I have discussed methods of obtaining genealogical records or help from various online sources. While those methods are generally applicable for any place of origin, some places have more complete online records than others. This month, I’ll begin my review with the source of the ancestors of the greatest number of Americans, the United Kingdom.

The good news is that because of its long history of civilization and its associated record-keeping, there are loads of sources, many well indexed, for civil and church records from the UK. The bad news is that, while information on the availability of sources may be found online, many of the actual records must be ordered and purchased in hard copy.

The free Mormon site FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org) may be used as you would for many other locations, by searching the catalog for the place name in the UK to obtain a list of civil and church records for that place. These may indicate microfilms or microfiches that can be rented from the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, to obtain photocopies of the records at a nominal price.

Valuable records may be found in this way; however, the searches may be tedious and the results, though valuable, may be spotty. Similarly, at the Mormon website, you can “browse by location” for “Europe” and then “England” to find a list of church records, census records, and so on. These may be searched by an ancestor’s name and will usually display transcribed details without an actual image of the document.

England and Wales are combined in many databases, while Scotland and Ireland are treated separately. In England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the General Register Office (GRO) is the government agency responsible for civil registration—the recording of vital records such as births, marriages, and deaths (BMD). The director of a GRO is the registrar general.

For England and Wales, indexes of births, deaths, and marriages for 1837 through 2005 are available online, under a special free arrangement with Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.ca/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx). When you begin your search, you’ll be prompted to register for a free account for this purpose only.

One hundred thirty-four million GRO UK birth record indexes for England and Wales dating from 1837 to 2005 are fully searchable by name, registration date, and district. Every name in the GRO birth indexes is individually searchable; however, the indexes do not give details such as birth dates, parents’ names, etc.

Instead, they give the three-month period of a given year in which the birth was recorded, the name of the registration district, and the volume and page number of the actual birth record, which then must be ordered from the GRO. Marriage and death indexes are presented similarly to the birth indexes for the same date ranges.

This Ancestry.com page also offers links explaining how to search the indexes. For 1837-1915, actual images of BMD indexes are shown. For 1916-2005, information is presented in a transcription, with no image of the original. You need the information found in the index to request a copy of a birth, marriage, or death certificate for the individual referenced.

Once the name, date, volume, and page number for your ancestor’s record are known, go to the certificate ordering page (https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp) to order the certificate from the GRO. The cost of the certificate, shipped, is between 9.25 and 23.40 English pounds (approximately $15 to $38) each, depending on the desired speed of delivery.

For England and Wales, church records (baptisms, marriages, burials) and census records can be found on findmypast (http://www.findmypast.co.uk), a paid site where images of the actual documents can be accessed by subscribers.

England and Wales censuses are also available to paid subscribers of Ancestry.com. UK censuses are available every 10 years, from 1841 through 1911, and are searchable by name or can be browsed by town and enumeration district. They generally give name, gender, age, occupation, and birthplace.

Next: more on England and Wales.

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