Merry Christmas

A Merry Christmas and a happy, safe and ancestor-rich New Year to everyone out there in internet land.  2014 has been another big year in my genealogical life, and I hope it has been a productive year for you all as well.  May your 2015 be full of new records and brick wall breakthroughs.  Thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting on this blog, your feedback online and in person helps keep me motivated and enthused.

Zepplin Raids, Gothas and "Giants"

The aim of the "Zepplin Raids, Gothas and Giants" website is to provide information on all of the air raids, on each of the 103 dates, when German airships or aeroplanes bombed Britain during World War One. Many of these raids bombed small villages rather than major cities as aerial navigation at this time was in its infancy. 
 

This website will continue to develop over the next couple of years until it eventually tells the complete story of Britain's First Blitz.  Were any of your ancestors near where bombs fell in World War One?  Check the website to find out.  A huge thanks to site creator Ian Castle for all his work.

 

New post-1858 wills service launches online

Family historians have a new route for accessing copies of their ancestors’ wills following the creation of a new web system.
The Probate Service has launched an online wills index for England and Wales, enabling people to search for any will dating from 1858-1996 and order a digital copy via their computer.  Searchable by name within specific years, the index links to a digitised version of the National Probate Calendar, showing all matching entries from the appropriate volume.  Once the correct person has been found – indicated by details such as address and court where the will was proved – researchers can then ‘click through’ and order a digital copy at a cost of £10 each. The document will then be made available as a download, generally within 10 working days.
Launched on Thursday 11 December, the new system is to act as a replacement for the Principal Probate Registry search room at the Royal Courts of Justice, which will permanently close on Friday 19 December.
While researchers can apply for wills by post or at district probate registries, the London facility has been the only place the complete National Probate Calendar can be accessed by the public. Although scans of Calendar volumes are available through Ancestry.co.uk – used by many when filling out a postal order form – this set only covers 1858-1966.
Thanks to Who Do You Think You Are Magazine for higlighting this new resource.

Irish Records coming online

The National Library of Ireland has announced that it will give free online access to its archive of Catholic Church records, the earliest of which dates back to the 1700s and spans the 1740s to the 1880s. The records are considered the single most important source of information on Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census. They cover 1,091 parishes throughout Ireland, and consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records.

Currently, the National Library provides free access to its microfiche records at its research rooms in Kildare Street, in Dublin. However access has been hampered in recent years by high demand and increased pressure on resources.
This is great news for those of us with Irish heritage, especially if you are like me and trying to trace ancestors from the other side of the world.

Forces War Records

Forces War Records has reached a new milestone in its latest transcription project. Launching with 30,000 records in November, the website has confirmed it has since uploaded a further 20,000 records to its Military Hospitals Admissions and Discharge Registers collection. The record set offers details of soldiers who received medical treatment on the front line during the First World War.
Each entry for a patient treated by the field ambulance includes:

• Name
• Rank
• Regiment and sub unit
• Age and completed years of service
• Completed months with field force
• Date of admission
• Date of discharge
• Injury / Illness
• Any additional observations by medical practioners
• Plus details of movement back to the front or to another hospital, or in some cases the soldier's death
  
  
  

Genealogy Class Notes Online

For everyone who has attended my genealogy classes at Campaspe Regional Library, my class handouts are finally available to print from the library homepage.  Thanks to everyone who attended the sessions held during Family History Month in August - I hope you all enjoyed them as much as I did, and your feedback afterwards was wonderful.

• Ancestry
• Familysearch
• Introduction to Online Research
• Military Records Online
• National Archives of Australia
• Organising your Research
• Public Records Office of Victoria
• Trove 
• Workhouses

Echuca Cemetery recorded

Congratulations to the Echuca Moama Family History Group for their extensive work to create the Echuca Cemetery 150 Year Pictorial History. Campaspe Regional Library was presented with a copy of their register, which will be made available to researchers in out Local History collection.  Also presented with copies were the Echuca Historical Society and the Echuca Cemetery Trust.  Pictured are David from the Cemetery Trust, Anita EMFHG, Dot and Jan from the Echuca Historical Society, Jenny and Victoria from the Library and Judy from EMFHG. Well done to the Group for all your hard work, what a great resource for family/local history researchers.