collated by Nick Balshaw
Notes on getting started in family history research.
I cannot guarantee that these are the best genealogy web sites, but if you follow all the links on them you are likely to be busy for some time!
Certificates of births marriages and deaths in England and Wales
Balshaw Family Genealogy Forum (for a few Bolton Balshaw details)
PRO Genealogy page (UK Public Record Office) (for birth marriage and death certificates)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
A-Z of Family Surnames From England
The British Library Newspaper Library
Cheshire Family History Society
Alan's Cheshire genealogy and Cheshire web site (the source of the St George's flag on my home page, thanks Alan).
Lancashire Parish Register Society
The Pictorial History of the County of the County of Lancaster
Liverpool and South West Lancashire FHS
Balshaw's High School, Leyland Lancashire
Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
Genealogy Resources on the Internet
E-groups - set up a mailing group free of charge
Find
Family
History Centres near (?) you by following this link (to the British page).
(I have to admit that I have never been to one!)
And if you can't find the Balshaw information that
you want on my web site, have you tried the web site of the Mormon Church
http://www.familysearch.com
including the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and other genealogical
information. When you have found what you want please feel free to
send a summary of your findings to me for publication here.
Or is it FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service?
Map showing Balshaw Farm, Balshaw Road and Balshaw Bridge, which are all in Northern Lancashire. There is also a map with links to show the views from certain points in the area.
Map of the UK showing the location of Balshaw Farm etc., Ormskirk and Altrincham.
There are superb and detailed maps of the whole of Lancashire dated 1610 (Speed), 1789 (Yates) and 1829 (Hennet) at http://www.lancashire.com/lcc/oldmap/index.htm , soon moving to http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/index.htm. Be prepared to download large files, but it is easy to make sure that you get the portion of the map that you want and it is certainly worth the wait! The same site also has an index to early editions of the Ordnance Survey maps of the county, including 6 inch to the mile and 25 inch to the mile maps.
There is also a good collection of 6" to the mile OS maps at http://www.old-maps.co.uk.
There are also the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection from University of Texas
This page can be found at
http://home.clara.net/balshaw/links.htm
and my Balshaw home page is at
http://home.clara.net/balshaw/fh.htm
