TV PROGRAMMES such as Who Do You Think You Are? have fuelled the rise in the number of people looking to research their family tree.

Viewers may remember Jeremy Paxman featuring in the programme in 2006. The former Newsnight, and University Challenge presenter was found to have descendants in Bradford.

Who Do You Think You Are? is interesting because it not only traces people’s lineage over time, but they looks at how they lived – it delves into family history as well as genealogy.

As Kath Alred, chairman of Bradford Family History Society, explains: “Genealogy is who begat who, and who your ancestors were. Family history looks at what life was like for those people – what food they ate, what medicine they took to treat ailments, what sort of dwelling they lived in and how people were buried.”

With around 900 members across the world, the society helps people find out more about their ancestors – where they lived, what kind of lifestyle they had and why they came to Bradford.

Adds society member Ken Kenzie: “We look at local history, political history, the environment – it is not just about collecting dates.”

Run by volunteer members, the society has produced CD-ROMs which can help with research.

Records they have transcribed include Bradford Parish Church burials between 1681 to 1837, Scholemoor Cemetery gravestones and transcriptions of baptisms, marriages and burials at Thornton Old Bell Chapel.

Now the society can offer help with information never before available online. Working in collaboration with West Yorkshire Archive Service on the project Tracks in Time, the group has conserved, captured digitally and provided free online access to historic 19th-century tithe maps.

These hand-drawn plans detail the first full assessment of land ownership, land occupancy and land use across the district.

Funds have allowed for maps covering the 16 townships that made up the Bradford registration district in 1851 to be transferred.

These include Manningham, Eccleshill, Tong, Shipley, Wike – as it was then spelled – and Idle.

Society members spent weeks transcribing the details of land use and ownership and the details can be magnified on screen.

Collated by Tracks in Time, the maps – which also cover Leeds – represent the earliest systematic, large-scale cartographic record of the area, and are a valuable archive resource.

They are accompanied by a Book of Apportionment, which details how each piece of land is used. Explains Kath: “The maps were drawn up at a time when people commuted payment in kind to payment in cash. It was a move away from a feudal society.”

Adds Ken: “The maps could be used to sort out property disputes and other such issues. If people want to find out where their ancestors were living, they could type in a name or place and find out – they could see whether their land was used for cattle, corn or orchard.

The society – which has met at least once a month for more than 30 years – is receiving a growing number of enquiries from the public, some of which are addressed by special training courses, getting people started in family history.

“Often people don’t approach us until they get stuck,” says Ken.

Adds Kath: “Some say they have gathered a lot of data but don’t know what they should do with it.”

The course advises people to start with their own birth certificate and work from there. Some people do not have any details of their family history and don’t feel able to question their parents, who may have given them information in the past.

“Some people are not sure that what they have been told is correct,” says Kath: “A lot of people are extremely upset when they discover that some of their family stories are wrong. Much of the information relating to my own family is attributed to the wrong people.”

The transfer of the tithe map records to the internet opens up an incredible resource to people looking to research family history in Bradford. But many hand-written records remain in old, leather-bound tomes at locations across the district. “What appears on the internet is the tip of the iceberg,” says Ken.

The group’s education and training officer, Mary Twentyman, adds: “We don’t have as many members as we did in the past because a lot of people assume that everything they need will be on the internet, but it is not. People should also be aware that anyone can put information on the internet, so you should not always assume it is correct.”

For more information visit bradfordfhs.org.uk or email secretary@bradfordfhs.org.uk.