MAD ABOUT GENEALOGY

Middlesex Convict Records 1682 – 1787

Linda Elliott — Thu, 17 May 2012 20:19:52 +0000

Ancestry has just put online Middlesex Convict Transportation Contracts, 1682-1787. Transportation was a punishment for convicted criminals in England and other parts of the British Empire, came about in the seventeenth century. At first transportation was primarily to America and the Caribbean. However, transportation to America stopped with the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1776 and a new penal colony in Australia was developed. Transportation was formally abolished in 1868, but had not been practiced for nearly a decade before that.

What’s Included?

This is a collection of Middlesex Quarter Sessions Court orders for convicts to be transferred to British Colonies. Specifically the convicts were transferred to America, the Caribbean, or, in later years, Australia. Information available in these contracts includes:

Convict Name
Ship Name
Captain Name
Destination
Transfer Dates

These records can be used to help find court records relating to the original conviction. Search the records for the Middlesex Quarter Sessions Court for more information.

www.ancestry.co.uk

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Ancestry 1911 Census complete

Linda Elliott — Sat, 12 May 2012 08:02:11 +0000

Great news that Ancestry now has the complete 1911 census indexed, it still has the final column that asks about infirmities covered, but no doubt that will be revealed in due course.

The 1911 is important, as all the census are, but especially so as not many years afterwards WW1 started and many of the young men recorded on this census went off to fight the war to end all wars. What a wonderful concept that was and it must have been a great rallying cry for recruitment. We all know that it didn’t work out like that, but as I work through the census adding the information to my genealogy I shall give a special thought to those of my ancestors who didn’t return for the fields of France.

http://landing.ancestry.co.uk/offers/uk/learn/census.aspx?cj=1&offerid=0%3a21318%3a0&o_xid=0003300142&o_lid=0003300142

Technorati Tags: 1911 Census,Ancestry.co.uk,WW1,Family History,Genealogy

Photographic Blog

Linda Elliott — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:30:10 +0000

Many of you have heard of Jayne Shrimpton who is the UK leading expert on old photographs. What Jayne doesn’t know about dating photographs could be written on the back of a postage stamp! I came across her blog recently which makes interesting reading even if you don’t have any photographs that need identifying.

Here’s the link ……

http://www.jayneshrimpton.tumblr.com/

Technorati Tags: Jayne Shrimpton,Photographs,Genealogy,Family History

Black Sheep Index

Linda Elliott — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:59:00 +0000

I have written about the Black Sheep Index before, it was an index that concerned itself with criminal reports in newspapers and let’s face it I have plenty of ancestors who fit in that category !!

Sadly I hear that owner of the website has recently died and the website has been taken down. Hopefully someone in the genealogy world will know the family of the owner and be given permission to get the index and the newspaper reports online once more.

If anyone has an update on this then perhaps they could let me know.

Thanks!

Technorati Tags: Black sheep Index,Genealogy,Family History

Hamble Hampshire old photos

Linda Elliott — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:54:52 +0000

Following on from my post yesterday about the Hamble Local History Society I have found another good website for Hamble. This time it is “Hamble interactive” and they have a great section with old photos of the village.

This is a must look at for those with ancestors who lived or worked in Hamble.

I would love to show a little screen shot of the website, but at the moment for reasons best know to itself Microsoft Livewriter won’t let me attach photos. I’m trying to sort the problem out, but in the meantime you will just have to click on the link and see the site that way

http://www.hamble.net/images1.html

Technorati Tags: Hamble,Hampshire,Photographs,Local History,Genealogy,Family History

Northern Ireland wills

Linda Elliott — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:45:05 +0000

Wills 1858 – 1919 that are held at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland have been indexed and that index is available online. The index covers the Armagh, Belfast & Londonderry registries.

Once an entry has been found then the index card gives you full name, date of death, date of grant, estate value, registry where will was proved and an abstract. The abstract is the part that will be of most interest, for example a search for Pottinger came up with a will for Mrs Catherine Casement Pottinger and the abstract gave me this information “Pottinger Catherine Coshnahan of Ballee House Ballymena county Antrim and of St. Patrick’s Hospital St. Edmundsbury Lucan county Dublin widow died 17 October 1927 Administration (with Will) Belfast 18 June to Edith de Burgh Montagu married woman. Effects £1001 5s. 1d.”

However if you find an entry dated somewhere between 1858 – 1900 you can see a scan of the whole will. All at no charge. Wish they would do that for English wills.

www.proni.gov.uk

Technorati Tags: Wills,Probate,Northern Ireland,Public Record Office of Northern Ireland,Genealogy,Family History

Hamble Hampshire Local History Society

Linda Elliott — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:44:51 +0000

Many years ago I used to have a boat moored on Hamble River and I got to know the village quite well, so I was interested to find this website authored by the local history society.

The site has all the unusual interesting pages such as history, photos and meetings, it also has a handy list of links to neighbouring sites.

So if your people came from this delightful village this is the site for you.

http://www.hamblelocalhistory.hampshire.org.uk/index.htm

Technorati Tags: Hamble,Hampshire,Local History,Genealogy,Family History

Crew List Index Project

Linda Elliott — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:33:06 +0000

Came across this on my travels around the internet CLIP which stands for Crew List Index Project concerns itself with merchant seafarers on British registered ships for the years 1861 to 1913.

This site provides guidance and finding aids to help you carry out your own research. The index itself is on FindMyPast, but this site might be a good place to start as it explains what crew list are and what you might find on them. Where the originals are held and finding aids are also included.

http://www.crewlist.org.uk/

Technorati Tags: Crew List Index Project,Merchant Marine,Findmypast,Genealogy,Family History

Ellis Island

Linda Elliott — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:52:01 +0000

I am sure that most of you have heard that the 1940 USA census has been released in the states. There has been great excitement as to which organisation is getting it indexed and online first.

Well this post isn’t about the census, but is relevant if you find someone who has emigrated to America. Many people who moved there were processed through the government department at Ellis Island and this website has an amazing database with millions of names of those from all round the world who were looking for a better life in a new country.

There is an urban myth which says that many people has their names changed during the emigration process by officials at Ellis Island to make them easier to say and spell for the english speaking civil servants. I read recently, and can’t remember where, that there is no evidence that this happened. Oh well another myth bites the dust!!

http://www.ellisisland.org/

Technorati Tags: 1940 census,USA,Ellis Island,Emigration,Immigration,Genealogy,Family History

Craven Yorkshire website

Linda Elliott — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 04:43:04 +0000

An interesting article in this months WDYTYA magazine pointed me to this website which is dedicated to the men who fought & died in WW1 and who were from the Craven district of Yorkshire. The Craven district is the area within a 20 mile radius of Skipton in North Yorkshire.

So if you have an interest in this area take a look at this site, it is a great example of what people with an enthusiasm for history can achieve.

http://www.cpgw.org.uk/

Technorati Tags: Yorkshire,Craven district,Skipton,WW1,soldiers,Army,Military,Genealogy,Family History