To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the defence against the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Ancestry are offering their entire collection of 58 million World War II military records for free access until midnight ET on 7th December (which I think means 5am GMT on 8th December).
You can search and get a skeleton overview for nothing, but to get the details you'll need to register for (or sign in with) a free account.
It doesn't say so, however their records seem only to relate to people that lived in America or who were in the United States forces. This does include Scots born here, so it may still be worth while searching. There's an illustrated PDF research guide available for download.
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USA. Show all posts
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
From Kelso to Kalamazoo
At the meeting, Margaret Jeary will tell us about George Taylor, who around the age of 50 left a successful career as a horticulturalist in Kelso to start a new bedding plant business in Kalamazoo (once known as Celery City), Michigan, USA.
He seems to have been a colourful character and he married 4 times.
There's a bit more about him in this description of Margaret Jeary's book, From Kelso to Kalamazoo, but come and hear a lot more on Sunday.
The doors will be open at 2pm, with the talk starting at 2.30pm.
We warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not.
There is no admission charge.
We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy.
Refreshments available after the talk (donation appreciated).
If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no charge) with one of our volunteers.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
10 Free ScotlandsPeople Credits for UK Residents
It's not as good as the offer for residents in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA but it is still 10 free credits. Ancestral Scotland are offering UK residents 10 free credits when you sign up for their newsletter.
Get your 10 free credits !
Get your 10 free credits !
Saturday, August 6, 2011
30 Free ScotlandsPeople Credits for Residents in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA
Ancestral Scotland is offering 30 free ScotlandsPeople credits, worth £7, to new users who are resident in Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the USA. You need to enter your name, email address, and post code, but it appears that you don't have to sign up for their newsletter, if you don't wish to.
Sign up for your free credits.
(with thanks to Chris Paton)
Sign up for your free credits.
(with thanks to Chris Paton)
Monday, August 30, 2010
LostCousins Free until Sunday, September 5th 2010
Thanks to Marjorie Gavin for forwarding an email about this.
I hadn't heard of LostCousins before, which is odd in a way, as I'm in touch with very few of my cousins, so there are a lot of lost cousins out there.
The concept of the site is that you enter details of any ancestors and their siblings on the website, and if any two or more people enter the same person, they can be connected, and you'll find lost cousins. It covers only these censuses: England & Wales 1841, US 1880, Canada 1881, England & Wales 1881, Scotland 1881, England & Wales 1911, Ireland 1911, but they warn that their greatest coverage is of people in the 1881 census. They've chosen these censuses on the basis that most of them are available for free on the FamilySearch site, or can be accessed free at subscription sites.
Apparently the automated matching process is virtually 100% accurate, you won't waste your time corresponding with people who turn out not to be related - nor will you run the risk of allowing someone who is unrelated to have access to your family tree. What makes all this possible is that every LostCousins member is taking information from the same online censuses.
The accuracy of the matching process depends on the unique information about the census that you need to add for each person, the piece, book, folio, page
numbers from censuses in England & Wales; the volume (or registration number), enumeration district, page for Scottish censuses.
But there's the disadvantage, at least for me. I've found my ancestors and siblings on the censuses, taken a print of the info, but not all the information needed by LostCousins. For example, although I know that Robert Munro was in Belton Rd, Whitchurch on the 1901 census, it never occurred to me that it would be useful to write down the reference numbers; and it would be a pain to go through it all again. The second problem is that they want you to take the references from online censuses, whereas I researched my info from microfilms. Additionally, my ancestral families left Ireland before 1911, or arrived in the USA and Canada after 1900.
LostCousins is a great idea, however, I think that they haven't made it as user-friendly and usable as possible.
In their shoes, I'd have offered less accuracy without the census reference information, and/or after entry of a person's name, offered a list of census entries to select, and I've made these suggestions to them.
Perhaps you're think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, or perhaps you think it would be worth searching the online censuses to get the required info.
If you do, or you have any other comments, please let me know by clicking the 'comments' link below.
I hadn't heard of LostCousins before, which is odd in a way, as I'm in touch with very few of my cousins, so there are a lot of lost cousins out there.
The concept of the site is that you enter details of any ancestors and their siblings on the website, and if any two or more people enter the same person, they can be connected, and you'll find lost cousins. It covers only these censuses: England & Wales 1841, US 1880, Canada 1881, England & Wales 1881, Scotland 1881, England & Wales 1911, Ireland 1911, but they warn that their greatest coverage is of people in the 1881 census. They've chosen these censuses on the basis that most of them are available for free on the FamilySearch site, or can be accessed free at subscription sites.
Apparently the automated matching process is virtually 100% accurate, you won't waste your time corresponding with people who turn out not to be related - nor will you run the risk of allowing someone who is unrelated to have access to your family tree. What makes all this possible is that every LostCousins member is taking information from the same online censuses.
The accuracy of the matching process depends on the unique information about the census that you need to add for each person, the piece, book, folio, page
numbers from censuses in England & Wales; the volume (or registration number), enumeration district, page for Scottish censuses.
But there's the disadvantage, at least for me. I've found my ancestors and siblings on the censuses, taken a print of the info, but not all the information needed by LostCousins. For example, although I know that Robert Munro was in Belton Rd, Whitchurch on the 1901 census, it never occurred to me that it would be useful to write down the reference numbers; and it would be a pain to go through it all again. The second problem is that they want you to take the references from online censuses, whereas I researched my info from microfilms. Additionally, my ancestral families left Ireland before 1911, or arrived in the USA and Canada after 1900.
LostCousins is a great idea, however, I think that they haven't made it as user-friendly and usable as possible.
In their shoes, I'd have offered less accuracy without the census reference information, and/or after entry of a person's name, offered a list of census entries to select, and I've made these suggestions to them.
Perhaps you're think I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, or perhaps you think it would be worth searching the online censuses to get the required info.
If you do, or you have any other comments, please let me know by clicking the 'comments' link below.
Monday, May 3, 2010
300 Million New Names Online
Family Search have announced that over 300 million new names have been added, creating or updating more than 150 new collections of records.
Can that be right ? It seems unbelievably large. Even 300,000 would be a lot.
The records can be found at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot.
Whatever it is, it's good news for all of us.
The collections updated include
Happy searching !
If you want to volunteer to help Family Search, you can do that at FamilySearchIndexing.org. If you would rather help closer to home, please go to our Contacts page and send us a message, choosing the contact type Offers of Help.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Can that be right ? It seems unbelievably large. Even 300,000 would be a lot.
The records can be found at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot.
Whatever it is, it's good news for all of us.
The collections updated include
- Australia Deaths and Burials, 1816—1980
- Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661—1959
- Canada Deaths and Burials, 1664—1955
- Canada Marriages, 1661—1949
- British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872—1986
- British Columbia Marriage Registrations, 1859—1932
- New Brunswick Births, 1819—1899
- Nova Scotia Births, 1702—1896
- Nova Scotia Marriages, 1711—1909
- Ontario Births, 1779—1899
- Ontario Marriages, 1800—1910
- Quebec Births, 1662—1898
- Gibraltar Marriages, 1879—1918
- Gibraltar Births and Baptisms, 1704—1876
- Great Britain Deaths and Burials, 1778—1988
- Great Britain Marriages, 1797—1988
- Channel Islands Births and Baptisms, 1820—1907
- Isle of Man Births and Baptisms, 1821—1911
- Isle of Man Deaths and Burials, 1844—1911
- Isle of Man Marriages, 1849—1911
- Wales, Births and Baptisms, 1586—1907
- Wales, Deaths and Burials, 1586—1885
- Wales, Marriages, 1541—1900
- Ireland Deaths, 1864—1870
- India Births and Baptisms, 1800—1945
- India Deaths and Burials, 1800—1945
- India Marriages, 1800—1945
Happy searching !
If you want to volunteer to help Family Search, you can do that at FamilySearchIndexing.org. If you would rather help closer to home, please go to our Contacts page and send us a message, choosing the contact type Offers of Help.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Eastern European Ancestors
Last Sunday's programme, the sixth episode of the new 'Digging up Your Roots', which is broadcast on 92-95 FM every Sunday at midday until 21 February was about ancestors from Eastern Europe.
Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk .
If you missed this, it is available as a podcast.
This programme was a complete eye-opener to me, as I had no idea that so many people came from eastern Europe to Scotland.
The first story was about a Polish family sent to a Russian gulag (a slave labour camp) but escaped and made a 6,000 mile roundabout trip journey to join the Polish army in Kazakhstan in 1942; most of the time starving hungry; some of the family died on the way. Father got to Persia, joined the Polish Navy and eventually got to Scotland and became a successful businessman.
Apparently 30,000 Poles were sent to gulags.
Another story was about a Pole from Lvov (now Lviv in the Ukraine), and another about a White Russian volunteer evacuated from southern Russia by a British ship, went to Egypt, was there for 2 years, and then came to Scotland.
More information in the Archives of Ukraine.
The International Council on Archives has a list of archives around the world. During World War II, some Jewish records were safeguarded by churches.
When looking a Russian records, remember that surnames change according to gender, and that Russians use patronymics as the middle name, which must make identification of the right family a lot easier.
Useful resources are Cyndi's List and the Federation of East European Family History Societies.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled their homes in eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to escape harsh economic conditions and persecution. They went to USA, many arriving at Leith or Dundee, travelling across to Glasgow, and sailing to New York. Some stayed, mostly in London, Glasgow, and other industrial cities. The cost of crossing the North Sea was £1.50 per person, and the transatlantic crossing was £5 or £6, a lot in those days.
The refugees faced lots of fear, there were health scares about disease in eastern Europe, and there were lots of con tricks and scams pulled on them, too.
In Glasgow, many of the Jews filled gaps in tailoring, carpentry, and cigarette making.
The US National Archives have microfilms of concentration camp records, and although they're not online, they will search them for you.
Another very useful site is JewishGen.
Many Lithuanian miners were recruited for Lanarkshire mines by owners at low wages, to the fury of the local workforce; but they, other Lithuanians, and Russians were sent back to Russia to fight in the Russian Army in 1917, under a treaty between Britain and Russia, and never came back to Britain. A useful site is Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Write to: Digging Up Your Roots, BBC Radio Scotland, Beechgrove Terrace, Aberdeen, AB15 5ZT or email them at diggingupyourroots@bbc.co.uk .
If you missed this, it is available as a podcast.
This programme was a complete eye-opener to me, as I had no idea that so many people came from eastern Europe to Scotland.
The first story was about a Polish family sent to a Russian gulag (a slave labour camp) but escaped and made a 6,000 mile roundabout trip journey to join the Polish army in Kazakhstan in 1942; most of the time starving hungry; some of the family died on the way. Father got to Persia, joined the Polish Navy and eventually got to Scotland and became a successful businessman.
Apparently 30,000 Poles were sent to gulags.
Another story was about a Pole from Lvov (now Lviv in the Ukraine), and another about a White Russian volunteer evacuated from southern Russia by a British ship, went to Egypt, was there for 2 years, and then came to Scotland.
More information in the Archives of Ukraine.
The International Council on Archives has a list of archives around the world. During World War II, some Jewish records were safeguarded by churches.
When looking a Russian records, remember that surnames change according to gender, and that Russians use patronymics as the middle name, which must make identification of the right family a lot easier.
Useful resources are Cyndi's List and the Federation of East European Family History Societies.
Hundreds of thousands of Jews fled their homes in eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to escape harsh economic conditions and persecution. They went to USA, many arriving at Leith or Dundee, travelling across to Glasgow, and sailing to New York. Some stayed, mostly in London, Glasgow, and other industrial cities. The cost of crossing the North Sea was £1.50 per person, and the transatlantic crossing was £5 or £6, a lot in those days.
The refugees faced lots of fear, there were health scares about disease in eastern Europe, and there were lots of con tricks and scams pulled on them, too.
In Glasgow, many of the Jews filled gaps in tailoring, carpentry, and cigarette making.
The US National Archives have microfilms of concentration camp records, and although they're not online, they will search them for you.
Another very useful site is JewishGen.
Many Lithuanian miners were recruited for Lanarkshire mines by owners at low wages, to the fury of the local workforce; but they, other Lithuanians, and Russians were sent back to Russia to fight in the Russian Army in 1917, under a treaty between Britain and Russia, and never came back to Britain. A useful site is Lithuanian Global Genealogical Society.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Edinburgh Register of Aliens
A few days ago, Strath from New Zealand alerted readers of our forum to a potentially very interesting source of information.
It is a transcription, I imagine, of core information in Edinburgh Registers of Aliens recorded between 1794 and 1825.
It lists first names and surname, age, place of birth, residence, residence - pre-arrival, residence in Scotland, occupation, port of arrival, date of arrival, date registered, notes.
The first page of the PDF says
"....The first is a handwritten volume of declarations given in by foreigners before the Magistrates as to their origins, occupation, length of time in the Country and the intended duration of their stay in Edinburgh. Most declarations were made in 1794.....
The Registers in the second series are bound volumes of pro-formas of questions to be asked and answered before Magistrates regarding the name, origins, status, occupation, age and intentions of foreign visitors. Also given in these volumes, are the current addresses of the respondents as well as the names of the British ports through which they first entered the Country. They cover the period 1798-1825."
These were troubling times, and clearly the authorities needed to know more about resident foreigners. France declared war on Britain on 1st February 1793, in early September, the French National Convention began the 'Reign of Terror' measures to uphold the principles of the French Revolution.
In 1795, Napoleon had his first success in invading Italy, by capturing Milan; and other cities and areas were captured subsequently. The war between Britain and France ended in May 1802 with the the treaty of Amiens, though it began a year later when Britain declared war on France. In May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France, though he wasn't crowned until December; and in 1805 he was crowned King of Italy.
Most of these foreigners were from France, Italy and the USA, but others came from Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland.
There were a lot of medical students, almost all from the USA, and some people had quite unusual occupations, though there none listed as spies.
Not surprisingly, all their addresses were in or around Edinburgh; but their ports of arrival were all over Britain.
Clearly, this resource is full of interest.
I suggest you download the Register of Aliens for yourself.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
It is a transcription, I imagine, of core information in Edinburgh Registers of Aliens recorded between 1794 and 1825.
It lists first names and surname, age, place of birth, residence, residence - pre-arrival, residence in Scotland, occupation, port of arrival, date of arrival, date registered, notes.
The first page of the PDF says
"....The first is a handwritten volume of declarations given in by foreigners before the Magistrates as to their origins, occupation, length of time in the Country and the intended duration of their stay in Edinburgh. Most declarations were made in 1794.....
The Registers in the second series are bound volumes of pro-formas of questions to be asked and answered before Magistrates regarding the name, origins, status, occupation, age and intentions of foreign visitors. Also given in these volumes, are the current addresses of the respondents as well as the names of the British ports through which they first entered the Country. They cover the period 1798-1825."
These were troubling times, and clearly the authorities needed to know more about resident foreigners. France declared war on Britain on 1st February 1793, in early September, the French National Convention began the 'Reign of Terror' measures to uphold the principles of the French Revolution.
In 1795, Napoleon had his first success in invading Italy, by capturing Milan; and other cities and areas were captured subsequently. The war between Britain and France ended in May 1802 with the the treaty of Amiens, though it began a year later when Britain declared war on France. In May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of France, though he wasn't crowned until December; and in 1805 he was crowned King of Italy.
Most of these foreigners were from France, Italy and the USA, but others came from Austria, Brazil, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland.
There were a lot of medical students, almost all from the USA, and some people had quite unusual occupations, though there none listed as spies.
Not surprisingly, all their addresses were in or around Edinburgh; but their ports of arrival were all over Britain.
Clearly, this resource is full of interest.
I suggest you download the Register of Aliens for yourself.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Tracing my Russian Ancestors
Yesterday's talk, Tracing my Russian Ancestors by Dr Chris Cameron, at Kelso, was extremely interesting, very enjoyable, and with lots of humour.
Dr Cameron's Irish ancestors, the Oultons, and their descendants certainly got around the world, I lost track of all the relatives' countries, however as well as Scotland and England, there was Russia (pre-tsarist and revolutionary), Germany, Spain, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, and Greece.
Although it was clear that he hadn't done much of the family history research himself, he was inspired enough, in his retirement to learn Russian at university and by living in Moscow.
All in all, I feel if he can do it, as I'm younger, I might be able to go off to the other side of Europe and trace my missing relatives.
There were also 3 new publications on display:
Morebattle Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 3rd edition revised.
Includes stones in new extension and photographs of all stones. Now with photographs of the site of Mow church and Mowhaugh Public School admission log 1873 - 1918
Smailholm Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 2nd edition revised.
Includes new burial ground and photographs of all stones. Includes 1814 plan of churchyard. Also Smailholm Public School Admission Log 1884-1915
A new book, Days of our Youth - Melrose Memories, price £3.50. It's an interesting book about Melrose in the early 20th century, with several colour photographs.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Dr Cameron's Irish ancestors, the Oultons, and their descendants certainly got around the world, I lost track of all the relatives' countries, however as well as Scotland and England, there was Russia (pre-tsarist and revolutionary), Germany, Spain, USA, Denmark, New Zealand, and Greece.
Although it was clear that he hadn't done much of the family history research himself, he was inspired enough, in his retirement to learn Russian at university and by living in Moscow.
All in all, I feel if he can do it, as I'm younger, I might be able to go off to the other side of Europe and trace my missing relatives.
There were also 3 new publications on display:
Morebattle Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 3rd edition revised.
Includes stones in new extension and photographs of all stones. Now with photographs of the site of Mow church and Mowhaugh Public School admission log 1873 - 1918
Smailholm Monumental Inscriptions - a CD, price £10. 2nd edition revised.
Includes new burial ground and photographs of all stones. Includes 1814 plan of churchyard. Also Smailholm Public School Admission Log 1884-1915
A new book, Days of our Youth - Melrose Memories, price £3.50. It's an interesting book about Melrose in the early 20th century, with several colour photographs.
To comment on this article, please click the 'comments' link below.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
