No.44 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

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• FindMyPast discount:   Until 11:59pm on Tues 6 Sep 2016, new subscribers can pay just $1 (one dollar) for a 1 month FindMyPast world subscription. That's a saving of 95%! Un-tick 'Auto-renew' in the MyAccount section of the site. Read why I use and recommend FindMyPast.


• Passenger lists:   I was excited to see that images of Victoria coastal passenger lists 1852-1924 are now online. They list people travelling locally as well as immigrants from overseas. For many people attracted by Australia's gold rush, including those who were on USA goldfields, this may be the only surviving shipping record.


• Recommended reading:   Shadows of the Workhouse: The Drama of Life in Postwar London (Jennifer Worth). I couldn't put this book down!


• Hospital records:   Hospital admission registers have superb data (usually better than a death certificate), and I index them. Many patients were from interstate and overseas, especially the UK and Ireland. For Croydon hospital 1888-1925, which includes the North Queensland gold rush era, I've combined two lists of patients into a single alphabetical sequence. To order copies of original records, see 'Copying Service' near the bottom of that page.


• Illegitimate children:   Since 19th August I've added two batches of names to the page about illegitimate children whose father is identified in a document in Archives. Most of the mothers and children lived in Queensland or NSW but a few were interstate or overseas. This index is designed to help family historians and people seeking birth parents. See 'Copying Service' near the bottom of that page.


• Cemeteries:   Toowong cemetery and South Brisbane cemetery indexes are on FindMyPast, but you currently can't find them with an A to Z search. You need to use links on the full list of Australian and New Zealand records on FindMyPast. (Thanks to Rosemary for pointing this out.)


• Western Australia:   Uncertified copies of Western Australian birth, death and marriage certificates now cost just $20.


• Ancestry:   Danny Barber explains how to sort Ancestry hints by collection. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds useful.


• Photographs:   See the tips in How to Relax and Rehumidify Old Rolled Photographs.


• Privacy:   Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist) shares her sensible advice about privacy.


• Genealogy on Facebook:   You can read many genealogy pages on Facebook without joining. There is now a page for Toowoomba and Darling Downs Family History Society - and note my 'Saturday's Source' series of tips on Judy Webster: Queensland Genealogy.


• Copies of copies:   This article has images showing how information was copied from a copy of a copy (etc) and neither the birth date nor death date remained correct in the copy on Ancestry.

No.40 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

Book by Chris Paton

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• Irish land records:   Paul Milner has written a comprehensive review of Chris Paton's book Discover Irish Land Records.


• FindMyPast discounts:   Until midnight 17 Mar 2016 you can get a 1-month World subscription at FindMyPast for just $1, or you can get 20% off a 12-month World subscription. To find out about future discounts, go to Genealogy Discounts and Freebies, click the bar marked 'Receive email when this page changes', and follow the instructions. Select 'daily' as the frequency (not 'weekly') so you don't miss short-term offers that last less than a week.


• My other sites:   When I hear about discounts and freebies for genealogy, I often mention them first on my Facebook page.


• 1939 Register:   A 12-month Britain or World subscription to FindMyPast now gives you unlimited free access to the 1939 Register for England and Wales (including images of the original documents).


• Pastoral runs:   The Queensland State Archives Web site now has an index to rents payable on pastoral runs 1860-1911.


• Toowoomba seminar:   On Sat. 2 Apr 2016 I'm giving two talks to members of Toowoomba & Darling Downs Family History Society ('Not Just the Patient: how hospital and asylum records tell the story of a family' and 'Ancestors who Moved or Vanished'). For more details see my 'Talks' page.


• Cairns seminar:   The two talks I'm giving at Cairns Library on Sat. 16 Apr 2016 are 'Scallywags, Scoundrels and Vanishing Relatives' and 'Researching Illegitimate Children'. For more details see my 'Talks' page.


• Handouts from my talks:   If you were on Unlock the Past's genealogy conference/cruise (Barrier Reef, March 6th-13th) and want a free copy of the handouts from my first two talks, email me at the address shown on my Web site, quoting your name and town as shown in the '11th Unlock the Past cruise group' list. There was no handout for my third talk ('Researching Illegitimate Children') because there is already a mini-guide.


• Wednesday's Webpage:   The Wednesday's Webpage for Genealogy series will resume next week, but if the level of interest doesn't increase, it may be discontinued.


• Recommended reading:   5 Tips for Finding Women's Obituaries, by Amy Johnson Crow.

(This post first appeared on https://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2016/03/no40-genealogy-news-and-discounts.html.)
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