Documents project seeks volunteers

VOLUNTEERS are needed to help transcribe handwritten documents dating back to the Victorian era before an online database is launched to help amateur historians trace their family trees.

Staff at the North Yorkshire County Register Office are hoping to recruit the volunteers to transcribe the documents containing information about births, marriages and deaths.

The County Register Office in Bilton House, Harrogate, stores archived birth, death and marriage registers dating back to July 1837 when civil registration in England and Wales began.

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Duplicate certificates are issued for the registers – last year about 6,000 certificates were produced.

As the Internet is increasingly used to research family history records, North Yorkshire County Council is planning to introduce an online ordering and payment system for copy certificates later this year.

Anyone willing to help transcribe the documents can contact the certificate service supervisor, Sheila Atkinson, on 01609 532106 or by e-mail at [email protected]

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