No.41 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

Sketch found in Archives

I've just realised that yesterday was this blog's fifth anniversary. How time flies!

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• Photos/Sketches:   Check the lists of names from my on-going index to historical photos or sketches of people. These are images that I've found in various sources in Archives. Most are accompanied by superb information for family history.


• Ancestry discount:   Ancestry's annual UK Heritage Plus membership (with access to all their Australian, NZ, Irish and UK records) is cheaper until 11:59pm AEST Sunday 1 May 2016. The offer is not valid for members with current subscriptions, or with other offers or promotions including free trials. If you don't want your membership to automatically renew at a higher rate, cancel at least two days before your renewal date by visiting the MyAccount section (see their Terms and Conditions).


• QLD births to 1919:   Indexes to Queensland births registered up to and including 1919 are now on FindMyPast! This is exciting, because on the Registry of BDMs Web site, which has a 100-year access restriction, you can currently only search up to early 1916. On FindMyPast the transcription shows the exact birth date, not just the registration year.


• QLD marriages:   The quickest way to find the exact date of Queensland marriages 1829-1939 is to use the new indexes and transcriptions on FindMyPast.


• QLD deaths:   The FindMyPast record set that's misleadingly called 'Queensland Deaths' only has names from a few cemetery records, not official death registrations. Click 'Learn more' and 'Discover more' on this page (but the explanations are not as clear as we might wish).


• LostCousins:   The LostCousins site is completely free until Monday 2nd May.


• Photos/Images:   Read Judy G. Russell's superb article showing how to save source information so that it appears on an image.


• Will Books:   Family historians may not realise that local Archives often hold wills for people in other States and even other countries. Regardless of where your ancestors lived, you should search indexes to NSW Will Books 1800-1952. Although only a few of my families were in NSW, I've already found fifteen wills in these books.


• Victoria:   Law Making and Breaking in Colonial Victoria shows tools and resources for finding out about lives of crime and justice in Victoria and Port Phillip.


• Maps:   Almost 3,000 titles have been issued in a major series of reprints of Old Ordnance Survey Maps of towns throughout Britain and Ireland.


• WDYTYA handouts:   Speakers' handouts from this year's Who Do You Think You Are (Live) can be downloaded (free).


• Epidemics:   This timeline for disease epidemics may explain some deaths in your family tree.

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2016/05/no41-genealogy-news-and-discounts.html.)
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No.39 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

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• FindMyPast discount:   Get 20% off the price of any 12 month subscription at FindMyPast. Offer ends Sat. 27 Feb 2016 (23:59 GMT). Please note that unlimited free access to the 1939 Register for England and Wales is only included in 12 month World subscriptions or Britain subscriptions. If you are not familiar with FindMyPast, read 'Why I Use and Recommend FindMyPast'.


• Webpages:   My 'Wednesday's Webpage for Genealogy' series is now underway. It gives you a sneak peek into records that many people have never used.


• Recent deaths:   If you're looking for recent death notices in Australia, check the Ryerson Index and the archived messages from the AUS-Newspaper-Extracts Mailing List at Rootsweb (but the mailing list is currently unavailable).


• Family history at the State Library:   Family history seminars at the State Library of Queensland are free, but you need to book.


• Weddings:   Life lessons from the altar - strange things that happen at weddings.


• Finding images:   Do you waste time searching your computer for all photos of a specific person or place? It's much easier if you follow the advice in Updating Metadata for Digital Photos: Keeping It Simple. The programme it describes (Irfanview) is free, and I love it.


• London maps:   Have a look at the high resolution scans of Ordnance Survey maps of London (1893-1896). At 60-inches-to-the-mile, the detail is astounding.


• Lookup offers:   Note this warning about genealogy 'lookup' offers.


• Historical background:    A Short History of the Football Boot

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2016/02/no39-genealogy-news-and-discounts.html.)
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No.38 (genealogy news and discounts worldwide)

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• Genealogy Discounts and Freebies:   Two new offers were added today, including one from FindMyPast that ends at midnight Monday 15 Feb 2016. This is your last chance to beat next week's 20% price rise.


• Current electoral roll:   It is once again possible to visit Australian Electoral Commission offices to use the current electoral roll for genealogical research. Electronic recording of data is not allowed.


• Seminar in Brisbane:   Judy Russell ('The Legal Genealogist') and Carol Baxter are two of the speakers at the Unlock The Past seminar in Brisbane on Sat. 5 Mar 2016.


• Ships & Passengers:   A new Web site, Passengers in History, brings together a database of 250,000 passengers to South Australia between 1836 and 1961, and a list of ships' logs/diaries (Log of Logs).


• Searchable books:   On MyHeritage you can search the text of many books that are useful for genealogy. It covers an amazing variety of publications.


• Google maps:   Step-by-step guide to using Google Maps and creating personalised maps for your family history.


• One-place studies:   Check the list of one-place studies to see whether there's one for an area where your ancestors lived.


• Irish R.C. parish records:   FindMyPast will soon release indexed transcriptions of 10 million records from over 3,500 Irish Roman Catholic parish registers (baptisms and marriages) for all 32 historical counties (Irish Republic and Northern Ireland), with links to images.


• USA marriages:   FindMyPast is releasing what will be the largest online collection of USA marriages 1650-2010 (60% of which have never before been published online). The first 33 million records are free to the public until 15 Feb 2016. When complete, this collection in its entirety will only be found on Findmypast.


• Client records:   I am updating my client records. If I've done research for you, or if you are/were on my mailing list, I invite you to contact me to confirm your preferred/alternative email addresses. Use the address in the sidebar here or the one on my main Web site.


• Interesting historical background:
  
  • 9 Fascinating Facts About Ag Labs
  
  
  • Australia Day, 26&nbspJanuary... or is May or July?

(This post first appeared on http://updatesgenie.blogspot.com/2016/02/no38-genealogy-news-and-discounts.html.)
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