More Additions to Ancestry

The following databases have also been added to the Ancestry Database recently:
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),1861-1941
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920
U.K., City and County Directories, 1600s-1900s
New South Wales, Australia, Cowra Military Camps Personnel Photo Index, 1905-1970
UK, Casualties of the Boer War, 1899-1902
UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815
These are worth checking out. Don't forget that you can limit your searches to one particular database within Ancestry or to a group of similar databases.

Australian BDMs on Ancestry

The following indexes are now available on the Ancestry database:
Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1949
Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922
Australia Death Index, 1787-1985
Australia and New Zealand Obituary Collection
This can make seaching easier, if you don't already know the State in which the event was registered, but also more costly if don't have free access to Ancestry through your local library.
It is possible to seach each state individually, but Ancestry has provided a single portal through which to search.
A word of warning: I searched for Norman Hinds in Ancestry. Norman was born in 1905 & died 1985. I did not find a reference to his birth record, but found his marriage record and numerous references in the Sands Directory. After some time looking I had to limit the search to particualr databases within Ancestry, but I still couldn't find the birth record. I found lots of other Hinds, with variant spellings, but not the one I was looking for, and I know I can bring up his record easily and quickly when searching http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

More to See in Ancestry

More records have been added to the Ancestry Database during May & June, which will be of interest to Australian researchers.
In particular:
New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851 – Updated
New South Wales, Australia, Convict Death Register, 1826-1879 - Updated
New South Wales, Australia Historical Electoral Rolls, 1842-1864 – Updated
1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census – Updated
1828 New South Wales, Australia Census (Australian Copy) – Updated
New South Wales, Australia, Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922 – Updated
New South Wales, Australia, Assisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1828-1896 – Updated
New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1790-1849 – Updated
New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Naturalization, 1849-1903 – Updated
The Cyclopedia of Western Australia, Vol. 1 & 2
Australia and New Zealand Obituary Collection - Updated
London, England, Poor Law Records, 1834-1940 - Updated
Principal Women of The Empire: Australia and New Zealand, Vol. 1
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920 - Updated
You can use the Ancestry database free of charge in the Library – just ring 9976 1743 to make an appointment.

New to Ancestry

New records are being continually added to the Ancestry Database. So even if you have looked there previously, it may be time to re-check the database.
Just in the last two months many Swedish & Belgium birth records have been added, plus Dutch & Danish records and various German records in their original languages.

On the English side –
London, England, Marriage Licences, 1521-1869 added in February 2009
The England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005 – was updated in January, along with the England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915

Also added from New South Wales were -
New South Wales, Australia, Registers of Convicts' Applications to Marry, 1826-1851
And New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Naturalization, 1849-1903

You can use the Ancestry database free of charge in the Library – just ring 9976 1743 to make an appointment.

New records on Ancestry Library

You can now search NSW Assisted Immigration Passenger Lists 1828-1896 and NSW Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists 1826-1922 on Ancestry Library. While it makes searching a lot easier, just using a name search, there is still not a lot of information there, especially in the Unassisted Immigrant Passenger lists, where first names can be hard to come by.

Early immigration records can be challenging at the best of times. Convicts are reasonably easy – there are plenty of records for them – after all it was somebody’s job to keep a watch on them - but free settlers are a different kettle of fish. Because free passengers paid their own way, the authorities weren’t terribly interested in them and during the 1850s with the influx of people during the gold rushes, they actually stopped collecting names and just counted heads.

Assisted immigrants fared better in terms of records. They had to meet specific qualifications in terms of health, age and occupation, which in turn required record keeping. Another category is ‘Crew’ – the marines/soldiers and crew needed to manage prisoners, or man ships on the journey here. Assuming they didn’t jump ship, change their name or give false information about themselves, records exist for ship’s crew.

Don’t forget your local archives authority – in NSW indexes can be found on-line at http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/archives/indexes_online_3357.asp

There are also British Army WWI Service Records; England and Wales Births, Deaths, Marriages to 1983 uploaded onto Ancestry library.