Sunday, April 28, 2013

Tasmanian BDM records

FamilySearch in conjunction with the Archives Office of Tasmania have just put the images of Tasmanian Births, Deaths and Marriages records online. These documents cover the period 1803 to 1933, and because FamilySearch is hosting the collection, they are free to view. These records are not indexed, but are in chronological order. You can use the Digger CDROMs (Tasmanian Pioneer Index 1803 – 1899 and Tasmanian Federation Index) which are available at Manly Library to help you in your search. https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2125029

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

New Zealand Servicemen's Gaves












Alan Steel, a New Zealand genealogist from Waikouaiti, has been photographing and documenting the graves and plaques of servicemen and women in Otago cemeteries. So far he has recorded over 6,000 memorials to servicemen and women to help family historians fill gaps in their family stories. Alan has made such an impression, there is a story about him in the Otago Daily Times, with more about the work he is doing. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/252912/genealogist-adds-record

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Anzac Day


Findmypast has just created an Anzac Memory Bank in the lead up to Anzac Day to remember men and women that went to war. The Anzac Memory Bank is designed to help people build their own family wartime memories. It contains heroic stories, photos and expert information about Australian and New Zealand involvement in all wars and conflicts around the world. People have shared their own personal and stories, photos and diary entries so others can learn what it was like to live through these times of turmoil. In the week leading up to Anzac Day, Monday 22 to Friday 26 April, FindMyPast.com will provide free access to its entire military collection for people to research their ancestors' military history.

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Sunday, April 7, 2013

World War 1 Centenary







There has been a real push for World War 1 records with the centenary of Gallipoli approaching. Family Search has released 19 million UK WW1 Service Records, part of 23.9 million indexed records relating to Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, England, Italy, Mexico and the United States. As well as the UK service records, there are over million US World War 1 Draft Registration Cards.
Continuing on the World War 1 theme, the Imperial War Museum in London has set up the First World War Centenary Parnership. This partneship is a network of nearly 1,000 lcoal, regional, national and international cultural and educational organisations led by IWM (Imperial War Museum). Together, they will present a global program of cultural events and activities, and digital platforms to enable millions of people worldwide to discover more about life in the First World War. The partnership gives each member a stronger collective voice, visibility through the First World War Centenary brand and website, access to a wealth of expertise and resources and the opportunity to promote events through a centenary calendar on 1914.org. You can read more about it at http://www.1914.org/partners/ 
Mosman Library has joined the partnership http://mosman1914-1918.net/project/blog/first-world-war-centenary-partnership-needs-you  and lists some other Australian partners as well. 

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Irish Genealogy

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in Ireland has just relaunched a portal to Irish genealogy with IrishGenealogy.ie. It has recently introduced a new search facility to assist in searching Irish family history. The site also provides information for people just starting their search and provides links to potential sources of information available online. The aim is to make it quicker, easier, and less complicated for members of public - from home or abroad - to find information about their ancestors. From here you can access 1901 and 1911 census information, Griffiths Valuations, Tithe Applotment Records, Soldiers Wills, Military Archives, National Photographic Archive from the National Library of Ireland, Ellis Island records, and Ireland - Australia Transportation database.

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Origins.net


I recently came across Origins.net (http://www.origins.net/ ), which claims to be ‘the premier resource for tracing your British and Irish ancestors’. You can pay a subscription or search and then pay for documents, but it is supposed to have access to wills and probate records, key Irish records and specialist British and London records, which is not very specific, and makes you wonder if you can get the same information from other sources. The site has recently made available Greater London Burials 1545 – 1909. These indexes cover the City of London, Middlesex and South London (metropolitan Surrey) parishes and include well over half a million burials. This index brings together hundreds of individual registers. The project was commenced in 1978 by Cliff Webb and continues on to cover to end of the burial registers rather than 1837, where a lot of other databases cease. Certainly worth a look if this could apply to your ancestors.

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