Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Website review: FreeReg.org.uk

Free Reg is one of the best websites I have ever found for looking up information on ancestors from England. It is a volunteer project that is taking the church registers and digitalizing them. You can volunteer to help them. Of course, as with all things of this type, there are some really bad interpretations of names. It would be ideal if each parish was transcribed by someone who was aware of the family names to be found in that parish. But this isn't a perfect world. Not all parishes have been done, not by a long shot but if you get lucky, a parish that your family lived in for hundreds of years may be present. 

You can search in a variety of different ways, you just need to play with the site for a bit. I was very happy with all the information I could find. Some things still haven't turned up but I am optimistic that as time goes on and more parishes get entered, more and more information will turn up. You can also print out the information you find. 

All in all, this is an excellent research tool and I highly recommend that you give Free Reg.org.uk