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This article is intended as a very brief introduction for beginners (or 'newbies' as they are sometimes known) who want to know how to start collecting information on their ancestors and storing it. It is just one of many such articles which will be found on the internet but should be of particular interest to those with ancestors in Berkshire, UK and those who live in the Berkshire area. You may print it out for personal reference.

First . . .

read a simple book on the subject. The BerksFHS has several on sale - such as 'Beginning your Family History' by George Pelling on our Boks for Beginners web page.

Then . . .

write down what you know, preferably in chart form (e.g. Drop-line chart or Pedigree/birth brief).

Next . . .

if you live near enough to Reading you might visit our Research Centre (see opening hours) off Castle Hill in Reading where you can talk to the library assistants. They can give you information on the research data held in the Centre and useful publications which are available. They will identify which are the most suitable for your purposes and guide you as what you might do next.

If you do not live near Reading then contact your local Family History Society. Details can be found on the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) web-site at www.ffhs.org.uk.

Get back to 1901 . . .

• Rumble . . . through cupboards and drawers for birthday and address books, copies of certificates (e.g. Birth, Marriage and Death, Education, Military Service etc), letters, diaries, the family Bible, memorial cards, wedding announcements, newspaper cuttings, . . .
• Contact and Interview . . . all your living relatives.
• Search . . . the General Record Office (GRO) Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths at the Family Record Centre (FRC), Myddelton Place, Islington, London and obtain certificates. The indexes were formerly known as the St Catherine's Indexes. For further information see the National Archives web-site at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

If you cannot get to London

- apply to the local Supt. Registrar for your ancestors’ district for copies of certificates. There is a charge. See the list of Registrar Offices in and near Berkshire.

- many Record Offices, including the Berkshire Record Office in Reading, have GRO Indexes on microfiche of Births, Marriages and Deaths which you can search.

In 1901 . . .

search for entries in the 1901 census which is on-line at www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk. You can seach the index for free but will have to pay 75p for electronic copies which can be downloaded as .pdf or tiff and printed. Transcriptions for an individual cost 50p. For a household (only really useful for institutions) the cost is also 50p. Payment can be made using credit/debit card or, we recommend, by vouchers which can be bought from the society.

Hint: To put people together into families you can use the 'pageId' (found by hovering your mouse over the 'image icon').

Then get back to 1881 and . . .

search for entries in the 1881 census which is available both on microfiche and CD-ROM. Both are available for your use in our Research Centre. If you can get back to 1851 then we also have a large number of Census Indexes (available on microfiche, in printed booklets or on CDs) for most counties in the UK which you can look at. We also have a postal research service which among other things can be used for the 1881 census, the 1851 Berkshire Census and a Berkshire Name Search..

You can also see census information for 1851, 1861 and 1871 at our Research Centre or all censuses for Berkshire at the Berkshire Record Office. Their web-site address, together with others of use to beginners, can be seen on our web-links page.

Then . . .

if you have information of people who were born before about 1850 you might find details of their baptism or marriage in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) available on-line at www.familysearch.org or on fiche in our Research Centre.

Get back to 1837 . . .

using the GRO Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths at the FRC, in local Record Offices or on the web. See our web-links page for various places these can be seen on-line (viz FreeBMD - an ongoing project for 1837-1983 though there is as yet little data after 1903 - and '1837online' etc). Obtain certificates wherever necessary as they contain more information.

Later . . .

you may wish to consult copies of the Births, Baptisms, Marriage and Burial Registers of the parishes in which your ancestors lived. Many of these can be seen on fiche in County Record Offices and at some ROs copies of the fiche can even be purchased for personal research.

Store . . .

You will need to store the information you have got. In the past this might have been done in a card index. Today, for all those with a computer, it will more often be done in one or more of several widely available lineage-linked data bases specially written for Family Historians. The mainstream programs are:

Family Origins (FO)	Brothers Keeper
Family Tree Maker (FTM)	Kith and Kin (K&K)
Generations	Legacy
Personal Ancestral File (PAF)	The Master Genealogist (TMG)
Ultimate Family Tree (UFT)	Pedigree

These are all capable of generating reports in several forms including 'Family group' tables and charts of ancestors and descendents. Some provide a great deal of customisation for the reports. See our handouts

• Requirements for a family history program
• The main family history programs

More details are given at Use of Computer Packages which is background information prepared for a meeting of the Reading Branch of the Society held on Friday 18th February 2000.

Go on a course . . .

on Family History. These are held in many areas.

A 5 evening course for beginners is held 3 times a year at our Research Centre in Reading.

Enquire of for details of other courses available in the Reading area. Alternatively search the internet using a search engine such as Google (available from our Home Page) or www.genuki.org.uk/search.html (for the UK family history sites) for courses in your area.

Contact . . .

others who are research the same names as you. See Members Interests Lists on Family History sites such as our Members Interests Name Index. We also have a Birth Briefs (viz Pedigree) Name Index.

Also . . .

the society runs Computing Workshops for beginners and improvers in computing aspects of Family History. Weekly Computing Surgeries provide the opportunity to seek answers to any computing questions affecting family history research questions.

Attend . . .

appropriate meetings of your local Family History Society and get to know the other members who will willingly help you.

Subscribe . . .

to a family history magazine such as 'Family Tree Magazine' or 'Practical Family History'.