Family History

Family history is the study of the descent of your family. To understand their lives, it is also interesting to learn about the historical background, and the geographical area in which they lived.

Before you start it is vital that you read as much as you can about how to do your Family History and there are now various books and magazines which can help you. A selection of these can be found on open access in the Library area of the History Centre.

It also worth checking to see if anyone has started researching your name/family as this may give you a head start. The East Riding of Yorkshire Family History Society will be able to help you with this, whilst the Genealogical Research Directory is published annually and contains lists of names being researched. The Guild of One Name Studies (GOONS) and the Society of Genealogists also maintain lists.

Getting started – talk to your family
There’s no point spending hours going through old records if your gran can tell you it all anyway, and she’ll enjoy the chat. Ask her for names, dates, places and photographs and make notes. Ask if she’s got copies of old certificates, and make photocopies. Draw up a chart. Then, after you’ve talked to your elderly relatives, you’re ready to start investigating.