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.”
Looking for ancestors online? Turn to Genealogy Gems for ongoing education in using Google for genealogy (and everything else). Sign up for our FREE weekly e-mail newsletter for a free Google e-book and ongoing tips from our blog. Consider becoming a Genealogy Gems Premium website member so you get unlimited annual access to on-demand videos like Google Search Strategies for the Family Historian and many others.
by Lisa Cooke | Apr 24, 2015 | 01 What's New, British, Church, images, Military, Records & databases, United States
Every Friday, we highlight new genealogy records online. Scan these posts for content that may include your ancestors. Use these records to inspire your search for similar records elsewhere. Always check our Google tips at the end of each list: they are custom-crafted each week to give YOU one more tool in your genealogy toolbox.
This week:
ALABAMA COUNTY MARRIAGES. Over 700,000 names have been added to FamilySearch’s index of Alabama county marriage records (1809-1950). Some of the index entries have images.
ENGLAND PARISH RECORDS. Indexes to baptisms, marriages and burials from Derbyshire (1538-1910) and images of original records of Yorkshire baptisms, bishop’s transcripts of baptisms, marriage banns, marriages, bishop’s transcripts of marriages, burials and bishop’s transcripts of burials (1500s-19oos, dates vary) are now searchable on FindMyPast.
IOWA HISTORICAL JOURNALS. The State Historical Society of Iowa has posted back issues of The Annals of Iowa dating to 1863. This is a quarterly, peer-reviewed historical journal. Use the search box to see whether your Iowa ancestors, hometowns or other family connections (schools, churches, friends, etc) are mentioned in more than 150 years’ worth of articles.
RUSSIAN WWII SOLDIERS. According to this article, “Thanks to a new online state initiative, families of Russian WWII combatants…are now able to give their forebears the recognition they deserve, 70 years on. The Zvyezdy Pobedy project, organized by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, allows the descendants of those who fought in the Red Army in WWII to find out whether their ancestors were among the recipients of over 38 million orders and medals awarded during the war….There are more than 8,200 names listed in the database, which can be read in Russian at rg.ru/zvezdy_pobedy.”
U.S. CIVIL WAR RECORDS. These aren’t new, necessarily, but until April 30, Civil War records on Fold3 are FREE to search! Among the 43 million items are (of course!) military records, personal accounts, historic writings, photographs and maps. Both Union and Confederate records are represented.
Google tip of the week: Need to read web text in Russian or another language you don’t know? Use Google Translate to translate short passages or even entire webpages! Copy text or a URL (for full page translation) into the left box, then click English and Translate on the right. You can even play back an audio version of the foreign text to hear how it sounds! Learn more in Lisa Louise Cooke’s The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox. The 2nd edition, newly published in 2015, is fully revised and updated with the best Google has to offer–which is a LOT.
by Sunny | Jul 27, 2018 | 01 What's New, Newspaper, Records & databases
The New Jersey Death Index tops this week’s list of new and updated U.S. genealogy records online. Along with a Native American census collection, our list includes family history records for Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Among...
by Lisa Cooke | Apr 17, 2015 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, Census, images, Immigration, Records & databases, United States
Every Friday, we highlight new genealogy records online. Scan these posts for content that may include your ancestors. Use these records to inspire your search for similar records elsewhere. Always check our Google tips at the end of each list: they are custom-crafted each week to give YOU one more tool in your genealogy toolbox.
This week: European and U.S. Jewish records; Mexico civil registrations; New York City vital records and New York state censuses and naturalizations.
JEWISH RECORDS. In the first quarter of 2015, nearly 70,000 records have been added to databases at JewishGen.org. These are free to search and include records from Poland (for the towns of Danzig, Lwow, Lublin, Sidelce, Volhynia and Krakow); Lithuania (vital records, passports, revision lists and tax records); the United Kingdom (the Jews’ Free School Admission Register, Spitalfields, 1856-1907) and the United States (obituaries for Boston and Cleveland).
MEXICO CIVIL REGISTRATIONS. More than 400,000 indexed records have been added to civil registrations for the state of Luis Potosi, Mexico. Records include “births, marriages, deaths, indexes and other records created by civil registration offices” and are searchable for free at FamilySearch.
NEW YORK CITY VITAL RECORDS. Indexes to New York City births (1878-1909), marriages (1866-1937) and deaths (1862-1948) are new and free for everyone to search on Ancestry. Click here to reach a New York research page on Ancestry that links to these indexes.
NEW YORK STATE CENSUSES AND NATURALIZATIONS. The New York state censuses for 1855 and 1875 (for most counties) are now available online to subscribers at Ancestry. According to the census collection description, “The state took a census every ten years from 1825 through 1875, another in 1892, and then every ten years again from 1905 to 1925. State censuses like these are useful because they fall in between federal census years and provide an interim look at a population.” New York naturalization records (1799-1847) and intents to naturalize (or “first papers,” 1825-1871) are also available online.
NEW ZEALAND PROBATE RECORDS. Nearly 800,000 images from Archives New Zealand (1843-1998) have been added to an existing FamilySearch collection (which is at least partly indexed). Privacy restrictions apply to probates issued during the past 50 years. These records contain names of testator, witnesses and heirs; death and record date; occupation; guardians and executor; relationships; residences and an estate inventory.
Google tip of the week: Some genealogical records and indexes are created on a city or municipal level rather than–or in addition to–a county, province or state level. When Google searching for vital and other records like burials and city directories, include the name of a city in your searches. Learn more about Googling your genealogy in Lisa Louise Cooke’s The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox. The 2nd edition, newly published in 2015, is fully revised and updated with the best Google has to offer–which is a LOT.
by Lisa Cooke | Oct 21, 2015 | 01 What's New, Canadian, Immigration, Records & databases
Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian national archive, holds original passenger arrival records. You can search a massive index to them on their website for free.
Canadian Passenger Arrival Lists: The Good and Bad News
There’s good news and bad news for those searching for Canadian passenger arrival lists.
The Bad News:
You won’t find a lot of Canadian passenger arrival lists before 1865. There are no comprehensive nominal lists of immigrants arriving prior to 1865 in Canada according to the Library and Archives Canada. Unfortunately, those lists didn’t generally survive.
Those that have can be scattered amongst various French and British collections.
“Les passagers du Saint-André : la recrue de 1659” is among the French resources at the Library and Archives Canada.
Visit the Passenger Lists page at the Library and Archives Canada here for details lists, years and microfilm numbers.
Good news:
You will be able to find a lot of records after 1865.
And the news gets even better. These records can easily be found online!
“The passenger lists are the sole surviving official records of the arrival of the majority of people accepted as immigrants in Canada,” says a Library Archives Canada webpage. “The passenger list is a list of immigrants arriving at an official port of entry on a particular ship on a given date.
Newspaper advertising was used to attract immigrants to Canada
Information Found in Canadian Passenger Lists
Generally speaking, each manifest provides the following information:
- the name of the ship
- port(s)
- date(s) of departure and arrival in Canada
- names
- ages
- sex
- professions or occupations
- nationalities
- destinations
The earlier lists aren’t always so detailed. But in some cases, other lists have information about the travelers’:
- health
- religion
- previous travels to Canada
- family members
- and how much they carried in their wallets.
Where to Search for Canadian Passenger Lists 1865-1922
Start your search for free in the Passenger Lists, 1865-1922 collection at the Library and Archives Canada website.
The city of Quebec, the major arrival port for many years, is covered for nearly that entire time span.
Quebec: Major Arrival Port in Canada
If you find it easier to search for these records in genealogy websites (so you can attach them to individuals in your tree), or if you’re specifically looking for passengers whose final destination was the U.S., check out these databases:
Canadian Passenger lists, 1881-1922 at FamilySearch.
The database includes records for Canadian ports:
- Quebec City,
- Halifax,
- St. John,
- North Sydney,
- Vancouver
- Victoria
- U.S. ports for passengers who reported Canada as their final destination.
Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 at Ancestry.
Quebec ports are included for these time periods:
- May 1865–Jun 1908,
- Jun 1919–Jul 1921,
- Apr 1925–Nov 1935.
U.S., Passenger and Crew Lists for U.S.-Bound Vessels Arriving in Canada, 1912-1939 and 1953-1962 at Ancestry.
Nearly 100,000 records of travelers to the U.S. via Canada are recorded for the ports of:
- Montreal
- Quebec
- Saint John
- New Brunswick
- Halifax
- Nova Scotia
- Vancouver
- British Columbia
- Victoria
- British Columbia
- Toronto
- Ontario
- Quebec
Mixed group immigrants, Quebec
More Great Canada Genealogy Resources
We have several more resources to assist you in your Canadian family history research.
- Click here to learn why Quebec Church Records are a Great Place to Look for Ancestors.
Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church, Basse-Ville (Lower Town). Wikimedia Commons image; click to view.
