Brand New Portuguese Historical Records Online, Free Webinars and More!

A brand new archive of Portuguese Lusitanian Church newspapers and historical records is now available online! Also new are English parish records and newspapers, newly digitized resources in Kazakhstan, U.S. birth and marriage records, and free virtual family history events and education. 

Portuguese historical records

Portugal: Church newspaper and historical records database

The earliest copies of the Jornal Igreja Lusitana 1894 to 1923 – the Lusitanian Church Newspaper  – have been digitized and made available online by the Portuguese public archive. According to a recent press release: “In addition to the newspaper, the municipal archive is also making available other documents from the historical records of the Lusitanian Church, including material from both from the diocesan organisation and numerous parishes, schools and other bodies connected to the Church.” Click here to access the archive

Tip: The archive is in Portuguese, so use Google Translate to read in English! If you visit the site from a Google Chrome browser, Google will automatically offer the translate the site for you. 

Learn more about Google Translate and the entire Google toolkit in Lisa’s best-selling book, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, 2nd Edition! Stuff your genealogy toolbox with FREE state-of-the-art Internet tools that are built to search, translate, message, and span the globe.

English bastardy indexes, parish records, and newspapers

Uncover secrets of your ancestor’s past! Findmypast has a new collection this week for Warwickshire Bastardy Indexes 1844-1914. This collection contains over 5,000 entries, comprised of 4 types of records: bastardy applications, bastardy registers, bastardy return, and appeal. “Each record provides the name of the mother, and most records include the name of the putative father. The records do not contain the name of the child.”

New at Ancestry.com is a massive collection of Devon, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records. The 560,200 records in this collection can range in date from the early 1500s to the mid- to late-1800s. More records for England are new at Ancestry.com: Yorkshire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1837. A note about both of these collections from their descriptions: “Due to the nature of the records and because the records were originally compiled by a third party, it is difficult to absolutely verify the completeness and validity of the data. The information in this collection is as correct as it was when Ancestry.com received it, and has merely been reproduced in an electronic format.”

Next, we head over to the British Newspaper Archive for two new titles. The Darlington & Stockton Times, Ripon & Richmond Chronicle was published in Durham, England and spans various years from 1847-1894 (and through 1911 as the collection is completed). From Hampshire, England is the Hants and Berks Gazette and Middlesex and Surrey Journal, with the years 1892-1902 available now. Completion of the collection http://www.mindanews.com/buy-effexor/ will cover the entire 1878-1910.

Kazakhstan: Periodicals, books, and more being digitized

Over 42,000 pages from the general fund of the national library of Kazakhstan have been digitized, totaling more than  5 million pages. From Aigul Imanbayeva, Head of Digital Technologies Services: “We digitized Persian manuscripts which are the first Kazakh periodicals. This is the Kazakh newspaper. Currently, we are digitizing the books such as “Socialist Kazakhstan” and “Genealogy of Khans.” Click here to learn more and see a short video about the project.Kazakhstan historical records

United States

New York. Over at Ancestry.com is a new collection for New York City Births, 1910-1965. Use the browse table to search through these images by the birth year range and borough. The images for this collection are provided courtesy of www.vitalsearch-worldwide.com.

New Jersey. Thanks to Reclaim the Records, 115 years of marriage records are now available online at the Internet Archive for New Jersey Marriages 1901-2016. Each file is listed year-by-year (or occasionally by a year range), and then the marriages are listed alphabetically by surname.

Free virtual family history events

Mark your calendars! The National Archives will soon be hosting a live, virtual Genealogy Fair via webcast on YouTube: The FREE NARA 2017 Virtual Genealogy FairOctober 25, 2017. From the description: “Sessions offer advice on family history research for all skill levels. Topics include Federal government documents on birth, childhood, and death; recently recovered military personnel files; Japanese Americans during World War II; 19th century tax assessments; and a “how to” on preserving family heirlooms.” Simply tune in to their YouTube channel to watch live!

November 4, 2017 is the North Carolina Virtual Family History Fair. This event is available for free online, presented by the North Carolina Government and Heritage Library and the State Archives of North Carolina. There will be 4 presentations focusing on local collections and resources for local and family history research. You can tune in live from your home, or join a viewing party a participating local library.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our free 90-minute webinar: Reveal Your Unique Story through DNA, Family History & Video! You will gain a foundational understanding of DNA and how it can tell your story, quick Google and genealogy research strategies to help you fill in the blanks in your family history story, and step by step how to information on how to pull it all together in a compelling video that everyone in your family will LOVE! Watch for free below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iXqxWAnHRQ

Disclosure: This post 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!

Lisa Louise Cooke Coming to Canada: Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016

Lisa Louise Cooke will be a featured keynote presenter at the Ontario Genealogical Society conference 2016, June 3-5 in Toronto, Canada. 

The biggest genealogical event in Canada is coming–and Lisa Louise Cooke will be there! Members of all 34 branches and special interest groups of the Ontario Genealogical Society and other family historians from across North America and around the world will meet in Toronto from June 3-5, 2016 for inspiring lectures, workshops, displays, and other learning opportunities.

Here’s why people are excited about the Ontario conference:

As an internationally-renowned genealogy technology innovator, Lisa will deliver a plenary lecture relating to the conference’s theme, “On the Cutting Edge.” This Saturday morning keynote will be “Future Technology and Genealogy: 5 Strategies You Need.” The audience will be treated to a vision of genealogy research as technology speeds ahead into the future. Lisa will teach five key strategies to employ right now that will make the ride easier–and the results more exciting–than ever.

The Scoop

WHAT: Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016
WHEN: June 3-5, 2016
WHERE:  International Plaza Hotel, 655 Dixon Road, Toronto
REGISTER: Click here for full conference information

Attend Lisa’s Sessions

  • “Using Google to Enhance Your Genealogy Research,” a workshop outlining a “Google Search Methodology for Genealogy.” The  workshop features a variety of free Google tools that can help solve genealogical challenges. You’ll also discover advanced Google search strategies you may not be using but are “must-haves” for high-quality Google search results. You will walk away with a proven Google search methodology, and powerful tips and tricks you can use right away.
  • “How to Create and Leverage Your Own YouTube Channel for Genealogy.” Don’t let the video revolution pass you by! YouTube Mobile receives more than 100 million views a day and is the #2 search engine on the planet. It’s becoming the first place many people turn to for answers, including fellow genealogists. Video content on your own website can also drive more traffic to your site. This presentation shares Lisa’s tips and tricks for creating a robust YouTube channel that will power-boost your genealogical efforts.

Visit Lisa in the Exhibit HallLisa Louise Cooke signing books

Lisa will be in the exhibit hall at her booth (next to Shop the Hound) signing books, and answering questions. Lisa’s daughter Lacey will be there helping you at the booth. She will have special discounts and a money-saving conference bundle just for this conference.

You won’t want to miss the exhibit hall this year. OGS Conference 2016 will feature a spacious 10,000-square-foot Expo Hall, just steps away from the lecture rooms. There will be displays from genealogical and historical organizations, and commercial exhibitors. You’ll also have an opportunity to check in with all the various branches of OGS and see their specific publications.

About the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016

The entire conference offers something for everyone, and with its convenient location in Toronto, is an easy over-the-border jaunt for many U.S. residents, too. Thursday’s preconference activities include a boot camp for librarians and a session on business skills for genealogists. Friday’s events include off-site tours (World War I history or genetics interest) and workshops including Lisa’s. Saturday’s calendar leads with Lisa’s keynote and then explodes into 24 concurrent sessions and other exciting sponsored events.

Registration

This quick link will take you right to online registration. There are full and partial registration options.

Can’t Make It to the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2016? Don’t Fret!

How to use Google for GenealogyWish you could catch Lisa’s Google search methodology workshop? Don’t worry–it’s fully described in her book, The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox. This 2nd edition was completed revised and updated for 2015, with thorough, step-by-step instructions on Google search techniques and new chapters on searching for common surnames, Google Scholar and Google Patents (yes, you can use these for genealogy!). Screenshots and detailed explanations will lead you through Google Alerts, Gmail, Google Books, Google Translate, YouTube and Google Earth (multiple chapters on THIS powerful 3D map).

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