FreeREG

[Kirk Dawson]

The objective of the FreeREG Project is to provide free Internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records, that have been extracted from parish registers as well as non-conformist church records of the UK. Our aim is to make it easier for researchers, no matter where they are in the world, to locate a specific record relating to their ancestor within a parish register at no cost.

FreeREG is a part of the FreeUKGEN Project and a companion to FreeBMD (which is a database of the GRO birth, marriage and death indexes from 1837} and FreeCEN (which is a database of census information).

With FreeREG an individual researcher to enter an ancestor's name, specify a search for a baptism, marriage or burial, state a date range to search, state a county, (and optionally, narrow it down to one town or village), and then search the database for the match using those criteria.

Remember, the FreeREG database is just a finding tool. It should not be considered to be *proof* of an event, nor indeed that the information is 100% accurate, nor contains all of the information in the actual register. Once you have found a record, then write to the relevant County Record Office or Family History Society who will, for a small fee, generally provide a copy of the original register.

The FreeREG database is created by volunteers. Its effectiveness as a research tool will depend upon the number and dedication of those volunteers. If you are interested in researching your ancestors through parish registers then seriously consider joining the growing number of people working to make FreeREG an effective tool.

For more information on FreeREG and how to get involved, just send me an email, kirk.dawson(AT)shaw.ca.