Welcome to The Origins Network
The Origins Network (formerly Origins.net) was founded in 1997 and offers online access to some of the richest ancestral information available to help you research your family history.
The Origins Network services include subscription access to exclusive genealogy related collections on British Origins and Irish Origins, plus expert Scottish Old Parish records research on Scots Origins.
Our unique primary genealogical data for researching your family history online includes marriage registers, wills, court and apprentice records, as well as downloadable online place related images such as original survey maps. Most of this information is not available anywhere else on the internet.
Through The Origins Network, family historians and professional researchers can:
Research comfortably from your computer, saving time and travel costs
Access exclusive source data collections and research from UK and Ireland specialists
Use FREE state-of-the-art technology to locate records across the internet
Stay regularly updated with exciting new UK and Irish collections
Getting Started
Try a FREE Origins Network search from our front page to see how many records match your chosen name on British Origins and Irish Origins.
Access to Subscription Collections
British Origins and Irish Origins are available for 72 hour access and monthly subscription. Monthly subscriptions include a bonus Origins Expert E-Booklet with expert tips on British and Irish genealogy research.
Our best value package is Origins Total Access, featuring full capabilities and bonuses of British Origins and Irish Origins for one low access fee. Origins Total Access is available by 72 hour access, monthly and annual subscription.
For more information and to sign up for Origins Network access, select “sign up” from our front page or search results pages.
British Origins
British Origins, launched in January 2001, is the richest source of authentic British genealogy records online, featuring exclusive online access to Society of Genealogists’s records and an increasing range of other material not available anywhere else on the internet.
British Origins is regularly enhanced by the addition of further exclusive datasets from the SoG and elsewhere. Upcoming collections which will be available to subscribers include the rich holdings of the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research via a recent agreement with the University of York.
Collections currently online including marriage registers, census records, wills, court and apprentice records containing nearly 20 million names covering 1442-1872 as well as authentic map images and place name history from the England and Wales Gazetteer. British Origins also features a Free Search by Place, expert family history articles and a discussion group for users.
Upcoming Collections
City of London Burials 1813-53 (exclusive to British Origins) An index to over 36,000 burials in 76 parishes, about three quarters of the total in the City of London. Because of deficiences in the pre-1866 publicly available statutory indexes, this index was continued beyond 1837. Complete for the parishes and period covered. Availability: Winter 2006
Surrey Will Abstracts (exclusive to British Origins) series includes detailed abstracts of all wills proven in Surrey courts between 1484 and 1857 – nearly 30,000 wills. This exceptional collection contains all personal names appearing in the wills (testator, beneficiaries, executors and witnesses), relationships, occupations, place names and plus details of the bequests. Availability: Winter 2006/7
Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries 1890-1980 (exclusive to British Origins)– a fully indexed digitised version of this invaluable series from vol. 1 to 30. Availability: Winter 2006/7
Also this winter, we have several more livery company records to add to our London Apprenticeship Abstracts series, and several more regiments to add to our Militia Attestations Index.
You can try a Free search of British Origins records from our front page, and access current and upcoming records and images via a 72 hour access, monthly or annual subscription.
Irish Origins
Irish Origins, launched in early 2003, includes the most complete version of Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland available on or off-line, plus exclusive access to the original maps included with Griffith’s Valuation, covering all counties of the Irish Republic. This was created in collaboration with the National Library of Ireland and Valuation Office Ireland.
Irish Origins is the definitive resource for Griffith’s Valuation, completed with the assistance of George Handran, a world expert on Griffith’s work. All available copies of the Valuation – which was published in several versions at different times between 1847 and 1864 – have been indexed along with digital images of the source publications and maps.
The Index to Irish Wills (1484-1858) has recently been added to Irish Origins. This contains a full index to surviving testamentary records at the National Archives of Ireland. Each index entry contains the name of the person leaving a will, or being covered by a grant of probate or administration. It also contains their address, sometimes their occupation, and the place where the document was proved.
We also offer a comprehensive list of over 60,000 names and addresses from the Dublin City Census of 1851, accompanied by scanned images of the original 1847 Ordnance Survey Town Plans of Dublin City, to help users identify specific addresses, as well as Ireland’s Royal Garrison Artillery Records (1872-1915), featuring an index to Militia Attestation Papers for over 12,500 militiamen in Ireland.
A new addition to Irish Origins is our Image Gallery, showcasing rare vintage photos, maps, books and other publications from Ireland of interest to researchers of Irish genealogy. Images and descriptions of Ireland prior to the 20th century are very scarce, and these collections offer a rare glimpse of daily life throughout the country.
Upcoming Collections
Irish Origins is regularly enhanced by the addition of further exclusive datasets from our partners, Eneclann Ltd., Ireland’s leading genealogy company, and elsewhere.
Index and transcription of the Gravestones and Memorials for Counties Galway & Mayo (10,000 names; exclusive to Irish Origins). Availability: Winter 2006
Index and transcripts of the 1831 Tithe Defaulter Schedules (30,000 names; exclusive to Irish Origins). The people most affected by the “Tithe War” were those most affected by emigration and famine in the next generation. Availability: Winter 2006
You can try a Free search of Irish Origins records from our front page, and access current and upcoming records and images via a 72 hour access, monthly or annual subscription.
Scots Origins
Scots Origins features a Free IGI search, access to “Origins Experts” research of authentic Scottish records from 1700 to 1990, a Free Scottish Place search, and expert articles and discussion on Scottish history.
“Scots Origins now offer the greatest flexibility for IGI searches!”
Sherry Irvine, past-President of the Association of Professional Genealogists
Origins Expert Research on Scots Origins
Scots Origins features online ordering of transcriptions of official Scottish Birth, Marriage and Census records via Scotland’s leading researchers, Scottish Roots. Scottish Roots will locate, transcribe and email the information from the original record. In order to order a Scots Origins Experts transcription (formerly “Sightings”), you will need some initial information to help us find the record.
Free IGI Search
The original indexes to the Old Parish Registers were captured by teams led by the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU), and are included within the International Genealogical Index (IGI) accessible on the Family Search web site. The IGI has indexes to over 90% of the birth and marriage OPRs, and often you will find both birth date and baptism date included there, while the GROS index almost invariably has only one or the other.
Our improved interface to the IGI offers advanced search capabilities not available directly through the Family Search web site. Our powerful capabilities include the ability to search directly by parish, retrieve surname only results for all names in a particular county and district, and view all names in a particular parish by year.
Users can order Scots Origins Expert research online and access all Free services by selecting “Scots Origins” from our front page.
Exclusive Primary Data
The Origins Network is known for our commitment to providing access to high quality data.
Our partnerships with leading archives and genealogical societies in the UK and Ireland, including the Society of Genealogists, the National Library of Ireland, and the Borthwick Institute for Archives, allow us to provide exclusive online access to important primary sources, abstracts and index databases, including definitive versions of key Irish material (Griffith’s Valuation). For many source documents, users of The Origins Network services can place orders online for hard copies.
The only other way to access most of this material is by travelling to the source archives in the UK and Ireland.
Speed Your Research
The Origins Network offers a treasure-trove of research aids to genealogy records and images that are physically stored in many different places.
For example, if you are interested in English marriage records, the 534 volumes of Boyd’s Marriage Index, compiled from sources throughout England, are far easier to search online via British Origins than by going directly to the volumes themselves. You can search all the online collections at the same time to uncover gems in places you may never have thought to look.
Technology Leaders
The first company to put official genealogical vital records online, The Origins Network continues to pioneer in the technology of online genealogical record search and retrieval.
All of our services feature NameX®, the most powerful name-matching technology available. Vastly superior to the widely-used Soundex, NameX® will locate a wider range of genuine variants of your ancestor’s name than any other software, which is important as many names have common historical variations in spelling, or have been spelled incorrectly on important records.
Payment and Registration
Register using your email address and choose a password. These details will be stored for any time you wish to use The Origins Network in the future. Simply click on the Login button when you wish to search the databases.
Payments are taken using a highly secure payment system, WorldPay (WorldPay are part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group). We do not hold any person’s credit card details on our site. Subscriptions – apart from 72 hour access – will be automatically renewed at the end of your chosen subscription period, unless you cancel sooner.
Your email address is used to verify your membership and is NOT shared with any third parties.
You are now ready to begin tracing your ancestors from Britain, Ireland and across the World with The Origins Network!
The Origins Network Updates
The Origins Network is committed to being the leading source for British and Irish Genealogy.
New collections are added to British Origins and Irish Origins on a regular basis and available to subscribers immediately.
Information on specific upcoming datasets is available by selecting “British Origins” or “Irish Origins” from the right menu.
If you would like to stay informed about new Origins Network collections, services and products, as well as receive monthly tips and articles on genealogy research from our Origins Experts…
