The Williams Family Tree - Hints, Tips and Tricks

Here are a few hints, tips and tricks that you may find useful in your research
If you have any to contribute please pass them on.

Searching on Google	When searching from Google you can limit the search to specific site. For instance, entering +williams +site:w-f-t.co.uk would return results from just this site while +isaac +site:gingell.com would return results from Craig Gingells site. Those of you researching non-conformist ancestors could try +chapel +site:a2a.org.uk.
Tips for the Beginner	I am a great believer in not re-inventing the wheel ... there are loads of useful tips here http://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm#Guides
Unwanted Certificates	There is a website at http://bmd-cert-exch-site.ourwardfamily.com/ that exchanges unwanted certificates Most of us have ordered a birth, death or marriage certificate only to find out it was the wrong person etc. Well this website has been set up so that you can list your unwanted certificates and search the site
Early marriage history (Sussex-Plus-L@rootsweb.com)	Prior to registration in Sep 1837, the church of England only gave guidelines of what should be included in parish records. Legally speaking, only marriages and to a small extent deaths were covered by laws. For the most part only C of E churches could marry people but there were exceptions for Quakers and Jews. There was no such thing as a civil marriage prior to registration. Have a look at this: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7023/clandestine.html After registration, Civil marriages were allowed in the register office and in other churches than C of E churches. However each such place had to be licensed for marriages, they had to be public and a registrar had to be present and the approved legal marriage words said. C of E ministers were automatically registrars and as such had to keep three copies of the marriage registers, one for the parish, one for the Registrar General and one for the couple. The only legal and deemed to be the original belongs to the Registrar General. The couple were provided with a legal copy. Most parishes just used the same preprinted Marriage books provided by the Registrar General for the parish marriage records but it was not necessary for the parish to do so. They could keep their own. Nancy Seger
Where is it now?	A Gazetteer of British Place Names can be found at http://www.abcounties.co.uk/newgaz/cen.htm
Old Maps	Get a feel for the place you're researching via http://www.old-maps.co.uk/gazetteer.htm
Old Directories	There are a number of old residential and trade directories available to view at http://www.historicaldirectories.org.