Over the next few months the University of Glasgow Library will be placing images online from the 2nd edition of the large scale Ordnance Survey town plan survey for Glasgow. The survey was originally published in 1896.
The first image is already online at http://universityofglasgowlibrary.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/town-plan-of-glasgow-gilbert-scott-building/, detailing the university's surroundings.
(With thanks to the University of Glasgow Library blog)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Finchley oral history project
Family Tree magazine has a blog report on the completion of an oral history project in Finchley, which has now led to the publication of a 32 page book entitled Listening to Finchley: Eyewitness accounts of 90 years of change in church and people.
Full details on the project, and on how to obtain a copy of the book, can be found at http://family-tree.co.uk/2012/06/finchley-lives/
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Full details on the project, and on how to obtain a copy of the book, can be found at http://family-tree.co.uk/2012/06/finchley-lives/
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Shock closure of Scottish Catholic Archives
A major shock to the Scottish archival community today - the Scottish Catholic Archive (www.scottishcatholicarchives.org.uk) at Columba House has suddenly been closed indefinitely. The full story as carried by The Herald is available at www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/anger-over-decision-to-close-church-archives.18001562.
Historian Tom Devine is quoted in the piece as stating the following: "Whatever the merit of the decision to disperse the Scottish Catholic Archives – and they are few to the point of invisibility –- this development is the latest in a long line of mismanagement and indifference to the interests of those who use the archives, and now to the loyal staff."
For much of the saga leading up to this point see my previous post from six weeks ago at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/controversy-over-catholic-archive-plans.html. Best of luck to archivist Andrew Nicoll and colleague for the future.
God certainly moves in mysterious ways...
UPDATE: Further coverage at www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1206&L=RELIGIOUS-ARCHIVES-GROUP&F=&S=&P=11830, and in a letter from Michael Turnbull in the Scotsman at www.scotsman.com/news/letters/archive-butchery-1-2382312
(With thanks to @genealogygirl Kirsty Wilkinson)
COMMENT: One of the really tragic things about this from the genealogist's point of view is that archivist Andrew Nicoll had been working his socks off to try to trace additional parish registers and records from across Scotland, with some success, and had already published an excellent reference book on Scottish Catholic parish registers (see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/safhs-2011-conference-report.html), with additional works to come. Many parish records have already been made available on ScotlandsPeople, but there are additional records that have been found that have not yet made it online. Quite apart from the impact on the archive community, will this now mean that these additional records will not appear, or further effort be made to locate similar additional resources?
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Historian Tom Devine is quoted in the piece as stating the following: "Whatever the merit of the decision to disperse the Scottish Catholic Archives – and they are few to the point of invisibility –- this development is the latest in a long line of mismanagement and indifference to the interests of those who use the archives, and now to the loyal staff."
For much of the saga leading up to this point see my previous post from six weeks ago at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/controversy-over-catholic-archive-plans.html. Best of luck to archivist Andrew Nicoll and colleague for the future.
God certainly moves in mysterious ways...
UPDATE: Further coverage at www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind1206&L=RELIGIOUS-ARCHIVES-GROUP&F=&S=&P=11830, and in a letter from Michael Turnbull in the Scotsman at www.scotsman.com/news/letters/archive-butchery-1-2382312
(With thanks to @genealogygirl Kirsty Wilkinson)
COMMENT: One of the really tragic things about this from the genealogist's point of view is that archivist Andrew Nicoll had been working his socks off to try to trace additional parish registers and records from across Scotland, with some success, and had already published an excellent reference book on Scottish Catholic parish registers (see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/safhs-2011-conference-report.html), with additional works to come. Many parish records have already been made available on ScotlandsPeople, but there are additional records that have been found that have not yet made it online. Quite apart from the impact on the archive community, will this now mean that these additional records will not appear, or further effort be made to locate similar additional resources?
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
75 years of 999
Today is the seventy fifth anniversary of the launch of the telephone number 999, used in the UK whenever we need the police, fire brigade or an ambulance. It is so deeply entrenched in the public consciousness that the European equivalent number of 112 rarely gets a mention (even though it works here also!), and was also the title of a BBC TV series which I used to work on many years ago in Bristol in 1995 as a very green researcher, which recalled the bravery of those who had helped to save lives.
The BBC takes a look back at the history of the 999 number in an interesting article at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18520121 - well worth a read!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The BBC takes a look back at the history of the 999 number in an interesting article at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18520121 - well worth a read!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
TNA changes in fees
The National Archives at Kew (www.nationalarchives.co.uk) is to increase its fees for records copies and services at the archive from July 30th 2012, the first rise since 2005.
At the same time, however, it looks like the online records available from TNA are in fact dropping slightly in price, from £3.50 each to £3.36.
The full list of rates is available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/summary-of-costs.pdf, with the original announcement available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/733.htm
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
At the same time, however, it looks like the online records available from TNA are in fact dropping slightly in price, from £3.50 each to £3.36.
The full list of rates is available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/summary-of-costs.pdf, with the original announcement available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/733.htm
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Friday, 29 June 2012
TNA annual report 2011-2012
The National Archives at Kew has released its annual report and accounts for 2011-2012, which can be viewed online at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/annualreport-11-12.pdf.
Not a great deal in there for the family historian, although it's interesting to see what everyone is paid! There's a brief mention on the First World War diaries and Home Guard projects, and a section detailing the members of the current advisory council.
A summary of the archive's achievements in the last year is available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-performance.htm
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Not a great deal in there for the family historian, although it's interesting to see what everyone is paid! There's a brief mention on the First World War diaries and Home Guard projects, and a section detailing the members of the current advisory council.A summary of the archive's achievements in the last year is available at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/our-performance.htm
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Derry parchment book conservation project
There is an interesting story on the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland website (www.proni.gov.uk) concerning attempts to conserve and digitise a major resource concerning the colonisation of Ulster in the Plantations of the 17th century.
The Great Parchment Book was a survey compiled in 1639 by a Commission instituted under the Great Seal by Charles I, recording the Derry estates managed by the City of London. The document, held at London Metropolitan Archives, was seriously damaged by fire over 200 years ago and as a consequence has been rarely viewed since. It is still largely visible however, and so work is now underway to try to retrieve as much from the work by flattening and then digitising its pages. The project is to tie in with the 400th anniversary of the building of Derry's walls.
The PRONI story has more detail at www.proni.gov.uk/news_details.htm?newsRef=2089, whilst a blog is also now running outlining progress at http://greatparchmentbook.wordpress.com/?v=7ofp7hOMbIE%3Cbr%20/%3E.
Having had a look at the blog, the team have one hell of a job on their hands - I look forward to seeing the results!
(With thanks to PRONI)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The Great Parchment Book was a survey compiled in 1639 by a Commission instituted under the Great Seal by Charles I, recording the Derry estates managed by the City of London. The document, held at London Metropolitan Archives, was seriously damaged by fire over 200 years ago and as a consequence has been rarely viewed since. It is still largely visible however, and so work is now underway to try to retrieve as much from the work by flattening and then digitising its pages. The project is to tie in with the 400th anniversary of the building of Derry's walls.
The PRONI story has more detail at www.proni.gov.uk/news_details.htm?newsRef=2089, whilst a blog is also now running outlining progress at http://greatparchmentbook.wordpress.com/?v=7ofp7hOMbIE%3Cbr%20/%3E.
Having had a look at the blog, the team have one hell of a job on their hands - I look forward to seeing the results!
(With thanks to PRONI)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Yorkshire records added to FindmyPast
FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added 4625 Yorkshire parish records to its site:
Further details at www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/yorkshire-june12
Ancestry is also claiming to have updated its Yorkshire collections, but as usual with its updates, it never says how. The collections are at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2256 - see if you can work it out! :)
Incidentally, it's the York Family History Fair tomorrow, just in case if you're wondering why they're all targetting York today! Details at www.yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
- Baptisms (1790-1886) Allerston, Birdsall, Rillington
- Marriages (1754-1837) Allerston, Birdsall, Helmsley, Malton
- Burials (1813-1888) Allerston, Birdsall, Lockton
Further details at www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/yorkshire-june12
Ancestry is also claiming to have updated its Yorkshire collections, but as usual with its updates, it never says how. The collections are at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2256 - see if you can work it out! :)
Incidentally, it's the York Family History Fair tomorrow, just in case if you're wondering why they're all targetting York today! Details at www.yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
More on new GRONI records website
Following this blog's revelation three days ago that the GRO in Belfast had announced a tender to digitise its BMD records (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/gro-northern-ireland-to-set-up.html), a follow up post from Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News blog has now confirmed that the new site will indeed be modelled on ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk). This is as was suggested in my original piece, with the Edinburgh based service having been both visited by GRONI and further consulted in the last few years on how to set up such a project. The tender contract is available to see online at http://northern-ireland.unitedkingdom-tenders.co.uk/23233_DFP_-_Genealogical_and_Certificate_Application_website_for_the_GRONI_2012_Belfast.
This means that there will soon be two methods of digitised access for records concerning the north, for births and death from 1864 for marriages from 1845 (mainly non Roman-Catholic from 1845-1863). There will be unlimited access for a set fee at the GRO itself (as is currently the case in Edinburgh and several other archives across the country), and an online portal following the exact same closure periods for access as currently employed by ScotlandsPeople for its online service - namely 100 years for births, seventy five years for marriages and fifty years for deaths. This closure period will be to protect online issues concerning privacy.
I've been critical about some Irish BMD records vendors in the past. Most recently the largest, RootsIreland, redesigned its payment platform and claimed that in doing so had been inspired by the ScotlandsPeople model, to much derision. Well the GRO in Belfast is now setting up virtually the same model as ScotlandsPeople - I wonder how they will compare?!
In the past I've also occasionally ranted about past bad experiences in GRONI and the high costs for certs, and have often stated that I wish they would be inspired by the Scottish example. They now appear to be doing just that, so pastie baps and red lemonades all round to the good folk of GRONI in Belfast.
Dead on! :)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
This means that there will soon be two methods of digitised access for records concerning the north, for births and death from 1864 for marriages from 1845 (mainly non Roman-Catholic from 1845-1863). There will be unlimited access for a set fee at the GRO itself (as is currently the case in Edinburgh and several other archives across the country), and an online portal following the exact same closure periods for access as currently employed by ScotlandsPeople for its online service - namely 100 years for births, seventy five years for marriages and fifty years for deaths. This closure period will be to protect online issues concerning privacy.
I've been critical about some Irish BMD records vendors in the past. Most recently the largest, RootsIreland, redesigned its payment platform and claimed that in doing so had been inspired by the ScotlandsPeople model, to much derision. Well the GRO in Belfast is now setting up virtually the same model as ScotlandsPeople - I wonder how they will compare?!
In the past I've also occasionally ranted about past bad experiences in GRONI and the high costs for certs, and have often stated that I wish they would be inspired by the Scottish example. They now appear to be doing just that, so pastie baps and red lemonades all round to the good folk of GRONI in Belfast.
Dead on! :)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Thursday, 28 June 2012
TNA podcast - Sedition, transport and treason
The latest National Archives podcast from Kew is entitled Sedition, Transport and Treason: The Case of the London Corresponding Society. An interesting account on the development of democracy in London from 1792.
To listen to the podcast visit http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/sedition-transportation-and-treason-the-case-of-the-london-corresponding-society/ or download from iTunes.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
To listen to the podcast visit http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/sedition-transportation-and-treason-the-case-of-the-london-corresponding-society/ or download from iTunes.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Laptops access extended at National Library of Wales
From the National Library of Wales (www.llgc.org.uk):
Lack of space in North Reading Room!
Over the past few weeks, the North Reading Room has been exceptionally busy and full! To gain a little more space, we have removed 10 terminals from the room, to allow for the use of laptops. Extra sockets have also been placed under the main tables so that more users can use their own laptops at these tables.
There are also plans to extend the supply to the first gallery, so that laptops can also be used in this area.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Lack of space in North Reading Room!
Over the past few weeks, the North Reading Room has been exceptionally busy and full! To gain a little more space, we have removed 10 terminals from the room, to allow for the use of laptops. Extra sockets have also been placed under the main tables so that more users can use their own laptops at these tables.
There are also plans to extend the supply to the first gallery, so that laptops can also be used in this area.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Revised hours at Pembrokeshire Record Office
Thanks again to Beryl Evans at the Federation of Family History Societies (www.ffhs.org.uk) for the following:
Temporary Changes to Opening Times
In 2012, the Pembrokeshire Record Office will be moving to new premises. As a consequence, opening times have been revised in order to allow staff time to prepare the office for the move. Therefore, from the week commencing 11th June 2012 Opening
Hours will be:
Monday & Tuesday: 9.00am - 4.45pm
Friday: 9.00am - 4.15pm
Last documents are issued 15 minutes before closing. The Record Office does not normally close for lunch.
Visit the website www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=107,1447,1454&parent_directory_id=646 for further news relating to changes in arrangements over the coming months.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Temporary Changes to Opening Times
In 2012, the Pembrokeshire Record Office will be moving to new premises. As a consequence, opening times have been revised in order to allow staff time to prepare the office for the move. Therefore, from the week commencing 11th June 2012 Opening
Hours will be:
Monday & Tuesday: 9.00am - 4.45pm
Friday: 9.00am - 4.15pm
Last documents are issued 15 minutes before closing. The Record Office does not normally close for lunch.
Visit the website www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=107,1447,1454&parent_directory_id=646 for further news relating to changes in arrangements over the coming months.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Worcester's Hive centre opens next week
Thanks to Berl Evans of the Federation of Family History Societies and Jackie Cotterill, Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry, for the following information concerning Worcester's new Library and History Centre, aka The Hive:
The Hive, Europe's first joint University and Public Library, opens its doors next Monday, 2nd July.
It will be open seven days a week from 8.30am to 10pm.
The Hive contains records from both branches of the Record Offices, Worcester City Library and the University of Worcester Library as well as Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service (WHEAS). Most of the records available at the Worcester Library and History Centre will be on open access each day. Original documents will not be available on a Sunday.
For further information visit the website www.wlhc.org.uk
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The Hive, Europe's first joint University and Public Library, opens its doors next Monday, 2nd July.It will be open seven days a week from 8.30am to 10pm.
The Hive contains records from both branches of the Record Offices, Worcester City Library and the University of Worcester Library as well as Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service (WHEAS). Most of the records available at the Worcester Library and History Centre will be on open access each day. Original documents will not be available on a Sunday.
For further information visit the website www.wlhc.org.uk
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Wednesday, 27 June 2012
FamilySearch: Irish prison indexes and Durham BTs
Family Search (www.familysearch.org) has added a series of indexes for the Irish prison index records from 1790-1924 recently released on FindmyPast Ireland (www.findmypast.ie). The information given provides a brief summary of the offence, year of conviction and more, but the full record on FindmyPast will be considerably more detailed. Having said that, the index has just flagged up a record that I missed when using the FMP site, so again, another useful index worth double checking - and it is free!
Also newly released on the site are 106,368 browsable images in a new database entitled England, Diocese of Durham Bishops' Transcripts ca., 1700-1900. These cover various parishes within Cumberland, Durham, North Durham, Northumberland and York.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Also newly released on the site are 106,368 browsable images in a new database entitled England, Diocese of Durham Bishops' Transcripts ca., 1700-1900. These cover various parishes within Cumberland, Durham, North Durham, Northumberland and York.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
National Records of Scotland entrance change
From the National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk):
Starting on Monday 2 July 2012, the Garden Entrance will be closed permanently.
All access to the Historical and Legal Search Rooms will be by the front entrance of General Register House, through the Scotlands People Centre Reception.
Lockers are available in a cloakroom to the left as you go through to the Adam Dome - these take a 1.00GBP coin or token, which is returned once the locker is re-opened.
COMMENT: This makes a lot of sense, as the current set up of going out of the building and in another door to get back into the building is a little weird if you want to go from the ScotlandsPeople Centre to the Historical Search Room, which is located only one floor above! Good move.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Starting on Monday 2 July 2012, the Garden Entrance will be closed permanently.
All access to the Historical and Legal Search Rooms will be by the front entrance of General Register House, through the Scotlands People Centre Reception.
Lockers are available in a cloakroom to the left as you go through to the Adam Dome - these take a 1.00GBP coin or token, which is returned once the locker is re-opened.
COMMENT: This makes a lot of sense, as the current set up of going out of the building and in another door to get back into the building is a little weird if you want to go from the ScotlandsPeople Centre to the Historical Search Room, which is located only one floor above! Good move.
 |
| The Sasine Office entrance is no longer to be used from July 2nd |
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Digging up the dead in the name of progress
The BBC has a story about the prospect of thousands of English graves having to be dug up and relocated, as part of the new HS2 high speed rail extension works. The piece asks why we are so squeamish about such relocations, and cites several other examples in England and overseas.
It's an interesting piece and can be read at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18505222
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
It's an interesting piece and can be read at www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18505222
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
West Yorkshire Archive Service premises to relocate
Thanks to Beryl Evans of the Federation of Family History Societies (www.ffhs.org.uk) and Terry Berry, Public Services and Access Manager of West Yorkshire Archive Service:
West Yorkshire Archive Service will close its Sheepscar premises on Thursday 30th August 2012. These premises have proved inadequate for a modern archive service in terms of both public access and modern standards for archive storage.
In order to ensure that it does not lose its ‘place of deposit’ status currently under review by The National Archives, the service is relocating to West Yorkshire Joint Services HQ at Morley, Leeds.
It is planned that the new improved services will open in November 2012. Keep up to date by checking our website at www.archives.wyjs.org.uk
WYAS Leeds: Telephone 0113 214 5814 e-mail: leeds@wyjs.org.uk
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
West Yorkshire Archive Service will close its Sheepscar premises on Thursday 30th August 2012. These premises have proved inadequate for a modern archive service in terms of both public access and modern standards for archive storage.
In order to ensure that it does not lose its ‘place of deposit’ status currently under review by The National Archives, the service is relocating to West Yorkshire Joint Services HQ at Morley, Leeds.
It is planned that the new improved services will open in November 2012. Keep up to date by checking our website at www.archives.wyjs.org.uk
WYAS Leeds: Telephone 0113 214 5814 e-mail: leeds@wyjs.org.uk
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
More Welsh parish records on FindmyPast
FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has released a further two million Welsh parish register records on its site:
For further information visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/wales-june12, where you can access four detailed PDF files itemising the extensive list of parishes covered.
(With thanks to @CummingsPFH on Twitter)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
- Baptisms: 2,083,430 records covering 1538-1912
- Marriages: 1,226,650 records covering 1539-1927
- Banns: 557,078 records covering 1603-1927
- Burials: 2,057,453 records covering 1539-2007
For further information visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/wales-june12, where you can access four detailed PDF files itemising the extensive list of parishes covered.
(With thanks to @CummingsPFH on Twitter)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Society of Genealogists summer sale
From the Society of Genealogists (www.sog.org.uk) in London:
Have you heard about our summer special offer? If you would like to join as a member of the Society we will, until the end of September, waive the normal £10.00 joining fee. So all you pay is £47.00 inland or GBP 29.00 overseas for a year’s membership.
While stocks last, you will also receive a free My Heritage, Family Tree Builder Genealogy software CD.
More information about the Society can be found at www.sog.org.uk.
An application form can be printed from www.sog.org.uk/membership.
Please quote code SSP12 in the space provided on your application form to waive the joining fee.
(With thanks to Jacki Ellis)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Have you heard about our summer special offer? If you would like to join as a member of the Society we will, until the end of September, waive the normal £10.00 joining fee. So all you pay is £47.00 inland or GBP 29.00 overseas for a year’s membership.
While stocks last, you will also receive a free My Heritage, Family Tree Builder Genealogy software CD.
More information about the Society can be found at www.sog.org.uk.
An application form can be printed from www.sog.org.uk/membership.
Please quote code SSP12 in the space provided on your application form to waive the joining fee.
(With thanks to Jacki Ellis)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
European Library website launches
The Europeana project has tweeted about the launch of a new European Library website at www.theeuropeanlibrary.org.
From the site:
Designed to meet the needs of the research community worldwide, our online portal offers quick and easy access to the collections of the 48 National Libraries of Europe and leading European Research Libraries.
Users can cross-search and reuse over 9,550,651 digital items and 103,420,910 bibliographic records.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
From the site:
Designed to meet the needs of the research community worldwide, our online portal offers quick and easy access to the collections of the 48 National Libraries of Europe and leading European Research Libraries.Users can cross-search and reuse over 9,550,651 digital items and 103,420,910 bibliographic records.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
GRO Northern Ireland to set up genealogy records site
Thanks to Marie Dougan of Ancestral Consultants (@dougangene) for the following tip off.
BIG developments for Northern Ireland!
The GRO in Belfast is to create what appears to be an online ScotlandsPeople type website by January 2014. The following is from the tender document published on the United Kingdom Tenders website on June 8th 2012:
The General Register Office Northern Ireland (the Client), as part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), is a multi-disciplined service with a complex and diverse range of operational and business needs. It consists of a Central Headquarters based at Oxford House, Belfast and 26 District Offices (DRO) located throughout Northern Ireland. The work of GRONI is mainly statutory or demand led. In addition to service provision to the public, GRONI provides a range of information-based services to a number of other public sector bodies.
The Client is intending to award a contract for the development, hosting, management and support of a website to a Contractor who must:
COMMENT: This has been on the cards for a very long time, with the GRONI having visited Edinburgh in 2006 or 2007 to see the set up there, and I've heard several references to it over the last year or so. What is not clear as yet is whether this will only cover records for the north following Partition, created under the authority of the GRO in Belfast, or also records for the north prior to Partition, which were created under the authority of the GRO in Dublin. It is also unclear how the site will be priced, bearing in mind that the GRO in Belfast charges the highest rates for certificates in the UK at £14 plus p&p per record. At the facility in Belfast it charges £3 per record look up, which would be a marked improvement, though bear in mind that in Scotland an online record costs about £1.30 in total to search and view - albeit with the site having closure periods in operation.
If at the very least a comprehensive index for Northern Irish records past 1922 makes its way online, research into the country's family history will be revolutionised for those not able to get to Belfast easily.
Either way, it looks like we have a Norn Irons People on its way!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
BIG developments for Northern Ireland!
The GRO in Belfast is to create what appears to be an online ScotlandsPeople type website by January 2014. The following is from the tender document published on the United Kingdom Tenders website on June 8th 2012:
The General Register Office Northern Ireland (the Client), as part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), is a multi-disciplined service with a complex and diverse range of operational and business needs. It consists of a Central Headquarters based at Oxford House, Belfast and 26 District Offices (DRO) located throughout Northern Ireland. The work of GRONI is mainly statutory or demand led. In addition to service provision to the public, GRONI provides a range of information-based services to a number of other public sector bodies.
The Client is intending to award a contract for the development, hosting, management and support of a website to a Contractor who must:
- Provide an online genealogical search facility of historical registration index data and images which may be viewed by customers upon payment of the appropriate fee using a PCI DSS v2.0 payment facility,
- Provide an online facility for customers to apply and pay for certified copies of civil registration records,
- Provide an internal search facility (which cannot be linked to the external website) hosting both historical and recent registration index data and images which may be viewed by customers upon payment of the appropriate,
- Ensure that secure mechanisms are in place to allow customers to set up accounts and make payment for their transactions on the website and PSR application. The payment mechanism must be compliant with the current and any future versions of the PCI DSS standard v2.0 for processing payment cards,
- Ensure that the servers related to the internal search facility are hosted, managed and supported within the server room at GRONI premises, located at Oxford House, Belfast. The servers hosting the historical records must be stored in an external ISO27001 compliant data centre, and
- Migrate approximately 10 million records and 8 million images and facilitate the on-going migration of new or updated registrations and those historical records that pass the threshold for online access.
- The contract for development, hosting, management and support of the Authority’s website is expected to be for an initial 5 years with the potential for one 2 year extension and a subsequent one year extension. The system must go-live no later than 1.1.2014.
COMMENT: This has been on the cards for a very long time, with the GRONI having visited Edinburgh in 2006 or 2007 to see the set up there, and I've heard several references to it over the last year or so. What is not clear as yet is whether this will only cover records for the north following Partition, created under the authority of the GRO in Belfast, or also records for the north prior to Partition, which were created under the authority of the GRO in Dublin. It is also unclear how the site will be priced, bearing in mind that the GRO in Belfast charges the highest rates for certificates in the UK at £14 plus p&p per record. At the facility in Belfast it charges £3 per record look up, which would be a marked improvement, though bear in mind that in Scotland an online record costs about £1.30 in total to search and view - albeit with the site having closure periods in operation.
If at the very least a comprehensive index for Northern Irish records past 1922 makes its way online, research into the country's family history will be revolutionised for those not able to get to Belfast easily.
Either way, it looks like we have a Norn Irons People on its way!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The Genealogist June newsletter
The latest newsletter is available from TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) with several new releases announced. The major announcement is perhaps news that the site has added high resolution grayscale images for the 1891 census for London, Surrey, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire and part of Staffordshire, with the rest of England and Wales to follow shortly.
Also announced:
Publications
New parish registers:
New military additions:
Directories
Wills
Court & Criminal Records
School Registers
(With thanks to TheGenealogist)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Also announced:
Publications
- Complete coverage now for the Illustrated London News from 1842-1869
- The addition of Harper's Magazine
New parish registers:
- Wiltshire, Stourton Parish Registers 1570-1800
- Lancashire, Leigh Parish Registers 1558-1625
- Yorkshire, South Cave Extracts 1558-1909
- Yorkshire, Cundall with Norton-le-Clay 1582-1780
- Yorkshire, Records of the Parish of Whitkirk 1603-1700
- Plus more parish register transcripts for Yorkshire and Staffordshire
New military additions:
- Craven's Part in the Great War
- West Riding Territorials in the Great War
- Manchester City Battalions 1916
Directories
- Yorkshire, Barnsley & District Directory 1902
- Mercantile Bradford Directory 1863
- Whites Kingston-upon-Hull 1846 Directory
Wills
- Lancashire Wills proved at Richmond 1457-1680
Court & Criminal Records
- Constables' Accounts of Manchester 1612-1647 & 1743-1776
School Registers
- Marlborough College Register 1903-1920
(With thanks to TheGenealogist)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
London Land Tax records on Ancestry
Ancestry has released more records for the English capital in the form of a new London Land Tax Records 1692-1932 database. From the site:
The land tax was introduced in England in 1692 as a means for raising government revenue and was not done away with until 1963. Land tax records are of value to genealogists because they often list both property owners (proprietors) and tenants, placing them in both a parish and a year.
Records in this database may list the following details:
To access the collection visit http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2170
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The land tax was introduced in England in 1692 as a means for raising government revenue and was not done away with until 1963. Land tax records are of value to genealogists because they often list both property owners (proprietors) and tenants, placing them in both a parish and a year.
Records in this database may list the following details:
- county
- parish
- year
- proprietor
- tenant
To access the collection visit http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=2170
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Monday, 25 June 2012
York Family History Fair
One of the biggest genealogy fairs in England, York Family History Fair, takes place this coming Saturday June 30th 2012 at the racecourse in York. For further details on the event, which is sponsored by TheGenealogist.co.uk, visit http://yorkshirefamilyhistoryfair.com.
I might possibly be going - keep meaning to and it never happens, but will do my best!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
I might possibly be going - keep meaning to and it never happens, but will do my best!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Aerial images collections website
More on aerial images from the RCAHMS, English Heritage and the RCAHMW:
BRITAIN FROM ABOVE
More than 15,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have been made freely accessible online to the public for the first time.
Britain from Above, a new website (www.britainfromabove.org.uk) launched today (25 June 2012) by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Wales, features some of the oldest and most valuable images of the Aerofilms Collection, a unique and important archive of over 1 million aerial photographs taken between 1919 and 2006. Its chronological and geographical coverage is superb and documents the face of Britain during a period of intense and unparalleled change.
The photographs featuring on the website date from 1919 to 1953, and have gone through a painstaking process of conservation and cataloguing. Due to their age and fragility, many of the earliest plate glass negatives were close to being lost forever.
The Aerofilms Collection was acquired for the nation in 2007 when the company was facing financial difficulties. With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Foyle Foundation, English Heritage and the Royal Commissions embarked on a programme to conserve, catalogue and digitise the collection and make it freely available online.
Highlights from the collection include: the 1935 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium; the Thames Flood of 1947 in which over 100,000 properties were affected; Blackpool in 1920; crowds on the banks of the River Clyde watching the first voyage of the newly-built RMS Queen Mary in 1936; the famous Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, host of the 2014 Ryder Cup, pictured in 1932; the historic stadium Cardiff Arms Park in 1932; and a scene of Rhondda Fawr, one of the largest mining valleys in southern Wales.
See and download a selection of images here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101554616913588617820/Aerofilm?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2H9timsYOLaQ&feat=directlink
Britain from Above website features a high degree of interactivity and is designed to encourage wide public participation. Users can download images, customise their own themed photo galleries, share personal memories, and add information to enrich the understanding for each of the images. They are also invited to identity the locations of a number of “mystery” images that have left the experts stumped.
Anna Eavis, Head of Archive at English Heritage, said: “The Aerofilms Collection embodies all that is exciting about aerial photography. What is equally remarkable is the skill of the expert staff in England, Scotland and Wales who have saved and conserved these vulnerable negatives and prints and converted them into the high resolution images you see on screen today. We are pleased that the items have been given safe, long term homes, and that each of the organisations involved has been enriched immensely by their addition.”
Rebecca Bailey, Head of Education and Outreach at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) said, “The history of Aerofilms is inextricably linked to the history of modern Britain. The original pilots and photographers were veterans of the First World War, and they brought specialist skills learned in the conflict to the task of capturing the nation from the air.
“Between 1919 and 1953, there was vast and rapid change to the social, architectural and industrial fabric of Britain, and Aerofilms provides a unique and at times unparalleled perspective on this upheaval. We hope that people today will be able to immerse themselves in the past through the new website, adding their own thoughts and memories to this remarkable collection.”
Dr Peter Wakelin, Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, said, “People are always fascinated by views of familiar places from above, and in these you have the added values of seeing those places through time too. We know people are hugely engaged by these kinds of images, and I’m sure they will soon be among the most popular in our collections.”
By the end of the project in 2014, 95,000 images taken between 1919 and 1953 will be available online, showing the changing face of modern Britain.
(With thanks to Renee Fok at English Heritage)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
BRITAIN FROM ABOVE
- Rare and fragile aerial photos from Aerofims Collection salvaged, conserved and now online
- Public help needed to identify “mystery” locations
More than 15,000 images from one of the earliest and most significant collections of aerial photography of the UK have been made freely accessible online to the public for the first time.
Britain from Above, a new website (www.britainfromabove.org.uk) launched today (25 June 2012) by English Heritage and the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and Wales, features some of the oldest and most valuable images of the Aerofilms Collection, a unique and important archive of over 1 million aerial photographs taken between 1919 and 2006. Its chronological and geographical coverage is superb and documents the face of Britain during a period of intense and unparalleled change.
The photographs featuring on the website date from 1919 to 1953, and have gone through a painstaking process of conservation and cataloguing. Due to their age and fragility, many of the earliest plate glass negatives were close to being lost forever.
The Aerofilms Collection was acquired for the nation in 2007 when the company was facing financial difficulties. With the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Foyle Foundation, English Heritage and the Royal Commissions embarked on a programme to conserve, catalogue and digitise the collection and make it freely available online.
Highlights from the collection include: the 1935 FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium; the Thames Flood of 1947 in which over 100,000 properties were affected; Blackpool in 1920; crowds on the banks of the River Clyde watching the first voyage of the newly-built RMS Queen Mary in 1936; the famous Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, host of the 2014 Ryder Cup, pictured in 1932; the historic stadium Cardiff Arms Park in 1932; and a scene of Rhondda Fawr, one of the largest mining valleys in southern Wales.
See and download a selection of images here: https://picasaweb.google.com/101554616913588617820/Aerofilm?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2H9timsYOLaQ&feat=directlink
Britain from Above website features a high degree of interactivity and is designed to encourage wide public participation. Users can download images, customise their own themed photo galleries, share personal memories, and add information to enrich the understanding for each of the images. They are also invited to identity the locations of a number of “mystery” images that have left the experts stumped.
Anna Eavis, Head of Archive at English Heritage, said: “The Aerofilms Collection embodies all that is exciting about aerial photography. What is equally remarkable is the skill of the expert staff in England, Scotland and Wales who have saved and conserved these vulnerable negatives and prints and converted them into the high resolution images you see on screen today. We are pleased that the items have been given safe, long term homes, and that each of the organisations involved has been enriched immensely by their addition.”
Rebecca Bailey, Head of Education and Outreach at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) said, “The history of Aerofilms is inextricably linked to the history of modern Britain. The original pilots and photographers were veterans of the First World War, and they brought specialist skills learned in the conflict to the task of capturing the nation from the air.
“Between 1919 and 1953, there was vast and rapid change to the social, architectural and industrial fabric of Britain, and Aerofilms provides a unique and at times unparalleled perspective on this upheaval. We hope that people today will be able to immerse themselves in the past through the new website, adding their own thoughts and memories to this remarkable collection.”
Dr Peter Wakelin, Secretary of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, said, “People are always fascinated by views of familiar places from above, and in these you have the added values of seeing those places through time too. We know people are hugely engaged by these kinds of images, and I’m sure they will soon be among the most popular in our collections.”
By the end of the project in 2014, 95,000 images taken between 1919 and 1953 will be available online, showing the changing face of modern Britain.
(With thanks to Renee Fok at English Heritage)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Heredis for iPad
A few years back there was a great wee family tree software programme out called Heredis. It was a French innovation, and had a few unique attributes - for one thing, you could use it on a Mac, for another it had the most wonderful to use and yet at the same time the most utterly pointless 3D family tree chart - fun to play with, impossible to find your way around! And then Heredis suddenly disappeared...
Thankfully there's now a new incarnation, available for PC, Mac and all Apple devices including an iPad. This is the bit that has me quite excited, because I've just installed it on my own iPad, and I absolutely LOVE it! The product is free to download from iTunes. One of the key things about the programme is it synchronises to the programme on your Mac or PC, so that you can constantly keep it up to date - or at least it will do! The PC version will not be available until July 4th from www.heredis.com/en/heredis-pc/, although the Mac version is already available to download at www.heredis.com/en/heredis-mac/.
There's no 3D tree function (and in fact the tree functions for the iPad are quite limited), but my Gedcom has over 3000 individuals and loaded instantly when I opened it from my Dropbox folder. There is no dedicated import function on Heredis itself on the tablet version, I assume because you are meant to work on your tree on your Mac or PC and then just synchronize to your tablet. However, the Gedcom I exported from Family Historian through Dropbox has worked very well, although I will obviously need to reload it once I have downloaded the Heredis PC package in a few days, if I wish to synchronise future additions.
One key thing very few people mention though - it looks beautiful. To me, the aesthetic feel of a programme is as important as the tools it carries, as you will be looking at it for a long time to come. It's a gorgeous deep blue, and may very well have been designed for the Scots - love it!
If you have a tablet, have a play - there are very few family tree programmes available for iPads as yet, and this one's a cracker.
UPDATE: Here's some blurb from the site:
I don't think I've come across a programme before that allows you to record homosexual unions - if so, this is definitely a product fit for the 21st century...
UPDATE: I've had an enquiry from a reader unable to load a Gedcom via Dropbox into the programme on the iPad. Here's how I did it...
Hope that helps!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Thankfully there's now a new incarnation, available for PC, Mac and all Apple devices including an iPad. This is the bit that has me quite excited, because I've just installed it on my own iPad, and I absolutely LOVE it! The product is free to download from iTunes. One of the key things about the programme is it synchronises to the programme on your Mac or PC, so that you can constantly keep it up to date - or at least it will do! The PC version will not be available until July 4th from www.heredis.com/en/heredis-pc/, although the Mac version is already available to download at www.heredis.com/en/heredis-mac/.
There's no 3D tree function (and in fact the tree functions for the iPad are quite limited), but my Gedcom has over 3000 individuals and loaded instantly when I opened it from my Dropbox folder. There is no dedicated import function on Heredis itself on the tablet version, I assume because you are meant to work on your tree on your Mac or PC and then just synchronize to your tablet. However, the Gedcom I exported from Family Historian through Dropbox has worked very well, although I will obviously need to reload it once I have downloaded the Heredis PC package in a few days, if I wish to synchronise future additions.One key thing very few people mention though - it looks beautiful. To me, the aesthetic feel of a programme is as important as the tools it carries, as you will be looking at it for a long time to come. It's a gorgeous deep blue, and may very well have been designed for the Scots - love it!
If you have a tablet, have a play - there are very few family tree programmes available for iPads as yet, and this one's a cracker.
UPDATE: Here's some blurb from the site:
- Determine your bookmarked individuals or note a person as secondary, without union or descendants, just as if you were on your computer.
- Manage confidential data or even homosexual unions.
- Access your Indexes of Places and Sources.
- Everything you like about Heredis is on your iPhone and your iPad.
I don't think I've come across a programme before that allows you to record homosexual unions - if so, this is definitely a product fit for the 21st century...
UPDATE: I've had an enquiry from a reader unable to load a Gedcom via Dropbox into the programme on the iPad. Here's how I did it...
- First, using the App store on my iPad I installed Heredis (it's free).
- I have Dropbox on my iPad and on my PC, so copied my Gedcom to the PC's Dropbox folder.
- Once the PC's Dropbox folder had synced with that on the iPad, I opened the Gedcom in the iPad's Dropbox folder.
- In the top right hand corner of the screen I then clicked on the square box with an arrow inside pointing to the right, which asked me if I wished to open in Heredis.
- Once I accepted, it opened Heredis up and allowed me to import the file - it took about a minute to import the file.
Hope that helps!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Edinburgh's Bridewell jail records
Genealogist Kirsty Wilkinson has an interesting new post on her The Professional Descendant blog concerning the records of the Bridewell jail in Edinburgh, held at the National Records of Scotland. The post can be read at http://professionaldescendant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/edinburgh-bridewell-records-rich-source.html
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Plymouth based genealogy workshops
The Plymouth and West Devon Record Office and the Devon Family History Society are running two family history workshops on Monday 2 and 9 July, from 10am to 3.15pm. Each workshop will include a behind-the-scenes tour of the Record Office, with particular advice on how to use the Family History room. The sessions will also cover the use of several popular family history websites such as Ancestry and FindmyPast.
For further details visit www.plymouth.gov.uk/newsreleases?newsid=289927
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
For further details visit www.plymouth.gov.uk/newsreleases?newsid=289927
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
TNA podcast: Lost in London
The latest podcast from the National Archives at Kew is entitled Lost in London, based on a 50 minute talk from Dave Annal. It's essentially a ready reckoner on the various archival repositories in London which can help with research particularly between 1801 and 1841.
The podcast can be heard at http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/lost-in-london/ or downloaded from iTunes.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The podcast can be heard at http://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/lost-in-london/ or downloaded from iTunes.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Friday, 22 June 2012
MyHeritage releases SuperSearch search engine
From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):
This week we've officially released SuperSearch, a brand new search engine for historical records. This is an exciting moment for lovers of genealogy worldwide. It's found on www.myheritage.com/research.
SuperSearch includes 4+ billion genealogy records from our acquisition of WorldVitalRecords last year, such as birth, marriage, death, burial, census, military, immigration, yearbooks and other types of records, plus scans of original documents. SuperSearch also includes MyHeritage family trees, photos and members that are public – altogether more than one billion unique MyHeritage records from all countries of the world. There are many highlights such as the world's largest collection of historical newspapers, all UK census records from 1841 till 1901 and more. SuperSearch is growing fast, millions of historical records and family tree profiles are added daily. Next week 17 million exclusive vital records from Venezuela will be added. We're adding a full index of the 1940 US Federal Census. So even if you don't find what you're looking for on SuperSearch, chances are we'll have it for you soon.
SuperSearch features
• Worldwide coverage, with strong collections for the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada.
• Easily search for historical records of any person by first name and/or last name, with optional dates or places.
• Search also by keywords, events, relationships and other advanced criteria. Many different soundex types are supported.
• Synonyms and initials of first names are covered. For example, if you search for William, we'll also catch Bill, Vilhelm, Guillaume, Guglielmo and other synonyms and international variations.
• Find people without even knowing their last name, for example, find 3 brothers in the same family using only their first names and relationship as siblings, or find all people born on a certain date or in a certain town.
• Run a global search to cover all our data collections at once, or drill down to search only in one collection.
• SuperSearch is smart enough to figure out the likely gender of the person you're trying to find.
• Choose between a mode that shows all results, and a summary mode that shows the count of matches from each collection.
• Results arrive fast, typically within a second, ranked by relevance.
SuperSearch includes Record Matching Technology, which can find matching historical records automatically for your family tree. We are about to release this technology in the next few weeks, and will announce it separately once available.
Subscriptions and credits
Viewing results from some data collections is free (e.g. 1930 & 1940 US census, Social Security Death Index, Ellis Island, etc). Viewing other records requires a new type of subscription, called a data subscription, which also provides unlimited access to Record Matches.
You can also view specific records by purchasing pay-as-you-go credits.
Special offer
We have some great news: for a limited-time period in celebration of the launch of SuperSearch, data subscriptions are discounted 36%, so now is the best time to get one.
Get a discounted data subscription now or view the prices.
(With thanks to MyHeritage)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
This week we've officially released SuperSearch, a brand new search engine for historical records. This is an exciting moment for lovers of genealogy worldwide. It's found on www.myheritage.com/research.
SuperSearch includes 4+ billion genealogy records from our acquisition of WorldVitalRecords last year, such as birth, marriage, death, burial, census, military, immigration, yearbooks and other types of records, plus scans of original documents. SuperSearch also includes MyHeritage family trees, photos and members that are public – altogether more than one billion unique MyHeritage records from all countries of the world. There are many highlights such as the world's largest collection of historical newspapers, all UK census records from 1841 till 1901 and more. SuperSearch is growing fast, millions of historical records and family tree profiles are added daily. Next week 17 million exclusive vital records from Venezuela will be added. We're adding a full index of the 1940 US Federal Census. So even if you don't find what you're looking for on SuperSearch, chances are we'll have it for you soon.
SuperSearch features
• Worldwide coverage, with strong collections for the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada.
• Easily search for historical records of any person by first name and/or last name, with optional dates or places.
• Search also by keywords, events, relationships and other advanced criteria. Many different soundex types are supported.
• Synonyms and initials of first names are covered. For example, if you search for William, we'll also catch Bill, Vilhelm, Guillaume, Guglielmo and other synonyms and international variations.
• Find people without even knowing their last name, for example, find 3 brothers in the same family using only their first names and relationship as siblings, or find all people born on a certain date or in a certain town.
• Run a global search to cover all our data collections at once, or drill down to search only in one collection.
• SuperSearch is smart enough to figure out the likely gender of the person you're trying to find.
• Choose between a mode that shows all results, and a summary mode that shows the count of matches from each collection.
• Results arrive fast, typically within a second, ranked by relevance.
SuperSearch includes Record Matching Technology, which can find matching historical records automatically for your family tree. We are about to release this technology in the next few weeks, and will announce it separately once available.
Subscriptions and credits
Viewing results from some data collections is free (e.g. 1930 & 1940 US census, Social Security Death Index, Ellis Island, etc). Viewing other records requires a new type of subscription, called a data subscription, which also provides unlimited access to Record Matches.
You can also view specific records by purchasing pay-as-you-go credits.
Special offer
We have some great news: for a limited-time period in celebration of the launch of SuperSearch, data subscriptions are discounted 36%, so now is the best time to get one.
Get a discounted data subscription now or view the prices.
(With thanks to MyHeritage)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Forthcoming Parish Chest course from Pharos
I've been asked to give a quick plug by Gill Blanchard for her forthcoming Pharos course, The Parish Chest - There was more to life than baptism, marriage and burial, for which there are still a few places. The course starts June 28th, is four weeks long, and costs £39.99.
The following is a quick description:
The records and accounts of the parish make up what is collectively called the parish chest. From the reign of Elizabeth I the parish’s role in local affairs expanded to include many civil responsibilities that affected the lives of your ancestors. Parish officers - the churchwardens and overseers - raised taxes, kept accounts and managed parish affairs including maintaining the church, providing relief to the poor, setting local rates, repairing roads, maintaining law and order, and operating schools. You will discover other fascinating records as well, among them the wills of benefactors, militia records and parish magazines. This course explains how to locate parish chest records, describes indexes and finding aids, and discusses how to interpret and use search results. As a result you will build your family tree and expand your understanding of the parish and its day to day activities.
Instructor: Gill Blanchard
To book the course visit http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=310 - additional forthcoming Pharos courses can also be consulted at http://pharostutors.com/coursesmainsd.php
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The following is a quick description:
The records and accounts of the parish make up what is collectively called the parish chest. From the reign of Elizabeth I the parish’s role in local affairs expanded to include many civil responsibilities that affected the lives of your ancestors. Parish officers - the churchwardens and overseers - raised taxes, kept accounts and managed parish affairs including maintaining the church, providing relief to the poor, setting local rates, repairing roads, maintaining law and order, and operating schools. You will discover other fascinating records as well, among them the wills of benefactors, militia records and parish magazines. This course explains how to locate parish chest records, describes indexes and finding aids, and discusses how to interpret and use search results. As a result you will build your family tree and expand your understanding of the parish and its day to day activities.
Instructor: Gill Blanchard
- What is the Parish and what role did it play in your ancestors’ lives?
- Churchwardens, Overseers and Vestry Records
- Property and Land Records
- The Parish Constable, School Records and Other Records
To book the course visit http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=310 - additional forthcoming Pharos courses can also be consulted at http://pharostutors.com/coursesmainsd.php
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Shetland Times index updated to 1945
Thanks to Janice Hadlow for the following:
I’ve updated my website with another 20 years of Shetland Times BDM indexes at www.jghalcrow.co.uk taking them up to 1945.
Feel free to download or search online. I have also left a paper copy of all the work done so far with Shetland Family History Society.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
I’ve updated my website with another 20 years of Shetland Times BDM indexes at www.jghalcrow.co.uk taking them up to 1945.
Feel free to download or search online. I have also left a paper copy of all the work done so far with Shetland Family History Society.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Interviewed on Irish radio
I've been getting a lot of media interest in the last couple of days about my new book on the Mount Stewart Murder of 1866, a situation which I've not really had to deal with before - usually I do the interviewing! Earlier today I was on Newstalk Ireland's Moncrieffe show being interviewed by Sean Moncrieffe, and that is now available online for those wishing to put a voice to a blog!To access the interview visit http://media.newstalk.ie/listenbacks/popup and select the Moncrieffe show for Thurs 21st June edition, and Part 2 - it's about 39 mins in, and lasts about eight minutes or so. (See below for details on the book!)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
More petty session records from FMP Ireland
FindmyPast Ireland (www.findmypast.ie) has released a further tranche of 2 million records from its Irish Petty Session records collection. This entry contains the additional records for Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Monaghan, Tipperary, or Wexford.
With this release I've made a few discoveries on my wife's family, including several records of drunkenness in Carrick-on-Suir and one instance in 1899 of her great grandfather being prosecuted for letting a dog out of his house unmuzzled! The Carrick records are available only for the period from 1897-1901 just now, so not sure if more are forthcoming - half of me hopes so, the other half thinks if I've found so many hits in just a four year gap, God only knows what is still to come!
A great collection - further details of the latest releases are at www.findmypast.ie/content/news-even-more-petty-sessions-records
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
With this release I've made a few discoveries on my wife's family, including several records of drunkenness in Carrick-on-Suir and one instance in 1899 of her great grandfather being prosecuted for letting a dog out of his house unmuzzled! The Carrick records are available only for the period from 1897-1901 just now, so not sure if more are forthcoming - half of me hopes so, the other half thinks if I've found so many hits in just a four year gap, God only knows what is still to come!
A great collection - further details of the latest releases are at www.findmypast.ie/content/news-even-more-petty-sessions-records
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
New SGS publications and classes
Thanks to Ken Nisbet of the Scottish Genealogy Society for the following update:
New publications:
Transcribed by Mr Russell W Cockburn from the Kirk Session minutes held at the National Records of Scotland, the Scottish Genealogy Society has just published four volumes on the non-conformist churches in Dalkeith:
Dalkeith Free Church Baptisms from 1843-1854 & Marriages for 1848 £3.50
This church came into being at the time of the Disruption in 1843
St Nicholas Church, Dalkeith - Testimonials 1764-1789 - £1.50
This church was founded in 1406 as a collegiate church dedicated to St Nicholas
Associate Congregational Church, Back Street, Dalkeith: Baptisms from 1755 to 1809 - £3.50
The Burgher Congregation Church, Buccleuch Street, Dalkeith - Baptisms from 1747 to 1763 - £1.50
(a praying society, which had existed from the time of the Covenanters in the village of Easthouses in the parish of Newbattle, two miles south-east of Dalkeith)
The information contained in these publications is a great boon to anyone researching their family history in Dalkeith and the surrounding areas as the baptisms and marriages do not appear in the usual Church of Scotland birth & marriage records.
Testimonials were required when moving from one parish to another, so that the receiving parish knew where the incomer came from, if he was of a suitable character, if he was eligible to receive communion, and unlikely to be a burden on the parish poor fund. This information is particularly useful in helping to track people's whereabouts both before and in-between the censuses.
As usual, these publications are all available from our Family History Centre, 15 Victoria Terrace in Edinburgh - tel: 0131 220 3677 or visit our website: www.scotsgenealogy.com.
Family History Classes
The Society will be holding a class on censuses: "What the Census Tells Us". This will take place at our Family History Centre at 15 Victoria Terrace in Edinburgh, on Saturday, 14 July from 10am-12.00pm and will cost £10. Space is limited so booking is essential. If you, or anyone you know might be interested in this class, please give us a call: 0131 220 3677 or e-mail: scotsgenpublicity@scotsgenealogy.com.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
New publications:
Transcribed by Mr Russell W Cockburn from the Kirk Session minutes held at the National Records of Scotland, the Scottish Genealogy Society has just published four volumes on the non-conformist churches in Dalkeith:
Dalkeith Free Church Baptisms from 1843-1854 & Marriages for 1848 £3.50
This church came into being at the time of the Disruption in 1843
St Nicholas Church, Dalkeith - Testimonials 1764-1789 - £1.50
This church was founded in 1406 as a collegiate church dedicated to St Nicholas
Associate Congregational Church, Back Street, Dalkeith: Baptisms from 1755 to 1809 - £3.50
The Burgher Congregation Church, Buccleuch Street, Dalkeith - Baptisms from 1747 to 1763 - £1.50
(a praying society, which had existed from the time of the Covenanters in the village of Easthouses in the parish of Newbattle, two miles south-east of Dalkeith)
The information contained in these publications is a great boon to anyone researching their family history in Dalkeith and the surrounding areas as the baptisms and marriages do not appear in the usual Church of Scotland birth & marriage records.
Testimonials were required when moving from one parish to another, so that the receiving parish knew where the incomer came from, if he was of a suitable character, if he was eligible to receive communion, and unlikely to be a burden on the parish poor fund. This information is particularly useful in helping to track people's whereabouts both before and in-between the censuses.
As usual, these publications are all available from our Family History Centre, 15 Victoria Terrace in Edinburgh - tel: 0131 220 3677 or visit our website: www.scotsgenealogy.com
Family History Classes
The Society will be holding a class on censuses: "What the Census Tells Us". This will take place at our Family History Centre at 15 Victoria Terrace in Edinburgh, on Saturday, 14 July from 10am-12.00pm and will cost £10. Space is limited so booking is essential. If you, or anyone you know might be interested in this class, please give us a call: 0131 220 3677 or e-mail: scotsgenpublicity@scotsgenealogy.com.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Family Tree offers combined digital and print subscription
This is an interesting development from Family Tree magazine (http://family-tree.co.uk), published by ABM Publishing:
Family Tree is proud to announce a family history first – a combined print and digital subscription! Now readers can access their favourite genealogy magazine as soon as it comes out, at any time, anywhere in the world.
When taking out a combined print and digital subscription, not only do you make great savings on your print magazine, you also receive a heavily discounted digital copy of Family Tree, priced at just 39p per issue.
Select your preferred subscription (prices vary depending on payment method and your location) and start your combined print and digital subscription for just £5 extra for 13 digital issues – wherever you are in the world, via your computer, laptop or hand-held device. Combined digital and print is just £3.53 per issue by UK direct debit.
Existing print subscribers can upgrade their current subscription, to include the digital edition at 39p per issue, and enjoy the best of both worlds. To find out about upgrading your subscription, please call freephone 0800 6128377 or, to upgrade by direct debit, visit www.abmsubscriptions.co.uk. To upgrade using a credit/debit card or PayPal visit www.familyhistorybookshop.co.uk.
Find out more about our digital editions at http://family-tree.co.uk/2012/01/download-family-tree-digital/.
Find out about our other subscription options, print-only or digital-only, at http://family-tree.co.uk/subscribe/.
(With thanks to Belinda Griffin)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Family Tree is proud to announce a family history first – a combined print and digital subscription! Now readers can access their favourite genealogy magazine as soon as it comes out, at any time, anywhere in the world.
When taking out a combined print and digital subscription, not only do you make great savings on your print magazine, you also receive a heavily discounted digital copy of Family Tree, priced at just 39p per issue.
Select your preferred subscription (prices vary depending on payment method and your location) and start your combined print and digital subscription for just £5 extra for 13 digital issues – wherever you are in the world, via your computer, laptop or hand-held device. Combined digital and print is just £3.53 per issue by UK direct debit.
Existing print subscribers can upgrade their current subscription, to include the digital edition at 39p per issue, and enjoy the best of both worlds. To find out about upgrading your subscription, please call freephone 0800 6128377 or, to upgrade by direct debit, visit www.abmsubscriptions.co.uk. To upgrade using a credit/debit card or PayPal visit www.familyhistorybookshop.co.uk.
Find out more about our digital editions at http://family-tree.co.uk/2012/01/download-family-tree-digital/.
Find out about our other subscription options, print-only or digital-only, at http://family-tree.co.uk/subscribe/.
(With thanks to Belinda Griffin)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Heraldic crisis at Euro 2012...!
OK, perhaps not a crisis, but this one tickled me a wee bit...! :)
Apparently the Spanish football team have had to have an emergency redesign of their strip following the discovery that the badge on their tops shows a heraldic design from the wrong royal house, being that of a French line instead of that of the correct Spanish variant.
Thank God the media picked up on it - the world as we know it may never have been the same again...! :)
The story is at www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120620/euro2012/euro-2012-briefs.425214
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Apparently the Spanish football team have had to have an emergency redesign of their strip following the discovery that the badge on their tops shows a heraldic design from the wrong royal house, being that of a French line instead of that of the correct Spanish variant.
Thank God the media picked up on it - the world as we know it may never have been the same again...! :)
The story is at www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120620/euro2012/euro-2012-briefs.425214
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Romany and Traveller event in Smethwick
Thanks to Stephen Benson, Publicity Officer for the FFHS (www.ffhs.org.uk), and Dianne Sutton of Romany & Traveller FHS (www.rtfhs.org.uk), for the following:
The Romany and Traveller FHS, the Friends of Black Patch Park and The Birmingham Romany Memorial Review Joint Event and Open Day
Smethwick “Black Patch” – Saturday 21st July 11am-4pm
The Romany and Traveller FHS are joining this year with the Friends of Black Patch Park and The Birmingham Romany Memorial Review to hold a joint event and Open Day in a marquee in the grounds of the Soho Tavern, Foundry Lane, Smethwick, B66 2LL. The RTFHS bookstall will be there along with research assistance, displays, a bouncy castle, music and dancing and well-know Birmingham author Ted Rudge will be giving a talk entitled “Brumroamin – Birmingham and Midland Romany Gypsy and Traveller Culture”
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
The Romany and Traveller FHS, the Friends of Black Patch Park and The Birmingham Romany Memorial Review Joint Event and Open Day
Smethwick “Black Patch” – Saturday 21st July 11am-4pm
The Romany and Traveller FHS are joining this year with the Friends of Black Patch Park and The Birmingham Romany Memorial Review to hold a joint event and Open Day in a marquee in the grounds of the Soho Tavern, Foundry Lane, Smethwick, B66 2LL. The RTFHS bookstall will be there along with research assistance, displays, a bouncy castle, music and dancing and well-know Birmingham author Ted Rudge will be giving a talk entitled “Brumroamin – Birmingham and Midland Romany Gypsy and Traveller Culture”
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
TNA - possible bus strike on Friday
The National Archives has announced that a possible bus strike on Friday may cause some travel chaos for those wishing to get out to Kew - more details at http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/726.htm
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
ScotlandsPeople reduces wills and testaments charge
ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has made a major change to its website in regard to the provision of testamentary records. From the site:
We have changed the pricing and payment method for purchasing Wills & Testaments documents on the ScotlandsPeople website. Instead of purchasing a Will & Testament through a separate transaction, these documents can now be viewed using ScotlandsPeople credits. As an introductory offer we have also reduced the cost from £5 to 10 credits, which is roughly 2.33 GBP!
The pricing for Wills & Testaments was originally based on the average cost for posting out purchased copies to customers. At that time, this was the best way of arranging the price, as the number of pages per document can vary and so did the total cost.
So, in 2005, the records were digitised and launched on the ScotlandsPeople website at a cost of £5 for a full colour, authentic facsimile of the original document, regardless of the number of pages.
With the merging of NAS (National Archives of Scotland)and GROS (General Register Office for Scotland) to form the National Records ofScotland in (NRS) in April 2011, we felt the time was right to reflect the fact that the records are from the same organisation, by standardising the payment process.
We hope that this change makes for an easier and more straightforward process for using these records. As we're currently working onthe launch of the new Wills and Testaments for 1902-1925, we thought it was the perfect time to announce this change - we hope you like it!
COMMENT: Great news!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
We have changed the pricing and payment method for purchasing Wills & Testaments documents on the ScotlandsPeople website. Instead of purchasing a Will & Testament through a separate transaction, these documents can now be viewed using ScotlandsPeople credits. As an introductory offer we have also reduced the cost from £5 to 10 credits, which is roughly 2.33 GBP!
The pricing for Wills & Testaments was originally based on the average cost for posting out purchased copies to customers. At that time, this was the best way of arranging the price, as the number of pages per document can vary and so did the total cost.
So, in 2005, the records were digitised and launched on the ScotlandsPeople website at a cost of £5 for a full colour, authentic facsimile of the original document, regardless of the number of pages.
With the merging of NAS (National Archives of Scotland)and GROS (General Register Office for Scotland) to form the National Records ofScotland in (NRS) in April 2011, we felt the time was right to reflect the fact that the records are from the same organisation, by standardising the payment process.
We hope that this change makes for an easier and more straightforward process for using these records. As we're currently working onthe launch of the new Wills and Testaments for 1902-1925, we thought it was the perfect time to announce this change - we hope you like it!
COMMENT: Great news!
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
FindmyPast updates Royal collection
FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has added 25,000 records to its British royalty collections.
For further details visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/royal-archives-2nd-release
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
- Establishment Lists for Master of the Household's Department 1835-1924: 7,158 records
- Establishment Lists for the Royal Mews 1717-1924: 18,281 records
For further details visit www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/royal-archives-2nd-release
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Family history sessions in North Yorkshire
Forthcoming family history sessions at North Yorkshire County Record Office (www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6269&contactid=5173)
Learn more about family history at the County Record Office
We run full day sessions for people wanting to research their family history. These sessions are aimed at both beginners and more advanced family historians.
These sessions are very popular so advance booking is essential, please telephone 01609 777585 or e-mail archives@northyorks.gov.uk. The cost of each session is £30, including light refreshments and buffet lunch.
Family history beginners' day, 7 July 2012
Suitable for those with no previous family history experience, this day provides a detailed exploration of first steps in family history, led by an experienced family history tutor. It includes a basic introduction to the census, civil registration records and parish registers plus use of the internet, with basic software and live web demonstrations.
Next steps in family history, 6 October 2012
For people who may have used the internet to look at census and registration records, and are ready to explore other sources, this day is a natural follow on from our family history beginners' days.
Led by an experienced family history tutor, and a professional archivist, it includes a detailed account of parish registers, modern and ecclesiastical wills, an introduction to quarter sessions records and other sources and advanced internet usage techniques. The cost is £30, including light refreshments and a buffet lunch.
Family history skills day, 1 December 2012
For those wishing to develop their family history skills.
Led by an experienced family history tutor with contributions from archivists, this day includes getting the best from the internet, approaches to Latin and palaeography (old handwriting), family tree recording software and conservation of personal archives.
(With thanks to @JackieDepelle on Twitter)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Learn more about family history at the County Record Office
We run full day sessions for people wanting to research their family history. These sessions are aimed at both beginners and more advanced family historians.
These sessions are very popular so advance booking is essential, please telephone 01609 777585 or e-mail archives@northyorks.gov.uk. The cost of each session is £30, including light refreshments and buffet lunch.
Family history beginners' day, 7 July 2012
Suitable for those with no previous family history experience, this day provides a detailed exploration of first steps in family history, led by an experienced family history tutor. It includes a basic introduction to the census, civil registration records and parish registers plus use of the internet, with basic software and live web demonstrations.
Next steps in family history, 6 October 2012
For people who may have used the internet to look at census and registration records, and are ready to explore other sources, this day is a natural follow on from our family history beginners' days.
Led by an experienced family history tutor, and a professional archivist, it includes a detailed account of parish registers, modern and ecclesiastical wills, an introduction to quarter sessions records and other sources and advanced internet usage techniques. The cost is £30, including light refreshments and a buffet lunch.
Family history skills day, 1 December 2012
For those wishing to develop their family history skills.
Led by an experienced family history tutor with contributions from archivists, this day includes getting the best from the internet, approaches to Latin and palaeography (old handwriting), family tree recording software and conservation of personal archives.
(With thanks to @JackieDepelle on Twitter)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
New London Nonconformist website
A new free, non-commercial website about Nonconformist minister Dr. William Bengo Collyer (1782-1854) of Hanover Chapel, Peckham, is now online at www.wbcollyer.org and contains the following useful materials:
* Transcript of Hanover Chapel baptism registers (1801-37) with index to parents and witnesses – 814 entries. (Details of witnesses do not appear in any other published index of the register.) Transcript of 1837-54 register (900+ entries) is coming soon, followed by other Independent chapels in Camberwell (Grove, Mansion House, Marlborough chapels) www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_96
* Subscribers to Dr. Collyer’s printed works (1809-23) – 2000+ entries. At some future date I will look at indexing the subscribers to works by some of Dr. C’s contemporaries. www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_13
* London Missionary Society donors and subscribers connected with the Camberwell and Peckham branches. Lists for various years between 1818 and 1843 are regularly added to at www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_110
There are also some biographical notes on 100+ fathers of children baptised at Hanover Chapel, of varying detail and growing in number, at www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_93.
Further work will include transcriptions of further material catalogued by Southwark Local History Library concerning Hanover Chapel (including congregation lists).
The site is a work in progress, and updates can be obtained via www.twitter.com/wbcollyer or www.facebook.com/williambengo.collyer.
(With thanks to Emma Jolly @emmajolly and marcol at Rootsweb www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,603176.new.html)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
* Transcript of Hanover Chapel baptism registers (1801-37) with index to parents and witnesses – 814 entries. (Details of witnesses do not appear in any other published index of the register.) Transcript of 1837-54 register (900+ entries) is coming soon, followed by other Independent chapels in Camberwell (Grove, Mansion House, Marlborough chapels) www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_96
* Subscribers to Dr. Collyer’s printed works (1809-23) – 2000+ entries. At some future date I will look at indexing the subscribers to works by some of Dr. C’s contemporaries. www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_13
* London Missionary Society donors and subscribers connected with the Camberwell and Peckham branches. Lists for various years between 1818 and 1843 are regularly added to at www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_110
There are also some biographical notes on 100+ fathers of children baptised at Hanover Chapel, of varying detail and growing in number, at www.wbcollyer.org/index.php?p=1_93.
Further work will include transcriptions of further material catalogued by Southwark Local History Library concerning Hanover Chapel (including congregation lists).
The site is a work in progress, and updates can be obtained via www.twitter.com/wbcollyer or www.facebook.com/williambengo.collyer.
(With thanks to Emma Jolly @emmajolly and marcol at Rootsweb www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,603176.new.html)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Hebrides People: Emigrants Database launch
It's taken a bit longer to come online than was at first envisaged, but the Hebrides People website's Emigrant Database, from genealogist Bill Lawson of the Co Leis Thu? service on the Isle of Harris, is now online and searchable at www.hebridespeople.com. (For the background to the project see http://scottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/major-hebridean-project-announced.html). This release marks the start of a programme to place a quarter of a million records online for family members from the Western Isles, with later releases set to concentrate on parish based resources, starting with Harris later this year. The following is an abridged press release from Bill with some information on the creation of the Emigrants Database, and on how to access it:
Through our contacts overseas, and our own research, mainly in Canada, we have a good knowledge of the main areas to which Islanders emigrated at different times. A few must have left the islands, deported after the Jacobite rebellions, but they would have been few, and the chances of tracing them remote. The social upheavals after 1746 led to a mass migration of tacksmen and their subtenants, but this affected mainly Skye, though a few from the Outer Isles also left at the time, mainly for Carolina. An eruption of Hecla in Iceland in 1755 led to bad harvests for several years thereafter, and there was a major emigration from Lewis to the USA – to New York and Pennsylvania States – indeed the largest number of emigrants known to have left Lewis in one year was in 1772-73, when 831 emigrants are noted, though unfortunately not by name. The threat of religious persecution led to an emigration arranged by the Roman Catholic Church to Prince Edward Island, mainly from South Uist and Barra, beginnings with the Alexander in 1772. In the early 1800s, there was another move from Lewis to the Gulf Shore in Nova Scotia.
For these early emigrations, information is limited. There are a few – very few!- shipping lists and a few cemetery inscriptions, but in general our records for these emigrations depend on the information clients have been able to supply over the years. Most of these emigrants would have gone with a little capital with which to begin their new lives – and indeed the fear of the loss of their capital to Britain was one on the main reasons for later restrictions on emigration. The landlords in the Hebrides had the further fear that emigration would lose them their work force for the kelp (seaweed-processing) industry which was flourishing during the French Wars of the late 1790s and early 1800s.
Legislation was brought in, ostensibly to alleviate the overcrowding which was a problem with many of the early emigrant ships, but by increasing the amount of space and supplies required on board, it also increased the fares beyond what most would-be emigrants could raise. Nonetheless, many islanders were still able to utilise their meagre earnings from the kelp to fund emigration. The War of 1812 with the USA effectively closed that country to all but a few emigrants, and the focus of emigration changed to Cape Breton, along with continued settlement in PEI and a small number to New Brunswick.
In Cape Breton, settlers from Barra concentrated around the Barra Strait in the Bras d’Or, while South Uist went mainly to Grand Mira and the Boisdale and East Bay areas. North Uist went to Catalone, Gabarus and Mira, while Harris went to Grand River, Framboise, and St Anns. There were few settlers from Lewis at this point, and these were concentrated at Little Narrows and at St Anns. Because the early emigrants to Cape Breton tended to settle in groups, we have often been able to identify their origins from their neighbours.
With the slackening of the restriction on emigration in the 1820s came the collapse of the kelp industry, and much of the population of the Hebrides became redundant, from the point of view of their landlords. Emigration was now encouraged, and in some cases enforced, and the flow of families, to Cape Breton in particular, became a flood. Even there, there was not enough good land for all, and there were settlements in the back glens which by their very nature were short-lived, and many families had to move on to the new industrial mining centres of Glace Bay etc.
The problems in the Islands were exacerbated by potato blight in the mid-1840s, and the consequent famine. Cape Breton was suffering from the same problem, so emigration there virtually ceased. Landlords at home were faced by another problem – the new Poor Laws would make them responsible for poor relief in their own areas, so it was to their advantage that as many people left as possible. No longer was it those who could afford the fares who left – those who had lost all in the famine were forced to leave – sometimes forced by economics, and sometimes by the landlords.
The Highland and Islands Emigration Society was set up, with Government assistance, to provide assisted passages to Australia. In the Outer Hebrides, the landlords of Harris and North Uist took advantage of the Society’s help, and almost 10% of the population left for Australia between 1850 and 1860. The Society kept records of all their passengers – they hoped for repayment of the moneys they had advanced – so there are detailed passengers lists for each ship, showing where the passengers embarked and where they disembarked, though unfortunately there are no records of where they settled eventually.
The landlords of Lewis and South Uist and Barra preferred not to work with the Society, but organised their own emigrations to Canada. There had been a Lewis settlement in the Eastern Townships of Quebec since the late 1830s, and emigrants’ fares were paid either to join them, or to go further west to Bruce County, Ontario. South and North Uist families concentrated on Middlesex County and the surrounding areas of Ontario.
Because these emigrations generally took place after the first census of Scotland in 1841, it is generally possible to trace the emigrants and their families – though in Bruce County, for example, there were so many MacDonalds from the West-side of Lewis that they are still difficult to disentangle! From the 1880s, settlement in Canada moved on to the Prairies, and by this time we can be almost certain to identify families.
At the moment, the database deals with families up to 1920, though it is hoped to include the major emigrations of the 1920s in the next version of the database.
So, enjoy the database! If you are not sure how to use it, look under the heading of www.hebridespeople.com/shop/hp-products/. Basically, you buy a number of credits to let you into the system, and from there on, you can access the system by entering details of names, dates and places, if known. Do remember that the data-base is Mark 1, and an extension will follow later, so if you do not find the family you are looking for, we may still have information, so e-mail us, and we will see if we can help.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Through our contacts overseas, and our own research, mainly in Canada, we have a good knowledge of the main areas to which Islanders emigrated at different times. A few must have left the islands, deported after the Jacobite rebellions, but they would have been few, and the chances of tracing them remote. The social upheavals after 1746 led to a mass migration of tacksmen and their subtenants, but this affected mainly Skye, though a few from the Outer Isles also left at the time, mainly for Carolina. An eruption of Hecla in Iceland in 1755 led to bad harvests for several years thereafter, and there was a major emigration from Lewis to the USA – to New York and Pennsylvania States – indeed the largest number of emigrants known to have left Lewis in one year was in 1772-73, when 831 emigrants are noted, though unfortunately not by name. The threat of religious persecution led to an emigration arranged by the Roman Catholic Church to Prince Edward Island, mainly from South Uist and Barra, beginnings with the Alexander in 1772. In the early 1800s, there was another move from Lewis to the Gulf Shore in Nova Scotia.
 |
| Bill Lawson |
Legislation was brought in, ostensibly to alleviate the overcrowding which was a problem with many of the early emigrant ships, but by increasing the amount of space and supplies required on board, it also increased the fares beyond what most would-be emigrants could raise. Nonetheless, many islanders were still able to utilise their meagre earnings from the kelp to fund emigration. The War of 1812 with the USA effectively closed that country to all but a few emigrants, and the focus of emigration changed to Cape Breton, along with continued settlement in PEI and a small number to New Brunswick.
In Cape Breton, settlers from Barra concentrated around the Barra Strait in the Bras d’Or, while South Uist went mainly to Grand Mira and the Boisdale and East Bay areas. North Uist went to Catalone, Gabarus and Mira, while Harris went to Grand River, Framboise, and St Anns. There were few settlers from Lewis at this point, and these were concentrated at Little Narrows and at St Anns. Because the early emigrants to Cape Breton tended to settle in groups, we have often been able to identify their origins from their neighbours.
With the slackening of the restriction on emigration in the 1820s came the collapse of the kelp industry, and much of the population of the Hebrides became redundant, from the point of view of their landlords. Emigration was now encouraged, and in some cases enforced, and the flow of families, to Cape Breton in particular, became a flood. Even there, there was not enough good land for all, and there were settlements in the back glens which by their very nature were short-lived, and many families had to move on to the new industrial mining centres of Glace Bay etc.
The problems in the Islands were exacerbated by potato blight in the mid-1840s, and the consequent famine. Cape Breton was suffering from the same problem, so emigration there virtually ceased. Landlords at home were faced by another problem – the new Poor Laws would make them responsible for poor relief in their own areas, so it was to their advantage that as many people left as possible. No longer was it those who could afford the fares who left – those who had lost all in the famine were forced to leave – sometimes forced by economics, and sometimes by the landlords.
The Highland and Islands Emigration Society was set up, with Government assistance, to provide assisted passages to Australia. In the Outer Hebrides, the landlords of Harris and North Uist took advantage of the Society’s help, and almost 10% of the population left for Australia between 1850 and 1860. The Society kept records of all their passengers – they hoped for repayment of the moneys they had advanced – so there are detailed passengers lists for each ship, showing where the passengers embarked and where they disembarked, though unfortunately there are no records of where they settled eventually.
The landlords of Lewis and South Uist and Barra preferred not to work with the Society, but organised their own emigrations to Canada. There had been a Lewis settlement in the Eastern Townships of Quebec since the late 1830s, and emigrants’ fares were paid either to join them, or to go further west to Bruce County, Ontario. South and North Uist families concentrated on Middlesex County and the surrounding areas of Ontario.
Because these emigrations generally took place after the first census of Scotland in 1841, it is generally possible to trace the emigrants and their families – though in Bruce County, for example, there were so many MacDonalds from the West-side of Lewis that they are still difficult to disentangle! From the 1880s, settlement in Canada moved on to the Prairies, and by this time we can be almost certain to identify families.
At the moment, the database deals with families up to 1920, though it is hoped to include the major emigrations of the 1920s in the next version of the database.
So, enjoy the database! If you are not sure how to use it, look under the heading of www.hebridespeople.com/shop/hp-products/. Basically, you buy a number of credits to let you into the system, and from there on, you can access the system by entering details of names, dates and places, if known. Do remember that the data-base is Mark 1, and an extension will follow later, so if you do not find the family you are looking for, we may still have information, so e-mail us, and we will see if we can help.
(With thanks to Bill Lawson)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Origins: new viewer and Somerset probate records
From Jane Hewitt, new developments at Origins.net (www.origins.net):
New ImageViewer on Origins.net!
Over the past few months, we have listened to customer feedback and have developed a new image viewer for Origins.net. This allows easier searching for all users, including those accessing Origins.net from a Mac.
One of the best ways to check out the ImageViewer is to browse the Children’s Employment Commission of 1842.
This huge government publication contains evidence on the employment of children. Evidence is given by interviews with employers, adult workers and children, relating to work and lifestyle conditions. This fascinating and vivid resource provides detailed information on early 19th century social conditions in the manufacturing areas of Great Britain and Ireland.
Browse the Children’s Employment Commission FREE using the new ImageViewer at www.origins.net/help/ChildrensEmploymentCommission.aspx
(After logging in click Use Origins.net ImageViewer and set your image viewing preferences to Origins.net Java plug-in. Click here for Help using the new viewer)
Somerset Medieval Wills Abstracts 1385-1558
This volume contains full abstracts (summaries) to wills for Somerset testators proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. These abstracts contain a complete summary of the details contained within each will and includes all names and places (testators, executors, witnesses and beneficiaries) plus incidental information such as relationships and occupations where found in the original documents.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
New ImageViewer on Origins.net!
Over the past few months, we have listened to customer feedback and have developed a new image viewer for Origins.net. This allows easier searching for all users, including those accessing Origins.net from a Mac.
One of the best ways to check out the ImageViewer is to browse the Children’s Employment Commission of 1842.
This huge government publication contains evidence on the employment of children. Evidence is given by interviews with employers, adult workers and children, relating to work and lifestyle conditions. This fascinating and vivid resource provides detailed information on early 19th century social conditions in the manufacturing areas of Great Britain and Ireland.
Browse the Children’s Employment Commission FREE using the new ImageViewer at www.origins.net/help/ChildrensEmploymentCommission.aspx
(After logging in click Use Origins.net ImageViewer and set your image viewing preferences to Origins.net Java plug-in. Click here for Help using the new viewer)
Somerset Medieval Wills Abstracts 1385-1558
This volume contains full abstracts (summaries) to wills for Somerset testators proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. These abstracts contain a complete summary of the details contained within each will and includes all names and places (testators, executors, witnesses and beneficiaries) plus incidental information such as relationships and occupations where found in the original documents.
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
National Library of Wales at Royal Welsh Show
From the National Library of Wales (www.llgc.org.uk):
23 - 26 July 2012
Trying to piece together information about your family's history can be challenging. Many people find it difficult knowing where to start. If you are considering beginning this journey of discovery then the Library should be your first port of call. The Library has a vast array of valuable resources and expert staff at hand to guide you along the way. A special exhibition at this year's Royal Welsh Show will give you a step-by-step guide how to trace your family and local history.
COMMENT: The Royal Welsh Show website is at www.rwas.co.uk/en/welsh-show/
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
23 - 26 July 2012
Trying to piece together information about your family's history can be challenging. Many people find it difficult knowing where to start. If you are considering beginning this journey of discovery then the Library should be your first port of call. The Library has a vast array of valuable resources and expert staff at hand to guide you along the way. A special exhibition at this year's Royal Welsh Show will give you a step-by-step guide how to trace your family and local history.
COMMENT: The Royal Welsh Show website is at www.rwas.co.uk/en/welsh-show/
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
Europeana: WW1 - Untold Stories exhibition
Some results of Europeana's recent tour to find hidden gems across Europe concerning the First World War, which included visits to Dublin and Preston, are now available on an exhibition hosted at http://exhibitions.europeana.eu/exhibits/show/europeana-1914-1918-en/europeana-1914-1918-themes. Some interesting material in there, well worth a visit.
(With thanks to the latest Europeana newsletter at http://e2.ma/message/ny4lb/jbgsob)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)
(With thanks to the latest Europeana newsletter at http://e2.ma/message/ny4lb/jbgsob)
Chris
Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)