Before visiting Oldham Local Studies and Archives to trace your family tree, collect as much information as possible. Consult older members of your family for information, look at any surviving documents such as family papers and birth certificates. Collect as many dates, names and addresses as possible and begin by checking this information.
It is also useful to read some general introductory guides to family history.
It is fairly easy to trace one’s family back to 1837. From that date all Births,
Marriages and Deaths have been registered at the district registries.
Applications can be made (with full GRO reference) to:
Southport O.P.C.S., General Register Office,
P.O.Box 2, Southport, Merseyside PR8 2JO
Tel: 0870 243 7788, Fax: +44 (0) 1704 55 00 13,
e-mail address: certificate.services@ons.gov.uk
website: www.statistics.gov.uk
Birth, Marriage and Death indexes for England and Wales are kept at Greater Manchester County Record Office and Mormon Family History Centres in Ashton and Wythenshawe.
Generally, it is easier and cheaper to conduct a search locally. Records for all areas now part of Oldham Metropolitan Borough are held at the Registrar's Office, Chadderton Town Hall, Middleton Road, Chadderton Oldham OL9 6PP
(Tel: 0161 770 3708 e-mail: registrars@oldham.gov.uk)
with the following exceptions:
LEES -1837 -31st March 1974 held at Tameside
FAILSWORTH -1837 - 31st March 1936 held at Manchester
1st April 1936- 31st March 1974 held at Tameside
Staff at Oldham Register Office will search 5 years of the indexes free of charge. An unlimited search of 6 hours costs £18. The records themselves are not open to the public so it is necessary to apply for a certificate onto which the information will be copied. The charge for a full certificate is currently £7.00.
The Lancashire BMD (births, marriages and deaths) website now includes Oldham civil marriages 1837-1965, Oldham Church of England marriages 1837-1974 and Oldham births 1837-1900 indexed and available to order on-line at: www.lancashirebmd.org.uk
Before 1837, the Anglican Parish Registers of Baptism, Marriages and Burials are the main source available. Ministers were first ordered to keep registers of these events in 1538. However, there are gaps in many of the sixteenth and seventeenth century registers. It was not until 1813 that separate printed volumes were introduced for Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, so before this date, the amount of information given varies.
Oldham Local Studies and Archives have some local Anglican, Non Conformist and Roman Catholic Records on microfilm.
When churches deposit their records, they do so at the Diocesan Record Office which, for the Oldham area is Manchester Archives and Local Studies, Central Library, St.Peters Square, Manchester M2 5PD
(Tel: 0161 234 1980, e-mail archiveslocalstudies@.manchester.gov.uk
website: http://manchester.gov.uk/libraries/arls/index.htm).
If records have not been deposited at the Diocesan Record Office, then it can be assumed that they are still with the Church.
A list of Registers held at Manchester Archives and Local Studies is available at Oldham Local Studies and Archives.
The Lancashire Parish Register Society produces a series of reprints of parish registers for the Lancashire area and these are available at Oldham Local Studies and Archives.
Website: www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/lprs/
Grave records for Council Cemeteries - i.e. Greenacres (1857), Chadderton (1857), Royton (1879), Lees (1879), Failsworth (1887), Hollinwood (1889), and Crompton (1891) are held at Hollinwood Cemetery, Roman Road, Oldham OL8 3LU Tel: 0161 681 1312
e-mail: env.cemeteries@oldham.gov.uk
It is possible to have a search of these records conducted upon payment of a fee.
For church graveyard records see “Parish Registers” above.
The Memorial Inscriptions from gravestones of some churches and chapels are available at Oldham Local Studies and Archives.
The event of the Birth, Marriage or Death of your ancestors may have been recorded in the local newspaper (although this was not such a standard practice as it is today).
Oldham Local Studies and Archives holds newspapers on microfilm back to 1852. (See separate handout)
A collection of newspaper cuttings of obituaries is also held along with indexes.
Soldiers died in the Great War 1914 - 1919 is available on CD Rom. This is a complete and searchable database of all officers and soldiers of the British Army who died in the Great War.
Soldiers died in the Second World War 1939-45 is available on CD-Rom. The complete Roll is preserved in the Public Record Office under reference WO304. Software allows searching of every element in each record.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website provides access to personal and service details and places of commemoration for members of the Commonwealth Forces who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Website: www.cwgc.org/cwgc internet/search.aspx
This is an index to parish registers, which have been microfilmed and indexed by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Oldham Local Studies and Archives holds microfiche indexes for Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. The indexes are organized by surname and will give you a date and church where the event took place. The events recorded are mainly baptisms, although there are some marriages.
Access to the complete IGI is available on the Church of Latter Day Saints Family Search Website. www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp
The British Isles Vital Records Index is available on CD-Rom.
This contains birth, christenings and marriage records 1530-1906.
Census Returns are compiled every ten years and began in 1801. Until 1841 they were statistical returns only, with no personal information.
Oldham Local Studies and Archives holds microfilmed copies of Census Returns for the Oldham Metropolitan Borough area (i.e. Oldham, Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton, Lees, Saddleworth and Crompton).
We have a free Internet service giving access to websites on archives and local and family history sources. This includes Ancestry Library edition and the International Genealogical Index (IGI).
A selection of the most useful websites are book-marked including Genuki, which has thousands of informative pages for those tracing their family history in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cyndi’s List, which has thousands of links world-wide, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
CD ROMs available include:
1881 Census Index for the whole of Great Britain
1841, 1851,1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901 Census for Lancashire
1841, 1851,1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901 Census for Yorkshire
British Isles Vital Records Index
The Mormon Immigration Index.
The National Burial Index (2nd edition)
Database of officers and soldiers of the British Army
who died in the Great War 1914 - 1919
Army Roll of Honour World War II
Prestwich Asylum index to admissions 1851 - 1901
Booking is essential for the Internet and use of CD ROMs.
As these are essentially voters’ lists and the right to vote was not universal until 1928, they have limited value unless the person you are researching was eligible to vote. They are useful in establishing how long a family stayed at a particular address.
Oldham Local Studies and Archives have Burgess Rolls and Registers of Electors from 1851 to the present.
If your ancestors were in business they may appear in Trade Directories. Oldham Local Studies and Archives holds local directories from 1814.
The Directories vary in content, listing by trade, address or surname. The Directories can be particularly useful for locating addresses, when trying to trace a family in the Census Returns.
Oldham Local Studies and Archives also holds telephone directories for the Oldham area for the following years:
1923, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000
We also hold a wide selection of historical maps from Dun's Map of 1829 to current Ordance Survey maps that be of help in showing where your in family lived Oldham.
Not everyone made a will, but where they exist they can supply valuable information about family relationships. Wills are sometimes accompanied by other documents, such as an inventory of the deceased’s possessions. Often when there is no will, there might be an “admon” - a bond of administration. Alternatively, there might be a deposition - a witnessed statement by a dying person.
From 1858, wills in England and Wales were proved (officially registered after death) at the Principal Probate Registry at Somerset House, or in a District Probate Registry. In either case, they are indexed annually by the Principal Probate Registry. Indexes to the Wills and Admons from 1858 up to 50 years before the current year are available at Greater Manchester County Record Office, 56 Marshall Street, New Cross, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5FU. Tel. 0161 832 5284. The Principal Probate Registry for Manchester retains the indexes for the most recent 50 years. Probate Registry High Court, Astley House, Quay Street, Manchester. Tel. 0161 834 4319.
Before 1858, wills were proved in church courts and locating them can be a difficult process. Until the 19th century, Oldham lay within the diocese of Chester. Probate Records for the Oldham area are held at the Lancashire Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston PR1 2RE. Tel. 01772 263039. Where users of Oldham Local Studies and Archives have ordered photocopies of wills from the Lancashire Record Office, they are invited to donate a copy.
A collection of several hundred such copied wills is now available at Oldham Local Studies and Archives.
There are useful indexes to wills and admons1545-1837, published by the Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society and these are available at Oldham Local Studies and Archives. (For more information see Probate Records for Greater Manchester County)
Experienced family historians from The Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society are on hand every Wednesday from 2.00pm - 4.00pm at Oldham Local Studies and Archives to help with any queries or problems you may have. There is no need to book and beginners are welcome.
If you are unable to come on Wednesday additional sessions are held on the second Saturday of every month.
For further advice, you may find it useful to contact the following family history society
The Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society,
Clayton House, 59, Piccadilly, Manchester M1 2AQ.
Tel: 0161 236 9750.
Website: www.mlfhs.org.uk/
N.B. Most of our Parish Registers and all of our newspapers and Census Returns are held on microfilm. It is advisable to book a microfilm reader in advance of your visit.
Staff at Oldham Local Studies and Archives are available for enquiries and will assist wherever possible.
For those unable to do their own research, we hold a list researchers able to carry out Oldham research for a fee.