British Newspaper Archive passes 34 million records

The British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) has reached 34 million pages, of its target 40 million. 

The following collections have been added in the last 30 days:

Express (London)
1846-1854

Sun (London)
1801-1803, 1805-1835, 1837-1838, 1840, 1849, 1851-1871

Kensington Post
1989

Fishing Gazette
1892

Middlesex Independent
1894

Ealing Leader
1996

Lady's Own Paper
1847-1863

Hayes & Harlington Gazette
1986

Colored News
1855

Newcastle Daily Chronicle
1868, 1871, 1898

Cork Examiner
1912

Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser
1832-1833, 1835-1836, 1838-1856

Northern Daily Times
1853, 1856-1857, 1859-1861

North British Daily Mail
1852, 1858, 1870-1871, 1875, 1882, 1888, 1898, 1901

Aberdeen Press and Journal
1994-1996

Aberdeen Evening Express
1994-1996

East of Fife Record
1870-1917

West Lothian Courier
1892-1968, 1975-1976

North British Agriculturist
1860, 1871-1893

Irvine Herald
1968

Wishaw Press
1956-1972, 1980

Montrose Standard
1844, 1846-1959

Irvine Times
1892

Hawick Express
1915-1918

Irish Independent
1991

Eskdale and Liddesdale Advertiser
1852, 1892

Galloway News and Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser
1860

Evening Herald (Dublin)
1902

Daily Review (Edinburgh)
1864, 1866-1867

Witness (Edinburgh)
1846

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

English collections added to FamilySearch

Two more collections have been updated or added to FamilySearch for England:

England, Huntingdonshire Parish Registers
(122,512 added indexed records to an existing collection)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/2340291
Source: Huntingdon Library and Archives, Huntingdon.

England, Lancashire, Rusholme Road Cemetery 1821-1933
(67,177 new indexed records)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3460245

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Irish wills and marriage records added to FamilySearch

The following collections have been added to FamilySearch:

Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage License Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866
(218,434 new indexed records)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3460239

Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Wills & Administrations Indexes, 1595-1858
(364,122 new indexed records)
https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/3460908

Both collections can also be accessed for free via www.genealogy.nationalarchives.ie

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

NIFHS's new season of Family History Classes

From the North of Ireland Family History Society (www.nifhs.org):

NIFHS - New Season of Family History Classes

The North of Ireland Family History Society has announced its autumn series of genealogy classes. It all starts this Saturday, 5th October, with a one-day beginner’s class run by the society’s former president, Rosemary Sibbett. This is followed on Tuesday 15th October with the first in a series of classes for people who have received their DNA results and who would like help in taking the next steps. The “Family Finder” classes are open to anyone who can upload their autosomal results to FamilyTreeDNA where the society has a DNA project. There is a follow-up, one-day, DNA class in November.

New this season is a class on “Tracing Relatives of the Belfast Shipyards”. The lecturer is Maureen McKinney, Vice-Chair of Belfast Titanic Society, who will share her knowledge of maritime research to help those researching relatives who worked in the Harland & Wolff and Workman Clark shipyards.

The full list of courses is below and more information about each, plus booking information, can be found on the society’s website. There is a mixture of daytime, evening and weekend classes. Many are run on a one-day basis to help people travelling a distance.

· Starting your Genealogy - Beginner’s Course
· DNA: Family Finder (1)
· Life in Ulster in the 1830s
· Making the Most of Your Autosomal DNA Results
· Understanding Heraldry
· Using Land Records
· DNA: Family Finder (2)
· Using WikiTree
· School Records
· Tracing Relatives of the Belfast Shipyards
· Finding Family History Stories

The venue is the society’s Library and Research Centre: Unit C4, Valley Business Centre, 67 Church Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 7LS. It’s about a 15 minute drive from Belfast City Centre and there is free parking. The society has a kitchen and there is an on-site café that is usually open until mid-afternoon.

Places must be booked in advance. Fees can be paid at the first class. The cost is £8 for one session, £14 for 2 session-classes or £18 for 3-session classes.

More information about each class and booking details: https://www.nifhs.org/resources/courses/

(With thanks to Maeve Rogan)


Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

NIFHS launches Ballycarry DNA Project

The North of Ireland Family History Society (www.nifhs.org) has launched a new Ballycarry DNA Project.

From the site:

Ballycarry is an historic County Antrim village with strong Scottish connections and has a number of families that have lived in the district for many generations. We wish to explore the connections between people who are the descendants of whose who lived in Ballycarry in the past to identify if the families living side-by-side were indeed related to each other. This will allow individuals living today to identify that they are related to each other (and others who have taken tests) and to build up a picture of relationships in the past that will explain their connections. In many instances these connections go back beyond paper records and effectively ‘recreate’ a family tree where one no longer exists.

In order to carry out this project we intend to DNA test individuals who can establish their connections to people who lived in the Ballycarry (Parish of Templecorran) in the 1800s. Doing this will help us to explore links between the testers and other people who have already taken a DNA test. By testing people from a specific area it is anticipated that many connections will be identified and confirmed as the tests can give meaningful information back to each person’s 5x great grandparents (usually at least to the mid 1700s).

For further details of the project, and the launch event on Tuesday 8th October 2019, please visit https://www.nifhs.org/dna/ballycarry-dna-project/.

COMMENT: Whilst I have no identified connections to Ballycarry as yet, I am tripping over lines from nearby Islandmagee, so I am intending to join the main NIFHS DNA project - full details at https://www.nifhs.org/dna/.

(With thanks to Rosemary Sibbett)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Headstones reinstated at Quarriers' Nittingshill Cemetery

Headstones to commemorate 335 children buried in the Quarriers village's Nittingshill Cemetery in Renfrewshire from 1888 until 1971, have been reinstated, following their removal in the 1960s. A service was held on Thursday 26 September 2019 to dedicate the grave markers.

For more on the story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-49853718 and the Quarriers website at https://quarriers.org.uk/about-us/history/nittingshill-cemetery/.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Possible merger for Denbighshire and Flintshire archives

Denbighshire County Archives (http://archives.denbighshire.gov.uk), currently based in the former gaol at Ruthin, may be forced to close and merge with Flintshire Archives (www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/LeisureAndTourism/Records-and-Archives/Home.aspx).

The suggested plan is to replace the facilities with a new centre at Mold next to Theatr Clwyd, at a cost of £16.6 million, and with work expected to commence in 2022. The proposals have not gone down too well with users of the facilities, with whom there appears to have been no consultation.

For more on the story visit www.deeside.com/denbighshire-county-archives-could-merge-with-flintshires-and-move-to-16m-building-in-mold and www.darrenmillaram.com/news/council-criticised-failing-consult-public-over-plans-close-denbighshire-archives.

(With thanks to Martin James via Twitter)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Back To Our Past announces DNA lecture programme

The schedule of DNA talks for the forthcoming Back To Our Past exhibition at the RDS in Dublin from October 18-19 is now available on the event's website at https://backtoourpast.ie.

There are two days worth of talks, with 12 talks in total, six per day. The one that catches my eye in particular is 'Epigenetics for the Genetic Genealogist' by Katherine Borges, a subject I once tried to get a Horizon documentary commissioned about at the BBC, because it is just soooo damned interesting - nature versus nurture, the eternal debate!

Sadly I won't be able to attend, but there is plenty of fine fare there with speakers including my good chum Michelle Leonard from Glasgow to fly the Scottish flag!

The full programme is at https://backtoourpast.ie/schedules/dublin-dna-lecture-schedule/.

The main stream of genealogy talks will be announced on the event's website on Monday 30th September.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Update on my forthcoming books

I'm extremely grateful for the many kind comments and reviews that I have received about Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (Second Edition) (https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483), it certainly makes it worthwhile from this end in putting it together, and was certainly fun to work on!

My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records, is just a few weeks away from being released in November, with the final proofs now sorted. The book can be pre-ordered at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Ancestry-through-Church-and-State-Records-Paperback/p/16848 for just £11.99 plus p&p. Once published, an e-edition will be forthcoming shortly after.

This is the book that will provide context to many of the Scottish records we take for granted, from vital records and censuses to church registers, court records, and much, much more, the purpose of which is to explain their background, advise where to find them in our many archives (and online), to point out their many uses for family history research, and in some cases, offer some useful advice on the records you have already found which you may never have even dreamed was relevant! What do you need to find, have you found everything, and do you fully understand what you have located - and just as importantly, what you have not? Another fun one to have put together, and I hope you find it equally useful!

Following this, I can now announce that Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet will be published in April 2020, and will neatly complement the previous book, with advice on how to plunder the internet for your Caledonian research, with sources both national and from county to county, and on a range of themes.

Having written three books in a year, I swore to myself that I would never do that again. 'Choose life' I said, move on to other things...

Yeah, that didn't work out!

I am delighted to say I have now been commisisoned to write three more books over the next year or so, the first of which is not geographically related, and on a very different subject entirely - but more on that down the line!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast updates English/Welsh 1939 Register

From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

1939 Register Update
To mark the 80th anniversary of the 1939 Register, we have made over 79,000 closed records searchable for the first time in association with the National Archives. In the three years since the Register was first launched, Findmypast has matched millions of ‘closed records’ to multiple data sources to correctly confirm the date and location of death for individuals whose information was redacted. These new additions are currently exclusive to Findmypast, the official home of the 1939 register.

Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus) Dundee Poor Lists 1821-1840
Did your Dundonian ancestors fall on hard times? Explore this collection of more than 2,400 poor relief records to find out. In mid-19th century Scotland, the plight of the poor was intolerable and the assistance they received was minimal.

Scotland, Forfarshire (Angus), Dundee Militia Lists 1801
Search returns by constables and schoolmasters listing men between the ages of 19 and 30 who were liable for service in the militia in accordance with the Militia Acts in Forfarshire. Each transcript will reveal a combination of your ancestors name, occupation and address.

Irish Parish Register Archive, ffolliott Collection
Explore three new collections of Irish baptisms, marriages and burials compiled by the renowned genealogist Rosemary ffolliott. These records mainly cover the counties of Cork, Limerick, Dublin and Monaghan, however there are also records from more than half the counties of Ireland. Each record includes a transcript and index image of parish registers, mostly Church of Ireland (Episcopalian), dating between the 1950s and 1990s.

International Records - Spain
Explore your Spanish heritage with over 12 million transcripts of baptisms, marriages and burials spanning the years 1502 to 1950. These records will provide you with important dates, locations, the names of family members, and will generate hints against the details stored in your Findmypast family tree.

British & Irish Newspaper Update
This week we have added 73,766 new pages to our collection, with the addition of three brand new titles. This includes Liverpool based publication, the Northern Daily Times, with pages covering the mid-nineteenth century and one thousand issues added as well as two new Scottish titles, the North British Daily Mail and the East of Fife Record. We have also made updates to existing titles including the Aberdeen Press and Journal and the Aberdeen Evening Express, adding the year 1996 to both titles. We have also added new pages to the Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. This short-lived publication appeared on Tuesday and Friday mornings and was founded by Samuel Franceys in 1832. This newspaper took a conservative, Protestant tone, and closed some twenty years later after its first issue was published.

Further details and links at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/explore-life-in-britain-on-the-eve-of-war

Chris

Order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs course starts 4 November 2019 - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.