Family Tree Magazine

January 2007

Search census records, birth, marriage, death and parish record indexes, London directories, plus four specialist indexes at The Genealogist website. You can view the contents either by taking out an annual subscription or by using the pay-per-view scheme. With so much variety it is a website well worth taking a look at. The Genealogist has the largest collection of census transcripts on the internet.

Here is a breakdown of sources on The Genealogist:

Birth, Marriage, Death indexes, 1837 - 2004
A complete index of civil registration records, as published by the General Register Office (GRO). It is in database format and has images of the original indexes 1837 - 1983, plus the computerised indexes from 1984 which allow you to search a five-year period. Your search results are shown by quarter (i.e. Jan-Mar) and surname range (i.e. Bri-Bur), with the pages that may contain your entry.

Census Indexes 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891, 1901
Indexes take the hard work out of going through several pages of handwritten originals. The census indexes on The Genealogist are available to search by county. As well as searching for surname, forename and age, it also allows you to include nicknames and a variants option on surnames. You can also opt to exclude records with no age. An advanced search allows you to search by district.

Census Transcripts 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891, 1901
These provide information from the original census pages as clear, typed text. You are able to search by forename and surname within a county and census year. On the advanced search you can also use the occupation and many other fields, including district, relation to head of household, birth county and street address. You can then view the image, see the entire family or the head of household. See the website for detailed coverage. 		Parish Records
Search records from over 1,100 English parishes, most of which are transcripts of Phillimore's Marriage Indexes. For some areas, these date back as far as 1558 and you can search by church or parish. They are currently adding new databases to this collection, as part of a major transcription project.
Directory Records
A variety of directories covering london in the second half of the 19th century.

Specialist Indexes

Crew List Index Project (CLIP)
A fully searchable database with over 270,000 records taken from crew lists and agreements and log books. Details include name, age, place of birth and ship. 		English and Welsh Landowner Records 1873
Over 300,000 records of owners of one acre or more of land. Details include name of owner, town or village where owner lived, extent of land and gross estimated rental. You can search by county or surname.
Knights of England 1127 - 1904
A two volume publication enabling you to search for knights in England - plus Scotland and Ireland, too. Search via names or 'other words'. 		London 2005 Electoral Roll
Names, addresses and postcodes of over three million Londoners.
To take out a subscription, buy some pay-per-view credits, or to find out more details about the online databases available, visit www.thegenealogist.co.uk. Select the 'My Subscriptions' tab, then choose the 'Subscription information' from the left-hand menu.
For an overview of the records available on The Genealogist website, select the pay-as-you-go pay scheme. You're not committing yourself to this scheme, but it has the clearest explanation of the available records. Alternatively, select the 'which indexes are included' link on the 'Subscription information' page to see the list of records that you can access with an all-inclusive subscription to the site (either a Personal Plus, Personal Premium, or Professional Premium subscription).
Above: Entering a couple's surname in the SmartSearch box shows all children that match. This normally gives the family. Above: The advanced search on census transcripts. This an help refine a search so you get relevant results.
Right: Mapping can show where a surname is concentrated in the country and, if you're starting from scratch, can give you clues to where your ancestors lived. You can find the Surname Distribution map on the BMD home page. Type in the name, choose year range and a map will show where a surname was distributed.

SPECIAL FEATURES

With the Genealogist's SmartSearch tool you are able to search for the birth registration of a child, using the father's surname or the mother's maiden name.

The Genealogist's 'Reverse matching' tool means that you may locate details for each partner in a marriage.

Surname distribution maps available on The Genealogist help you analyse your family origins.

The Master Index allows you to do a search on a name and then bring up a list of sources where you can find references.