Welsh Family History

Discover your Welsh family history with these online records. If you have ancestors from Wales, you should be able to find them here.

Archives

  • Archives Wales
    Archives Wales allows users to search over 7000 collections from 21 archives in Wales. A great resource for finding where the information needed is located and plan a visit.

Births, Marriages and Deaths

  • Wales Births & Baptisms 1541-1907
    Discover your Welsh ancestor among more than 700,000 birth and baptism records from between 1541 and 1907. Find their name and date of birth as well as the name of their parents.
  • Wales Marriages 1541-1900
    Explore over 130,000 records and discover your Welsh relatives today. The records include marriages across 12 counties in Wales. You can discover your ancestor by searching by name, marriage year or the spouse’s name.
  • The Wales Collection
    The Wales Collection is made up of records provided by The National Library of Wales and the Welsh County Archivists Group. It includes baptisms, marriages, burials and banns for every county in Wales.
  • North Wales BMD
    North Wales BMD has over 2 million birth, marriage and death records to view online for free. The indexes are not totally complete for all years and areas yet but most are online.
  • Dyfed Marriage Index 1813-1837
    This index contains the names of all persons known to have married in Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire in the period 1813-37. The original record of marriage may be found in the registers for the appropriate parish {or in the bishop’s transcripts where those registers are missing or defective). A fairly full transcript of all the marriages can be consulted in documents deposited by the Society at the National Library of Wales, the Haverfordwest Record Office and the Society of Genealogists.
    You must be a member of the society to view the records now. It costs £12 per year.

Crime & Punishment

  • Welsh Crime and Punishment
    The Crime and Punishment database comprises data about crimes, criminals and punishments included in the gaol files of the Court of Great Sessions in Wales from 1730 until its abolition in 1830. The Court could try all types of crimes, from petty thefts to high treason.

Local History

  • Historic Place Names of Wales
    More than 300,000 names of historic Welsh places. You can search for a place name or browse an interactive map.
  • Welsh Tithe Maps
    Search and browse over 300,000 entries and their accompanying apportionment documents using original and present-day maps.

Military Records

  • Wales Remembers 1914-1918
    This website aims to show the Welsh experience of WWI (the First World War). The site includes newspapers, photos, archives, manuscripts, journals and much more from libraries, special collections and archives of Wales.
  • Wales at War
    This website no longer exists, but the archived version has many individual records of interest.
    Wales at War is a digital resource for anyone with an interest in the First World War and its impact on communities across Wales. The project will engage pupils between the ages of 10 and 14 in historical research by supporting them to create biographies of the names listed on their local war memorial to help reveal the histories of the Welsh men and women who lost their lives during the war.
  • West Wales War Memorial Project
    The West Wales War Memorial Project website has been set up in order to commemorate all of the men and women from the three counties of West Wales; Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, who have fallen in conflicts throughout the world. The site focuses on the casualties of both World Wars, the Great War of 1914-1918 and World War Two, 1939-1945, as these were the two wars that caused the greatest number of casualties. Service men and women who have fallen in other wars are also remembered on the website, but these are usually more difficult to trace and research.

Miscellaneous

  • Welsh Family History Archive
    The Welsh Family History Archive includes Llangar parish records, maps of Wales, some census details and other bits of interest for Welsh family historians.
  • Welsh Family History Archive
    The Welsh Family History Archive includes Llangar parish records, maps of Wales, some census details and other bits of interest for Welsh family historians.
  • GENUKI Wales
    Links to many Welsh family history websites and resources. It’s a great place to start or continue your research.
  • Welsh Genealogy Blog
    A blog with some useful and interesting information about Welsh family history and genealogy.
  • Welsh Newspapers Online
    Welsh Newspapers Online is a free online resource from the National Library of Wales where you can discover millions of articles from the Library’s rich collection of historical newspapers.
  • Welsh Mariners
    Mariners represent a difficult group to research from the point of view of the family historian. I wanted to make information about our Welsh maritime ancestors more easily available to anyone researching their family and Welsh heritage, and so it seemed appropriate to develop this website and make the information on it freely available to all.

Wills & Probate

  • Welsh Wills
    Search for Welsh wills at the National Library of Wales. The available records date from wills proved in the Welsh Ecclesiastical courts before 1858. To view the whole document, you need to have a reader’s ticket for the library, but these records will allow you to verify if a will exists and how you can obtain a copy.
  • Wales Probate Records 1544-1858
    Search more than 700,000 abstracts of over 300 years of original probate documents created by the Anglican Church.

Welsh Counties
See records for individual counties in Wales.

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