Branching out with your family tree online

Online sessions to help people take their first steps into researching their family history will begin later this month.

Durham County Record Office will be offering people a course which is aimed at people who would like an introduction, or refresher, to getting started in family history research.

Thecoursewillcompriseof three talks, all bookable individually,andwillexploresome of the sources that family historians use and how archives held at the Record Office can help in their search.

People can book on to a session on civil registration on Monday, June 21; a session on the Census on Monday, June 28;andasessiononparishregisters on Monday, July 5.

Participants will be able to take part in sessions at either 10am, 11am or 6pm on each of the three days.

Dawn Layland, education and outreach archivist at Durham County Record Office, said: “Family history sessions haveprovedincrediblypopular in recent times and although we understand that many people find it difficult to know wheretostartresearching,the course provides plenty of help to take those initial steps.

“I’d encourage anyone interested in making a start in researching their family history to get involved and book a place.”

The Record Office is also running sessions for people with more experience as part of its regular monthly talks on particular family history topics.

June’s talk is on how wills areaninvaluablesourceoffamily history, while July’s session is about tracing ancestors before 1800.

For more details, go to https://recordofficeshop.durham.gov.uk/pgHome