1939 Register

Find my Past has just released the UK’s 1939 Register, which fills the gap in UK censuses from 1921 and 1951. The 1939 Register has been dubbed ‘The Wartime Domesday Book’ - it is the most comprehensive survey of the population of England and Wales ever taken.
The 1921 census is the next one due to be released, but that isn’t scheduled till 2021. The 1931 Census was taken, but was destroyed in a fire. And the 1941 Census was never taken due to war going on … so the next one that was taken (and that survives) is the 1951. So the 1939 Register fills this gap nicely.
The 1939 Register was a one-off survey of the public. The war with Germany had just started and officials had little time to lose in preparing for the fighting and privations to come. So on 29 September 1939, just 26 days after hostilites had been declared, a survey nicknamed the UK’s only “instant census” took place. 65,000 enumerators were employed to visit every house in England and Wales to take stock of the civil population.
The findings enabled the issuing of identity cards and ration cards, plan mass evacuations and co-ordinate other war-time provisions - and the register applied to ALL citizens. In the longer term, the 1939 Register would go on to play a central role in the establishment of post-war services like the NHS.
The details the 1939 Register requested were:
– Name
– Sex
– Age
– Occupation
– Address (at the time off filling in the form)
– Marital status
– Membership of navel, military or air force reserves, auxiliary forces or civil defence services or reserves.
It is these individual returns for England and Wales that have been digitised by Findmypast and made available on their database. There are 7,000 volumes, which totals about 41 million records.
As well as the original record image, Find my Past has also added maps, facts and figures and photos of the time to further increase the value of this resource. You will be able to see who lived in the household – although some records are closed due to being younger than 100 years old and still alive. You can choose to unlock these records to access additional information.
Interactive maps show how a neighbourhood has changed over the past 130 years Local and national newspaper articles from 1939, give an insight into the world at this time. Photographs document life in 1930s and 1940s England and Wales. Facts and figures compare average ages, occupations and popular names compared to the rest of the country.
For more about these significant records, read the BBC’s article about the Register.

A Death in the Family

On the Thursday evening before Good Friday, we had a death in the family. It was my husband's mother, who passed away after a long illness at the age of 91. We then spent Easter organising her funeral, but it was some of the questions we were asked for information to be included on the death certificate that really stumped us. What was your mother's mother's maiden name? i.e. grandmother's maiden name. What was your mother's father's occupation? When did she come to Australia? 
My mother-in-law was born in England in 1923, served in the RAF at Mount Batten, Plymouth, where she met her future husband, an Australian stationed there, and came out to Australia to join her husband in 1946. The only member of her family that we had met was her younger sister, now 87 and living in England. We really didn't know much at all, and had neglected to ask the relevant questions when we could. We knew she had come to Australia in 1946, but not the actual date. We were told that if we just put 1946, the date would automatically adjust to 1/1/1946, and we thought that would be misleading for future generations.
Firstly we went through all paperwork we could find, and found not only my mother-in-law's birth certificate, but also her marriage certificate and a copy of her parent's marriage certificate. From these we found her mother's maiden name - Gillard. (So we could be related to Julia - she came from England as well). Her father was a grave digger, but we could find nothing about when she arrived in Australia. So we turned to FindMyPast.com.au and found her on Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960, but to get the information we needed credits or a subscription. So off we went to our local library, where we could access the information for free, and found the name of the ship she came out on and that it left London on 31 October 1946. [A note about searching, when using her full name we got fewer results, but when we just searched using surname and an initial, we found the information we were after.] Once we had the name of the ship, we checked Trove for shipping arrivals and found she arrived in Sydney on 4th December 1946. So with some family history detective work we were able to provide all the information required and ensure it was the correct information for future family historians.

1901 Irish Census

Following on from my last post – Findmypast has announced that it has added the 1901 Irish Census to their records. This is the earliest surviving complete Irish census. You are able to search all variations of a name and narrow your results by date of birth. You can also search for two members of the same household at the same time. Don't forget that you can access Findmypast free of charge at Manly Library and most public libraries.

Irish records at FindMyPast

There has been a real surge in the availability of Irish Family History Records. I have already listed many in previous posts. Findmypast has one of the largest collections of Irish family history records available online, containing Irish censuses, parish records, Irish newspapers and more. You can search at Findmypast - this is a subscription based database, but they frequently have free trials available, or you can access the website at Manly Library and other public libraries free of charge. Irish records on Findmypast include Ireland Censuses from 1821 to 1851 that survived the fire at the Four courts in 1922; Ireland Census Search Forms for 1841 & 1851, which were used to verify the ages of people applying for an old age pension in 1909 and contain extra information on Irish families; Griffith's Valuation 1847-1864, with details of who owned or rented land in Ireland; Landed Estates Court Rentals 1850-1885 lists those with bankrupt estates amongst over 500,000 tenants on more than 8,000 estates across Ireland; the Elliott collection contains parish registers from County Fermanagh and cemetery records fro Donegal, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Wicklow; Poverty Relief Fund records cover the micro credit scheme set up in 1824 to provide small loans to the 'industrious poor'. Local committees administered the scheme and kept copious records about people who received loans. Nearly 700,000 names are recorded in these files and they give a snapshot of life including age, occupation and fiscal history. occasionally more detail is given, including degree of destitution, family circumstances, emigration and death. These records also span the period of the Famine (1945-51). There is a range of National Irish Newspapers, including The Freeman's Journal, Ireland's longest running national publication which merged into The Irish Independent in 1924. The collection now stand at a total of over 7.2 million articles and 68 different titles from the 1740s onwards. The newspapers are easy to use as they have been digitised and indexed.
Happy searching!

British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) has now been operating for over 3 years – have you had a look at it yet? It was launched on 29 November 2011 with 4 million historic newspaper pages and has grown to over 9 million fully searchable pages available from 300 British and Irish titles. The newspapers cover 1710 – 1954, a much broader time period than at launch. 

The British Newspaper Archive is a partnership between the British Library and Findmypast to digitise up to 40 million newspaper pages from the British Library's vast collection over the next 10 years.
You can search - 
News Articles - read about national events, as well as issues of local and regional importance. News articles are your window into daily life in historical Britain.
Family Notices - search your family's birth, marriage and death notices plus related announcements including engagements, anniversaries, birthdays and congratulations.
Letters - read letters to the editor written by the newspaper's readers, including illumination contemporary debates, aspirations and anxieties.
Obituaries - view a wealth of contemporary information on the lives of notable individuals and ancestors.
Advertisements - these include classifieds, shipping notices and appointments. There are illustrations - see photographs, engravings, graphics, maps and editorial cartoons. 

Irish Ancestry

Irish ancestry is often hard to trace reliably, but there has been a real push to get Irish genealogy resources online.
Irish Newspaper archive 1820-1926
FindMyPast Ireland has added over 100 years of old Irish newspapers to its online collection. The overall coverage is:
The Belfast Morning News (1857-1882)
The Belfast Newsletter (1828-1900)
The Cork Examiner (1841-1926)
The Dublin Evening Mail (1849-1871)
The Freeman’s Journal (1820-1900)
The Sligo Champion (1836-1926)
This collection is accessible on all Findmypast international sites (UK, Aus, or US) available at Manly Library. You can read the full announcement of it here.

The Irish Genealogical Research Society has launched an online index to its annual journal The Irish Genealogist. The journal was first published in 1937 and contains hundreds of thousands of family names with reference to a variety of different sources.

Censuses and Guiness Employee Records
Ancestry.com has added to their Irish records with three new databases:
Ireland Guinness Archive Index, 1824-2002
Ireland Census 1901 Census
Ireland Census 1911 Census
The census records are an index only but they link to the National Archive of Ireland, which then allows you to view the images.
The Guinness Archive is employee records and include details such as name, date of birth, date of death, date they joined the company, spouse name etc.

Tithe Applotment Books 1814-1855

These are available on FamilySearch and determine the amount which occupiers of agricultural holdings over one acre should pay in tithes to the Church of Ireland. Urban areas are not included.  FamilySearch has all of these Tithe Applotment Books indexed, as well as links to the original images.

Irish Marriage Finder

The Irish Genealogical Research Society's Marriage Finder has now reached 50,000 names. It features information gathered from an array of sources, including Chancery bills, diaries, deeds, marriage settlements, memorial inscriptions, wills, family letters and newspaper cuttings. The database is online and free to use on the website of the IGRS at http://www.irishancestors.ie/?page_id=1926 and a "how to use it" introduction is available at http://www.irishancestors.ie/?page_id=1921.

 

FamilySearch & FindMyPast Partnership

FamilySearch has announced yet another agreement, this time with FindMyPast. More than 13 million records from FamilySearch have been uploaded onto FindMyPast, including major collections of births, marriages and deaths covering America, Australia and Ireland. However little has been said about the advantages for FamilySearch. The Ancestry Insider Blogspot notes that in recent weeks FamilySearch has entered into strategic agreements with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage and DC Thompson Family History, giving each access to millions or billions of FamilySearch’s records.  This is supposed to expand online access for millions of people. Olive Tree Genealogy has also written about this latest pairing.

Brightsolid becomes DC Thopmson Family History

Brightsolid Online Publishing, the UK company behind Findmypast, ScotlandsPeople, Genes Reunited, and FriendsReunited, has appointed a new CEO, Annelies van der Belt, and announced a name change for the company. They will now be known as DC Thomson Family History, to align with its Dundee-based media company owner and to focus on its core business, leading digital family history brands. This should not affect the delivery of any of their products, but is seen as a strengthening of their organisational structure. You can read the full press release at http://www.brightsolid.com/brightsolid-group/latest-news/recent-news/the-future-for-family-history-is-digital.html

PERSI

FindMyPast has announced another partnership, this time with the Allen County Public Library (ACPL) Genealogy Centre to take over the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), although FindMyPast say ‘revolutionise’. PERSI is the largest and most widely used subject index for genealogy and local history literature. As part of the partnership FindMyPast will enhance PERSI by linking thousands of individual genealogical periodicals and resources to the index, allowing original content to be connected and accessed digitally. FindMyPast can transform PERSI into a very powerful resource. You can read more about this project at http://www.findmypast.com/content/PERSI_Finds_New_Home_at_Findmypast

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.

New records on FindMyPast

FindMyPast has just released some new records onto its database. You may be interested in the Irish World War 1 memorial records, New Zealand World War II Soldiers records, New Zealand Electoral Rolls 1853-1996, Irish Court & Prison Registers 1790-1924, Australian school pupil indexes, Australian Censuses 1841-1921, and various Irish records including births, deaths, marriages, will and burial registers. Worth a look if you have checked the database recently. FindMyPast is available to use in Manly Library free of charge.

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.

Irish Birth Death & Marriage Records

FindMyPast has announced the launch of 21 million new irish Birth, Death & Marriage records covering the period 1845 to 1958.

They also pointed out that they carry the most detailed and thorough collection of Irish records ever seen in one place, providing a fascinating insight into Ireland's history which is sure to make Irish research easier and more accessible than ever. (Their words, not mine)

They claim 'these records are crucial in your family history research as they allow you to quickly search multiple entries and match them against what you already know'.

There is only one way to check this claim  - use the database and see if they are right!

FindMyPast is available to use within Manly Library and many other public libraries free of charge. So check it out first before you subscribe!

 

UK criminal records

FindMy Past is really coming to the fore with the records it is currently releasing online. In one of the latest releases, FindMyPast is working with the National Archives of England and Wales to put 2.5 million criminal records online. They date from 1770 to 1934 and is believed to be the biggest collection of historical crime, prison and punishment records. The documents will include photos, court papers and appeal letters. The documents will also include names and locations of victims and witnesses, so even if the criminal is not your ancestor, the information may still be relevant to your family history.

You can also learn more at http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/crime-prisons-punishment

Please note that this is on the UK database, so if you have your own subscription, make sure you have access to the UK records, or if you use Manly Library’s subscription, accessing the database while in Manly Library, make sure you choose the UK site and not the Australian database.

British Newspapers

Find My Past has entered an exclusive partnership with the British National Library to provide access to British newspapers. The collection will cover local and regional newspapers in the UK dating from 1700 to 1950. The Statistics covering this project are staggering. There are 65 million plus articles covering three centuries and 8000 new pages are scanned each day. The newspaper coverage will provide additional information on family members not found in official records.  

This collection is accessible in Manly Library through the Find My Past database. Log onto Find My Past through the Manly Library On-Line Databases and choose the Australian & New Zealand edition. Simply click on ‘British Newspapers’ in the top line to begin searching.

Given the rate of additions to this collection, it would be worth checking it every few months if your previous searches proved unsuccessful.