Online Courses In Family History

This is part one of a two-course introduction to genealogy research in England and Wales. It is designed for anyone who wants to get things right from the start. The course provides you with the tools and know-how to confidently find ancestors and record results in commonly used records.

The course focuses on genealogical knowledge, methodology and technological know-how, a combination which makes family history research easy and enjoyable. It is not just about building a tree, it aims to inspire, guide and equip you to enter the world of genealogy with confidence and a clear direction. The course is suitable for those with English and Welsh ancestry.

The course introduces free websites and resources and no website subscriptions are necessary, although students may find they wish to sign up to a family history website to further progress their tree by the end of the course.

* Good Preparation, What Do You Already Know?
* Basic Records and Websites to get you Started
* Using the Census Online
* Birth and Baptism Records
* Marriage Records

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STUDENTS SAID: "very readable and encouraging"

Relevant Countries: England and Wales

020 Beginners Guide to Creating and Researching Your Family Tree Part One (020)

Starting Date
Join Any Time

Course Length:
5 lessons (around 5 weeks of study)

Cost: £45.00

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Beginners Guide to Creating and Researching Your Family Tree Part Two (021)

This course is part two of a two-course introduction to genealogy research in England and Wales. The course assumes that students have already worked their way through Part One (020).

You will build on the knowledge you have already gained in part one by further practice using tools, common websites and records such as civil registration and the census. In addition, you will be introduced to probate records and be given information to help you make a decision about purchasing any genealogy software. The course ends with a helpful and vital section on solving research problems.

The course is suitable for those with English and Welsh ancestry.

* Death and Burial Records
* Probate Records
* Introduction to Genealogy Software
* Problem Solving

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Relevant Countries: England & Wales

021 Beginners Guide to Creating and Researching Your Family Tree Part Two (021)

Starting Date
Join Any Time

Course Length:
4 lessons (around 4 weeks of study)

Cost: £40.00

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Climbing Trees - How to inspire children with family history (110)

This course provides lots of practical activities, ideas, and guidance for passing along your knowledge and enthusiasm to children or grandchildren between the ages of 7 and 11.

Many children enjoy history at school and you can foster or awaken interest by adding a personal, family perspective. The lessons look at ways to make your family stories interesting and relevant, not only with respect to the context of past times but with some help from favourite fictional stories. The course looks at a wide range of material designed to excite children about their history and enable you, with them, to produce creative and colourful projects to treasure. The practical nature of the 'make and do' project suggestions will get children involved, designing, doing and problem solving. The course explores and evaluates the wealth of on-line material about people in the past aimed at children, as well as ways to digitally present and share your children's projects in a simple and easy way. The course also shows you how working with your children on a family history project can help them with their learning skills in school. During the course you consider how different children learn in different ways and each activity will show which particular skills are being used so you can cater your activities to the interests of your children. All activities include a simple list of resources needed before you embark on a project.

The course assumes that you have a basic grasp of genealogy websites and research, that you have gone some way to constructing your own tree, and ideally also have some family photographs to share.

* Taking root, understanding the basics
* Climbing Trees at Home - Storytelling and online research
* Climbing Trees Further Afield: Make family history visits interesting
* Creating Branches: Using technology to create present and share your child's learning

THIS COURSE IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING REVIEW AND UPDATE

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STUDENTS SAID "I very much appreciated the guidance and inspiration for creating slideshows and the helpful direction throughout the course to so many useful websites for children."

Relevant Countries: England

110 Climbing Trees - How to inspire children with family history (110)

Starting Date
Join Any Time

Course Length:
4 lessons (around 4 weeks of study)

Cost: £40.00

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All About Parish Registers (115)

Church of England parish registers are the most important source for genealogists before civil registration began in 1837 in England & Wales. Parish registers start as early as 1538 and continue in use today. Those of you who have extended your research back to parish registers already and have worked with the actual register pages (original documents or microform / digital cop-ies) will have seen that the information contained in the registers varies at different times. In addition, in the earlier registers layout and style of entry vary from parish to parish, some entries may be in Latin and, even when not, the handwriting can be incredibly difficult to read.

This three-lesson course gives you the information and confidence you need to find parish registers for your ancestors, understand the historical context and interpret your findings. In the first lesson you will learn about the history of parish registers and the many formats in which they appear. More details on the specifics for baptism, marriage and burials, including how to find social status and occupational clues within the registers, follows in the later lessons. A handy section on old handwriting and Latin is include in lesson two. In the final lesson you will also learn how to bring everything together to construct a family tree.

STUDENTS SAID "It highlighted little nuggets of information that are going to be so useful!"

* The history of parish registers
* More about marriage
* Baptism and burial at the Parish church
* Latin and old handwriting

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Relevant Countries: England & Wales

115 All About Parish Registers (115)

Starting Date
Join Any Time

Course Length:
3 lessons (around 3 weeks of study)

Cost: £30.00

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My British Isles Origins - When and How do I Cross the Pond? (931)

This course will help you trace ancestors who arrived in America from the British Isles, concentrating on the period from 1600 to 1830. It begins with advice on identifying your immigrant ancestor in America, supported with historical information on population movements before and after the Revolution. Sources most likely to offer clues about origins are explained and presented with research strategies.

The focus changes in the second lesson to your ancestors origins in the British Isles. The topics covered include: major migrations out; when, where from, where to; sources for searching within particular migrant groups; and, advice on searching for people who do not fit any patterns. There is also advice on how to make the best use of surname information and survey techniques. Lessons 3 and 4 look at records in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, discussed according to time period. The emphasis is on using online resources and on helping you develop the skills to initiate searches after the course. You will try out online indexes, websites that lead you to sources, and finding aids that help you locate sources that may or may not be online. The course shows you how to identify and select the best records to search based on your problem, minimum information required for a search, and ease of access.

At the end of the course you will understand the challenges to be faced in "crossing the pond" and have had some practical experience with locating places, and searching online records and catalogues.

* Preparation is Essential
* Where and How do I Venture into British and Irish Records?
* Sources, Finding Aids and Tactics 1713 - 1830
* Seventeenth Century Challenges are Good for You

THIS COURSE IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING REVIEW AND UPDATE

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STUDENTS SAID: I have been amazed at the depth and breadth of this course. I have learned a lot and will be working on subjects this course has covered, for several months ahead.

Relevant Countries: USA, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland

931 My British Isles Origins - When and How do I Cross the Pond? (931)

Starting Date
Join Any Time

Course Length:
4 lessons (around 4 weeks of study)

Cost: £40.00

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Anytime Courses

Beginners Guide to Creating and Researching Your Family Tree Part One (020)

Beginners Guide to Creating and Researching Your Family Tree Part Two (021)

Climbing Trees - How to inspire children with family history (110)

All About Parish Registers (115)

My British Isles Origins - When and How do I Cross the Pond? (931)