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Find Your Criminal Ancestors: UK collection from Findmypast.com
If you have British roots, you’ll want to check out the new collection available on Findmypast.com: a half million criminal records dating from 1770-1934!
This sounds like a pretty gripping collection, whether you’ve got British roots or not. It contains records like mug shots, court documents, appeals letters and registers from prison ships (which were used when mainland prisons were crowded). According to Findmypast.com, the records “provide a wide variety of color, detail and fascinating social history, chronicling the fate of criminals ranging from fraudsters, counterfeiters, thieves and murderers and their victims.” The 500,000 records you can search now are only a fifth of the full collection of 2.5 million that will be online soon.
The company calls this the largest collection of historical criminal records from England and Wales to be published online and is done in association with the National Archives (UK). Findmypast.com members can click here to access the criminal collection directly (make sure the box for “Institutes and Organizations” is checked).
Here’s a little more background on connections between British convicts and the U.S. and Australia….
During colonial times, Britain often punished criminals by forcing them to emigrate. The most famous destination was Australia: the first British settlement on that continent in 1787 was actually a penal colony. Australia celebrates that fact about its heritage today: learn more about the “First Fleet’s” arrival here.
Up to about 50,000 British convicts were also forced to emigrate to the American colonies during the 1700s. These included prisoners of war from Ireland and Scotland. Read more about this in Bound for America: The Transportation of British Convicts to the Colonies, 1718-1775 (Clarendon Paperbacks)
RootsTech 2013: There’s an App for That!
Are you going to RootsTech in March? Do you have an iPad, tablet or smart phone? Then you need to download a free app!
RootsTech 2013 is your personal conference assistant. It delivers to your palm all the information you need on exhibitors and speakers along with a map and customizable schedule. For example, I’m speaking at RootsTech in four different sessions. You can find each session listed by day or track under the Events icon, or you can go right to my name under the Speakers icon and see all four sessions at once, with a description and location of each one. Add one (or more) of my sessions to your own schedule. You’ll also find me under the Exhibitors icon. You can bookmark or schedule buy valtrex medication each exhibitor you want to visit, then mark them off as you do. I hope you’ll come see me at my booth!
You can even have a social life on this app. Publish a profile if you want others to see your name on a guest list. Then look for others who have done that under the Attendees icon. Create a network of Friends with whom you can chat and share notes (and meet for lunch!). Stay updated with the app’s News feed, and share in the conference buzz on Twitter and Facebook.
The link I gave you above takes you to the App Shopper for the iOS universal app; it’s also in Apple’s Apps Store.
#RootsTech2013
Google Earth Updates: More Cities for Your Family History Research
Google Earth has been hard at work, adding more in-depth image coverage to its already vast 3D visual archive of the world’s places. You can now take a free high-res virtual tour of the following cities:
- Anaheim, CA,
- Albuquerque, NM,
- Birmingham, AL,
- Little Rock, AR,
- Reno, NV,
- Springfield, MO,
- Wichita, KS,
- Berne, Basel and Lausanne, Switzerland,
- Ulm, Germany, and
- Canberra, Australia.
Want to learn more about using Google Earth for family history? These two videos give you a glimpse into my Google Earth for Genealogists series. Watch these clips and be inspired about the potential of this powerful online tool for mapping and imaging your family past.
