New Genealogy Records for Ireland & Scotland

This Saint Patrick’s Day we’re highlighting new and updated genealogical collections for Ireland and Scotland! You’ll see new and updated records from Ancestry and Findmypast, with particular emphasis on newspaper additions including birth, marriage, and death notices. Plus Findmypast just released their new Irish newspaper archive of transcripts that were compiled by the celebrated Irish genealogist Rosemary ffolliott. 

Featured: Irish Records

Genealogy giant subscription website Ancestry.com has a new collection of Cork, Ireland, Marriage Licence Bonds Index, 1623-1750. “The original rolls from which the printed index was created are held in the National Archives of Ireland (formerly the Public Record Office of Ireland). A Marriage Licence Bond was entered into before a Bishop, prior to the granting of the Marriage Licence, with the purpose of ensuring that the impending Marriage was legally sound. Two solvent individuals (one of which was usually the bridegroom) entered into the bond for a stated sum.”

From this collection, you might discover your ancestor’s name, their spouse’s name, and the year and place they were married. 

Additionally, Ancestry has updated their collection for the Northern Ireland newspaper, The Belfast Newsletter (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1738-1925. The Belfast News-Letter began publication in 1737 as the Belfast News-Letter and General Advertiser

This is a fascinating database because it chronicles almost two centuries of Irish history, including the Great Famine, the country’s own political upheavals, and World War I, when the paper printed long lists of death notices after actions such as the famed Ulster Division’s attack during the Battle of the Somme. Genealogically significant items researchers may find in the News-Letter’s pages include, amongst others:

  • death or memorial notices
  • notices from or about ships or passengers that arrived safely
  • people taking out game certificates
  • notices from trade groups or guilds
  • premiums paid
  • notices of executions
  • marriages
  • births
  • lists of sheriffs
  • announcements for ships that will be leaving

Irish Newspapers Update

Findmypast just released the Irish Newspaper Transcript Archive, Ffolliott Collection 1756-1850! Search this collection of Irish newspaper transcripts that were compiled by the celebrated Irish genealogist Rosemary Ffolliott. Discover if your Irish ancestors had their birth, marriage or death announcement printed in a newspaper. Each record includes a transcript and original image.

Additionally, Findmypast’s newspaper website, The British Newspaper Archive, has a new Irish newspaper and added additional pages to the following collections:

Scottish Records

Find your Scottish ancestors in Findmypast’s recent additions and updates to their genealogical records for Scotland. 

Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Hearth Tax 1691 – Use this collection to find out the number of hearths in your ancestor’s home, which can provide you with clues about the family’s wealth and status. In 1690, Parliament granted a tax of 14 shillings on hearths including kilns. Heads of households, landowners, and tenants were liable for the tax, only hospitals and the poor living on charity from the parish were exempt from the tax. 

People of Banffshire 1334-1851 – Explore more than 28,000 extracts that taken from original Kirk Session minutes. Responsible for parish business, and the morals of the parishioners, the Kirk Session was the lowest level of a church court and minutes typically contained a detailed account of the parish business.

Newspaper Death Reports – Uncover details surrounding your Scottish ancestor’s death amongst more than 72,000 death notices printed in Scottish newspapers between1807 and 1990. Discover more about your relative’s life, while searching these publications you may be able to find out the date of their death and the names of their parents or spouse.

Renfrewshire, Paisley Poll Tax 1695 – Search these Poll Tax records from 1695. Each record includes a transcript of the original record, the amount of information in each record varies, you may find a combination of your ancestor’s occupation and the name of their employer, spouse or parent.

About the Author: Lacey Cooke

About the Author: 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!

Three Strategies for Finding an Ancestor in Scottish Records

What a treat it is to have Amanda Epperson, PhD joining us here on Genealogy Gems! Amanda is an expert on Scottish genealogy research, and is the author of The Family Tree Scottish Genealogy Guide. If you even suspect that you have Scottish roots keep reading because Amanda is about to share some of her top strategies to help you find your ancestors in Scottish records. 

Scottish Genealogy Starts with Scottish Records

If your love of tartan, bagpipes, and kilts equals your love of family history research, you are likely hoping to find an ancestor who was born in Scotland. Or perhaps nothing would surprise you more than to find a Scottish ancestor. In either case, the next step is to find this ancestor in Scottish records.

As with all immigrants, the first step to finding them in their homeland is to research their lives extensively in America before searching for them in Scottish records. Once you do that, use these three strategies to locate your ancestor in Scottish records.

1. An Important Divide in Scottish Genealogy

First, determine whether your Scottish-born ancestor arrived in the United States before or after 1855, the year Statutory (or Civil) Registration began in Scotland. This year is an important divide in Scottish Genealogy. Before 1855, you will need to start your research with the Old Parish Records (commonly known as the OPR) and after 1855 you can use the Statutory Records. With this knowledge, you will be able to organize your research and manage expectations of the data you will find. If your ancestors came to America after 1855, then they and their relatives should be included in Statutory records. These records are extremely detailed and each type invariably includes the name of an individual’s parents. Parish records are an amazing resource, but they are not complete and were not well-kept in all parishes. Consequently, many people do not appear in the OPR.

Scottish Parish Records

Indexes for parish records are available at many websites (for example https://www.familysearch.org). Images of these documents can be viewed at your Local Family History Center or an affiliate library (https://www.familysearch.org/locations/). Statutory Registration records (called civil records in the FamilySearch catalog) are partially indexed at FamilySearch and select years are also available at your local Family History Center. ScotlandsPeople (https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/) has a complete set of OPR and Statutory Records available on a pay-per-view basis.

Image above: When you download Statutory records from ScotlandsPeople, like this death record for John Sharp Hood, complete citation information is included. Photo Credit: 1908 Hood, John Sharp (Statutory Register of Deaths 488/2) ©Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland.

2. Determining Your Scottish Ancestor’s Birthplace

Second, determine your ancestor’s Scottish birth place. The name of the parish is best, but you may be able to manage with just the county if you ancestor’s name was uncommon or you know the names of several of their family members. Check available U.S. records for this information. For example: vital records, post-1906 Naturalization records (before this date Naturalizations usually only record the country of origin), passenger lists, county or local histories, or in correspondence. If you are really lucky, you may find your ancestor in the series of books by David Dobson who mines both U.S. and U.K. records for emigrant Scots. Several of his books are available at Ancestry.com and are searchable. Location is a key fact because many Scots have the same name and many surnames (like Smith, Campbell, and Stewart) are quite common. Additionally, the same surname does not guarantee a family relationship, even for more uncommon names.  

Many passenger lists record an emigrant’s last place of residence, which for Europeans was their place of birth. However, due to high rates of internal migration in Scotland, this may not be true for many Scottish immigrants. Keep an eye out for other locations associated with you ancestor; also be sure to check if the passenger list records the name and residence of the immigrants nearest relation in the old country. It is possible that this is your ancestor’s actual place of origin.

3. The Importance of Name Variations in Scottish Genealogy

scottish genealogy guide

Click the image to get the book (thanks for using our links and supporting the free Genealogy Gems Podcast.

Third, determine all variations of your ancestor’s first and last names, especially if your ancestor was from the Scottish Highlands. In this region, the bulk of the population spoke Scots-Gaelic until the nineteenth century. However, all church records were kept in English, even if the minister spoke Scots-Gaelic. This meant that all Gaelic names, both first and last, needed to be rendered in English. There was often no consistency in how this was done. Some English renderings were reasonably close to the Scots-Gaelic name, but others were inspired by biblical or Latin names. Two commonly interchangeable first names include Donald and Daniel, and Angus and Aeneas. Highlanders also easily changed surnames, especially when moving from the land of one landlord to another. These name changes are often included in parish registers as an “alias” as in McIntosh alias Cattanach. And when Gaelic speakers moved south, they often Anglicized their surnames, so MacThoimish in Inverness became Thomson in Glasgow. You can learn more about interchangeable names in a brief article by Alan G. McPherson (https://www.clan-macpherson.org/museum/documents/alang12.pdf).

Scottish Genealogy Success

While finding any immigrant ancestor can be a challenge, and Scots are no different, there is the advantage that most of the records are in English, are easily available, and many of have been indexed. Following these three basic steps will help you identify your ancestors in Scottish records. Read more about newly available Scottish records here at Genealogy Gems

About the Author: Amanda Epperson, PhD

About the Author: Amanda Epperson, PhD

Amanda Epperson is the author of the book The Family Tree Scottish Genealogy Guide. Since completing her Ph.D. in history from the University of Glasgow in 2003, Amanda has taught history at the college level, researched and edited family histories, most recently for Genealogists.com, and written articles for a variety of publications including Family Tree Magazine and Your Genealogy Today. She blogs occasionally at the Scottish Emigration Blog.

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!

Millions of Obituaries from Around the World

Obituaries and death indexes feature prominently in recently-updated collections at Ancestry.com. These collections take us around the world: from Australia to the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, then to Germany and The Netherlands.

Featured: Obituaries and death indexes

Genealogy giant subscription website Ancestry.com has updated 17 collections, several of which relate to obituaries and other death records. Many of these collections focus on recent deaths, which may not seem as valuable at first glance. But many obituaries contain genealogical clues back one or two or more generations, helping you link ancestors and descendants to each other in your family trees.

Furthermore, clues about a person’s death can lead you to all kinds of additional records: civil or church death records, tombstone inscriptions, cemetery and funeral records, wills and probate records, and even memorials in church or civic publications. So this is one must-have record type for every possible person on your tree for the past 100 years, or even more!

All the following collections come from Ancestry.com, where you can go to Search > Catalog to find the individual collections named below. (Just enter the collection title in part or full.)

Australia/New Zealand obituaries

“Australia and New Zealand, Obituary Index, 2004-2018,” now has more than 377,000 records. This is a fairly recent collection, but we also reported last month on updates to a sister collection of Australian newspaper vital notices dating back to the 1830s.

British Isles obituaries and deaths

An offsite collection that’s indexed on Ancestry, “Web: UK, Coal Mining Accidents and Deaths Index, 1878-1935,” now has nearly 103,000 records. According to the collection landing page, “This data is published by The Coalmining History Resource Centre. You can often find additional information by visiting the source website, including references, publication information, comments, historical context, and even images.”

The “England and Wales, Death Index, 2007-2017” at Ancestry.com now has more than 1.2 million records. The collection description says, “This collection is a compiled index that covers approximately 55% of the total deaths that occurred in this time period. This index provides death details for people in England and Wales, specifically their name, gender, date of birth or age at death, date of death, and residence place at death.”

“UK and Ireland, Obituary Index, 2004-2018” now claims more than 1.6 million records of recent deaths. “The collection contains 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.”

The “Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2017” now includes over 525,000 records. It’s “a compiled index that covers approximately 45% of the total deaths that occurred in this time period. This index provides death details for people in Scotland and Northern Ireland, specifically their name, gender, date of birth or age at death, date of death, and residence place at time of death. However, they do not include the General Register Office (GRO) reference information. The index also contains a small number of records for people in Jersey and Isle of Man.”

Canada obituaries and notarial records

Ancestry’s collection of “Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637-1935” now tops 16.5 million records! According to the site, “Notarial records are private agreements (contracts), written by notaries, who are considered legal professionals. This collection consists of notarial records for Quebec from the years 1637 to 1935. Each notary set up practice and kept sets of records for documents they created.”

Looking for Canadian obituaries? The “Canada, Obituary Collection, 1898-2018” now has more than 1.4 million entries. Its historical depth—more than 100 years—and its inclusion of recent deaths set it apart from some other obituary indexes reported here.

Germany vital records

The collection “Mainz, Germany, Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1798-1875” now has nearly 900,000 records. The site offers excellent background for this database: “The current capital of the Rhine-Palatinate state in Germany, Mainz has a rich and storied history….Since the late 18th century, Mainz has been at times under French, Prussian, and German rule, and for a brief spell, it was a democratic free state.

“Initially, registrations of births, marriages, and deaths were kept by religious denominations, but with French occupation in the 1790s, a system of civil registration modeled on the French system was implemented in 1798. This collection includes civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths beginning in 1798 and extending to 1875. In 1876, civil registration was implemented across unified Germany, and some of those records can be found in other Ancestry collections.”

Netherlands military Scandinavian genealogy obituaries

“Exercise Field Artillery Corps” album, image AKL092038, Netherlands Institute of Military History uploads at Flickr Creative Commons, https://www.flickr.com/photos/nimhimages/16026248719/.

The Netherlands: Obituaries and more

The Ancestry.com collection “Netherlands, Newspaper Announcements Index, 1795-1945” now has over 5 million records. “This collection consists of an index to announcements and advertisements from various newspapers. Approximately forty percent of the records are death (Overlijden) announcements. Just under one-quarter of the records are birth (Geboorte) announcements, and nearly as many are miscellaneous (Diversen) announcements or advertisements. The remaining records consist of marriage (Huwelijk) announcements. Details vary depending on the event….Also included is the name of the archive where the original record can be found, as well as a link to the record on the source website. In most cases, additional information about the original record will be available via that link. In some cases, images of the original records may be available via that link as well.”

United States obituary and death records

Two enormous collections of U.S. obituary and other death records have been updated at Ancestry.com. “U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-2018” has passed 9 million records. The site describes the collection as one harvested from cemetery and funeral home records all over the Internet (to which individual entries link, wherever possible). A related collection, “U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-2018,” now has nearly 40 million records, and is also described as a compilation of records gleaned from many resources online.

Got Oregon Trail ancestors? The “Willamette Valley, Oregon, Death Records, 1838-2006” collection now has more than 158,000 records. It “contains a collection of various death records for Willamette Valley, Oregon. Most are from Marion County. They include funeral home records, cemetery records, newspaper obituaries, and death certificates transcribed or compiled by members of the Willamette Valley Genealogical Society.”

Now topping 5 million records, the “New York, Death Index, 1852-1956” collection “consists of indices of deaths from the state of New York. Details vary, but may include the following information for the deceased: name, death date, death city, age at death, gender [and] certificate number.”

More to learn about obituaries

Not motivated enough yet to pursue obituaries for your relatives? Read our free article, 12 things you can learn in obituaries, and you’ll probably change your mind! An obituary isn’t just a record of a death: it’s often a window into a lifetime.

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

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!

New Genealogy Records Include UK Suffragettes and Travelers’ Records

New collections about Great Britain Suffragettes and travelers on the S.S. Great Britain headline this week’s roundup of new genealogy records online. Read here about more new genealogy records for England, Scotland and Ireland: parish records, newspapers and more.

Great Britain Suffragettes Collection free until March 8

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the first phase of women’s suffrage in England, genealogy giant Findmypast.com (together with The National Archives) has launched The Suffragette Collection. This new online collection of government records, digitized from originals at Kew, “reveals the struggles endured by the movement’s most ardent supporters and highlights the State’s response as it attempted to contain them,” says a company press release.

“Researchers can expect to find photographs, cabinet office papers, calendars of prisoners and Home Office papers on suffragette disturbances and prosecutions,” says Findmypast. “The collection also includes an index of women arrested between 1906 and 1914, the official police watch list recording the details of over 1,300 militant suffragettes, reports of prison conditions, force-feeding, police surveillance and much more….The collection brings together the stories of women from all classes who actively supported women’s suffrage, either by attending demonstrations and meetings or opting for militant ‘direct action.’”

Within days of its launch, the collection also added 271 issues of The Suffragette (later The Britannia, 1912-1918). “Edited by Christabel Pankhurst, it was the official organ of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU),” says Findmypast. It reported on “efforts made by the WSPU towards achieving women’s suffrage and detailing their support for the Allies during the Great War.”

S.S. Great Britain travelers and crew

You can now explore a free website with a searchable database of everyone who ever traveled on the S.S. Great Britain, both passengers and crew. Virtual exhibits on the Global Stories website also allow visitors to explore everyday life aboard the ship; what happened when people died, took ill, were hurt, or gave birth; what kinds of entertainment or discipline passengers could expect and more. You can even search departures and arrivals as the ship circumnavigated the globe 32 times and stopped at five continents between 1845 and 1970.

The Newark Advertiser Photo Archive

Thousands of images from The Newark Advertiser (UK) are now searchable online, thanks to volunteers who have been steadily digitizing and uploading images to the free Images from the Past gallery. According to a recent article in The Newark Advertiser, helpers “are working their way through thousands of old photographic negatives, some dating back to the 1940s. Because of their age, some of the negatives are becoming damaged or corroded so it is vital that they are digitized. They are also in a variety of formats, with the earliest on glass. The volunteers have worked through from the 1940s and are now nearing the 1970s.”

Newspapers

The British Newspaper Archive has recently added hundreds of thousands of digitized newspaper pages to current and newly-published titles. Here are some highlights:

  • North Star and Farmer’s Chronicle, 1895-1903 and 1905-1911 (NEW title)
  • Clifton Society, 1891-1892, 1894-1897, 1899-1916 (nearly 20,000 pages added) (NEW title)
  • Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 1885-1896 (NEW title)
  • Pearson’s Weekly, 1891-1911 (over 25,000 pages added) (NEW title)
  • Birmingham Daily Post, 1973, 1979 (nearly 15,000 pages added)
  • Neots Chronicle and Advertiser, 1855-1873, 1875-1886
  • Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, 1880-1881
  • Birmingham Daily Gazette, 1926, 1931
  • Lloyd’s List, 1889, 1894, 1896-1897, 1904, 1906-1909 (nearly 40,000 pages added!)
  • Northampton Chronicle and Echo, 1880-1882, 1884-1885, 1891, 1893-1894, 1896, 1899-1908, 1910, 1913-1915, 1918 (nearly 25,000 pages added)
  • Bristol Daily Post, 1860-1864, 1867-1873, 1875 (nearly 14,000 pages added) (NEW title)
  • Clifton and Redland Free Press, 1890-1895, 1898-1910, 1913-1931 (NEW title)
  • West Middlesex Herald, 1855-1858, 1860-1861, 1863-1870, 1890-1895 (NEW title)
  • Reading Observer, 1897-1898, 1900-1909, 1911-1914, 1921-1924 (over 12,000 pages added)
  • Kinross-shire Advertiser, 1850-1852, 1879-1884, 1890, 1892, 1900-1918
  • Leicester Herald, 1827-1842 (NEW title)
  • The Suffragette, 1912-1918 (NEW title)
  • Coventry Evening Telegraph, 1972-1979 (over 140,000 pages added!)
  • West Sussex County Times, 1874, 1877-1889, 1891-1892
  • Bristol Magpie, 1891, 1903, 1906-1907, 1911
  • Horfield and Bishopston Record and Montepelier & District Free Press, 1899-1911, 1913-1931
  • Middlesex & Surrey Express, 1887-1888, 1890-1895, 1899-1909 (over 11,000 pages added)
  • Croydon Chronicle and East Surrey Advertiser, 1870, 1875-1888, 1890-1892, 1894-1896, 1898-1908, 1911 (more than 14,000 pages added)
  • The Clifton & Redland Free Press, 1891-1931

England parish and probate records

The free genealogy giant, FamilySearch.org, has recently added significantly to its collections of England parish records:

The subscription-access genealogy giant Ancestry.com recently published the following collections:

Findmypast.com has updated its collection of Devon parish records, with over 30,000 new records in Baptisms, nearly 40,000 new records in Banns and nearly 80,000 new records in Marriages, about 31,000 new records in Burials, and all of these records (and more) browsable in its image collection of Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Registers.

More new genealogy records from the British Isles

Ireland. Ancestry.com has published a new collection, Clare, Ireland, Church of Ireland Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1744-1991, with nearly 14,000 indexed records. According to the collection description, “This collection includes baptism, marriage, and burial records from parishes in the County of Clare in Ireland, with dates ranging from 1744 to 1991.”

Scotland. Ancestry.com has published three new collections for Scotland. They are small, but if they mention your ancestors, they’re important!

Start tracing your British Isles genealogy

The British Empire once spanned the globe and had a presence on every continent. Chances are that at some point you will need to extend your research back to the British Isles. Genealogical research in the British Isles has some unique characteristics. Guest blogger Kate Eakman, a Senior Researcher for Legacy Tree Genealogists, clarifies confusing terms and helps you get your research started on solid footing. Click here to read her tips.

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.

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