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This page is for the England Project members to provide links to pages that are being frequently accessed and help with our improvement of the English profiles on WikiTree.
Contents |
New Member: How to Use WikiTree
If you have not already read these pages please read them before using any of the other pages on this page.
England Project Orphan Trail Pages
Most project members will have been involved with the Orphan Trail these links are to help you easily access pages which hold useful information including many explanations on how to do things.
England Orphan Trail Resources 1838-1957
England Orphan Trail Resources 1700-1837
Templates
Members of the England Project who have completed the Orphan Trail will have been introduced to some Templates.
In the England Project the templates which members need to be aware of are Category and Stickers.
If you are adding either of these, and are unsure of what to use, please refer to the listing for categories and the helpful information about the use of stickers which includes a list of stickers.
Suggestions
Each WikiTree member will find this heading under the My WikiTree menu on their Navigation Home Page.
Whilst many England Project members are Data Doctors working on clearing the suggestions for profiles other than their own others are working through their own suggestions.
The Data Doctors Project have recorded a number of instuctive videos to help members which are very useful and can be found here.
England Project Standards
If you are uncertain as to what is an acceptable standard for a profile which falls within England then please read this page
Useful Browser Extensions
- Description: WikiTree X enables you to create and edit WikiTree profiles using data from other genealogy websites.
- Description: Turbo charges your WikiTree experience by letting you tag people in photos, quick search your watchlist, and collapse descendant trees.
Useful Web Apps
- Description: Checks England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Germany sticker compliance for descendants of a specified ancestor
- Description: Calculates the average generation length and average lifespan of your ancestors.
- Description: Shows which ancestors are missing one or both parents.
- Description: Finds people who are missing relationships.
- A tool to generate simple biographies.
- Description: Creates a link between a WikiTree profile and FamilySearch Family Tree.
Help page for Family Search Connections explains more about this.
- Description: WikiTree+ uses deep data analysis to find possible errors and opportunities for further research.
- Description: RootsSearch enables you to easily search over 20 genealogy websites with button clicks, without reentering names, dates, parents' names, etc., on each website.
Resources and Research Links
- FamilySearch.org free; needs account (free also); has millions of records as well as censuses records.
- UKBMD this site can help you find the Indexes and other sites for births, marriages and deaths.
- Genealogical Directories looking for a directory or gazeteer check on this site.
- Military Family History could help you find sites for information.
- GRO Indexes free; register and search for births and deaths in England and Wales an example showing how to cite these can be found at Citation Examples
- Find A Grave free; needs account (free also); has millions of death records.
- Billion Graves free; needs account (free also); has millions of records.
- Ancestry.com Paid site for accessing millions of family trees and records.
- Free BMD Records no need to log in or have an account; you can search for all events; no maiden names available until 1911; volunteer project with huge coverage
- Find a Will This is hit-or-miss, but still an interesting place to search for wills or probate records - you may get lucky!
- Free:CEN free; volunteer project; coverage patchy
Reliable Sources
- The most reliable sources are contemporary records that were created at the time the person lived.
- Parish Records: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, and other acts such as confirmations, recantations... Not every parish record has survived, and the earlier the person lived, the less likely that the event was even recorded. The actual Parish Registers are generally available at the County Record Office or are sometimes held at the actual church. Subscription sites such as Ancestry*, FindMyPast and the Genealogist also have collections, but no one online site has a complete set of parish registers. Some records can be found online at the various England counties (please see the specific County Resources page linked below) which are free. Transcripts or indexes of various parish records can be found on Family Search (including England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, Free Reg(free), and some 'Online Parish Clerks (OPCs)' eg Cornwall Online Parish Clerk and Lancashire Online Parish Clerk and facilitate access to the actual parish record.
- Quaker Monthly Meeting records These exist from 1650 onwards to record Quaker births, marriages and deaths. Found at both FindMyPast (paywall) and FamilySearch.org. They are usually highly detailed and legible! To find out more see Quakers in England Information and Resources
- Wills, Administrations & Probate and Inquistions Post Mortem: Wills proved through the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) are available at The National Archives - PCC wills 1384-1858 or at Ancestry.co.uk. Wills proved at the lower courts may be located at County Record Offices. Only a small number of people who lived in England before 1700 left a will. See FamilySearch Guide to England Probate Records for more information.
- Court and Chancery records
- Manorial records Under the feudal system, each parish typically had between one and half a dozen "manors", each with a lord who held a court and had certain rights and powers. Manors maintained individual records concerning land transactions, court proceedings and inheritances. Records are now at local record offices, at the National Archives or in private hands. The National Archives maintains a Manorial Documents Register as a finding aid.
- Other land and tax records. This includes Hearth Tax records, 1662-1689, which records taxable households. They have been published for various counties, listed at the Roehampton University site.
Usage Guidelines for 'Reliable Sources'
- The best option is to sight and transcribe the original record or a digital image of it. As well as original records, the England Project has decided to include indexes and transcripts of contemporary records as reliable sources, although the original or digital version of a record is always preferable.
- A name does not constitute a source. Just because you find the name you are looking for in a record, doesn't mean that it is a source for the specific person you are researching. See Sources v Evidence section below.
- Proper usage of records held on subscription sites: Just because a record is behind a "pay wall" on sites such as Ancestry and FindMyPast, does not mean it should not be used. If possible a link should be provided to an image of the source. Wikitree has a very informative help page: Links to Ancestry which should be used when adding these sources.
- Inline sourcing is preferred as the specific information provided by the source then directly provides the evidence for the fact that is referenced.
- Copyright issues for images. There are images available online which can be used under creative commons licence. See the 2 G2G posts about this subject National portrait gallery images, Tate gallery images
Links to other resource pages
- WikiTree's Pre-1500 resource page - General pre-1500 resources
- Login to request to the join the Trusted List so that you can edit and add images.
- Private Messages: Contact the Profile Managers privately: I. Speed, Hilary Gadsby, Susie Officer, and England Project WikiTree. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
- Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)
- Public Q&A: These will appear above and in the Genealogist-to-Genealogist (G2G) Forum. (Best for anything directed to the wider genealogy community.)