New Online! English Genealogy Records and More

English genealogy records abound in this week’s roundup of new family history records online. Find England BMD, parish records, newspapers, and more. Also: an important addition to the British Newspaper Archive’s Irish newspaper collection,  over 1,000 years of Chinese documents and records, German vital records, parish records for Italy and Sweden, and new US collections for VA, OH and NY.
headed to England for genealogy records

English Genealogy Records Now Online

Ancestry.com subscribers can now search these English genealogy record collections:

          • Bedfordshire Petty Sessions 1854-1915 This collection includes details of over 100,000 individuals involved in petty session hearings in Befordshire. Details for each individual may include name, role in the case, date of the hearing, location of the court, and even the fines or punishments given to the defendant(s).
          • Bedfordshire Valuation Records 1838-1929 These records deal solely with the value of properties in Bedfordshire county. The volumes name the proprietor or tenant, describe or name the property and give an annual rental value. It will also sometimes give an acreage for the property.
          • Bedfordshire Land Tax Records 1797-1832 Details found within this collection include may include year of residence, name of occupier, name of owner, and parish of residence.
          • Shropshire Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1812. This collection of indexes is taken from various published versions of parish and probate records from Shropshire, England dating from the early 1500s (with some non-parish records earlier) to the late 1800s. “The records include baptisms/christenings, burials, marriages, tombstone inscriptions, obituaries, tax lists, wills, and other miscellaneous types of records,” states the collection description. “Also included are some records from non-conformist churches.”

At FamilySearch.org, you can now search a free collection of Staffordshire Church Records. In partnership with Findmypast’s expansion of Staffordshire records, this collection provides church records from 1538-1944. Nearly 5 million indexed records and over 278,000 images are included.

Over at Findmypast, subscribers can now search extensive new collections for Buckinghamshire. (The original records are held at the Buckinghamshire Archives.) New databases include:
          • Buckinghamshire Baptism Index 870,000 transcripts created from original records held at the Buckinghamshire Archives. You will also discover your ancestor’s birthplace, the date of the baptism, their father’s occupation and residence.
          • Buckinghamshire Banns Index Explore 101,000 records created from original parish registers and bishop’s transcripts. “Each transcript will reveal the name of your ancestor’s intended spouse, the couple’s residence, the dates the announcements were read and their intended date of marriage.”
          • Buckinghamshire Marriage Index Over 485,000 transcripts “will reveal the couple’s birth years, marital status, occupation, date of marriage, place of marriage, residence, occupation, father’s names, father’s occupations and the names of any witnesses.”
          • Buckinghamshire Burial Index More than 662,000 transcripts are included, created from original parish registers and bishop’s transcripts. “Each record will reveal your ancestor’s birth year, age at death, burial date, and residence. An archive reference is also included, allowing you to locate a copy of the original document.”

British and Irish Newspapers Now Online

Over 2.3 million new articles and 7 brand new titles have been added to the British Newspaper Archive’s collection of historic newspapers this month. New titles now available to search include:

  • Tenby Observer
  • Brechin Herald
  • Milngavie and Bearsden Herald
  • Alcester Chronicle
  • Abergavenny Chronicle
  • Ripley and Heanor News and Ilkeston Division Free Press
  • Eastern Daily Press and the Colchester Gazette

Click here to explore these and other historic British Newspapers.

More than 5,000 pages from the Leitrim Advertiser have been added to Irish newspapers at the British Newspaper Archive. From the description: “The paper was originally published in Mohill, Leitrim and known in later years and The Leitrim and Longford Advertiser.” The earliest issue dates back to 1886, through 1916. With this addition, the British Newspaper Archive now has a newspaper for every county in Ireland!

German Births and Deaths: Bischofswerda

Ancestry.com has added new collections for Bischofswerda births (1876-1902) and deaths (1876-1951). Bischofswerda is located about 22 miles east of Dresden at the edge of Upper Lusatia in the German state of Saxony. To local residents, it is also known as “Schiebock” and known for its large historic market square and town hall.

Italian civil registration: Padova

FamilySearch has published 42,000 newly indexed records and images in its free collection, Civil Registration Records: Padova 1621 – 1914. From the collection description: “Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths within the custody of the State Archive of Padova. Includes supplemental documents, residency records, ten-year indexes, and marriage banns. Availability of records is largely dependent on time period and locality.”

Swedish Household Examination Books

Also at FamilySearch are 1 million indexed records and images for Swedish Household Examination Books 1880-1920. According to the collection, “Each year until 1894 the Parish Priest would visit each home in the parish and test each individual’s knowledge of the catechisms. In addition, they would collect birth, death, and marriage dates as well as where families had moved to or from and when, etc. The priest would then come back each year and update or edit the information from the previous year and note any changes in the population of the home.” (These are also online at MyHeritage.com.) Click here to read a great article for getting started on your Swedish genealogy.

Chinese Records at the Library of Congress

An exciting announcement from the Library of Congress this week! “The contents of the Asian Division’s Pre-1958 Chinese Collection, totaling more than 42,000 items, are now fully searchable through the Library’s online catalog in both Chinese characters and Romanized script. This rich and diverse collection has served researchers and general audiences for nearly 90 years; until now, however, bibliographic records for these materials were only available through a card catalog.”

United States

New York. The Vassar College Digital Newspaper Archive is now available online. Provided by the Vassar College Libraries, this archive provides access to newspapers published by Vassar College students. Earliest issues date back to 1872, and cover a wide range of topics and events on and off campus. This collection currently contains over 85,000 pages.

Ohio. New at Ancestry this week are Ohio Soldier Grave Registrations, 1804-1958. This database contains grave registration cards for soldiers from Ohio who served in the armed forces, mainly from the time of the War of 1812 up through the 1950s. Records may contain an individual’s name, date and place of birth, date and cause of death, location of burial, next of kin, military service information, and more.

Also in Ohio, Kent State University has completed the digital Daily Kent Stater Archive. It contains 90 years of Kent State student publications, dated from Feb 1926 to Dec 2016. According to the press release, “it covers several historic events as well as some great memories for the Kent State alumnae.” Check out the introductory video!
Virginia. Two million pages of the Newport News Daily Press are now searchable on Newspapers.com, with issues dating back to 1898.

 

Did you know? You can search the Genealogy Gems website for articles about your favorite genealogy categories–including records and research tips for several countries and ethnicities. Go to our home page and click on the dropdown menu under What do you want to learn about? Scroll down to see the various categories or start typing a few letters to jump down to that part of the alphabetical list.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links. Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

New Free Genealogy Records and Images at FamilySearch

When new genealogy records come online, they can be in different forms. Sometimes they are indexed records and sometime they are browse-only digital images.

Either way, new genealogy content online is always welcome. And this week this new content is free thanks to FamilySearch.

Family Search new records

Don’t let the fact that some of these genealogy records are currently browse-only images. in our article Browse Only Databases at FamilySearch are Easy to Use, we’ll help you navigate these types of records.  It’s not difficult to do, and the rewards can be big. 

Browse_Only_Database_at FamilySearch

Example of accessing browse-only digital images at FamilySearch

If you haven’t used FamilySearch before, all it requires is that you sign up for a free account which you can do here at their website

Here’s the latest press release from FamilySearch detailing the newest content. 

SALT LAKE CITY, UT—FamilySearch.org added over 13 million new, free, unindexed digital images of historical Italian records this week from Avellino, Belluno, Caserta, Matera, Verona, and Vicenza, Italy. Other indexed records include areas from Brazil, Germany, Peru, South Africa and the United States, including Alabama and Kansas.

Click here to search over 8 billion free names and record images catalogued on FamilySearch.

(Find and share this announcement online from the FamilySearch Newsroom.)

Brazil            

Brazil, Pernambuco, Civil Registration, 1804-2016               
Indexed records: 162,706   
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Brazil, São Paulo, Civil Registration, 1925-1995                   
Indexed Records: 199     
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Germany     

Germany, Baden, Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau, Catholic Church Records, 1678-1930 
Indexed records: 1,045,113
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Germany, Bavaria, Diocese of Augsburg, Catholic Church Records, 1615-1939
Indexed Records: 383,480 
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Italy 

new records Italian genealogy records

Italy, Avellino, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1947
Digital Images: 3,099,458       
Added images to an existing collection

Italy, Belluno, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1806-1815
Digital Images:  43,298 New browsable image collection.

Italy, Caserta, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1866
Digital Images:  4,543,698       
Added images to an existing collection

Italy, Matera, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1925
Digital Images: 1,323,614       
New browsable image collection.

Italy, Verona, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1630-1942 
Digital Images: 2,796,910       
New browsable image collection.

Italy, Vicenza, Bassano del Grappa, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1871-1942 
Digital Images: 1,637,660   
Added images to an existing collection

Peru

Peru, Lima, Civil Registration, 1874-1996 
Digital Images: 175,257  
Added images to an existing collection

The records newly added to this collection have not yet been digitized. Click the clink at the bottom of the search page to browse. 

Click to browse genealogy records from Peru

Click to browse genealogy records from Peru

 

Here’s an example of what these Civil Registration record from Peru look like:

Example of Civil Registration records from Peru

Example of Civil Registration records from Peru

South Africa

South Africa, Natal, Passenger Lists, 1860-1911     
Indexed Records: 154,091  
Added indexed records to an existing collection

United States                                  

Alabama, Jefferson County Circuit Court Papers, 1870-1916
Indexed Records: 30,070
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Kansas, Grant County, Census Records, 1895-1982
Indexed Records: 87,928 0 
New indexed records collection

Example of a Kansas Grant Co Census Record at FamilySearch

An example of a record from the Kansas Grant County Census Record Collection

United States Census, 1880  
Digital Images: 13 
Added images to an existing collection

United States, Cemetery Abstracts    
Indexed Records: 179,757
Added indexed records to an existing collection

Share Your Findings

Did you find a genealogy gems in one of these new records at FamilySearch? Please leave a comment below. 

 

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