Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Tasmanian Records

FamilySearch.org has added a new collection of some 96,000 images of various Tasmanian genealogy records. This collection spans the years 1829 to 1961 and includes land records, school records, court records and occupation/guild records. Details on Australian convicts can be found buried in the court records. There are four types of convict records (tickets of leave, certificates of freedom, pardon and convict indents). The records are organized by location. Access to the collection is free.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Police Gazette of Western Australia

The State Library of Western Australia has digitized and put online the Police Gazette of Western Australia. This collection spans the years from 1876 onwards. This gazette basically lists all the police activity by year. Typical information would include a list of people arrested and their sentences, police appointments and promotions, conditional pardons issued to convicts, physical descriptions of convicts, etc. This gazette contains a wealth of information for anyone looking for criminal or police records in Western Australia. Access this collection is free.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Queensland Shipping Records

The Queensland State Archives has released a new index of original shipping registers for vessels that arrived in Queensland from 1848 to 1912. A typical record lists the name of the ship, European port of departure, date of departure, place and date of arrival in Queensland, list of passenger and type of passage (free, assisted, remittance, bounty, steerage, etc.).

This index is for ships from the United Kingdom and Europe. It does not include ships from New Zealand, the Americas, Asia, Africa or other Australian ports. As well, some of the records from the 1860s are missing due to damage incurred in the Queensland 1893 floods. These indexes can be searched alphabetically by last name. Access is free.

Friday, November 30, 2012

FamilySearch

What's new at the FamilySearch website?
FamilySearch has created a new collection of Kent electoral rolls. This collection spans a broad range from 1570 to 1907 and consists of some 132,000 images. Included in the collection are a few militia muster rolls (for Faversham). The collection contains other types of related records, such as jury service lists (which were often drawn from electoral rolls). This collection can only be browsed at the moment.
FamilySearch has also added some 1.2 million parish records for Plymouth and West Devon. These are baptism, marriage and burial records that date from 1538 to 1912 and can be searched by name.
Access is free to both sets of records.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

National Archives of Ireland

The National Archives of Ireland has created a special website specifically devoted to genealogy. Included are the 1901 and 1911 census records, tithe applotment books from 1823 to 1837 and soldier’s wills from 1914 to 1917. Eventually, the website is expected to contain all the genealogy records in the custody of the Irish National Archives, including Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858 – 1922; Nineteenth century census survivals, 1821-51; Valuation Office House and Field Books, 1848 – 60; Census Search Forms for the 1841 and 1851 censuses.  Please note the website states there are many incorrect entries, locations, names and spellings in the tithe entries. These are being corrected over time. Access is free.

Monday, November 19, 2012

British National Archives

The British National Archives has made good progress in digitizing their collection of World War I war unit diaries. A war unit diary is essentially a collection of field reports by various military units. A typical war unit diary contains daily operational reports from the front lines as well as local intelligence summaries. These war diaries were written between 1914 and 1923 by various British and colonial units that served in various theatres of war. Most of the unit diaries cover activity in France, Germany and Belgium. War unit diaries can contain a wealth of information for people looking for their ancestors and they are one of the most requested items in the British Archives reading rooms. In order to search these diaries, you need to know the regiment and battalion of your ancestor.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Chronicling America

On 22 October 2012, the website Chronicling America posted its 5 millionth historic newspaper page onto its website. The Chronicling America project now covers more than 800 newspapers from 25 different states spanning the period from 1836 to 1922.  This website was originally launched by the Library of Congress in 2007.  Access is free.