Tracing ancestors is an extremely popular hobby in the United States and Australia, where you can quickly learn what records you need, where to find them and how to use them. But sooner or later, many, or most, people are going to find ancestors who originated in the UK.
If this is the case, then you are lucky that you live in a time where many records can be found online! However, as you go further back in time (and some of your ancestors may have emigrated very early), the less likely you are to find original documents published online. Not only that, but UK records are very different to records in other parts of the world, and it is not always easy to quickly understand what’s available and how to search for it.
You have several options in this case:
- You could hand all your English ancestry search over to a professional genealogist in the uk. The advantages of this are that you will get the job done accurately, and if the genealogist is a good one, they will leave no stone unturned, and you can rest assured that they will do all that is necessary to find your ancestors leaving no nagging doubts that there might be something you haven’t done. The disadvantages are that it can work out to be quite expensive, with most experienced and qualified genealogists charging between £20 and £40 per hour. If you add the cost of expenses (such as ordering documents) on to that then you are liable to end up spending hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds. It also takes away the fun of doing it yourself!
- You could, again, hire professional researcher to only look up those documents that you cannot find online. This would probably be less costly, and it means that you’re still in charge of the overall research. The downside is that as the researcher is not getting into the full details of your ancestry, they may not have the full knowledge that could lead them on to further leads and other records that you were unaware of.
- If you have the time and the money, you could visit the UK and carry out the necessary research in the relevant archives. This is more interesting, and you’d get a holiday at the same time! However, unless your ancestors all lived in the same area, you might have to miss out on some lines of your ancestry in different parts of the country, or spend a lot of time travelling, only to find the documents you need do not exist. It could also be frustrating if you just start getting somewhere the day before you’re due to fly home!
- You could learn how to carry out research in the UK, using an online course. The advantages of this are that you will get very good knowledge of the main genealogical sources available and learn how to carry out your searches like a professional. It will probably work out less expensive than hiring someone to do it all for you. The disadvantages? You might still need to hire someone to look at documents in local archives that are not published online.
Whichever you decide, you should be able to find information on this website to help with most of the above. I offer nationwide and local research services, and if you go to my courses page, you will find links to my online UK genealogy courses.
You can also email me at info@tracingancestors-uk.com for advice and further details.
