New Genealogy Records - July to September 2009
Below is a listing of new genealogy records that became available on the internet between July and September 2009.
September 2009
England: Ancestry.co.uk has published more than 18 million London parish records on it's site. The parish records go back as far as 1539. Parish records are the only way to trace births, marriages or burials in the UK before 1837 since government records on such matters generally did not exist before this time. This project was a collaboration of Ancestry.com with London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts. Note: death records marked with a 'P' usually denotes someone who died of the Plague. Access is by subscription. [Link] You can usually get a free trial at the main Ancestry.com website by completing the form below.
Ireland: The National Archives in Dublin has put online the 1911 Ireland census. We think these genealogy records are the most important to go online this year. This is the last all-Ireland census before partition and one of only two surviving all-Ireland censuses (the other is the 1901 census, which is not yet online). The first national Ireland census was taken in 1821 with additional censuses every 10 years afterwards. Unfortunately, the 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 Ireland censues were destroyed during the Civil War. The 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses were ordered destroyed by the government during the First World War. It is generally though these censuses were pulped to feed a severe paper shortage caused by the war. All that remain are the 1901 and 1911 Ireland censuses, making these genealogy records extremely valuable. As well, the Irish government has gone out of their way to create a website that is well thought out, fully searchable and totally free. Each person in the 1911 census is listed by Christian name, surname, relation to head of the family, education, age, occupation, marital status and the person's ability to speak Irish. Access is free. Please note this site is extremely popular and sometimes there can be delays. [Link]
August 2009
UK and Canada: Ancestry.co.uk and Ancestry.ca have both added more than 100,000 British and Canadian prisoner of war records of soldiers held by Germany in World War II. In addition, the UK Army Roll of Honour has also been added, which includes 170,000 records of all British Army personnel killed in action during World War II. Access is by subscription. You can get a free trial subscription to the main site Ancestry.com by filling out the form below. [Link to Ancestry.co.uk] [Link to Ancestry.ca]
World: Google has quietly expanded its digitized newspaper archive. The number of indexed articles has quadrupled to somewhere over 4 million articles. Several new publications have been added including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Manila Standard, the Sydney Morning Herald and from Nova Scotia the Halifax Gazette, which has been digitized as far back as 1753. Access is free by a special Google search page. [Link]
US: WorldVitalRecords is providing free access to their website but just until Tuesday August 18th. Access is free but registration is required. [Link]
UK: FindMyPast is offering the 1901 UK census with new upgraded high-quality images. The company plans to improve next the quality of the images from the 1881 UK census. Access is by subscription. [Link]
US: Footnote is offering free access to the 1930 US census - but only for the month of August. Please note that some users have reported difficulty accessing the site due to strong demand. Access is free but registration is required. [Link]
UK: Ancestry.co.uk has put online the details of UK criminal trials from 1791 to 1892. This database contains the names and details of over 1.4 million criminal trials that took place in England and Wales during a period of great poverty. Discover the dark side of your family history in the searchable indexes! Access is by subscription. You can get a free trial subscription to the main site Ancestry.com by filling out the form below. [Link]
July 2009
England: The UK Arts and Humanities Research Council has put online an extraordinarily old collection of detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers in the employ of the English crown dating from 1369 to 1453. The fully searchable database includes first name, surname, military rank, name of the soldier's captain, commander's name, year of service and the nature of the military campaign as well as a reference to the original record. Given the fact these amazing genealogy records are over 500 years old, genealogists should be prepared to search for ancestors using the very old spellings of their family name. Access is free. [Link]
Canada: Library and Archives Canada has significantly upgraded their database containing references to immigrants who became naturalized Canadian citizens from 1915 to 1932 inclusive. The database now contains over 206,000 references. Access is free. [Link]
UK: A new website has just launched called A Vision of Britain Through Time. It specializes in mapping how Britain's 15,000 towns and villages have changed over time. Containing over 15 million facts, this is an excellent site to track your British ancestors. Simply type in the name of any town or village and the site will amalgamate an amazing wealth of useful information on the village and surrounding region. Access is free. [Link]
New Zealand: The National Library of New Zealand has added several more digitized newspapers to its online collection called Papers Past. The site has now digitized 52 New Zealand newspapers containing over 14 million articles. Access is free. [Link]
East Africa: A rare collection of 7,000 photographs documenting the European colonization of East Africa has just gone online. The Northwestern University Library Humphrey Winterton Collection of East Africa Photographs: 1860-1960 contains photographs of white settlers and many landscapes and images of East Africa, with a particular focus on Ethiopia. Access is free. [Link]
US: The Lowcountry Digital Library of Charleston, South Carolina has gone online and expects to have more than 50,000 items from public and private archives. The digital archives contains everything from family diaries to correspondence to slave passes. Access is free. [Link]
Canada: The city of Edmonton has expanded and relaunched their online photo archive. The collection currently has over 25,000 photographs with more to come. Access is free. A fee applies to order prints. [Link]