For each region, county or parish/town there is an annotated list of topics at each level with substantial explanatory text, internal and external links, and a list of lower-level places (counties within region, places within county). Example 1.4 showed the entry about indexes to each census for Jersey, with similar information about each, and links to locations of indexes. In other cases there is a variety of information. Example 2.1 is an extract from the emigration and immigration topic at the highest geographic level, United Kingdom and Ireland. In this extract there are instructions for joining a mailing list about shipping, links to articles, and a link to an index.
Example 2.1. Annotated list of topics. Choose UK and Ireland from GENUKI's front page. This has a list of regions (with map of the British Isles), then an annotated list of topics. Choose Emigration and Immigration in this list. There is a link to a page with the substantial text for that topic: example 2.1 is an extract from that page.
| United Kingdom and Ireland Emigration and Immigration The Ships List - a mailing list dedicated to the discussion of emigration, immigration, ports of entry and departure, ship descriptions and history, passenger lists and any other related topics. [Subscription instructions]. Marj Kohli has provided information about 19th century emigration to Canada (includes Emigrants Handbooks, ships lists, etc.) and about the emigration of children and young women to Canada from 1833-1939. The Public Record Office of Victoria, Australia has provided an Index to Inward Overseas Passengers from Foreign Ports 1852-1859 (indexed by Surname). |
| Caption: Example 2.1, from www.genuki.org.uk/big/Emigration.html maintained by Brian Pears |
Example 2.2 shows the top-level list of `Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQ). To see this - and the answers with appropriate links - choose the button for Frequently Asked Questions on the front page of GENUKI.
There are FAQ lists reached from some county pages - eg the Devon FAQ in example 2.3 explains why you can't see microfilms of parish registers except in Devon record office, and how you can see information from Devon wills although the originals were destroyed by fire.
Example 2.4 is the answer to question 3 of example 2.3, and is on the same web page.
3. What Devon wills survive?Prior to 1858, wills were proved in Devon in five main ecclesiatical courts: the Archdeaconry courts of Totnes, Barnstaple and Exeter; the Episcopal Consistory Court of Exeter, and the Episcopal Principal Registry of Exeter. All these probate records were destroyed by fire during World War II. Few had been abstracted beforehand, though indexes had been prepared for all except the Totnes wills. Luckily, the Public Record Office's files of Death Duty Registers (IR26 and 27) provide summaries of many but by no means all of the Devon wills that were proved during the period 1796 to 1903, including those destroyed in 1942. For further information see under Probate Records on the GENUKI/Devon page. However, a few Devon parishes came under the Archdeaconry of Cornwall; their wills, plus various other individual transcriptions and abstracts, survive - see the particular parish pages. |
| Caption: Example 2.4. Answer to a Frequently Asked Question - from the same web page as 2.3 |
There used to be a structured contents list for each region and county, listing topics and links. This has been replaced by a standard site map showing the hierarchy of Genuki, tailored to suit the particular county. So a large part of pages 16 and 17 of the printed book have been removed.
The structure of GENUKI goes down from larger to smaller geographic areas - country, county, parish - with topics appearing at all levels. There is generally no link for one topic across all counties, or at different levels. GENUKI does have a few lists arranged by county. There is a list of family history societies, one of surname lists, and one of email lists. The top-level FAQ is a good way in to these.
Example 2.7. Surname Lists . Click on Question 6 in example 2.2; . i.e from front page, choose Frequently Asked Questions, then choose surname lists
| SURNAME LISTS This page brings together links to the listings that various people are compiling of Surnames being researched in the different counties, with the names and Internet email addresses of the researchers concerned. (Though these surname lists are not formally part of GENUKI, many of them have been set up in close co-operation with GENUKI, though others are quite independent. However, in either case comments and questions regarding any given list should be addressed to the maintainer of that particular list.) At the foot of this page there is, in addition, a link to a list of (mainly) Fidonet users and the surnames they are researching in the UK and Ireland. Volunteers are sought for the various counties that as yet do not have Surname Listings being compiled for them. NOTE: Very useful though these online listings are, one should not neglect the very large and well-established listing (well over 100,000 entries), which though of worldwide scope is very largely concentrated on the UK and Ireland, provided in the annually-updated book (and occasional CD-ROM) Genealogical Research Directory, published by Keith Johnson and Malcolm Sainty. (Agents in 10 countries - British Agent: Mrs Elizabeth Simpson, 2 Stella Grove, Tollerton, Notts. NG12 4EY. Fax: (0115) 937 7018.) England
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| Caption: Example 2.7 from a page by Brian Randell now moved to www.genuki.org.uk/indexes/SurnamesLists.html and substantially changed |
There are ways of finding places if you have a place name but aren't sure of the county. Example 2.8 shows the Gazetteers section of the U.K. and Northern Ireland page with three different ways of searching by place name. All of these initially show a list of all places of that name, with counties. Some of them also produce maps. There are maps you can display on your own web pages, or print for your own use.
GazetteersThe Ordnance Survey provided an online search facility for place-names occurring on their current Landranger 1:50000 maps. This covered England, Scotland and Wales. (now not included in list) A searchable database of places in the 1891 census covers England, Wales and the Isle of Man and returns the County, Registration District, Registration Sub-District, PRO Piece Number and LDS Film Number. An online Parish Locator covering the whole of the UK. This includes facilities for listing other churches and parishes within any specified distance of the parish church. |
| Caption: Example 2.8 at www.genuki.org.uk/big/#Gazetteers maintained by Phil Stringer and Brian Pears. Web links are given in the next three examples. |
The searches used for the examples are on villages around Kemerton (the author's birthplace). It was in Gloucestershire up to a local government reorganisation in the 1930s, then transferred to Worcestershire - so this is a place that appears in different counties on different gazetteers. Example 2.9 shows the result on a search for Kemerton on the Ordnance Survey Gazetteer. This shows the sheet of the Landranger map (1:50,000 scale) including the place, and clicking on the sheet number gives a diagram showing major towns on the sheet. The Ordnance Survey provides a service Get-a-map at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/ which provides sections of maps at 1:250,000 scale. You can print these for your own use, or put up to ten of them on a website.
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Example 2.10 shows the results of a search on the searchable database of places in the 1891 census. The county, district, sub-district and place names have links to the appropriate GENUKI pages.
| County | District | Sub-District | Place | PRO piece number | LDS Film |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gloucestershire | Tewkesbury | Tewkesbury | Kemerton | RG12-2050 | 6097160 |
| Caption: Example 2.10, search result from www.genuki.org.uk/big/census_place.html - census place database on GENUKI pages maintained by Phil Stringer and Brian Pears |
Example 2.11 shows the result of a search on the Church Database looking for parishes up to 3 km from Kemerton, historically in Gloucestershire. (Update: The format of results has changed several times. The search was originally carried out on "Parloc" Parish Locator. On the present search results as at August 2007, clicking on the denomination name, e.g. Church of England, gives a choice of several different maps for the location: Streetmap.co.uk, multimap.com, www.magic.gov.uk, nearby churches marked on a Google map, or this church marked on a Google map).
| Km | Place | County | Gridref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.2 | Bredon | Worcestershire | SO920360 |
| 0.0 | Kemerton | Gloucestershire | SO940370 |
| 1.0 | Overbury | Worcestershire | SO950370 |
| 2.2 | Bredons Norton | Worcestershire | SO930390 |
| Caption: Example 2.11, result of a search on http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/churchdb/search.html by Phil Stringer from a database originally developed by Gerry Lawson |
The links on county and place from the parish locator results go to the appropriate GENUKI pages. In this case there is a page for Kemerton - then in Gloucestershire - but none yet for the Worcestershire parishes. The page for Kemerton includes an outline map, reproduced in Example 2.12, showing its location relative to major towns. (Kemerton is the filled-in area protruding on the county boundary north of Cheltenham. On the web page the parish is coloured red). There is an outline map like this for each parish of Gloucestershire.
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| Caption: Example 2.12 map from www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Kemerton/ on the GENUKI Gloucestershire pages maintained by Rosemary Lockie |
There is a search facility covering all pages which are within GENUKI. It is at www.genuki.org.uk/search/.
There is a link to it at the top of most pages of GENUKI, either as "Contents and search" or as "Contents".
For some counties (eg Devon, Durham) there is a search facility which operates over most of the pages for that county.
End of Chapter 2 of GENUKI Book by David Hawgood. Update 11 Aug 2009
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