Clergymen of England

Was your ancestor a clergyman?  The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd), launched in 1999 and makes available and searchable the principal records of clerical careers from over 50 archives in England and Wales with the aim of providing coverage of as many clerical lives as possible from the Reformation to the mid-nineteenth century.
The CCEd’s major features include:

• Records relating to the major events of clerical careers – ordination, appointments as curates, rectors and lecturers
• Information about parishes, chapelries and the many secular institutions and persons with chaplains
• Information about patrons, many of them women
• Information about schools and schoolteachers
• Two search engines, one ‘Basic’ and the other ‘Advanced’, for investigating the records, as well as a Browse facility
• A website, containing a host of useful aids, such as descriptions and maps for dioceses, lists of bishops and parishes, a glossary of terms, and an Online Journal containing essays and ‘notes and queries’

Biographical Database of Australia

The Biographical Database of Australia (BDA) has been launched and it already contains some 500,000 records. According to the website, this first batch of records contain convict, muster, census, baptism, marriage and burial records from New South Wales (1788 to 1828) and for Norfolk Island & Tasmania (1802 to 1811). In the future, data will be added for all states and territories. BDA is a not-for-profit database that is the result of years of work by volunteer genealogists, historians and contractors.  The indexes can be searched for free but there is a fee to see the underlying records.

The death of Mr and Mrs Frost

I had always found it somewhat odd that this couple in my family tree appeared to have died on the same day until I stumbled across this newspaper article.

EXTRACT FROM THE IPSWICH JOURNAL January 17th 1745

"Last Tuesday Morning a very melancholy Accident happen'd at Freston, about three Miles from this Town. Mr. William Frost, a considerable farmer in that Parish, was standing with his Wife by his Kitchen Fire, with the door open; and seeing his Son (about 18 Years of Age) going out a Shooting, with a Fowling Piece in his Hand, call'd to him, and told him that that Gun had been laid by so long, that he was afraid the Lock was not in good order, and desired he would strike it down. The Son, who continued without the Room, but while he was talking to his Father, had unhappily turn'd the Muzzle of the Gun towards the Fire Place, having first looked into the Pan and found no powder in it, struck down the Cock as he was ordered; when to his very great Surprize, the Piece went off, and he saw both Father and Mother fall to the Ground, and expire almost instantly. A Nephew of the deceas'd Mr. Frost, and two Servants, were very near to the Fire, but received no Hurt. The nephew stood almost close to his Uncle, but was very happily reaching towards the Window, to get his Hat, the very Moment that this Misfortune happen'd. It is now apprehended, that one of the Servants had made use of the Gun without Leave, and laid it up with a Charge in it." 

I am still investigating the outcome of the incident.

Ancestry and FamilySearch

Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org have announced a joint agreement whereby they will work together to transcribe and put online an estimated 1 billion new genealogy records over the next five years. Ancestry is the world’s largest genealogy business and FamilySearch has the largest collection of free genealogy records in the world. This agreement is in addition to the joint project between the two to publish 140 million US wills and probate images and indexes over the next three years. Access to Ancestry.com is by subscription and can be searched free in Campaspe Regional Libraries at our public computers of using our free wifi. Access to FamilySearch.org is free.

Anguline Research Archives

Dedicated to making old and rare books available to family and local historians, the Anguline Research Archives catalogue now includes more than 600 titles, including the new Historic Still Birth Register and a free downloads section.  The collection spans all English Counties, Wales, Scotland and now Canada, and titles are browsable by area and category, which include directories, maps, military, parish registers, church and non-conformist history, schools and more.  Titles are in PDF format so they can be viewed on computer, tablet, e-reader and other viewers, and the majority of titles can be bought either on CD or a digital downloads.  

Will Calendars at PRONI

The Will Calendars at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland provides a fully searchable index to the will calendar entries for the three District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry, with the facility to view the entire will calendar entry for each successful search.  The database covers the period 1858-1919 and 1922-1943.  Part of 1921 has been added, with remaining entries for 1920-1921 to follow in the near future.  

Digitised images of entries from the copy will books covering the period 1858-1900 are now available online, allowing users to view the full content of a will.  93,388 will images are now available to view.

Scottish Soldier's Wills

Scottish Soldiers Wills are scheduled to come online in 2014 as part of the commemoration of World War 1.  The wills consist of special forms removed from soldiers' pay books, other army forms, or other documents. They are generally very brief and do not mention individual possessions. They contain limited personal or service history information.
About 31,000 wills survive, of which approximately 26,000 date from the First World War (WW I) and 4,700 from the Second World War (WW II). The rest belong to the period between 1857 and 1966. The wills were written by men up to the rank of warrant officer. About 100 wills exist of officers who were commissioned from the rank during WW I, and a few from WWII. There are wills of some Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel from WW I, and of six women serving with the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) during World War II.
The soldiers' wills belong to a special series among the records of the Edinburgh Commissary Office, which received them from the War Office because the men were domiciled in Scotland. Most were not recorded in the commissary registers of the Commissary Office and the sheriff courts.