Thursday, March 28, 2013

RootsTech

RootsTech is an opportunity to discover the latest family history tools and techniques, connect with experts to help you in your research, and be inspired in the pursuit of your ancestors. It is a conference with a unique emphasis on helping individuals learn and use the latest technology to get started or accelerate their efforts to find, organize, preserve and share their family’s connections and history. Workshops and interactive presentations are aimed at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level.

The conference took place in Salt Lake City, Utah from March 21-23, and many of the presentations can be viewed onlint via the RootsTech website.

Friday, March 22, 2013

The Forgotten Times

Australia's first FREE digital-only online history magazine, The Forgotten Times is a history magazine with stories for those interested in all issues relating to genealogy, Australian history or researching a family tree.

The Forgotten Times is produced by a team of journalists keen to provide the very best history and family tree stories - ones that are really worth reading. If you ever asked What is History? well here it is in its most readable form.

Their list of expert writers continues to grow and includes : Christine Yeats, Australian History Society; Zoe D'Arcy, National Archives of Australia, Australian National Maritime Museum with more to come...

Friday, March 15, 2013

1922 Irish Army

MilitaryArchives.ie has updated their 1922 Irish Army Census database. It is now searchable by name (first and last), location and age. The database contains 33,210 records. A typical record lists the name of the soldier, where they were stationed, their division, home address, age, marital status, religion, name and address of next of kin (typically a father or mother) and the place and date of attestation (when and where they signed up for the military). The image below shows a typical record. Access is free.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Welsh Newspapers Online

In March 2012, the National Library of Wales is expected to launch online the first one million pages of its historic newspaper collection, called Welsh Newspapers Online. Eventually, the aim is to digitize some two million pages of newspapers and journals from before 1911 (the current out-of-copyright date). A list of newspapers and journals that have been identified for digitization is available on the website. When this website launches, it will provide the largest body of searchable text related to Wales. Access will be free.

Friday, March 1, 2013

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland site was launched on 8 November 2012 by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. From this site, you can access the Census records for 1901 and 1911, the Tithe Applotment Books for 1823 to 1837 and the Soldiers’ Wills for 1914 to 1917.


The site will have a large number of other genealogical records added to it over the coming years, including:
1) Calendars of Wills and Administrations (1858– 1922);
2) Nineteenth-century census survivals (1821-1851);
3) Valuation Office House and Field Books (1848–1860);
4) Census Search Forms for the 1841 and 1851 Censuses.
All of these records will be free to access, through searchable databases and linked images of relevant pages. Eventually, it is hoped that the site will contain all of the important and easily accessible genealogical material in the custody of the National Archives.

The Soldiers’ Wills collection is the latest major project to become available free online, providing access to the wills of soldiers who died in the First World War (1914-1917). This is the first phase of the project carried out by the National Archives to digitise the 9,000 wills of the soldiers who died. Work is continuing and the remainder of the collection will be released online in 2013.