My Family History

Findmypast.com has added another decade of records to its UK outbound Passenger Lists.   The online records now include over 15 million passengers names covering the years 1890 to 1929.   

I’ve already found a number of people who immigrated to Australia between 1920 and 1929.  There is more information available on the original images than in previous years, such as each passenger’s last address in the UK, making it much easier to identify people. 

An announcement from the National Archives about the 1911 census reads: 

The National Archives is delighted to announce that ScotlandOnline will partner the UK government´s official archive in the forthcoming project to put the 1911 census for England and Wales online.

The 1911 census (document references RG 14 and RG 78) is huge  – it currently occupies 2 kilometres of shelving at The National Archives.  Comprising over eight million householder schedules and a further 38,000 enumerators´ summary books, it details information relating to approximately 35 million people then living in England and Wales.

Once digitised the census will take up an equally large ½ a petabyte of computer memory or, physically, 800 data tapes. The digital scanning alone in preparation for digitisation will create 18 million images – 14 times the number of images created in advance of the 1901 census being launched online in 2002.

Census records are invaluable in helping us trace our ancestors, and access to them can help those seeking to trace their family tree.  From 2009 there will be a phased release of the information in the 1911 census starting with the major conurbations. This will include images and transcription data, but with sensitive data redacted in line with the Information Commissioner´s recent ruling.   From 3 January 2012 the public will have full access to the entire 1911 census, including the information not accessible in 2009. Researchers anywhere in the world will be able to search across the fields of the census by name, address or The National Archives reference,  and download high-resolution digital images.

You can read the remainder of the article here….

British Army World War One service and pension records are online for the first time.  Available now are the surnames beginning with the letters A and B.  Upon completion of the project you will be able to search approximately 2.5 million soldier’s records. 

The pension records relate to soldiers who were discharged because of sickness or injuries sustained during the War.  They include the medical records relating to the disability for which a pension was granted.

The service records describe the careers of soldiers who completed their service, also those who were killed in action, executed or died of their wounds or disease.  They provide full details of their service and their death if it was recorded.

Five million soldiers from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales fought in World War One but around 60 per cent of the service records for these soldiers were destroyed during a German bombing raid on the War Office in London in September 1940.

The originals that did survive the bombing raid, many badly damaged, have been conserved by The National Archives and make up the two collections that will be available online.

The name index can be searched for free at Ancestry.co.uk.  Pages from the original files are available by subscription or with Pay per View.

Scotlands People have just finished uploading the images of birth, baptism and marriage entries from the Old Parish Registers of the Established Church of Scotland.  It’s a great addition to the site with some records dating back to 1553.  I’ve already downloaded a couple of pages of baptism’s to the computer for my Cramond ancestors.  If you are doing any family history research in Scotland this site should be your first stop. 

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).

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.

Looks like the Family Search Indexing project is well underway; they are still looking for volunteers to help preserve our world family history.

I can’t wait for this project to be completed.  Free access to the Family Search Indexes and digitised images will be available over the Internet at home and through local Family History Center’s.

A new database from Find My Past, in association with The National Archives, is now underway.  The new database called Ancestorsonboard will feature the Outward Passenger Lists for those leaving the British Isles from 1890 to 1960.  You will be able to search for people who left for the destinations of Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.

Digitised images of the passenger lists will be available for download to view, save and print.  This should help a lot of researchers find those ancestors that just seem to have disappeared…