A brand new vital records collection is available online now for Ontario, Canada!
The Ontario Genealogical Society’s new database is available at Findmypast, along with exclusive Parish Registers for Kent, England.
Ancestry.com also has a new collection of Parish Registers for Cheshire, England.
Finally, you can explore a new index of Ohio WWI Statement of Service Cards. As a bonus, watch our special interview with the CEO and the VP of Findmypast about family trees, unique collections, and more.
Featured: Genealogical records for Ontario, Canada
The Ontario Genealogical Society has created a database of vital records, which are now available at the Genealogy Giant records website Findmypast! The Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Index is a compilation of announcements found in Canadian publications. You may find out your ancestor’s death date, burial date and place, as well as the names of your ancestor’s parents, children, and spouse.
With every result, you will be presented with a transcript featuring the vital details found in a Canadian publication. The records mostly comprise obituaries, but you will also find birth and marriage announcements. Details might include:
- Name
- Event year
- Death year
- Periodical
- Publication year
- Publication date
- County
- Province
- Country
- Notes – this is the most valuable field. It will provide nearly the full text of the announcement as it appeared in the publication. This may provide you with details about the person’s death, burial place, next of kin, parent’s names, children’s names, and more.
WWI Military Records
Next, we head over to FamilySearch, where a new collection of Ohio, World War I Statement of Service Cards, 1914-1919 has been added. This collection contains an index and images of statement of service cards for Marine Corps, Navy, and out of state enlistments which was provided for by an act of Congress July 11, 1919.
- Name
- Age at enlistment
- Race
- Home address
- Location where enlisted
- Rating (Rank)
- Service number
- Date of discharge
The image below is an example of a Marine Corps Service Card, 1917 courtesy of FamilySearch.org.
England Parish Registers
Also added this week at Findmypast are new and exclusive Parish Registers from Kent. “The new records have been created from over 3,000 handwritten registers currently held at the Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone. These registers, covering hundreds parishes across the county, have been scanned and digitised in full colour to ensure the highest possible image quality.
Over 2.6 million fully indexed baptism, banns, marriage and burial records spanning more than 400 years of Kent history are now available to search online exclusively at Findmypast.”
Over at Ancestry.com, there’s a new collection of Cheshire, England, Parish Registers, 1538-1909. From the description:
“Parish records are the best source of vital record information before Civil Registration began in 1837. Both the British government and the church had an interest in record keeping, and a 1538 Act of Parliament required ministers in the Church of England to record baptisms, marriages, and burials. This database includes records with dates ranging from 1538 up until 1812, after which George Rose’s Act called for preprinted registers to be used as a way of standardizing records.
Also note that marriage records were to be kept in a separate register starting in 1754, so they may not be included in this database.”
More to learn about Findmypast.com and FamilySearch tree synchronization
In the exclusive video interview below, Tamsin Todd, CEO and Ben Bennett, Executive Vice President at Findmypast.com provide the answer to the question, “Will or does Findmypast have a family tree?”
They also talk about the new Travel & Migration records, and the Suffragette Collection.
If you have ancestors from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland don’t miss this interview by Sunny Morton, author of “Genealogy Giants – Comparing the 4 Major Genealogy Records Websites” quick reference guide.
Lacey Cooke
Lacey has been working with Genealogy Gems since the company’s inception in 2007. Now, as the full-time manager of Genealogy Gems, she creates the free weekly newsletter, writes blogs, coordinates live events, and collaborates on new product development. No stranger to working with dead people, Lacey holds a degree in Forensic Anthropology, and is passionate about criminal justice and investigative techniques. She is the proud dog mom of Renly the corgi.
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