The National Library of Ireland has reopened itself to the possibility of digitising its Roman Catholic parish register holdings, albeit through a method that may now involve a payment system to access. Today's Irish Times is reporting that the institution is seeking a partner to realise the project, with the possibility that this may be a commercial firm such as Brightsolid or Ancestry.
The story is online at www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0924/1224324323188.html
UPDATE: Another angle on this story is in the same paper - see www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/0924/1224324323147.html (with thanks to @IrelandXO on Twitter)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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, 24 September 2012
Griffith's Valuation on The Genealogist
The Genealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) has added Griffith's Valuation to its site, the records of the primary valuation for rates purposes by Sir Richard Griffith of properties across Ireland between 1848 and 1864. From the latest company newsletter:
Griffith's Valuation records provide a substitute for the lost census records for Ireland as it lists every householder in Ireland at the time it was taken. Griffith's Valuation was carried out between 1848 and 1864 and provides records on where people lived and who owned property in Ireland. It is searchable by forename and surname with phonetic matching and wildcards in combination with County and Barony and lists over 2.6 million individuals.
The information given includes County, Barony, Poor Law Union then divided into electoral divisions, parishes and townlands, and OS map sheet number with link to view available maps. This is the first time that Griffith’s Valuation has been made available with our Phonetic matching, Nicknames, Wildcards and OS Maps
It's not immediately obvious where it is on the site, but you'll find it in the British and International Records menu, as an option on the Irish Records page. The site does indeed link to corresponding OS maps, but to find them you need to do your search and then click on the icon that says View Full Transcriptions Details.
Unfortunately the phonetic matching failed on the very first search I made. One of my wife's Tipperary based ancestors, Patrick Giles, is recorded on Griffiths as Patrick Jyles. I searched with Patrick Jyles and found him instantly, but when I searched with Patrick Giles it completely missed him. I tried Jiles also for good measure, but still no luck. On a more positive note, when I tried the search with a wild card, using Patrick *les as the term and the right county (Tipperary, South Riding), it did find him. On another plus note, the transcriptions are very good, and crucially also include the publication date (each place was only enumerated once between 1848 and 1864, so useful to know exactly when the relevant record was published!). It is a pity though that the returns are not searchable by townland or parish (which can be done using the keyword field on FindmyPast.ie), only by county and barony.
The maps are in black and white, and so are not quite as easy to make out as the colour based equivalents on the free to access Ask About Ireland website - and there is no user guide to explain how to convert the findings of the first column on the returns to help you locate a property on the map (see Ask About Ireland's guide at http://askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/understanding-the-valuati/). In fact, as far as I can see, there is absolutely no user guide even explaining what the records are or what the returns mean, which would certainly be desirable considering how important the records are as a census substitute for Ireland. Also with the maps, on the above example with Patrick Jyles, I was in fact offered four maps to view on the transcripts page - two under the Place section, and two more under the Town section. With the latter two I had "Error: Image Missing" messages appear.
In summary - in my opinion the transcripts are better laid out on The Genealogist than on both FindmyPast.ie and Ask About Ireland. Ask About Ireland's maps are still to be beaten, but at least The Genealogist does make an offering here, unlike FindmyPast.ie. The keyword option on FindmyPast.ie will allow searches at a more localised level. As with FindmyPast.ie, the images can be saved as PDF files, not the case on Ask About Ireland (unless you 'Print to PDF' using the print icon there, if your computer allows that), and the maps on The Genealogist can at least be saved in PDF format also - you need to 'Print Screen' on Ask About Ireland and save the image there using a paint programme.
The Genealogist has also now completed its fully searchable birth indexes for England and Wales from 1837-2005, and has now added unredacted images for the 1911 census for the two countries. The full newsletter is available at www.GenealogySupplies.com/email_news.htm.
(With thanks to The Genealogist)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
Griffith's Valuation records provide a substitute for the lost census records for Ireland as it lists every householder in Ireland at the time it was taken. Griffith's Valuation was carried out between 1848 and 1864 and provides records on where people lived and who owned property in Ireland. It is searchable by forename and surname with phonetic matching and wildcards in combination with County and Barony and lists over 2.6 million individuals.
The information given includes County, Barony, Poor Law Union then divided into electoral divisions, parishes and townlands, and OS map sheet number with link to view available maps. This is the first time that Griffith’s Valuation has been made available with our Phonetic matching, Nicknames, Wildcards and OS Maps
It's not immediately obvious where it is on the site, but you'll find it in the British and International Records menu, as an option on the Irish Records page. The site does indeed link to corresponding OS maps, but to find them you need to do your search and then click on the icon that says View Full Transcriptions Details.
Unfortunately the phonetic matching failed on the very first search I made. One of my wife's Tipperary based ancestors, Patrick Giles, is recorded on Griffiths as Patrick Jyles. I searched with Patrick Jyles and found him instantly, but when I searched with Patrick Giles it completely missed him. I tried Jiles also for good measure, but still no luck. On a more positive note, when I tried the search with a wild card, using Patrick *les as the term and the right county (Tipperary, South Riding), it did find him. On another plus note, the transcriptions are very good, and crucially also include the publication date (each place was only enumerated once between 1848 and 1864, so useful to know exactly when the relevant record was published!). It is a pity though that the returns are not searchable by townland or parish (which can be done using the keyword field on FindmyPast.ie), only by county and barony.
The maps are in black and white, and so are not quite as easy to make out as the colour based equivalents on the free to access Ask About Ireland website - and there is no user guide to explain how to convert the findings of the first column on the returns to help you locate a property on the map (see Ask About Ireland's guide at http://askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/understanding-the-valuati/). In fact, as far as I can see, there is absolutely no user guide even explaining what the records are or what the returns mean, which would certainly be desirable considering how important the records are as a census substitute for Ireland. Also with the maps, on the above example with Patrick Jyles, I was in fact offered four maps to view on the transcripts page - two under the Place section, and two more under the Town section. With the latter two I had "Error: Image Missing" messages appear.
In summary - in my opinion the transcripts are better laid out on The Genealogist than on both FindmyPast.ie and Ask About Ireland. Ask About Ireland's maps are still to be beaten, but at least The Genealogist does make an offering here, unlike FindmyPast.ie. The keyword option on FindmyPast.ie will allow searches at a more localised level. As with FindmyPast.ie, the images can be saved as PDF files, not the case on Ask About Ireland (unless you 'Print to PDF' using the print icon there, if your computer allows that), and the maps on The Genealogist can at least be saved in PDF format also - you need to 'Print Screen' on Ask About Ireland and save the image there using a paint programme.
The Genealogist has also now completed its fully searchable birth indexes for England and Wales from 1837-2005, and has now added unredacted images for the 1911 census for the two countries. The full newsletter is available at www.GenealogySupplies.com/email_news.htm.
(With thanks to The Genealogist)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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, 23 September 2012
Manx family history exhibition
Just picked up on a brief announcement on the IsleofMan.com website, concerning a family history exhibition entitled Aspects of the Past running in Douglas today, at the St. John's Ambulance Headquarters. The story at www.isleofman.com/News/article.aspx?article=47821 is accompanied by a very brief audio clip from one of the society's members on Manx Radio (click on Clip 1 at the bottom of the article).
For more on the society visit www.iomfhs.im
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 more on the society visit www.iomfhs.im
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
Missed first anniversary!
I've been that busy in the last couple of weeks that I completely failed to pick up on the first anniversary of British GENES, which started on September 13th 2011. In truth, it's only the anniversary of the present incarnation of my blog, which started in late 2006 as Scottish GENES - but even so! Since then, the numbers reading have increased steadily, with last Friday seeing the highest number of daily hits yet on British GENES at 1830. I can't update on whether that has been passed yet, as Feedburner is currently not registering hits for some reason (very temporamental!). Since it started last year, however, the site has had just over 248,000 hits, but that doesn't include the reading habits of almost 600 daily subscribers by email etc, so to be honest I really don't have much of a clue how many read it - suffice to say that the numbers are steadily on the up!
If you would like to obtain a daily feed by email or to be alerted about each post by RSS feed, simply register via the options to the left of this page.
If you've been following the blog, thanks for sticking with it, and please do spread the word - not just to let those know about the service, which is free to access, but also to pass on news of anything happening in your area that you might like to have publicised.
One final appeal - I could really do with some more tip offs on things happening in Wales, it seems an awfully quiet part of the world online!
Onwards and upwards... :)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
If you would like to obtain a daily feed by email or to be alerted about each post by RSS feed, simply register via the options to the left of this page.
If you've been following the blog, thanks for sticking with it, and please do spread the word - not just to let those know about the service, which is free to access, but also to pass on news of anything happening in your area that you might like to have publicised.
One final appeal - I could really do with some more tip offs on things happening in Wales, it seems an awfully quiet part of the world online!
Onwards and upwards... :)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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, 22 September 2012
Scottish Genealogy Network - September meeting
The next meeting of the Scottish Genealogy Network will take place at the Cumberland Bar in Edinburgh on Saturday 29th September at 2pm. If you are a professional genealogist, archivist, family history tutor or if you work in the Scottish genealogy scene in any other capacity, feel free to come along to catch up with like-minded professionals to figure out what is currently going on in our world - there's no fees, just a chance for a gab and pint!
For more on the network, read the following blog posts from members:
Kirsty Wilkinson
http://professionaldescendant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-scottish-genealogy-network.html
Carolyn McNicholl
http://scotgen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/professional-genealogists-have-gift-of_7.html
Yours truly
http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-scottish-genealogy-network.html
http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/scottish-genealogy-network-visit-to.html
Hopefully see you there! (I will be there, but later in the afternoon following a prior commitment!)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 more on the network, read the following blog posts from members:
Kirsty Wilkinson
http://professionaldescendant.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-scottish-genealogy-network.html
Carolyn McNicholl
http://scotgen.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/professional-genealogists-have-gift-of_7.html
Yours truly
http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/the-scottish-genealogy-network.html
http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/scottish-genealogy-network-visit-to.html
Hopefully see you there! (I will be there, but later in the afternoon following a prior commitment!)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
Military Research UK launches "The Runner" newsletter
The first ever Military Research UK newsletter is now available online at
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Very-First-Newsletter-from-Military-Research-UK-.html?soid=1110983604047&aid=KMJgCye5cYo. Entitled The Runner, the first edition includes a feature on researching RAF ancestry and news of a three day tribute in Britain to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War in 2014.
(With thanks to Scott Addington @military_search on Twitter)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 Scott Addington @military_search on Twitter)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 Zealand wills update on FamilySearch
FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org) has added another 384,000 images from wills to its New Zealand, Probate Records, 1878-1960 collection, taking the total now to 743,000 images. If your ancestor travelled down under, this will be well worth visiting.
(With thanks to Genealogy in Time)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 Genealogy in Time)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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, 21 September 2012
Mac tool for World Archives Project
Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) now has a Mac based keying tool for those who wish to take part in transcribing for its World Archives Project. The project blog has further details at http://blogs.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject/?p=1536. The Mac tool is available at http://community.ancestry.com/wap/download_mac.aspx
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
Hebrides People update
I've just received a slightly belated press release about the Hebrides People website (www.hebridespeople.com) launch earlier this year, but it will certainly be of interest to those seeking ancestral connections to the Western Isles:
It’s official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
John Randall, former Registrar General and Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch of HebridesPeople.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
(With thanks to Chris and Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 official! After a trial period of a few weeks, the new emigrant website www.hebridespeople.com was formally opened on Friday 20th June 2012 at Seallam! Visitor Centre in Northton, Isle of Harris, by George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
John Randall, former Registrar General and Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch of HebridesPeople.
As well as much other information on the Outer Hebrides and their history, the website now includes a searchable database with information on over 22,000 emigrants who left the Outer Hebrides between 1780 and 1920.
The information is drawn from the records gathered over fifty and more years by Bill Lawson, who is internationally known as the genealogist of the Outer Hebrides area. In addition to his comprehensive database of all island families, he has researched the census and other records in the main emigration areas, to identify families there of island origins.
For emigrants before the 1820s, the database information is often incomplete, reflecting the limitations of the source material at that period, but after 1820 it generally has information on spouse, parents, village of origin in the Outer Hebrides, destination overseas, date of emigration (often approximate) and on occasion the name of the emigration ship. There are also cases where it is known that families left the Outer Hebrides, but their destination is not currently known – though since new information is constantly becoming available, fuller details may be available in the next version of the database!
Although the database is primarily aimed at the overseas descendants seeking to find their family’s origin, it will also be helpful for UK researchers trying to find where emigrant relatives settled.
The website works on the system of purchasing and using credits, which is similar to that which will already be familiar to researchers on the scotlandspeople web-site. All income from the site goes to the maintenance of the resource and further development of the site, which it is hoped will eventually provide information on a quarter of a million persons from all over the Outer Hebrides!
Image: John Randall, Chairman of Northton Heritage Trust, Bill Lawson, Genealogist, George MacKenzie, Registrar General and Keeper of the Records of Scotland at the launch
(With thanks to Chris and Bill Lawson)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
Addressing History extends coverage to Aberdeen and Glasgow
The Addressing History website at http://addressinghistory.edina.ac.uk has now moved beyond its previous target area of Edinburgh to incorporate Glasgow and Aberdeen, and has added several more Post Office Directories (1881 and 1891 for each city). The website essentially connects period maps which have been geo-referenced to a modern Google map, with data integrated also from the post office directories, allowing you to track an area across time and see who was there and how the place changed. The original launch of the site was covered on my Scottish GENES blog in November 2010 at http://scottishancestry.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/addressing-history-launch-report.html
For more on the update to the site visit the project's own dedicated blog at http://addressinghistory.blogs.edina.ac.uk/2012/09/21/addressinghistory-update/
To Nicola and the team - nice one, and keep it coming! :)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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 more on the update to the site visit the project's own dedicated blog at http://addressinghistory.blogs.edina.ac.uk/2012/09/21/addressinghistory-update/
To Nicola and the team - nice one, and keep it coming! :)
Chris
Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
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)
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