No.48 (genealogy news and tips worldwide)

Links open in new windows. If you share the tips below, the Creative Commons license requires that you acknowledge the source as http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com.

• Irish records FREE:   The largest online collection of Irish records (more than 116 million records, including images) will be FREE until 11.59pm (GMT) Friday 17 Mar 2017.


• AncestryDNA:   Until 19 Mar 2017, save up to 30% on Ancestry's DNA test for genealogy (the one you've seen advertised on TV).


• More discounts:   New discount offers (relevant worldwide) are coming soon, so check Genealogy Discounts and Freebies this weekend. If you use ChangeDetection to monitor that page, log in at www.changedetection.com and edit your alert for http://www.judywebster.com.au/specials.html to 'daily'. If new offers are added twice in one week, you will then be alerted twice instead of missing one.


• Conference & Fair:   The 'Footsteps in Time' Family and Local History Conference and free Fair is at Southport (Gold Coast, Queensland), 19th to 21st May 2017. I'm looking forward to it. Conference registration closes 14th April.


• Catholic records:   The Catholic Heritage Collection (available only on FindMyPast) is a growing online digitised and indexed collection of Roman Catholic records for Ireland, Britain and the USA. Most of the records have never before been accessible by the public, either offline or online.


• Electoral rolls:   You can do either a name search or an address search in the Australian electoral rolls collection at FindMyPast. The new search page explains which State and Commonwealth rolls are included. There are some for Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and more rolls will be added in the future. Ignore the 'birth year' search field (it doesn't help).


• Gen-Ebooks:   Genealogy Ebooks (known as Gen-Ebooks) is one of Australia's largest Ebook stores for genealogy. They currently have over 550 titles, with more being added every month, all instantly downloadable. They offer four 50% discount specials each month.


• Web pages from GEDCOM:   GedSite by John Cardinal is a new program that creates 'family tree Web pages from GEDCOM files. It generates narrative or grid style person pages, a master index, a surname index, source pages and any other pages you want to add. You can review the pages on your own computer before you share them via DVD or flash drive or publish them on the Web. I expect GedSite to be even more popular than John's other program (SecondSite for The Master Genealogist, which I use to create the family tree on my Website).


• Digitised records:   Many records from around the world have been digitised but not indexed. You just have to know how to find them! See Image-Only Collections.


• 53,000 names:   You'll find information about an amazing number of interstate and overseas folk, as well as locals, in records at Queensland State Archives. My Web site has over 53,000 names from original documents there. See the list of record types, with links to alphabetical lists of names.

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2017/03/no48-genealogy-news-and-tips-worldwide.html.)
~ ~ ~

No.47 (genealogy news and tips worldwide)

If you share these tips/links, the Creative Commons license requires that you acknowledge the source as http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com. Links open in new windows.

• Customs House records:   The index to passengers and crew in Queensland Customs House shipping lists 1852-1885 is now online. It includes over 90 lists that are not in Qld State Archives' assisted immigration index. Departure ports are Batavia, Boston, Dundee, Glasgow, Greenock, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Liverpool, London, New York, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Plymouth, Queenstown (Ireland), Singapore, San Francisco, Sydney, South Sea Islands and Southampton.


• Not just names:   What were your ancestors really like as people?  7 Ways to Get to Know Your Ancestors Better describes some resources that may answer that question. Records could be in an unexpected country, so search widely.


• Illegitimate children:   On 14 Jan 2017 I added more names to the page about illegitimate children whose father is identified in a document in Archives. The Web page may list either the child or the child's mother, and it explains how to order copies of original records. Researching Illegitimate Children is one of my mini-guides.


• 1939 Register:   The 1939 Register for England/Wales now has over 5 million more records than it did at launch. Millions of closed records were opened during 2016, so check whether you can now see parts of the image that were previously hidden.


• Intermittent research:   If you only do family history intermittently, a one month subscription is a good way to view online records. Note, though, that the 1939 Register for England/Wales is only available with FindMyPast's 12 month 'World' or 'Britain' subscription.


• Photos:   The Most Important Question to Ask Cousins About Old Photos. If only I'd thought of this when my grandmother was alive!


• Books & microfilms:   The real reason why you shouldn't reshelve genealogy books (this also applies to microfilm in all libraries and Archives).


• Irish folklore:   'Local Marriage Customs' is one of many interesting items in the Irish Schools Folklore Collection (a treasure trove for family historians).


• Ancestry.com:   Why you should make copies of what you post on Ancestry.com.


• Western Australia:   I came across an interesting site for family and local history on the central goldfields of Western Australia.

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2017/01/no47-genealogy-news-and-tips-worldwide.html.)
~ ~ ~

No.44 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

Links open in new windows.

• 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.43 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

Links open in new windows.

• 50% discount:   FindMyPast (one of my favourite sites) has a half-price offer that ends 15 Jul 2016.


• Proof:   Read Else Churchill's delightfully simple and sensible explanation of how we can apply the Genealogical Proof Standard.


• Queensland:   A new index on the Qld State Archives Web site is 'Monthly and Half Yearly Returns for Moreton Bay 1829-1837'.


• New South Wales:   Learn how to use the new Web site for State Records NSW (the NSW equivalent of Qld State Archives).


• Western Australia:   Western Australian birth, death and marriage certificates are now cheaper. See Australian Genealogy and History Snippets.


• Ireland:   Ireland's wills and administrations 1858-1920 can now be searched on Ancestry.


• Canada:   FindMyPast now has links to images of the original 1911 census for Canada.


• USA:   Naturalisation and passport records are among new USA records added to FindMyPast.


• Scotland:   The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History by George F. Black is free online. Below the 'Viewability' sub-heading, click 'Full view'.


• Recommended reading:   'You can think that if you want, but it's wrong'.

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2016/07/no43-genealogy-news-and-discounts.html.)
~ ~ ~