Old Maps Online

The Old Maps Online portal allows you to search for and access old maps for free.  Type a place name into the search engine and thumbnail pictures appear.  You can then click on the one you want to view.  There is a list of collections from where the maps have been collated with links to the repositry holding the originals.

Valuation Office Survey

Part of the National Archives website, the Valuation Office Survey was carried out between 1910 and 1915 to assess all site values in the UK for taxation purposes.  The catalogue contains descriptions of nearly 50,000 Valuation Office Survey maps.  When searching you need to have an idea of where your ancestor was living, such as an address from the 1911 census.
The maps serve as the means of reference to more than 95,000 Valuation Office Field Books which contain descriptions of more than 9 million individual houses, farms and other properties, detailing the use and value of lands and buildings, and naming their owners and occupiers. Valuation Office Field Books can only be viewed at The National Archives.

Deceased Online

Deceased Online alows you to search registers by Country, Region, County, Burial Authority or Crematorium free - further information incurs a fee.  They now offer access to the digitised records of the Peterborough Cathedral - 1200 records from the 16th century to 1995.  Burial registers are included for most records and there are some photos of monuments.  Records include Mary, Queen of Scots and Catherine of Aragon.  The site has also started releasing data from its collection of records from London's Brompton Cemetery.

Welsh Newspapers Online

Welsh Newspapers Online is a free online resource from the National Library of Wales where you can discover millions of articles from the Library’s rich collection of historical newspapers. The site currently lets you search and access over 250,000 pages from 24 newspaper publications from 1844 until 1910 and will grow to over 1 million pages as more publications are added during 2013.  Search all newspapers or select specific titles, narrow by date or type of article, or browse through specific newspapers, dates or regions.  Searching is free and does not require users to register at all.

German Military Grave Registration Service

The German Military Grave Registration Service database contains more than 2 million names of missing and dead German soldiers from World War I and World War II. All that is necessary is a surname (nachname) to search. On the first visit you will be required to register with your name and address (Straße/Nr. - Street and Number, Land - Country, PLZ - Postal or Zip Code, and Ort - City) to view the search results.  Be aware the site is in German, which can make navigating the site challenging - my one year of high school German was not really adequate to the challenge!

Internment.net

Interment.net is a free online library of cemetery records for historical and genealogy research.  The database contains over 3 million records from over 5000 cemeteries worldwide and contains actual cemetery transcriptions as well as links to other cemeteries around the world. You can search cemetery burial records or browse records by region.  While coverage is not extensive in some areas it is well worth browsing their list of cemeteries to see what is available.

Free access to Irish Records with Find My Past

On June 30, 1922, the Public Records Office of Ireland, located at the historic Four Courts in Dublin, caught fire during the Irish Civil War. Tragically a considerable amount of Irish records were destroyed. The fire has had lasting effects – still felt today – as Irish family history requires a unique approach to research than other heritages. To commemorate this anniversary and encourage exploration of Irish genealogy, findmypast.com will offer its full collection of Irish Birth, Marriage and Death indexes free of charge from June 27 to June 30. Anyone searching for their Irish ancestors can access the full Irish record collection by registering for free at findmypast.com.

English Heritage Archive

Search over 1 million catalogue entries describing photographs, plans and drawings of England's buildings and historic sites, held in the English Heritage Archive.

•Including photographs dating from the 1850s to the present day
•Ranging from architectural details to archaeological landscapes, from country houses to coal mines
•Covering counties from Cornwall to Northumberland

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.

Historic Directories

Have you searched some of the historic directories for your ancestors?  The Historic Directories Project is a digital library of local and trade directories for England and Wales, from 1750 to 1919. It contains high quality reproductions of comparatively rare books, essential tools for research into local and genealogical history.  Below is the 1882 Kelly's Directory page for Fordham in Essex, where my ancestor Joseph Green was noted as a major landholder.  He also appears in earlier Post Office Directories, also available from the same site.  The Historic Directories can be search by Location, Decade or Keyword, and is free to use.

Australian Electoral Rolls

The Ancestry.com database contains selected Australian electoral rolls, with the exception of South Australia, that run from 1903-1980. Electoral rolls were compiled by each state during election years to determine the number and names of individuals eligible to vote. Information listed in electoral rolls usually includes:
•Number
•Name of voter
•Gender
•Address
•Occupation
Electoral rolls are great records to use as “census substitutes.” They are useful when census records are either not complete or non-existent, and are usually available in between census years. Because electoral rolls were published on a fairly consistent basis and are generally country-wide, they are useful for tracking individuals over time and place.
Below is the Electoral Roll image for my Great-Grandmother Eliza Jennion and her second husband Edward, who were living in Charlotte Place, St Kilda at the time of this roll in 1914.

Henry Montgomery Clark

My Great-Uncle, Henry Montgomery Clark, served in World War Two along with three of his brothers, David James, Leonard Rupert and Russell Nicholas.  All were in different units and I have been told 3 served in the Middle East, and found themselves in the siege of Tobruk.  Originally I has been told all 4 brothers served un Tobruk, but have since been corrected - beware the inaccurate family story!  While I knew about their WW2 military service I was surprised to find that Henry also served in the Militia during the 1930s - something I discovered while searching family records on Recordsearch at the National Archives of Australia.  Below is his enlistent form in the militia in 1934.

Eliza Pummeroy

This article from The Argus on 9 May 1901 concerns my great grandmother Eliza Pummeroy who was left destitute upon the death of her husband.  I had never known she faced the courts in an application for relief.  Her children did end up in care for a while, until after Eliza remarried.  Not only does this article tell about her struggle but also fills in a lot of the detail on the death of her husband Alfred.

Another great article found on Trove.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch has changed the look of their website. When you go to the relaunched website for the first time, it should offer you a video tour of the website enhancements. Amongst the new features are the ability to build a family tree and share photos of ancestors online. This provides a new avenue for making contact with others researching your family and sharing your knowledge and family stories.
While searching the historical records is still completely open, access to most of the new features requires registering to sign in to the site.  Access is still free and registering is also free and quick to do.
FamilySearch.org has also made available a new collection of some 74,000 images of Tasmania civil registration records from 1803 to 1933. These are birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records from the Archives Office of Tasmania. The images are organized region and then by type of record. The images are not searchable by name and many of the records were kept in ledger books as opposed to individual certificates, so it will require some digging to find an ancestor.

Europeana 1914-1918

Europeana 1914-1918 is based on an initiative at the University of Oxford where people across Britain were asked to bring family letters, photographs and keepsakes from the War to be digitised. The success of the idea – which became the Great War Archive – has encouraged Europeana, Europe’s digital archive, library and museum, to bring other national or local institutions across Europe into an alliance with Oxford University.  The project is collecting memorabilia and stories from the period of the Great War (1914-1918). This phase of the project is focussing on European items: letters, postcards, photographs and stories from Germany, Luxembourg, Ireland, Slovenia and the UK.

The Word on the Street - Scottish Broadsheets

In the centuries before there were newspapers and 24-hour news channels, the general public had to rely on street literature to find out what was going on. The most popular form of this for nearly 300 years was 'broadsides' - the tabloids of their day. Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.
The National Library of Scotland's online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides lets you see for yourself what 'the word on the street' was in Scotland between 1650 and 1910. Crime, politics, romance, emigration, humour, tragedy, royalty and superstitions - all these and more are here.
Each broadside comes with a detailed commentary and most also have a full transcription of the text, plus a downloadable PDF facsimile. You can search by keyword, browse by title or browse by subject.

Dating old Photographs

The Roger Vaughan Picture Library provides a guide with a number of links to help date old photographs, with advice to determine what decade is a photograph from using the changes of the designs on the back and  fashion changes over time.  The site also covers types of photographs and links to online photograph databases as well as local trade directories.

London marriage licences, 1521-1869

The book of London marriage licences, 1521-1869, has been digitally scanned and is available online via the Internet Archive.  Contributed by the University of California Libraries, the book can be read online or downloaded in a number of formats, including PDF, Kindle, and EPub.  It is an alphabetical index by husband's surname, with an index of matches for the female partner included at the back, and is 866 pages in length.
Examply entry :
Mason, Stephen, of St Bennett, Gracechurch, London, Merchant, bachelor, about 26 and Mrs Sarah Woolrich, of Bartholomew Close, London, Spinster, about 25, her father' consent - at Barrett, co Herts.  18 June 1677. V.

Norman Clark in the news

My great uncle Norman Clark died at the age of 18 when he was taken by a shark off Middle Brighton Pier on Feb15th 1930.  He was the first swimmer to be killed by a shark in the bay for over 50 years, and was killed in full view of hundreds of people as there was a boating regatta taking place at the time.  The incident was reported in numerous papers around Australia - not just the Melbourne Argus but papers like the Rockhampton News, Launceston Times, Adelaide Advertiser, Brisbane Courier and Western Australian Mail.

Just looking at the language is fascinating - I doubt it would be allowed today to describe a young man's death in a shark attack as a "thrilling struggle".

I have over 20 newspaper articles reporting the attack and subsequent hunt for the shark, which was never found.  All the articles were found in about an hour while searching Trove, the website of the National Library of Australia, which has been busily digitizing newspapers for some time now.  What will you find there?

National Family History Week

National Family History Week is held from 2nd - 11th August this year.  During the week events will be conducted across the country that focus on genealogy, family history, heraldry and related subjects including family reunions, seminars, talks, open days, history walks, book launches, film evening and expos. Check your state on the website for details of local events.
Campaspe Regional Library will hold a series of Family History talks.  Bookings are essential for all sessions and can be made on 5482 1997 or by contacting your local branch library.
Sessions times and topics
Fri 2nd - Intro. to online resources.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-4pm
Sat 3rd - Intro to online resources.  Kyabram Branch Library, 10.30am-12noon
Mon 5th - Using Trove.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-3pm
Tues 6th - Ancestry.com.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Tues 6th - Intro. to online resources.  Tongala Branch Library, 4-6pm
Wed 7th - Famliysearch.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Thurs 8th - National Archives of Australia.  Echuca Branch Library, 12-1pm
Fri 9th - Victorian Public Records Office.  Echuca Branch Library, 2-3pm

Now and Then Newsletter

Now&Then provides up-to-date information about new research tools and resources, services and seminars, exhibitions and other activities taking place at the State Records of New South Wales. Now & Then is distributed every two months.
Articles from the latest issue include : Online News - 2012 Christmas Competition Winners! - 2012 Satisfaction Survey Results - Probate and Divorce transfers from the NSW Supreme Court update - Sentenced beyond the Seas update - Probate and the Divorce transfers from the Supreme Court update - Archives Outside blog update - Flickr update - Treasures in the records - Spotlight on Surveyors' Sketch Books - Stay up-to-date with State Records - Upcoming talks and tours.

The will of David Mulholland

This is the handwritten will of my great-grandfather David Mulholland, found on the Public Records Office of Victoria website.  This fascinating document not only gives the names of David's wife and surviving children, it gives the married surnames of his daughters, plus an insight into the family dynamics.  David's wife Eliza can live in the house for her lifetime (and can do as she likes with the furniture upon her death) and the two sons who have worked the land with their father share the land and stock and pay their mother 5 shillings a week to live on.  The son who has his own business receives 50 pounds cash, the unmarried daughter living at home 20 pounds - and spends the rest of her life living on her brothers' charity.  Of the 3 married daughters my grandmother Pricilla (Mrs Clark) is clearly the favourite - she receives 10 pounds from her father while her two other married sisters get a shilling each!

Irish Lives Remembered

Irish Lives Remembered is a free online genealogy magazine focusing on Irish research and resources.  Issue 10 of the magazine, the March 2013 edition, is currently online and features a 16 page special Irish-Australian supplement along with a number of other articles on Irish genealogy research.  Through the website Issuu - also free - you can also view back issues of the magazine.

RootsTech

RootsTech is an opportunity to discover the latest family history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research, and be inspired in the pursuit of your ancestors. It is a conference with a unique emphasis on helping individuals learn and use the latest technology to get started or accelerate their efforts to find, organize, preserve and share their family’s connections and history. Workshops and interactive presentations are aimed at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.

The conference took place in Salt Lake City, Utah from March 21-23, and many of the presentations can be viewed onlint via the RootsTech website.

The Forgotten Times

Australia's first FREE digital-only online history magazine, The Forgotten Times is a history magazine with stories for those interested in all issues relating to genealogy, Australian history or researching a family tree.

The Forgotten Times is produced by a team of journalists keen to provide the very best history and family tree stories - ones that are really worth reading. If you ever asked What is History? well here it is in its most readable form.

Their list of expert writers continues to grow and includes : Christine Yeats, Australian History Society; Zoe D'Arcy, National Archives of Australia, Australian National Maritime Museum with more to come...

1922 Irish Army

MilitaryArchives.ie has updated their 1922 Irish Army Census database. It is now searchable by name (first and last), location and age. The database contains 33,210 records. A typical record lists the name of the soldier, where they were stationed, their division, home address, age, marital status, religion, name and address of next of kin (typically a father or mother) and the place and date of attestation (when and where they signed up for the military). The image below shows a typical record. Access is free.

Welsh Newspapers Online

In March 2012, the National Library of Wales is expected to launch online the first one million pages of its historic newspaper collection, called Welsh Newspapers Online. Eventually, the aim is to digitize some two million pages of newspapers and journals from before 1911 (the current out-of-copyright date). A list of newspapers and journals that have been identified for digitization is available on the website. When this website launches, it will provide the largest body of searchable text related to Wales. Access will be free.

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland site was launched on 8 November 2012 by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. From this site, you can access the Census records for 1901 and 1911, the Tithe Applotment Books for 1823 to 1837 and the Soldiers’ Wills for 1914 to 1917.


The site will have a large number of other genealogical records added to it over the coming years, including:
1) Calendars of Wills and Administrations (1858– 1922);
2) Nineteenth-century census survivals (1821-1851);
3) Valuation Office House and Field Books (1848–1860);
4) Census Search Forms for the 1841 and 1851 Censuses.
All of these records will be free to access, through searchable databases and linked images of relevant pages. Eventually, it is hoped that the site will contain all of the important and easily accessible genealogical material in the custody of the National Archives.

The Soldiers’ Wills collection is the latest major project to become available free online, providing access to the wills of soldiers who died in the First World War (1914-1917). This is the first phase of the project carried out by the National Archives to digitise the 9,000 wills of the soldiers who died. Work is continuing and the remainder of the collection will be released online in 2013.

Onlinenames

Free online name listings including: Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, United States, Wales, Zimbabwe and world-wide one-name studies.

Online names is a free searchable database managed by Adelaide Proformat and compiled from public submissions. It has been available since 1997. The site has been upgraded since 8 June 2011 and many new features are now available.  While still small, the site is well worth using and will only grow if people take the time to post the names they are researching.

FamilySearch and WorldCat

FamilySearch.org has formed a partnership with OCLC to share genealogical data. OCLC is a non-profit library organization that originally started as the Ohio College Library Center (OCLC) and has since grown to become an international library cooperative that is best known for the WorldCat library catalog. WorldCat links over 10,000 libraries worldwide. It is essentially the world's largest library catalog.

In this new partnership, FamilySearch.org will make its catalog of genealogical information accessible to WorldCat users. In exchange, going forward FamilySearch will be incorporating WorldCat search results into their website. What this means for genealogists is that the sharing of genealogical information across two major (and free) organizations will ultimately make it easier for people to find their ancestors.

National Archives of Australia

The National Archives of Australia is looking for volunteers to help transcribe records. They have created a special section on their website called arcHIVE for anyone interested in transcribing records. To make the process easier, every document awaiting transcription is identified as easy, medium or hard. You also have the option of choosing the type of record that you would like to transcribe. This allows transcribers to work at their own pace and comfort level from their own home.

Tasmanian Records

FamilySearch.org has added a new collection of some 96,000 images of various Tasmanian genealogy records. This collection spans the years 1829 to 1961 and includes land records, school records, court records and occupation/guild records. Details on Australian convicts can be found buried in the court records. There are four types of convict records (tickets of leave, certificates of freedom, pardon and convict indents). The records are organized by location. Access to the collection is free.