Information for first-time family history researchers

Decide which branch of the family you wish to trace first and obtain as much information as you can from surviving relatives.  It will help you greatly if you gather together and organise all the family information you can before diving into the Record Office's many resources.  it is best to work back from the earliest event for which you have definite evidence.  investigate what records survive within the family such as certificates, wills, photographs, funeral cards.  It may be useful at this stage to draw up a family tree with exact dates & places of birth, marriage and death marked on.  This would be useful for yourself and also for the staff when you need their help.  Remember that many records from the past have not survived or may be difficult to read so be prepared for disappointments.

In July 1837 civil registration was introduced by which all births, marriages and deaths were now to be registered.  The Office holds these indexes from 1837-1970 on microfiche.  They are arranged by surname and then Christian name.  Each entry contains details of a registration district, volume and folio number which enables you to obtain a certificate from the General Register Office at www.gro.gov.uk.

This is an index to baptisms and marriages, compiled by the Mormons.  We hold microfiche copies for England and Wales.  In the absence of other information this may well be the starting point for many.  it is strongly advised to check each entry found on the IGI with the original source material where possible.  for some counties the coverage is very good whereas for others it is very poor.  Coverage for Leicestershire and Rutland is fairly good.  The entries usually start to fizzle out after 1837.  The latest version of the complete IGI is available on the Mormon LDS website at www.familysearch.org.

Introduced in 1538 (but few parishes have registers that date back to this year) these are the prime source to search before the introduction of civil registration in 1837.  The office holds the majority of registers for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland parishes on microfiche which are self-service.

These are copies of the parish registers which were sent to the Bishop of the Diocese.  We hold the Bishops Transcripts for Leicester and Leicestershire but the originals for Rutland are held at the Northamptonshire Record Office.  Although they commenced in 1598, dates of coverage vary from parish to parish.  Most of our Bishops Transcripts are on microfilm.  They can fill gaps where the original registers to not survive.

If you suspect that a branch of the family did not conform to the Church of England then you need to investigate the office's sources for non-conformist churches.  Examples of denominations include Methodists, Congregationalists, Baptists, Quakers and Roman Catholics but there are others.  Please note our holdings of non-conformist records are far less comprehensive than for Church of England registers.

The national recording of people's addresses, ages, sex, occupation, place of birth and relationship within the household first commenced in 1841.  Since then this information has been taken every ten years (apart from 1941 during the Second World War).  The Office has microfilm/fiche copies of the census returns for Leicestershire and Rutland from 1841-1901 and where the census enumerators district overlaps two counties, for a number of parishes in the adjoining counties to Leicestershire.  Census information is closed for 100 years so the latest census to be released is 1901.  The 1911 census will not become available until 1 January 2012.

The Office holds these from1496-1941 (gap 1649-1660) mainly for Leicestershire.  Before 1909 they are hold on self-service microfiche.  Wills for Rutland before 1858 are held at the Northamptonshire Record Office.

If you suspect that an ancestor was buried in a civil cemetery then it is likely to be one that was run by the local authority.  The oldest and largest one in Leicester is the Welford Road Cemetery.  We hold registers and indexes for this cemetery from 1849-1953 on microfiche.  We also hold monumental transcripts for the Belgrave cemetery from 1881-1976.

These were introduced in 1832 but up to 1884 only included men owning/occupying property of a certain rateable value.  In 1918 women over 30 could vote for the first time and in 1928 the vote was extended to women over the age of 21.  The Office holds these for Leicester Borough and county from 1833 onwards but we only hold them for Rutland from 1973.  Before 1973 they are held at the Lincolnshire Archives.

Starting Your Family History by Margaret Ward, published by Countryside Books, 2006, ISBN 1 85306 8853

Tracing Your Family Tree by Jean Cole and John Titford, published by Countryside Books, ISBN 1 85306 823 3

The Way Back - a guide to tracing your family tree by Pat Grundy, ISBN 085 022 4039

www.1837online.co.uk - General Register Office

www.1901.census.nationalarchives.gov.uk - 1901 census

www.workhouses.org.uk - workhouse website