Introduction

Searching for people depends on whether you are registered and have access to information about "living" people. "Living" people have a birth year within the last 110 years and no death date, or are "flagged" as "living" - see the Privacy page under Conventions for more information.

Although "living" people show as Intials and surname for visitors as they browse the data base, they cannot search for them. Visitors are able to search for a deceased ancestor and then choose that ancestor's descendants to find them, but they must know something about the family to be able to do that.

You need to understand that everyone is listed by their birth name (not married name). An exception to this is that people are generally listed by the name they were known by when growing up, with a note as to their birth name if it is different and not privacy-protected. Married women whose surname is unknown are given their husband's surname in [square brackets]. See also name conventions to see how names are entered into the data.

You can search for people:

1. by using the form top right of every page;
2. by using the Search function - either click on the Search function below the title on every page; or select "Search from the Find drop-down menu;
3. by using Surnames - select from the Find drop-down menu