August 12th, 2010
Linda Elliott
Comments (2)
Ancestry.co.uk has announced a new addition to their databases
The latest collection on our site is the single most important resource for tracing your ancestors’ wills – and you won’t find it anywhere else online. As well as telling you where and when your ancestors died – and revealing the value of the estate they left – the National Probate Calendar, provides a vital link to wills and probate records created in England and Wales between 1861 and 1941. Find an ancestor in this collection of over 6 million names, and it’s far easier to get a copy of their last testament from the Principal Probate Registry, with all the extra detail that provides.
This is the first time the Calendar has been made available online. Previously, the only way to use it was to visit your nearest district probate registry and comb through the pages manually. Our digitised collection lets you search for a particular name, and by the date and place where probate was granted, so locating your ancestors is a simple process.
This is of great importance to family historians as this calendar hasn’t been available online before. The indexes given quite a bit of information without having to buy the actual will and if you want to purchase the will then this makes it very easy to do.
http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/offers/uk/learn/trial.aspx?cj=1&o_xid=0003300142&o_lid=0003300142
July 26th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Ancestry.co.uk has just added the following records to their collection, great news for those with Scottish ancestors.
1) The 1766 and 1773 Surveys of Inhabitants of Perth
2) The Register of Deeds for Perth 1566-1811
3) Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae 1560 – 1866
4) The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland 1306-1651
5) The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland 1545-1632
6)1802 Militia Act Survey
7)Perthshire school registers collections.
www.ancestry.co.uk
Scotland is not my area of expertise so I can highly recommend you go to Chris Paton’s blog at
http://scottishancestry.blogspot.com/
July 26th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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On the London Ancestors site a series of good county maps showing administrative boundaries. Genealogists can never have too many maps!!
http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/maps-england.htm
July 26th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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A rather good Army Museum website, the front page states…….
The museum, situated within two towers of Caernarfon Castle, tells the exciting story of over 300 years of our history using film, sound, models and exhibits.
You can learn how the Regiment won 14 Victoria Crosses and hear the words of famous writers who served with the Royal Welch during the First World War, such as Siegfried Sassoon, Robert Graves, David Jones, Frank Richards and Hedd Wyn. You will also see what life was like for ordinary soldiers and their families and discover the unique traditions of Wales’s oldest infantry Regiment. Since its formation in 1689, the Royal Welch has served throughout the world. Its history stretches back to the campaigns of William III, and includes the eighteenth century campaigns of Marlborough, the American War of Independence, the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France and the Crimean War. In more recent times, the Regiment has seen action in the Boer War, China, First and Second World Wars and numerous postwar peacekeeping missions including Bosnia 1995.
http://www.rwfmuseum.org.uk/
July 26th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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The Family Search Pilot Site now offers the India Office records for
Births & Baptism 1786 – 1947
Marriages 1792 –1948
Deaths & Burials 1719 –1948
I put in a search for my Pottinger family and came up with quite a bit of information. Many of our ancestors will have ventured out in search of the adventure and riches that they thought were to be had in India so it is well worth putting your names through this free database.
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=allCollections&r=3
July 26th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Read an article in the August Who Do You Think You Are? magazine and it mentioned a database kept by David Milner. A Google search led me to several websites that mention David’s database, but it doesn’t look as if he has a site of his own, probably too busy recording Waterloo soldiers!
Anyway I have found that David has compiled a register of British soldiers who served at the Battles of Waterloo and Quatre Bras or were in Flanders at the time and currently has something in excess of 40,000 names in the database.
He welcomes enquires from researchers is welcome and he can be contacted at battle.veterans@btinternet.com
July 16th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Find my Past has just announced that their GRO Birth Indexes are now fully searchable by name. Previously their search engine simply pointed you to a large number of pages that may or may not contain the entry you wanted. Now you can narrow the search down by adding registration county, registration district, date and mother’s maiden name. A great improvement which brings their birth indexes up to the standard of Ancestry.co.uk and FreeBMD.
www.findmypast.co.uk
July 16th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Great background material at this website for those with Scottish ancestors. The website states……..
In the centuries before there were newspapers and 24-hour news channels, the general public had to rely on street literature to find out what was going on. The most popular form of this for nearly 300 years was ‘broadsides’ – the tabloids of their day. Sometimes pinned up on walls in houses and ale-houses, these single sheets carried public notices, news, speeches and songs that could be read (or sung) aloud.
The National Library of Scotland’s online collection of nearly 1,800 broadsides lets you see for yourself what ‘the word on the street’ was in Scotland between 1650 and 1910. Crime, politics, romance, emigration, humour, tragedy, royalty and superstitions – all these and more are here.
Each broadside comes with a detailed commentary and most also have a full transcription of the text, plus a downloadable PDF facsimile. You can search by keyword, browse by title or browse by subject.
Take a look, and discover what fascinated our ancestors!
http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/
July 15th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Suffolk Family History Society are pleased to announce that their Members Interests are now available online.
Access to this service is totally FREE to everyone provided the member has an email address. If the member has no email address, then Suffolk FHS incur a charge contacting the member. However, for an introductory period this will also be FREE!
So if you have Suffolk ancestors consider joining up and in the mean time take advantage of this free offer.
http://www.suffolkfhs.co.uk/
July 15th, 2010
Linda Elliott
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Dr Reg Davis wanted to make information more freely available about Merchant Navy personnel who hailed from Wales so he created this website. The site offers an on-line index of 23,500 Welsh merchant masters, mates and engineers active from 1800 to 1945. There is also data about over 3000 men active in the Royal Navy from 1795 to 1815.
Well worth a look if you have interests in this area.
http://www.welshmariners.org.uk/
