by | Jul 10, 2014 | 01 What's New, British, Findmypast, History, Military, Records & databases, Research Skills
This summer, the world is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War 1. It’s hard to imagine any family that wasn’t touched by it in some way.
If you want to learn more, here are 5 great resources:
1. The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century website. This site was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in the U.S., so it approaches the war from an American perspective. A press release describes it as “an authoritative overview [of the War], one that covers the most important facts and interpretations, is well organized, visually appealing, and guided by sound scholarship.” The site is based on the award-winning, 8-part television series of the same name.
2. The National Archives First World War website. This is the U.K. National Archives, holder of “official UK government records of the First World War, including a vast collection of letters, diaries, maps and photographs.” On the site you can chat with a reader advisor, read (or help tag) war diaries, and more. They plan 5 years’ worth of programming to commemorate the war, so check buy medication online mexico back at the site regularly.
3. Look on FindMyPast.com for close to a half million British Airmens’ service records, now online. According to a press release, these “contain information about an individual’s peacetime and military career, as well as physical description, religious denomination and family status. Next of kin are also often mentioned.” It’s free to search but there’s a small fee for downloading records.
4. 100 Years, 100 Legacies website (as shown above). The Wall Street Journal has selected 100 legacies of the Great War that continue to shape our lives, from plastic surgery to contraception and more. Check this out. It’s pretty fascinating!
5. The July/August 2014 issue of Family Tree Magazine (U.S.). It’s got a World War I timeline, a guide to researching WWI military service records (U.S.), and how to research women’s service in the Great War. This is a really nice issue.
Check out these resources during the WWI 100 year anniversary and think about what other resources you may have missed: what’s in your own family memory, home archive (or your grandma’s attic) or available through another website you know?
by Lisa Cooke | Jun 3, 2014 | 01 What's New, Australian, Inspiration, Maps, Military, Research Skills
Got a mystery grave in your family history? It’s not uncommon. It can happen for many reasons: no headstone, unidentified body, paperwork missing or lost, graves moved, cemeteries abandoned.
During battles and the immediate aftermath, soldiers’ remains can also be lost. That’s what happened to Private Will Phillips, a “popular jockey” from Australia who joined the British forces during World War I.
Years later, Phillips’ great-nephew chased down his burial place. It wasn’t easy: he had to consult cryptic terrain and battlefield maps created during the chaos of war. He compared cemetery records of known and unknown burials. But he did eventually locate his Uncle Will’s grave next to another soldier’s (mismarked as someone else’s). In the process, he made another breathtaking discovery: a photograph of his uncle taken on the day he was killed in combat–standing next to the man he’s now known to be buried alongside. Read the full story and see photographs of Uncle Will here.
by Lisa Cooke | Apr 14, 2014 | 01 What's New, British, History, images, Inspiration, Military, Photographs
British volunteers for “Kitchener’s Army” waiting for their pay in the churchyard of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. August 1914. Wikimedia Commons Image
One man has spent years rescuing thousands of WWI photos, letters and other artifacts from the trash. The full story, reported recently by the U.K’s MailOnline, tells the story of this heroic effort.
According to the article, dustman (garbage collector) Bob Smethurst began started this rescue mission about thirty years ago. As he dumped waste cans, he would sometimes spot old pictures, letters and other memorabilia spilling into the masher. He’d rescue them when he could. Now he’s got an enormous collection.
Mr. Smethurst noticed a lot of this World War I material being thrown out during the 1970s and 1980s as veterans died of old age. He guesses that a similar amount of World War II material has been heading to landfills or burn piles in recent years.
Have you ever rescued someone’s family artifacts from oblivion? Tell us about it on the Genealogy Gems Facebook page. A hat tip to Premium Member Kimberly for alerting me to this article!
by Lisa Cooke | Mar 13, 2014 | 01 What's New, British, Inspiration, Irish, Military
Tyne Cot Cemetery. Photo by Sgt Jez Doak, RAF/MOD, via Wikimedia Commons at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/War_Graves_at_Tyne_Cot_Cemetary%2C_Belgium_MOD_45156481.jpg
The Press (York, UK) recently reported a story about 10 brothers who all enlisted to fight in World War I and the hubbub that followed.
“The family became minor celebrities because of the brothers’ service, and their story was used as a recruitment tool as the war went on,” reports the Press. Fortunately, most of these Irish immigrant boys came home alive. The story reports the recent discovery of one of their graves.
Have you ever found something like this in your family–stories of extraordinary sacrifice made during wartime? Tell us about it on the Genealogy Gems Facebook page!
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 1, 2013 | 01 What's New, FamilySearch, Military, Records & databases
FamilySearch recently added another 192 million+ images and indexed records from North and South America and Europe to its growing FREE online collections. In the list at the bottom of this post you’ll find content from Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, the United States, and Wales.
Notable collection updates include the 314,910 images from the Spain, Province of Barcelona, Municipal Records, 1387–1936,
collection, the 576,176 indexed records from the United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907–1933, collection, and the 189,395,454
Sample image from “United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933.” Index and images. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : accessed 2013.
indexed records from the United States Public Records Index.
Here’s an example of a V.A. pension card, created by the Bureau of Pensions and Veterans Administration to record payments to veterans, widows and other dependents. FamilySearch describes the cards this way: “On the front of the cards for invalid veterans are recorded the name of veteran, his certificate number, his unit or arm of Service, the disability for which pensioned, the law or laws under which pensioned, the class of pension or certificate, the rate of pension, the effective date of pension, the date of the certificate, any fees paid, the name of the pension agency or group transferred from (if applicable), the date of death, the date the Bureau was notified, the former roll number, and ‘home.’ On the reverse side of the form appears the name of the veteran, his certificate number, and the record of the individual payments. The army and navy widow’s cards are similar to the invalids’ cards with the addition of the widow’s name and occasionally information regarding payments made to minors, but they do not indicate if the veteran had a disability.”
|
Collection
|
Indexed Records
|
Digital Images
|
Comments
|
| Brazil, Mato Grosso, Civil Registration, 1848-2013 |
0 |
126,870 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Brazil, Minas Gerais, Catholic Church Records, 1706-1999 |
0 |
827 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Brazil, Pernambuco, Civil Registration, 1804-2013 |
0 |
94,516 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Colombia, Catholic Church Records, 1600-2012 |
0 |
111,526 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Peru, Puno, Civil Registration, 1890-2005 |
0 |
176,918 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Spain, Province of Barcelona, Municipal Records, 1387-1936 |
0 |
314,910 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1839 |
0 |
2,552 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1842 |
0 |
2,851 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1845 |
0 |
3,062 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1850 |
0 |
2,968 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1860 |
0 |
20,530 |
New browsable image collection. |
| Switzerland, Fribourg, Census, 1870 |
0 |
22,554 |
New browsable image collection. |
| U.S., Alabama, County Marriages, 1809-1950 |
324,971 |
690,459 |
Added indexed records and images to an existing collection. |
| United States Public Records Index |
189,395,454 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933 |
576,176 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 |
644,004 |
0 |
Added indexed records to an existing collection. |
| Wales, Court and Miscellaneous Records, 1542-1911 |
0 |
84,676 |
Added images to an existing collection. |
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