How To Use Documents To Trace Your Family History

Step 1: Birth Certificates

A full Birth Certificate will provide you with: • A record of the place and date of a birth
• The gender and registered full name of the child
• The full names of both parents
• Mother's maiden name
• Father's occupation
• Address
If your search starts from 1969, your documents will record the place of birth of both parents. You can order replacement documents online or in person at the National Archives in Richmond, London.

Step 2: Marriage Certificates

Marriage Certificates are incredibly useful for confirming parentage and names. A full Marriage Certificate will tell you the marital status of the bride and groom, the full names, ages, occupations and religious beliefs of the bride and groom, and the witnesses at the wedding. Copies of marriage certificates can be found in the national archives.

Step 3: Death Certificates

Death Certificates can be a really good starting point for your research as they will contain full names, dates, cause of death and importantly, the given age at the time of death. This detail will allow you to search for a birth certificate. After 1969, death certificates recorded place of birth, last know address, marriage status, i.e. widower/divorcee etc, and occupation. A death certificate can also lead to other associated records such as a will or gravestone, both of which are mines of information.

Step 4: If you are stuck

If you're stuck, you can then go to www.bmdregisters.co.uk where you can search their registers of births, marriages and deaths. These entries include all the non-parochial and nonconformist registers from 1567-1840. You can use any number of old documents including medical records, Education records or even old pay slips. All of these will be incredibly rich in detail, sometimes including material about up to three generations of a family, which can help you to add many branches to your family trees.