by Lisa Cooke | Sep 23, 2016 | 01 What's New, Irish, Records & databases
We are digging deep into these new and updated genealogical records this week. We begin with several genealogical records for Ireland and Scotland, then new additions in Argentina. To end our list, a couple of fun finds in Minnesota and the state of Washington!
Ireland – Valuation Office Books
New collections have been added to Findmypast and the first is titled Ireland Valuation Office Books. With just under 2 million records, this collection contains several types of manuscript records including field books, house books, quarto books, rent books, survey books, and more.
Each record includes both a transcript and an image of the original document. The amount and type of information will vary depending on the date and nature of the document. Some book types, such as tenure books, include notations about the property as well as notes on the cost of rent and additional observations. House books include descriptions of the property. Quarto books include observations about the tenement.
Ireland – Will Registers
Also new at Findmypast, Ireland, Original Will Registers, 1858-1920 is a collection with over 181,000 records. These records are derived from district courts and held by the National Archives of Ireland. Wills from Northern Ireland are included, up until 1917. Each of the records contain a transcript and an image of the original source document.
Each transcript will provide you with a name, whether the person is heir, executor, or deceased, name of the deceased, and whether the document is a will, grant of probate, or an administration. From the images, you can determine dates, address of the parish, names of other heirs, and other various details.
The images provide much more detail about your ancestor’s will. Most entries have your ancestor’s death date, death place and who inherited the deceased person’s property, and processions. The will can provide the names of many other relations and explain their family connections.
Some wills are more than one page, so you will need to use the arrow on the right side of the image to continue reading the document.
Ireland – Church Records
Lastly, Findmypast has added the new collection titled Ireland, Catholic Qualification and Convert Rolls, 1701-1845. You can search lists of over 50,000 Irish Catholics who swore loyalty to the crown or converted to Protestantism. As a note of interest, Catholics were restricted from owning property or having businesses during the Penal Laws of the 18th century. Because of this, many chose to either convert to the Church of Ireland or swear loyalty to the crown so they qualified for certain rights.
Each record contains a transcript and an image of the original entry. The amount of information varies, but you should be able to find a name, an address, occupation, date of conversion or qualification, date of enrollment or court hearing, and the court.
Glasgow – Electoral Registers
Ancestry has made available over 100 years of electoral registers from the Mithcell Library’s family history collection. These voter rolls have been digitized and can be found in the collection titled Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1857-1962.
Electoral registers may provide a name and place of residence, a description of property, and qualifications to vote. Registers were compiled at a local level, with names appearing alphabetically within the wards or districts. Many of the registers in this database have been indexed electronically, which allows you to search them by name, but if you’re searching for a somewhat common name it will be helpful to know the area in which your ancestor lived to narrow your results.
Remember: Parliamentary Division boundaries may have changed over time. If you are looking for a particular parish or place, try searching using the key word field rather than browsing the image sets listed by Division.
Korea – Various Records
Though these two new Korean database collections hold few records in number and they are browse-only at this time at FamilySearch, they are a wonderful step in the right direction. Korean records of genealogical value are not always easily found online. These new Korean collections include:
Korea, Local History, 655-1935 – A small collection of local histories and town records from Korea. The records are written in Korean using Chinese hanja characters. This collection will be published as images become available, so check back from time to time to see what’s new.
Korea, School Records, 1958 – Only 149 images are digitized at this time. We will be watching this closely and update you as new records become available.
In the meantime, see what other collections FamilySearch has for Korea by clicking here.
Argentina – Cordoba – Church Records
FamilySearch has also e
xpanded their Argentina Catholic Church Records in their collection titled Argentina, Cordoba, Catholic Church Records, 1557-1974. This collection nearly doubled with newly digitized and indexed records.
These records are in Spanish. This collection of church records includes baptism, confirmation, marriage, divorce, and death records for parishes in the Córdoba Province.
Catholic Church parish registers are a major record available to identify individuals, parents, and spouses before 1930. After this date, civil authorities began registering vital statistics, which by law included people of all religions.
United States – Washington – Marriage Records
Updated at Ancestry, Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013 contains both images and indexes extracted from various records of marriages in Washington.
Marriage records offer the basic facts such as bride, groom, date, and place. These images of marriage certificates may also include additional information such as:
- addresses
- ages
- race
- birthplaces
- occupations
- marital status (single, divorced)
- whether a first marriage
- fathers’ names and birthplaces
- mothers’ names, maiden names, and birthplaces
This database does not contain an image for every document included in the index.
United States – Washington – Naturalizations
Washington, Naturalizations, 1853-1980 database has been updated at Ancestry and contains records created as aliens applied for U.S. citizenship in the state of Washington. It includes both original records and an index extracted from naturalization documents. You will find:
- Certificates of Arrival
- Declarations on Intent
- Petitions for Naturalization
- Oaths of Allegiance
- Certificates of Naturalization
This database does not contain an image for every document included in the index.
Details contained on naturalization records varies based on the year. However, you may be able to find the following valuable information:
- name
- birth date
- country of origin
- arrival date
- place of arrival
- spouse
- children
- document type
- county
United States – Minnesota – Obituaries
FamilySearch expanded two large collections this week and one of those is the Minnesota, Obituaries, 1865-2006. Even though only about 73,000 records have been indexed, there are over 132,000 digital images in the browse-only section.
These obituaries include an index and images of newspaper obituary files filmed by FamilySearch at the historical societies in Minnesota. Indexed records and additional images will be added to this collection as they become available, so be sure to check back frequently.
Many of these digitized records are referred to as obituary cards, which means that the information has been abstracted from the original source. These cards usually contain the following information:
- Name of the deceased
- Age
- Death date
- Names of parents, spouse, children, siblings or other relatives
- Name of newspaper, date and place of publication
- Birth date and place
- Other details such as military service
We hope you enjoy the many new and updated genealogical record collections this week and that you make some new discoveries for your family tree. Don’t forget to share this post with your genealogy friends and help them in their research journey as well!
by Lisa Cooke | Jul 1, 2016 | 01 What's New, Canadian, Findmypast, Records & databases
This week’s new record collections reach from sea to shining sea. Keep reading for great genealogical records available for the United States, Scotland, and Canada.
UNITED STATES – RHODE ISLAND – COURT RECORDS
The Rhode Island Historical Society has launched a digital archive entitled “Colonial Justice: Preserving and Digitizing Early Rhode Island Court Records.” These new record collections cover the years of 1729-1812 for the counties of Providence, Kent, and what was known as Kings County (now known as Washington County.) The online records are free and open to the public.
SCOTLAND – MILITARY
In honor of the Battle of the Somme on July 1st, 1916, ScotlandsPeople is offering free access to the stories of five Scots and one French soldier who lost their lives in the Battle. These stories include digital images of several records in which the soldier appears and even some great personal photographs and biographies.
CANADA – CENSUS
MyHeritage is always adding new record collections. This week, they have added the 1911 Canadian Census. This census was conducted in May and June of 1911 and enumerated over 7 million people. Questions asked on this census include: name, relationship to head of household, marital status, birth month and year, age at last birthday, nationality, immigration year, naturalization year, and religion. Be sure to check out these digital images if you have some research to do in Canada.
UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, AND IRELAND – FREE ACCESS
In case you hadn’t heard, Findmypast is offering free access to their complete record collections for the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland. This free access began on June 29th and will run through July 6th. Take advantage of over 1 billion online records like naturalizations, marriages, and censuses.
Please share these new record collections!
As always, we hope you feel like sharing this week’s new and updated genealogical records with your friends. (Let them know about free access to Findmypast, too!)
by Lisa Cooke | Jan 29, 2016 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Here’s our weekly update of new genealogy records online, designed for you to scan them quickly and click to the ones that matter for your family history. Thumbs up for free access to the Irish censuses of 1901 and 1911!
ENGLAND MARRIAGES. An enormous collection of about 2.3 million names from over 1,500 parishes across 29 English counties is in Findmypast’s new database, England, Phillimore Marriage Registers, 1531-1913
IRELAND CENSUS. MyHeritage.com has posted over 8.7 million indexed records (with images) from the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses to its UK and Ireland Census Collection. These collections are FREE to search. According to the collection description, “The 1901 census lists – for every member of the household – name, age, gender, relationship to the head of the household, religion, occupation, marital status, county of birth (except for foreign births, which give country only), whether the individual spoke Irish (Gaelic), and whether the individual could read or write.” The 1911 census adds the numbers of years a woman had been married to her current husband; children born to them and children living.
KANSAS CENSUS. Ancestry.com has updated its Kansas, City and County Census Records, 1919-1961
. “This collection contains various city and county census records and population schedules from Kansas. They include information about inhabitants of a town, enumeration of livestock, and agriculture. Prior to 1953 the population schedules list the address, name of the head of household, and the number of individuals living in the household. Beginning in 1953 the schedules list all the members of the household and their ages.”
MISSOURI CHURCH. Ancestry.com subscribers can now search Missouri, Methodist Church Records, 1856-1970
a new database of indexed images from various United Methodist churches in Missouri. Baptisms, marriages, memberships, burials and lists of clergy are included.
SCOTLAND. A new collection of Scottish parish and other records is now searchable at Findmypast. Scotland Registers & Records dates back to the early 1600s. Record types “range from monumental inscriptions to a novel on rural life in 18th century Scotland.”
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by | Oct 30, 2015 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, FamilySearch, Military, Records & databases, United States
Take a look at our review of new genealogy records online this week for Arkansas, Indiana and Montana, along with Scotland deaths at sea and a Revolutionary War index. For which of your ancestors should you search in these?
ARKANSAS PROBATE. Ancestry’s collection of Arkansas Wills and Probate
(1818-1998) has been updated. The collection now includes images for about 96% of Arkansas counties.
INDIANA RECORDS. A new Ancestry web index to Indiana deaths (1812-2011), hosted by the Marion Public Library, pointed us to more online resources on the library website. These are strongest for Grant County but may extend to other Indiana counties: the Indiana History and Genealogy Database of records in the library’s Indiana Room (marriage, cemetery, obituary, birth, death, funeral home, orphan’s home records and more) and browsable images of The Grant County Medical Society Book.
MONTANA VITAL RECORDS. Nearly a half million births and deaths from the U.S. state of Montana have been added to a free FamilySearch collection. So far, the counties included are Broadwater, Deer Lodge, Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, Powell and Silver Bow.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS (U.S.). A browsable group of rosters of Revolutionary War soldiers and sailors (1775-1783) is newly viewable on FamilySearch. State rosters for Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts (partial), New Jersey, Vermont and Virginia are included. These materials appear to be sourced from the Museum of the American Revolution.
SCOTLAND DEATHS AT SEA. A new database, Returns of Deaths at Sea, 1902-1905, is now online at Scotland’s People. This data is now complete for Scotland for 1855-1905. The registers list “Scottish seamen and passengers who were reported to the Registrar General for Scotland as having died. When ships sank there were often fatalities, but most of the deaths in British waters were of fishermen who drowned.”
Thank you for sharing the great news about these new genealogy records online with your friends and genealogy societies! You’re a gem!
by | Oct 9, 2015 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, FamilySearch, Records & databases, United States
Every week we blog about new genealogy records online. Which ones might help you find your family history? With whom should you share this good news? New this week: Arizona birth records, Brazil immigration cards, Colorado divorces, Illinois marriages, Kentucky pensions, New Zealand probate records, Scotland valuations and WWII draft registrations.
ARIZONA BIRTHS. A new database of Arizona birth records at Ancestry covers 1835-1915. “When available, each record contains the full name of the individual, the full names of their parents, birth date, death date, county of birth, as well as an image of the original birth certificate.”
BRAZIL IMMIGRATION CARDS. Nearly a million indexed records and images have been added to a free FamilySearch collection of 20th century immigration cards for São Paulo, Brazil.
COLORADO DIVORCES. A new index to divorce records in Colorado (1851-1985) is available to Ancestry subscribers. “When available, each record contains the full names of both individuals, their date and location of divorce, as well as the certificate number.”
ILLINOIS MARRIAGES. A new index to Illinois marriages (1860-1920) is now searchable at Ancestry. It is still incomplete; records will continue to be added. Look for names of bride and groom, marriage date and place in these records indexed by the state genealogical society in partnership with the state archive.
KENTUCKY PENSIONS. More than 25,000 records have been indexed in a free FamilySearch collection of Confederate pension applications for Kentucky. The records were “filed by surviving former Confederate soldiers or their widows who lived in Kentucky” after the state legislature authorized the pensions, so they are dated relatively late: from 1912-1950.
NEW ZEALAND PROBATE. Nearly three-quarters of a million images have been added to a free FamilySearch collection of probate records from New Zealand. According to the description, “The records were created by various courts throughout New Zealand. Although the index will contain entries up through 1998 when all images have been captured, the images for probates issued during the past 50 years are unavailable for viewing.”
SCOTLAND VALUATION ROLLS. The 1855 valuation rolls for Scotland are now searchable at ScotlandPeople (you’ll have to register/login to search). According to the site, “The rolls contain the category and location or address of the property, the names of the owner, tenant and occupier, and details of the assessed rental value of all properties over the value of £4. Occupants of very humble dwellings may therefore not be included in the rolls.” THESE RECORDS ARE FREE TO SEARCH THROUGH OCTOBER 13 (click here).
U.S. WWII DRAFT REGISTRATIONS. Over a million indexed WWII draft registration cards from 1942 have been added to a free FamilySearch collection. Commonly known as the “old man’s draft,” these records pertain to men ages 45-62 who weren’t already in the military. A comparable collection is already searchable at Ancestry.
Thank you for sharing the news about these new genealogy records online with your friends and genealogy buddies. Just copy and paste the URL into an email or share it on your favorite social media platform. You’re a gem!
