Nature of Source
Published pedigrees extracted from books, county histories, heraldic visitations, biographies and local and national periodicals. Strictly speaking a pedigree chart or ‘birth brief’ shows the direct male line descent of a single individual through the generations. This type of chart should only show the parents through each generation without other relatives. A ‘family tree’ chart can expand the information to show brothers, sisters and other family relationships thus showing all known descendants from a common ancestor.
Some manuscript pedigrees might remain unpublished. Some of the references to pedigrees cited in works such as Marshall and Whitmore (see below) might be difficult to identify and actually track down as the references to the sources can appear obscure with no indication of the whereabouts of the publications cited. Therefore identifying the exact nature of the publications and whether copies remain in circulation could prove a time consuming task. For example, the reference to ‘T.P.’ cited in Marshall refers to Thomas Phillipps an avid, some would say obsessive, 19th century collector of books and manuscripts including pedigrees. His vast collection has since been broken up and finding the individual book referred to in Marshall might be impossible.
Also consult the Society of Genealogists’ Surname Document Collection and Special Collections. The Surname Document Collection consists of unbound family history material given to the society as well as references to large roll pedigrees and other surname material. The index of names and families covered in the Collection can be viewed online and includes information extracted from a variety of original documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, deeds, wills, marriage licences and settlements, apprenticeship indentures, letters, manuscript and typescript transcripts of wills, parish register entries, family trees and other research notes. The Special Collections consists of references to large roll pedigrees and to other special collections on particular surnames.
Also see
Family Sources
Heraldic Coats of Arms & Seals
Heraldic Coats of Arms & Seals (Scotland)
Heraldic Visitations
Surname Origins and Distribution
Where Found
College of Arms (The official repository for the family trees of families of English and Welsh descent)
The Court of the Lord Lyon (The official registry of armorial bearings and pedigrees for Scotland)
Society of Genealogists (Pedigree Index. The Society holds pedigrees for all of the surnames shown in the index. The Document Collection Index shows which surnames the Society has documents for in its collections which can include pedigrees. The Society’s Special Collections which are accessed by a comprehensive surname card index which not included in this index)
British Library (Published Family histories)
Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies (Library collections include: Printed family histories and pedigrees; Harleian Society and other Visitation Series; Peerage and Gentry directories; Heraldic dictionaries and armorials)
County Record Offices (Find the details of a local UK archive from a searchable list of over 2,500 archives hosted by The National Archives)
Reference and specialist libraries
Local family history societies (Pedigrees lodged locally)
Scottish Genealogy Society (The society and library holds Monumental Inscriptions, collections of Old Parish Registers and census returns. They also hold a large collection of pedigrees and family histories which are indexed on their web site at the Family History Index. Some material is available on CD)
Irish Genealogical Research Society (Family histories and pedigrees)
Harleian Society (Published Heraldic Visitations)
Period Covered
1100 – Onwards
Genealogical Value
- Collections of printed pedigrees can help locate a person or family without time consuming research.
Further References
Collected Pedigrees
- Adolph, Anthony. Tracing Your Aristocratic Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2013
- Barrow, Geoffrey B. The Genealogist’s Guide: Research Publishing Co., 1977 (Whereabouts of printed pedigrees extracted from various sources containing post-1903 pedigrees and some missed by Marshall)
- Ferguson, Joan. Scottish Family Histories: National Library of Scotland, 1986 (Whereabouts of Scottish printed pedigrees post-1930)
- Marshall, George. The Genealogist’s Guide: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1981 (1879) (Whereabouts of printed pedigrees extracted from various sources pre-1903. Browsable images of printed edition available at www.ancestry.co.uk or to download from the Internet Archive)
- O’Hart, John. Irish Pedigrees: The Origin of the Irish Nation: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1989 (1892) (Available from the Internet Archive)
- Squibb, George Drewry. Visitation Pedigrees and the Genealogist: Phillimore, 1964 (Whereabouts of printed pedigrees)
- Stuart, Margaret. Scottish Family History: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994 (Whereabouts of Scottish printed pedigrees up to 1930)
- Thomson, Theodore Radford. Catalogue of British Family Histories: Society of Genealogists, 1980 (Whereabouts of printed pedigrees, 1975-1980)
- Whitmore, John Beach. A Genealogical Guide: Walford Brothers, 1953 (Whereabouts of printed pedigrees extracted from various sources containing some missed by Marshall and others post-1903)
Other
- Blanchard, Gill. Writing Your Family History: A Guide for Family Historians: Pen & Sword Books, 2016
- Ferguson, Joan P. S. Scottish Family Histories held in Scottish Libraries: National Library of Scotland, 1986
- Gibson, Jeremy & Creaton, Heather. Lists of Londoners: FFHS, 1997
- Gilchrist, Cherry. Your Life, Your Story: Writing your Life Story for Family & Friends: Piatkus Books, 2010
- Kyle, Noeline. How to Write and Publish Your Family Story in Ten Easy Steps: UNSW Press, 2011
- Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2009
- Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Quicksheet Citing Online Historical Resources: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007
- Lynskey, Marie. Family Trees: A Manual for Their Design, Layout & Display: Phillimore, 2010
- Titford, John. Writing Up Your Family History: A Do-it-yourself Guide: Countryside Books, 2005
- Webb, Cliff. My Ancestors Were Londoners: Society of Genealogists, 2010
Websites
Name Related
www.sog.org.uk/learn/education-sub-page-for-testing-navigation/guide-nine (Society of Genealogists Hints & Tips Three: Surname Searching at the SoG and Elsewhere. What’s Been Done Before?)
www.sog.org.uk/uploads/Else_Churchill_-_Surname_Searching_Online_and_at_SoG.pdf (What’s Been Done Before: Surname Searching Online and at the SoG, by Else Churchill)
www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/adv_02_done_before_01.shtml (What’s Been Done Before? Published genealogies, By Else Churchill)
www.libraryireland.com (Library Ireland: Digitised version of Irish Pedigrees Or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation, by John O’Hart. The site offers free online access to a broad range of Irish related material including articles, digitised reference books and searchable databases covering Irish history, genealogy, and culture)
https://one-name.org (The Guild of One-Name Studies: The guild provides advice and forums for those engaged in one-name research. The guild provides online indexes, including marriages, probate records, inscriptions, and newspapers, many of which are unique to the Guild. They also have a comprehensive Wiki and Library)
www.burkespeerage.com (Burke’s Peerage. Definitive guide to the genealogy and heraldry of the Peerage and Landed Gentry of the United Kingdom, the historical families of Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations. Online resources include free access to Burke’s Family Index, Burke’s General Armory and Burke’s Colonial Gentry and a Glossary of Heraldry)
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com (RootsWeb: The site operates as a genealogical community designed to help people share genealogical research. Users can search records transcribed by volunteers, upload your own family tree, join a mailing list, post your own surname and build your own genealogy website. For a detailed insight into RootsWeb read The Official Guide to RootsWeb.com by Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Tana Pedersen Lord)
Family Trees and Relationships
Findmypast
From first cousins to second cousins once removed: your family relationships defined and explained.
Family Tree
Relationship calculator – how to work out family relationships. What is a second cousin? Or a third cousin once removed? Work out who’s who on your family tree with our guide to relationship calculator terms.
Family Tree
Relationship calculator. Work out family relationships with our handy calculator.
www.geneamusings.com/2014/12/crestleaf-publishes-how-are-we-related.html (Are You My Relative? Family Relationship Chart and Infographic)
www.devonfhs.org.uk/pdfs/tools/eichhorn-rlationship-chart.pdf (Betty Eichhorn’s relationship chart with comments and explanations)
www.ancestry.com/learn/library/article.aspx?article=6490 (Ahnentafel Explained)
www.familytreemagazine.com/resources/family-tree-chart-types (Family Tree Magazine: Family Tree Chart Types and Examples, by Rick Crume)
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~jcat2/genealogy/ahnentafel.html (Ahnentafel Explained)
www.familytree.com/blog/ahnentafel-charts-make-things-clear (Familytree.com: Ahnentafel Charts Make Things Clear)
https://lifehacker.com/second-cousins-once-removed-and-more-explained-in-1661572056 (Lifehacker UK: What Is a ‘Second Cousin, Once Removed’? Let Us Explain, by Dave Greenbaum)
www.familysearch.org/blog/en/cousin-chart (FamilySearch Blog. Ever found yourself asking “So what exactly is a second cousin?” or debating with your family and friends about what it means to be a “first cousin once removed”? Use our cousin chart to settle the debate once and for all)
www.jaunay.com/newsletter/images/GenealogyResearchMap.pdf (Genealogy Research Process Map by Mark Tucker: Graphical depiction of the genealogical research process)
https://lostcousins.com/newsletters/latesep11news.htm (LostCousins genealogy newsletter: Calculating relationships)
https://blog.findmypast.com/2013/04/08/kinship-terminology-how-we-refer-to-our-family-relationships (findmypast.com blog entry: Kinship terminology: How we refer to our family relationships)
www.genealogy.com/articles/research/16_cousn.html (Genealogy.com: What is a First Cousin, Twice Removed?)
www.vanvoorhees.org/docs/eastman-ahnentafel.php (Ahnentafel Explained, by Richard W. Eastman)
https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2010/06/21/my-cousins-cousins-nieces-grandfather-said-to-just-ask-wolframalpha/ (Wolfram|Alpha: Guidance on using the search engine to compute the possible relationships given any sequence of relationships)
https://news.legacyfamilytree.com/legacy_news/2016/08/how-many-ancestors-do-we-have.html (Legacy News: How Many Ancestors Do We Have?)
www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/top-tips-on-organising-your-family-history-research (Family Tree: Top tips on organising your family history research)
www.familytreemagazine.com/freebie/family-tree-tips-23-secrets-organize-genealogy (Family Tree Magazine: Beginning Tips and 23 Ways to Organize Your Genealogy, by Courtney Henderson)
Citing Sources
https://genealogy.about.com/cs/citing/a/proof.htm (Evidence or Proof? How to Apply the Genealogical Proof Standard to Your Family Tree by Kimberly Powell: Guidance on applying the Genealogical Proof Standard to genealogical research)
https://library.duke.edu/research/citing (Citing Sources: Documentation Guidelines for citing sources)
Family Tree Forms and Services
www.genealogyprinters.com/catalog (Genealogy Printers. The company specialises in printing your family tree onto one piece of paper)
www.maxbal.co.uk (Maxbal Genealogy. The company is a designer and supplier of affordable high quality Family Tree Charts for displaying your family history)
www.familytreeprinting.co.uk (Specialist family tree printing service. The company provides a family tree chart printing service from most major genealogy programmes allowing you to have your chart on a single sheet of paper with no minimum size. They also publish a range of blank charts)
www.lulu.com (Self-publishing company providing the facility to publish and print on-demand books)
www.my-history.co.uk (Retailer of document storage and the Springback Book Binder which provides the means to present your family history in book form)
https://charting.myhistory.co.uk (MyHistory. Online chart generator. Submit a gedcom file and get a free family tree chart design returned within minutes)
www.oakleafcalligraphy.co.uk (Oakleaf Calligraphy. Janet Smith is a professional calligrapher with skills in design and family research and designs handwritten family trees)
www.calligraphyanddesign.com (Calligraphy and Design. Gerald Fleuss and Patricia Gidney specialises in the writing out of family trees or pedigrees from simple but elegant unadorned designs to highly decorative varieties)
www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/Forms%20&%20Charts.htm (Wakefield Family History Sharing: Genealogy research forms including printable sheets for problem solving and information checking)
www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Heritage-and-archives/services/DocumentOwners/Caring-for-your-family-papers.aspx (Staffordshire Heritage and Archives. Caring for your family papers. The purpose of this leaflet is to give guidance on the future preservation of personal and family archives)
Online Databases
www.findmypast.co.uk (Boyd’s Inhabitants Of London & Family Units 1200-1946. Boyd’s Inhabitants of London and Boyd’s Family Units form a collection of 70,000 handwritten sheets each containing details of a London family, mostly covering the period of 16th to 18th centuries though extending from the 13th until well into the 20th centuries)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Family Histories & Pedigrees. Search for family history and pedigrees through various publications including published visitations and pedigrees such as the Visitation Of The County Of Devon In 1620 and Tonge’s Heraldic Visitations of The Northern Counties Of England)
www.familyrelatives.com (Dictionary of National Biography: Who’s Who Collection for Counties)
www.sog.org.uk/search-records/index-of-the-document-collection (Society of Genealogists: Search document collection index. This index shows which surnames the Society has documents for in its collections)
www.sog.org.uk/search-records/introduction-to-the-birth-brief-collection (Society of Genealogists: Search birth brief index. This index contains all of the member surnames that occur on the birth brief forms received prior to 2007)
www.burkespeerage.com (Burke’s Peerage & Gentry: Access to genealogical records containing 1 million plus names from various Burke’s publications. Entries include Coat of Arms plus the image where available)
www.burkespeerage.com (Burke’s Landed Gentry Irish Families)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Britain, Dictionary Of National Biography, 1885-1904. Search more than 40 volumes of the Dictionary. You will find both British and Irish names throughout the volumes)
https://ukga.org/index.php?pageid=33703 (UK Genealogy Archives: Online volumes of visitations covering English counties. Searches of pedigrees can be made by pedigree name)
www.familysearch.org/library/books (The Family History Library: Searchable collection of more than 40,000 digitized genealogy and family history publications. The collection includes heraldic visitations, Phillimore parish register indexes, school registers, Phillimore calendars of wills, family histories, county and local histories, genealogy magazines and how-to books, gazetteers, medieval histories and pedigrees)
www.randymajors.com/p/ancestorsearch.html (randymajors.com Research Hub: AncestorSearch on Google Search. Search for names across genealogy and family history sites using the power of Google search. The site also allows filtered search results to include or exclude results from people search sites and social media sites)
https://thepeerage.com (The Peerage: Place index and surname index containing information on European royal families and on the British Peerage compiled by Darryl Lundy)
www.theoriginalrecord.com (Surname-indexed ancestry and genealogy historical records, books and documents containing 10 million entries. Scans directly available on-line)
www.thegenealogist.co.uk (Change of Names Database. Search ancestors who officially changed their forename or surname in Britain. The information is gathered from a number of sources including Private Acts of Parliament, Royal Licences published in the London and Dublin Gazettes and notices of changes of name published in The Times after 1861)
www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Welsh_Families_Project (FamilySearch: Welsh Families Project. This Welsh database includes lineage linked data for approximately 350,000 individuals, living from about 100 A.D. to 1700 A.D. The starting point for the Welsh database is Peter C. Bartrum’s ‘Welsh Genealogies 300-1400’ and ‘Welsh Genealogies 1400-1500’)
www.familysearch.org/search/family-trees (FamilySearch Genealogies: Community Trees: Data extracted from Peter Bartrum’s ‘Welsh Genealogies’, with other sources such as the Golden Grove book of pedigrees as additional references, 100 C.E. to the mid-1800’s)
FamilySearch.org (The former Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File can be found under the heading of ‘Family Trees’)
https://gendexnetwork.org (GenDex Network: Free genealogical index which indexes family trees on the internet)
www.genealogyintime.com (Genealogy Search Engine: Search billions of free online ancestral records across 500+ websites from around the world; Family Tree Search Engine: Search genealogy forums and online family trees)
Scotland
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (The ScotlandsPeople website is the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives including The Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland contains all recordings of coats of arms in Scotland from 1672 to the present day)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Scotland, Published Family Histories. Discover more about your Scottish families name and history from this collection of over 400 publications of Scottish family histories. The publications mostly date from the 19th and early 20th centuries, they include memoirs, genealogies, and clan histories)
www.scotsgenealogy.com/FamilyHistories.aspx (Scottish Genealogy Society: The Family History Index: Index The index includes over 2,500 separate files deposited by researchers with the Society over a period of almost 50 years. Each file contains research on a specific family or number of families and there may be a number of files for a given family)
https://digital.nls.uk/gallery/category/scottish-history-and-people (National Library of Scotland: Histories of Scottish Families. Clan histories, memoirs and histories of Scottish families, mostly published in the 19th and early 20th centuries)
Findmypast
Red Books of Scotland. The collection details the lineages and histories of the families and individuals who held power, property, or legal status from as early as 1100 through to 2016. This collection is brought to you with thanks to the work of Gordon MacGregor, who has researched and compiled the Red Books of Scotland over a span of more than 30 years.
Ireland
www.irishancestors.ie/?page_id=3039 (Irish Genealogical Research Society: Index of names extracted from the society’s publication ‘The Irish Genealogist’ covering the years from 1937 to 2012)
www.johngrenham.com/surnames (Irish Ancestors Surname Search. Enter a surname and find out: How the name is mapped to counts of surnames recorded year-by-year in state registrations of births in Ireland between 1864 and 1913; The number and location of households of the name in Ireland 1848-64; A surname map, showing numbers and locations throughout Ireland; Variant spellings or associated names; Surname dictionary entries; Surname histories; The number and location of births of the name in 1890; Published or printed family histories; A possible coat of arms associated with the name)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Thrift Genealogical Abstracts. Search genealogical abstracts created by renowned Irish genealogist Gertrude Thrift. Search copies of wills, bill books, parish registers, commission books, and freeman lists as well as detailed family trees and pedigree charts)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Betham Genealogical Abstracts. Search genealogical abstracts created by herald Sir William Betham including abstracts of wills and reconstructed family trees and detailed pedigrees)
www.findmypast.co.uk (Ireland Surnames & Family Histories. Discover more about your Irish family name and history from this collection of Irish publications)
www.ancestry.co.uk (Irish Records Index, 1500-1920. Search an index of microfilmed documents held by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The original collection includes histories, pedigrees, parish registers, probates, and orphan’s court records and were originally donated to the government by members of the public following the the fire at the Dublin Record Office in 1922)
CD Roms
GenFair (Browse tens of thousands of family history products from hundreds of suppliers. The largest range of products covering the British Isles. Products include Marshall & Whitmore’s printed pedigrees; Kelly’s Handbook of the Titled, Landed & Official Classes; Dod’s Peerages, 1902; John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland, 1754; Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, 1863)
S & N Genealogy Supplies (Including the History of the Commoners of Great Britain & Ireland; The Genealogist’s Guide, An index to Pedigrees; Roll of the Baronets, 1929; O’Harts Irish Pedigrees 1881)
UK Genealogy Archives (Record collections that contain books and transcribed data Including family Histories and peerage and gentry)
