When researching your family history we seem to concentrate on finding our people by searching records, looking for any footprints. But almost of equal importance are our places – it’s a waste of precious time to be looking for the right people in the wrong places! And when we have our places, we need to know what records are available - how else can we find our footprints?

It is fortunate that there is a resource, created for genealogists, to help with this. This resource was firstly available on microfiche, then CDs, and now the Internet. Go to www.familysearch.org, look towards the middle of the screen and towards the right-hand side. Click on the Library tab, then click on Family History Library Catalog. This catalog is like any other - it lists the books, films and fiche available in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. However, there are no names or information on actual places.

But throughout the world are hundreds of Family History Centres and Affiliate Libraries where you can order and read films and fiche. Go to the Home Page, and on the lower middle of the screen you’ll see “Find A Family History Center Near Your Home”. The Affiliate Libraries should be listed there soon. Auckland City Library (www.aucklandlibraries.com) and the NZ Society of Genealogists (www.genealogy.org.nz) are Affiliate Libraries, and there are many in Australia. This is just what you need to do to ‘go back to the original record’. Remember that much of what you consult on the Internet is a compiled resource and usually an index, unless you are looking at an image of the original.

You ‘hire’ the film for three to four weeks, at a reasonable cost ($5-$7). You make an appointment to read the film. Most times you will be able to pay for a print out of your pages. You cannot take the film away from the Centre.

Make sure you read the film from cover to cover of the book, etc. Read about the condition of the original, as the years you need may have been eaten by silverfish!

Make sure you record all the information about the original - especially the reference, etc. so that you can find it again if need be. If you have found a film or fiche call number or reference, click on those links. Title, Author, Subject and Surname are self explanatory; that leaves Place and Keyword. Always do a keyword search on your name, your place, occupations, etc.

Can’t find your place on a map? There’s quite a chance that the place is spelt differently from what you have. If you know, or think you know, the county/state/province, click Place, enter what you know (just one item) and click Search. Let’s say I have a place that looks like Bord Blunson in Wiltshire. I type in Wiltshire, and places which match this are listed. I choose the one for England. Click on View Related Place. There is an alphabetical list of all the places in Wiltshire. Looking through this I find ‘Blunsdon (Broad)’ and now have the spelling for my town. Go back to the Place search and enter ‘Broad Blunsdon’.

These are all the records available for my place. There’s no Church Records Index, so little chance of finding my people on the IGI. It’s best to know this before I start, though. I really need to order the Church Records - Parish Registers 1680-1990 for the Chapelry of Broad Blunsdon. Poorhouse records could be useful too. Look for the link to Printable Version - print this for your records. Make sure you have the source call number; you need this number and the description to order the film. Click on ‘View Film Notes’, although the printed record has everything. Highlight, copy and save the printable version, then save in TreePad (www.treepad.com, tinyurl.com/meb9p) or Word, etc.

You need to work your way through the list, ordering the films you need to read. Looking for your places in the Family History Library Catalog is a good idea, even if that is all you wish to do. Nothing listed for your place? Remember, like all databases we search, you won’t find everything (everyone) there. Even when every entry has been extracted, there WILL be errors. The IGI is just a collection, and we are hoping to find our family entries extracted from Church Records, Censuses, Court Records, Military Records, Taxation, Cemeteries, Poor Law Records, Directories, Land Records, Wills, etc. Not all Parish Registers have survived; not all of any record has survived, and the LDS Church has not been able to film every surviving record. So, this is very much a lucky dip, but one well worth trying!

Still haven’t found your place? Try www. parloc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk This is a free program to download and use. Find out the distance between two places, or how many parishes there are around your place - I found 93 within eight miles! Plot the places and go straight to a modern map. Also see www.genuki.org.uk - click on Contents & Search in the upper righthand corner. Scroll down to Genuki Gazetteer. If you have access to www.ancestry.co.uk, check More Collections, in the middle of screen. Look down this list and click on all databases. On the right-hand side, scroll down to Reference and Finding Aids. The England Topographical Dictionary (published 1831) is great. Click on this, type in your place in the keyword window and read all about it.

Once you have the correct spelling, check the catalog again to see what is available. Enter the information about your places in your genealogy program.

Jottings

• www.ancestry.co.uk has just released the Indexes to the 1851 and 1861 Census for Scotland. This is just an index, no images (for images go to www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk- pay to view). I suggest you use the Indexes on Ancestry to help identify your family on ScotlandsPeople, so you don’t waste credits. Also check on www.freecen.org.uk (work in progress). Isn’t it great that we now have three Indexes to check! Ancestry tends to add new databases very quietly. Remember to “Stop, Look, Read” the screen and look for UK Census Records, or Scotland, and then click on 1851/1861 Census for Scotland. What is really useful is that you do not have to enter a surname, and you can enter parents/spouse’s name, etc. Try first with very little information, and add more to narrow the search.
• You may want to find other information for your places - not footprints in records, but old photos of churches, shops, local history, social history, trade history, etc. With your favourite search engines, try [yourtown] +cemetery +index. Someone may have transcribed the cemetery. Also try [yourtown] +church +photos (or try the Image Tab in your search engine).
• Here are some sites to check:
  www.oodwooc.co.uk (Wiltshire church photos)
  www.curiousfox.com
  www.moonrakers.org.uk (An amazing site for Wiltshire research)
  www.ukvillages.co.uk
  There are also good descriptions in www.wikipedia.org