Welcome to Cleveland Family History Society
About our society
Cleveland FHS was set up in 1980 to provide a service for family historians and we cover the old county of Cleveland and part of County Durham and North Yorkshire.
Your visit to our website suggests that you may be researching your family history in the Cleveland FHS area and that you are seeking help in finding further information.
Have you been knocking on the doors of stately homes or hoping to hear of one of your mining great grandfathers, or maybe you have been standing on a hill looking for a farm ?
Whatever lifestyle, occupation, or abode your ancestors had, you may need assistance and advice to help trace them. We are here to give a helping hand.
Join us
We have lots of free resources on our website for you to explore. Please feel free to have a look around, or skip to our sitemap page for a list of quick links.
But if you want to take full advantage of everything we have on offer, why not become a member?
As a member you will enjoy the following benefits:
- Our packed quarterly Journal
- Access to our website Members’ Area with free resources and surname database.
- Connect with other members researching the same names as you.
- Vast collection of online parish registers, burial data base etc.
- Free simple searches and advice about the area from local experts
- Free attendance at Branch Meetings in Hartlepool and Sedgefield (hopefully to resume in 2022)
Meetings
Guests as well as members are welcome to attend any of the monthly branch meetings at our two venues in the Cleveland FHS area. For details of venues and contacts please see our Meetings page on this website.
Please check individual meeting details from the links below to see whether the meeting will be online via Zoom or in person.
We are still unable to hold our usual branch meetings at Hartlepool and Sedgefield, but will inform members when we feel able to. Hopefully this will be in Spring 2022.
CFHS Online shop
Our volunteers have transcribed millions of records from original sources of ancestors being born, baptised, married, dying and their burials.
A unique source for family and local historians is our large collection of monumental inscriptions taken from gravestones found in over 290 local churchyards and cemeteries in northern Yorkshire and southern Durham.
To start exploring our online shop, go to our Shop page where you'll find links to all the different publications we have available.
Research
Our website contains a wide range of free lists and other information which will help you in your research. Feel free to explore, or click on the links below to get straight to your area of interest:
- Surname Database (members only) – search the database to see names being researched by others.
- Burial Database – have a search carried out for burials within the Cleveland FHS area.
- Parishes – list of parishes within the Cleveland FHS area.
- Know Your Parish – places that have been researched by members and submitted for publication in journals.
- Hearth Tax Assessments, Durham, Glaisdale, Redcar, Whitby (members only) - lists of those assessed for Hearth Tax in parts of Co Durham and North Yorkshire.
- Journal back numbers (members only) from 1980
Upcoming meetings
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