New Genealogy Records Online for England, the Netherlands, & More!

Jump for joy! At the top of the list of new genealogical records this week are new collections for Southern English county of Devon. You’ll also be able to explore big updates to vital records collections for the Netherlands. Finally, check out new and updated newspaper titles for Connecticut, Illinois, and more throughout the U.S.!

Featured: Devon County, England Genealogy Records

If your ancestors lived in Southern England, you won’t want to miss these new and updated collections for the county of Devon, available at Findmypast!

Devon Port Books: This brand new collection covers ships administered in the Devon ports of Appledore, Barnstaple, and Bideford between 1595 and 1705.

These records will include names of the ship’s masters and merchants, the ship’s name and the year it was entered in the port book, the ship’s cargo, tonnage, and trade type, and the ship’s registry, administration, departure and destination ports.

Devon Baptisms: This collection of Devon parish registers includes many exclusives you won’t find anywhere else online and has grown again. The latest additions date back to the 1750s, with much of this collection stretching as far back as the 1500s. The additions cover four parish churches in the county:

  • Appledore, Independent Chapel
  • Appledore, Ebenezer Baptist Chapel
  • Appledore, Methodist Chapel
  • Bideford, Methodist Circuit
Northam, Devon 1919

Northam, Devon 1919. Image from Findmypast.

Devon Burials: New additions are from the parish of Northam. Findmypast’s dedicated search page allows you to filter by burial and death year, burial place, denomination and archive, making it quick and easy to find what you’re looking for.

Devon Land Tax and Valuation Records: Did your family own a public house or live and work in an orchard? Land tax records could help you find out. New additions from Northam and Clovelly have been added to this collection. In the records you’ll find information on:

  • The land owner’s and occupier’s names
  • The year or year range that the events were recorded
  • The year the valuation took place
  • The sum of money paid on the property

 

The Netherlands – Updated Records

Ancestry.com has updated their records collections for the Netherlands. These collections consist of indexes held at various archives throughout the Netherlands.

Each collection includes a link to the original record on the source website, which is WieWasWie. Ancestry.com does not support or make corrections or changes to the original data. To learn more about these records, please refer to WieWasWie’s website.

Tip: Use the Google Chrome web browser! Google Translate is built-in and you can use it to translate foreign language websites and text. Learn more about busting brick walls with Google:

U.S. Newspapers

Historic newspapers can be a goldmine of genealogical information. Genealogy Bank makes big updates regularly, making it a fantastic newspaper resource. New content has been added to 109 titles from 34 different states in the U.S. Some of the largest additions include:
  • California
  • Connecticut
  • Illinois
  • Texas
To see all updated titles and states, click here. Discover family history in millions of historical newspaper articles from 1690-1980, including obituaries, birth records, marriage notices, and more facts about your ancestors. 

Is your family history protected?

As you accumulate more and more genealogy records and data about your family history, you’ll want to be sure that those precious documents are saved from destruction! It’s a good idea to digitize your most important records and papers, in case the originals are lost or damaged.

The next step is to then back up your computer! Lisa uses and recommends Backblaze.com for cloud backup.

For a few dollars a month, Backblaze will continually back up your computer files to a remote server. In the event of any loss (including a computer crash), you can download them again. Learn more and sign up for a free trial at www.Backblaze.com/Lisa!

Lacey Cooke

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. 

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!

Big Genealogy Records Updates for England & the U.S.

Big updates to UK records king Findmypast are new this week. Discover your ancestors in updated collections for Kent and Norfolk, along with an update to a fascinating collection for Devon, England. Also new and updated this week are US records including marriage licenses for New Jersey, Boston Pilot newspaper ads, Ohio County naturalization records, and historic Georgia newspapers. 

Featured: Updates at Findmypast

Genealogy giant subscription website Findmypast has kicked off the new year with big updates to their collections for Kent and Norfolk. Findmypast is our favorite records website for finding your ancestors in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Click here to learn more about why they should be at the top of your list for your UK research.

Updates to Kent

Kent Baptisms: “Over 23,000 new records covering Anglican and Wesleyan baptisms in Dover, Gravesend, Higham, Nettlestead and Maidstone have been added to our collection of Kent parish baptisms. The new additions span the years 1736-1917.”

Kent Marriages: Explore more than “22,000 new records covering 9 Anglican parishes in Aylesford, Boxley, Higham and Nettlestead…Parish marriage registers will provide you with birth years, father’s names, occupations, and residences for both the bride and groom as well as the date and location of their marriage.”

Kent Burials: “Over 203,000 additional records covering the former Grange Road Cemetery in Gillingham, now a public open space, Fort Pitt Military Cemetery and the cemetery in Robin Hood Lane, Chatham have been added to the collection.”

Updates to Norfolk

Norfolk Baptisms: Check out the 76,000 additional records that have been added, spanning 1777 to 1990. This update covers the parishes of North Creake, Ringland, Southwood, Thornham and Worstead.

Norfolk Banns: Banns of marriage are the public announcement in a Christian parish church of a forthcoming marriage. In this update are 33,000 new Norfolk Banns covering the parishes of Rockland All Saints & St Andrew, Roughton, Snetterton and Yaxham. 

Norfolk Marriages: “Over 27,000 new records covering the parishes of North Creake, Rockland All Saints & St Andrew, Snetterton, Somerleyton, Southwood, Wacton, Wells next the Sea, Westacre and Worstead. The new additions span the years 1777 to 1984 and will reveal a combination of names, dates and locations related to both the bride and groom.”

Norfolk Burials: “Search over 15,000 recent additions to our collection of Norfolk Burials covering the parishes of North Creake, Rockland All Saints & St Andrew, Southwood, Wells next the Sea and Worstead. The transcripts and images will list a combination of your ancestors’ burial dates, ages and residences at time of death, and their birth years.”

Devon Social & Institutional Records

From Findmypast: “Over 76,000 new records have been added to our collection of Devon Social & Institutional Records. Search this extraordinarily rich set of records to find paupers and vagrants, apprentices, peddlers and tradesmen. Find out if they got married, were vaccinated against smallpox or got Christmas presents while their father was fighting WW1. Explore more than two centuries of social history to find rare details of the lives of ordinary people.”

New U.S. Records & Collections

New Jersey: MyHeritage has recently added a new collection: New Jersey Marriage License Index, 1915-2016. With over 11 million records, “this collection is an index to marriage licenses filed at the New Jersey State Clerk Offices from 1915 to 2016. The index contains the given names and surnames of both the bride and the groom, the year of the license application, and the state file number. The images in this collection have been obtained through the outstanding work and efforts of Reclaim the Records.”

Boston, Massachusettes: Did any of your Irish ancestors emigrate to the United States? Search this unique collection of Boston Pilot Newspaper Information Wanted Ads from Findmypast. These ads were placed in the Boston Pilot newspaper by family members and others looking for lost friends and relatives from 1831 to 1920. From the description: “These records provide an insight into Irish immigration and reflect the tumultuous times that led to the Irish diaspora such as the Great Irish Famine and the United States Civil War.”

Ohio County: Free records website FamilySearch has added new records to their Ohio, County Naturalization Records, 1800-1977 collection. “Index and images of naturalization records from county courthouses in Ohio. The record content and available years vary by county, though most content falls between 1818 and 1954.”

Georgia: Lastly, we love this new collection from the Digital Library of Georgia. They have digitized approximately 53,930 pages of Georgia newspaper titles published prior to 1861 from microfilm held by the Georgia Newspaper Project (http://www.libs.uga.edu/gnp/). The project creates full-text searchable versions of the newspapers and presents them online for free in its Georgia Historic Newspapers database at http://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu. 

Try Findmypast FREE for 14 Days

We know there are a lot of records websites out there, and each with their own subscription costs. So why not make a game plan of what you want to research and set aside dedicated time during a 14-day free trial? Findmypast offers incredible collections and resources for those seeking their ancestors in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. You can take our word for it or try it out for yourself with a free trial that you can cancel any time. Click here to get started.

Lacey Cooke

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. 

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!

New European Genealogy Records Online

This is the week to explore new European genealogy records online! This weekly record roundup covers four areas of England as well as France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Scotland, Spain and Sweden. Boost your family history research by keeping up with new records that may mention your ancestors.

European genealogy records for 8 countries

Explore your European roots with these new and updated family history records on three of the Genealogy Giants websites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, and Findmypast. If you find anything exciting about your ancestors, we’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below or contact us here at Genealogy Gems.

England genealogy records

Berkshire. New at Genealogy Giant Findmypast is Berkshire Registers & Records, in which subscribers may “explore PDF images of registers and records from the English county of Berkshire. Discover your ancestors in parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from the parishes of Leckhamstead and St Mary in Reading.”

Collections at Ancestry: Explore the following collections at Ancestry by going to Ancestry here and then in the menu Search > Card Catalog > and search the name of the collection we list below. 

Cambridgeshire. The Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books, 1722-1966 collection has nearly 1.7 million records. According to the collection description, “This database contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in Cambridgeshire, who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can help place your ancestors in a particular place and possibly also reveal a bit about property they owned.”

A related new collection at Ancestry.com is Cambridgeshire, England, Juror Books, 1828-1883 contains over 20,000 records of “of those qualified to serve as a juror in the county of Cambridgeshire between the years 1828 and 1883. Qualifications were based on ownership of land or property and therefore excluded the majority of residents….This collection includes residents of Cambridgeshire as well as those living in the historic county of Huntingdonshire and historic region of the Isle of Ely, both of which now fall under the administration of Cambridgeshire.”

Durham. Findmypast has also published Durham Registers & Records, which consists of “baptism, marriage and burial registers covering 14 parishes [in this northeastern England county] as well as a guide to the “Antiquities of Sunderland and its vicinity.”

London. Findmypast has added over 109,000 new records to its Greater London burial index. New additions cover Middlesex and British deaths overseas. “The records consist of transcripts that may reveal a combination of your relative’s name, age, occupation, religious denomination and where they were buried.”

France genealogy records

Coutances et d’Avranches. The free Genealogy Giant, FamilySearch, has added about 13,000 records to its collection, France, Coutances et d’Avranches Diocese, Catholic Parish Records, 1533-1894According to the site, you’ll find a “name index and images of Catholic parish registers recording events of baptism, marriage and burial in the Diocese of Coutances et d’Avranches. Parishes within this diocese are within the boundaries of the department of Manche.”

Saône-et-Loire. Also at FamilySearch is a new online record collection: France, Saône-et-Loire, Censuses, 1836. Included are more than 380,000 records that are described as “a complete indexing of the population censuses for Saône-et-Loire.” Census records include first and last names, ages, marital status, number in household and relation to the head of household. (Click here for a free FamilySearch tutorial on reading French handwriting.)

Here’s a tip for you: click on the image to the right to explore more French genealogy records that have recently come online.

Germany genealogy records

About 70,000 records have been added to the free FamilySearch collection, Germany, Baden, Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau, Catholic Church Records, 1678-1930. Among the records are baptisms, marriages and burials. Also recently updated on the site is a related collection, Germany, Baden, Church Book Duplicates, 1804-1877.

Ireland genealogy records

FamilySearch.org has updated its indexed collection, Ireland Civil Registration, 1845-1913. It now includes over 2 million records of “1864-1913 births, 1845-1870 marriages, and 1864-1870 deaths. These are copies of the original documents and volumes held at the General Register Office and are referenced in the Ireland Civil Registration Indexes,” states the site.

Luxembourg genealogy records

Now with over 100,000 records available to search is Luxembourg, Civil Registration, 1796-1941 at FamilySearch.org. These include “images of civil births, marriages, deaths, and indexes. Some records are indexed, including births 1800-1923, marriages 1796-1923, and deaths 1796-1923. The original registers are located in the National Archives of Luxembourg.”

Scotland genealogy records

Now at Findmypast.com, subscribers may “learn about the Jacobites and the Jacobite Risings of the 17th and 18th centuries” in Scotland, Jacobite Histories, 1715-1745. This collection of 23 publications ranges “from memoirs to song books” and consists of “digital PDF images that can be searched by name, conflict, publication title, year and keyword.”

Spain genealogy records

Free at FamilySearch.org are additional records in its collection, Spain, Diocese of Lugo, Catholic Parish Records, 1550-1966. This index-only database references baptisms, marriages, and deaths mentioned in Catholic Church records created by parishes in the diocese of Lugo, Spain.

Sweden genealogy records

FamilySearch.org has updated its collection of Sweden, Örebro Church Records, 1613-1918; index 1635-1860. It now contains over 380,000 baptisms, marriages, and burials from the county of Örebro.

Learn more about European genealogy records

Improve your knowledge of researching your roots from various European countries with these free get-started tutorials:

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!

British Isles Descendants Will Love these New Records Online

Millions of British Isles descendants—whether still living in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales or dispersed to the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand, may find their ancestors in these new online records that include medieval maps, BMD and immigration records, name changes and even medical records for British troops in WWI.

British Isles descendants: Time to explore!

New collections for across Britain

Britain name changes. TheGenealogist.co.uk has published a new database that will help researchers identify official name changes by their ancestors in Britain. According to Family Tree (UK), “The Change of Names Database covers information gathered from a number of sources including Private Acts of Parliament; Royal Licences published in the London and Dublin Gazettes; notices of changes of name published in The Times after 1861 with a few notices from other newspapers; registers of the Lord Lyon [King of Arms] where Scottish changes of name were commonly recorded; records in the office of the Ulster King at Arms and also some private information.” Click here to learn more about name change records and subscription options.

British WWI records. British Isles subscription-based Genealogy Giant Findmypast.com has added nearly 700,000 records to its collection of British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers’ Medical Records. According to the site, “These records may allow you to discover when and where your ancestor was wounded, where they were treated how long they were held at the medical facility for treatment. Images may provide a variety of additional details such as their service history and a description of the wound.”

British Isles descendants FMP British WWI medical record

Sample image from Findmypast.com. Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England.

Battle artifacts. You can now browse or search a new database of more than 2000 archaeological artifacts that have been recovered from Anzac Cove and the Gallipoli Penninsula, in the area where thousands of Turkish, Australian, New Zealander, British, French, Indian and Newfoundlander troops died as part of a campaign over control of Istanbul. According to News Australia, this artifact collection results from “the world’s most extensive battlefield archaeological study uncovered items which gave a glimpse of life on the frontline for Turkish and Anzac troops, uncovered the trenches where men fought, lived and died, and unearthed everyday items such as bottles of beer and belt buckles.”

Medieval maps. Those who can trace their family history back to medieval times (even just to a particular region) will be excited to hear that the British Library has published a collection of free online maps. According to this announcement, “The Virtual Mappa Project has been officially released as an open access publication, with an incredible collection of digitised medieval world maps from the British Library and beyond, all online, annotated and waiting to be explored.” This collection is published “in a visually navigable, text-searchable, translated format that makes their intricacies much more accessible to modern minds.” Click here to read more instructions and to start exploring this collection!

Australia

Obituaries. Subscription-based Genealogy Giant Ancestry.com has updated its databaseAustralia and New Zealand, Obituary Index, 2004-2018, which now has more than 370,000 records. According to the collection description, this recent collection is curated through online research: “The collection contains recent obituaries from hundreds of newspapers. We work with partners to scour the Internet regularly to find new obituaries and extract the facts into our database. Where available we include the original URL link to the source information. As the internet is a changing medium, links may stop working over time.”

Queensland immigration. The tech-savvy subscription-based Genealogy Giant MyHeritage.com has published a new collection with more than 100,000 records in it: Queensland, Australia Passenger and Crew Lists, 1852-1885. According to the site, “This collection is an index to inwards passenger and crew lists arriving in Brisbane and Moreton Bay between 1852 and 1885, sourced from the Collector of Customs (Brisbane) records, held at the National Archives of Australia, Brisbane (Shipping Inwards Series J715). Many of the ships have two lists–one prepared at the time of departure (classified in this index as a “Departure” list), and another prepared upon arrival (classified in this list as an “Arrival” list). The index covers over 100,000 individuals from 485 different voyages. A few outwards lists are also included. Information provided may include name of passenger or crew member, age, marital status, occupation, name of ship, departure date and place, and arrival date and place.”

South Australia immigration. The free Genealogy Giant, FamilySearch.org, has added more than 25,000 records to Australia, South Australia, Immigrants Ship Papers, 1849-1940. According to the site, this update includes “a record of births and deaths aboard, 1849-1867 and 1873-1885. Indexed records in collection include passenger lists arriving and departing from South Australia. Information on images varies but may include ship’s name, master’s name, tonnage, where bound, date, port of embarkation, names of passengers, ages, occupation, nationality, and port at which passengers have contracted to land.”

Canada

New Brunswick births. FamilySearch has also added nearly 24,000 names to its collection, New Brunswick Late Registration of Births, 1810-1899. “These records include indexes and images of provincial returns of births, 1869-1906 and late registrations, 1810-1906. The late registrations from 1810 to 1899 are arranged by birth year and then surname. Although the index is complete, images are being added to this collection as they become available. The returns of births, 1870-1906, and the late registration documents which were original certificates and some returns, 1810-1899, are arranged alphabetically within each year.”

England

Kent births. This collection isn’t huge, but it’s new and as the record of a male midwife, it’s fairly unusual: Kent, Lydd Midwife’s Birth Register 1757-1815. The site states, “The collection contains over 2,400 records transcribed from the original register of William Waylett (1729-1815), a male midwife who practiced in Lydd and the surrounding parishes on Romney Marsh in Kent….Transcripts span the years 1757 to 1815 and will reveal a combination of your ancestor’s birth date, birth place, parent’s names and any additional notes. Notes may include details of the pregnancy, delivery, mother, or payment for services.” If you find your ancestor in these records, we hope you’ll let us know about it!

Liverpool church records. Ancestry.com has added to several separate collections of Liverpool Anglican church records so that they now total more than 4 million records. You may want to search first the multi-record type Liverpool, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1659-1812, and follow up by searching within these individual collections of Liverpool, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1917, Liverpool, England, Church of England Confirmations, 1887-1921, Liverpool, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 and Liverpool, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1975.

Northumberland and Durham burials. Findmypast.com has added over 14,000 new records to Northumberland and Durham Memorial Inscriptions. According to the site, “The new additions cover churchyards in Birtley, Blyth, Boldon, Eighton Banks, Gosforth, Great Lumley, Penshaw, Ryhope, South Shields, Whitley Bay and Woodhorn. Each result includes a transcription of an original inscription. The amount of information listed may vary although most transcripts will include a combination of your ancestor’s burial year, birth date, death date, age at death, denomination, inscription, location, plot, stone type and any additional notes.”

Yorkshire burials. Findmypast.com has added more than 38,000 new records to its database, Yorkshire Burials. According to the site, the collection “now contains over 5.1 million records spanning more than 400 years of the county’s rich history.”

New Zealand

Nearly a half million records already appear in New Zealand, Cemetery Transcriptions, 1840-1981, a brand new free collection you can search at FamilySearch.org. Containing indexed names and images from various places across New Zealand, the records may include the cemetery name, name of deceased, death date, age at death and names of family members.

Scotland

Ancestry.com subscribers may now search a new collection with more than 3.2 million records: Aberdeen City and Former Counties of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1976. “This database contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can help place your ancestors in a particular place and possibly also reveal some information about property they owned. Coverage for the area and timeframe is not complete, so it may be helpful to check the browse menu on the right [of the database’s search page, linked to above] for details of which volumes are included.”

British Isles descendants Aberdeen voters Ancestrycom

Sample image from electoral roll of Aberdeenshire County, 1862, images 25-26 on Ancestry.com.

 

United States

Deceased physicians. Findmypast.com has published more than 700,000 biographical card files of deceased doctors from the American Medical Association. The Deceased Physician File (AMA), 1864-1968 is a browse-only collection. The site explains, “Each record consists of a transcript that may reveal when your ancestor died, where they practiced, where they attended school, where they were living at the time of their death, details relating to their career and their cause of death.”

Indiana marriages. Findmypast.com has added nearly 80,000 records of Indiana marriages (1818-1920) to its growing (and already enormous) collection of United States Marriage records. According to the site, “The collection includes both transcripts and images of original documents that will list a combination of your ancestor’s marriage date, location, the names of both the bride and groom, their birthplaces, birth dates, ages, residence and the names of both their parents.”

Massachusetts. The Boston Public Library has curated a collection of thousands of high school yearbooks from across the state of Massachusetts and published them online for free viewing at the Internet Archive. The collection page appears to comprise 4440 volumes dating back to 1892. (We read about this new collection in this online article at CBS Boston.)

Native American census. New and free to explore on FamilySearch.org is United States, Native American, Census of the Ute Tribe, 1944. Though a small collection (only about 2500 records), it may be key to helping you trace Ute ancestors and tribal membership. According to the site, these records come from an “index and images of Indian Census Roll taken on the Uintah and Ouray reservation in northeastern Utah during the month of January 1944 by the Office of Indian Affairs….Additional records for this tribe, reservation and agency will be found at the National Archives at Denver in Record Group 75 Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.”

North Carolina. A new collection of nearly 20,000 records at FamilySearch is North Carolina, County Divorce Records, 1926-1975. The collection description states, “This collection contains an index and images to the ‘index to former husbands and maiden names of divorced women’ covering the years 1926 to 1975. The documents included are affidavits, which are titled “Notice of Intention to Resume Use of Maiden Name.”

Also new for North Carolina is the online availability of some issues of the Charlotte Post, an African American weekly newspaper founded in 1878 and now available on DigitalNC. According to this article, “The first issues that we are making available online on DigitalNC cover 1988-1990, 1993, and 1996.” However, the landing page shows online issues back to 1971.

Ohio. Nearly 168,000 records have been added to the free FamilySearch collection, Ohio, Crawford County Obituaries, 1860-2004. These records come from the obituary file at the Crawford County Genealogical Society in Galion, Ohio. (We love societies and the work they do to compile and preserve local records!)

Tennessee. More than 150,000 records have been added to the free FamilySearch collection, Tennessee Death Records, 1914-1963. This collection includes indexed images of statewide death certificates.

Washington, D.C. FamilySearch.org has added nearly 100,000 record entries to District of Columbia, Glenwood Cemetery Records, 1854-2013. According to the site, “This collection includes images of cemetery records from 1854-2013 from the Glenwood Cemetery, a historic cemetery located on Lincoln Road NE in Washington, D.C.” This collection continues to grow as more images are added.

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!

New Genealogy Records on the Genealogy Giants

Millions of new genealogy records for Australia, the British Isles, the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Central and South America have been added to Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com, the “genealogy giants.

This week, we’ve sorted them by site, in case you’re just using one or two of them. But we do think you should know about them all! Click here for in-depth comparisons of the genealogy giants.

New genealogy records on Ancestry.com

Australia. Subscribers may search a new collection, Victoria, Australia, Asylum Records, 1853-1940. According to the description, “This collection is comprised of Asylum Records between 1853-1940 from the Public Record Office Victoria. The following information will typically be found: name of patient, age and birth place of patient, date admitted into asylum, reason they were admitted and photographs also occasionally appear.”

England. The new collection, Worcestershire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1541-1812, “is a collection of historical parish registers from Worcestershire, England…The records include baptisms/christenings, burials, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, obituaries, tax lists, wills, and other miscellaneous types of records. All of the data was converted as it was originally presented in various published registers and books.”

Another new collection, Liverpool, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1970 “contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in Liverpool, who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can help place your ancestors in a particular place and possibly also reveal a bit about property they owned.”

Poland. A new index, USHMM: Poland, Jewish Holocaust Survivors Registered in Warsaw, 1945-1946, “was indexed by World Memory Project contributors from the digitized holdings of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum…This database contains more than 31,000 registration cards completed by Jewish survivors in Warsaw after the war, in order to register with the Central Committee of Polish Jews (Centralny Komitet Żydów w Polsce). While the cards themselves were compiled in Warsaw, only 15,270 individuals have Warsaw listed as their postwar residence. The original documents are held by the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland.”

New York. A new collection, New York State, Marriage Index, 1881-1967 “consists of indexes of marriages from the state of New York between the years 1881 and 1967. The collection contains only indexes to records, but the certificate number can be used to order a copy of the original certificate. Details vary, but may include names of bride or groom, marriage date, and place and certificate number.

Scotland. The new collection, Edinburgh, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1966, “contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in Edinburgh, Scotland, who were eligible to vote in elections.” Another new collection, Fife, Scotland, School Admissions and Discharges, 1867-1916, “is a collection of School Admission and Discharges for schools in Fife, Scotland…These records are lists of children who were admitted to and discharged from schools. When education was required, children could be discharged from their schooling if they were needed to work to help support the family. The records vary by school and some are more detailed than others.”

United Kingdom. A new Ancestry.com collection, UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939, “lists the employees, both civil and military, of the East India Company and later, the India Office. You may be able to find (where available): Name, Military Rank, Place of residence or military service, Date of death, Place of death, Date of marriage and Name of parents.”

New genealogy records on FamilySearch.org

Because there’s so much to find on FamilySearch.org (in so many different places), we recommend you consult an expert resource like the Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch by Dana McCullough.

Check out these collections—all of them free:

Australia. Over a half million indexed records have been added to the collection, Australia Cemetery Inscriptions, 1802-2005. The site describes the collection as “Cards of cemetery inscriptions from many cemeteries throughout Australia. The majority of the cemeteries are in Queensland, but there are some in New South Wales, Norfolk Island, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Some cards include information culled from local newspapers which sometimes include birth and marriage announcements.”

Austria. Nearly 200,000 digital images and nearly 300,000 indexed names have been added to Austria, Vienna Population Cards, 1850-1896. These are described as “population cards for individual residents of the city of Vienna, Austria. The cards include: name; birth date and place; marital status; old and new places of residence; and dates of arrival and departure. Frequently the names of the spouse and children are listed. Many people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Eastern Europe passed through Vienna and may be included on these cards.”

Brazil. Nearly 100,000 indexed names have been added to Brazil, Santa Catarina, Catholic Church Records, 1714-1977. These are “baptism, marriage, and death records created by various Catholic parishes and diocese in the state of Santa Catarina. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection.”

Colombia. A new collection with more than 170,000 indexed names is Colombia, Diocese of Barranquilla, Catholic Church Records, 1808-1985. These are “Catholic Church records created by parishes in the Diocese of Barranquilla, Colombia. These records include: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, marriage investigation files, deaths, and indexes. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable as part of this collection. Additional indexed records will be published as they become available.”

El Salvador. Nearly 200,000 indexed names have been added to El Salvador Civil Registration, 1704-2001. According to the description, these records are “Births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created by civil registration offices in El Salvador.”

Peru. Nearly 275,000 indexed names have been added to Peru, Lima, Civil Registration, 1874-1996. These are “births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created by civil registration offices in the department of Lima, Peru.”

Russia. Over 180,000 record images have been published online in a new collection, Russia, Karelia Poll Tax Census (Revision Lists), 1782-1858. These are “images of family lists for the tax-paying population (about 95% of the population) conducted primarily in the years 1782, 1795, 1811, 1816, 1833-1834, 1850-1851, and 1857-1858. Some outlying years are included. Localities reflect the places that existed during the period of the Russian Empire since the records were created at that time.”

New genealogy records on Findmypast.com

England: Derbyshire Parish Records. “Brand new records covering the parishes of Alvaston, Boulton, Chellaston, Holbrook, Longford, Newton Solney and Wilne have been added to our collection of Derbyshire Parish records, including: 255,626 baptisms; 126,083 marriages; and 16,902 burials.…Parish records generally begin from 1538 after the Church of England mandated the keeping of parish registers in 1537. Baptisms, marriages and burials were all recorded in a single volume until 1774, when the law changed to require a separate marriage register and another one for banns (or proclamations of an intent to marry). Standardized forms for these registers appeared in 1812.”

US Catholic parish records

  • Illinois (Archdiocese of Chicago). Search over 411,000 baptismal registers, over 153,000 parish marriage records, over 37,000 parish burial records and over 1.9 million cemetery records (burial index cards, burial registers, daily burial logs, and registers of cemetery lot owners). The parish records span from the late 1800s up to 1925 and the cemetery records from 1864-1989. In baptismal records, discover the date and location of baptisms, the names of parents and family residence. Marriage records include “the couple’s marriage date, marriage location, the names of their parents and the names of any witnesses.” All have both transcripts and images of original records. The Archdiocese of Chicago was first established in 1843 and serves the Catholic population of Cook and Lake Counties in northeastern Illinois.
  • Maryland (Archdiocese of Baltimore). Subscribers may now browse “over 54,000 individual baptism, marriage, burial, communion, and confirmation registers from the Archdiocese of Baltimore in their entirety. The registers span the years from 1782 to 1918 and can provide a variety of important biographical details about your ancestor.” Click here to start browsing!
  • New York (Archdiocese of NY). “Search brand new indexes of Sacramental Registers, released in partnership with the Archdiocese of New York, of both baptisms and marriages “covering the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in New York City, as well as the Counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster, and Westchester. The records date back to 1785, span more than 130 years of the region’s history and come from more than 230 parishes across the Archdiocese.

New genealogy records on MyHeritage.com

Get the most out of MyHeritage.com, a genealogy giant with a global user base and free family websites! Check out our essential (yet inexpensive) MyHeritage.com Quick Reference Guide, available in the Genealogy Gems store.

England & Wales: 1939 Register. This huge addition was announced during RootsTech 2018 last week. According to a press release, “Prepared on the eve of World War II, with 33 million searchable records, the 1939 Register is the most complete census-like collection for the population of England and Wales between 1911 and 1951….For each household member, the 1939 Register records name, gender, address, birth date, marital status, place of residence, and occupation….The 1939 Register collection is not exclusive, but other than MyHeritage, it is currently available on only one other website [Findmypast.com]. The initial collection on MyHeritage includes an index, without images.”

Canada: Canadian Obituaries, 1997-2017 is a new collection of “2 million records, documenting obituaries and memorials from the 10 Canadian provinces, spanning mostly 1997-2017. It includes the name of the deceased, the date of death, the publication source including locality information, and the text of the obituary or memorial — in English or French depending on the source. When available, a photograph of the deceased is also included.”

Share with your friends!

Who do you know with ancestors in Australia? England? Scotland? Austria? The United States? Poland? Brazil? Peru? Russia? The other countries mentioned above? Why not take a second and share this post with them? Thank you–you’re a gem!

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!

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.

Pin It on Pinterest

MENU