RESEARCH Getting Started

Where to start depends a great deal on what information you have to hand already. The major hurdle is to get back to the 1939 register and/or the 1921 census which will give you information that will enable you to go back further in time. If you do not already have the information to get back this far, unfortunately it may cost you some money, even if you do it all yourself there will be the cost of certificates to verify your findings, prior to that there is a good chance that you can get the information you need on line without charge. Not all records are free of course, but there are many web sites containing a whole host of data, all you have to do is to find it.

Help is at hand

There are Cumbria Family History Society members who will be happy to help you. When you join the Society, you can post your surname interests in the Society Newsletter. Also you can post very specific research questions on our Facebook page. And for members who an visit Carlisle Record Office there are regular drop-in help sessions.

First steps

First, talk to all your living relatives and see what you can get from them, in many cases birth, marriage and death certificates may be hanging around in a drawer somewhere or you will at least be able to get approximate dates for major events. Look for School Certificates, Forces Service Records, National Health Cards, anything that can help you to pin down a date and event and make notes of all these details. Grandma may still have a biscuit tin full of everything you need to get started.

• Obtain your own birth certificate and extract your parents' names.

• If you do not have your parents birth dates then you will need to work back from their marriage certificate

• If they are deceased, then work back from their death certificates.

• Once you have found your parents birth dates then you must repeat this process with your grandparents. In most cases this will get you back to the 1921 census, in some cases you will have to go through a further generation to get there.

• Research Births, Marriage and Death (BMD) certificates and registration

• By now you should have people who were born prior to 1921 and if lucky before 1881 which is the next main census that is freely available on line.

• Research  Censuses. Some have  been indexed by the Society and are available from the shop

• Censuses will essentially take you back to around 1841 and can be used in conjunction with BMD's to establish your tree. There are Censuses prior to 1841 but these only cover some areas, further details are on the Census Page.

• Prior to 1841 you have to start using Parish Records. In general in Cumbria these records are available and go back to the 1500s though there are some gaps. Some registers have been indexed by the Society, and can be searched on this site. Also, many of these records have been transcribed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are freely available on line. This is the International Genealogical Index referred to as the IGI.

• Once you have exhausted BMD, Parish Records and the IGI, explore other sources outlined in these  Research Pages

• Try the Links Page for other  links useful for Cumbrian ancestors.

• Getting back further than the start of parish records in 1538 can be extremely difficult , unless you are fortunate enough to have connections to families that have built up private or published family trees over the ages.

Recording your research findings

Previously, researchers stored their family tree and research raw data on their PC using specialised programs such as Family Tree Maker. This is still possible, but today many people store their data in the Cloud.

More specifically, they are more likely to use on-line genealogical data platforms such as Ancestry, MyHeritage or FindMyPast. These commercial services allow you to find data (for a fee) but also record your findings, and allow you to share with other internet users. They also allow you to share your DNA data (and link with relatives).

There are also free platforms for storing family tree findings and sharing with others, including Wikitree and Gedmatch. Data can be transferred between different programs and platforms using the GEDCOM format. Gedmatch also enables the sharing of DNA data.