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Tracing your family
If you want to trace your family tree the following guide will
help you. Find out more by looking at books on family history
research or use either the online guides; National
Archives or GENUKI's
guide.
There is a book available called Cumbrian Ancestors on
how to trace your Cumbrian family tree, with full details of the
archives that you can use in our Record Offices.
Be realistic! Family history can be time-consuming and it may be
that you won't be able to find all the information you would like
to find. We will do our best to help you!
Where do I begin?
Gather as much about your family as you can from home. Start
with yourself and work backwards, trying to compile details of
dates and places of birth, marriage and death of relatives known to
you and other members of your family. You may find that old
certificates of birth, marriage and death help or that older family
members recollect some details. Many of the sources that you will
consult are church records so it is helpful if you can find out
what denomination your ancestors belonged to, and in which parish
or parishes they lived.
How far do the Register Office's records go back?
The four Cumbria Record Offices each hold church registers, from
a wide number of Church of England and nonconformist churches,
relating to their part of Cumbria. These are one of the main
sources that family historians use as, in many cases, they predate
the keeping of civil certificates of birth, marriage and death and
the nineteenth century census returns.
You may find that you can find out information relating to
successive generations of one family by working back through these
registers If you don't know which parish your family lived in you
can look at the International Genealogical Index (IGI), available
for the locality in each Cumbria Record Office. This indexes many
of Cumbria's church registers of baptisms and marriages by name for
the period before about 1875. Alternatively, you can search it
on-line on the web site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
What information do I need to obtain an old birth, marriage or
death certificate?
You will need to know the year and the parish, and any other
information you may have. If you don't know which parish your
family lived in you can look at the International Genealogical
Index (IGI), available for the locality in each Cumbria Record
Office. This indexes many of Cumbria's church registers of baptisms
and marriages by name for the period before about 1875.
Cumbrian Census
Census returns were taken every ten years from 1841 but the
detailed schedules are closed for 100 years after their
compilation. The censuses of 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and
1901 should record all people living in the country on census night
in that particular year. They are very useful as you will see
entire households living together, with information on their ages,
places of birth and occupations.
Census returns are arranged by historic county and you can see
those for Cumberland 1841-1901 at the Carlisle and Whitehaven
offices, South Cumberland and Lancashire North of the Sands
1841-1891 at Barrow and Whitehaven and Westmorland 1841-1901 at
Kendal Library, and the Kendal and Whitehaven offices. You can find
census records for the whole country at the Family Records Centre
in London and on-line for 1901 at 1901censusonline.com
Cumbria Archive Service
You can commission one Cumbria Archive Service's experienced
researchers to use the variety of resources available in the
Cumbria Record Offices to research your family tree for you, see
http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives/research/
for more details
How can I trace a long lost relative or friend?
We do not keep updated records of a persons whereabouts. You
could try contacting the electoral register in the district
covering the persons last known address, or telephone directory,
the Salvation
Army or the local newspaper.
Good Luck with your search!
External websites
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that linked sites are accurate and
reliable we cannot accept any liability for the accuracy or content
of these sites.
The image on this page was taken by Julia
Freeman-Woolpert (http://www.sxc.hu/photo/706637)