Friday, March 1, 2019

FamilySearch

Here is a list of what's new and free on FamilySearch so far this year.


Country
Collection
Indexed Records
Australia
50,944
Austria
75,102
Belgium
2,757
Benin
10
Bolivia
419,322
Brazil
4,552,840
Brazil
2,120
Cape Verde
19,477
Chile
70,261
Costa Rica
75,296
Czech Republic
1,059
Dominican Republic
6,437
El Salvador
306,119
England
319
England
994,791
France
1,388
France
48,409
France
1,151
France
3,064,022
France
372,562
France
304,196
France
511
Germany
7,397,644
Germany
3,457
Germany
2,871,125
Germany
34,378
Germany
17,160
Hungary
113,787
United States
7,900
Italy
34,729
Italy
123,204
Italy
120,752
Netherlands
55,943
Nicaragua
35,367
Other
173,946
Peru
19,808
Peru
18,924
South Africa
3,686
South Africa
330,782
South Africa
134,526
United Kingdom
3,153
United States
126
United States
321
United States
94,757
United States
4,443
United States
129,668
United States
356,122
United States
785
United States
83,991
United States
45,437
United States
656,620
United States
348
United States
20,709
United States
72
United States
288,877
United States
769
United States
1,392,105
United States
487,730
United States
39

Friday, February 15, 2019

WDYTYA Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to RB Digital eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue
  • Grow your research
    WDYTYA? genealogist Laura Berry reveals the TV show's brick wall busting family history strategies
  • Are you descended from royalty?
    Anthony Adolph sorts the myths from the facts in researching royal ancestry
  • We will remember them
    How to find your forebear's name on a war memorial
  • Park life
    Looking forward to a springtime stroll in a public park? Sue Wilkes explains how they revolutionised our ancestors' leisure time
  • Reader story
    How Lynda Giller discovered her great grandmother's scandalous affair
  • Plus...
    How to find your ancestor's apprentice records; using reverse image search; the lives of laundresses; and much more...

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Families in British India

Did your family spend time in India during the time of British rule?   The Families In British India Society (FIBIS) is a self-help organisation devoted to members researching their British India family history and the background against which their ancestors led their lives in India under British rule.

Their database has a number of resources available to search, and recently 15,376 names from the Times of India arrival and departure notices for 1896 have now been uploaded to the FIBIS database website. This batch comprises of 8,023 arrivals and 7,353 departures and brings the total number of arrival and departure notices transcribed by this project to 501,298.

The FIBIS database contains a number of other resources, including bonds, cemeteries and monuments, censuses, civil service records, directories, maritime records, military records, railways, schools and orphanages, and wills and probate.  All are fee to search.

Wednesday, February 6, 2019

WW1 Monumenta

Retired artist Howard Wood has created WW1 Monumenta, a new website of 360-degree photo panoramas of Commonwealth First World War cemeteries in France and Belgium. It features approximately 500 cemeteries so far, with plans to add up to 450 more.

Cemeteries are listed in alphabetical order, so you simply find the mane of the cemetery you are looking for and see if there is a link to that name yet.  If there is, you can enter the cemetery and conduct a full 360 degree sweep.  Individual headstones are not photographed, but you can get the feeling of standing in the cemetery (generally a central point) and turning around for a seamless view.

While the website is clearly still in development, a huge amount of work has already been done, and the result gives you a feeling of actually standing in the cemetery taking in the views.

Saturday, January 26, 2019

1828 Census of New South Wales

Great news for those researching their early Australian family history.  The New South Wales State Archives have just announced they are in the process of digitising the 1828 Census of New South Wales, which will also be included in the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register.  Below is the statement put out by the Archives.

"We are thrilled that records of the 1828 Census of NSW which we hold as part of the State Archives Collection are to be inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register. This is wonderful national and international recognition of the State Archives Collection and our work in preserving and making accessible the State’s archives.
The 1828 Census was the first official census undertaken by NSW after it was found the Governor had no authority to compel free men to come to a muster – the previous means of counting the colony’s population.

The Census covers some 36,500 inhabitants, both convict and free, and captures a social and economic picture of the Colony of NSW in November 1828, 40 years after the Colony’s establishment. It covers all settlements within the jurisdiction of the then colony of NSW including Moreton Bay and Norfolk Island.

It records such detailed information for each person (including children) as name, age, if free or convict, if born in the colony or ship and year of arrival, sentence if arrived as a convict, religion, employment, residence, district, total number of acres, acres cleared, acres cultivated, horses, horned cattle, sheep, and remarks.

The records to be inscribed on the UNESCO Australian Memory of the World Register include:
We are in the process of digitising this material which will be made available on our website in the coming weeks.

We will also be announcing some exciting plans for the 1828 Census that will allow more people than ever before to view the documents – stay tuned!"

Like many others, I'll be keeping an eye on the Archives website and looking forward to delving into the records as they become available.