| Whether you're part of a large family or you | | | | you'll be keen to trace your genealogy back |
| were adopted into a family as a child, it's likely | | | | through the years and establish whether you |
| that you enjoy a natural interest in family history. | | | | have any family connections to these famous |
| However, in recent years, the burgeoning demand | | | | figures in British history. And if you live in an old |
| for family history resources and genealogy | | | | house and you've always been keen to discover |
| services seems to have captured the imaginations | | | | its history, you'll be pleased to know that it's now |
| of people in society more than ever before! | | | | easier to trace the history of your home. |
| For many, the main reason for this has been the | | | | Discovering the past of a particular house can be |
| sudden expansion in the amount of information | | | | done by exploring the lives of its previous |
| available on the internet for genealogy and family | | | | residents, investigating key happenings in the |
| history research. As more and more people have | | | | history of your neighbourhood and even tracing |
| the internet in their homes, it's become | | | | the original interior design of your house to a |
| increasingly possible for family history buffs to | | | | particular date. |
| discover their heritage online - a process which is | | | | If you are planning to delve deeper into the |
| ten times easier than having to explore dusty | | | | history of your family, your name, or your house, |
| library archives for hours to find only small bits of | | | | you'll have a variety of modern and up-to-date |
| information. The ability to scour a census for | | | | resources at your disposal, with some sites |
| births, marriages, deaths or addresses on the | | | | allowing you to search for information from British |
| web takes days off a search that would | | | | family records reaching as far back as 1837. The |
| previously have been undertaken manually. | | | | BBC, for instance, runs a comprehensive family |
| What's more, as millions of people all over the | | | | history advice section on its website, and the |
| world have ancestors from the UK, the Internet | | | | Guardian newspaper recently released its own |
| allows family historians based in Canada, the | | | | guide to how to embark on a genealogy search. |
| United States, Australia and even New Zealand to | | | | But, however you choose to embark on your |
| research their family trees from home. And with | | | | genealogy search - whether it's on the internet or |
| some family history sites linked to modern day | | | | by getting cosy amongst the library shelves - |
| people finders, once you've researched your past, | | | | make sure you stay organised. Better planning is |
| you might be able to find distant relatives in the | | | | sure to lead to more discoveries - so you'll be |
| present as well. | | | | more able to uncover any hidden family secrets! |
| It's also become easier to trace the genesis of | | | | Andrew Regan is an online, freelance journalist |
| particular names through history. If your name is | | | | who lists travelling and rugby among his interests. |
| 'Churchill' or 'Dickens', for instance, it's likely that | | | | |