Thursday, March 29, 2012

Free BMD

FreeBMD is an ongoing project, the aim of which is to transcribe the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, and to provide free Internet access to the transcribed records.  The FreeBMD Database currently contains 214,279,072 distinct records.  While not complete the site, and its sister sites FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers) are well worth checking.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Dead Pubs

Was your ancestor a Pubican?  Dead Pubs is a historical street & pub history directory of London, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Middlesex, Suffolk, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Devon, Somerset & Dorset.  Many listings even have photos of the pub.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Who Do You Think You Are Live 2012

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? LIVE 2012 has finished.

Many of the presenters gave handouts for their talks and workshops for 2012 to the Society of Genealogists, and these are now being made available FREE on the SOG website.  More notes and slides will become available in the coming weeks, so visit the SOG Family History Show page and take a look at what is available.

Friday, March 16, 2012

British Newspaper Archive

The British Newspaper Archive has come out of beta and is now live. This is a collection of some 65 million articles appearing in various British newspapers going back over 300 years.  It is free to search, although access to the actual newspaper article requires a subscription, and you can buy a two-day subscription if that is all you require.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Jewish Genealogical Society

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain has integrated their databases onto the JewishGen system to form one integrated database with JewishGen. The combined database lists more than 220,000 records of individuals from the United Kingdom as well as the Republic of Ireland. Included are various types of records such as birth, marriage, burials, census, trader lists, etc. Access is free.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Old Occupations

Family historians often locate records that list ancestors with unusual and intriguing occupations. Many of these occupations may have originated as far back as the Middle Ages and by the 14th century it was common for people to take their occupation as a surname. i.e. Skinner - Flayer of animal hides for leather or Fletcher – maker of arrows.


For a detailed list of old occupations have a look at the following websites, compiled from historical census returns, registers and voters lists.


The 1891 London Census Transcription – Victorian Occupations
Dictionary of Ancient Occupations and Trades
Old Occupations in Scotland

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Genealogy SA

Genealogy SA in conjunction with the South Australian Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages has just announced that public domain South Australian Births, Deaths and Marriages Indexes are now available online via the new Genealogy SA website. Up until now these indexes have only been available in book form, on cd-rom and microfiche so great news for those of us doing SA research!


The indexes cover :
  • Newspaper Birth Notices Index from 1960 onwards
  • Newspaper Death Notices Index from 1972 onwards
  • South Australia Cemeteries Index
  • Birth Registration Certificates Index 1842 – 1928
  • Death Registration Certificates Index 1842 – 1972
  • Marriage Registration Certificates Index 1842 – 1916

Monday, March 5, 2012

Who do you think you are - new Australian series

Great news for fans of hit TV drama Who Do You Think You Are? The show returns for a fourth series in March as six more Australian celebrities trace their family tree, uncovering secrets and stories from the past.


Shaun Micallef, Kerry O’Brien, Melissa George, Vince Colosimo, John Wood and Michael O’Loughlin travel to all corners of Australia and the globe to find the definitive answer to where they came from.  The series starts 7.30pm Tuesday 27 March.

Popular Websites list

The Genealogy In Time Magazine website has released a Top 100 popular websites list. This is a worldwide collection but with a USA bias.


This list can also be downloaded as a handy PDF file.

Remember also that Cyndis List is a good port of call for that next step in your research or just for a good browse to see what is new.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Irish Military Archives

Ireland’s military archives have gone online for the first time on a new website called Military Archives. The website was launched in conjunction with the National Archives of Ireland. It will be the “place of deposit” for the records of the Irish Department of Defence, the Defence Forces and the Army Pensions Board. The website is planning a phased release of military records. Already online is a collection of maps, plans and drawings of military installations throughout the island of Ireland. Next up will be the Bureau of Military History Collection, which covers the period 1913 to 1921. This collection is expected to be online by March. It is composed of 36,000 pages of witness statements, photographs, letters, legal documents, etc. from the period. Access is free.