Hertfordshire Genealogy: Introduction to Genealogy in Hertfordshire

This site is provided free of charge. If you have found it useful please consider making a donation to the Hertfordshire based mental health charity

Introduction

This is an educational site, run by a retired academic, and the aim is to introduce people who are researching their family history to a range of records and techniques. While the site is strictly limited to Hertfordshire the techniques, and many of the sources, are equally applicable to other parts of England.

It started as a bulletin board in 1998, with people posting queries, and with me posting answers. This format was unable to support integrated help and information pages and after technical difficulties it was relaunched as a web site in April 2001 and by 2007 the number of visitors easily exceeded 200,000.

Since then the site has grown like topsy. There is now a web page for every historic town and parish, and many hamlets are also covered. Details of over 400 books relating to the county are given, and there are a range of help files and several history talks and research notes are included. The first part of a tutorial following a family found in an old bible is provided. There are also many hundred links to other web sites of interest to the Hertfordshire researcher. In about 5 years the site has expanded from less than 200 to over 2000 pages. In addition I have built up a useful reference library to supplement the nearby public library in answering visitors' questions.

This success has caused difficulties as my enthusiasm to provide a friendly service has exceeded the amount of time I have available. As a result there are too many pages which are left with "too be completed" messages on them, many of the help pages are out of date, a new or revised indexes are needed. Some pages are difficult or impossible to find. In addition I have needed to restrict the range of questions I can answer to the 18th and 19th centuries, and to insist on very specific questions, with details of sources included.

During the first few months of 2007 priority is being given to maintenance, restructuring areas of the site, locating parts which need attention, and drawing up a schedule for future changes and updates. If, during this period, you encounter problems such as broken links, or come across incomplete or out of date pages, please tell me so I can attend to the matter.

The Menu helps you to navigate round the web site and is displayed in the left hand panel of the Genealogy in Hertfordshire Web Page.

How To ... provides links to a large number of key topics such as maps and burials - so could be worth a visit for clues as to where to look.

Key Web Sites provides links to the other sites which provide information on how to carry out family history research and also on Hertfordshire which could help you in your research. It is recognised that it is not practical to provide all the information you might need to know on this site so you will frequently be redirected to other sites which may be more appropriate.

Towns & Villages provides information on named towns and villages (and other places in Hertfordshire). The idea is to supplement information available on key sites such as GENUKI, familysearch and HALS and it is intended to add coverage of further places every month - concentrating on places mentioned in the current month's Questions and Answers. It is possible that many places will be mentioned under Topics and Questions and Answers and these can quickly be located using the Find facility.

The Book Reviews, etc. section is to alert you to the wide range of information that is out there waiting to help you. It contains links to key reference books, such as the Victoria County History of Hertfordshire, specialist books which may deal with a single place or a company history, and links to other web sites which contain other information that could be of value to you.

Old Herts News was planned as a regular feature with u one or more Hertfordshire news stories from 19th century papers being posted at intervals which throws light on what our ancestors may have been up to.

History Lectures - series of pages on specific subjects, includes full text of booklets, etc.

Answer Index is the section where your questions, comments and answers are displayed. The surname index also covers the titles of selected other pages.

Subject Index is currently under construction, with entries being added as the relevant pages are updated. Older pages may not yet be included in the index.

Ask Chris - provides the form which allows you to ask questions about your ancestors and/or local history interests linked to Hertfordshire.

Tell me about it - is the form which allows you to post a message to me - either to suggest improvements and additions to this web site or for addition to correspondence section of the Newsletter (if appropriate). Your suggestions will make this a far better site for everyone.

Find it is the search facility which allows you to find references on this web site to names, places, occupations, etc which are mentioned on this site. The search facility does not extend to any of the independent web sites which may be accessed from this site.

On all pages text in blue provides a link to a further page. The link darkens when it is a page you have already visited.

Text in shocking pink is temporary and relates to the continuing development of this site. If you want the missing information tell me and I will see if I can fill the gap at the next update.

At the bottom of each page is a link which restores the menu and returns home. It is only needed if, for any reason, the menu is not being displayed. This can happen if you enter a page directly from a search engine such as Google.

Warning, With some browsers and some setting, you computer will remember the "old" pages it has read - and unless you clean the system of such old references you may see the old pages rather than the updated pages.