Do you have Welsh ancestry? The National Library of Wales has completed a project to make tithe maps of Wales searchable online.
The new Places of Wales website is in beta and welcomes feedback from visitors. It makes over 300,000 records searchable online, along with accompanying apportionment documents.
Tithes were payments charged on land users. Originally, payments were made using commodities like crops, wool, milk and stock. Tithe maps were produced between 1838 and 1850 to ensure that all tithes were paid with money rather than produce.
These are the most detailed maps of their period and they cover more than 95% of Wales. The apportionments accompanying each map list the payable tithes, the names of the landowners and land occupiers, the land use, and in most cases (75%) the field names.
An almost complete set of the tithe maps for Wales is held in the National Library of Wales as part of the diocesan records of the Church in Wales, who kindly consented to them being digitised as part of the Cynefin project. A complete set of accompanying tithe apportionments was supplied in digital form by The National Archives in London, who had digitised these documents before the start of the project.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Friday, November 3, 2017
November WDYTYA Magazine
The November issue of BBC Who Do You Think You Are magazine is out now. Now available in digital form free to Campaspe Regional Library patrons via RB Digital.
Inside this month's issue
Inside this month's issue
- How to track down your Army ancestors
Phil Tomaselli surveys the records available on Britain's fighting units, from the 14th century to the 1950s - Explore your archive
Don't miss our guide to the wealth of information stored in the UK's 600-plus local archives - Reader story
The pupils of Wycliffe Preparatory School in Gloucestershire uncover the lives of Old Boys who died in the First World War - Queens of industry
John McGoldrick tells the story of the 20th-century 'industry queens' who became national celebrities - Postal ancestors
Susannah Coster of the Postal Museum explains how to investigate relatives who worked for the Post Office - Plus...
The best websites for military medals and awards; the lives of ancestors who worked as railway navvies; exploring churchwardens' accounts; and more...
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
South Australia Immigration Records on FamilySearch
Over 200,000 records of those who emigrated to South Australia are available in a new collection on free family history website FamilySearch.
The new collection of immigrants ship papers, dating from 1849 to 1940, contains records of the names and ages of 201,371 immigrants, many of whom were British, Irish or German, and the ships they sailed on. The collection also includes over 6,000 digital images of the papers, allowing researchers to view more details about the immigrants, including their profession and county of origin.
Information on images varies but may include ship's name, master's name, tonnage, where bound, date, port of embarkation, names of passengers, ages, occupation, nationality, and port at which passengers have contracted to land. Original records are located in the State Records of South Australia, Adelaide.
The new collection of immigrants ship papers, dating from 1849 to 1940, contains records of the names and ages of 201,371 immigrants, many of whom were British, Irish or German, and the ships they sailed on. The collection also includes over 6,000 digital images of the papers, allowing researchers to view more details about the immigrants, including their profession and county of origin.
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| Immigration record of my Beseler ancestors |
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
What "I Didn't Find Anything" Really Means
When you’re researching in any resource — a book, database, microfilm or
whatever — remember that “I didn’t find anything” really means “I
didn’t find what I was looking for in this resource.” It doesn’t mean that your person isn’t
there, it just means you didn’t find them in that particular resource with
the search strategy you were using.
It is entirely possible, of course, that your person really isn’t in those records. But before you write them off completely, ask yourself if there’s something else you should be considering or another way of searching for the records you are after.
Consider the source you’re using. Was it a database or an index? Not finding someone in an index is different than not finding them in the records themselves. Look at the source – is it complete, or are there gaps, missing pages or years that could cover the record you are looking for. Some records haven’t survived in complete form. Is it transcribed? Could there be spelling errors in the transcription – or in the original records themselves?
For those times when the record you’re looking for doesn’t exist — either your ancestor isn’t in the record or the record was destroyed — think about other records that could give you the same information.
If you’re in a database, will it search variations in spelling or do you need to do multiple searches to find both “Smith” and “Smythe”? What about Mc and Mac?
Did you put too much into your search? Some databases will try to match everything that you enter, and if you search for William Ramsey, born 1870 in Kyabram, it won’t return a record that has William Ramsey, born 1869 in Kyabram. Play with your search terms – sometimes less is more.
Consider not searching at all. Stop searching and start browsing. You never know what you might find hidden by a spelling error or some other small difference when you browse through a set of records.
It is entirely possible, of course, that your person really isn’t in those records. But before you write them off completely, ask yourself if there’s something else you should be considering or another way of searching for the records you are after.
Consider the source you’re using. Was it a database or an index? Not finding someone in an index is different than not finding them in the records themselves. Look at the source – is it complete, or are there gaps, missing pages or years that could cover the record you are looking for. Some records haven’t survived in complete form. Is it transcribed? Could there be spelling errors in the transcription – or in the original records themselves?
For those times when the record you’re looking for doesn’t exist — either your ancestor isn’t in the record or the record was destroyed — think about other records that could give you the same information.
If you’re in a database, will it search variations in spelling or do you need to do multiple searches to find both “Smith” and “Smythe”? What about Mc and Mac?
Did you put too much into your search? Some databases will try to match everything that you enter, and if you search for William Ramsey, born 1870 in Kyabram, it won’t return a record that has William Ramsey, born 1869 in Kyabram. Play with your search terms – sometimes less is more.
Consider not searching at all. Stop searching and start browsing. You never know what you might find hidden by a spelling error or some other small difference when you browse through a set of records.
Friday, October 27, 2017
What's in a Name?
From church records to birth, marriage and death
registrations, census records to electoral rolls and passenger lists to
immigration and naturalization records, many of our favourite sources for
family information have captured a variety of spellings, handwritings, and
abbreviations. As those historical collections have been digitized and
transcribed, modern day technicians have struggled to correctly interpret and
preserve an entry from long ago, and subsequently we as researchers have
struggled to find them.
If there is one thing I have learnt in my years of researching my family, it is that NO surname, however simple, will EVER be recorded with the same spelling all the time. When researching, always consider how a name may have been misspelled or incorrectly recorded. Remember that the clerk creating the record spelled the name the way he felt like spelling it - how it sounded to him at the time. And frequently he got it wrong. Sometimes he got it spectacularly wrong!
Abbreviations can also complicate research - William was often abbreviated as Wm, Thomas as Thos or Tom, Patrick as Pat or Patk or Patr, Daniel as Dan or Danl or Danny, Margaret as Maggie, Elizabeth as Beth or Eliza. When searching for an ancestor, be mindful that an exact search for a given name may unintentionally hide an ancestor from view if the original record or transcription used an abbreviation.
In addition to alternate spellings and abbreviations, another source of name variations comes from errors made during the transcription process. As people transcribe family history records, they seek to preserve content exactly as it appears in the historical original. Despite best efforts, errors do occur and names can be unintentionally altered. Consider how old handwriting may be misinterpreted - both by you and by earlier transcribers or indexers.
Some databases are quite flexible in regards to spelling variations when searching, but they will never cover every possible error and sometimes several searches are necessary to locate an elusive record. Remember to be creative and keep digging - you never know what you might find - or how it may be spelled!
If there is one thing I have learnt in my years of researching my family, it is that NO surname, however simple, will EVER be recorded with the same spelling all the time. When researching, always consider how a name may have been misspelled or incorrectly recorded. Remember that the clerk creating the record spelled the name the way he felt like spelling it - how it sounded to him at the time. And frequently he got it wrong. Sometimes he got it spectacularly wrong!
Abbreviations can also complicate research - William was often abbreviated as Wm, Thomas as Thos or Tom, Patrick as Pat or Patk or Patr, Daniel as Dan or Danl or Danny, Margaret as Maggie, Elizabeth as Beth or Eliza. When searching for an ancestor, be mindful that an exact search for a given name may unintentionally hide an ancestor from view if the original record or transcription used an abbreviation.
In addition to alternate spellings and abbreviations, another source of name variations comes from errors made during the transcription process. As people transcribe family history records, they seek to preserve content exactly as it appears in the historical original. Despite best efforts, errors do occur and names can be unintentionally altered. Consider how old handwriting may be misinterpreted - both by you and by earlier transcribers or indexers.
Some databases are quite flexible in regards to spelling variations when searching, but they will never cover every possible error and sometimes several searches are necessary to locate an elusive record. Remember to be creative and keep digging - you never know what you might find - or how it may be spelled!
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Researching others
Our ancestors did not live in a vacuum. They had extended
family members, neighbours, business contacts, colleagues, friends and aquaintances. This has implications for us in two ways:
Look at the people mentioned in wills – who were the executors and administrators of the estate? Who were the guardians of any minors? Remember guardians were not necessarily appointed to take care of the children – their role was to protect their legal interests. Who were the beneficiaries? Wills do not just list surviving children, they often also give the married names of adult daughters and other information. Who witnessed a will? All these important roles were generally not given to strangers. How does each person fit in?
Look at godparents at a christening or baptism, not just for your direct ancestor, but for all their siblings as well. Each child may have different godparents – again, it is not a role given to strangers. Who are they, and why were they chosen for the role?
Unless they eloped, look at the witnesses to a marriage. Remember to look at both the civil and church marriage records if applicable, and if a person married more than once, check both - or all - marriages.
The same applies for informants on a death certificate, even the neighbours in a census or electoral roll. Often families lived close to one another.
What about immigration? Many of us have a tale of migration in our family. (“Great-great-grandad came to Australia from Italy”) but great-great-grandad probably didn’t do so in isolation. Chances are he either came here with a group of people and/or he was moving to an area where he already knew people.
This doesn’t just apply to moving to a new country. Our ancestors’ migration within a country (or even within a state or county) is often part of a group migration (people moving together all at once) or a chain migration (a few people go out ahead and other people follow later). We can use this to our advantage.
In shipping records, look at where others on the same ship came from. Look at others already settled in the place your family settled. People from the same area may have migrated in a group or followed earlier settlers.
- People tend to do things in groups.
- People tend to follow predictable patterns of who they associate with.
Look at the people mentioned in wills – who were the executors and administrators of the estate? Who were the guardians of any minors? Remember guardians were not necessarily appointed to take care of the children – their role was to protect their legal interests. Who were the beneficiaries? Wills do not just list surviving children, they often also give the married names of adult daughters and other information. Who witnessed a will? All these important roles were generally not given to strangers. How does each person fit in?
Look at godparents at a christening or baptism, not just for your direct ancestor, but for all their siblings as well. Each child may have different godparents – again, it is not a role given to strangers. Who are they, and why were they chosen for the role?
Unless they eloped, look at the witnesses to a marriage. Remember to look at both the civil and church marriage records if applicable, and if a person married more than once, check both - or all - marriages.
The same applies for informants on a death certificate, even the neighbours in a census or electoral roll. Often families lived close to one another.
What about immigration? Many of us have a tale of migration in our family. (“Great-great-grandad came to Australia from Italy”) but great-great-grandad probably didn’t do so in isolation. Chances are he either came here with a group of people and/or he was moving to an area where he already knew people.
This doesn’t just apply to moving to a new country. Our ancestors’ migration within a country (or even within a state or county) is often part of a group migration (people moving together all at once) or a chain migration (a few people go out ahead and other people follow later). We can use this to our advantage.
In shipping records, look at where others on the same ship came from. Look at others already settled in the place your family settled. People from the same area may have migrated in a group or followed earlier settlers.
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