Latest Online Genealogy Records
Below is a listing of new online genealogy records that have recently become available on the internet:
June 2010
Canada – Library and Archives Canada has begun digitizing and putting online service records of First World War Canadian soldiers. Attestation papers for WWI enlistment were previously put online. If a service record for your ancestor has not yet been digitized then you can request a paper copy for a small fee and the digitized copy will be uploaded to the website concurrently. Access is free. [Library and Archives Canada WWI Archive]
US – The Chicago Tribune has begun digitizing and selling photographs from their extensive archives. The Chicago Tribune is one of America’s great newspapers that first began publishing in 1847. Many of the images in their photographic library date back to the nineteenth century and some of the pictures have never before been published or seen by the public. Some of the images include such famous people as Al Capone, Bette Davis, Roy Rogers and Bing Crosby. This is your chance to load up on Americana and possibly even find an image of your ancestor. There is a fee to download the photographs. [Chicago Tribune Photo Archives]
Scotland – Aberdeen city and surrounding burghs have put online various council archives. The list includes council registers (1398-1996), militia records (1756-1888), various burgh council records (1747-1975), parochial (poor relief) records (1812-1975) and school records (1847-2004). The catalogue is a work in progress. For example, over the next two months, some 190,000 burial records will be added to the site. Concurrently, the website Deceased Online has recently added burial records for four Aberdeen-area cemeteries. Access is free to the city archive. A fee is charged for Deceased Online. Be sure to read the help section of the city archive to get the most out of your ancestral search. [Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives] [Deceased Online]
England – Ancestry has increased their London Parish Records Collection by adding some 500,000 records covering about 225,000 non-conformists (i.e. non-Anglicans). The records include such famous British non-conformists as Daniel Defoe, William Blake and John Stuart Mill. Most of the parish records are for Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists and Quakers with some Jewish records. The records cover the period 1694-1921. Access is by subscription. [London Parish Record Collection]
Canada – Ancestry has updated their collection of Ontario birth (1869-1909) and death (1869-1934) records. Access is by subscription. [Ancestry Canada]
May 2010
Ireland – Here is some big news for people with Irish ancestry. The National Archives of Ireland has announced that they will be launching the 1901 Ireland census sometime in the next two weeks (before 3 June 2010) . All 32 counties will be available at once, unlike the 1911 Ireland census, which was rolled out in phases. Access is expected to be free. [Link] [The link to the new 1901 Ireland census is here]
UK – A new specialty database from the University of Manchester will help genealogists track ancestors living in the Manchester/Liverpool/northwest England region between 1760 and 1820. This is an excellent genealogical resource for tracking ancestors before the 1841 census. The database is based on business and court records, wills and family correspondence. Access is free. [Link]
UK – Here is something new that will be useful to family researchers, but it is certainly not your normal genealogy database. The University of Cambridge Scriptorium Project contains thousands of pages of handwritten “miscellanies”. A miscellany is a collective mixture of writings on various subjects usually (but not always) contained in one book. Miscellanies were popular in the 1400-1800s when paper was very expensive and often predate diaries for families as a form of recording everything from recipes to poems to family medicine to scripture to day-to-day activities. Although this site is not likely to help you find your ancestors, it will provide considerable context as to the life and times of 15th to 18th century England. As a bonus, this site has perhaps the best free courses on reading old English handwriting. Access is free. [Link]
US – FamilySearch has added 120,000 Delaware State birth records (1861 to 1922) and 124,000 birth records (1873 to 1908) from Cook County, Illinois. Cook County is the second most populous county in the US (after Los Angeles County) and it is anchored by Chicago. This would be a good record set to search for Chicago-area ancestors. FamilySearch also added the 1875 Minnesota State Census this week. Access is free. [Link]
Czech Republic – FamilySearch has put online 60,000 digital images of church records from the Litomerice State Regional Archive. These records date from 1552 to 1905. Note: these images can be browsed but they have not yet been indexed. Access is free. [Link]
Canada – Library and Archives Canada has put online a database of 660,000 records of the National Bibliography of Canada that was previously only available on CD. The database contains listings of a wide variety of publications produced in Canada or about Canada. This includes books, periodicals, sound recordings, video recordings, music scores and more. The database can be searched by author and title. This is a good place to track down rare genealogy source documents. Access is free. [Link]
US – Yale University is celebrating the 150th anniversary as an official depository for documents from the US federal government. Until now, documents produced by the US government prior to 1976 were not catalogued online. However, now the entire collection from 1860 to 2010 is indexed and available online. Yale University also indexes collections from the Canadian federal government, European Union and the United Nations. Access to search the index is free but physical documents must still be ordered through the Yale library system. [Link]
World – The table below is a synopsis of some of the key record sets that became available last week in the massive new 300 million-record database at the new FamilySearch website fsbeta.FamilySearch.org. Access is free.
Country |
Record Type |
Date Range |
Number of Records |
|---|---|---|---|
Argentina |
baptism |
1645-1930 |
4.2 million |
marriage |
1722-1911 |
151,000 |
|
Australia |
death/burial |
1816-1918 |
107,000 |
Austria |
birth/baptism |
1651-1940 |
89,000 |
marriage |
1722-1898 |
26,000 |
|
Bahamas |
birth |
1550-1891 |
54,000 |
Belgium |
birth/baptism |
1560-1890 |
354,000 |
death/burial |
1564-1900 |
67,000 |
|
Brazil |
baptism |
1688-1935 |
3.6 million |
marriage |
1730-1955 |
475,000 |
|
Canada |
various |
1661-1959 |
4.4 million |
Carribbean |
various |
1752-1920 |
1.0 million |
Central America |
various |
1680-1930 |
1.7 million |
France |
marriage |
1546-1924 |
1.4 million |
death/burial |
1546-1960 |
347,000 |
|
Germany |
birth/baptism |
1558-1898 |
33.7 million |
Iceland |
marriage |
1770-1920 |
43,000 |
India |
birth/baptism |
1800-1945 |
567,000 |
marriage |
1800-1945 |
204,000 |
|
Italy |
birth/baptism |
1806-1900 |
1.9 million |
Mexico |
marriage |
1570-1950 |
6.2 million |
Sweden |
baptism |
1611-1920 |
9.3 million |
marriage |
1630-1920 |
2.2 million |
|
burial |
1649-1920 |
1.2 million |
|
Switzerland |
baptism |
1491-1940 |
1.0 million |
marriage |
1532-1910 |
269,000 |
|
burial |
1613-1875 |
138,000 |
|
UK |
various |
1586-1988 |
1.3 million |
US |
various |
1759-1974 |
22 million |
Australia – The Australian National Library has launched a wonderful new site for genealogists wanting to trace their Australian ancestry. Called Trove, it searches multiple online sources (not just the National Library resources) for Australian content and genealogy collections. Included in the searches are Australian newspapers (1803 to 1954), maps, diaries, letters, photos, books, journals, articles, music, sound, videos and archived Australian websites (1996 to present). You can search the website by a variety of means, including by name. We predict this will become the go-to website for Australian genealogy. Access is free. [Link]
World – FamilySearch, which contains the world’s largest repository of genealogical information, has just released a massive new 300 million name record collection spanning genealogy records from around the world. Access is free. A temporary website has been created to handle the expected substantial interest from the genealogy community. Users of this new website will appreciate the advanced search capabilities and the ability to filter search results. As well, the new website supports wildcard searches. Use (?) to replace a single character in a search term (as in Sm?th) and (*) to replace several characters (as in Smi*). Over the next several weeks, the records available on this new website will be merged into the main FamilySearch.org website. As well, it should be noted that not all the record sets appear to be new to FamilySearch. Some of the record sets were available from the FamilySearch beta labs website that we talked about in our March 27th Genealogy This Week column. What a wonderful new website. [Link]
Liberia – A new website has been created to track the genealogical history of the 15,000+ African Americans who left the US and emigrated to Liberia between 1820 and 1904. The database lists some individuals who were born in the late 1700s, a rare occurrence in black genealogy. Access is free. First-time users must register with an email address. [Link]
Poland – Russia has published online six critical documents related to the 1940 Katyn massacre, where 22,000 members of the Polish elite were killed by Soviet forces. The documents are now available for viewing on the Russian State Archives website. These documents will be of great interest to anyone with Polish ancestry. Below is a sample image of the 1940 letter from the head of the Soviet secret police to leader Joseph Stalin recommending the execution of the Polish prisoners of war. [Link in Russian] [Link translated into English]
Tunisia – The Tunisia National Library has begun digitizing their national book collection. The digitized books can be downloaded to smart devices such as the iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Tunisia’s National Library contains 1 million books, 40 thousand manuscripts and 16 thousand periodicals. This is a rare online genealogical resource for anyone with Tunisian ancestors. We have not checked this, but it may also contain some useful information relating to World War II battles fought on Tunisian soil. Access is free. Note: most of the books that have been digitized so far are in Arabic and French. [Link]
St. Kitts–Nevis – The National Archives of St. Kitts-Nevis has launched a new website called Basseterre, Past & Present. The purpose of the site is to “present the evolution of Basseterre through the records and images held in [the National Archives] repositories”. Included are articles, historic photos and newspaper clippings. One thing that is not currently on the website is the Registry of Slaves. St. Kitts is one of the few Caribbean islands that preserved the registry of slaves. Originally established ten years after England abolished the slave trade in 1807, the registry of slaves was actually created by abolitionists on the island who wanted to keep track of people to ensure that no new slaves were smuggled onto the island. The original list contained some 20,000 names. It was updated every three years. However, it is difficult to trace family connections through the registry of slaves since family connections was not the intended purpose of the document. The registry instead lists name, age, sex, colour, place of birth and occupation. Note: this website is a work in progress. Access is free. [Link]
US – The David Rumsey Map Collection has added 764 new maps online to complement the some 20,000 maps and images already on the website. New maps are added online on a regular basis (the entire offline collection consists of over 150,000 maps). Most of the maps are of America. All the maps are high resolution and users can zoom in and out on various parts of the map. A great resource for genealogists. Access is free. Below is a sample image of part of a map of Philadelphia from 1860. [Link]
April 2010
US – Princeton University library has put online some 16,000 Sanborn maps of New Jersey towns and communities from 1884 to 1922. Sanborn maps were first created by the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company. These detailed maps enabled insurance companies to determine the risk of fire to buildings based on the building size, shape, function and structural material. Sanborn maps are particularly valuable to genealogists because they show specific details on individual buildings as well as showing how buildings relate to one another and how neighbourhoods are constructed. They are an excellent source for identifying how neighbourhoods, towns and cities have evolved over decades. The collection can be searched by county and town. Access is free. Note: the index is stored on an Excel spreadsheet called sanborn-web.xls [Link]
Australia – The National Library of Australia has made several improvements and upgrades to their online newspaper collection. The Sydney Morning Herald has been digitized from 1831 to 1954 and is now online. There are still some missing issues (about 3,500 in total), which will be online by July 2010. Two other newspapers added this week are the Queenslander (1866 to 1939) and the Camperdown Chronicle (1877 to 1954). The National Library of Australia has also launched this week and new and vastly improved online newspaper website. Just follow the link. Access is free. [Link]
Canada – The University of Toronto library has digitized 250,000 books in its collection and made it available through the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive now has some 2.3 million books online that are searchable for genealogical information. Access is free. [Link]
US – The state of Virginia has put online chancery records from Culpeper County (1829 to 1913). Chancery cases are legal cases surrounding circumstances not specifically covered by the law of the time. They can be thought of as legal exception cases and were common in America’s early history. Many of the chancery cases involved land disputes, resolutions of wills, division of estates and the buying and selling of slaves. Such chancery cases can be fertile ground for genealogists. A total of 36 Virginia counties and cities now have chancery records online at the Library of Virginia website. The database contains 191,000 cases and can be searched by surname and date. Access is free. [Link]
UK – The Illustrated London News (ILN) archive from 1842 to 2003 is now online. This news archive is particularly important to genealogist tracing their London ancestors because the ILN was the newspaper of choice for the Victorian middle classes living in London. Thus, of all the London newspapers, the ILN is the one most likely to have information about your ancestors. As well, the ILN was the first newspaper to make extensive use of illustrations. The ILN developed a fast method of using woodcut prints that was much cheaper and less time consuming then the more popular copper plates of the time. The ILN archive consists of some 250,000 pages and 750,000 illustrations. The archive is initially available only through libraries and educational institutions. Note: this archive have not been indexed by Google so you can not use Google search to look for ancestors in this archive. [Link]
Russia – The Russian Defence Ministry has created a new online archive called The Achievements of the People in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. As the name would imply, this archive will contain documents related to Russia’s involvement in World War II. A total of over 200,000 documents are expected to be placed in this archive including details of military operations. We have not confirmed this but apparently descendants of Soviet soldiers killed in World War II will be able to access their wartime records. The first batch of documents is expected to go online before May 9th in honour of the 65th anniversary of the Soviet victory. This first batch will cover the first months of the war. Additional documents will be constantly added to the archive over the next two years. Note: We are having difficulty finding a permanent link. Please send us an email if you find it. [Link]
Germany – The Buchenwald Memorial Foundation has published online a virtual memorial for those who died at the Buchenwald concentration camp. The virtual memorial lists some 38,000 victims and it commemorates the 65th anniversary of the liberation of one of the largest Nazi concentration camps in Germany. Over 56,000 people in total are thought to have died in Buchenwald and associated nearby camps. Victims were Jews, communists, gays, Roma, Sinti and others from central Europe. A page is dedicated to each victim and includes details such as date of birth and death. Genealogists are asked to send in additional details of relatives to complete the individual obituaries. Access is free. Note: the memorial is currently only in German with plans to add other languages at a later date. [Link]
US – GenealogyBank has recently added 32 million new birth, marriage and obituary notices from 51 US newspapers in 28 states. The new records cover the period from 1793 to the present. Access is by subscription. [Link]
UK – The Society of Genealogists has put online a rather unique genealogy resource known as the Great Western Railway shareholders index. Back in the days when share certificates were transferred manually, companies kept detailed records of their shareholders (name, address and date of death, probate, marriage or other event that triggered the exchange of shares). Over 440,000 individuals are listed in the index. Note that not all the shareholders were based in England. Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Canada are also listed. Access is by subscription to FindMyPast. [Link]
Switzerland – A historic database of the Swiss daily newspaper Le Journal de Genève is now online. Covering the period 1826 to 1998, the collection has over 2 million articles. The database can be searched by keyword, date or issue. This collection is run as a partnership between several Swiss groups, including the Swiss National Library. Note that the search page is available in English but the results are in French for this French-language newspaper. Access is free. [Link]
US – The Digital Library of Georgia housed at the University of Georgia has added to their online newspaper collection with 14 Atlanta newspapers. The period covered is from 1847 to 1922, which includes the critical Civil War period. Consisting of 67,000 newspaper pages, the images are full-text searchable. Access is free but you need to download the free DjVu browser plug-in to see the images. This plug-in is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. [Link]
France – The National Library of France has put into WorldCat 16.3 million French library records spanning fifteen centuries starting with the Merovingian times. Included are many records that would be of interest to genealogists such as historic newspapers, wills, manuscripts, maps and church records. WorldCat is essentially an online worldwide library catalogue. It is free to search but you will need to find a library with reciprocal transfer arrangements to view the original documents offline. [Link]
Uganda – Uganda has joined the World Digital Library and is expected to upload content to the site over the next several months. The World Digital Library makes available on the internet unique source material from various cultures around the world. This will be of particular interest to anyone with Ugandan ancestors. Access is free. [Link describing start of project]
France – FamilySearch has finished indexing most of the Protestant Register for France for the years 1612 to 1906. As the name suggests, this is a genealogy record base for people of Protestant faith in France (most of France is Catholic). Included in the Protestant Register are baptism, marriage and burial records. Access is free. [Link]
US – All the back issues of the now defunct Ancestry Magazine can be searched online through Google. This magazine targeted primarily a US audience. Access is free. [Link]
March 2010
Norway - FamilySearch in collaboration with the Norwegian Historical Data Centre (NHDC) have put online the first part of the 1875 national Norwegian census. The NHDC also has the complete 1865 and 1900 national Norwegian censuses and the site provides excellent search capabilities. Access is free. [Link]
Canada - Athabasca University has put online a beta website with images of historical multicultural newspapers found across Canada. The collection currently includes Croatian, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Ukrainian, Yugoslavian, Latvian and Lithuanian newspapers. Access is free. [Link]
UK – FindMyPast has put online about 300,000 service records of soldiers in the British Army from 1760 to 1913 who retired with a pension. The collection, known as the Chelsea Pensioners’ British Army Service Records (named after the Chelsea Hospital, who was responsible for administering British army pensions) was put online in collaboration with The National Archives and FamilySearch. Each service record is extremely detailed and typically includes such items as name, date of birth, address of next of kin, names of wife and children, physical characteristics (height, weight, etc.), medical history and service history. The collection is about 1/3 complete. The finished collection will comprise some 900,000 records. Access is by subscription. [Link]
Ireland – The National Library of Ireland has expanded its photographic archive with an additional 12,000 images. This brings the total size of its historical photos collection to about 34,000 images. The pictures cover all aspects of Irish life from 1860 to 1954. Access is free. [Link]
US – The US Census Bureau has put online the 1870 Statistical Atlas of the United States. It joins the 1880 and 1890 Statistical Atlases that were previously put online. These atlases contain a wealth of information to genealogists. For example, below is an image from the 1890 census showing African American population density across the nation.
[1870 US Statistical Atlas] [1880 US Statistical Atlas] [1890 US Statistical Atlas]
Ireland – Witness statements taken after the Irish rebellion and massacres of 1641 have now been put online. The 31 handwritten volumes on 19,000 pages have alternately been viewed as the world’s first war crimes investigation or a blatant attempt at political propaganda. What is known is that the 350-year event poisoned Anglo-Irish relations for centuries. Even as late as the 1930’s the Irish government attempted to block publication of the depositions. This website is very well laid out and the depositions are fully indexed. The witness statements can be searched by first name, last name and county. Access is free. This website is worth looking at even if you have no Irish ancestry just because it should serve as a model of how a really good genealogy record website should be laid out. It is even more impressive given that the records are 350-years old. [Link]
US – The collected papers of Ulysses S. Grant has now gone online for the first time. The papers span some 350,000 items including thousands of letters. The collection of the former Civil War general and 18th President of the United States now resides at the Mississippi State University’s online archive. Access is free. [Link]
US – Footnote is allowing free searches of their US census records for a limited period of time. Their census collection, however, is a work in progress. The table below shows what censuses are available on Footnote and the percentage of each census that has been put on the website.
Census |
Percentage Complete |
|---|---|
1860 |
100% |
1900 |
5% |
1910 |
3% |
1920 |
3% |
1930 |
98% |
To access the census records you have to register by giving your email address. Make sure you click on the census record links and not the “Start Free Trial” if all you want to do is view the free census records. Footnote has about 63 million historical records in total. [Link]
Ireland – Ancestry is offering free access to the Ireland Famine Relief Commission Papers 1845-1847. This was a difficult period in Ireland’s history marked by starvation, death and mass emigration. The cause was the failure of the potato crops. The Ancestry collection is made up of 60,000 images of original documents, letters and studies. It will be of interest to anyone who has Irish ancestry. Access is free but you have to register by giving your email address. [Link] Alternatively, you can get a full, free 14-day trial to all the records on Ancestry by clicking on the image below.
UK – Ancestry has put online 600,000 records of people who immigrated to the UK between the late 18th century and the early 20th century. Click on the image above to get a free 14-day trial.
UK – DeceasedOnline has digitized approximately 230,000 new burial and cremation records from the city of Cambridge, the town of Gainsborough (Lincolnshire) and the London borough of Brent. The site is free to search with a pay-per-view policy to view the actual records. [Link]
UK – The British Library is expanding an archive of defunct UK websites that have historical value to the country. The library was tasked in 2003 with the responsibility of keeping at least one copy of all electronic material produced within the UK. This includes such items as compact disks and online publications. However, this archival mandate has been on the backburner until a recent report highlighted that the British Library had managed to archive only about 6,000 out of an estimated 8 million UK websites. Included in the existing archive are primarily high-profile websites such as now-bankrupt companies like Woolworths. By comparison, several other countries ( Australia, New Zealand, Finland and Portugal) have more aggressive programs to archive their national web material. Access to the British Library website archive is free. [Link] Alternately, the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive has snapshots of websites going back in time. It is not always 100% complete, but it will have more breadth than the British Library archive. [Link]
US – The Internet Archive has placed the US 1930 census online for free. Most states have been put online with the remaining records to be added in the near future. There is no index however available for this free census. You have to know where your ancestors lived. [Link] If you know your ancestor's street name, but not the Enumeration District (ED), you can use Steve Morse’s website to find the ED. [Link]
UK – FindMyPast has added one million new London parish records covering the period 1813 to 1890. This brings the total number of baptism, marriage and burial records at the site to some 24 million. This website is also the only one that has the complete collection of England 1841 to 1911 censuses. Access is by subscription. [Link]
UK – The British Library has begun a three-year project to create an online archive of British science. Included will be an audio library of recordings of prominent British scientists. This archive project was prompted by the fact that in the past 10 years there have been nine British Nobel prize winners who have died without leaving a significant archive of their work. The archive will be appear on the main British Library archive page when it becomes available. [Link]
US – The University of North Carolina has put online yearbooks from the university covering the period 1890 to 1966. Access is free. [Link]
February 2010
England – FamilyRelatives has put online more than five million parish records from around 60 parishes across England. The indexed records range from 1538 to 1900 and cover baptisms, marriages and burials. Access is by subscription. [Link]
Vatican – This is a preannouncement. The Catholic news agency Zenit reports that the Vatican is planning to soon publish online free of charge about 5,125 documents from the closed section of the Vatican Archives (the so-called Secret Vatican Archives). The documents span the critical period during World War II (specifically March 1939 to May 1945). This archive is likely to draw considerable world interest when it is released given that it will touch on sensitive issues surrounding the relationship between the Vatican and the Nazi regime. It may help provide context on relatives lost during the war.[Link]
UK – The National Health Service Information Centre has made available on its website application forms to access the 1939 Schedule, essentially an emergency census taken on the night of 29 September 1939 at the start of World War II. The census covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Information collected included full name, gender, date of birth, profession, home address, marital status and whether the person was a member of the UK Armed Forces. The 1939 Schedule provided unusually complete coverage of the UK population because every citizen was compelled to complete the questionnaire. National identity cards and call lists for military service were based on the 1939 Schedule. A couple of things to note. These records are only available now due to successful access-to-information requests from British genealogists. Consequently, records will only be released for deceased individuals. Also, the records appear to be in a somewhat disorganized state (particularly for Northern Ireland). As a result, there is a £42 fee per application to cover the cost of a manual search. [Link]
Netherlands – The Meertens Institute has put online all 314,000 surnames from the 2007 Dutch census. Also available are results for the 100,000 surnames from the 1947 Dutch census. The surnames are shown on distribution maps for the country. Also available are details on the origin of Dutch names, spelling variations, older forms of surnames and links to genealogy websites that specialize in the surname. See the sample search result below for the surname Jansen. This is a very useful site for tracking down Dutch surnames. Note: the main search page is available in English with the detailed search results available in Dutch only. The links are in red, as shown in the image below. [Link]
US – Footnote’s Genealogy Archives and Holocaust Archives are now available on EBSCO, which is a company that provides databases to libraries and schools. Most public libraries in North America subscribe to EBSCO. This means that Footnote’s main genealogy database may now be available free of charge at your local library.
Belgium – FamilySearch has now completed indexing and putting online the Belgium death registries. [Link]
US – The New York Public Library launched a new historic map website this week. This free site takes online historical maps (mainly from New York State) and overlays it on top of Google maps. This is a very useful tool for genealogists that have ancestors from the New York area. The site does take a bit of time to understand though (it is still in beta), so it is worth looking at the video tutorial. [Link announcing the new site and describing how it works][Link to site]
Scotland – The website Graham Maxwell Ancestry provides free census search for the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Scottish census. Only some Scottish counties are included, but fortunately the site has just been updated with expanded coverage. The nice thing about this website (other than being free, a bit of a rarity for Scottish genealogy) is how they have linked census records to Google maps so you can get a modern view of where your ancestors lived. [Link]
US – Footnote has partnered with the National Archives to release a collection of some 100,000 US Army photos taken during the Vietnam War. Each picture is captioned with the names of the soldiers featured in the photo. Access to this archive is free for the month of February. [Link]
Germany/Europe – Google Earth announced a new historical imagery feature this week that allows you to compare historical aerial images taken during World War II to aerial images from today. The images cover much of central and Eastern Europe. Germany is particularly well covered. You can read all about it on the official Google blog. [Link] You can also read a specific Google blog post written about aerial images of Warsaw, Poland taken in 1935, 1945 (before and after the war) and today. [Link]
Canada – Google’s News Archive has put online 2.5 million articles from the Ottawa Citizen going back as far as 1890. This searchable archive is free, but it should be noted that there appears to be some time gaps in the coverage. As shown below, simply enter the Source as “Ottawa Citizen” (highlighted in red) and then your search terms (highlighted in green). [Link]
January 2010
US – The Ohio Obituary Index is now available on Ancestry for those people who have an Ancestry subscription. You can still access this database for free by going to the Rutherford B. Hayes website. [Link]
Australia – To help celebrate Australia day, the website Ancestry is making available two million Australian convict records for free until the end of January. [Link] As we mentioned in our January 9th edition of our Genealogy This Week column, an estimated 23% of Australians are descended from convicts. You can also click on the image below to get a free trial subscription that lasts a couple of weeks.
New Zealand – FamilySearch has updated their New Zealand immigration passenger lists from 1871 to 1915. Access is free. [Link]
US – Footnote has almost finished the US 1930 federal census (97% complete). Footnote has also added several new free collections spanning various periods in American history. Check out the really cool collection of Apollo Mission photographs. Access to the census data is by subscription. [Link]
Australia – The National Library of Australia’s Australian Newspaper website has now indexed almost 14 million newspaper articles. The website has newspapers from all across Australia covering the time period from 1803 (for Sydney) to 1954. The site is still technically in beta and has a couple of quirky bugs (for example, highlights sometimes run through the middle of newspaper articles), but in general the site is well laid out with excellent navigation. Australian Newspapers expects to have 40 million articles indexed by the end of 2011. Access is free. [Link]
US – Ancestry has released a substitute for the US 1950 census. The real 1950 census can not be released until April 2022, exactly 72 years after it was taken. Ancestry created their 1950 census substitute by aggregating information from more than 2,500 US city directories spanning the year 1950. City directories were the precursor to modern-day telephone books. A typical city directory from 1950 would list the name and address of each adult in a household along with their occupation and work address. Access is by subscription. If you already have a subscription, you can access the 1950 census substitute database directly from here or if you are new to Ancestry click on the image below to get a free trial subscription.
UK/India – The Families in British India Society (FIBIS) has added more military records of UK servicemen based in Bombay. FIBIS now has some 183,000 records of British citizens resident in India during the colonial years. The records are free to search although most are not indexed. It helps to know what your ancestors did in India and where they lived. [Link]
US – GenealogyBank has started an African-American newspaper collection. The first phase has already been rolled out and includes 61 US newspapers with an African-American focus covering the period from 1827 to 1999. The newspapers are searchable for births, obituaries, marriage announcements, etc. Eventually, GenealogyBank plans to have over 280 African-American newspapers on its website. Access is by subscription. [Link]
Argentina – FamilySearch has put online the complete 1869 Argentinean national census. Over 1 million records have been indexed. Access is free. [Link]
England – FamilySearch has improved and strengthened the indexes for some 4.7 million Cheshire, England parish records and bishop transcripts. The records cover a broad period from 1530 to 1900. Access is free. [Link]
US – The Minnesota Official Marriage System (MOMS) has just gone online. This is a state-wide marriage index that covers 87 participating counties. About 80% of all of Minnesota’s marriage records have already been added to this system and more records are being added daily. The records go back well into the 1800s. You can search by last name, date range and (if necessary) county. The system has some interesting quirks. For example, you can only enter the first ten characters of a first or last name, but it seems to find all the records that match for longer names. It is free to search online although there is a fee to order copies of the marriage certificates. [Link]
US: The Oregon State Archives has released a new searchable database of over 100,000 settlers who lived in Oregon prior to statehood. Most of the information in the database is from the period 1800 to 1860. The database was constructed backwards in time starting with information collected from the 1850 and 1860 federal censuses of the Oregon territory. This information was then supplemented with additional records including marriage records, death records, probate records and other official and semi-official records. Information was also incorporated from various publications and secondary sources. Access is free. [Link]
US: The New York State Military Museum online more than 50,000 pages of New York National Guard reports dating between 1858 and 1955. This is a good source for biographical information on higher-ranking officers, many of whom were profiled in the various publications. Access is free. [Link]
US: The University of North Carolina has a new Digital Library on American Slavery. The online archive contains detailed personal information on slaves, slaveholders and free people of color. The searchable database spans records between 1775 and 1867 in all 15 slaveholding states. Access is free. [Link]
US: Hamilton County, Ohio (which covers the city of Cincinnati) has put online over 1 million probate court documents dating back as far as 1791. Included are birth records, death records, marriage records as well as estate records and naturalization records, etc.. Check out the actor Spencer Tracy’s marriage record here when he was first married at the age of 23. Access is free. [Link]
December 2009
US: The University of Delaware library has increased its online digital collection of material from the American Civil War. Included in the new collections are lithographic prints and photographs from the Civil War. Access is free. [Link]
Scotland: FamilyRelatives.com has added over 250,000 Scottish trade records from 1889. These records contain lists of professionals, landowners, farmers, nobility, gentry and clergy including the addresses of the individuals listed. Access is by subscription. [Link]
Germany: Ancestry has put online the World War I Bavarian Personnel Rosters. These records show the military service records of 1.5 million German soldiers in World War I. Included is the First World War service record of Adolf Hitler. Access is by subscription. You can click on the image below to get a free trial subscription.
Canada: The New Brunswich Provincial Archives website has put online 65,000 new government documents from 1786 to 1833. This website contains about 1.8 million records, including historic vital statistic records (birth, marriages, etc.) [Link]
US: The US Army Heritage and Education Center has unveiled a digitized collection of some 23,000 Civil War photographs. This collection of Civil War photos is considered by historians to be the best and most extensive collection in the world. Known as the MOLLUS Massachusetts Photograph Collection, it contains many photographic portraits of individuals. Access is free. [Link]
Ireland: The Irish Times newspaper is making their digital archives free until December 14, 2009 in honour of their 150th anniversary. The archives run from 1859 to the present. This is an excellent source for the usual genealogy newspaper announcements such as births, deaths, etc. Hurry if you want to take advantage of the free offer. [Link]
UK: This is a pre-announcement. The Financial Times historical archive will launch in January 2010. Every article, advertisement and market listing ever printed by the UK's leading business newspaper from 1888 to 2006 will be available in searchable form. If you are keen, you can register now for a pre-trial. [Link]
UK: FindMyPast.com has now completed indexing the 1851 UK census. FindMyPast.com is now the only website that has the complete collection of England and Wales census records from 1841 to 1911 inclusive. Searching is free but there is a fee to view transcripts and original records. Alternatively, most Family History Centers offer access to FindMyPast.com at no charge. [Link]
November 2009
Canada: Ancestry has now completed indexing Canadian ship passenger lists from 1919 to 1924. Ancestry now has the complete passenger lists of ocean arrivals from 1865 to 1935. Access is by subscription. You can click on the image below to get a free trial subscription.
UK: Ancestry has put online the Gretna Green, Scotland marriage registers from 1795 to 1895. Gretna Green was a popular place for young English couples to get married because it was just across the border from England. At the time, the age of consent was 21 years in England but just 16 years in Scotland. Couples younger than 21 required both sets of parents to consent to a marriage in England, something which could not always be obtained. Many young English couples simply avoided the problem by going to Gretna Green, Scotland to get married. Access is by subscription. You can click on the image above to get a trial subscription.
US: GenealogyBank has added an additional 100 million new newspaper articles in fully searchable form. The additions come from newspapers in New Orleans (1837-1942); Cleveland (1845-1955); Trenton, NJ (1883-1973); Seattle (1923-1939); Dallas (1885-1978) and Augusta, Georgia (1783-1977). Access is by subscription. [Link]
Europe: The UK's World War II aerial photographic archive has finally been opened to the public. Known as The Aerial Reconnaissance Archives (TARA), it contains more than ten million declassified aerial reconnaissance images taken by Allied forces during the war. Offering a fascinating way to view your ancestor's homes and landscapes at a pivotal point in history, this is a compelling website. Aerial photographs circa 1940s are currently available for the following countries: Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Poland. The site also offers mosaics, whereby historic city images are overlaid with with modern satellite images. This is a very useful tool to help people locate their ancestor's home. Access to most low-resolution images on this government website is free. Access to high-resolution aerial photographs requires a subscription. The website has a limited-time special offer of a two-year subscription for £15. [Link]
US: Footnote.com has launched a Native American records collection. The collection contains more than 1.8 million records. Included are Indian census rolls (which include name, age, place or residence and degree of Indian blood); ratified Indian treaties; Dawes packets (applications to establish Indian eligibility) and Dawes enrollment cards (1898 to 1914). The focus of much of the collection appears to be on Midwest Indian tribes. Access is by subscription. [Link]
Brazil: FamilySearch has digitized almost 600,000 Catholic Church records in Brazil from 1805 to 1979 (birth, baptism, marriage, etc.). This is an ongoing project where the digital images will be indexed over time. [Link]
UK: FamilyRelatives has added 1 million new military records from 1808 to World War I. Access is by subscription. [Link]
October 2009
Scotland: The National Library of Scotland has put online free air photo surveys of Scotland taken at the end of the Second World War. These historic air photos can be overlaid with Google Maps to see how the landscape has changed over the past 50 years. A fun tool for any genealogist. [Link]
US: The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) and the University of Virginia have put online 5,000 previously unpublished documents from the founders of America. Included are letters and papers of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson amongst others. It is interesting, for example, to spend some time reading online the diaries of George Washington. Access is free. [Link]
UK: Ancestry has put online the UK Incoming Passenger Lists for 1878 to 1960. The collection spans 82 years and contains 18 million records of immigrants and tourists who arrived in the UK during this period. Each record includes the passenger's name, age, occupation and intended address in the UK. During much of the time period covered by the collection, citizens of British colonies were able to freely migrate to the UK under British Nationality Law. Many citizens of British colonies migrated to the UK in search of jobs and a better life. For example, 2.6 million of the 18 million records are of Canadians who migrated or traveled to the UK during this period. Access is by subscription. You can click on the image below to get a free trial subscription.
Wales: The National Library of Wales has digitized and indexed over 190,000 wills, most of which date before 1858. Prior to this date, it was common for wills filed with the Welsh ecclesiastical courts to be deposited at the Welsh National Library. The vast majority of the wills are written in English. A potentially excellent way to trace your Welsh ancestors. Access is free. [Link]
Argentina: FamilySearch has completed indexing the 1895 Argentina census and has updated the indexing and images for the 1869 Argentina census. Access is free. [Link]
Ireland: The Irish National Archives has launched a new collection of 70 historic Irish maps dating from 1558 to 1610. This spans the period of time when the English were colonizing Ireland. These colorful and fascinating maps were often used as a tool by English colonists who were claiming land ownership from native Irish residents. The maps were also used by the English government to inform and influence government policy. The time period also coincides with the rise of mapmaking as a profession and many of the maps show amazing and colorful details such as rabbits and other woodland creatures. For anyone with Irish ancestry, these maps are definitely worth looking at. Access is free. [Link]
Mexico: FamilySearch has substantially completed indexing the 1930 Mexican census. Access is free. [Link]
Europe: The US National Archives and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum have partnered with Footnote.com to create an interactive database with over one million Holocaust-related records. The collection includes interactive personal stories from the Holocaust Museum; Concentration Camp maps, stories and facts; reference to looted Holocaust valuables and original documents and photos from the National Archives. Access to the collection on Footnote.com is free for the month of October. [Link]