FamilySearch–Redesign and new logo

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The blog posts are coming thick and fast from Rootstech 2013 ! Thank you to Pat Richley Ericksen aka DearMyrtle for the following breaking news ….

Pat is at the Official Genealogy Bloggers dinner in Salt Lake City hosted by FamilySearch. They are getting the bloggers up to speed with the latest news and it seems that FamilySearch is to have a re-vamp and a new logo. From what I can see it has a lot to do with the new FamilySearch Family Tree.

I better not steal Pat’s photos, but I can tell you that the logo looks modern and fresh. The new website will launch mid April, so a few weeks for us all to get used to another change in the genealogy world!

See more in Pat’s posts on Google+ https://plus.google.com

 

Postems on FreeBMD

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I thought today I would tell you about a little on-going project I have. It was pointed out to me by my good friend Judy Ramsey that if everyone put the details that they had on the birth, marriage and death certificates that they owned onto FreeBMD as a Postem note then it would be of great help to others. Imagine if even a 10th of genealogists with English & Wales ancestors did that then FreeBMD would go from a great resource to a magnificent one !!

On the recent Unlock The Past Genealogy Cruise I upgraded a Flip-Pal scanner from a want to a need and bought one. Amazing how many genealogy toys/books/certificates/subscriptions can be upgraded if you try hard enough!. Today I shall start to use the Flip-Pal to scan all my certificates and double check that I have entered the information from them onto FreeBMD Postems.

 

Postems on FreeBMD

Above is a screen-shot showing the small yellow envelope that appears next to a FreeBMD entry to show that someone has attached a note to that entry. You can find out how to attach a Postem, it’s very easy, at http://www.freebmd.org.uk/postems-help.html

So go on, put an hour aside and get entering those details from your certificates, someone, somewhere, sometime will thank you for it Postems on FreeBMD

http://www.freebmd.org.uk

 

 

Inner Temple Calendars 1505 – 1845

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Inner Temple Calendars 1505 1845

Amazing what is coming online these days, it seems as if everyone has suddenly seen the advantage of digitizing their archives and placing them on the internet. A recent addition is the Calendars of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple 1505 – 1845. If you have ancestors who practised law then this site has to be a must.

I don’t understand the process whereby a graduate of law became admitted to an Inn and it’s chambers and then called to the bar, but I do know that this website has a lot to offer those with ancestors who practised law. The website offers a brief history of the site that the Inner Temple occupies, the buildings, the Archives as well as offer access to the digitized calendars and an Admissions database 1547 – 1920. Lots of lovely webpages to keep a genealogist happy.

A search of the Admissions database for the name Pottinger came up with 7 entries.

Using Richard Pottinger as an example I found the following on his record.

First name Richard
Last name (standard) Pottinger
Last name (given) Potenger
Admission date 22 April 1769
Call date n/a
Bench year n/a
Leaving date not known
Date of death not known
Judicial Appointment not known
Father’s name John Potenger
Father’s occupation Gentleman
Father/son relationship Eldest son
Father’s address City of London

I particularly liked that the surname was noted with a standard spelling and a given spelling. The surname Pottinger is one of those names that can have a wide variety of spellings and it seems that this database is well able to pick all the variations up in one search.

In my humble opinion m’ Lord a very useful website Inner Temple Calendars 1505 1845 

http://www.innertemple.org.uk/

NZ Probates Online

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NZ Probates OnlineThe New Zealand Probate records have been online for a while, but it is an on-going project between Archive NZ and FamilySearch so a press announcement has been made to tell us all that a million+ images are now online at the Family Search website.

It great to have the original wills freely available. A simple way to find those who left a will is to go to Archive NZ’s Archway search engine and do a search for a name. Once found check where the will is housed and then go to FamilySearch and see if that particular Court is on-line. If so, great you get to see the will free, if not you have 2 choices either pay $25NZ and buy a copy from Archives NZ who have a very efficient copy service or make a note and come back in a few weeks and see if it has gone on-line yet.

At the time of writing this post the wills that are available for viewing are from these courts.

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1865481

http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/

 

St Patrick’s Day freebies!!

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St Patrick’s Day freebies!!

Those with Irish ancestry will need to keep off the Guinness so that they have a clear head to make good use of the two St Patrick’s Day offers  made by FindMyPast & Origins !

FindMyPast.ie is offering 50 free credits for use on their site. The code is STPATRICK which you put into the redeem coupon box. Thanks to Chris Paton for this news.

Origins.net is offering free access to their Irish Directories collection from 16 – 18 March.

http://www.origins.net/

 

http://www.findmypast.ie