Downloading Family History Data

The Strangways-Towneley GEDCOM file is a very large linked tree where all the families are connected by normal ancestry or marriages at some point in their history.

It covers British Peerage and Landed Gentry from the Middle Ages to the 20th century starting from the Strangeway / Strangways and the Towneley family pedigrees. Because of marriages going back to 1300 or earlier the tree has spread to include many of the famous families of Britain. You can see a recent Summary of Contents for the surnames included but even this list is not fully up-to-date - since new entries are regularly added; mainly from 19th Century pedigree publications.

Because of the substantial size of the Strangways-Towneley GEDCOM file it is now too large to keep on the web for download or send out by e-mail. So it is not available for download. Instead it can be mailed out on CD-ROM at cost (£3 or $5) to anyone who requests a copy. But remember the vast majority of families on it are those whose pedigrees have been published in print before - and some are already available on other web sites. However there are also many entries that do not appear in any of the major genealogy web sites or indeed on the web at all.

Available Downloads

Bramham Families in Pontefract Area of Yorkshire (file size 7Kb - i.e. very small)
Nutbrown Families - Yorkshire to Canada / USA (file size 27Kb)
Dawson Familes of Otley (file size 45Kb)

Each of these files has been created in the GEDCOM format - an agreed standard for exchanging family history data between computers and different software packages (including the IGI). Most family history software can handle this format to some degree. In order to save space, and download times, most files have also been compressed into a .ZIP format. This is a widely used method for reducing the size of computer files in such a way that can be expanded again without loss of content.

How to Use the Downloads

In order to make use of the above files on a PC running Windows follow the following steps -

Click on one of the above links - you will then be asked if you want to open it or save it to your computer - choose SAVE
The selected Zip file will be copied to your PC - in the directory you specify
Using Windows Explorer browse to that directory and double-click on the Zip file
This should open any software you have installed for handling Zip files. If this does not happen you need to get a copy of WinZip or something similar (you can download these from the web - use your search engine to find them - many are free) and install it.
Once you can read the Zip file with WinZip or similar - extract the .GED file and save it.
Now double-click on the .GED file.
This should open any software you have installed for handling GEDCOM (.GED) files. If this does not happen you need to get a copy of the Personal Ancestral File (PAF) software or something similar. You can download the PAF software from www.familysearch.org for free. Alternatively you can buy one of many commercial family history programs from your computer dealer (warning some are not as good as PAF despite their fancy packaging).
Once your family history software is installed you can make full use of the downloaded GEDCOM file - plus you have a system for handling all your own family history requirements.

This same method can be used to obtain other family history files from Internet sites - try using a search engine with "Gedcom" and your surname in the search fields.

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