Tips for Starting Your Own Family History

1. Collect all the information you can

The best way to start is by collecting all the documents you can relating to the history of your family. These can include things like birth certificates, letters, diaries, school records or deeds. It will be helpful to know as much as possible about the family members you are trying to trace - full names, important dates, their job and where they lived.

You can also talk to older members of your family and ask them what they remember about the family's past (bear in mind though, that memory is not always 100% reliable).

2. Organise your research

As you trace your family, it is best to work backwards in time, building on the information you know.

Try to keep your notes organised and write down where you found the information, in case you need to refer back to it. Chester History and Heritage sells a Family History Organiser pack and a family tree chart, that you might find useful for this.

3. Look up Births, Marriages and Deaths

If you don't have very much information about the members of your family, it may be worth purchasing a birth, death or marriage certificate to provide you with definite names, dates and addresses for certain members of your family. This would give you something concrete on which to build your research. Civil registration of all births, marriages and deaths has taken place in England and Wales from 1837.

If you know exactly when and where an event took place you can approach the local registrar.

If you do not know where the event took place, then you will need to find the entry in the national indexes. Chester History and Heritage hold the indexes for 1837-1938.

Once you have found the right entry in the indexes, you will need to buy a certificate to obtain the information.

4. Advertise your interest

If you know the area your family comes from, or areas they lived in for some time you may like to consider writing to the local newspaper to advertise your interest. Family History magazines often include sections devoted to this. This might yield useful contacts or even long lost relatives!

5. Join a faimly history society

You might like to join the local family history society. The more experienced members will be able to give you useful advice about how to proceed and may have reference books that you can consult. They may even help you find out if anyone else is working on the same family or surname as you.

Write to the Federation of Family History Societies, enclosing an SAE:

Administrator, Federation of Family History Societies
PO Box 2425
Coventry
CV5 6YX

Contact details for the 200 family history societies in Britain are also available from the federation's website (external link)

6. Do some background reading

Doing some background reading will enable you to approach your research with confidence and make best use of your time. There are many useful guides and introductions to family history available. Your local library will probably have some. There are some reference books available at Chester History and Heritage.

These include:

• The Family History Book, Stella Colwell, Phaidon Press, 1989, ISBN:0714825956 -  The Family History Book (external link)  on Amazon.co.uk
• Beginning Your Family History, G.Pelling, Countryside Books/FFHS, 1987, ISBN 0 907099 63 7 - Beginning Your Family History (external link)  on Amazon.co.uk
• Family History & Local History in England, David Hey, Longman, 1987, ISBN:0582494583 - Family History & Local History in England (external link) on Amazon.co.uk
• Reader's Digest Explore Your Family's Past, The Reader's Digest Association Limited, 2000 ISBN:0276424468 - Reader's Digest Explore Your Family's Past (external link) on Amazon.co.uk

Chester Heritage and History sells an introduction to the subject 'First Steps in Family History' produced by the Society of Genealogists

7. Look on the internet

You can also find a wide range of information via the internet. This 'network of networks' enables you to access information worldwide. Many Record Offices and archives now have their own websites, describing their facilities and collections. Some include catalogues and searchable databases. There are many useful sources of information on family history available.

If you do not have access to the internet yourself, it is worth checking locally to see if there is anywhere that provides public internet access. Some libraries now have public internet access points, as do some computer retailers or you may find a convenient 'cybercafe'.