This website is a simple and efficient way of locating genealogical data online. If you don’t know where to look to find the site that holds your ancestors’ records then all you need to do is enter a country, county, town and approx. year (the latter is optional).
OGI is a search engine for genealogical data sets found online only for England and Wales, indexed by place. If you know the place where your ancestor was born, married, died, or buried, OGI helps find sites that contain records for that place - records that could contain vital details of your ancestor. Using OGI enables researchers to avoid wasting time when looking at incomplete resources or by manually searching multiple sites to find the required records.
Search Results
The Results screen has some important features which will help you find what you need. Here is an example for Yelden in Bedfordshire but all searches work basically the same.
The three- bar drop down menu at the top right of the pages enables you to find:
- a very informative and succinct HELP section detailing all of the in-depth search filters etc. and how to get the best from the site
- CONTACT details which open up the facility to email OGI admin with a question or comment.
- ABOUT explains how the idea originated and includes a very useful pie chart showing the extent of the data.
- There is also a DONATE section.
The OGI is a free service offered to researchers of English and Welsh genealogical data which effectively saves hours of research time, helping avoid the sites and collections that don't include relevant places and years.
It is a non-profit service so if find the site useful please consider making a donation to support their continuing research and running costs. We would not want to lose the site.
The following is just one example of their News update which are published frequently as part of the website helping you stay up to date with its content. OGI is a search engine for genealogical data sets found online only for England and Wales, indexed by place.
The website is endorsed by the Family History Federation and is recommended by Family Tree Magazine.
Try it for yourselves and see how useful OGI is then spread the news.
