Australian War Memorial

ANZAC Connections: Centenary digitisation project

The Australian War Memorial is currently undertaking a project to create a comprehensive digital archive of the ANZACs and their deeds, and of the wider Australian experience of war. The collections selected for this project will reflect the experiences of Australian servicemen, nurses and civilians during the First World War, not just well-known personalities. This project will digitally preserve the Memorial’s collections as well as provide full copies for research on the Memorial’s website.

Lives of the First World War

Digital publisher Brightsolid and the Imperial War Museum are creating a new platform to capture stories from the First World War.  Called Lives of the First World War, the website will enable people to share the stories of men and women who served in Britain and across the Commonwealth.  After registering on the sire for free, researchers will be able to add details about their ancestors, uploading photographs and other documents.  The site will also offer access to digitised records from libraries and museums such as The National Archives and Commonwealth War Graves Commission.  The launch of the new website is part of the Imperial War Museum's program of events to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of WW1 in August 2014.

Family History magazines on Issuu

Issuu is a leading digital publishing platform delivering magazines, catalogs and newspapers on  wide range of topics, including genealogy.  Millions of readers come to Issuu every day to read free publications, created by enthusiastic publishers from all over the globe. Created by a bunch of geeks with a mad love for the publishing industry, Issuu has grown to become one of biggest publishing networks on the planet.
While not all of the publications on Issuu are full-text - instead only giving you a few pages of a publication to get a taste - many are the full publication, and there is a LOT of material to choose from.  Irish Lives Remembered is an online magazine pubished in full, as is Going In-Depth.  Others such as Ancestors and The Connected Genealogist publish pamphlets and articles through Issuu.
You can just browse and read things as you come across them, or you can create an account (for FREE) and choose to follow certain publishers, so that whenever they publish a new edition it is highlighted for you.  It is also possible to publish your own family history with Issuu. 
With over 11 million publications, and 25,000 new items every day, there is bound to be something for you on Issuu.

Surname Meanings

If you have ever wondered about the origin of your last name, you will find your surname may answer one of the questions of where your ancestors lived, what they did for a living, what was their personality like, or how they looked many hundreds of years ago.

In Europe, the first surnames were first used about eight hundred years ago. People developed individual surnames which, over time, became names that were passed down from generation to generation. Check the free Dictionary of Surname Origins and Last Name Meanings.

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland has made a substantial addition to their genealogical collection with the release of a new database called Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1920. Basically, the database contains an index of wills and associated letters of administration in Ireland.

The database can be searched by county, the name of the deceased person, the names of executors and the names of beneficiaries. The index varies somewhat depending on the year of the record. A typical entry lists the name, address and occupation of the deceased, along with the date of death, the date and place of probate, the names and addresses of the executors, beneficiaries of the will (and their relationship to the deceased) and the financial size of the estate. Access is free.

UK City and County Directories, 1766 - 1946 at Ancestry

Ancestry.com has released a new database to add to their collection.
This database is a collection of directories for various areas of the United Kingdom from the 1700s to the 1900s. Various types of directories exist, including:

•Street: listing of residents, businesses, and tradesmen according to street address
•Commercial: includes businesses, but may also include private residences; generally an alphabetical listing of traders
•Trade: not just for businesses, but anyone with a recognized trade or profession; an alphabetical listing of trades and businesses
•Court: lists wealthy residents and government officials
•Post Office: listing of householder's names and addresses
Many directories are named after the publishers, such as Pigot and Kelly. Most directories originally included maps. Over time, many of these maps were removed. Where still available as part of a directory, the maps are included in this database.
Directories were first published around the beginning of the nineteenth century; they primarily only covered cities and larger towns. The first major county directories were published around 1820. In London, however, some directories were published even earlier.

Unlocking Old Files

Computer software changes so rapidly that what worked on your last computer may be completely obsolete when you buy a new one, causing you endless frustration.  You may have found or been given a mystery software file that is potentially full of family tree information that you simply could not open? It probably had a file extension you didn’t recognize. And even if you did recognize the file type, you may not have been able to open it.  You computer doesn't have the necessary program, and you can't find anyony else who does.  Fortunately, there is a free website that can help. Called OpenWith.org, the website can help you identify old software files. It even provides free software tools to open many of these old software files.  This is not the kind of website you would use frequently, but it is well worth making note of for when you need it.