/\___/\ | o o | >(( v ))< \ _^_ / Dear cousins and other readers. Since posting my recent message about the BROWNs of Northamptonshire, I've had several interesting discussions, mainly with people in the US. One thing that strikes me is the general lack of awareness about the easy ways of getting info and contacts concerning ancestors over here. If this doesn't concern you, there's no need to read on..................................... In the hope that I'm not talking to myself (an unshakeable habit as I slip gracefully into middle age) ....... I will explain how to access the easy info, and provide a few tips. The standard website for UK genealogy is www.genuki.org.uk The details are nearly all arranged by county, the main administrative division. If you don't know the county you will have to try several, so it gets difficult. Please note that these are the historical counties and some of them have changed borders over the years, and more recently names. Genuki, like the Public Record Office, always refers to historical counties, so if you use a modern map be careful, an older one is always better. At the Genuki homepage, you can access the homepage for any county in the British Isles (ie. including all of Ireland). Homepages vary in detail, but generally there is a list of surname interests, a lookup service for different things, a list of parishes, details of civil registration arrangements (from 1837) and so on. Some have extra details of registers, prison populations, trade directories as well, but there's always lots to look through. Just the other day someone wrote to me about ancestors in Devon. This is way off my area and a county that I don't know well, but a quick glance told me that there were about 8 people interested in BROWNs in the county, two of them for the whole county (more unusual). I also picked up details of the family in the right town being farmers and landowners in the early 19C. With this info, the contact now has lots to follow up. In truth, you will always have problems accessing most records from out of the country, but you can achieve a lot, and hopefully find someone else who has already done a lot of the work. If you subscribe to a county Rootsweb list you can also post messages, requesting help with a family, or more common information about people, places and events. If anyone has problems or specific questions regarding all this I'll try to help, but please note that I am not able to do detailed searches for BROWNs, unless they are from Northamptonshire, as I have other commitments too. Hope this helps.......good hunting Pete Pete Brown Groby Leicestershire Interests: BROWN - Northants FARR - Glos YARRANTON/YARRINGTON - all UK