Free genealogy resources in Sheffield?

[zerocool 10]

ive started my family tree and to be honest im sick of money hungry websites feeeding of people like they do, ancestry.com wants £200 for a year memebership. Ive already paid them £70!

 

I keep hearing about free resources that librarys should have including all the census records on CD-ROM.

 

Does anybody know where i could access any free resources within sheffield???

 

the ZC

[retep 68]

Latter Day Saints, Wheel Lane

 

Sheffield Archives

 

Central Library

 

1841 census is on line http://sheff-indexers.thewholeshebang.org/index.html

 

1881 census is on line

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

[Greybeard 10]

There's Sheffield Archives at the town end of Shoreham Street, and the Local Studies section at the Central Library. Both have a wealth of genealogical material freely available.

 

You could also join up with the Sheffield and District Family History Society for a modest £8.00 annual subscription.

 

I believe some of the Sheffield census returns have been put on-line by a local group, but they're not now at the URL I have for them.

 

And I forgot Free BMD http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/

 

And I see there is much more than just the 1841 census available from Sheffield Indexers these days - a good place to start by the lookof it

[Cynthia 10]

Hi Zerocool. go on to the Sheffield genalogy web site, to post enquiries you will have to subscribe, the term does not mean that you have to pay it is free, go on to the first page it gives you lots of options and help.

I started on that site and have gone back with my ancestors to the 1500s and my husbands to the 1600s.

Go on to the page "Browse archives' or 'Search archives'. at the top of the page is 'Maling lists' click on there, when the page comes up scroll down to ENGLAND and there you will find loads of different sites for all counties of England etc. DO NOT go to SURNAMES as most of them are American.

 

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~engsheffield/

 

Please ask if you want anymore help, I had a lot of it when I first started searching.

Cynthia, Ontario, Canada.

[HughW 10]

You can get a long way without paying out large sums if you find out where the people with a similar interests hang out and join them

 

Like Cynthia I would recommend the ENG-Sheffield mailing list. Here is a direct llink to the subscription instructions http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/ENG/ENG-SHEFFIELD.html. The site Cynthia quotes is the list owner's own site which supports the Rootsweb mailing list.

 

Another active place is the message board on the Sheff & Distr FHS site (you don't have to be a member) http://www.sheffieldfhs.org.uk

 

The Sheffield Indexers site listed above also has a forum where you can ask questions and request look-ups.

 

I also visit the Rootschat Site http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php

 

Hugh

[mega_monty 10]

ancestry.com wants £200 for a year memebership. Ive already paid them £70!

 

Why do they want £200 ?

[Bookmaster 10]

Your local public library should have a copy of a new leaflet on Looking for Local & Family History in South Yorkshire. It has contact details for the libraries and archives and a list of web sites - some free and others which charge.

[Guest Ant]

I've compiled a list of links you should need to get you started researching your family tree.

Please pm me additional links, and I'll add them to this post -

we can then keep the main thread free for general genealogy discussions.

 

NEW TO GENEALOGY?

GO Newbies’ Guide - A newcomers’ guide to researching your family tree, by Roy Stockdill

GO The BBC’s Family History Webpages

 

GENERAL SITES

GO Familia - A directory of family history resources held in public libraries in the UK and Ireland

GO Ancestry - A huge website, offering occasional free trials. Costs £6.66 pm, £79.95 pa, or pay-per-view. Many features are free.

GO Find My Past.com - An alternative to Ancestry. Prices from £65 to £125 pa

GO Historical Directories - A wonderful free digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales

GO Genes Reunited - Build an online family tree. Price unclear on their FAQ (“9.95 for .“)

GO The National Archives - UK government records, inc. passenger lists and military records

GO Access To Archives (A2A) - English strand of the UK Archives Database. Useful free search tool

GO International Genealogical Index - Another free search tool

GO General Registry Office (GRO) – Official information on births, marriages and deaths

GO UK Parish Register Look-Up Exchange - Post your information request, and wait for a reply from parish register enthusiasts

 

SHEFFIELD & YORKSHIRE RESOURCES

GO Sheffield Archives - Information on Sheffield City Council's magnificent free service on Shoreham Street

GO Sheffield Archives – additional information

GO Sheffield Indexers - An excellent resource for Sheffield genealogists.

GO Sheffield Records Online (SRO) - An excellent resource for Sheffield genealogists. Free registration necessary

GO Sheffield & District Family History Society – An excellent resource for Sheffield genealogists.

GO Sheffield Genealogy

GO Sheffield Registry Office – Searchable births, marriages and deaths index

GO Trade Directories – Sheffield Indexers' trade database – was your Great-Grandfather a chimney sweep?

GO Sheffield Flood Claims Archive - Sheffield Hallam University database

GO Sheffield Baptisms - Sheffield Indexers database

GO Marriages and Banns - Sheffield Indexers database

GO Marriages and Baptisms - Sheffield Indexers database

GO Hallamshire Cutlers Apprentices - Database of SRO. Free registration required

GO School Admission Registers - Sheffield Indexers database

GO Picture Sheffield - An excellent - if incomplete - collection of images from the Local Studies Library

GO Free Births, Marriages & Deaths (FreeBMD) - Excellent free (if incomplete) searchable database

GO Sheffield Genealogy Mailing List - A service of the RootsWeb.com website

GO Yorkshire Births, Marriages And Deaths - A very promising site that currently doesn't include Sheffield

 

FREE CENSUS INDEXES

GO 1841 - Search the 1841 database of Sheffield Indexers

GO 1851 - Search the 1851 incomplete database of SRO. Registration required

GO 1851 – “Strays” index from the SFHS website (ie those not born locally)

GO 1861 - Search the 1861 incomplete database of SRO. Registration required

GO 1881 - Search the 1881 database of Family Search.org

GO 1901 - Search the 1901 database of 1901 Census Online

 

CEMETERY DATABASES

GO Commonwealth War Graves Commission - WWI/WWII casualties from cemeteries and memorial records

GO City Road/Intake Road and St Michael's Roman Catholic, Rivelin - Sheffield Indexers database

 

LINKS, LINKS, MORE LINKS

GO Cyndi’s List – More links than you could shake a stick at

 

PRIVATE GENEALOGY RESEARCH SERVICES

None of these groups, obviously, are endorsed by SF

GO Researching Relatives - A family based business run by Phillip and Janet Ford

 

 

Very few of these links are mine.

Thankyou to everyone who has supplied the links in other threads, and anyone who pm's me links in the future.

I won't give a long list of credits to save space, but thanks.

 

I have deliberately avoided linking to other forums.

[Camrat78 10]

Thanks for this. Been looking into my family tree for a short while now and its facinating. Managed to trace one strand of my tree back to 1803, but have started to draw blanks on some others, so hopefully these links will help.

[algy 11]

Thanks very much for that Ant, I've been thinking of starting for a while, and you've spurred me into action!

[Guest Ant]

So how far has everyone got with their research, and do any of us share common ancesters? - Unlikely, but it's possible.

 

The names I'm researching are (in order of significance) -

 

Atkin

Burn

Deakin

Dawson

Duffy

 

And these names crop up way back in the tree -

Smedley

Hutchinson

Meahan

Fisher

Bailey

Kendill / Kendall

 

The earliest I have pinned a relative down to is 1786. All my research has been on my mother's side (the Deakins/Burns) - I've hit an immediate brick wall on my father's side (the Atkins).

 

My mother's family were grocers, photographers (one of whom had a claim for the damage sustained to his photography shop due to the Sheffield Flood), combmakers and, almost inevitably at some point, cutlers. Oh, and publicans.

[hennypenny 10]

Why not post details of your brick walls, then see if anyone can come up with ideas to help?