Family and house history

If you think that your ancestors once lived on Anglesey and you are interested in finding out about them, then this page will give you some suggestions on how to start your research.

Where to begin:

The best place to begin your family history research is in the home.  Start by asking your relatives about their memories of past family members.  The aim is always to gather as much information ie regarding names, dates and places. Precious information can also be obtained from old family documents, such as family heirlooms, bibles, wills and photographs. 

Once you have found out all as much information as you can, you will be able to decide where to begin your search. Most people begin with a set of known facts from which they work backwards into the past using marriage, baptism or birth records (see below).

It is also a good idea to contact your local family history society as the best advice will come from fellow family historians. The web address the Gwynedd Family History Society is: http://www.gwyneddfhs.org/

First Steps:

Parish Registers: These registers are a major source for information on baptisms, marriages and burials before the introduction of the Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in 1837. The registers for all Anglesey Parishes have been deposited with the Anglesey Archives Service - in some cases there records will date back to 16th century.

Civil registration of births, marriages and deaths: Civil registration began in July 1837. These records are held by the General Register Office. The Local Superintendent Registrars keep records for Anglesey. Please contact: mgxcs@anglesey.gov.uk

Chapel Records: If you are unable to find your ancestors in the parish registers it may be because they were non-conformists. We have an index of baptisms pre 1837, although there are a few registers available for later dates.

Bishop’s Transcripts: These records are transcripts of the entries in the parish registers which were sent annually to the Bishop of Bangor from 1598. They can be used to fill in gaps if the original register is missing or illegible. Please note that we do not have them for all parishes.

International Genealogical Index (IGI): If you are unsure of the date or location of an event such as a baptism, you could try the (IGI) which is compiled by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints. The majority of entries are for baptisms with some marriages - but no burials. See also http://www.familysearch.org/

Starting your research:

Census Returns: These records are available to the public for consultation after 100 years. They are most useful to family historians after 1851 where the Information available includes names, the place of birth, relationship to the head of the household, age, occupation and address.

Electoral Registers: These records provide the names of persons eligible to vote with their addresses. The registers are normally arranged by street so it is fairly easy to compile a sequence of the names of those living in a particular house. The right to vote was restricted until the early 20th century.

Memorial Inscriptions: The Gwynedd Family History Society has surveyed many churches (and some chapels), and has compiled an index of graveyard inscriptions. NB If you are unable to locate your ancestors here it might be that they simply did not have a memorial stone.

Probate Records: There are few original records held by the Anglesey Archives Service, although some wills can be found in some solicitor’s collections. Nonetheless, we do hold probate indexes for 1699-1858.

Newspapers: These documents are very useful as they may often contain obituaries and family announcements of births marriages and deaths. Please note however that these announcements started relatively late on Anglesey – ie post first world war

Tithe Maps and Apportionments: Tithe maps and the accompanying awards form the main source of information on land ownership and occupancy for the mid-19th century. These documents record the names of the owners and occupiers, and can be very useful when used in conjunction with other sources.

Land Tax Records: These records are another valuable source as they exist for almost every parish for the late 18th to the early 19th centuries. Other useful sources are the window tax records and hearth tax records where available.

Education Records: Records such as school log books are worth consulting because they occasionally mention individual pupils. Please note that access to those documents containing sensitive information is restricted.

Poor Law Records: From the 16th to 19th a series of parliamentary acts defined how a parish should care for its poor who were in need of financial or other assistance. The parish officers were very meticulous in their recordkeeping and so a great amount of information can be found showing the relationships between family members and the parish.  Other useful records relating to the Poor Laws may be found in the records created by the Courts of Quarter Sessions.

Finally…

This page is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of sources for family history. If you would like more information on researching your family tree please contact the Anglesey Archives Service.

The information on this page is also available in a leaflet for you to print off and keep - see the PDF attachment above.