Wales

Contents

Wales:- Genealogy

The Edwards Millions. Glamorgan Records Office's leaflet explaining this subject

Surname Navigator   Single (free) searches of multiple online databases, including;- CGI & Ancestral File (LDS Mormons); Google; Google News Gen; Rootsweb Message Boards; 1881 census; Ancestry Com.

Surnames Profiler  - " details the distribution of surnames in Great Britain, both current and historic, in order to understand patterns of population movement, social mobility, regional economic development and cultural identity. "

Welsh Surname List - an all Wales surnames list provided by John Ball on his Welsh Family History Archives site.

Online Welsh Names Directory by Graham Jaunay

Timeline of genealogically interesting dates by Gareth Hicks

Here is the text of a Guide to Welsh genealogy produced by Daniel Parry, and an account of the problems of using the IGI for early Welsh records.

The BBC's family history site

John Ball's Welsh Family History Archive provides some very useful material and links for those with Welsh ancestry.

Researchers may be interested in the Wales GenWeb pages.

Details of upcoming United Kingdom and Ireland Genealogical Events (GENEVA).

Pedigrees and Coats of Arms in Wales. A Data Wales site

There are a variety of genealogy mailing lists covering the counties of Wales, for details see Gareth's Help Page

Bartrum, Peter. Welsh Genealogies AD 300-1400. 8 Vols. Cardiff, 1974, microfiche ed 1980

Bartrum, Peter. Welsh Genealogies AD 1400-1500. 18 Vols, Aberystwyth, 1983

Davies, Susan J.  Reading Old Documents: Strategies for Success.   Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry. Edited by John & Sheila Rowlands. FFHS, 1999

Nicholas, Thomas. Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales. London, 1872.

Rowlands, J & S, (Eds.). Welsh Family History: A guide to research, 2nd edition, The Federation of Family History Societies and the authors, 1998, 325 p. The chapter titles are: Introduction, Archive Repositories in Wales, Family History Societies of Wales, Parish Registers and, Bishop's Transcripts, Civil Registration and the Census, Nonconformity, The Surnames of Wales, Place Names, Some Basic Welsh for Family Historians, The IGI for Wales, Estate Records, Maritime Records, Wills and Other Records of Inheritance, Education Records, Parochial Records, The Welsh at Law, The Records of the Courts of Great Sessions for Wales, Printed and Manuscript Pedigrees, Migration: Concepts, Patterns and Processes, Emigration, The Freeholders, Miscellaneous Sources, Select Bibliography.

Rowlands, J & S, (Eds.). Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry. FFHS/UWA, 1999. 'Success in researching our Welsh ancestry requires some understanding of the social, cultural , religious and economic background  to the communities in which our ancestors lived, this book aims to broaden that understanding,  especially for the period before 1800......'

Rowlands, J & S. The Surnames of Wales, for family historians and others. FFHS, 1996.
"The dominance of a small number of common surnames in Wales can be a major stumbling block for those researching their Welsh ancestry or those wishing to distinguish between individuals within a given community as part of a local history study. This book attempts to dispel the myths that surround the subject of surnames in Wales - such as the widely-held belief (outside Wales) that nearly everyone is called Jones - by describing the development of surnames within Wales down to modern times. Equal emphasis has been given within the text to common names found throughout Wales and to rarer ones found only in specific localities. [The survey given] of surnames in Wales in the period 1813-1837 can be used to suggest a place of origin within Wales for groups of people (a minimum of two) about whom all that is known is that 'they came from Wales'. For many people whose ancestors left Wales for other parts of Britain or the New World this predictive method could offer the first real opportunity for making progress in tracing those elusive (and often seemingly anonymous) Welsh ancestors by narrowing down the potential search area."

Siddons, Michael Powell.  Using Peter Bartrum's 'Welsh Genealogies'.   Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry. Edited by John & Sheila Rowlands. FFHS, 1999

Thomas, Graham C G.  Ordinary People in the Records of the Great Estates. Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry. Edited by John & Sheila Rowlands. FFHS, 1999

Williams, John Dilwyn. The Lloyds of Ty Newydd: A Study of a North Wales family. Second Stages in Researching Welsh Ancestry. Edited by John & Sheila Rowlands. FFHS, 1999. A case study that aims to show the extensive range of resources that can be utililsed to  'put some flesh on the bare bones of a family tree'.

Yorke, Philip. Royal Tribes of Wales.1st ed. 1799 & 2nd ed. 1887.

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[ Last updated: 6 April 2008  -  Gareth Hicks]