Talk:England Genealogy

New Image
I vote remove the image of the cemetery from this article. It is not necessary and bumps the content down below the fold of the page. I was wondering where it could be relocated on the article, but don't really see anywhere that it would fit. Please justify need for this image on the England article. Murphynw 05:53, 25 October 2012 (UTC)


 * I agree with Nathan, the image does not add to the article and actually makes the page less readable. I will remove the image. Anyone who would like it restored should explain their reasons. --Steve 07:57, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Featured Content
I just put the : "Featured Content" at the top of the page. and moved "Research Tools" down the list. Now somebody edit the "Featured Content"  Also feel free to remove content from this page that is no longer of value or applictiable. "Is there a spell checker" Donjgen 21:00, 4 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I like the idea of having "featured content" at the top. The sections might be pared down a little and I think everything but the Knowles collection should be changed out. If we could get some stats on how the featured content has been used it may help make decisions about these changes.


 * Darris G. Williams 03:06, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

Online Collections List is too long
The section near the bottom of the page has gotten out of scope. I don't think it is appropriate to have the Wiki articles describing online collections are found at: continue to grow. I suggest that a page be written where these can all be added and linked to from the England page. If this continues the page will become unwieldy. I would also suggest that two or three articles be listed on the England page with a link to the complete list and that the two or three on the England page be rotated similar to the Featured Articles on the main page of the wiki. Darris G. Williams 21:53, 28 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree with Darris. As the list of these collections has grown so large they should be listed on a separate page which can then be linked to from the England page. Also if any are listed as Darris suggests they should be those that cover the whole country. Collections about records from say Cheshire can be featured on the appropriate county pages. --Steve 10:32, 29 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree also. I was thinking the list was starting to get too long. I like the idea of reasonable length lists. When a list starts getting too long, move one group of them (such as a specific county) and move them to the appropriate page for that group of collections. For example, some day there might be a number of civil registration collections that could be moved to the England Civil Registration page to keep the England page from having too long a list.


 * -- Alan 16:33, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

Editing Pages
I have made three edits to pages today and the result is unexpected. I made a change to the Cambridgeshire Census and got text that does not wrap. I made a simple change to Hoxne Paish page and got and unexpected white space between the sections. I wouldn't advise making any edits until this is fixed. You would think that the edit function would be turned off until this is fixed. Donjgen 02:10, 8 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi Don, I afraid that it appears that you've found/identified a new bug with the rich text editor (RTE). I am assuming that you are using it. I don't use it, as I prefer to make changes direct to the underlying wiki code. Another recent problem RTE was that it was changing sizes of images without user input. Looking at the edit history of the two pages you mentioned excess line breaks had been added, I'm guessing by the RTE thus adding lots of whitespace to the page. I have edited both (in wikitext) to clean them up. My advice would be to turn off the editor until the bugs are ironed out. --Steve 17:58, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi Steve, I also noticed the the ref tag is different now. It displays a full number thus shifting the text. Look at this page Badingham It looks like a bug hit the wiki rather than I found a bug. I was using both the FCK editor and the function in the editor to edit with rich text.Donjgen 19:42, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Beginners Guide 1837 to 1901
I am concerned by featuring this pdf publication on this page. It needs updating and revision. My objections are:


 * 1) It never mentions the Wiki at all. It send people to other sources to get information which is more current and more clear in the wiki.
 * 2) The only mentions of FamilySearch.org are for the IGI, the BVRI, and the 1881 census, none of which are there anymore in the form mentioned. It doesn't mention Historical Records, but sends people to alternative sources which cost money (like England census indexes other than 1881).
 * 3) It uses various other sources for maps and jurisdiction information, when it should be using http://maps.familysearch.org.
 * 4) It recommends ordering FHL printed publications--the content of which has been moved to the Wiki, updated, and improved.
 * 5) On page 12, it tells people to spend money to order the civil copy of a marriage record, for which they already have the original record from the parish church!
 * 6) Various other more minor errors and omissions.

I would like to move this from PDF to standard Wiki page and allow corrections and updates to be made. What does the community think?

Alan 22:02, 20 April 2012 (UTC)


 * Alan, I think you make a very good case for extracting the information from the PDF and keeping what is still current and relevant. --Steve 11:39, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Featured Resources &amp; Websites

 * Article: England Probate Records
 * Browse by topic: All pages for England
 * Database of British Jews: The Knowles Collection - was last updated with now over 1,000,000 entries.

Research Strategies in England Records
Follow these principles as you search the records for your ancestor:

Always search for one generation at a time
Prove ancestry one generation at a time; always allow the evidence to lead where it takes you under all circumstances. Never jump to conclusions seeking specifically with the intent to connect into families of nobility or Royalty.

Always search for an ancestor's entire family
Each person in a family is precious. Records for each person may include clues for identifying other family members. In most families, children were born at regular intervals (every two to three years). Where gaps appear for a longer period between some children (four to five years), re-examine the birth-christening and the death-burial records for a child who may have been overlooked. Consider looking at parish chest and other records and in other places to find a missing family member, i.e. first-born children are often christened in the parish of the bride (mother).

Search each source thoroughly
The information you need to find a person or trace the family further may be a minor detail of the record you are searching; especially ancestors with more common surnames. So always note identifying factors such as the occupation of your ancestor, become familiar with his/her signature, a street address, place of abode, age, note a middle name, given-names usage, names of witnesses, godparents (in Catholic registers), neighbors, relatives, guardians, children's birth order in a family, and others.

Search a broad time period
Dates obtained from some sources may not be accurate. Look several years before and after the date you think an event, such as a birth, occurred.

Search indexes
Many records are indexed, including especially census, civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths (post-1837), and probate records; and to a lesser extent, church records. Most indexes are incomplete, even if just a little. Often indexes include only the name of the specific person the record is about, excluding most pieces of evidence shown in the original documents. Always be aware that those recording original information may have misheard and thus miss-recorded the names of people and places; moreover, at the indexing-stage, indexers may have have omitted, miss-spelled given, surnames and places as well.

Search for emigrant's origins in records of country of settlement
Information about an England emigrant ancestor's place of birth or residence is vital to successful research. In pre-1700 England many people in England especially used a small variety of names, knowing the place of residence or birth is critical before you can research in England's records for further generations. Identifying the correct ancestor (example: Richard Taylor from other Richard Taylor), requires extensive research in all available records in the country of settlement--to the fullest extent possible such as noting neighbors, others possessing the same surname in the same or nearby township[s], given-naming patterns and searching for the same matching given-name usage in England via searching in the largest available online databases, including (but not limited to) 1) FamilySearch, 2) findmypast, 3) Ancestry.co.uk, 4) FreeReg, 5) county OPC (Online Parish Clerk) indexing projects, 6) TNA (National Archives), 7) FHLFavorites, 8) Google, more.

Searching Parish records: Include chapelry registers
Difficult ancestral trails often 'disappear' when an area is dotted with a mixture of chapels among the parishes, such as in especially Lancashire and Middlesex, and to a lesser extent in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, northeast Surrey and in England's large cities, such as Bristol, Norwich and others. Aways search all chapels that exist and lay within an ancient parish. Check the following outstanding online resources and aids to help you to more accurately identify  all  chapels lying within an ancient parish boundary. Thorough research critically depends upon this endeavor:

Watch for spelling variations
Look for the many ways a person or place name could have been spelled. Spelling was not standardized when most early records were made. You may find a name spelled differently than it is today, as well as several different spelling variations in the original records.

Record Your Searches and Findings
Copy the information you find and keep detailed notes about each record you search. These notes should include the author, title, location, call numbers, description, and results of your search. Most researchers use a research log for this purpose.

Ideas for Finding Compiled Information on English Ancestry
Here's an article entitled "A Checklist of Compiled Sources and Where to Find Them" that's specifically focused to aiding researchers--beginners to professional--who want to learn of compiled genealogical data on (i.e. immigrant) ancestry from England and Great Britain in general. This article shares numerous resources such as gateway websites which provide access to ultimately billions of names that researchers worldwide have gathered and shared online or in major archives on British ancestry.

For LDS tracing LDS Ancestry in England It must be noted that early (historical) branch and ward records of membership, records of baptisms, marriages (and some deaths) have not been indexed.
 * 29 Nov 4 million pages of historical newspapers now searchable online