Meet the family!

Tracing relatives has become big business, and one of Britain's favourite hobbies. Around 10% of internet users visit a family history each month, some spending hundreds of pounds searching census records, birth indexes, and even military records, parish registers and gravestones.

Below are some of the biggest sites:

ancestry.co.uk - all England and Wales; census records from 1841-1901, birth, death and marriage records from 1837, plus thriving message boards

familyhistoryonline.net - The website of the Federation of Family History Societies. Has a vast array of data on paris and BMD records, and a million references to gravestone inscriptions.

familyrelatives.org -BMD records from 1837, census indexes and transcripts from 1841, plus parish records

thegeanologist.co.uk -BMD records from 1837, census indexes and transcripts from 1841, plus parish records

1837online.co.uk - BMD records from 1837, 1861 and 1891 census records, and a comprehensive set of military records.

Other reference sources:

Census records are a valuable source of information, although you may have to pay. If you visit the National Archives (nationalarchives.gov.uk) in person at is Kew headquarters however it is free, similarly with the Family Records Centre in Islington

Speak to relatives - surviving relatives can be a useful starting point for your research. Keep a good record of family members, maiden names, and the dates of births marriages and deaths.

Software - this can cost about £50. Big brands include Family Historian, Roots Magic and Family Tree Maker. The Government's familyrecords.gov.uk site has a useful guide to software titles.

BMD - Most of the family tree websites offer free Births, Marriage and Death records, but you have to pay for the certificates by getting the reference number, and then ordering the certificate from the General Register Office (gro.gov.uk) at a cost of £7.

Family Records Centre for England and Wales/ The General Register Office for Scotland/General Register Office for Northern Ireland - you can visit all of these and search in person, but you have to pay for certificates.