Articles by Niall Cullen

Marriage records are not just nostalgic keepsakes that remind you of the joining of two branches of your family tree. They also hold some of the most important information to help you build it. At Findmypast, our extensive collection of marriage records from around the globe gives you ample chances of finding details of your ancestors' nuptials. What's more, you can start finding your family's love stories in a matter of moments with record hints on your Findmypast family tree.

If you've made any progress in tracing your Irish ancestors, there are certain road bumps you've undoubtedly met on your journey. Let's take a look at the most common issues and help you get past them. 1. Missing Irish census records: The vast majority of Ireland's 19th-century census records were destroyed in a fire at the Public Records Office of Ireland in 1922. Only fragments survive. So, unlike in the UK or USA, you can't keep track of your 19th century Irish

Getting started with searching Findmypast's records is easy. Our billions of individual records are divided into categories. Here's a summary of what you can expect to find in each of those collections and how they'll help your family research. Birth, marriage, death & parish records: This is one of the categories of records you'll probably use most often. These records, commonly known as BMDs, detail the most important events in your ancestors' lives and are essential for every family historian. Parish

Findmypast is home to the fastest-growing collection of online family records from Scotland. Add to that our extensive collection of Scottish newspapers, and you have yourself a veritable treasure chest of material to help you find highland relatives.Here's a quick guide to the records that will help most as you discover your Scottish family story. Scottish birth, marriage and death and parish records: There are several useful collections you can explore to find the most important milestones in your

You'll find millions of Welsh family records on Findmypast. Our censuses, newspapers and parish records all cover the length and breadth of Wales' cities, towns and valleys. Not to mention the comprehensive take on the country you get from the 1939 Register. But what about the more obscure collections you may have overlooked in your quest to find Welsh relatives?We've poked around in our vast archive of record collections to bring you some of the Welsh sets you may have

Quite simply, you'll struggle to get very far with British and Irish family history research without using Findmypast. Not only does the site offer more UK parish records, more Irish records and more British military service and pension records than any other genealogy website, it also boasts some of the most useful and fascinating records around and they're only available here. These are the records that add some real meat to the bones of your research. They tell you much

We've compiled the most important New Zealand records on Findmypast and what they can tell you about your ancestors. Keep this guide handy as a reference on where to search for those elusive New Zealander relatives. Life Events: There are several useful collections you can explore to find the milestones in your kiwi family's lives including: New Zealand Birth Index - Over 580,000 records covering people who were born in New Zealand 120 years or more ago and stillbirths that occurred 50 years or

In this exclusive video masterclass, Findmypast's in-house military expert Paul Nixon explains how to uncover clues in your old military photographs, which in turn can help you further your family research.Using resources from both our military records and newspapers, Paul explains how you can piece together the remarkable stories of your British Army ancestors. Can't watch right now?: No problem. We've summarised Paul's three top tips below, so you can start deciphering your vintage military photographs at your leisure. 1.:

A lack of census records is one of the reasons Irish family trees have a reputation of being tricky to build. Relatively few Irish census records survive when compared to the equivalents in the UK or America. Most of them were destroyed during a fire at the Public Record Office of Ireland in 1922. This can make it a challenge to pinpoint your family generation-by-generation. However, as a starting point into your Irish past, the census collections that remain are a