Once you have exhausted your online search as far back as 1837, you will need to start searching offline records in order to go further back. If you are in the UK, this means visiting the relevant county records office, but if you are outside of the UK you may wish to hire a UK genealogist to do the search for you (see my service here).
After you have tracked your ancestors back to the 1841 census, and have ordered all the certificates you need back to 1837, the next main documents for finding older ancestors are the parish registers. These are mostly now held at the local county record office for that parish.
Preparing to use the archives
Before visiting the county record office, make sure you have recorded all the information you have so far and you have made a clear list of all the information you need.
The next thing you need to do is to ring the appropriate record office or centre and find out their opening hours, and to ask whether you need to book a fiche/film-reader. Each record office has its own way of working so do not assume that because one CRO works one way then the rest will follow. Some record offices require you to book a space, and with others you can just turn up. You will also need to ask whether you need to bring some form of identification. Most CROs now issue a record office identity card which can be used to gain entry to many record offices across the country. All you need is a driving licence, passport or other official form of identification.
Before setting off, you will need to make sure you have the following:
Pencils. In all archives, pens are banned – for obvious reasons – and all your notes must be made by pencil. I recommend you supply yourself with a set of cheap propelling pencils with an eraser on the end. Normal pencils become blunt very quickly and you will get fed up with having to sharpen every half hour!
A Pad of A4 paper. I prefer A4 lined paper because you have more space to make notes and set out lists. Some people prefer the smaller A5 pads – but this means that you have to constantly flick backwards and forwards to refer to previous notes, and, personally, I would find the restricted space frustrating. But – use whatever works for you!
Small Change. Most record offices have printers and photocopiers for printing from microfiche or film, or for photocopying documents (if approved by the archivist). Print-outs and photocopies usually cost around 30p. You will probably also need some coins to feed the coffee machines, lockers and, in some cases, parking meters.
Your notes. A large folder or bag will NOT be welcome (and you will have to put any bags in a locker anyway) – so just take with you the pages from your notes that you need.
Identification. If it’s your first visit you will probably need to register for a ticket and will be asked for identification.
Magnifying Glass. This may not be absolutely necessary at first as you will most likely start with microfiche and film, but when you get to look at wills and other paper documents it can be very useful when deciphering handwriting. However, I have on occasion used my magnifying glass to help to enlarge a word on a microfiche or film reader – the readers do not always enlarge enough, especially where the handwriting is very small in the first place.
Packed Lunch. It’s up to you, of course, but some record offices do not have café facilities, and unless the archives are in the centre of a town, you may find there are very limited refreshment opportunities. The Northamptonshire Record Office, for example, is off the A45 ring road and the nearest café is a 10 minute car drive to the nearest Supermarket.
What to expect when you arrive
Most record offices have some sort of signing in system before you will be allowed into the reading rooms. Also, you will need to leave your coats and any bags in lockers.
Once you have signed in and/or registered for your ticket, you will be allowed into the reading room or index room. If it’s your first visit you will usually find that the record office staff are very helpful and will direct you to the readers and show you how to use the indexes and the readers.
As I’ve said before, each record office has its own way of working, and this is also the same for their indexing systems. I think most record offices these days use a self-serve system for taking out microfiches or microfilms containing census and parish register records – but it is best that you find out how to use this when you get there. If I describe the system used at my local record office, it would be a waste of time if the one you are using uses a completely different system.
Microfiches and Microfilms
When searching census records and parish registers, it is very unlikely that you will get to see the actual documents – unless a parish register microfiche is damaged or lost. The popularity of family history has made it necessary to protect these documents from overuse and all of these documents have now been filmed for general use.
Most of the census records are recorded on microfilm, and you will first need to refer to an index for the particular parish you are looking for, note the reference number for the microfilm and then take (or order) that microfilm. The films themselves are on reels and stored in small boxes in filing cabinets.
The first time you use a microfilm reader you will probably need some help from the staff to load the film. Again, I have found that readers vary in style from place to place, so if you’ve used one in one centre, don’t be surprised if you find you have difficulty loading a film in another! As most films carry several parishes, you will need to wind the film through to the appropriate place – this can take some time. Some readers have an old-fashioned manual winding system, but if you are lucky you might find one with an electronic winder which makes the task much quicker.
Microfiche are mostly used for parish registers and are very easy to use. Each fiche (or set of fiches) is kept in small envelopes in filing cabinets. The indexes for the parish registers are usually kept in bound books or ring-bind folders and are sorted parish by parish, dates and (where separate) baptisms, marriages and burials.
IMPORTANT NOTE
When you start researching your family history, it is very easy to go from document to document and forget to make a record of the document or index you have searched. Once you have been doing this for some time, you will forget what you have looked at, and will find yourself spending valuable time looking at something that you have already searched to no avail. Believe me, I still manage to do this myself!
So, one major rule for your searches is:
MAKE A NOTE OF EVERY SOURCE YOU LOOK AT
This applies whether you find anything within that source or not.
Well, that’s my rough guide to using county records offices. However, don’t worry too much – you will find the staff are always very helpful, so as long as you are prepared and have booked your space, you should find your visit an enjoyable one!
Its rare that anyone bothers to explain what to do beyond 1837 and this is something that people should know or they will quickly hit a brick wall. Personally I would like to see some common standards employed by the various local centres and I hope that it will al be digitised eventually. In the meantime its time for us all to get out there and start using those micro-fiche!