Want to learn more about history and genealogy ? Then go to The National Archives award winning website it offers lessons on everything from the history behind the Domesday Book to reading old handwriting. Also don’t forget their wonderful Podcasts.

 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/

   Video lessons are various topics are now available through the LDS website FamilySearch. These lessons cover England, Germany, Italy, Russia and the USA. Just the ticket if you find your ancestors have suddenly changed countries !!

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/education/frameset_education.asp?PAGE=education_research_series_online.asp%3FActiveTab=2

A quick look at this website shows that it might be helpful to those new to genealogy. Take a look and see what you think.

http://www.tracingyourfamilytree.co.uk/#

The Society of Genealogists and Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd are pleased to announce a new joint online course called I’m Stuck! How can the Society of Genealogists Help Me? starts 28th May 2009 and is repeated from 2nd July 2009.

In this short two week course, Else Churchill of the Society of Genealogists will guide you through the steps needed to help you think logically about research problems and how to solve them. She also introduces you to records and indexes, held by the Society of Genealogists, which can be used to break down those brick walls, and demonstrates how these resources help you extend your family tree. Emphasis is also placed on learning how to apply research techniques to solve your problems.

Prospective students can pay and enrol via the Pharos website at a price of £23.99 or a discounted price of £19.99 for members of the Society of Genealogists.

The course is suitable for genealogists who have had some experience in family history research in England &: Wales but who have found they have been unable to identify where their ancestor might have come from.

It is hoped that this will be the start of a wider collaboration on distance learning courses between the Society and Pharos.

Helen Osborn, Managing Director of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, said today "We are very pleased to be given the opportunity of working with the Society of Genealogists in this collaborative way and to bring the vast knowledge of the Society to a wider audience."

Else Churchill, Genealogist at the Society & tutor for Pharos courses, said today "The Society of Genealogists is delighted to offer the first of, what we hope will be many, distance learning opportunities for the Society. This course will enable those who are unable to visit the Society and take part in our extensive education programme to learn more about the techniques of family history research and the Society of Genealogists in particular."

http://www.pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#921

I discovered today that Ancestry has a series of education seminars, they call them Webinars, available online. You have to go to their .com site, for some reason they are not available on their .co.uk site – or at least I couldn’t find them!

You can register and view them as they happen, but of course they are broadcast from USA so the time  might not be convenient for you, but all is not lost because there is access to them on demand. I have viewed a part of the seminar on English genealogy and it seems very good.I’ll be going back when I have more time to browse and view others.

I wonder if there is any chance of the UK site asking some of our own well known genealogists to present such seminars, I could supply a list of speakers and subjects if they care to ask me !!

Take a look and see what you think, you will need a subs to Ancestry to gain access.

FAMILY HISTORY FOR BEGINNERS

A quick look at this website shows that it might be helpful to those new to genealogy. Take a look and see what you think.

http://www.tracingyourfamilytree.co.uk/#

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FAMILY SEARCH

The genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) have this great website with the IGI (International Genealogical Index) available online. In the next few years we are told they will start putting on scans online of the millions of records they hold in their libraries in Salt Lake City. Remember this is an index and you must double check with thr original record or with other independent transcripts anything you find on the IGI.

 http://www.familysearch.org/

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GOOD WEB SITES…………………..in my opinion!

Here are some good sites for those new to the wonderful world of genealogy

BBC Family history site http://www.bbc.co.uk/familyhistory/

About.com http://genealogy.about.com/library/onestop/bl_beginner.htm

Genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/

An online tutorial based course http://www.learnwebskills.com/

Channel 4′s Guide http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/U/untold/resources/geno/genof.html

How To http://www.howto.co.uk/family/family-genealogy-tree/

Pharos – you have to pay for their courses http://www.pharostutors.com/

Scotlandspeople site http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/content/help/index.aspx?444

Scottish Genealogy http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/familytree.htm

I don’t endorse any of the above, but my personal favourite is the BBC Family History website. My suggestion to try them all and see which one is the best one for you. Everyone’s writing style is unique and what seems good to one person will irritate another.

The only thing I will endorse is that genealogy is great fun

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KEEPING ON TRACK WITH YOUR GENEALOGY

If you are like me you can quite easily find yourself side-tracked when doing your research. For example you start looking for Army Records for an ancestor, you go onto Ancestry.co.uk and then find a likely entry, start looking at those record only to find it isn’t your chap. BUT you see that this soldier served in India, you begin to wonder how he coped with all that heat after coming from the low lying Fens and before you know it you have done searches on the British Army in India, the history of the Fens, Malaria and it’s effects on the Victorian Soldier and become what my friend Val calls a "5 minute expert" on the the Raj and it’s consequences down to the present day!!

A 5 minute expert is someone who becomes knowledgeable about a subject after intensive research, but ask them a question about it a few weeks later and they can’t tell you a thing!! According to Val genealogists are very prone to this malady!!

Anyway I came across this link which might help you keep on track.

http://genealogy.about.com

Having said all of the above I must say I rather like getting side-tracked sometimes

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WHAT I SUBSCRIBE TO

Following on from my previous posting about the How To sites I thought I would just outline which sites I use.

I subscribe to Ancestry www.ancestry.co.uk if you click on the link and then decide to susbcribe I get a small payment that helps with the expenses of this site. However even if I didn’t get a commission I would still be recommending Ancestry.

I also use free BMD for the Civil registration indexes. I know they have them on Ancestry, but I find the Free BMD site easier to use. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

The Familysearch site belonging to the LDS Church is essential to my research. I use it mainly for access to the IGI and then I always check the originals if I can. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp Exciting things are happening with the records in the Granite Mountain in Utah, they are digitising them and putting them online and the first fruits of this project can be found here. http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#start

I have used various computer programmes to store my data; Family Tree Maker (got fed up with all the updates), Master Genealogist (I’m told it is a great programme …. once you have learnt how to use it…………decided I rather spend my time on research!) and a few other odd ball ones. I then went back to one I had tried early one and that is PAF, it’s free to download, does what I want it to and I don’t need to spend forever reading a manual!! The link to it is one the main Family Search page at the lower right hand side. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

I subscribe to the magazine Ancestors. I find it very readable, has a good mix of articles and keeps me up with all that is going on in the Genealogy scene. http://www.ancestorsmagazine.co.uk/

I belong to the Society of Genealogists in London. What bliss to spend time in the library there on my rare visits to London. They are slowly putting some of their holdings online which will be great once they start on anything that is on the Berkshire shelves!! http://www.sog.org.uk/index.shtml

I can recommend the Oxfordshire Family History Society transcript CD’s and also the Berkshire Family History Society ones as well. http://www.ofhs.org.uk/ and http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/

The National Archives site is wonderful for it’s catalogue, tutorials, documents online and podcasts. I am sure they are pages in their with wonderful info on them that I haven’t discovered yet !! http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

And last but not least I rather like browsing on the BBC Family History site http://www.bbc.co.uk/familyhistory/

Well that’s it for now, hope you find it helpful.

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