No.24 (genealogy worldwide)

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• Maiden names missing from Qld death indexes:  I received a reply from the Queensland Registry of BDMs after I sent examples of maiden names that are missing from death indexes online but shown in the corresponding indexes on fiche or CD-ROM.
• 20% discount:  In August, Findmypast added 10 new data sets (2 million records) for Australasia. Until 30 Sep 2013 you can get 20% discount off a world subscription to FindMyPast, which allows you to search billions of records for Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, USA and Canada (including British newspapers).
• Innisfail (Geraldton) burials:  Do you have a death certificate or other details for someone buried at Geraldton (now Innisfail) in North Qld?
• Victoria:  Passenger lists (Victoria) 1846-1899.
• NSW:  NSW Registers of Coroners' Inquests 1796-1942.
• Recommended reading:  Artificial 'brick walls' in family history.

No.23 (immigrants and electoral rolls)

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• Queensland's Commonwealth electoral roll databases for 1903, 1913, 1922, 1934, 1949 and 1959, plus indexes to Queensland State electoral rolls 1860-1884, are now on FindMyPast.
  
  
• Index to Emigrants from Hamburg to Australasia 1850-1879 (compiled by Eric and Rosemary Kopittke from Hamburg departure lists) is now on FindMyPast. Hamburg departure lists give information that is not in the passenger lists held in Australia and New Zealand.
  
  
• My article 'The Case of the False Identity', published in Inside History magazine, will have you looking at 19th century passenger lists in a new light.

Revenue from ads goes to Kiva

No.22 (genealogy worldwide)

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• Queensland certificates:  You can now save money by downloading some Queensland birth, death and marriage certificates as images.


• Free family history talks (North Qld):  Details of my six free family history talks at Atherton, Innisfail, Tully and Wongaling Beach (20-24 June 2013) are on my Web site.


• British newspapers:  More years and more newspapers have been added to the searchable collection of digitised British newspapers (now 1710-1953).


• 'Queensland Genealogy' categories:  There are now quick links to articles in certain categories (BDMs, Hidden treasures, Indexes, People, Places, Sources, Tips, Warnings, Websites) in my 'Queensland Genealogy' blog. At the bottom of that page there is also a complete list of keywords.


• Visiting historical societies & museums:  Tips on what to do before you visit a local historical society or museum.


• Recommended reading:  A Hobbyist Genealogist's Manifesto. I like the bit about 'Pirates of the Caribbean philosophy of citation'.

My Web Site is Getting a Makeover

I know that many people with Queensland research are following this blog by email, so I am posting an invitation here as well as in Queensland Genealogy.

My genealogy Web site, which has been a bit neglected recently, is about to get a facelift.

To help me decide how to make the 100+ pages more user-friendly, I'd be grateful if you would

1. Explore www.judywebster.com.au (it opens in a new window), noting what you like or dislike - but remember that it is a Web site, NOT a blog. The revamped site will use a better font, but if you want to increase the font size now, your browser can do that. Most pages have a menu and search box at the top.


2. Do my quick (and anonymous) survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/3XRMQWX.

Early feedback has shown that some of the changes I had in mind are indeed what people want. There has already been one excellent suggestion for a change that hadn't occurred to me, and I'm sure there will be more.

If you know someone who might like to help shape the future of my Web site, please send them the links above. Thanks!

No.21 (genealogy worldwide)

James George Hudson Webster

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• Free access to Military records:  To commemorate Anzac Day, FindMyPast is giving everyone free access to 3.6 million military records until 26 April 2013.


• Goodna Asylum case books:  Today I added 1,700 names of patients with entries in mental asylum case books (bringing the total to about 5,000 names). Patients' birthplaces include Australia, USA, UK, Ireland, Europe, Asia etc. Check whether your ancestors or their siblings are listed! Many patients were only in the asylum for a few weeks, so you probably wouldn't know.


• Canadian research:  See Researching English Emigrants to Canada and their Descendants.

Revenue from ads goes to Kiva

No.20 (warning re Queensland death indexes)

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Warning!  Before we all get too excited about the recently released Queensland death indexes to 1983... please note that the Registry has omitted parents' names from many index entries despite the fact that parents are named on the death certificate. For more details, see Queensland Genealogy.

No.19 (Queensland births, deaths and marriages)

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Queensland Registrar-General's indexes to births to 1914, marriages to 1938 and deaths to 1983 are now online - but note that some indexes (births to 1919 and marriages to 1939) are available on microfiche but not online.

Once you know a year of death, it's much easier to search for a recent Supreme Court probate file - which, if it exists, will include the death certificate, thus saving you a lot of money.

There are other tips about Queensland birth, death and marriage records on my Web site and in the book Tips for Queensland Research. See also 'Free certificates in Archives files'.

(Postscript, 25 Mar 2013: See the WARNING about problems with the recently released death indexes.)

No.18 (genealogy worldwide)

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• Queensland Births, Deaths and Marriages:  Digital images of historical registers.


• Gazetteer of British Place Names:  This exhaustive Place Name Index to Great Britain, with more than 50,000 entries, lists the historic county and the main administrative areas in which each place lies. Read the notes before using the Gazetteer.


• Society of Australian Genealogists manuscripts index:  It is worthwhile checking this online index periodically. In the Primary Records Collection I found handwritten genealogical notes provided by my great-great-grandfather's sister in about 1900. Without those notes I would still be stuck on 'Thomas WEBSTER, born London c.1824'.


• FindMyPast:  (UPDATED)  It is now possible to buy a Worldwide subscription to FindMyPast through any of their sites.

Revenue from ads goes to Kiva

No.17 (genealogy UK, Ireland, USA, Canada)

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• LostCousins:  The LostCousins site is currently completely free. Until early Tuesday 28th August Australian time, or midnight 27th Greenwich Mean Time, you can search and make contact with any living relatives that the search reveals, without paying for a subscription. LostCousins now caters for the 1940 USA census as well as USA 1880; Canada 1881; England & Wales 1841, 1881, 1911; Ireland 1911; Scotland 1881. Be sure to enter your blood relatives and relatives by marriage as well as direct ancestors.  (I tried to share that news earlier, but my wireless Internet connection suddenly stopped working and was out of action for a long time.)


• Guide to London Ancestors:  FamilySearch has a new free guide with articles on each of London's 109 historic parishes, including descriptions of many records available online. Guides are also being compiled for the Greater London counties of Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey.

No.16 (genealogy worldwide)

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• Family history talks:  I have updated the list of family history talks that I will be giving. Venues already confirmed are Cardwell (next week), Wongaling Beach, Innisfail and Tully (the following week), Coffs Harbour (late 2012), Sydney (early 2013), and Biloela, Moura, Taroom and Theodore (April 2013).


• Qld marriage indexes:  You can now search Queensland marriage indexes up to 1937 on the Internet - but don't forget that the indexes right up to 1939 are available on microfiche at Qld State Archives and in some libraries. Annotations on Queensland's State electoral rolls may provide clues to marriages after 1939.


• UK newspapers:  Audrey Collins has a new page with links to genealogy sources including hard-to-find UK newspaper sites.


• Ancestry searches:  If you put too much information in the search form, a poor match may appear higher on the list than a perfect match. What does it take to get a good result from Ancestry?