Some Recent Discoveries

 

Image by SimoneVomFeld on Pixabay

You may already be familiar with some or all of these websites, but I’ve only recently come across them! I found them all really useful and enlightening, and have bookmarked them for future use.

A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population, 1921

Some twentieth-century occupations may have changed their name, be very niche, or no longer exist. For instance, what’s a kapok worker? What’s kapok, for that matter?! What does an uncallower do? Which industry would a brilliandeer work in? Find out in the Dictionary of Occupational Terms that was produced to accompany the 1921 UK census.

Scottish Mining Website

A friend recently pointed me in the direction of this tremendous resource. It lists mines operational in Scotland for certain years in the 19th and 20th centuries, and has a mining accident section from before 1840 up until 1939.

Various resources such as government reports and newspaper articles are included throughout the site. One fascinating page lists miners’ wages and the cost of living from the 17th century until after World War Two. If your Scots ancestors were mineworkers, you’re sure to learn something new about the lives they led, as well as their work.

2025 Rhind Lectures on Scotland’s Place-Names 

I recently watched these lectures live. They’re sponsored by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and were free to view over the weekend when they took place. Now they’re available to watch on YouTube. This year’s theme was “Scotland’s Place-Names” and I learned so much about the survival of various languages in Scotland via the names that were given to places by their inhabitants and others. 

Several topics were addressed, including archaeology and religion. The lectures were delivered by Dr Simon Taylor, an academic in this field with over 30 years’ worth of expertise, and it was a pleasure to listen to someone so knowledgeable about his subject.

Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland

In a previous blog post, I extolled the virtues of joining a family history society – but other historical societies and heritage groups can also be of help to genealogical research. One such is the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland. Whether your ancestor was a congregant or a minister of a Presbyterian church on the island, the society has records and advice for your research.

You can learn more about the organisation and its purposes by viewing the slide collection which explains the origins of different forms of Irish Presybterianism.

The society also has an active events programme and some of their previous lectures can be found on YouTube.

Happy St Patrick's Day from your ancestors ☘

 

With St Patrick’s Day coming up on Monday, it’s the perfect time to revisit some great free online Irish family history resources that I've mentioned in the past.  I hope you find them useful!

☘  National Archives This resource for Irish research offers a free genealogy advisory service by email as well as searchable church, civil and census records. 

☘ FamilySearch Wiki provides information, tools, how-to guides, tutorials, maps and more for your research into ancestors on the island of Ireland.

☘ IreAtlas Townland Database is a comprehensive searchable listing of Irish townlands and is a handy reference resource. 

☘ Irishgenealogy.ie is a government-owned website with access to church and civil records.  Having recently undergone an upgrade, it boasts a searchable index and images for many of the records, as well as a section offering research help.  One aspect of the service is 2016 Family History, an excellent resource for learning to do Irish genealogy.  It includes a workbook, case studies, record guides, and fun tasks to complete. 

☘ Irish Census Records are available for 1901 and 1911 in digital, indexed format. Like the church and civil records website above, it's just had a facelift, so if you've used it in the past, give the new interface a try, and bookmark its new web address.

☘ Context is key when exploring the history of your family. The Great Irish Famine website delves into many aspects of this time period in the history of Ireland and its people, including a map that shows the spread of the potato blight that triggered the tragic events of what became known as the Great Hunger. It will give you some insight into what prompted so many Irish people to emigrate, perhaps including your family.

☘ If you know your ancestors lived in Dublin in the mid-nineteenth century but can't locate them in the later census returns, perhaps this online city directory will help you pin them down.

These websites should help you have a

☘☘  Happy St Patrick’s Day!  ☘☘

Recent Delvings

Image by Angelo Giordano from Pixabay

In the last short while, I've come across some great online resources to help me with my genealogical research. They may be well-known to you already, but I'm just discovering them! If they're new to you, too, I hope you find them as useful and interesting as I do.

Maritime History Archive

The Maritime History Archive, created by Memorial University, holds approximately 75 percent of the surviving crew lists (also called crew agreements) and official log books of British registered vessels for the periods 1857-1942 (predominantly 1863-1938) and 1951-1976.  I found out about this great resource when a kind friend used it to identify the means by which a relative of mine arrived in the United States. Thanks, Ardis!

Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland 

This provides the origins of Scottish locations whose names originate in the Gaelic language. Many other place names derive from Brythonic Celtic, Scots, Norse or English, though. I can highly recommend the excellent book “Glasgow’s Gaelic Place-names” for explanations of the different sources for some of the city's place names. 

Birlinn also publish “The Celtic Place-names of Scotland”, in e-book format. This is an older title that covers British, Pictish, and Gaelic place names, and some chapters from it are available on the website of the Scottish Place-Name Society under “Resources”. This site covers the subject in great detail, and it's fascinating to learn about the name origins of the places where our ancestors lived.

Registry of Deeds Index Project Ireland

The Registry is described as “a repository of records of wills, land transactions in Ireland and other deeds from 1709”. This website hosts an index and a guide to using the free-to-view FamilySearch digital collection of these records.

Ulster Historical Foundation

This organisation hosts many records, including a freely searchable index of migrant Ulster Scots, and smaller, more area-specific databases. This is a society well worth joining for the member-only records it provides!

Hebrides People (formerly Cò Leis Thu?) 

A long-time favourite website of mine has had a makeover. For genealogies of the Western Isles, you can’t get better than this site which draws on oral histories as well as land, church, and state records. Its Croft History series of books is excellent; if your ancestors hailed from any of the Outer Hebrides, these are invaluable for finding detailed information about those who lived and worked there, and those who left for other parts of the world.

Maintenance Alert

Next week, ScotlandsPeople will be offline as the website is "refreshed". The scheduled work will take place from 0001 on Sunday 1st September until 1200 on Tuesday 3rd September (BST). Hopefully it will mean improvements to the usability of the site!

Online Irish Records for St. Patrick's Day

 

If you have Irish ancestry, you may have been told that in Ireland “all the records were burned”.  Not so! And now many Irish family history records can be accessed online.  Below are just a few websites to get you started. 

Irish birth, marriage, and death records – indexed images from civil registration and earlier church records: Irish Genealogy.ie

Census records – the only remaining available years for all of Ireland are 1901 and 1911: National Archives of Ireland Census returns

Was your great-grandpa in the navy?  Search for his record at Irish Merchant Seamen 1918-1921

Ulster Covenant signatures – a huge petition in opposition to Irish Home Rule in 1912. Many signatures are from Irish migrants living in places such as Glasgow.

Many more record sites are listed at Ireland Online Genealogy Records on the FamilySearch Research Wiki.

And of course, with this being a frugal family history blog, all of these resources are completely free to search and view!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, and happy ancestor hunting!

Getting Ready for St Patrick's Day

This St. Patrick’s Day, find some free online Irish records and ancestry pointers.

National Archives  This prime resource for Irish research offers a free genealogy advisory service by email as well as searchable church, civil and census records.

FamilySearch Wiki provides information, tools, how-to guides, tutorials, maps and more for your research into ancestors on the island of Ireland.

IreAtlas Townland Database  is a comprehensive searchable listing of Irish townlands and invaluable reference source. 

Family Tree DNA St Patrick’s Day Sale  Save USD20 on this ancestral DNA package, until 17th March.

The Pick of the Irish Research Sites

 

With St Patrick’s Day coming up next week, it’s the perfect time to have a look at some great free online Irish family history resources.  Here are just a few to start with.

☘ Irishgenealogy.ie is a government-owned website with access to church and civil records.  It boasts a searchable index and images for many of the records, as well as a section offering research help.  One of the best aspects of the service is 2016 Family History, an excellent resource for learning to do Irish genealogy.  It includes a workbook, case studies, record guides, and fun tasks to complete. 

☘ Context is crucial when exploring the history of your family. The Great Irish Famine website delves into many aspects of this key time period in the history of Ireland and its people, including a map that shows the spread of the potato blight that triggered the tragic events of what became known as the Great Hunger. It will give you some insight into what prompted so many Irish people to emigrate, perhaps including your family.

Famine, Customs House Quay, Dublin

☘ From March 11^th-18^th this year, MyHeritage is opening all their Irish records to everyone, so make good use of this offer!

☘ If you know your ancestors lived in Dublin in the mid-nineteenth century, this online city directory may help you pinpoint their location more precisely. 

☘ Did your great-grandfather serve in the Irish Merchant Navy between the two World Wars? You may find a record of the voyages he made in this searchable index at Irish Mariners.

☘ Belfast City Council has created an index to burials in three of their graveyards: Roselawn, Dundonald, and Belfast City, from 1869 onwards.  You can order images of records that are more than 75 years old for a small fee. 

☘ One of the best websites for Irish research is run by veteran genealogist John Grenham.  It contains a multitude of genealogical resources, including a surname search which allows you to combine two names that appear in proximity to each other in the Griffith’s Valuation records of the 19th century.  This handy tool was recommended to me by professional researcher Claire Bradley and it has revolutionised my decades-long hunt for the birthplace of my third great-grandfather, who was only ever recorded as being born in “Ireland”.

☘ And to keep you out of trouble on the day itself, FamilySearch are hosting an all-day Irish research seminar starting at 9am MST (4pm GMT). There are twelve classes on offer, each lasting 20 minutes followed by a 10-minute question and answer session. They cover different record types and research strategies as well as historical background.  You can dip in and out of the classes throughout the day, but advance registration is required. 

☘☘  Happy St Patrick’s Day!  ☘☘

Six (free) family history things to do when the archives are closed

 

Well, I was going to write another post about archives re-opening, but with potential changes on the horizon for public building access (The National Archives at Kew have already announced they have suspended bookings for the moment), I thought it might be more useful to share some things that won't be affected by changes in local or national regulations.  So I've collected a variety of family history activities you can do from home, whether your ancestors are from Britain, Ireland, Canada or Australia.

☙  Kew are still providing free downloads to their digital documents, which include wills and military records.  Their online guides give a good overview of their collections and the kind of information they hold that can help build a family tree.

☙  A great opportunity to pick up Irish research skills starts this week.  South Dublin Libraries are offering a six-week series of Zoom evening classes beginning on Thursday 7th November.  While priority will be given to local students, overseas applicants are being accepted.  It’s totally free and you can learn more about the content of the course, and sign up for it, at their Eventbrite registration page.   

☙  Looking for a free place online to store and share your family tree?  Check out this short video from the US Family Tree magazine about WikiTree, a free tree hosting service with a difference. 

☙  You may have heard of the historical forced migration of young people from the United Kingdom to countries around the world.  Many genealogists trace relatives who experienced this, and Canadian organisation British Home Children has been helping families find each other for many years. Their website includes indexes of home children who served in the military, and transcriptions of records from the UK National Archives.

☙  Also drawing on British archives is the Australian Convict Queenslanders database. Find ancestors who left the UK for entirely different reasons, and read profiles of some who shook off the shackles and made good in their new country.

☙  And finally, if you’ve come up against a no-birth-certificate brick wall, professional genealogist Mish Holman takes you step by step through her excellent strategy for breaking it down. 

Happy hunting!

 

Free Family History Mini-Class : Lesson 8

In our digital age, many otherwise inaccessible historical sources and information are readily online, not just to read, but to search using keywords and names.  You’ll find that they are often provided in formats (such as PDF files) which can be downloaded to a mobile device for use on the go.

Digital resources are an indispensable element of the genealogist’s toolkit, and even more so when access to physical archives and libraries is limited.  Check out the following links, and hopefully you’ll identify sources that you can use in your research.  All of these are free to access.

Books

HathiTrust hosts millions of digitised books from libraries the world over, while

Project Gutenberg has free e-books of many classics and out-of-copyright titles.

Newspapers

Read my previous blog posts here and here for details of some of the essential free newspaper archives online.  Don't overlook these invaluable records of your ancestors' everyday lives.

Historical city & trade directories

Scottish Post Office directories list names, addresses, and trades or occupations of people in urban areas from the 18th century onwards. 

For England & Wales, there are similar Trade & Local Directories from the 1700s to the 1910s.

Area histories

To learn more about the local history of specific counties or parishes, there are the Victoria County Histories covering England, and for Scotland, the 18th- and 19th-century editions of the Statistical Accounts. 

Digital Collections 

Such resources include many images that can bring your family’s history to life.  These are just a few suggestions.

SCRAN offers still, sound and moving images from hundreds of museums, including the Victoria & Albert and National Galleries of Scotland.  View buildings where your ancestors lived, worked, or went to school, objects they might have used, and views they would have looked out on.

The British Library's digital collections include illuminated manuscripts and vintage books with photo-illustrations, which could easily side-track you en route to their wide selection of online maps, or their oral history recordings.

Ireland

Fordham University in New York City provides an extensive list of links to free digital content from Irish libraries, archives and museums, including many sources of use to family historians.

United States

The US Library of Congress’s vast range of subject matter, from music to maps, includes local, social, and business history collections in different formats.  The America at Work, America at Leisure: Motion Pictures from 1894-1915 collection is just one highlight of a fascinating online repository.

The next class will introduce you

to some essential reference tools

for family history research.

☘☘☘ Happy St Patrick's Day ☘☘☘

Thanks to my frugal family historian friend Pat, here's a link to some top Irish genealogy websites - all free, of course.  I wish you the luck of the Irish in your research!

This month only: FREE access to Irish records

With the national day of Ireland’s patron saint on the horizon, you can enjoy some time-limited free access to records that are normally held behind a paywall.  You can sign up for most subscription family history websites without payment, and get access to certain free collections as well as special offers such as these.

☘Ancestry  Free access to all their Irish records until 18 March.

☘MyHeritage Free access to all Irish records 5-22 March

For many more - permanently free - websites to use when tracing your Irish heritage, check out a post I prepared earlier...
☘Irish Records: They're NOT all burned!  

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Irish Records: They're NOT all burned!

Trinity College Library, Dublin*

There’s hardly a family in the West of Scotland that doesn’t have at least a wee bit of Irish blood in it, including my own.  And the same is probably true for many countries around the world, so researching Irish ancestors is a popular pursuit.  

A host of myths have grown up around the family records of the island of Ireland, the most persistent being that “all the records were destroyed”.  While many of the records genealogists commonly use were indeed lost (particularly the earlier census returns), there are many others that are freely available – and I do mean freely, as the Irish government has committed to imaging, indexing and sharing many of them online at no cost to the user.  Some of these are included below.  The Northern Irish record office (PRONI) website also hosts a number of unique and little-known collections which may well amaze you.

Here, though, I’ve chosen to list only a small selection of free-to-access record sites for Ireland.  Bear in mind that the scope of these collections will change regularly, as it has just this week. 

When you visit these sites, first of all check out what they actually have.  Being aware of a website’s content and value for your research is an important preliminary step to using it.  Who wants to spend hours searching a website for records it doesn’t hold?

So pull out the Irish branches of your family tree and see how they feature among these resources:

Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI (National Library of Ireland)

Census of Ireland, 1901 and 1911

Civil Registration (BMDs) and Church Records

 

FamilySearch Irish Genealogy Help and Records Gateway  

            Many collections, including some indexed images. 

Irish Graveyards  

Military Archives (Irish Defence Forces)  

            Lists of serving men, pension records, army census of 1922

National Archives of Ireland

Census survivals for 1821-51, Census Search forms for 1841-51, the Tithe Applotment Books from 1823 to 1837, the Soldiers’ Wills from 1914 to 1917

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)  

Will calendars, historical maps, the Ulster Covenant, street directories, name search feature, and much, much more

No blog post on Irish genealogy would be complete without acknowledging professional researcher and author Chris Paton and his expertise in Irish research.  His GENES blog is in itself a great free resource for family history news and information, and well worth keeping up to date with.

*Note: none of the records above are held in Trinity College Dublin. It's just got an awesome library.