My Family History

British Marriages that took place overseas covering the years 1861 to 1921 are now online at BMD Registers.  Previously only viewable on microfilm at the National Archives they contain information on more than 38,000 people who were married abroad.  

Included in this series (RG34) are Marriage registers of British churches abroad.  Also marriages between British soldiers in France, Flanders and Holland that took place during and after the First World War, including many who had been prisoners of war.

Many of the marriage certificates were issued by authorities in the country’s local language.  These have been translated to provide a searchable database and then linked to a digital image of the original record.

An exciting new website was launched in July by the National Library of Australia.  In collaboration with the Australian State and Territory libraries, they have commenced a program to digitise out of copyright newspapers.  The Australian Newspapers Digitisation Project will include newspapers published in each state and territory from the 1800s to the mid-1950s, when copyright applies. The first Australian newspaper, published in Sydney in 1803, is included in the Program.

Even though this is still a beta version I have already located a few death notices and been able to add some new names to the family tree.  The papers available include The Argus, The Brisbane Courier & Courier-Mail, The Canberra Times, The Sydney Gazette & New South Wales Advertiser, The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser and the Hobart Town Gazette. Additional pages are being added each week, basic and advanced search facilities are available and titles can be browsed by title, state and date.

Discover Your Family History In The
World’s Largest Newspaper Archive!
NewspaperArchive.com, the largest historical newspaper database online, contains tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1759 to present. Every newspaper in the archive is fully searchable by keyword and date, making it easy for you to quickly explore historical content. They have an easy and intuitive interface and a lot of content. If you are looking for birth notices, marriage records, death notices, or any family news that might have been printed in a newspaper, check out NewspaperArchive.com.

Genealogy or Family History?
Genealogy, the study of pedigree differs from family history. The genealogist is concerned with ancestral descent and establishing family relationships.
The family historian aims to produce a well documented narrative history of interest to family members and future generations. The study of family history actually puts the ‘flesh on the bones’ and includes the historical circumstances and geographical situations surrounding the family.

How Far Back?
In England and Wales you should be able to trace your family roots with comparative ease back to 1837 when civil registration of births, marriages and deaths began. Getting back beyond 1837 normally relies mainly on the use of parish registers – with luck, and allied to other types of records, these might enable you to trace your family back to the 16th century. Beyond this can be extremely difficult, unless you can tie into a well documented pedigree, e.g. a famous person or a great land-owning family.

How to Begin?
Note the names of your close family and draw a rough family tree, starting with yourself at the bottom. If you are only able to go back as far as your grandparents, you are doing all right, particularly if you can fill in most or all of the birth, marriage and death dates. A great many people will not be able to get this far back at first so, if you are one of them, don’t let it bother you. The British love of red tape produced great record keepers!

Write down the names of all older relatives who are still left in the family; such relatives can be a mine of information. They may have birth, marriage and death certificates, in which case, borrowing copies of these will save you time and money.

Perhaps they will also have family bibles containing family history information going back many years, or photo albums or other documents that could help. You may find a relative has already started researching part of your family tree and will be willing to share this information with you. It will pay to contact them, either in person or by phone, letter or e-mail as soon as possible.

Visit your local library and see if they have a selection of books on how to trace your family tree.
Locate your nearest family history society. Even if your family does not originate locally, you will find meeting fellow family historians helpful, and listening to talks by knowledgeable speakers a bonus. If your family origins are further away, joining that local society could prove useful. The Federation of Family History Societies publishes a list of county societies on its web site www.ffhs.org. Each society publishes its own periodical, and virtually all produce a list of members’ interests. Membership fees are quite reasonable.

Article Source: http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com

Chalmers Cursley has been a family historian for 25 years. He is a member of the Society of Genealogists and the Guild of One-Name Studies. Please visit his Web Site and his Blog.

Findmypast.com has just added an additional 2.7 million new records to its Parish Records Collection.  There are now 15 million parish records available for searching dating from 1538.  The records have been transcribed over the last few years by various family history societies from across the UK.  The new additions include indexes and in some cases full parish register transcriptions. 

At present the collection only contains burials but over the coming months more records will be added that will include marriage’s and baptism’s. 

New from Ancestry.co.uk the Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificates, 1910-1950 contain approximately 28,000 index cards and 34 photograph albums of aviators who were issued with their flying licences (certificates) by the Royal Aero Club from 1910-1950. These included the first military and naval personnel to become pilots. Information listed on the index cards about the pilots includes: name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, rank or profession, date and place of certificate, and certificate number.

Record Search, a pilot site from Family Search is now available for public access.  The site is still under development while new records are added and new search features are being improved.  Millions of transcribed records and digital images are already available to search through or browse.  I’ve been able to locate a number of marriage and baptism images in the Durham Bishops Transcripts that are available.  More records are being indexed by volunteers and the databases are updated monthly.  

 

If your trying to find ancestors in Australia then electoral rolls are normally the best way to track movement because of the lack of census records.  Now instead of spending hours searching through microfiche copies you can search online at Ancestry.com.au

Some areas of Australia began compiling Electoral rolls of property owners in the 1840s.  By the 1850s most men were granted voting rights and half a centry later women were given the right to vote.  Each state compiled their electoral rolls during election years and the information listed usually includes number, the name of the voter, gender, address and occupation.

This new database from Ancestry currently includes electoral rolls for the following states and years:   

• Australian Capital Territory: 1928, 1935
• New South Wales: 1930, 1936
• Northern Territory: 1922, 1929, 1934
• Queensland: 1903, 1905, 1913, 1919, 1925, 1930, 1936
• Tasmania: 1914, 1919, 1928, 1936
• Victoria: 1856, 1903, 1909, 1914, 1919, 1924, 1931, 1936
• Western Australia: 1901, 1906, 1916, 1925, 1936  

The Guardian and Observer Digital Archive was recently launched online.  By early 2008 this archive will contain the digital reproduction of every page, article and advertisement published in the Guardian (since 1821) and the Observer (since 1791 – the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world).  The initial lauch covers the years 1821-1975 for the Guardian and 1900-1975 for the Observer.    

This is the first UK national newspaper to make it’s print archive available via it’s website.  Users can search, browse, save and print articles or advertisements.  Searching is free but there is a fee to view a full article for printing.  Subscriptions are available for 24 hours, three days or a month.   

Another great resource for family history researchers has just gone online; the nonconformist birth, marriage and death records from 1567 that are held by The National Archives.  

The site called BMD Registers, a project between the National Archives and S&N Genealogy Supplies, provides access to the images of the non-parochial and nonconformist registers of 1567-1840.  A basic search is free but you will need to pay a fee for advanced searches or to download images.

Birth, baptism, marriage and burial records are crucial for anyone researching their family history and before civil registration in 1837 the church registers provided this important source of information.  

The registers held by The National Archives are from a huge variety of nonconformist congregations, including Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Protestant Dissenters (known as ‘Dr Williams Library’) and Independents. There are also some registers from a small number of Roman Catholic communities.

When the project is complete you will also be able to access further miscellaneous birth, marriage and death records that include those of Quakers, of foreign congregations in England and of clandestine marriages before 1754.  Also records of miscellaneous foreign returns and records of life events occurring at sea.