The growing interest in family history over the last few years has been remarkable. With a new series of the popular BBC programme "Who do you think you think you are?" due to start in the New Year, family history and genealogy research is becoming easier thanks to the internet. Leading the way in online genealogy is the website www.familyrelatives.org which has begun to revolutionise Family History research by making the process of locating Birth, Marriage and Death records (BMD) for England and Wales much easier, more accurate, cheaper and without the need to visit the Family Records Centre in Central London.
Familyrelatives.org has launched the complete records for the period 1837, (the year of Queen Victoria's coronation and the year records began) to 2003. It is the first website to make available 300 million records searchable by Surname and Forename with 150 million of those records being fully searchable on any criteria from spouse name to age at death to mother's maiden name.
This ease of use and pinpointing of family relatives has created much excitement in the Family History community as no other website allows the searching of marriages by using a marriage match or booster marriage facility.
Familyrelatives.org search capabilities allow family history enthusiasts to find an ancestor quickly and identify the exact record needed. Searches for 1866-1920 and 1984 to 2003 can be made by forename, surname, mother's maiden name, spouse's maiden name, approximate age at death (+/- 5 years), year of event, year range, geographical area as well as official registry districts.
In addition a unique and exciting feature has been added which allows researchers to track down spouses using the 'Marriage Match' search.
Now we can go to the right records almost immediately with the Marriage Match. For example we want to research Charlie Chaplin's mother: we know his father was also called Charles Chaplin, and we know his parents were married sometime between 1870 and 1910 and his mother's surname was Hill, although we don't have her forename or the precise date they were married. We can search for Charles Chaplin in the period during which the marriage took place (1870 to 1910); and entering the spouse name. Once the search button is pressed it searches 150 million records and it produces one result. As we know that Charlie Chaplin's mother was called Hill, we have established our match as Hannah Harriet Hill, St Saviour.1d, Page 325, Marriage - Quarter 2, 1885. Furthermore an important and invaluable feature is that all previous searches are automatically saved allowing researchers to pick up from where they left off.
Treequest Ltd., the company behind Familyrelatives.org, says "Genealogists across the globe are beginning to appreciate this remarkable facility in terms of reliability and user-friendliness. The new additions and the new search functions are just part of our commitment to the Family History research community, to make available as many useful UK genealogical documents as possible on our website and to make sure that they can be accessed in the quickest, most up to date and most affordable way.
"We have had some very positive comments and interesting stories. One lady found out that not only did she have a Nelson in her family but she also had a Bonaparte (which no doubt they kept quiet at the time!). We also had a family history enthusiast who was tracing his roots and found he was related to Cecil Rhodes of Rhodesia or modern day Zimbabwe. So it's very rewarding to be able to help people trace their heritage".
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