WorldVitalRecords UPDATE

Special for the month of June (it started today) is 2 years for the price of 1! That means a 2 year membership to WorldVitalRecords.com for just $49.95.

From an email today from WorldVitalRecords.com I take the following excerpts:

"First off we announced that we have partnered with Quintin Publishing to put their entire CDROM library online. This is over 10,000 databases and is worth thousands of dollars if you were to buy each CD separately. This is a great library and includes such gems as Cassell's Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland Volumes 1-6, England Maps, Ireland Maps, Scotland Maps, Handbook of Indians of Canada, Staffordshire pedigrees, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and Dictionnair Topographique Du Department de l'Eure just to name a few. We have just started adding this content to the site but will continue to add these great resources to the web over the next month or so.

We also announced a partnership with the Ellis Island Foundation to provide all passenger arrivals records to World Vital Records visitors. This information is available at other locations on the web but makes a great addition to the site by providing access to 25 million records.

We have also partnered with FamilySearch to provide free access to World Vital Records from over 4,500 Family History Centers throughout the world.

And finally we have partnered with Godfrey Memorial Library to provide content that has never been available online before. We are just starting several scanning and indexing projects with Godfrey but you will start to see this data launch on the site as it becomes available.

Our social network for genealogists, FamilyLink.com, is quickly growing. We now have 4462 genealogists who have signed up from around the world. Be sure to check it out and signup if you haven't already.

Plus 6 major data collections: the Everton Online Library, the SmallTownPapers CollectionT, the Quintin Online Library, the International Parish Register Collection, the World Gazetteer Collection, and the International Marriage Record Collection. These are data sets where we have unique and valuable content.

Our special for the month of June (it started today) is 2 years for the price of 1! That means visitors get a 2 year membership to WorldVitalRecords.com for just $49.95."

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More Than 4,500 Family History Centers Worldwide to have Free Access to WorldVitalRecords.com

"Genealogists and family historians to benefit from global collaboration

Provo, UT, May 16, 2007 — More than 4,500 FamilySearch Family History Centers throughout the world will now have free access to WorldVitalRecords.com's genealogical records and resources, as a result of an agreement signed between FamilySearch ™ and WorldVitalRecords.com.

“We are looking for a new breed of genealogy websites that are willing to work with FamilySearch to meet the needs and interests of record custodians and our patrons. WorldVitalRecords.com was uniquely positioned because of its rapid growth in the industry and potential for success, along with additional genealogical providers to fill this void. We are certain this agreement with WorldVitalRecords.com will greatly benefit a worldwide audience of genealogists with this free service,” said Paul Nauta, Manager of Public Affairs, FamilySearch ™.

WorldVitalRecords.com will provide a vast collection of genealogical materials including vital, land, immigration, and military records; newspapers, international databases, and a collection of reference material.

WorldVitalRecords.com also partnered with Everton Publishers last year to provide the Everton Genealogical Library containing numerous databases, as well as 60 years of the Everton Genealogical Helper and 150,000 Everton Pedigree Files and Family Group Sheets.

“At Everton’s we are excited about the fact that for the first time, genealogists have easy access to tens of thousands of queries, family group sheets, pedigree charts, and more from the past 60 years of the Genealogical Helper,” said Leland Meitzler, Managing Editor, Everton Publishers.

In addition to making all WorldVitalRecords.com content free, each family history centers will have access to FamilyLink.com, a new social genealogical Web site that enables individuals to connect with genealogists from more than 1,600 cities."

Above taken from World Vital Records Blog. Please read further on their blog.

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The National Gazetteer of Wales

If you have ancestors in Wales and are confused by all those strange Welsh place names, then The National Gazetteer of Wales will help you locate the particular place/places in Wales.

I say places beacause, as in all parts of the UK, there can be more than one town/village with the same name.

I am not an expert on Welsh place names, but I was browsing the gazatteer and saw that there are -

4 places called Newton
5 places called Newtown
1 place called Newton Cross
and
1 place called Newton Green

Given that not all of our ancestors were literate and, perhaps, liable to shorten the name of the place they came from, a lot of painstaking research can be required to find our ancestor's actual origins.

The site also has a useful map of Wales, details of the counties and administrative information.

West Virginia Vital Research Records

West Virginia Vital Research Records

The Vital Research Records Project is placing Birth, Death, and Marriage certificates on-line. Users can search the records and view scanned images of the original records.

Article on the Vital Research Records Project

Excellent resource for anyone searching in West Virginia.

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Mayo Ancestors

Mayo Ancestors

I ran across this site put together by the Family History Centers.

Their site states:

"Official Genealogy records of County Mayo, Ireland

We hope you can use this search facility to locate your family ancestors. At present you have access to the complete Birth and Baptism records for County Mayo.

To search the Birth / Baptism Register, specify the Surname, Firstname and the approximate year of birth of your ancestor.

Note that the search results will include variations of the First name and Surname.

We will soon be giving you the ability to search Marriages and Deaths."

LDS - Family Search

You will, no doubt, have heard of the LDS intention to put 80 million family records online. If you have not seen the article by Carrie A Moore in Deseret News it is shown at the end of this blog.

I am a member of various rootsweb mailing lists and I received this from a fellow member of a list ......

This project is well underway, and I have been helping out with doing some of the transcriptions from the original records - currently 1900 census of USA. (my thought was that the quicker the USA gets done they will move on to UK records!)

From what I have read recently there is a slight change in emphasis from the original idea of transcribing all their holdings (millions of microfilm) to maintaining an index of everything on the web. So for example, if they think your ancestor appears on ancestry.com or findmypast.com they will point you in that direction, but you will obviously have to pay that other organisations fees to access it. I suspect that this has arisen because if they provide everything for free all those organisations that currently charge for accesss would go out of business. There has already been a bit of a "spat" over the 1881 census. Presumambly all these other organisations will provide the LDS with an index of all their holdings.

I await all the new developments with great interest.

And here is the original item ...

80 billion family files to go online

LDS Church plans to be history 'clearinghouse'

By Carrie A. Moore

Deseret Morning News

In what officials say will be a quantum leap forward in providing family history information online, the LDS Church has announced a plan designed to eventually help provide access to as many as 80 billion family records on the Web, in addition to the tens of billions of records it is currently indexing out of its own Granite Vault microfilm archives.

The new Records Access program is being announced this week at the annual meeting of the National Genealogical Society (NGS) in Richmond, Va. The announcement details specifics of how the church is creating partnerships with various archives and other records depositories in a move to become the world's premier international "clearinghouse" for family history.

The first cooperative project under the new program will be to digitize and index U.S. Revolutionary War Pension records with the National Archives in Washington, meaning anyone with ancestors who served in that war will soon be able to access details about that family member online.

Steve W. Anderson, manager of marketing for the church's Family Search said the church is working to arrange agreements with commercial Web sites and genealogical organizations worldwide to provide digitizing, indexing and online posting for billions of records, many of which have never been indexed at all, let alone been available online.

"Archives all have two things in mind: preservation and making records available," he said. "When push comes to shove, they would rather preserve them than share them, but most would like to do both."

The church is forming agreements with organizations to help film or digitally image their collections, which can be posted on an organization's Web site, as well as on FamilySearch.org. In some cases, FamilySearch will simply provide a link to a specific organization's Web site, where a small fee for access will be charged to view the records.

The program "recruits volunteers from around the world to index a batch of records at a time. They transcribe those pieces of information — names, dates, locations, marriage, death and birth dates — and make an index that allows the record to be searched by name or place or event," Anderson said.

The project not only will provide "vital statistics," but by imaging the documents, users will be able to pull up a digitized image of the actual record itself. "That's a whole different experience, to see an image of the original document," he said.

The program provides the flexibility necessary to work with small archives as well as giant repositories, he said. It helps those without any resources to complete the entire imaging, indexing and online posting process, and those with more resources who may simply need help posting information online or driving traffic to their Web site.

Once the church has signed an agreement to work with a specific organization, personnel there "typically want to recruit their own patrons to help them index. But with imaging the documents — taking digital photos of them — we do that for them in almost all cases. ... They want preservation-quality digital images, and we do that better than anybody. We've been doing it for decades," to produce the 2.4 million rolls of microfilm that now reside in the church's Granite Mountain near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Anderson said.

FamilySearch can also put indexing projects in progress on its Web site, where volunteers can help index public collections of records. The Revolutionary War records are a "perfect example. We're doing the imaging, posting on our site and will recruit volunteers to help index." An online family history Web site called Footnote.com will create electronic indexes of the records and host the actual images there for public access.

The indexes and images of those records will also be viewable at LDS Family History Centers, as well as at FamilySearch.org.

Anderson said "numerous other national and international projects" of a similar nature are now under development and will be announced as agreements are signed or data is published.

As a result of the "affiliate arrangement," Anderson said FamilySearch.org will "have all the indexes for everything. You can think of it more or less like a Google — you go there to find the source of information you're looking for. Sometimes we're the source, and sometimes a third party is the source."

At least one or two similar agreements are expected to be announced this week in Virginia, Anderson said, noting several of the church's family history specialists are presenting at the conference this week.

While some Web sites may eventually use their information as a money-making enterprise, as commercial family history companies now do, Anderson said the church is not charging partners to help them make their records available.

Church officials have been looking to form such partnerships "for some time now," Anderson said, but have had to push forward the development of technology that would allow it to happen with "the way we scan, photo, transfer and archive. Because some of the necessary technology wasn't available, we had to develop it ourselves."

Working with a scanner producer, the church helped develop high-speed scanners that can scan a roll of microfilm in "a couple of minutes," as opposed to an hour or more that traditional scanners required.

New software developed to process that information into images and make it ready for processing, as well as to manage the warehousing of such huge information banks, also had to be created, Anderson said. "Almost every step of the way, there were significant engineering projects or hardware that needed to be developed."

Now that the technology is in place, the Records Access project will mean "at least 20 billion unique new names that will be in those records (to be posted online), but I'm not uncomfortable saying it could be 80 billion." That's compared with a total of about 5 billion names now online, he said.

The new technology and resulting "affiliate" agreements through FamilySearch will "fundamentally change people's ability to find their ancestors and connect with their families online. It's just going to be a real watershed event," Anderson said.

British Columbia, Canada Civil Registration Information

British Columbia, Canada Civil Registration Information

The British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency is responsible for the registration of births, marriages, and deaths in British Columbia. These registrations began in 1872 after British Columbia became a province of Canada, but do include some events which took place prior to 1872 but were registered later.

British Columbia Archives

The Vital Statistics Agency and BC Archives provide a searchable electronic index to British Columbia's historical birth, death and marriage records. These include:

Births Registration Index: 1872 to 1903

Marriage Registration Index: 1872 to 1931

Death Registration Index: 1872 to 1986

Colonial Marriage Index: 1859 to 1872

Baptisms Index: events over 120 years old

To view or access the actual registration records, researchers may:

Visit one of various agencies holding microfilm copies in person.

Write to the BC Archives to request a copy of a registration record. Please see the information on the specific citation package.

Some vital event registration records are now available in digital image format for on-line purchase, and delivery via email.

Mailing address and phone number:

British Columbia Archives
675 Belleville Street
Victoria BC
V8W 9W2
(250) 387-1952

British Columbia Vital Statistics Agency

The Genealogical Services page contains information on genealogy services and explains how to order a Genealogy Certified Registration copy of:

Genealogy - Birth

Genealogy - Adoption

Genealogy - Marriage

Genealogy - Death

There is also an explanation of the Fee Schedule and how to order online.

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About Knapdale (Argyllshire, Scotland)

Every so often you come across a really well presented site which has been prepared to tell the story of an area and provide loads of genealogical information.

I came across such a site at Knapdale People. It is packed full of information about the history of the area and the characters who lived there. It also has a large section devoted to Cemetery Transcriptions.

If you have ancestors in this part of Argyllshire the site will be very helpful.

Civil Registration of Ontario births, deaths and marriages

Civil Registration of Ontario births, deaths and marriages began 01 July 1869. The Archives of Ontario holds records of births from 1869 to 1908, marriages from 1869 to 1923, and deaths from 1869 to 1933. Incomplete marriage registers prior to 1869 are also available.

Ancestry.ca
(requires payment) includes indexed and images for:

Ontario Births 1869-1909


Ontario Marriages 1857-1924


Ontario Deaths 1869-1934


Ontario Civil Marriage Registrations 1869-73


Ontario Roman Catholic Marriages 1827-1870


Archives of Ontario

The Archives of Ontario holds records of births from 1869 to 1908, marriages from 1869 to 1923, and deaths from 1869 to 1933. Incomplete marriage registers prior to 1869 are also available.

Staff members at the Archives of Ontario office are unable to undertake genealogical searches in these vital records.

Microfilm copies of the indexes and the original registrations are available through inter-institutional loan from the Archives of Ontario and through your local Family History Library.

Registrar General

For births after 1909, marriages after 1924, and deaths after 1934, requests should be addressed to:

Office of the Registrar General
PO Box 4600
189 Red River Road
Thunder Bay ON
P7B 6L8

Information on how to obtain these records is available at http://www.cbs.gov.on.ca/mcbs/english/4ULUQT.htm

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Military Records Free Now through D-DAY June 6th

Ancestry is offering:

Search All Military Records Free Through D-Day


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The Scottish Emigration Database

The Scottish Emigration Database

The Scottish Emigration Database currently contains the records of over 21,000 passengers who embarked at Glasgow and Greenock for non-European ports between 1 January and 30 April 1923, and at other Scottish ports between 1890 and 1960.

It was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and was based at the University of Aberdeen's AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies.

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Small hiccup in blog yesterday. Sorry

It appears we had a problem with the blog last night. It seems to have resent about half of the blog out as posted yesterday. Hopefully this is a one time problem.

Sorry for any inconvenience this caused.

M

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Our Roots

Our Roots is a Canadian website that I tend to use over and over.

From their website:

"Canada's Local Histories Online brings Canadian history to life! This unique, online, coast-to-coast record of Canadian local histories reflects the breadth and depth of our country's heritage, and celebrates the diverse landscapes, resources, and people that have contributed to sculpting its rich and ever-evolving national character.

Our Roots is a gateway to Canada’s past. Tales to be discovered include those of the Irish at Grosse Isle, the American Invasion of 1775, the Klondike Gold Rush, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s historic forts and trading posts, the Canadian Anti-Slavery Baptist Association, Aboriginal communities, political and local scandals, ship building in Moncton, and the Sackville telephone exchange. Looking for information is made easy when you search the site using key words, dates, subjects or authors.

Our Roots provides universal access to unique materials concerning the cultural and social heritage of our nation. Written by Canadians, for Canadians, these local histories represent this nation’s history from the perspective of those who helped shape it. Now available in digital format, these resources are not only accessible from anywhere via the world wide web, but are also preserved for future generations of students, teachers and researchers.

This online collection allows students of any age to search and browse through historical material in a manner that is truly revolutionary: research is accelerated in terms of time and access to information. Already, the availability of this wealth of research material is heralding a new interest in Canadian history at all levels, as well as a celebration of our rich past.

Through the collaboration of nation-wide libraries, universities, colleges, archives, historical associations, businesses and individuals, Our Roots promises to develop into the most comprehensive collection of Canadian local histories ever."

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Administrative Areas in Ireland - Two Fun Quizzes

Hopefully you have had a chance to look at the blogs on Administrative Areas in Ireland (16th May 2007) and also the helpful information included in the Guide to Sources for Irish Family Research (1 May 2007).

If so ... put your feet up - take a wee break from serious genealogy and try these -

Print the letter grid you will find at Irish Pen Pals - Lettermix and see if you can identify the 32 Irish counties.

When you have found them – see if can you identify the counties on the map at Irish Pen Pals - Irish Counties

Don't worry if (or when) you get stuck with this second item. The answers can be found at Irish Pen Pals - Irish Counties - Answers

Western States Marriages

Brigham Young University–Idaho has added Western States Marriages

Quotation from their site:

"For going on three decades, the BYU-I (formerly Ricks College) Arthur Porter Special Collections area of the David O. McKay Library in Rexburg, Idaho has been extracting early marriage records from counties in the western part of the United States. This extraction is called the Western States Marriage Index. In August 2006, this index was turned over to the Idaho Falls Regional Family History Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho when Blaine Bake, who began the index, retired from the university.

Most of the pre-1900 marriages are included in the index for Arizona, Idaho and Nevada. Many counties for those same states have been extracted into the 1930’s and some, much later. A significant number of marriages from selected counties in California, western Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Utah, eastern Washington, and Wyoming are also included. Very early marriages (1700’s) in New Mexico are currently being added. For more details, see "List of Counties by State". As of May 21, 2007, this file contains over 490,409 marriage records with additional entries being added nearly every working day.

At this time, the index is not comprehensive for the time period and/or localities described. However, the goal for this index is to have marriages from all 12 western states at the fingertips of family researchers. In the meantime, the index represents an effort to share results even though the index is incomplete and further proofreading and editing may be needed. Users are invited to notify us when errors are found or corrections needed. Please use the e-mail address below.

Please note that parents of the bride and groom are seldom mentioned in marriage records. As is the case for all indexes, it is recommended that the original marriage records be reviewed for additional information not extracted and for transcription accuracy.

Each entry in the index may contain the following:

names of the bride and groom
marriage date and place
county and state in which the marriage is recorded
residency of the bride and/or groom
miscellaneous comments "

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The National Archives - Documents on Line

Normally free resource sites are reviewed here, but there is such a wealth of information for the UK researcher on the Documents on Line section of the National Archives site (especially comparatively recent stuff), it would be a shame not to bring it to everyones attention - and the cost is very reasonable.

DocumentsOnline allows you access to The National Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Searching the index is free, and costs £3.50 to download an image.

Get an overview of Documents on Line - then move further into the site to see what content is available.

Alternatively, you can just wade in, browse the categories and search.

You Can't Believe Everything You Read

It is very important to evaluate the source of your information and the possibilities for inaccuracies, especially if you find information online.

Keep in mind:

1. When you find new information for your family tree, check for inconsistencies. For example - where two children in the same family were born on dates that were impossibly close together.

2. Try to verify the information using other documents, when you come across problems. Most genealogical information can be found in more than one place, so take the time to check other documents out.

3. When was the record created? Records that were made at the time of the event are more likely to be correct than those made several years later. For example, birth dates are often listed on a death certificate, but you are more likely to get the correct date when you find it on a birth certificate.

4. Unless they are willing to share documentation, use what you find only as a guideline and set out to prove it right or wrong.

Some further reading and tips:

Why Bother? The Value of Documentation in Family History Research

Genealogy Documentation

Documenting Your Genealogy Research - Guide to Citing Sources

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Women convicts in Australia

Do you have a woman convict in your family tree? Was she sent to either New South Wales or Van Diemen's Land between 1788 and 1853? You want to fill out that family history to include more than just names and dates; you want to know what life was like for these women sent miles from home into an uncertain future.

There are many websites now being created about the lives of these women.

Look at the female factory research group at the Cascades in VDL They have many snippets of information including:

• a case of bigamy
• love letters
• escape from the factory
• female prison discipline
• lists of infants dying at the factory

Want to hand or machine sew a bonnet? Christina Henri plans to create four bonnet installations to be exhibited on International Women's Day in March 2008. Each installation will be similar and will be placed at sites relevant to the convict women’s departure from the United Kingdom and arrival in Australia. If you wish to participate in this project, please contact Christina on 0407 575 018 or email her at cjhenri@iinet.net.au.

One in seven present day Australians is descended from a female relative who was sent to the Parramatta female factory in NSW.

Make sure you look at all the other links on these pages.

Saskatchewan Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes

Saskatchewan Genealogy Indexes

Births (more than 100 years ago.)

Deaths (more than 70 years ago.) Currently includes deaths that occurred prior to 1917. Other years will be added as they become available.

They appear to have forgotten to change the field for "birth date" to "death date".

Marriages (more than 75 years ago.) Not yet available. Work on this index will commence after the index of deaths has been completed.

Copies of Saskatchewn Birth, Marriage and Death records cost $50.00. No refunds or replacement of documents will be given for copies of the records issued.

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Administrative Areas in Ireland

The following item was published in the Looking 4 Kin newsletter on 7 January 2005. Prior to that, back in 2003 or 2004 it was in the old JustGen Newsletter.

I hope it will be of interest to current blog readers.

ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS IN IRELAND

CIVIL DIVISIONS

If you want to research Irish records efficiently, it is necessary to have knowledge of the area you are searching. Your ancestor may have recorded that he came form Cork or Dublin. In addition to being names of both cities and counties, these two places are also large ports. You could find that the recorded place was the port of departure rather than the place of origin that could be many miles away.

It is worthwhile, therefore, to take some time looking at the administrative areas in Ireland as this may assist you in your search. You will notice that the IreAtlas site is mentioned than once here – it is a very good site if you are trying to locate place names.

Partition of Ireland

Most of us will be searching records prior to partition. Originally Ireland was all one country, but with effect from 1921 The Republic of Ireland, also referred to as Southern Ireland, came into being. This part of Ireland was originally called The Irish Free State and, even today, some people in Ireland refer to it by that name. The remainder of the island (Northern Ireland) remained part of the United Kingdom.

A strange fact: The most northerly point of the island of Ireland (Malin Head) is actually in Southern Ireland!

Provinces

Ireland is made up of four provinces – Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connaught. Northern Ireland is often referred to as Ulster. It should be noted, however, that this is technically incorrect. Ulster has nine counties, but only six of these are in Northern Ireland. The other three counties of Ulster are in the Republic of Ireland (see counties for further information).

The provinces correspond with the land originally controlled by four ancient Irish families, the O’Neill family in Ulster, the O’Brien family in Munster, the MacMurrough family in Leinster and the O’Connor family in Connaught.

You can see a map of the provinces at Provinces of Ireland

Counties

There are 32 counties in Ireland, 26 are now in the Republic of Ireland and six in Northern Ireland. Counties are the principal unit of local government and most search documents are arranged by county.

The six counties of Northern Ireland are Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry (or Derry) and Tyrone. All these counties are in the province of Ulster. The remaining three counties in Ulster – Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan – are in the Republic of Ireland.

Following the partition of Ireland, certain places changed their name to remove any reference to the United Kingdom. Queens County, for example, became Co Laois (pronounced Leesh). Also, when looking for a county, always be aware of different spellings that can occur – e.g. Caban is Cavan, Derri is Londonderry (or Derry) and Leix is Laois.

You can see a map of the counties at Counties and Provinces of Ireland

Baronies

A barony was a group of parishes forming part of a county. The barony is an historical form of administration that is now obsolete but was widely used in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It was broadly based on Irish tribal territories. Barony boundaries are not always the same as the parish boundaries within them.

For details of baronies in each county go to IreAtlas .

Poor Law Unions

The Poor Relief Act came into effect in 1838 and Ireland was divided into ‘unions’. Basically, it brought in a system whereby taxpayers of each union paid towards the poor in their area. The unions had boundaries that overlapped county borders and usually covered the areas around large market towns. 163 workhouses were built throughout Ireland in the mid 1800s to provide relief for the unemployed and destitute. Residents of workhouses usually lived in very harsh conditions. The records that were kept of inhabitants can be a very useful search tool.

For further detailed information concerning workhouses in the United Kingdom and Ireland go to The Workhouse .

In 1898, the Local Government Act introduced the Poor Law Union as the basic unit of administration in Ireland. With effect from that date townlands were arranged according to the poor law union divisions. Parishes and baronies were retained to make comparisons with records held before 1898.

Cities, Towns and Boroughs

As in all parts of the world, cities will tend to be larger than towns. The island of Ireland, however, is a small place with a current total population of less than 6 million. For this reason, cities in Ireland will be smaller than most people envisage. Cities and larger towns will usually have several parishes. In rural areas, one parish will include several small townships. A borough is an area that sent an MP to the Westminster Parliament. Since partition, only Northern Ireland has had representation at Westminster.

Civil Parishes

There are about 2500 civil parishes in Ireland. Most search documents from the 17th century onwards are arranged by parish within the county. You must, however, be careful to ensure that you search all the records for parishes that are situated at the edge of a county because, on occasion, parishes break county borders and fall partly within two counties. For example, Shankill parish, which is now in Northern Ireland, straddles the county border of Armagh and Down.

To search for details of parishes in each county go to IreAtlas.

Townlands

Townlands are unique to Ireland. They represent the smallest administrative district and, on average, cover about 300 acres. In the case of rural dwellers they prove the most definitive form of postal address as small roads/tracks were unnamed. This can cause considerable trouble when trying to establish where an ancestor came from as many townlands share the same name.

Kilmore and Dromore are good examples. From a search of IreAtlas it will be seen that there are 56 Kilmores and 47 Dromores. That is without counting the townlands with Kilmore or Dromore in their name, such as Kilmore South and Dromore West, which will bring the total number of townlands with the same name to 87 and 63 respectively!! From this you will realise that, unless further information is given about the general area an ancestor came from, it could be very difficult to identify place of origin from a townland name alone.

I hope this has assisted you in understanding the relevance of place names you will encounter in the search for your Irish ancestors.

Canadian War Graves Commission Build Up Database

From the Canadian Legion Magazine May/June 2007 edition

The Dept of Veterans Affairs are catalogueing thousands of Veteran War Graves in Canada. This thanks to a new evolution developed by Veteran Affairs Canada and the Canadian Agency of the Commonwealth Graves Commission.

They are now working to complete a full inventory of up to 200,000 Veteran graves located in both urban and rural Canada from coast to coast.

The object, is once the cemeteries and the graves have been completely inventoried and indexed into a database, they will be kept in decent shape. The first 3 years of the project until 2009 will be locating the Graves some hidden in woods, under grown over grass. Not all are immediately reconnized as some are not marked with a vertical or horizontal marker.

Submitted by Gary Prowse

Past News Letter at Looking 4 Kin

To Past News Letter Subscribers

I don't know if you have ever been involved in putting a News Letter together. Believe me I have and I know from my past experience it is not an easy task. You have information to gather, contributor's to chase, hours of typing, and deadlines to meet.

Therefore I did not want the people who put that Looking 4 Kin news letters together over the past few years to not leave without any recognition. I don't want to list names with the thought I might miss someone. You all know who you are and what you contributed to it.

Please be proud of your past accomplishment with the News Letter and accept a very sincere THANK YOU from all of us out in Genealogy Land.

Thanks
Gary Prowse

England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices Information

Added to Looking 4 Kin this week:

England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices Information

This page contains links and infomation to England Archives, Libraries and Registration Offices in the counties of:

Bedfordshire Berkshire Buckinghamshire Cambridgeshire Cheshire Cornwall Cumberland Cumbria Derbyshire Devon Dorset Durham Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Herefordshire Hertfordshire Huntingdonshire Lancashire Kent Lincolnshire

Leicestershire London Middlesex Norfolk Northamptonshire Northumberland Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Rutland Shropshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Sussex Warwickshire Westmorland Wiltshire Worcestershire Yorkshire

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Loss of a great genealogy friend

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news of the passing Raymond "Ray" L. Diemer. For those in Looking 4 Kin Genealogy Chat we knew him as KingMI and those on Yahoo Messenger knew him as groutman2002.

Ray's obituary can be found at Raymond "Ray" L. Diemer.

You can send a message for his family.

On behalf of the chatters I pass our sympathy on to his family.

Rest in peace Ray.

Province of Manitoba | Birth, Marriage and Death Database Searches

From the Province of Manitoba | Database Search website:

"Genealogy Searches for Unrestricted Records...
Effective January 1, 2003, The Vital Statistics Act was proclaimed providing unrestricted access to the following records:

Births more than 100 years ago
Marriages more than 80 years ago
Deaths more than 70 years ago

Over the years, the data collected on registration forms has changed. The older records have less information available. The database contains limited information. For example, many of the records do not contain the father's name on a birth. For all information collected at the time of registration, a copy of the record will have to be ordered.

If you wish to obtain a certified copy of the original record for genealogical purposes based on a search you have done, the fee for each record is $12.00. No refunds or replacement of documents will be given for copies of the records issued based on your search. If you wish Vital Statistics to perform the search on your behalf, the regular fee of $25.00 will apply.

If you wish to purchase copies of any of the records you located, simply add them to your Shopping Cart. When your selection is complete, print the order form, fill in the address and fee information and mail or fax it to Vital Statistics. Faxed requests will be accepted only if the payment method is by credit card and the required authorizing signature is included."

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The Genealogy of Mother's Day

Mother’s Day was invented or created, whatever you want to call it, in the early 1900s.

I had never heard of Anna Jarvis before I researched this item but, according to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on 20 May 1908, it was Anna who decided that she would like to do something to commemorate her mother who had died on 8 May 1905.

White carnations were worn in memory of ‘mother’ and it is said that between five and six million people celebrated the first Mother’s Day on 10 May 1908.

Ever since then, in America and other parts of the world, the 2nd Sunday in May has been set aside to celebrate Mother’s Day.

If you would like to read more about the first Mother’s Day, you will find the article at The Genealogy Bank

The UK celebrates Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday as it is also called, during Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), and the specific Sunday varies each year, depending on the date of Easter.

Findagrave.com

DaClyde - a Guest Columnist on our old newsletter submitted the following some time ago.

"Findagrave.com was started when Jim Tipton found that there wasn't already a website site for helping people find the graves of celebrities. And considering how many people visit the graves of the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison and Rod Serling (ok, maybe tens of thousands of people don't visit the grave of the Twilight Zone's creator), Jim took it upon himself and launched Find A Grave. By popular demand, Find A Grave quickly grew from containing virtual memorials of thousands famous people to include the graves of over 6.4 million humans and animals (with the help of over 100,000 contributors). And what began as a virtual Cemetery Tour of the Stars (theres even a Cemetery Stroll feature), has evolved in to an extremely valuable and versatile resource for genealogists, families and fans alike.

While it does contain cemeteries and graves from the whole globe, currently, the Non-Famous database only offers searches for cemeteries within the United States (but more countries will be searchable in the not-too-distant future). They started by creating a database of every state, county and town from the U.S. Geological Survey's database and listing every cemetery included in the survey. Any cemeteries not included in the USGS surveys (which includes any cemeteries less than 50 square feet, or any cemeteries created after about 1970) can be added by contributors. Each cemetery listing is it's own virtual cemetery. In cases of more complete infomation, the main cemetery page includes a photo of the cemetery gate/sign or a general landscape photo, location (both a map with GPS coordinates as well as the city, county & state) and in some cases a street address or history of the cemetery.

Within the cemeteries, lie the alphabetized listings of those interred. Each listing can include the individual's name, birth date & location, death date & location, personal photo, tombstone photo, family photo, the gravestone inscription, the plot location (section/row/plot), a brief biography and any notes added by the contributor. In keeping with the spirit of a physical cemetery, there is also a place to leave flowers and notes as virtual memorials or tributes to the deceased.

For genealogists, Find A Grave is a great resource as it is like a constantly growing cemetery transcription database, only better. With most transcriptions of any kind, there are multiple points for errors to creep into the work: the original transcriber's interpretation of the inscription, the typist's transcription of the field survey into book, and in some cases, the further transcription of the printed work into an electronic format for the web. With each generation, the researcher is moved further away from the source. The tombstone photos give everyone the chance to see the stones for themselves (keeping in mind the limitations of space and photographic quality of an image that's only 500 or so pixels wide). In addition to the photos, the maps provided can show the cemetery location with a high degree of accuracy that is difficult with written directions of old cemetery surveys. Landmarks can change, buildings added or removed and new streets can make follwing 30 year old directions a challenge. Find A Grave gives you the precise location of the cemetery. To round out the site, Find A Grave also features a very active message board that is frequented by contributors, admins and visitors alike, so any problems or questions relating to the site and records can be addressed by the knowledgable and friendly forum members.

Please note DaClyde is not associated with the above site other than as a contributor."

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Just_M - A New Grandson

Hi

I hope Just_M won't mind me hi-jacking the blog with something non-gen - I did it in the newsletter before I became editor, so why not now?

Congratulations go to Just_M's daughter who had a stapping 11lb 1oz baby boy yesterday.

Let's hope the family hadn't bought baby clothes - he would have grown out of them before he was born !!

Rosey

New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages

As New South Wales Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages Website states:

"The Registry holds over 17 million records of events registered in New South Wales. These records include:

Early Church Records (baptismal, marriages and burials) from 1788 to 1855.

Birth, death and marriage registrations from 1856 to the present day."

There is an excellent Step-by-Step Guide to assist you in obtaining your Family History Certificates using the Registry's online Historical Indexes.

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Library Ireland

If you have ancestors in Ireland the Library Ireland site is very useful and includes amongst other things -

Ulster Directory 1910 (now complete)

A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland by Samuel Lewis published in the 1830s

The Free Irish Reference Library subject index will lead you to the information in the two online books mentioned above and a host of other useful information, including full online books on the history of Ireland and family pedigrees (the latter to be read with caution as all pedigree sources need checking) and extracts from historical books, journals and newspapers.

This is a new site to me, and it is not the easiest to navigate, but if you work from the Free Reference Library Index you can't go far wrong.

Rosey

Don't limit yourself

Don't limit yourself while searching the net.

We are creatures of habit and tend to follow a routine even when it comes to searching online for our family.

Do you constantly use the same search engines? Try broading your horizons when using search engines. You may be surprised at the results you get.

I found myself in the habit of always using Google and finding the same pages all the time and not much new. Upon starting to use other search engines such as MSN and AltaVista I am finding many different pages with much different information on them.

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British Columbia Wills Index

As per the Abbotsford Genealogical Society website:

"The Abbotsford Genealogical Society is in the process of indexing the surnames from 62 original volumes of official wills probated in British Columbia, Canada and donated to our library after they were copied to microfilm. The AGS is pleased to offer a service providing copies of wills taken from these volumes that date from the 1860’s to about 1940. The BC Wills Index is arranged alphabetically by surname and currently has 12,672 entries. It does not include the entries for "stray wills" because those were completed separately as one of earlier projects so be sure to check the link on our home page for these.

The indexing is an ongoing project and surnames will be added as further volumes are completed so be sure to check back here for future additions. It is being compiled by AGS members Patricia Confrey & Christine Lamb."

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New Pages on Looking 4 Kin

I have added 3 new pages to Looking 4 Kin Genealogy Links & Chat

England & Wales Civil Registration Information

England Census Records, Indexes and Information

Wales Census Records, Indexes and Information

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England & Wales Census Records

I came across an item in the latest edition of Family Tree which hits home the reason why genealogists should talk to older relatives to obtain information before it is too late.

I am sure everyone has read in the press and on the web that the 1911 census for England and Wales can be searched now at extortionate cost, but will be online by 2009, with exceptions for sensitive data.

But what of the later censuses?

1921 - This census is covered by the Census Act 1920. This means that, not withstanding the Freedom of Information Act, the census information will be held under a 100 year closure period and will not be available until 2022.

1931 - This census was destroyed by fire during World War II

1941 - No census was taken

1951 - I accordance with the Census Act 1920, this will become available in 2052

You will see from this that, after 2022, there will be a thirty year gap before another census is available.

Bearing in mind that I was born just 5 days before the 1951 census was taken, it is unlikely that I will be around to see its release! But, there are still members of my family alive in the 'next generation up' who remember people, places and family events in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s that might important to my tree and helpful to those looking at my records in years to come.

World War II National Registration - This took place in England & Wales on 29 September 1939, and is a census of sorts, but I have no information as to whether this will be released for publication online.

Rosey