Discovering Your Welsh Ancestry

Wales has been a part of the United Kingdom for centuries yet still retains its language and culture. If you are researching your Welsh ancestry, this is an important point to remember as, many records are kept in English repositories as well as Welsh ones.

The General Record Office (GRO) is the British government agency that keeps track of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales. Civil registration started in 1837.  The GRO index for births, 1837-1917, is a free resource showing, among other things, the mother’s maiden name. Set up a free account to access the index.  For birth, marriage, and death information before 1837, consult parish registers.

Records for Wales are not all online.  Check county archives, local history societies, and the record collections on database sites such as FindMyPast, Ancestry, and FamilySearch.  Findmypast has Welsh baptisms, banns, marriages, and burials from parishes in most counties, as well as census returns and newspapers. Mid-Continent Public Library has the library edition of FindMyPast.  FamilySearch has several useful Welsh resources including a collection of marriage bonds (1600-1754). You can set up a free account on their website.

The National Library of Wales (NLW) is the legal deposit library for Wales.  There are numerous collections online, many of which are free. For rural ancestors in the early 19th century, you may find their property on a tithe map on the NLW website. The NLW has access to over 15 million articles from Welsh newspapers dating from the 1800s to 1910s.

Midwest Genealogy Center has numerous reference resources to get you started on your Welsh genealogy.  Some titles include Welsh Genealogy by Bruce Durie, Welsh Genealogy Research by John Rowlands, Beginning Welsh Research by Annie Lloyd, and more. 

Happy researching, or as they say in Welsh, “hapus yn ymchwilio”!

Sheri V.
Midwest Genealogy Center