British Interest Group of Wisconsin and Illinois
Lists of surnames in the British Isles that are being researching by BIGWILL members (and others):
This web page and the pages linked to from it are experimental. We're trying out some techniques. No search facility, other than your browser's Find command, is yet available.This fourth edition of the BIGWILL Register lists nearly 600 surnames in the British Isles being researched by BIGWILL members and others. All entries are for the British Isles, defined as England (including Northern Ireland), Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Each entry has associated with it a location within the British Isles and a time period of interest. Being able to list surname interests on these web pages is a basic membership benefit of the British Interest Group of Wisconsin and Illinois. Others may have their surname interests included in the BIGWILL Register upon payment of a nominal fee. Anyone is welcome to browse these lists and contact BIGWILL members with whom they share common genealogical interests in the British Isles.
As with any listing of names, there are many ways it can be used for research purposes.
- Use the sorted-by-surname version of the Register to see if any submitter is researching the same surname as you. If you find a match, this on-line version of the Register provides a means of contacting the person who submitted the surname to the Register. You should contact the member directly, rather than contacting the BIGWILL organization (other than when necessary to initially reach the member, as explained just above each listing of the Register).
- Use the sorted-by-country-&-county-codes (location) version of the Register to see if any submitter is researching in the same localities as you. There is a link on the page with the sorted-by-country-&-county-codes version of the Register which lists the country and county codes. If you find a match, contact the person who submitted the entry for the locality and discuss with him or her what particular resources either of you have found beneficial to your research and how to access those resources.
Every effort has been made by BIGWILL to ensure accuracy. However, BIGWILL cannot be held responsible for errors and omissions. We would appreciate being notified of any errors you do find in the Register – please send your comments and suggestions to the BIGWILL Webmaster
- BIGWILL Register sorted by Location
Fourth edition (draft) data incorporated 5 November 2009
- BIGWILL Register sorted by Surname
Fourth edition (draft) data incorporated 5 November 2009
BIGWILL Register Data Submission Form (with instructions) (144K)
15 June 2006 version
Hints on how to get the most from your BIGWILL Register data submissions (32K)
28 February 2004
If you are skilled in using Excel, feel free to send your data in an Excel xls file attached to an e-mail message sent to <bigwillgen@yahoo.com>. Please follow the layout demonstrated in this sample file. We may be able to read files created by spreadsheet programs other than Excel; if you are using some other program, please identify the program in the text of your e-mail message. If your program will create xls files (e.g., OpenOffice.org, StarOffice, or Microsoft Works), please save your data in that format. If your program will not create xls files, inquire before sending data in a file. If you send your data in a file, be sure to also tell us how you want your e-mail address handled.
The Data Submission Form and the Hints ... file available here are in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF).If you do not have either Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader installed on your computer, you can download Adobe Reader from Adobe free of charge.
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This site is maintained by Rollie Littlewood
This page was last modified on 5 November 2009