see also:
Tracing your ancestors
About us - the Berkshire FHS
Starting your Family History in the UK
First . . .
read a simple book on the subject. The BerksFHS has several on sale - such as 'Beginning your Family History' by the late George Pelling on our Books 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 research centre assistants. They can give you information on the research data held in the Centre and useful publications that 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 1911 and 1901 . . .
- Rummage . . . 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 . . . microform copies of General Register Office (GRO) indexes to birth, marriage and death registrations (since 1837 in England and Wales) at participating libraries and record offices, or use the online indexes available from some of the major genealogical web sites. Please note that the physical indexes that used to be at the Family Record Centre (FRC) and previously St Catherine's House and Somerset House are no longer available.
- Obtain . . . certificates of births, marriage and deaths occurring since 1837, either from the local Register Offices or via the online ordering system of the Registrar General (www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificate). For further information see the National Archives web-site at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
In 1901 . . .
search for entries in the 1901 census which is on-line at www.findmypast.com and other sites. You can search the index for free but will have to pay for details of individuals, households or images of the original pages.
Then get back to 1881 and . . .
search for entries in the 1881 census which is readily available from several web sites, on CD-ROM and microfiche. All are freely 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 the 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 1920 - and 'findmypast' 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
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.
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 occasionally 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'.