Personal Ancestral File (PAF) Discontinued

If you are a user of Personal Ancestral File (PAF) like I am, you will be disappointed to learn that the product is to be discontinued. FamilySearch has announced that the program will be retired on 15 July 2013 and will no longer be available for download or support. I have found this a wonderful product to use as it did all I needed in organising my family history and for free. Dick Eastman and Ancestry Insider have both noted its passing. PAF was first introduced in 1984, but has not been updated since 2002. You can still keep using the program, but FamilySearch recommend that you update to an alternative. So it seems like a good time to bite the bullet and try something else. For full details and information on alternative products, you can visit http://familysearch.org/PAF.

Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, and RootsMagic have been introduced in recent years are supposed to be significantly better alternatives to PAF. These products are also available free through FamilySearch.

NSW Wills

FindMyPast is working with NSW State Records to digitise New South Wales Will Books from 1800 to 1952. The collection of will books will be available later this year and will include handwritten copies of the original wills, from about 1800 to 1924, and typed copies of wills from 1924 to 1952. FindMyPast.com.au has secured the rights to publish all of the registered wills from New South Wales from 1800 to 1952, which make information about ancestors’ wealth, estates and belongings much easier to access. Don’t forget that you can access FindMyPast free of charge at Manly Library and many other public Libraries.

British War Records

Forces War Records has purchased BritishGenealogy.com. This is supposedly the largest British genealogy forum online, with over 40,000 active members and a ton of information to help you discover more about your ancestors. The military portion of BritishGenealogy.com is being merged with Forces War Records to create one central resource. This is one to keep your eye on over the next few weeks as the merger is finalised and access to British Military records is made simpler.

Top providers sharing records!!

AncestryInsider recently revealed that FamilySearch and Ancestry.com sometimes swap records, and sometimes they work together on a project, which results in both organisations providing access to the same records.  (They have recently worked together to digitise, index and publish U.S. probate records). However they both have their own digitisation teams out imaging records, and it would be very rare for both organisations to scan the same records, as it would not be to their economic advantage. Worth remembering as FamilySearch provides free access to its records. For more information on this read the original article at http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/monday-mailbox-familysearch-vs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AncestryInsider+(The+Ancestry+Insider)

Digitising Country Victoria Records

A new project to digitise records held by the Victorian Archives (PROV) is being undertaken by Archival Access Victoria. The plan is to make country Victorian records available to those who need them most and are probably the furthest away from Melbourne where the records are kept. They will start with the town of Wodonga, on the New South Wales and Victorian border, digitising the court records from the Wodonga Magistrates Court that date from the early 1900s through to the 1970s. The project will then extend to other towns in country Victoria. To help this undertaking Archival Access Victoria has created a pledge page which allows you to donate or pledge money to their project. Anyone contributing financially to the project will receive their own digital copy of the records, as unfortunately these records will NOT be available on line and people wanting copies of the information will have to pay for the records, which will be made available to them on DVD for as little as $10. If you would like to know more or make a pledge go to http://www.pozible.com/project/22232