New England genealogy records top US updates

by | Aug 31, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases

Find New England genealogy records for Vermont pioneers, Boston Catholics and Berkshire, MA residents among new and updated collections online. Also: vital records updates for Idaho, Nebraska, New York state and Tennessee.

Featured: New England genealogy records

Vermont pioneers. Subscription website American Ancestors, the home of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, has added 29 new volumes to its collection, Early Vermont Settlers, 1700-1784. According to the site, the collection focuses on “heads of families who were living in Vermont during this time period. These new sketches profile individuals from the towns of Sharon and Norwich. Fifteen of the sketches come from Sharon.” Additional sketches for Norwich are available at here and here.

Massachusetts church records. Genealogy Giant Ancestry.com has updated its collection of Catholic sacramental records held by the Boston Archdiocese, which now contains nearly a million indexed records. According to the site, “The Boston Archdiocese, erected in 1808, is currently comprised of the Counties of Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth in Massachusetts, but historically included the states of Connecticut, Maine, all of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.”  The index links to images published at American Ancestors.

Massachusetts probate. American Ancestors has also added 214,000 new case file papers covering 1901-1917 to its collection of Berkshire County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1761-1917. Wills and probate records are oft-neglected but valuable sources of genealogical information. Click here to read an article on using wills and probate records in your family history research.

More US genealogy records now online

Idaho vital records. Ancestry.com has updated Idaho, County Birth and Death Records, 1863-1970. “This collection contains birth and death records from select counties in Idaho that took place between the years of 1863 and 1970,” states the collection description. “There is also a portion of marriage records that can be found within this collection.”

Nebraska births. Genealogy Giant Findmypast.com has published Nebraska, Omaha births 1874-1887, with names, birth dates, and birthplaces, as well as parents’ names.

New York births. New at Ancestry.com is New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942, which also has browsable images of the indexes, in case searching doesn’t bring up the person you’re looking for. Use the state certificate numbers from the index to order copies of the original certificates from the state department of health (the collection includes a link). 

Tennessee deaths. Also updated at Ancestry.com is Tennessee, Death Records, 1908-1958. These indexed images of death certificates come from the Tennessee State Library and Archives.

Vital records are vital!

This post features a variety of vital record collections: births, marriages and deaths. That’s because they are essential for constructing your family tree. They uniquely identify your ancestors and they link them to their parents, spouses, and children. Learn more about vital records—and additional resources such as delayed birth records and Social Security applications—in Lisa Louise Cooke’s free Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast, episode 4.
About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

6M Free British Family Notices Now Online

by | Aug 24, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases

Nearly 6 million British family notices are now free to explore online! Find your ancestors from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales in more new and updated records, too: newspaper articles, British almanacs and directories, clandestine marriages, Liverpool Catholic and Warwickshire Church of England records, military collections (especially WWI) and Scotland death notices.

6 million free British Family Notices now searchable

The British Newspaper Archive is home to millions of exclusively-digitized newspaper pages from the British Library, covering England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Great news for those of you who don’t already subscribe: a free collection of British family notices that appear in papers on The British Newspaper Archive is now searchable at FamilySearch.org.

The index contains nearly 6 million records and may include family names, relationships, dates, and places of vital events and the publication. Better yet, you’ll find links to images in those newspapers, like this example:

More British Isles newspaper coverage

Family notices are only one of the many spots in a newspaper in which your relatives may appear! Feature news article coverage, crime reports, legal notices, advertisements, even sporting events. In recent weeks, The British Newspaper Archive has added over 270,000 digitized newspaper pages its site—and these updates also appear in the newspaper collections at sister site Findmypast.com. Updates to existing titles span England, Scotland and Ireland and include the following (links go to the Findmypast collections):

More British Isles genealogy records now online

British directories and almanacs. Findmypast.com has added over 329,000 records to its British Directories and Almanacs collection. According to the site, “the new additions include English & Welsh publications spanning the years 1766 to 1919. Inside you will find the names, addresses and occupations of prominent people, tradesmen, people who held office, business owners and local civil servants.”

Browse these pages to learn more about an ancestor’s life. For example, says the site, “They provide topographical accounts of towns, social statistics and comprehensive guides of towns or cities, as well as full listings of gentry, business owners, tradespeople, civil servants, church leaders, school teachers and much more. Furthermore, you can explore the history of your home by searching the publications by address, where you may discover previous proprietors.”

England clandestine marriages. Now on Findmypast are more than 881,000 indexed images of clandestine marriage records covering the years 1667 to 1775. “Records will reveal a combination of the couple’s names, marital conditions, occupations and residences,” says the collection description. The term “clandestine” refers to marriages performed outside the Anglican church, which were still recognized by law but categorized as common-law. According to the site, “There are a number of reasons why individuals would have participated in these ceremonies. The couple may have wanted to be married in secret and away from their home. There may have been a reason that the marriage needed to be performed quickly. A clandestine marriage also cost far less than a traditional wedding. However, not all reasons were innocent, and the courtrooms heard many cases of people coerced or forced into a marriage or cases of bigamy. At this time, the age required for marriage was 14 for men and 12 for women.”

Liverpool Catholics. Genealogy Giant Ancestry.com has updated several collections of Catholic parish records for Liverpool, England, provided in association with Liverpool City Council. Explore these collections by first by going to Ancestry.com here and then in the menu, select Search > Card Catalog > and search for the name of the collections: 

  • Liverpool, England, Catholic Baptisms, 1741-1916. Over 1.5 million records! According to the collection description, “most baptisms took place shortly after children were born. Baptism register entries in these records may include name, birth date, baptism date, father’s name, mother’s name, godparents, minister [and] parish.”
  • Liverpool, England, Catholic Confirmations, 1813-1922. Over 100,000 records; may include the name, age, confirmation date, parent’s name and parish.
  • Liverpool, England, Catholic Marriages, 1754-1932. Over 300,000 records in this collection. Entries may include marriage date, bride’s name and age, groom’s name and age, parents’ names and parish.
  • Liverpool, England, Catholic Burials, 1813-1985. Over 720,000 records; may include the deceased’s name, age, burial date, residence, and gravesite.

Warwickshire Church of England parish registers.  FamilySearch.org has updated its database of England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1984. With nearly 3 million records spanning about 450 years, this collection of Church of England parish registers contain records of christening, marriage and burial entries.

World War I collections. Now online at Findmypast.com, you can search these new or updated databases relating to the Great War:

  • Irish Officers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919. “Search over 1,000 records to learn more about the Irish officers who died in the First World War. Discover where and when an officer died, as well as the cause of death. You may also uncover details of an officer’s family and pre-war life.”
  • Honourable Women of the Great War, 1914-1918. “Discover your female ancestor who served during the First World War. Learn about the wartime activities your ancestor was involved in as well as her pre-war life. You may also find a photograph of your ancestor.”
  • Airmen Died in The Great War, 1914-1919. “Discover your relative’s name, birth and death years, cause of death, rank, and more. These records come from the Naval & Military Press. The service branches designated in this collection are as follows: Australian Flying Corps, Miscellaneous Airmen Casualties, Pre-War Casualties, Royal Air Force, Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service, United States Air Service Casualties Attached to the Royal Fighting Corps/Royal Air Force, US Navy Casualties, and Women’s Royal Air Force.”

More British military collections. These two collections have been updated at Findmypast:

  • British Subjects Who Died In The Service Of The Indian Empire. ”This collection contains over 1,100 records and each result includes both a transcript and an image of the original document. Records will reveal a combination of the individual’s name, birth and death years, rank, regiment, and service history.”
  • Britain, Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards. “Over 58,000 additional records have been added to the collection. The new additions cover recipients of the Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Medal, Distinguished Conduct Medal, Distinguished Service Order and Commando Gallantry awards.”

Scotland deaths. Findmypast’s Scotland, Lanarkshire Death & Burial Index 1642-1855 includes more than 64,000 death and burial records from 31 burial grounds. “Each result includes a transcript taken from an original document that will reveal a combination of your ancestor’s birth year, death and burial dates, age at death, burial place, and mortcloth price.” (The mortcloth was the cloth spread over the coffin.)

What does “British” actually mean?

To start exploring your British Isles roots, it would help to know what the term “British” actually means. Click here to read the answer and tips for getting started in your British Isles family history research.
About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

All Ellis Island Passenger Records Now Free on FamilySearch

by | Aug 17, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases

All Ellis Island passenger records are now available and free to search at FamilySearch.org! It’s one of 8 free fresh FamilySearch collections profiled in this article. You’ll also find: New Jersey brides, France vital records, Northumberland parish records, Palermo and Chieti (Italy) civil registrations, Maryland funeral homes and the 1905 New York state census.

Ellis Island Passenger Records All On FamilySearch

Over 100 million Americans have ancestors who immigrated through Ellis Island or one of its predecessor immigration stations. Now the entire collection of Ellis Island New York Passenger Arrival Lists from 1820 to 1957 are available online on both FamilySearch and The Statue of Liberty – Ellis Island website, giving researchers even more options for discovering immigration records.

According to a FamilySearch release, “Originally preserved on microfilm, 9.3 million images of historical New York passenger records spanning 130 years were digitized and indexed in a massive effort by 165,590 online FamilySearch volunteers. The result is a free searchable online database containing 63.7 million names, including immigrants, crew, and other passengers traveling to and from the United States through the nation’s largest port of entry.”

Searching on FamilySearch (in addition to or instead of the Ellis Island site) takes advantage of advanced searching tools on the site and the ability to attach records to profiles in the FamilySearch Family Tree. FamilySearch has divided these records into three collections that represent three phases of migration history:

“The ship manifests list passengers, their names, age, last place of residence, who is sponsoring them in America, the port of departure, and their date of arrival in New York Harbor and sometimes other interesting information, such as how much money they carried on them, number of bags, and where on the ship they resided during its sail from overseas.”

More FamilySearch additions

England. Upwards of a million records have been added to FamilySearch’s existing collection, England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950. These are “Church of England parish registers containing baptisms, marriages, and burials that took place in the county of Northumberland from 1538 to 1950. Records may include: name, parents, spouse, father’s occupation, residence, date of birth, date of marriage, burial date and place and much more depending on the record type. The original records are held at the Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives.”

France. Over 50,000 indexed names have been added to an existing collection of France, Vital Records, 1542-1900. These include “various birth, marriage and death records indexed by Bibliothèque Généalogique et d’Histoire Sociale de France.”

Italy. FamilySearch has made two major additions to its unique online collection of free Italian civil registration records. A new browse-only collection, Italy, Palermo, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1820-1947, contains over 4.3 million images. Also, over 3.2 million images have been added to the existing collection, Italy, Chieti, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1930. Available records vary by time and locale but may include civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths; marriage banns; ten-year indexes; residency records and supplemental documents.

United States – Maryland. Over 4,000 records have been added to the collection, Maryland, Baltimore, Lock Funeral Home Records, 1936-2007. Available documents for deceased persons vary but may include death certificates, ledgers, obituaries, and miscellaneous loose papers, filled with rich genealogical information about the deceased and their relatives.

United States—New Jersey. A new collection, New Jersey, Bride Index, 1930-1938, contains nearly 240,000 indexed names. It was acquired by ReclaimTheRecords.org and donated to FamilySearch for publishing of images.

United States—New York. Over 130,000 indexed records have been added to the free-to-search New York State Census, 1905 at FamilySearch. This is a key resource for those with Empire States roots in the early 20th century, given the enormous immigrant and migrant population in New York and the general lack of public access to New York vital records.

Learn more about Ellis Island Immigration records

Learn everything you need to know about using Ellis Island immigration records in 3 special episodes in the free Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Podcast!
About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

German Civil Registration Records and More Now Online

by | Aug 10, 2018 | 01 What's New, Records & databases | 2 comments

Now online! German civil registration records for Bad Doberman, Berchtesgaden and Minden, as well as WWII UK prisoners of war records, updates to the 1939 Register, parish records for Cheshire, Cumberland and Derbyshire; British newspapers and Queensland, Australia inquests.

Featured: German civil registration records

Genealogy Giant Ancestry.com has published several new collections of German civil registration records. According to the site, “Beginning on January 1, 1876, birth, marriage and death records in the former German Empire were created by local registry offices. The collected records are arranged chronologically and usually bound together in the form of yearbooks. These are collectively referred to as ‘civil registers.’ Occasionally, alphabetical directories of names were also created. While churches continued to keep traditional records, the State also mandated that the personal or marital status of the entire population be recorded.” Information in each varies.

Explore these German civil registration records by first by going to Ancestry.com here and then in the menu, select Search > Card Catalog > and search for the name of the collection we list below: 

For Bad Doberman:

  • Bad Doberan, Germany, Military Registers, 1868-1914
  • Bad Doberan, Germany, Residence Registers, 1884-1918

For Berchtesgaden:

  • Berchtesgaden, Germany, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1876-1950

For Minden:

  • Minden, Germany, Citizen Lists and Residence Registers, 1845-1902
  • Minden, Germany, Births, 1874-1905
  • Minden, Germany, Marriages, 1874-1935
  • Minden, Germany, Deaths, 1874-1966 and
  • Minden, Germany, Military Records, 1783-1856.

UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945. “This collection contains information about the soldiers captured, where they were held and often, what happened to them,” states the collection description. “Whilst details vary between sets of records, you may find the following information (where available): name, camp name, nationality, place and date of birth, place and date of death, father’s name, mother’s name, gender, date and place of capture, service (e.g. Army, Air, Navy, Civilian), service rank [and] service number.”

New Genealogy Records at Findmypast

1939 Register Update. For England and Wales: “Over 37,000 ‘closed records’ have been opened up and are now available to search. Search today and find out what your ancestors were doing on the eve of WWII. Discover exactly what they did for a living, maps of where they lived, and even who their neighbors were.”

Cheshire Registers & Records. Explore registers and records from the English county of Cheshire. This collection currently comprises five titles including parish registers, local histories, and funeral certificates.

Cumberland Registers & Records. This collection currently comprises one title: Monumental Inscriptions in the Graveyards of Brigham & Bridekirk, 1666-1876. This title was published in 1878. The preface notes that ‘the whole of these inscriptions were copied with great care, and the same care has been extended to the printing of them.”

Derbyshire Registers & Records. This collection currently comprises one title: The Brave Men of Eyam, 1665-1666. The preface of this title states that the statistics regarding deaths, dates, and some leading incidents are historical, although ‘the object of the book is to tell, in a popular form, the tale of a “mighty woe.”

British newspaper additions! Now at Findmypast is the Oxfordshire Weekly News, covering the years 1869-1895 and 1898-1926. You’ll also find the following added coverage for these papers: Irish Independent (1995-1997, 2000), Belfast Telegraph (1915-1916, 1918-1919) and Liverpool Echo (1987-1988).

Australia, Queensland, Inquests 1859-1897. Discover your ancestor in this index compiled from the inquest files created by the Justice Department for the period 1859 to 1897. Each result will provide you with a transcript including a combination of your ancestor’s name, alias, and inquest year, any additional notes, their file number, reference and item ID.

German family history research help for you

The Genealogy Gems website is packed with German family history research tips and tricks, from this beginner post (where we tackle the question of what “German” even means!) to this helpful explanation of German census records. Click here to explore all our German-related articles. Or: click on the free video right here to learn about finding your German ancestor’s village of origin!

About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

29 Million Free Netherlands Genealogy Records

by | Aug 3, 2018 | 01 What's New, Newspaper, Records & databases

Nearly 30 million free Netherlands genealogy records are now searchable at FamilySearch.org. Also: free historical Catholic and Columbia University newspapers; Catholic parish records in Boston, MA; British Army and Royal Navy records; and new collections for England and Scotland.

Featured Collection: Free Netherlands Genealogy Records

Genealogy Giant FamilySearch has published 29 million new, free historical records from the Netherlands. With the latest additions, FamilySearch now offers over 65 million free images and indexes in its Netherlands collections. According to the site: “The freely searchable collections are comprised of birth, baptism, marriage, death, church, notarial, army service and passenger list records and population registers. Some of the records date back to 1564. Considering the population of the Netherlands is 17 million people today, the size of these collections makes it highly likely family historians will find the ancestors they’re seeking.” Explore these now at FamilySearch!

Find Your Family in Historical Newspapers

Historical newspaper publishing service Elephind recently reported on new and updated online collections it supports. These are free to view, so why not take a look?

The Columbia Record: Beginning as the University Record (September 1973-May 1975) and continuing to this day as the Columbia University Record (July 1975-present), this university-wide publication is a rich resource of past Columbia activities, events, scientific research, trustee and faculty appointments, awards and honors, libraries news, departmental achievements, budget and financial reporting, faculty and staff updates, as well as profiles of campus personalities from 1973 to the present. You can also read the predecessor paper in Columbia University’s Spectator Archive. It’s the second-oldest college daily paper in the United States. The latest content update brings the run of the newspaper from 1877 to 2015.

Catholic News Archive: This growing collection of Catholic research resources has been updated to contain 10,971 issues comprising 254,941 pages. The goal of this project is to provide access to all extant Catholic newspapers. Currently, this collection spans 1831 – 1978. These are the publications you can read online now:

Boston Catholic Parish Records

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has published the following new browse-only record images from Archdiocese of Boston parishes spanning 1789-1900: St. Joseph in Boston’s West End, St. Thomas Aquinas (Jamaica Plain), Immaculate Conception (Newburyport), Holy Family (Rockland), Immaculate Conception (Weymouth), Sacred Heart (Weymouth), St. Francis Xavier (Weymouth), Most Precious Blood (Hyde Park), St. Joseph (Salem), St. Mary (Winchester), St. Mary Star of the Sea (Beverly), St. Mary Star of the Sea (East Boston) and St. Patrick (Lowell). For directions on how to navigate this database, be sure to watch this how-to video from NEHGS.

New British Isles records at Findmypast.com

Britain, Royal Navy, Navy Lists, 1827-1945. Search for your ancestors in official lists of Royal Navy Officers. The collection consists of 147 publications presented in PDF format. The amount of information varies from volume to volume. Details include an individual’s name, rank, seniority, and place of service.

British Army Service Records. Over 34,000 new Scots Guards records have been added to our collection of British Army Service records. The new additions consist of Enlistment Registers spanning the years 1642 to 1939. These records can reveal a variety of details about your ancestor’s life, family and military career.

England, Lancashire parish records. Find these in 3 separate databases:

  • Lancashire Baptisms. Discover your ancestor in original parish registers covering 191 Lancashire parishes and spanning 379 years of the county’s history. Learn when and where your ancestor’s baptism took place and discover their parents’ names, residence and father’s occupation.
  • Lancashire Marriages. Discover your ancestor in banns and marriage registers from Lancashire. Learn when and where your ancestor was married, as well as your ancestor’s age, occupation, residence, and spouse’s name. The registers, provided by Lancashire Archives, span the years from 1538 to 1932 and cover 194 parishes.
  • Lancashire Burials. Learn when and where your ancestor’s burial took place, as well as their age at the time of death with original parish records from the Lancashire Archives. These records cover 123 parishes across the county and span the years 1538 to 1991.

England, Wiltshire Social & Institutional Records 1123-1968. Over 400,000 records are available in this fantastic collection of 72 different types of records spanning nearly 900 years of Wiltshire history. The collection contains a wide variety of documents and a full list of what is available can be found at the bottom of the search page. 

Scotland, Edinburgh Apprentices 1583-1700. Did any of your ancestors learn their trade in Edinburgh? Discover details of their apprenticeship and occupation in this collection of almost 120 years of documents from the Scottish capital.

Scotland, Edinburgh Marriages 1595-1800. Did any of your relations marry in Edinburgh, Scotland? Discover their names, occupations, residence, spouse and dates of marriage, former marriages and more in this collection of PDF images of parish registers collated throughout the city.

Scotland, Fife Death Index, 1549-1877. Over 265,000 records are included in this collection of Fife’s old parish records, including deaths and burials from St Andrews and Edinburgh Testaments (from 1549 to 1823), sheriff court wills (1824-1854), Fife newspapers (1822-1854), Kirk Session account books for mortcloths, lair registers and other sources.

Scotland, Testaments, 1514-1800. If you ancestors died in Scotland, this collection will include details of their property, relatives, occupation and more in records of their last will and testaments. The digital images in this collection are presented in PDF form.

Get the Scoop on Your Relatives in Old Newspapers

You’ve probably heard the tip to look for your family stories in old newspapers. But which newspapers were around back then? And where are they now? Expert Lisa Louise Cooke has the answers! Her book How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers provides you with a fool-proof research process: step-by-step instructions, worksheets, checklists, location-specific newspaper resources, the best free and subscription sites for newspaper research and a case study that puts it all into action for you. And it’s currently 40% off in the Genealogy Gems store! Click here to check it out.

Offer subject to expire without notice.
About the Author: Sunny Morton

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s  known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

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