The Knottingley Family History Database website is a privately maintained local family history website which caters for the West Yorkshire town of Knottingley and its surrounding area. Primarily through its history as a seafaring township, the family history interests of the town are spread far and wide and it is the aim of the Knottingley Family History Database to compile all the available information into a single accessible place.
The primary database accessible on the Knottingley Family History Database website is our family tree onto which all our information will eventually be recorded. At the time of writing there are in excess of 21,600 individuals recorded and the process of adding new records continues on a daily basis.
A subsidiary database records both marriages and burials from within the town and surrounding areas and wherever possible additional information and cross-referenced details are provided.
All our information comes from local parish records, census returns and memorial inscriptions which we then use in our attempts to compile entire families. We pride ourselves in the fact that we very rarely use information from other compiled sources.
Access to the Knottingley Family History Database is for registered members only but registration is open to everyone and membership fees help towards the costs of making the site available and ensuring that it remains so. A membership fee also helps to deter the minority of unscrupulous visitors from copying the information we have painstakingly compiled for their own financial gain. In addition a membership fee ensures that our website resources are not overstretched by the frequent database searches that are by necessity a primary feature of genealogy websites.
If you are or have been considering becoming a member of the Knottingley Family History Database but have been deterred by the request of a membership fee then I would hope it may offer some reassurance for you to learn that this website is maintained by the same individual who also compiles the Knottingley & Ferrybridge Online website as well as the Pontefract local history website. In addition, between 2003 and 2007 I also published a monthly local history magazine entitled ‘The Knottingley & Ferrybridge Digest’ and from 2005-2007 an additional edition for the neighbouring town of Pontefract.
I would like to think that everyone with an interest in the town of Knottingley would consider becoming a member of the Knottingley Family History Database and agree to assist us to expand our family tree by submitting information from their own family history. Sadly, past experiences leads me to believe that not to be the case but thankfully over the years I have discovered there are a minority of people willing to offer their help and this website is testament to that.
If you require any further details or have any questions regarding the Knottingley Family History Database or if you would like to assist me by submitting details of your own family history then do please get in touch.
Michael Norfolk
Knottingley Family History Database