websites, try thoroughly searching the internet (eg "Newport Genealogy") and see what comes up, I've found several village sites which give the local Census Data for example. In my experience I don't recommend buying too many of the various monthly magazines, they can offer interesting reading & speciallist subject knowledge, but the "free" cd of "census content" is often minimal if not disappointing (and hardly free at £5 a magazine which can be perhaps better spent on Ancestry etc subs), plus many of their suggested websites are easily found by carefull googling or in library text books. "starter" reference data cds are given away annually with some leading national newspapers listing thousands of usefull websites, these may also be bought for a few pounds from the online auction sites.
Eventually you will probably want to visit your specific area in Newport, to get "hands on" with your heritage and explore records unavailable online, a good starting point might well be the Gwent Archives in it's new home at Ebbw Vale, see
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=38823

Having said all this, members of this forum will always try and help out with queries wrt Dean and it's environs, if they're not directly relevant to the Forest of Dean then sometimes help "offline" can be forthcoming too.

Please study this website fully, there's a huge amount of background info available about research in general as well as the FoD, indeed searching this forum for any query be it a surname or subject will often yield good advice if not answers.
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/?Home

I hope this helps, if not please ask.
Happy Hunting, Jeff.