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Some useful Family History Resources for the Sheffield u3a Group

British Records

General Register Office

  1. General Register Office Digital Images The General Register Office offer a service to buy a digital image of a birth or death registration certificate for only £3 (unfortunately this service doesn't include marriages). the link is to a document which explains how to use the service. It has slight limitations in that it is simply an image of the line in the register and does not include the headings (though these are standard, so not really necessary)

  2. General Register Office Certificates If you apply for the certificate you can either get an official copy of the entry,Migr or a pdf (for births and deaths) which is cheaper.

British Newspaper Archives (BNA)

The BNA contains scanned copies of thousands of old newsppers from around the country (including Ireland) There are a few of ways to access the British Newspaper Archives:

  1. Go to the BNA website and subscribe directly.

  2. Sign up to Find My Past and you will get BNA access included with your subscription

  3. Use the free access in your local library

Local History Resources - Sheffield

Sheffield Archives

The Sheffield Local History Library housed in the Central Library has loads of resources about Sheffield which are fascinating for any local family historians. The staff there are always very interested and helpful as well. In addition there are Family History computer terminals in all local libraries which can be booked for free access to Find My Past, Ancestry.com and the British Newspaper Archive. The link above shows all the services available and ahas a section of help for Family Historians

Local History Resources - Derbyshire

Derbyshire Record Office

The Derbyshire Parish Records held at the Record Office in Matlock are available online at Ancestry.co.uk, but there are lots of other records at the record office. Their cataolgue is avaiable online (from the link above) and is searchable by name. As with Sheffield the staff there are brilliant.

Jewish Genealogy

Jewish Genealogy Portal

Jewish Genealogy Portal is a Facebook group supporting people researching their Jewish roots. There are over 80,000 members who will help with all sorts of queries from help with transcription and translation of languages including russian, Hebrew and Yiddish, as well as helping find sources and documents. They are a hugely friendly and supportive group.