Tracing Your Family History in Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies provides archive and library services to anyone interested in the history of Hertfordshire and its inhabitants. Books, pamphlets, photographs, maps, newspapers and original documents (dating from 1060 to the present day) are preserved here, and many of the sources most useful to family historians are increasingly available on microfilm or fiche in the Family History Centre, making them easy and convenient to use. Computer and internet facilities are also available. HALS was assisted by Margaret Ward, Editor of "Hertfordshire People", the Journal of the Hertfordshire Family History Society and a professional erditor for fifteen years.

• Acknowledgements INTRODUCTION Finding your way around Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) Hertfordshire's libraries and museums Hertfordshire Family History Society LDS Family History Centres 1. THE ADMINISTRATIVE BACKGROUND Hundreds, the Liberty of St Albans, Ecclesiastical administration, Parishes, Poor law unions and registration districts, Boundary and civil parish changes 2. BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS Civil registration Church of England parish registers Bishops' transcripts Marriage licences and bonds Nonconformist and other non-Anglican records The International Genealogical Index (IGI) Hertfordshire indexes of marriages and deaths/burials Monumental inscriptions Cemeteries and crematoria Coroners' inquests Wills, administrations and inventories Adoption and children's homes 3. HOUSEHOLD AND PROPERTY RECORDS Census returns Electoral registers and poll books Tax returns Parish rate assessments Manorial records Local population lists 4. PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS Licensed occupations: licensed victuallers, badgers and higglers, printers, gamekeepers, teachers, surgeons and midwives Police officers Parish and union officers Clergymen Estate workers and servants Brewers and maltsters Apprenticeship Company archives held at HALS Other Hertfordshire occupations and industries 5. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT The Assize courts Quarter Sessions Petty Sessions Hertfordshire's gaols Transportation 6. THE POOR AND THE SICK The poor law Public assistance 1930-48 Hospitals and asylums Gypsies and travellers 7. SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION Local authority schools Further education and training colleges Independent and other schools 8. MILITARY ANCESTORS Early muster rolls Militia lists 1757-1801 Volunteer and Territorial forces in Hertfordshire Military service in the British army: First and Second World Wars 9. PRINTED SOURCES Directories Newspapers Miscellaneous printed sources APPENDIX I Parish list of holdings at HALS of parish registers, bishops' transcripts, banns books, printed/transcribed parish registers, hearth tax returns, land tax returns APPENDIX II Nonconformist registers held at HALS APPENDIX III Cemeteries and crematoria within Hertfordshire, with contact details APPENDIX IV Where to look for wills: Archdeaconry courts in Hertfordshire to 1858 APPENDIX V Hertfordshire library holdings of filmed parish registers, census returns and the IGI APPENDIX VI Useful addresses Index