The British Isles can be considered the mother country of the United States. Since the founding of Massachusetts Bay and Jamestown, millions of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish have come to the American shores to find a better life. This presentation will review the history of British migration to North America and then examine online resources for researching British family history.
For those with roots in Great Britain and Ireland, the Find My Past website (findmypast.com) offers a gold mine of original records and indices. Included in the resources are a large number of military databases, the census returns of England & Wales and many Church of England parish records. This presentation will examine the main databases and offer suggestions for navigating the website.
Land records can be some of the most challenging records in genealogy but the discoveries found make the effort highly worthwhile. This class will look at some of the treasures found in land records, early property description systems, the process of acquiring and selling land and the documents produced.
The Circuit Court Archives are a great, often overlooked resource. This class concentrates on a practical approach to on-site court research including civil, law and chancery cases, divorces, wills and probates, county naturalizations, declarations of intentions, criminal cases and burnt records.