International Institute of Genealogical Studies

Optional Print Course Material: English: Census Records Including Wales

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

An examination of the history, structure and genealogical research possibilities of the 1801-1911 censuses, as well as the 1939 National Register of England and Wales. Strategies for research, location the records, reading and recording methodology and documentation will be discussed.

 During each module the student will be introduced to an aspect of research, such as terminology, indexes or search methods. There will be a detailed look at some of the censuses. Students will receive in-depth instruction as to the contents and usage of each census. Available websites and indexes with census records will also be discussed. The many pitfalls unnoticed by the unwary will be described.

Upon completion of this course will be fully prepared to utilise this source with confidence.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Civil Registration Records Including Wales

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Obtaining birth, marriage and death certificates is an essential element of good genealogical research. This course will provide practical details needed to understand the system of civil registration; how to use indexes, both in microform and online, and how to interpret certificates. Numerous examples are used from birth, marriage, death, and overseas certificates to illustrate the care that must be taken when reading the documents and deciphering the information. The course is aimed at those needing a thorough understanding of this original source. Note that it is important to remember that when dealing with information found in England and Wales, vital statistics are not the same as civil registration.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Parish Registers

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The course provides a significant overview of what is involved when researching English Parish Records. Given that every person in England was assigned to a particular parish regardless of their religious denomination, it is crucial to develop a greater understanding of how the record keeping system was established and developed. This will greatly enhance your ability in tracking down desired documentation. The course material will cover the main categories of birth, christening, marriage, death and burial; but will also go far beyond to include a variety of other record sources as well. A great deal of emphasis will be placed on examples in order to introduce you to the text and flavour of the contemporary language used in record keeping. Lastly, an ability to find information must be consistent with an ability to organise and make use of that information. To this end, numerous techniques, tips, and ideas will be shared which you can adopt and adapt as you develop your own organization style.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Probate Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course examines some aspects related to English probate records. The most important probate documents are wills, inventories, administrations, guardianships, and Death Duty Registers.

Wills are a valuable source for genealogists because they usually mention family members, sometimes two or three generations. They're often the best or only means of verifying a family tree compiled from civil registration, census, or parish registers.

This course also offers suggestions and tips when using FamilySearch and other websites who hold documents and how to interpret the documentation you find.

Historical: This course originated August 2001. Current version copyright is December 2023.
If you have older material, it needs to be replaced. Use the chat app to order your replacement materials.

Optional Course Print Material: English: Probate Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course will examine in some detail many aspects related to the subject of probate. The most important probate documents are wills, inventories, administrations, guardianships, and Death Duty Registers. 

Wills are one of the most valuable sources available for the genealogist because they usually mention several family members, even from two or three generations. They are often the best or only means of verifying a family tree compiled from civil registration, census or parish registers. This course also offers suggestions and tips when visiting the FamilySearch Center or other sites holding documents, how to fill out forms requesting information, and how to interpret the documentation you receive. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: English: Understanding Names in Genealogy

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Genealogical research is largely based on names—but what is the origin of names—surnames, first names and place names. A knowledge of their derivation and how they are connected affords an increased understanding of the genealogical research process.

You will constantly be reminded of the inter-relationship of the names of places and people. You will also find references to the inter-connected naming of many things—as diverse as buildings, festivals, and special days—all of which have some bearing on the search for a family’s history.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Non-Anglican Church Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course complements the English: Parish Registers course which is about the Established Church from 1538 onwards when, apart from the brief reign of Mary Tudor (1553-1558), it had broken away from the Roman Catholic domination and moved towards Protestantism. This course deals with the other Judaeo-Christian denominations in England, excluding the Anglican Church. I use the word Non-Anglican as a general term for all of these. The term Nonconformist strictly refers only to Protestants, and it is used with that meaning in this text. Most genealogists will have need to examine the records of Nonconformists, Catholics, Jews, or other faiths at some time in their searches. Extensive material is waiting to be used in archives, libraries, and genealogy websites.

 Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to fellow researchers Peter Norfolk and Pam Ruschke for allowing the use of examples from their families.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Poor Law and Parish Chest Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Family history is more than just collecting names, dates and places. In their efforts to recreate the lives of their ancestors, diligent researchers will follow the economic and social ups and downs of individual ancestors and of their family units. There could be considerable movement within an individual’s lifetime and certainly over a few generations. This course concerns itself mainly with the lows of life—and it is a very rare family indeed that will not have some of these. Some of your ancestors may feature in the parish administration or early ‘welfare system’ records. They may have been recipients or donors of charity, or serving their turn administering parish affairs. Equally important were those who did not need assistance but provided aid, were contracted to work or supply the church or workhouse and thus be mentioned as their accounts are rendered to the church.

This course discusses how to access records giving details of their daily lives, whether they were ‘on the parish’ or on the payroll. The highs and lows of life tend to be the best documented and material on the poor is in archives, libraries and the FamilySearch website.

Optional Course Print Material: English/Scottish: Occupations - Military and Services

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Family history is more than just collecting names, dates, and places. In their efforts to recreate the lives of their ancestors, diligent researchers will endeavour to find details about home, schooling, work, and community. They will search for pictures of people, places, and events connected to the family to give visual impact to the history. The family historian can also discover much about the occupations of these ancestors. This course and the companion course English: Occupations-Professions and Trades deals with other methods of earning a livelihood. The extensive material on the occupations and on individuals is waiting to be used in archives, libraries, and FamilySearch and its Family History Centers/Affiliate Libraries.

This course will help you learn what material is available and how to use this material to help you recreate the lives of your ancestors. English: Occupations - Military and Services will deal with the use of army, militia, navy, merchant marine, and many other services records in genealogy. These include police, customs and excise, railways, and post office employees. Background information on each service will be included with copious references for further study. Listings and examples of the major record types for each branch will be included. The student will be well prepared to launch into researching these occupational records. 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: English: Professions and Trades

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

Many of the basic sources for family history such as civil registration, censuses, parish registers and wills will mention the occupations followed by your ancestors. This course looks first at the many ways of finding out what they did, then mentions generally useful sources. This is followed by a study of the classification of occupations. Sections on training & qualification in trades and professions allow us to profitably use the records generated therein. An understanding of the role of the various occupational associations is the next topic. 

The bulk of the text consists of nine main groups of trades and professions. These are agriculture, building, commercial services, domestic services, fishing and whaling, manufacture, merchants and retailers, mining and quarrying, and professional activities. For each category there is an introduction to the available printed and manuscript sources regarding the nature of the various professions and trades, and then some indication of what records survive on the actual men and women engaged therein. 

In a course of this size these descriptions have to be short but they endeavour to cover the main points of significance for the genealogist/family historian. Such brevity invites superficiality and glibness; however, it is offset by the inclusion of a significant body of reference material which should lead the student to more detailed information about each trade and profession. 

Course Length: 9 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: English: Education, Health and Contemporary Documents

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course starts with a survey of English education records including basic history and types of schools, including adult and post-secondary institutions. The emphasis is on the surviving records of students, what they contain and where to find them. We then look at health and hospital records which can be surprisingly detailed and are now becoming more available. The third section is a really mixed bag of all kinds of contemporary documents with which the student should be familiar, and which can add so much to the family history. Included are passports, records associated with death, diaries & letters, directories, newspapers, magazines, illustrations & photographs, titled and landed families, topography and much more.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Taxes, Lists, Business and Insurance Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is a survey of the many records to do with land that are helpful for the family historian. We shall examine maps, gazetteers, title deeds, land tax, ancient & modern Domesday books, tithes, enclosure, manorial records, quit claims, estate papers, Land Registry & Valuation Office and many other types of records. Their availability & practical details on how to use them in genealogical research will be emphasized.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Land and Property Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course is a survey of the many records to do with land that are helpful for the family historian. We shall examine maps, gazetteers, title deeds, land tax, ancient & modern Domesday books, tithes, enclosure, manorial records, quit claims, estate papers, Land Registry & Valuation Office and many other types of records. Their availability & practical details on how to use them in genealogical research will be emphasized.

Optional Print Course Material: English: Court Records - Criminal, Civil and Ecclesiastical

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

This course deals with records of use by genealogists and family historians from the many English courts that controlled our ancestors’ lives—canon law, feudal law, customary law, common law and equity.

The former importance of ecclesiastical courts is emphasized. Civil ones comprising manor courts, petty, borough and quarter sessions as well as chancery and exchequer courts are covered. Criminal assizes and records of prisoners and convicts, gaols and transportation are discussed. The availability of original records and indexes to the researcher situated anywhere in the world and their relevance to genealogical investigations is explained. 

Course Length: 6 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: German: Introduction to German Research

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

According to census reports, German ancestry is the largest single ethnic group in North America, even out-pacing the English or Irish. Although the vast majority of Germans in North America are in the United States (where 15-20% of the population claim German ancestry), a significant number also settled in Canada, both before and after the American Revolutionary War, as well as other parts of the world.

Unfortunately, most of those of German descent have been reticent to begin research on those German ancestors due to perceived barriers of language, geography, and understanding the records. The purpose of this course is to begin the teaching of genealogical concepts pertinent to German research. It introduces basic concepts needed to succeed in German research and begins to dispel the notion that German research is difficult. Actually, from a research perspective, it is much easier than Canadian, American, English, or Irish research. The purpose of this course is to serve as the foundation for the German Records certificate program.

Course Length: 7 weeks

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course

Optional Print Course Material: German: Locating Places in Germany

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

All genealogical research is ultimately local in origin. Our ancestors lived in specific places, and the records about them were usually created in those places where they lived. Even records of larger jurisdictions, such as at the national level (e.g., census records), were generally written by officials in the specific place where a family lived. Further, it is through a family's location that we, in part, identify them. Not only is it important to know a person's name, birth date and relationships (parents, spouse, children), but also the place where a person lived (or was born, married, or died). All of these elements are necessary to fully, and uniquely, identify a person. 

The geographic aspect of genealogical research is even more important for Germanic ancestors than it is for research in other areas. Some key records for family history research in countries outside of Germany were created at the state, provincial, or national level (such as military or census records). That is seldom the case with German ancestors. Virtually all the key records about German families were created at the local level, in the town or parish where they lived. A few were created at the district (like a county) level, but virtually none at higher government jurisdictions. Therefore, locating places in Germany is an important aspect of successful German research. For researchers, this begins with learning the correct place where a German immigrant came from; his ancestral home. From there it is essential to learn the parish where the family attended church. As research progresses, you may find persons married into families from other areas. Those locations must also be identified, so that appropriate records can be searched. The primary tools for such research are gazetteers. They will be the focus of this course. However, important aspects of German jurisdictions are also necessary to understand, as is the ability to read, and understand, place names which may not be familiar to an English or French-speaking researcher. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. This is available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Printed Course Material: German: Church Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The primary, and often only significant original records for German research, are the registers of the local churches where German ancestors lived. This is the case wherever, and whenever, Germans lived, and wherever you are conducting research on German families. 

Regardless of whether German families were living within the bounds of modern Germany, the old German Empire, or in the dozens of other countries where ethnic Germans settled, successful research requires the careful, and sometimes creative, use of church registers.

The vast majority of Germans, historically, belonged to one of three major Christian denominations—the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, or the (German) Reformed Church. The practice of keeping registers of church ordinances in German areas began with the Lutheran Church in the mid-1500s; the Catholic Church followed soon, generally shortly after the Council of Trent in 1563; and, Reformed churches generally began during the next 50 to 80 years. 

Until the implementation of civil (government) registration of births, marriages, and deaths, generally in the 1870s, there are usually no other records in German areas that were designed to record virtually each and every person who lived in a given area. Therefore, for between 200 and 300 years, church registers are the records all German genealogists deal with.

This course provides detailed discussion of the use of German church (often called parish) registers. Through the numerous examples, researchers will learn not only the common formats of the key kinds of church records, but also important vocabulary terms used in the records. In addition, search strategies will help students understand how to wring the most possible information from these records.

The International Institute of Genealogical Studies is extremely pleased to be able to use, as the primary reading material for this course, an outstanding book on this subject, authored by Kenneth L. Smith, <i>German Church Books: Beyond the Basics,</i> Rev. ed. (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1993). We express our deep appreciation to the publisher for making an electronic copy of this text available for our students.

Because the course reading material is not proprietary to the International Institute's course, access to the electronic text online will only be available during the term of this course as usual, but will NOT be accessible for printing. Since this reading material is an important reference tool which students will want to refer to frequently while conducting research in parish registers, the printed version is compulsory for this course. 

The course instructional material will primarily serve as a guide to the content of Smith’s material. In addition, it will present some brief supplemental material, as well as the module assignments.

Course Length: 7 weeks

Note: This course requires compulsory materials to be ordered. The book is available at GenealogyStore.com

1. Minert, Roger P., Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents: Analyzing German, Latin, and French in Vital Records Written in Germany (Woods Cross, Utah: GRT Publications, 2001).

Optional Print Course Material:German: Reading the Records

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

The primary and often only significant original records for German research are the registers of the local churches where German ancestors lived. This is the case wherever, and whenever, Germans lived, and wherever you are conducting research on German families. Within the bounds of modern Germany, the old German Empire, or in the dozens of other countries where ethnic Germans settled, successful research requires the careful, and sometimes creative, use of church registers. 

However, those church registers are almost invariably written not only in the German language, but also in a style of handwriting foreign to most researchers. Although a different course discussed the German language, it is also crucial to be able to read the handwriting in which the records were made. 

Indeed, prior to the late 1800s, and often even later, any original records in German-speaking areas will be written in the older style handwriting. Therefore, to successfully use the records, researchers, regardless of how well they know the German language, must also be able to read the old German handwriting. 

This course provides a detailed discussion and explanation of the old style of German handwriting, called the Gothic script. Through numerous illustrations, researchers will learn not only the regular appearance of the Gothic letters, but also common variations of those letters and numbers. Assignments to practice writing the letters and key words, and to even transcribe sample documents, will teach you how to succeed with your own research in German records. The addition of various strategies and tactics for reading the records will further prepare you to face the real records. 

Course Length: 7 weeks

Optional Print Course Material: German: Chronological Considerations

*Course material will only be sent to students who are registered in the course.

In German courses, you've learned primarily about researching this ethnic group as a whole—mainly, the similarities virtually every researcher of German-language ancestors will encounter. In this course, you learn more about the contrasts that led to differentiations within ethnic German research depending on time period and geographic place. This course places a value on both history and dates as well as people groups.