Discover your roots

Ancestoral Research ... discover your roots

The Peak District areas of Staffordshire and Derbyshire are great places to look into your personal heritage and family history with some fasinating historical buildings and great countryside landscapes to enjoy and experience during your own personal  journey
Our own ancestors stained glass window in Onecote village Church - others have been attributed to William Morris
A great area where you are able to trace one's ancestry, visiting the birth places of these ancestors and sometimes getting to know distant family. Most people have heard of the BBC programme 'Who Do You Think You Are?' where celebrities try and discover as much as they can of their ancestors. In Staffordshire you can take on a journey to discover who you are, where you came from and even to the extent of why you are like you are.

We have families to stay who are researching their family histories, and it is interesting to hear how they get on with their own 'Who do you think you are' programme!

We've had visitors from various parts of the UK, USA and Australia whose families originated here in the Staffordshire Peak District and have come back to visit and discover more.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire County Council has a wealth of sources to start or continue your Ancestral search and at the same time enjoy all that Staffordshire and the Peak District has to offer.

The Archive and Heritage Team at Staffordshire County Council are experts on the county and excited to help you on your journey.

Below is a list of key contacts and resources they have supplied which you can use to start your journey - they have parish records going back to 1530!  
*Remember - it is important to have proof of your identity and address when visiting the records office.
Staffordshire Places 
Gives a potted history of a village/area and some extracts of documents relating to the village. There are over 100 places on it with more being added and can be seen here.

The William Salt Library 
Holds printed material about Staffordshire and also a fine graphic collection called the Staffordshire Views. These are watercolours, pen and ink drawings and prints of historic views of the county. They are on a website and copies of the Views can be ordered from the Library here

The Staffordshire Views Collection contains some 3,000 illustrations of the county comprising watercolours, original sketches, prints and engravings. Many of the views were commissioned by William Salt during the 1830s and 1840s.  The collection is arranged alphabetically by place and includes views of landscapes, street scenes, churches, country houses, public buildings and antiquities.

The online catalogue of the William Salt Library, the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service and the Staffordshire Arts and Museum Service. At present it contains about 40% of our catalogues and this percentage is steadily increasing. Therefore, it is advisable to contact the Library about our holdings in addition to searching the online catalogue.
This online catalogue gives greater flexibility for searching through the collection. You can search by place, by building type or by artist or you may enter free text search terms, such as church and Stafford, which will bring up a list of views for churches in Stafford.
The Online Catalogue makes information about Staffordshire's archive and museum collections as widely accessible as possible through a single integrated database.
The Staffordshire Past Track 
This website has been developed jointly by the Museum Service and Archive Service. The county Museum (at Shugborough) holds the main photgraph collection for the county and the whole site has a large amount of digitised material about Staffordshire to browse. It can be really useful if you want to find an image of a building no longer there which an ancestor may have lived or worked in.  With its histoical maps and a GPS  explore to view resources close to you when you are out and about.
We are close to these Peak District villages already on Staffordshire Past Track, many with local rural churches with historic information and family gravestones.
Discovering Ancestors ..... Discovering Staffordshire - Enjoy!
The Sutherland Papers are the massive archive created by the Leveson-Gower family, Marquesses of Stafford and Dukes of Sutherland. It is the single most important archive collection relating to past life in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. However, because of the wealth and activities of the family, the collection is not just important locally and regionally but also nationally and internationally.

The collection contains hundreds of thousands of documents, volumes and maps created and preserved over 10 centuries. It was purchased by the Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service in 2006 with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, a wide range of organisations, grant-awarding bodies, businesses, local societies, and very many private donors
The Register Offices in the county of Staffordshire, England, hold the original records of births, marriages and deaths back to the start of civil registration in 1837.

The county's Family History Societies are collaborating with the local Registration Services to make the indexes to these records freely searchable via the Internet. Although the indexes are not yet complete for all years and districts, it is hoped that the database will eventually cover all Staffordshire births, marriages and deaths from 1837.
The Nicholson Institute Museum, Art Gallery and Library in Leek (and all Staffordshire Libraries) have free access to Ancestry.com.

Built in 1884 by silk mill owner Joshua Nicholson, the building is one of a few in the country still being used for the purpose for which it was built. Many famous figures have visited the building over the years, with music and lectures by the likes of Oscar Wilde and John Betjaman. William Morris, during his prolonged period in Leek, would most certainly have visited the building, and today, fine examples of his fabrics embroidered by The Leek Embroidery Society are on display.

The Museum
On 30th September 2010, Lord Shrewsbury officially opened the refurbished Nicholson Museum & Art Gallery, fully returning the historical listed building to its original purpose of a public centre of excellence and learning. 

The Museum displays items from the council's collection. Many of the items were gifts from local businessmen such as the silk moths from Henry Davenport and Thomas Wardle. Other items were given by local residents and reflect the everyday domestic life of the Moorlands. 

The collection includes paintings, costume, embroideries, ceramic and glassware and a selection of items on perpetual loan from the Royal Collection. 

The Gallery
The Nicholson Gallery aims to provide a diverse program of exhibitions and events that will appeal to a cross section of the community, attracting new and existing audiences. The Art Gallery hosts around eight exhibitions a year which are chosen to cater for a range of ages and tastes. Exhibitions generally run for 6 weeks and most exhibitions are accompanied by supporting events.
Leek and District Historical Society - formed in 1984 and is actively involved in promoting research into the history of the town of Leek and surrounding villages in the Staffordshire Moorlands.


Leekfrith Bygone Days- our very local historical society -  with the aim of researching the history of the Leekfrith parish and it's surrounding areas. Leekfrith parish is a few miles north of Leek Staffordshire and includes the Roaches, an area of outstanding beauty
Tracing your family history has never been easier and the short video will show you how to get started.
Thousands of people are going online these days to trace their ancestors and thanks to a new project with UK family history website Findmypast.co.uk you can join them.

Almost 3 million new Staffordshire parish records can now be accessed online giving family historians from all over the world the chance to uncover their ancestors and distant roots more easily than ever before.

From the roots of Josiah Wedgwood to the origins of Bass beer, the records cover over 360 years of Staffordshire’s history from 1538 to 1900. Now, with free access in Staffordshire libraries and Archive Service offices, you are being invited to discover the history of some of Staffordshire’s most significant families – and indeed your own.
The lives of many notable folk are recorded in the collection including captain of industry and prominent abolitionist Josiah Wedgwood, the man who industrialised pottery manufacturing through his Wedgwood company established in 1754, appears in a baptism register.

Joanna Terry, Head of Archives at Staffordshire County Council said: “This is a really exciting project that means anyone, wherever they are in the world, will be able to go online and discover whether they have Staffordshire roots. These fascinating parish records are full of colourful insights and you might even be able to get your family tree as far back as 1538, when Henry VIII was on the throne!“

Find out more at www.findmypast.co.uk

Derbyshire

Derbyshire County Council has lots of links and places to research on their website.
 
Picure the Past - Find historic pictures and photographs of Derby and Derbyshire.

Ashbourne Library has a small collection of local photos and documents relating to the town and surrounding villages.  It also contains some key titles for the Staffordshire Moorlands including the Leek and Moorlands volume of the Victoria County history and Tim Cockin’s Staffordshire Encyclopaedia.
A microfilm reader is available for Ashbourne’s historic local newspaper, The Ashbourne News, later known as the Ashbourne News Telegraph.

Visit Ashbourne Heritage Centre   you will find displays at the Heritage Centre about the businesses, people, buildings and customs of Ashbourne and the surrounding area for any period.  You can also find the history of the Royal Shrovetide Football - a tradition going back 100 years.

Ashbourne History - The aspiration of this site is to make the town’s history accessible for everyone, to see and learn from, and be part of.

Derbyshire Family History Society - For over 25 years the Society has linked together people researching their family history in Derbyshire and they have  built up an extensive library of documents, and have also placed a significant amount of data online, on their website.




Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa Trust - established to preserve the stunning Crescent buildings and to create an inspiring visitor experience in The Pump Room and a suite of rooms in The Crescent
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