My Family History

Just came across this wonderful website that tells you the origin of given or first names.  What’s in a Name is currently under development and was started because many Scottish forenames are interchangeable.  I didn’t know that someone named Elizabeth could also be called Isabel/Isobel.  It seems that Peter was interchangeable with Patrick. This being the case I think that I’ve just found the baptism for my third great grandfather Peter Black.  According to the 1851 census Peter was born about 1818 in Balmaclellan, Kirkudbright.  After checking the Scottish OPR’s I’ve found a baptism for a Patrick Black in 1818, his parents were James Black and Mary Jardine. 

Over 1,000 Alien Registration Cards have been added to documents online at The National Archives.  The files contain information about the people who settled in London over the past 100 years.  Most of the cards include a photograph and provide personal information on the individual, giving their full name, date of birth, date of arrival into the UK, marital status, details of any children, address, employment history and, if applicable, the date of naturalisation.

Ancestry.com have added passenger lists from 1820 to 1960 to its U.S. Historical Immigration Records.  They can be viewed for free until 30th November.

The 1851 census for Canada has also been added to the ever growing Ancestry databases.  Areas include New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Canada East (Lower Canada, or roughly Quebec), and Canada West (Upper Canada, or roughly Ontario).

According to the Times Online genealogy has become a national obsession with more than 3 million people using the National Archives to research their family history. 

The article that focuses on the TV program Who Do You Think You Are? discusses the happiness and the heartbreaks of tracing your family roots.  It’s not uncommon for some people to discover illegitimacy, bigamy, adoption, previously unknown relatives and even criminals in their family.  But it seems there are others who are disappointed if they fail to find some dark secret…

The article reminded me of my own search for my 3rd great grandmother Eliza Page.  Eliza arrived in Australia with her husband Thomas Sayer in December of 1852.  Sadly less than four years later she was dead; murdered in Horsham, Victoria by John Ross a neighbour.

You can read more about the article by John Naish here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-2434913,00.html

The National Library of Australia has more than 600,000 maps in it’s collection.  They include post-1900 Australian maps, a significant collection of pre-1900 Australian maps and more than 500,000 aerial photos. Many of them are in the NLA’s online catalogue, but the rest are only accessible by consulting the Library map staff.

You can check what’s available by going to www.nla.gov.au/map/ and enter the name of the area you are interested in.  If any of those listed shows a thumbnail of the map you can view it online; there are over 6000 available at the moment.  I have already been able to download a couple for my Horsfall and Williamson ancestors of Green Gully, Sandon and Robert Liddle of Glenrowan.  The maps created by the Department of Crown Lands and Survey show where my ancestors owned land and how much they owned.