New Genealogy Records - October to December 2010
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Below is a listing of new genealogy records that became available on the internet between July and September 2010. Many of these records can be searched using our free Genealogy Search Engine.
October 2010
UK- Northumberland County has launched a new service that allows people to order copies of historic birth, marriage and death (BMD) certificates online. Previously, BMD certificates could only be ordered by mail, which was inconvenient for anyone living outside the UK. The fee is £9 per certificate plus overseas delivery charges (if applicable). [Northumberland County Online Certificate Search] [Northumberland County Genealogy Resources]
Ghana – FamilySearch has added some 460,000 Ghana census records from the period 1982-1984. This is the first time FamilySearch has added genealogy records from Ghana. Access is free. [FamilySearch]
Canada – Ancestry.ca has added a new index of all persons who received government land grants in the province of Quebec between 1763 and 1890. Over 34,000 names are included in the index, which lists the name of the grantee, county and township of the grant and number of acres. Only the initial land grant is listed in the index. Any successive divisions or sale of the land is not included in the index. The reference number in the index can be used to view the complete letter patent (which often contains valuable genealogical information) held at the Quebec Archives. Access is by subscription. [Historic Quebec Land Grants]
South Africa – FindMyPast has just published the Register of the Second Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902. The database contains 260,000 entries compiled from over 330 sources. Included is the casualty roll with details on over 59,000 individuals. The database can be searched by surname. Access is by subscription. [FindMyPast]
US – Ancestry has added a rare collection of 75,000 prison records from some of the most infamous US federal prisons. Included are records from several prisons such as Alcatraz, Leavenworth, McNeil Island and Atlanta. The records in this collection span the years 1875 to 1963. The index can be searched for free. [US Penitentiary Records 1875-1963]
UK – The Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society has created a website devoted to Cumbria birth, marriage and death (BMD) indexes dating back to the start of the civil registration in 1837. A total of almost 500,000 BMDs have already been placed on the website. The objective of the website is to eventually cover all Cumbria births, marriages and deaths. The indexes can be searched for free. [Cumbria Birth Marriage Death Index]
Canada – Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has launched a new and improved version of the online database Canadian Naturalization 1915-1951. This database contains reference to people who became naturalized Canadians during the period. According to LAC ``this database is one of the few Canadian genealogical resources specifically designed to benefit researchers having roots other than British``. The database can be searched by name and date. Access is free. [Canadian Naturalization Database]
Ireland – Thousands of eyewitness accounts from the bloody Catholic uprising of 1641 have been transcribed and put online for the first time. Up to 12,000 Protestant settlers are thought to have died in the uprising, which eventually led to Oliver Cromwell`s brutal conquest of Ireland in 1649. The uprising (mainly centered around Ulster) ultimately resulted in half the land owned by Irish Catholics being confiscated and given to Protestants from Britain. The land redistribution was based on the 5,000 sworn statements given by the eyewitnesses in this collection, making it a valuable resource for genealogists. Access is free. [1641 Irish Depositions]
UK – FamilySearch has added 18.3 million images from the 1851 England and Wales census. It is not clear whether all of the images have been indexed, but access is free. [Free UK 1851 Census Records]
Belgium – FamilySearch has added about 4.3 million records from the Belgium civil registration (birth, marriage, death records) spanning the years 1795 to 1910. Access is free. [Belgium Civil Registration Records]
China – FamilySearch has added images from about 78,000 family genealogies from the Fung Ping Shan Library at the University of Hong Kong. Most of the genealogies are from Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and the New Territories. The oldest family genealogy goes back to 1500. Access is free. [China Genealogy Records]
Scotland – Edinburgh University has put online an archive that documents the city’s contribution to World War I. Called Edinburgh’s War 1914-1918, the archive focuses on how ordinary citizens from Edinburgh helped with the war effort. This ‘home front’ archive has some truly unique content (see image below) as well as information of use to genealogists. Edinburgh University eventually expects to expand the archive to cover other cities in Scotland. Access is free. [Edinburgh’s War 1914-1918]
Mexico – FamilySearch has added an additional 6 million images from Catholic Church records spanning the years 1546 to 1989. Most of the new records come from the regions of Geurrero, Hidalgo, Estado and Tlaxcala. Access is free. [Mexico Catholic Church Records]
Netherlands – FamilySearch has put online civil registration (birth, marriage, death) records spanning the years 1796 to 1950. About 2.5 million records were added, with the bulk of the new additions coming from the Zuid-Holland region. Access is free. [Netherlands Civil Registration Records]
Philippines – Civil registration (birth, marriage, death) records from the Manila region have been added to the FamilySearch website. About 2.6 million records are in this collection spanning the years 1899 to 1994. Access is free. [Manila Genealogy Records]
US - The Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) has just launched a new and improved website. This is the official US federal land records site. It is a valuable resource for anyone wanting to trace American ancestors who were homesteaders. The new website contains many new and improved features, including access to more than five million federal land title records (up from three million records on the old site) issued between 1820 and the present. The new website (which is still in beta) also has a better layout for searching for land patents, survey plats & field notes as well as land status records. Finally, the new website now allows map-based searches. Access is free. [US Federal Land Records]
US - The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society has digitized and indexed all issues of the NYG&B Record going back as far as 1870. All 563 issues can now be searched by surname and keyword. There are more than one million names listed in total. NYG&B Record is the oldest and one of the most distinguished genealogical journals in the country. Published quarterly, it concentrates on people and places in New York city and the surrounding state. The journal contains many compiled genealogies. The Society has also been busy adding other useful information to their databases, including part of the 1855 New York State census. Membership is required to access the databases and is highly recommended for anyone with New York city ancestors. [New York Genealogical and Biographical Society]
Canada – Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has created a new online database called Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865). This database provides reference to 77,000 petitions for land grants in present-day Ontario between the years 1763 to 1865. According to LAC, “many early settlers, both military and civilian, submitted petitions to the Governor to obtain Crown land”. Typical petitions would include military discharge certificates, United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolutionary War and reparations to Upper Canada citizens who had suffered loss during the War of 1812. Note this database only indexes the petitions. The actual petitions are not online. Still, it is worth checking for anyone who had ancestors that settled on a farm in Ontario between 1783 to 1865. Access is free. [Upper Canada Land Petitions 1763-1865]
US – The city of Newport News, Virginia has put historic documents on the city’s website. Everything from land deeds to postcards to historic maps is included in the new database (see image below). The material covers the period from the 1700s to the 1920s. Access is free. [Newport News Historic City Collection]
UK – FindMyPast has put online almost 860,000 Devon parish records. There periods covered are baptism records (1813 to 1839), marriage records (1754 to 1837) and burial records (1813 to 1839). Access is by pay-per-view. [Devon Parish Records]
Dominican Republic – FamilySearch has added 790,000 records from the civil registration of the Dominican Republic. The records span the years from 1801 to 2006. Access is free. [Dominican Republic Civil Registration Genealogy Records]
Italy – FamilySearch has added 385,000 church records from the Monreale Diocese in the Palermo region. The records span the period 1530 to 1919. Access is free. [Palermo Monreale Diocese Genealogy Records]
Belgium – Ghent University has uploaded over 100,000 historical books to Europeana, the European Union’s cultural heritage website. The 30 million newly added pages span four centuries of material in French, Dutch, German and other languages. There are many historical collections that would be of interest to genealogists with Belgium ancestors. For example, included in the upload is a comprehensive collection of works on the city of Ghent and the surrounding region. Access is free. [Europeana]
US – EBSCO and Brown University have teamed up to release a new database called European Views of the Americas: 1493 – 1750. The database contains more than 32,000 bibliographic entries about printed information on American written in Europe before 1750. A wide range of subjects are covered: exploration; slavery; natural disasters and Native American tribes, for example. The search function on this database is very sophisticated. For example, searching for ‘Smith’ will automatically pull up name variations such as ‘Smythe’. This is a worthwhile database to check for anyone who can trace their American ancestors back as far as 1750 or earlier. Access is free. [European Views of the Americas: 1493-1750]
UK – Ancestry has done another significant update to their London Metropolitan Archives database, with many new records being added. The range of dates for the collection is now as follows: births and baptisms (1813 to 1906); marriages and banns (1754 to 1921) and deaths and burials (1813 to 1980). The London Poor Law records (1834 to 1940) have also been significantly expanded. The number of London boroughs in the database has almost doubled to twenty-two. Access is by subscription. [London Metropolitan Archives Collection]
Scotland – The National Library of Scotland has uploaded to the internet an additional one million items from its collection. This brings the total amount of online items to 1.5 million. Included in the latest upload are manuscripts, letters, books and newspapers. For example, The Scotsman is now available online from 1817 to 1950 and The Times is available online from 1785 to 1985. Although this online collection represents only 9% of the National Library of Scotland’s entire holdings, there is sure to be something in the latest update for anyone with Scottish ancestors. Access is free. [National Library of Scotland genealogy collection]
November 2010
US – FamilySearch has completed indexing the 1905 New York State census. Images of the original census documents are available for viewing. Access is free. [1905 New York State Census]
Scotland – An interesting new website has just launched for anyone with ancestors from Edinburgh Scotland. Called AddressingHistory, it is a searchable historic database of the people of Edinburgh. The site is collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the National Library of Scotland. It provides full access to three city post office directories (1784/85, 1865 and 1905/06) and overlays the data on historic and modern maps of the city. The public is then invited to “geo-reference” the address by helping to find the exact location of an ancestor’s home as well as provide other material. It sounds complicated but it is not and everything is fully explained on the site. This site is free and we encourage readers to take a look at it even if you do not have ancestors from Edinburgh. This is cutting-edge genealogy stuff. [Addressing History Edinburgh]
Scotland – The Borders Family History Society has been digitizing Poor Law records for parishes along the Scottish border spanning the years 1845 to 1933. They just completed records from the parish of Melrose. Poor Law payments were an early form of social assistance and records of such payments can be a valuable source of ancestral information. A typical Poor Law record lists name, place of birth, age or date of birth, address, list of close family members and description of disablement (required to collect the social assistance). Additional information on such records can sometimes include a woman’s maiden name, religion, disabilities and date of death (if buried as a pauper). The Borders Family History Society has published the digitized records on CD, which can be purchased from the society. Poor Law records are available for the Jedburgh parish and Melrose parish. The society has a useful search tool that can be used to see if your ancestors are listed in the digitized records. [Melrose Parish Poor Law Records]
UK – Origins.net has indexed some 21,000 probate records associated with wills in Oxfordshire. The collection comes from two sources: surviving probate records of the bishop and archdeacon of Oxford (1733 to 1857) and the Oxfordshire Peculiars (1547 to 1856). The actual wills themselves are not available online but can be ordered in hardcopy. Wills can be a great source of genealogical information. A typical will contains the full name, address and occupation of the deceased; details on land ownership; a listing of personal property and debts as well as the names and addresses of heirs (which were typically close family members). One thing to note is that wills from this time period in the UK were usually the domain of people with reasonably substantive land or assets, which would exclude most of the population. Access is by subscription. [Historic Oxfordshire Wills]
US – This is big news for anyone with ancestors from Indiana. The Indiana State Archives has upgraded and digitized some 2.7 million historic records and put them online for free. Much of the hard work was done by volunteers from The Friends of the Indiana State Archives. The records can be searched by first name/last name or keyword. The collection dates back to the Civil War era and contains such diverse record sets as naturalization records of immigrants who settled in Indiana; the “Negro Registries” – a list of citizens forced by a 19th century law to report their race; indexes of inmates in prisons and mental hospitals and muster rolls of more than 200,000 soldiers who fought in the Civil War. [Indiana State Archives]
UK – Familyrelatives has put online about 1 million records of post office and trade directories. These records of small businesses and shopkeepers span various UK cities primarily during the years 1859 to 1879. An early predecessor to today’s Yellow Pages, such records can be useful for tracing ancestors who were shopkeepers or ran small family businesses. Access is by subscription. [Historic UK Trade Directories]
Australia – The Australian government’s historic newspaper website Trove has reached the milestone of 32 million historic articles online. An additional 10 million articles are expected by June 2011. All of the articles are searchable by name and keyword. The latest batch to go online includes the complete Sydney Morning Herald from 1842 to 1954. The focus over the next nine months is to digitize historic newspapers from South Australia and Western Australia. Access is free. [Trove Historic Australian Newspapers]. As well, you can access Trove results for free through the free Genealogy Search Engine.
Canada – Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has released a set of Second World War photographs on Flickr. This adds to the LAC collection of images available through Flickr. Other image sets of interest to genealogists include Irish immigration to Canada, early Chinese Canadians and historic images of immigration facilities at Grosse Île. The site is free and allows people to comment and share content. [Library and Archives Canada Genealogy Photographs]
Ireland – The Dublin City Library & Archive has updated their graveyards directory. Although the site does not contain individual burial records, it does cover all the graveyards in the Dublin area and lists locations (with maps), hours of operation, location of cemetery records and links to various transcripts. Access is free. [Dublin Graveyard Directory]
Australia – FindMyPast has added 233,000 burial records for Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney. The records cover the period from 1798 to 1999. Rookwood is the largest multicultural cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere containing Anglican, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim graves. It is estimated that a total of 1 million people are buried in the cemetery. Each record on FindMyPast contains name, date of death, age at death, plot location and inscription on the gravestone. Access is by subscription. [Rookwood Cemetery Records]
UK – Ancestry has released three new collections of British military medal and award rolls. The first collection lists more than 2.3 million British soldiers who were granted medals and awards from 1793 to 1949 but excludes World War I and World War II. The second collection lists 1.5 million British navel personnel given medals and awards from 1793 to 1972. This collection does include the two world wars. The third collection lists 25,000 Distinguished Conduct medals given out during and after the First World War (1914-1920). Access is by subscription. [British Military Records] Many of these records were already available for free on other websites (like London Gazette) and can be found for free through the free Genealogy Search Engine.
Canada – The Toronto branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has created a database of Toronto-area students and teachers who volunteered for active service in World War I and II. The database currently contains over 20,000 names and it is expected to grow. Access is free. This site also contains excellent links to various Canadian military records of interest to genealogists. [Toronto School War Memorials]
Canada – Ancestry has put online various Canadian military records from the First World War. Included are such items as attestation papers and burial records for fallen soldiers. Access is by subscription. [Canadian Military Records] The vast majority of these records are already available for free on various Canadian government websites and can also be searched at no cost on the free Genealogy Search Engine.
US – Ancestry has put online about 115,000 records from West Point Military Academy. The collection spans the years 1805 to 1866 and includes letters of application, letters of recommendations and letters of acceptance. Access is by subscription. [Historic West Point Military Academy Applications]
December 2010
Canada – Library and Archives has put online the special census that was carried out for the Prairie Provinces in 1916 (essentially current-day Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba). Access is free but please note this database is not searchable by family name. Instead, you search by province, district name, district number and sub-district number. This approach makes it very hard to search unless you know exactly where your ancestor lived according to the census region. A much easier approach we found was to go to the search page and select the province and then under keyword enter the town or municipality name. This will still require a significant amount of manual searching through large pdf documents, but there is a wealth of information available if you do find your ancestors. The 1916 Prairie census lists the name of each household member; military service; town or municipality; relationship to head of the household; sex; marital status; age; country or place of birth; religion; year immigrated to Canada; nationality; race; languages spoken; reading and writing ability; occupation and employment. [1916 Census Records of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba]
Ireland – Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin has put online burial records that go back as far as 1828, which predates the official opening of the cemetery in 1832. Officially known as Prospect Cemetery, it is the largest nondenominational cemetery in Ireland and contains an estimated 1.2 million burials. Both Protestant and Catholics are buried in this cemetery and this record set is an excellent place to look if you have ancestors from Dublin. There is a cost to look at records on this site. [Glasnevin Cemetery Burial Records]. Alternatively, Internment.net has some of the same burial records for free and these records can be searched using the free Genealogy Search Engine.
Norway – The National Archives of Norway has put online the 1910 Norwegian census. Included in this census is the full name of the individual, date of birth, place of birth, family position, marital status and occupation. Access is free. Note this site is in Norwegian. [1910 Norwegian Census] Alternatively, readers who are not familiar with the Norwegian language can also search these census records through the free Genealogy Search Engine.
UK – DeceasedOnline has added 575,000 burial and cremation records from the co-joined cemeteries of St. Pancras and Islington in North London, which combined make the largest cemetery in London. The records consist of scans of the registers. The records cover the periods for St. Pancras of 1854 to 1898 and 1905 to 1911 and for Islington of 1854 to 1945. This collection is about 70% complete and a further 225,000 records are expected to be added by April 2011. DeceasedOnline also plans to put maps of the cemeteries online in the next few months. Access is by subscription. [St. Pancras and Islington Burial Records]
Canada – Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has revamped their genealogy website to make it easier for genealogists to find their ancestors. The revamped Canadian Genealogy Centre website provides tips and information on how to search through the website’s various genealogy databases. As well, a new database was just added. Called the Upper Canada Land Board (1765 to 1804), it contains more than 16,000 references to documents dated between 1765 and 1804. These Land Board documents relate to the settlement of the districts of Hesse, Luneberg, Mecklenburg and Nassau, which are now all part of Ontario. The Canadian Genealogy Centre is by far the most important genealogy website in Canada. Access is free. [Canadian Genealogy Centre] Most of the databases can also be searched through the free Genealogy Search Engine.
US – This is a preannouncement. The US National Archives (NARA) is about to launch a new search interface on their website. Part of the government’s Open Government initiative, the new NARA search interface promises to be more streamlined and make it easier to search across multiple databases. The results will also be grouped in a more logical format. [Announcement of the New NARA Search Interface]
Ireland – The Irish Newspaper Archives, which maintains the world’s largest online database of Irish newspapers, has expanded their list of newspapers that can now be searched for free, although it still requires a subscription to read the underlying article. Included in the 21 free newspapers is the Irish Independent (1905-2001), Anglo-Celt (1846-2010), Freemans Journal (1763-1924) and the Southern Star (1892-2010). [Free Historic Irish Newspapers]
Northern Ireland – The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has put online abstracts from about 93,000 wills from the district probate registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry. The period covered is 1858 to 1919 and 1922 to 1943. Access is free. [Historic Northern Ireland Wills] The wills can also be searched using our free Genealogy Search Engine.
