Irish and Scottish poor law records added to FindmyPast

This week's releases on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Donegal Workhouses Registers and Minute Books
Search for your Irish ancestry through more than 400,000 new and exclusive records from the Donegal workhouses. The records include admission and discharge registers as well as board of guardians' minute books. The books span from 1840 to 1922, comprise records from 7 poor law unions across Donegal and join our growing collection of Irish Work House and Poor Law records. These records are also available to browse. The unions covered include Ballyshannon, Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glentis, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford, and Stranorlar. The original records are held by the Donegal County Council and have been digitised through a partnership with Findmypast. Within the collection, you will find a wide variety of records.

Scotland, Highland Poor Law 1845-1929
Find out if your Highland ancestors fell on hard times with more than 9,000 new poverty relief records. These detailed transcripts can reveal a wide range of information about your ancestors, a description of the relief they received, location, their occupation, residence, earnings, the names and earnings of their relatives, how poor they actually were and the nature of their disability (if disabled).

Scotland, Highlands and Islands Assisted Emigration 1852-1857
Search the names of those who received assistance from the Highlands and Islands Emigration Society in emigrating from the Highlands of Scotland for Australia. Each transcript will reveal when your ancestor's dates and ports of both departure and arrival, their age and residence, the ship they sailed on, the name of their sponsor and the amount they received.

British & Irish Roots Collection
More than 1.2 million records has been added to our exclusive British and Irish Roots Collection, a vast database of nearly 100 million records, handpicked by our in-house experts, that identify a British or Irish emigrants in North America.

International Records Update – Luxembourg
Does your family tree have roots in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg? Find out with three new indexes of births & baptisms, marriages and deaths & burials spanning the years 1662 to 1840.

British & Irish Newspaper Update
This week we are delighted to welcome 137,896 new pages to The Archive, with new pages adding to 18 existing publications spanning 128 years from 1871 to 1999. This week's new additions include:

Staffordshire Sentinel: 1906-1910, 1918-1919
Newcastle Evening Chronicle: 1894, 1913, 1919
The People: 1946-1949
Newcastle Chronicle: 1875-1896, 1899-1900
Surrey Advertiser: 1909
Limerick Chronicle: 1825
Aberdeen Press and Journal: 1983-1984
Walsall Observer, and South Staffordshire Chronicle: 1873-1911, 1925-1933, 1958-1969
Pinner Observer: 1999
Harrow Leader: 1998-1999
Ealing Leader: 1998-1999
Hayes & Harlington Gazette: 1998-1999
Acton Gazette: 1871-1880, 1885, 1888-1892, 1894-1903, 1910-1917, 1921-1939
Amersham Advertiser: 1998
Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush Gazette: 1991
Dumfries and Galloway Standard: 1874, 1884
Daily Gazette for Middlesbrough: 1901-1902
Hamilton Advertiser: 1889-1892, 1894, 1897, 1901, 1903-1904, 1906-1908

Further information, and links, at https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/findmypast-fridays-june-28th-2019-2639002540.html

Chris

Pre-order Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) for just £11.99 at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/16483. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Scottish HIES emigration records added to ScotlandsPeople

ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has added emigration records from the Highlands and Islands Emigration Society from 1852-1857. Here's the announcement from its website:

The departure of many Scottish families from the Highlands and Islands in the 1850s can be traced in fascinating records released on ScotlandsPeople in February 2019.

Almost 5,000 people who left Scotland to make a new life in Australia between 1852 and 1857 are recorded in the archive of the Highland and Island Emigration Society in National Records of Scotland.

The Society assisted would-be emigrants in taking passage on ships sailing to Australia from British ports. Their journeys to a better life were often dangerous and sometimes fatal. Among the thousands who left Scotland were the McKinnon family from Snizort on Skye and the McQueen family from St Kilda.

The HIES offered to emigrants the opportunity of a new life in Australia. This new resource offers people across the world who are interested in the Scottish diaspora the opportunity to search the enhanced database of the emigrants and to see images of the original documents. The all-new database supersedes the transcript that has been available through the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) website. The entries and images are all free to search and view.

(Source: https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-article-highland-and-island-emigration-society-records-released)


NB: The last paragraph is interesting. The SCAN website (www.scan.org.uk) is a project that is well and truly out of date on the cataloguing front, and it had been the intention of the SCAN board and partners (including the NRS) to try to replace it with a new catalogue project called Scotland Online - leaving the question of what to do with the data resources available. I stood down as a director from SCAN a couple of years ago, so am not up to date on where this project now lies, but the fact that this collection (albeit a new presentation) is being hosted on ScotlandsPeople may indicate there is finally some progress on this. Here's hoping we will see more material soon - note the name of the category on ScotlandsPeople into which the material has been deposited: Poor relief and migration records.

The emigration records can be accessed directly at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/advanced-search#{%22category%22:%22poor-relief%22} - the results returns include free to access digitised copies of the original records.

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

1950s Passenger Lists added to TheGenealogist

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist has just released over 4 million BT27 Outbound Passenger List records for the 1950s. These records join the ever expanding suite of Immigration, Emigration, Naturalisation and passenger list resources on TheGenealogist. With the release of this decade of records, researchers can discover ancestors who departed from the UK by ship to destinations across the globe.

The fully searchable BT27 records from The National Archives just released will allow researchers to:

• Locate family members making a journey together using TheGenealogist’s SmartSearch. This unique system is able to recognise family members together on the same trip. In this situation it will display a family icon which allows you to view the entire family with one click.
• Discover people sailing to the USA, Canada, India, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere in the Outgoing Passenger Lists from the United Kingdom.
• View images of the original passenger list documents compiled for the Board of Trade's Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors.
• Discover the ages, occupations and address and where the passenger intended to make their permanent residence.
• These fully indexed records allow family historians to search by name, year, country of departure, country of arrival, port of embarkation and port of destination.

Those family history researchers with ancestors who sailed from the UK in the 1950’s will welcome this fascinating new release from TheGenealogist, which adds to their current Emigration records that take you back to 1896.

See our article:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/the-1950s-passenger-lists-discover-celebrity-voyages-972/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

The 1718 migration from Ulster

From the Ulster Historical Foundation (www.ancestryireland.com):

The 1718 Migration: From Ulster to New England

The 1718 Migration: From Ulster to New England covers perhaps the most important single year in the story of the relationship between Ulster and America. The 1718 migration was not by any means the first migration of people from Ulster to America, but it is probably the first that was organised to bring groups of settlers from one definite catchment area, and importantly, these were people who wanted to continue to live together in the new land.

This publication which only costs one penny (P&P charges do apply) is now available on our bookstore - see https://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/the-1718-migration-from-ulster-to-new-england

1718 Migration Bundle

To mark the re-publication of The 1718 Migration we are offering a 1718 Migration bundle. Get Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718–1775, Robert Dinsmoor’s Scotch-Irish Poems as well as The 1718 Migration: From Ulster to New England for just £19.99

Visit https://www.booksireland.org.uk/store/all-departments/1718-migration-bundle to order your bundle.

(With thanks to the Foundation via email)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

TheGenealogist releases Outgoing UK Passenger Lists for the 1940s

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist releases Outgoing UK Passenger Lists for the 1940s decade

TheGenealogist has just released 1.4 million Passenger Records covering the 1940s. This expands our Outbound Passenger Lists to over 25 million and form part of our larger immigration and emigration collection on TheGenealogist. The new records feature passengers who sailed out of United Kingdom in the years between 1940 and 1949 these newly transcribed BT27 images are from The National Archives. The passenger lists released today will allow researchers to:

• Discover potential family members travelling together using TheGenealogist’s SmartSearch
• Find ancestors sailing to Africa, Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and other destinations
• View images of the original passenger list documents
• See the ages, last address and intended permanent residence
• Fully indexed records allow family historians to search by name, year, country of departure, country of arrival, port of embarkation and port of destination

Researchers who had ancestors that travelled abroad from Britain in the 1940’s will find these records a fascinating addition to the vast collection of records on TheGenealogist.

Read our article on the new records here: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/1940s-passenger-lists-reveal-evacuated-children-war-brides-and-service-personel-crossing-the-atlantic-758/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

FIBIS adds Bombay arrival and departures notices from 1846

The Families in British India Society (https://www.fibis.org) has added arrival and departure notices for the year 1846 for Bombay, as sourced from the Bombay Times. This now brings the years available to 1846-1851.

To search and view the notices, visit https://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=1145&s_id=108

(With thanks to Valmay Young)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Over 5 Million U.S. passenger records released on TheGenealogist

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

For immediate release:

Over 5 Million U.S. records released 

TheGenealogist has added over 5 Million passenger records to their US records, featuring people that migrated to the USA between 1834 to 1900. The mass movement of people from one country to another isn’t a new thing. The motivation can be economic, political upheaval or religious persecution.

The data covers:

● 3,956,780 German passengers who arrived in the United States between 1850 and 1897
● 836,122 Italians immigrating into the USA between 1855 - 1900
● 522,638 Russians who emigrated to America from 1834 to 1897

Most were drawn to the U.S.A by the attractions of land and religious freedom, after being forced to leave Europe by shortages of land and religious or political oppression.

This release joins the millions of US census, death records, trade directories, wills and poll books already available on TheGenealogist.

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Mayflower 400 celebrations economic potential

There's a big US/UK aniversary coming up in 2020, which the genealogical community in England may be interested in:

New research commissioned by MAYFLOWER 400 reveals STRONG economic potential PRESENTED BY anniversary IN 2020

Survey highlights:
· Respondents identified as ‘Hot Prospects to visit in 2020’ equates to over 13.75 million US citizens
· Nearly 5,000 US adult citizens and members of New England Historic Genealogical Society and General Society of Mayflower Descendants surveyed
· US general panel favoured independent travel while nearly as many society member respondents preferred a package holiday
· 90% of Hot Prospects interested in attending historical talks and lectures as part of their Mayflower trip

Monday 11th December 2017, London: On behalf of Mayflower 400, the official national and international visitor programme formed to lead the 400th anniversary commemorations in 2020, Destination Plymouth has commissioned research in the United States by specialist research agency, Habit5, to evaluate the commercial and investment potential of this iconic anniversary.

Of over 25 million descendants worldwide from the 102 passengers and crew on board the Mayflower ship, over 10 million are US citizens. It is estimated the national Mayflower programme will drive growth in the UK visitor economy of over 1.4 million visitors during the commemoration year with an economic impact in excess of £76 million in turn creating around 2,000 jobs. This research was therefore commissioned as a benchmark study to be shared with stakeholders and businesses in England and the Netherlands to engage them to capitalise on incremental inbound tourist visits from the US associated with, or inspired by, Mayflower 400 and maximise opportunities the anniversary will generate during this crucial countdown period to 2020.

The aim of Habit5’s study was to determine the potential visitor market size and profile of visitors, and motivations for visits during, and as a result of, the Mayflower anniversary. Furthermore, the study sought to understand current awareness of the 400th anniversary, as well as provide insights on the appropriate messaging to target US visitors, establish the US market’s propensity to visit England and/or the Netherlands for the Mayflower 400th commemorations and, if so, explore the respondents’ intended length of stay and type of travel.

Habit5 logged 4,865 completed surveys by a US general panel which consisted of US adult citizens who have lived in the US for at least 12 months and taken an international holiday within the past three years, and the society members panel which consisted of members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

The survey found that over half of all respondents had visited England in the past for leisure purposes highlighting the destination’s need to diversify tourism products and offer new attractions and experiences, beyond the obvious highlights of a first time visit, to entice US travellers to return for the commemorations.

Surprisingly, 80% of respondents in the US general panel were not aware of the forthcoming 400th Mayflower anniversary, however, following the anniversary being highlighted to respondents during the survey, 12% of the US panel population were ‘Very Likely’ Hot Prospects to visit England in 2020 with a further 36% classified as ‘Likely’ Warm Prospects. As a result, of the three sample groups surveyed, those identified as Hot Prospects to visit in 2020 equated to over 13.75 million US citizens. These results indicate an element of education around the anniversary should therefore be factored in by destinations and the trade when developing and marketing Mayflower 400 tourism products.

In terms of where they would like to visit, half of the Hot Prospects indicated they would wish to make a specific visit to Plymouth, Leiden, Boston and Southampton. Meanwhile, Plymouth ranked second after London for locations where the Hot Prospects would like to stay during the commemorations, followed by Leiden, Amsterdam, Boston and Southampton.

Some interesting differences emerged between the two panel groups; nearly half of the respondents on the US general panel would plan to travel independently to England in 2020 while nearly as many society member respondents would favour a package holiday. Furthermore, when it came to the length of stay, nearly half of the predominantly full time employed US general panel sample would plan a 4-7 night stay, whereas the society members (the majority of whom are retired) would favour an 8-10 night stay reflecting their commitment to experiencing a more immersive Mayflower holiday experience.

Over 90% of respondents in each segment were interested in attending historical talks or lectures while ‘historical group websites’ were a strongly favoured source of information, followed by tourism board websites and TripAdvisor. Furthermore 70% of Hot Prospects indicated an interest in itineraries that included some elements of walking on their trip.

Amanda Lumley, Executive Director of Destination Plymouth said, “The research evidences the significant potential the Mayflower 400th anniversary presents to the UKs visitor economy. We encourage the travel trade in the UK, US and Dutch markets to capitalise on this opportunity in order to generate valuable tourism business through driving visitors to follow in the footsteps of the pilgrims and experience the Mayflower 400 compact partner destinations first hand”.

For more information on the Mayflower 400 programme please visit: www.mayflower400uk.org

-Ends-

Note to editors:

2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower voyage, one of the most influential journeys in global history and a defining moment in the shared history of Britain, the US, the Native American Nation and the Netherlands.

The anniversary provides a special opportunity to inspire people across our nations with the stories of that iconic voyage, exploring themes of migration, tolerance, freedom and democracy that have such contemporary relevance.

An exciting national and international programme, the Mayflower 400 commemorations will highlight the significance of the special relationship between our nations; transform communities, provide cultural, business and visitor links; explore the different sides of the story; and celebrate the people and places of this epic pioneering tale.

The 11 UK Mayflower 400 Compact partner destinations within the Mayflower 400 programme are:
· Austerfield, Doncaster
· Boston, Lincolnshire
· Dartmouth, Devon
· Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
· Harwich, Essex
· Immingham, Lincolnshire
· Plymouth, Devon
· Scrooby & Babworth, Nottinghamshire
· Southwark, London
· Southampton, Hampshire
· Worcestershire

For further press information and images please contact:
Daniela Resenterra / Josie Self / Annabel Jenkins
020 7593 1771 / 1758 / 1770
danielar@hillsalfour.com / josies@hillsbalfour.com / annabelj@hillsbalfour.com

Chris

Needing a Christmas present for a family history obsessed love one (or for yourself)?! For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

TheGenealogist adds 1920s UK passenger lists

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

New Passenger Lists go online for the 1920s era

TheGenealogist has just released four and a half million BT27 records for the 1920s. These Outbound Passenger Lists are part of the growing immigration and emigration record sets on TheGenealogist and contain the historical records of passengers who departed by sea from U.K. ports in the years between 1920 and 1929.

With the addition of this decade of records, the already strong Immigration, Emigration, Naturalisation and passenger list resources on TheGenealogist have been significantly expanded.

The fully searchable records released today will allow researchers to:

● Identify potential family members travelling together with SmartSearch. TheGenealogist’s unique system can recognise family members together on the same voyage. In this case it will display a family icon which allows you to view the entire family with one click.

● Find people travelling to America, Canada, India, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere in the Passenger lists of people leaving from the United Kingdom by sea.

● See images of the original documents which were kept by the Board of Trade's Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors.

● Discover the ages, last address and where the passenger intended to make their permanent residence.

● These fully indexed records enable family historians to search by name, year, country of departure, country of arrival, port of embarkation and port of destination.


Those with ancestors who travelled out of Britain will welcome this fascinating new release from TheGenealogist that adds to their Immigration and Emigration records which already includes passenger lists from as far back as 1896 and the valuable Naturalisation and Denization records.

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course commences Sept 11th 2017 - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.
For details on my Scottish & Irish genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.
For my genealogy research service, please visit http://www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk.

FindmyPast adds Irish police records and Scottish nonconformist indexes

The latest additions to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.com):

Ireland, Royal Irish Constabulary Service Records 1816-1922

Royal Irish Constabulary Service Records 1816-1922 contains over 486,000 records released in association with the National Archives. The collection will allow you to uncover intimate details of your ancestor's career with the R.I.C and includes a plethora of records related to the running and administration of the organisation including general registers, disbandment registers, nominal returns, and more. You can also find records of Royal Irish Constabulary clerical staff.

Each result includes an image of the original document and a transcript. The nature of the information recorded will vary significantly depending on the subject and type of the original document. A full list of the various record types included in the collection can be found at the bottom of the search page.


Ireland, Royal Irish Constabulary History & Directories

Over 43,000 records have been added to our Royal Irish Constabulary History & Directories collection. The collection allows you to explore a variety of publications printed between 1840 and 1921 that will provide further insight into the administration and daily operations of the police force as well as the history of the organisation.


New South Wales Passenger Lists

New South Wales Passenger Lists contains over 8.5 million records. This collection includes records of both assisted and unassisted passengers. The assisted passenger lists cover 1828 to 1896 and the unassisted passenger lists span the years 1826 to 1900. Assisted passengers refers to those who received monetary assistance from another party or agency/government for their passage. There were several assisted immigration schemes set up for this purpose in the hopes of encouraging migration and settlement in Australia.


Scotland Non-Old Parish Registers Vital Records 1647-1875

Scotland Non-Old Parish Registers Vital Records 1647-1875 is a collection of registers created by churches outside of the established church. It contains over 12,000 transcripts of births, marriages, and deaths and is a useful alternative to the Church of Scotland's old parish records.

Non-old parish registers are distinctively different from the Church of Scotland's old parish records. The original records are held by the National Records of Scotland and have been diligently transcribed by Graham and Emma Maxwell. The majority of records span from 1684 until 1861 and cover seven Scottish counties.

For further information and direct links to the collections visit https://blog.findmypast.com/findmypast-friday-december-2nd-2016-2122423265.html

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

What TheGenealogist has in store for 2017

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

What TheGenealogist has in store for 2017

2017 is going to see millions of new records added to TheGenealogist across a wide variety of collections.

New Data Sets

We are adding millions of new and unique Parish Records and Bishops’ Transcripts are being added for many more counties.

A new and unique record set covering detailed records of our ancestors houses, which will be searchable by name, address and area, with high resolution maps showing the property.

Our ongoing project with The National Archives is set to release yet more detailed Colour County and Tithe Maps with tags to show where your ancestors lived.

We are releasing a 1921 census substitute, using a wide variety of records including Trade and Residential Directories of the time.

New decades of BT27 Passenger Lists and Emigration Records will become available.

Our International Headstone Project will be expanded with more Commonwealth Cemeteries added.

More worldwide War Memorials added to our comprehensive database.

Following on from our release of over 230 million U.S. records in 2016, we will be launching more U.S. records in 2017.

New & Improved Census Images

Thanks to new technology and new Silver Halide Film provided by The National Archives, we have now been able to re-scan the 1891 census with improved resolution and quality. This combination of improved readability and new transcripts will help locate your ancestors and view the relevant images with a superior grayscale format. Our “Deep Zoom” images have over 5 times the resolution of previous images. They will be lightening fast to view thanks to the technology used in our new image interface. We will launch these new images in early 2017.

Look out for these exciting new developments and more in 2017 at TheGenealogist.co.uk

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Beginner's Guide to British and Irish Genealogy, A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Free lunchtime talks at National Library of Ireland

The following free luchtime talks will be given at the Dublin based National Library of Ireland (www.nli.ie) from July 26th 2016:

Sinead McCoole
Mná - 25 years of searching - lessons & leads
Date: July 26th Time: 1.00pm

Dermot Bolger
A reading from his new novel - The Lonely Sea and Sky, followed by a talk.
Date: July 28th Time 1.00pm

Paul McCotter
Territory, maps and genealogy
Date: August 2nd Time: 1.00pm

Fiona Fitzsimons
Explorations in Irish genealogy.
Date: August 4th Time: 1.00pm

Liam Breen / Cormac Leonard (interpreter)
Deaf history in Cabra
Date: August 9th Time: 1.00pm

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
"The selkie’s skin" : How Irish oral traditions preserve family and local history
Date: August 11th Time: 1:00PM

Eleanor Fitzsimons
Wilde’s women: How Oscar Widle was shaped by the women in his life.
Date: August 16th Time: 1.00PM

Damien Shiels
The Forgotten Irish: Revealing the voices of Irish 19th Century Emigrants
Date: August 18th Time: 1.00PM

Ambassador O’Malley
Irish American identity: How do we sustain the people to people links between Ireland and the United States?
Date: August 23rd Time: 1.00PM

Aoife O’ Connor
Seen ? Heard ? Records of children in Nineteenth Century Ireland
Date: August 25th Time: 1.00PM

Clodagh Tait
"The Simple annals of my parish poor": stories from parish registers
Date: August 30th Time: 1.00PM

Nora White
Ogham Stones: Our earliest genealogical sources
Date: September 1st Time: 1.00PM

Joe Buggy
Ten free websites for U.S. genealogy research.
Date: Sept 6th Time: 1.00PM

Dan Bradley
Adventures in ancient DNA: Who were the first Irish?
Date: September 8th Time: 1:00pm

(With thanks to the Irish Family History Centre at https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/article/free-lunch-time-talks-in-the-national-library-of-ireland-2016)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Times of India 1900 arrival and departure notices on FIBIS

From the Families in British India Society (www.fibis.org):

Times of India arrival and departure notices 1900 have been extracted from the Times of India newspapers and uploaded to the FIBIS database website.

This data consists of 7,344 arrivals, 7,797 departures, a total of 15,531 new entries!

Our thanks go to David Edge and his wonderful team of volunteers!

The data is available at http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=985 - additional entries already there date back to 1868.

(With thanks to Valmay Young)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

The Genealogist adds UK emigration records from 1896-1909

From The Genealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) records platform:

New Passenger lists go online with unique search facilities

TheGenealogist has just released five million Emigration BT27 records as part of their growing immigration and emigration record set. Uniquely TheGenealogist allows you to track transmigration of people across countries routing through British ports on their way to America. TheGenealogist is the only website with the facility to discover families travelling together on the same voyage using our SmartSearch technology.

The new records contain the historical records of passengers who departed by sea from Britain in the years between 1896 and 1909. These new records significantly boosts the already strong Immigration, Emigration, Naturalisation and passenger list resources on TheGenealogist.

TheGenealogist has further revealed that these records will be shortly followed by the release of many more unique migration records.

The searchable records released today will allow researchers to

* Find people using British shipping lines and travelling to places such as America, Canada, India, New Zealand and Australia in the Passenger lists of people leaving from, or passing through the United Kingdom, by sea which were kept by the Board of Trade's Commercial and Statistical Department and its successors.

* The Homestead Act of 1862 in America gave free land to settlers who developed it for at least five years, and became a particular magnet for Norwegians, Danes, and Swedes, who arrived in their millions. To reach America, it was necessary to travel initially to England in order to then board one of the large transatlantic passenger ships and this preliminary journey has been recorded for many transmigrant passengers within the BT27 records. For the first time these can be easily found using the unique transmigration button.

* SmartSearch identifies potential family members travelling together. When our system recognises groups of people on the same voyage as a potential family it displays a family icon. This then allows you to easily view the family.

* These fully indexed records enable family historians to search by name, port of embarkation, port of destination, country of departure, country arrival and nationality.

This release adds to TheGenealogist’s Immigration and Emigration records that already include the useful Naturalisation and Denization records.

Those with ancestors who travelled out of Britain will welcome this fascinating new release from TheGenealogist that reveal the details of the coming and going of passengers and is a precursor of a set of unique records joining the collection shortly.

Nigel Bayley, MD of TheGenealogist said: “We intend to make researching migrating ancestors easier with our new smarter interfaces and adding more records covering a growing range of countries.”

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Review - Arrivals in Australia from 1788, by Kerry Farmer

It's been three months since the Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au) run genealogy cruise that I worked on as a speaker (see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/unlock-past-baltic-genealogy-cruise_94.html), and one thing I have utterly failed in so far since my return is to upload some reviews of some of the Unlock the Past guide books that fellow genies have written and published through the company. I picked up a few, and so I really should review them before anyone starts thinking of second editions! Without further ado then, here comes the first...

Arrivals in Australia from 1788, by Kerry Farmer
Australia - AU$32.00 Inc GST www.gould.com.au/Arrivals-in-Australia-from-1788-p/utp0292.htm
Canada - Can$32 http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/other-countries/resources/2590292.htm
UK - £16 www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Arrivals-in-Australia-from-1788-UTP0292.html#SID=876

I attended some of Kerry's talks on a previous cruise last year, and she is definitely amongst my fave top ten genies as speakers - the impression I got was that what she doesn't know about the subjects she covers just isn't worth knowing! In this chunky guide book Kerry starts in the first chapter by providing a comprehensive introduction to depict the methods by which folk migrated to Australia - convicts are just a mere part of the story, with assisted passage an equally popular method of travel, not to mention those travelling for work, not least the military. She also discusses records of naturalisation, passports (compulsory from 1920 for all Ozzies to travel), and other resources, including records of births at sea en route down under. The next three chapters then focus specifically on the tales of convicts, ships' crew members and those in military service, before chapters 5 to 11 look at the individual colonies, and chapter 12 the Commonwealth of Australia. These chapters follow a similar structure, with discussion on immigration history, ships list, websites for research, and more.

A glossary is then followed by four appendices, two of which are particular fun, namely an Immigrants Guide transcribed from 1853 (first published in a Liverpool newspaper), detailing the clothes that immigrants should pack, and a copy of the Passengers Act of 1855, detailing how folk should be detailed aboard ship when sailing to their new lives. The remaining appendices provide a list of useful books and websites for research.

Kerry's book is fair size for a UTP guide book at 140 pages long, and is a wonderfully useful go to illustrated guide, one that I know will be of immense use in years to come. It has some nice touches, such as a graphic on page 15 depicting when each of the Australian colonies was founded - that's probably wee buns on the knowledge stakes to those based down under, but a Godsend for johnny foreigners like me still trying to work out which bit of Australia goes where and when! Thoroughly recommended.

Prices quoted and links above are to the print editions of the book available from suppliers in Australia, Canada and here in the UK. Ebook editions are also available via Gen-eBooks at www.gen-ebooks.com.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Free weekend access to Ancestry's immigration records

From Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk), free access to its immigration/emigration records:

FREE ACCESS WEEKEND 2‑4 OCTOBER*

Explore who you really are with free access

Have you wondered how your family traveled the world? We're offering free access to all our migration records for 3 days so you can go on a voyage of discovery, explore your global story and challenge who you think you are.

*Access to the records in the featured collections will be free until 4 October, 2015 at 23:59 BST. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry.co.uk paid membership. To see a full list of the records in the featured collections please click here.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Ancestry's New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 database updated

Ancestry has a collection on its site that has just been announced as having been updated, but which I had not twigged was there at all. Entitled New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, it includes records from Castle Garden (1855 to 1890), Ellis Island (1892 to 1954), and other immigrant processing stations used through the years.

I have no idea what the update is, but it seems a good one to flag up, as up to now I have accessed the same records from other dedicated platforms. You can access the database at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=7488.

Information contained in the index includes:

Given name
Surname
Age
Gender
Arrival date
Port of arrival
Port of departure
Ship name

Full source details are available via the link.

Chris

The latest British GENES podcast is available at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/podcasts.html. For details on my latest book Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, and my other genealogy guide books, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

Several new releases on Ancestry

Ancestry's been a bit busy - the following may be of use for your ancestors in Norfolk, or in various countries across the world:

• U.S., Headstone and Interment Records for U.S. Military Cemeteries on Foreign Soil, 1942-1949
• Jamaica, Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, 1664-1879
• England, Norfolk Non-conformist Records, 1613-1901
• Canada, South African War Land Grants, 1908-1910
• New South Wales, Australia, Passengers Arriving at Port Phillip

Full details via http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/reccol/default

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And please consider purchasing the great new version of Caledonia by The Libations at 79p via www.caledonia2014.com - all profits go to help fund Scottish foodbanks

Free access to Ancestry's Australian immigration records

Ancestry down under (www.ancestry.com.au) is temporarily offering free access to its immigration collections:

DISCOVER YOUR STORY NOW!
Discover the story behind your family’s journey to Australia with FREE access to all our Australian Immigration records until Monday 21st April. Featuring 3.5 million new records that include the Ten Pound Poms, you can search all Australian immigration from 1780 right up to 1963 for FREE during the Easter long weekend.

Access the collections via www.ancestry.com.au/cs/au/immigration2014?o_xid=59831&o_lid=59831&o_sch=Newspaper

Chris

Time to find your inner Irish...! All the best online Irish genealogy resources can be found through my book Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet - in print and ebook formats. "Very useful, makes me wish I was Irish!" - Saint Patrick, patron saint.

Irish Gleanings page updated

A note from Sheila at the Irish Gleanings project:

This month, I have added 800 extracts of names, dates and locations from correspondence stored in the records of the US Consulates located at the US National Archives, College Park, Maryland.

The site is at http://sites.google.com/site/irishgleanings/

These records exist for only a small number of Irish people and only for limited years, but if your person is there it could be a piece of gold.

Use the search function of the web browser to locate names and places. If you don't find your ancestor, search for their brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or cousins.

Hope this helps your search.
Regards,
Sheila

(With thanks to Sheila)

Chris

My wife Claire is planning to swim from the Scottish island of Cumbrae to the town of Largs on September 14th to raise money for local charity Gillian's Saltire Appeal, providing respite for families affected by cancer (Claire's mum and sister in Ireland have previously come through cancer, whilst my mum, based in England, currently has bladder cancer). Her Just Giving sponsorship page, with further details, is at http://www.justgiving.com/Claire-Paton1. If you can help to sponsor her, even by a wee amount, we'd be very grateful - many thanks!