The Flyer
Family History
Research Websites
Where do I start?
When I started researching my family
history in 1982, there was no internet
and scarcely any family history sources
were indexed. Now there is so much
information available online, the options
can be overwhelming. The big websites
all have the UK birth, marriage and
death indexes plus the censuses, but
have differing strengths in other areas.
You can also build your family tree on
their sites, choosing whether or not to
make it public, but this can also be done
on paper or in family tree software.
FreeBMD (www.freebmd.org.uk)
As the name suggests, this is completely
free to use. You can search for births,
marriages and deaths from 1837 to
1984 (be aware that later years are not
complete), using fi rst and last name,
county, year – try looking up yourself and
your parents. From 1911, births include
mother’s maiden names. Remember in
the early years not everyone registered
their child’s birth, and not everyone got
married, but death was unavoidable!
There is also FreeCen (censuses) and
FreeReg (parish records), but coverage
can be patchy.
FamilySearch (familysearch.org)
Probably the world’s biggest family
history website, this has thousands of
records from all over the world. As well
as censuses and parish records, there
are guides to research, articles, and even
online training. Free to use, although
many of the records are index only,
so for example you could fi nd out Mr
Smith married Miss Jones, but you may
not get the details of their fathers and
you certainly wont get details of the
witnesses, who may be family members.
Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk)
Findmypast (www.fi ndmypast.
co.uk)
These two are probably the best known
of the subscription websites, but both
offer a free trial period and occasional
free weekends. You may also be able to
access them at your local library, and
defi nitely at the record offi ce, but you
won’t be able to sign into your account
or save the records to your online tree.
Findmypast’s sister site is the British
Newspaper Library, so the same records
can be accessed on both. Their parish
record collection is particularly strong for
Wales, and has counties that Ancestry
doesn’t – e.g. Devon is on FMP, but
Dorset is on Ancestry. Most of London’s
parish records are on Ancestry, except
Westminster which is on FMP, and so on.
What’s the difference
between TM and ®?
Registered and
unregistered
trade marks are
represented by
different symbols.
But do you know
whether you
should use TM
or ®?
You will see
companies use
either the TM or
® symbol after
their brand name.
There is often
Rachael Ward
some confusion
about what they mean, so here’s a
quick guide to help you out.
Trade Mark (TM)
Some say that TM stands for ‘Totally
Meaningless,’ which isn’t too far
from the truth. The symbol denotes
an unregistered trade mark. It lets
everyone know that the word or logo
preceding it is being used as a trade
mark. Because it is unregistered, it
is not protected by the Trade Marks
Act and therefore is often used to
discourage others from copying the
mark. However, if someone did use it,
or something incredibly similar, for a
rival product, the owner has no statutory
legal process to fall back on. Instead,
they are reliant on the law of passing off.
Now you see why people refer to it as
totally meaningless.
Registered ®
The ® symbol refers to a trade mark
that has been registered. Because
it denotes legal ownership of the
name, logo, or phrase, anyone trying
to use it can be sued for trade mark
infringement.
Why you should use ® if
your mark is registered
Although you don’t have to display the
® symbol to show your trade mark is
registered, we advise that you do. It
takes a lot of time, effort, and money
to build your brand. Using the symbol
shows the world you’re serious about
it and its value. Its presence signals to
your competitors that you are ready to
act against them if they infringe it.
For more information, contact
Rachael at Ward Trade Marks
on +44(0) 1284 774841.
The Genealogist (www.
thegenealogist.com) is good for non-
conformist records, so if your ancestors
were not Church of England, it’s worth
a look.
Cyndi’s List (www.cyndislist.com/
uk) has a huge number of links to other
websites, organised by regions.
Finally, if you have a specialist interest,
it’s always worth searching Google or
Facebook – there are sites and groups
for almost any subject!
Specialists in Trade Mark Registration
And Enforcement
Tel 01284 774841 [email protected] www.wardtrademarks.com
St Andrew’s Castle, 33 St Andrew’s Street, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP33 3PH
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