The Reference Work Name Searcher (ReWoNaSe)

Using the following form you can search for a family name in my database of family history reference works.

Some entries have alternate family names; these will be displayed, but are currently not searchable. Many, but not all, sources give a location for the family, which is shown under the "Seat" column. Results can also include a "PDF Page": this gives the page number used by Acrobat, which is often not the same as the page number of the document itself. This may or may not be much use to you, depending on whether or not you are using exactly the same PDF file as me.

You can choose to search exact matches only (default), or run a fuzzy (SOUNDEX) match, or search for any entry that contains the text you enter.

Enter surname:
Exact match:
(Only exact name matches)
Fuzzy match:
(Matches that sound similar)
Partial match:
(Matches that contain these letters. Limited to 20 results)

The following works are currently included in the database:

  1. Burke's Landed Gentry
    • Burke's Commoners - A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (1833-1837, Volumes 1-4)
    • Burke's Landed Gentry (4th Edition, 1862-1863, Volumes 1 and 2)
  2. Visitations
    • Devon, 1531, 1564, 1620, JL Vivian, Exeter (1895)
    • County Palatine of Durham (1575, 1615, 1666) ed. Joseph Foster, 1887
    • Gloucestershire, 1682-1683, ed. T Fitz-Roy Fenwick and Walter C. Metcalfe, Exeter, 1884
    • Kent, 1663-1668, ed. George Armytage, London (1906)
    • County of Lincoln in 1562-4, ed. Walter C Metcalfe, London (1881)
    • Visitations of the North, part 4, London (1932)
    • Nottingham (1569 and 1614), ed. George W. Marshall, London (1871)
    • Suffolk, 1561, 1577, 1612, ed. Walter C Metcalfe, Execter (1882)
    • Dugdale's Visitations of Yorkshire, With Additions (JW Clay, Exeter, 1899, Volumes I, II and III)
    • Yorkshire In the Years 1563 and 1564 by William Flower (ed. Charles Norcliffe, London, 1891)
  3. Miscellaneous County Pedigrees
    • Baildon and the Baildons, a History of a Yorkshire Manor and Family by W Paley Baildon; Volume 1 only (Volumes 2 and 3 cover just the Baildon family)
    • Ducatus Leodiensis, or the Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leeds, by Ralph Thoresby, London (1715)
    • Extinct and Dormant Peerages of the Northern Counties of England by John William Clay, London (1913)
    • Familiae Minorum Gentium (Joseph Hunter, 1894-1896)
    • Lincolnshire Pedigrees (AR Maddison, 1902-1906)
    • Pedigrees of The County Families of Yorkshire (Joseph Foster, 1874); note this has no page numbers!
    • Suffolk Manorial Families (Joseph James Muskett, 1900-1910)

I add new sources regularly, so check back. If there's a source you would like to suggest, please get in touch.