ANCESTRY.COM.AU
HISTORICAL RECORDS JUST LAUNCHED REVEAL 7 IN 10 AUSTRALIANS
HAVE LONDON ANCESTORS – WORLD FIRST
400 year of London history now online - an estimated 165M people around
the world have an ancestor in the collection, including David BECKHAM,
J.K. ROWLING and Britney SPEARS
The definitive collection of records detailing the rich history of
London and its inhabitants over 400 years is available online for the
first time today at leading social and family history website
Ancestry.com.au, in partnership with the City of
London’s London
Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Library Manuscripts.
According to a recent family history survey, it’s estimated that seven
in ten Australians will have an ancestor in the London Historical
Records, 1500s-1900s, due to
London’s status as the city at the centre of the British Empire for centuries. Key record types include parish and workhouse records, electoral rolls, wills, land tax records and school reports.
Furthermore, it is estimated that approximately 165 million people from
the around the world, including the U.S. and Canada will also be able to
trace ancestors in the collection2.
Starting with records from London’s infamous Victorian workhouses
memorably depicted by Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist, the London
Historical Records, 1500s-1900s will include more than 77 million
records, providing an unprecedented insight into the colourful history
of one of the world’s greatest cities.
Assembled over time direct from various London institutions, the
collection includes the names of millions of everyday Londoners
alongside famous and infamous figures from the city’s past. Notable
examples include Oliver Cromwell’s marriage record, the baptism record
for poet Samuel Pepys and the burial register listing for writer and
statesman John Milton.
A number of modern day celebrities can also find ancestors within the
collection. JK Rowling’s 3x great-grandfather, William Richard Rowling,
appears in the Mile End marriage registers for 1872, while David
Beckham’s London roots are also
well documented; with his 3x great-
grandparent’s marriage listed in the collection. Even international pop
star Britney Spears can find her great-grandfather, George Portell,
listed in the Tottenham marriage records for 1923.
The workhouse or ‘Board of Guardians’ records now online contain the
names of anyone who was born, baptised or died in a London workhouse in
the 19th and early 20th century. During this time, men, women and
children who couldn’t support themselves were forced to live in these
institutions, working long hours in tedious jobs in exchange for minimal
food and board.
The conditions were kept intentionally poor to deter potential new
inmates and unofficial beatings and deliberate starvation was not
unheard of. Overcrowding was also a major problem, compounded by the
influx of Irish immigrants after the potato famine of the mid 19th
century. While conditions improved slightly in the early 20th century,
the workhouses were still a feared ‘last resort’ by most until their
abolition in 1930.
The workhouse records cover 12 key London regions Records launched today
cover 12 major London regions: Poplar, Paddington, St Marylebone, St
Pancras, Southwark, Islington, Stepney, Westminster, Lambeth,
Wandsworth, Holborn and Hampstead. The remaining regions will launch
online in the coming months.. Also included today are a variety of
workhouse creed registers, admissions, discharges, apprenticeship papers
and lists of ‘lunatics’.
Workhouse records are just one of the record types which comprise the
London Historical Records, 1500s-1900s. Others include:
Parish Registers – from 1538, priests had to keep records of all
baptisms, marriages and burials in their parish. These records are taken
from over 10,000 Greater London parishes, and as they pre-date both
civil registration and censuses, they are the essential ‘next step back’
for people wishing to trace their family history beyond the 19th century
School Admissions and Discharges – contain records taken from 800+
London schools dating from the early Victorian times through to 1911.
They provide admission details and information about millions of London students Non-Conformist Register details the birth, baptism, death and burial of religious
dissenters who did not worship at the established church in Englandfrom 1694 to 1921. The majority of the records are forMethodist, Baptist and United Reformed churches, although there are smaller collections of
other denominations such as Quakers and Seventh Day Adventists
Diocesan Divorce Exhibita – one of a number of interesting records from
the London diocesan courts, when applying for divorce, a husband or wife
would submit evidence for their partner’s marital failings, including
love letters, witness accounts and sworn testimony, which were then kept
on record.
Debra Chesterton, Managing Director of Ancestry.com.au, comments: “As
approximately two thirds of Australians (70%) will be able to find a
London ancestor in this collection, it is little wonder that so many of
us have at some point travelled to and lived in this great city –
obviously our sense of belonging was well founded.
“No city in modern history other than London
can claim to have been the
capital of such a far reaching empire, which really is why this
collection is of such significance not only to Brits, but also to many
others around the world with ancestral ties back to England.
“This important collection pre-dates civil registration and censuses,
and documents the history of a great city and its people, their birth,
poverty, fortunes, faith, education, marriage and death.
Dr Deborah Jenkins, Assistant Director of the City of London’s
Department of Libraries, Archives and Guildhall Art Library, comments:
“We were delighted to work with Ancestry digitising this impressive
collection of documents.
“Not only will this mean that millions of people will be able to access
this resource from the comfort of their own homes all over the world –
it also ensures that we will be able to support the long term
preservation of the documents and provide fast access to researchers who
visit our sites.”
ARTICLE
http://www.ehow.com/how_2377831_use-tv-monitor-laptop.html
ARTICLE
BLOGS
http://www.thefamilyhistorian.org/
The Family Historian
Advice from the best genealogy bloggers on the Web.
ENG STH WESTMORELAND
http://southwest-familyhistory.com
South Westmorland Family History
Information and research services for Kendal and the surrounding area.
ENG YORKSHIRE
http://www.yorkgen.com
YorkGen
Genealogy and Family History of Yorkshire,
England.
ENGLAND WILLS
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/wills/?WT.hp=Wills
GENEALOGY STORAGE
http://www.irishgenealogysolutions.com
Irish Genealogy Solutions
Genealogy storage products for the safe preservation of certificates,
documents, photos and memorabilia
GUIDE
TO PEERAGE
http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk
Cracroft’s Peerage
Comprehensive guide to the British Peerage and Baronetage.
ITALIAN TRANSLATION
http://www.italiantranslationservices.webs.com/
Italian Translation Services
A helpful site for researchers of Italian ancestry who need their documents
translated from Italian into English and vice-versa.
MISSING WW1 SOLDIERS
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/8016160.stm
It would seem that these soldiers may have been buried by
the Germans and identifying tags removed. I have an idea also that
british "dog tags" were not indestructable being made of a fibrous substance
rather than metal?
Certainly the discovery of Red Cross records from WWI may help in the ongoing
research into the identity of all soldiers from WW1.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4985619/WWI-soldiers-buried-in-unmarked-graves-could-be-identified-says-historian.html
NTH IRELAND
http://www.northernirelandreflections.com
I retired from tourist information and now run an internet site offering to
take pictures of tombstones, etc in Northern
Ireland.
NZ MEMORY TREE
http://www.amemorytree.co.nz/index.php
OG ROOTS TELEVISION
New Roots, Og RootsTelevision.com
This week starts a series of videos from the Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations
(AFFHO) Congress 2009, which took place from January 16-20 in Auckland,
New Zealand. Here are the two videos Og is highlighting this week:
Jan Gow
Jan Gow, an organizer of the AFFHO Congress 2009, talks with Dick Eastman about
the diverse group of speakers sharing their genealogy knowledge at the event.
Brad Argent
Brad Argent of Australian
Ancestry tells Dick Eastman about the extensive features of the website at
AFFHO Congress 2009.
Be sure to tune in next week for more videos from the AFFHO Congress!
Og is also excited to have Alannah Ryane's fourth in her series of webisodes documenting her research
into her family history. This one take place at St. Paul's
Anglican Church in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, where she learned about Canada's masonic beginnings.
Og is delighted to announce that Family Tree DNA is the first official sponsor of RootsTelevision.com. T
hey sponsor the DNA channel, which currently has more than 35 videos related to DNA in genealogy
PC GENEALOGIST
http://pcgenealogist.com
PC Genealogy Software
PCGenealogist.com helps you do genealogy and family history on your PC by
publishing free, instructional videos and articles about PC genealogy software.
ROOTSWEB NEWS
http://blogs.rootsweb.ancestry.com/newsroom/?sssdmh=dm13.199269
SCRAPBOOK ALBUMS
http://www.webyfl.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=143
Scrapbook Albums: A Window to Your Heritage
If you've been researching your heritage for even a short time, then you've
collected a lot of information. Facts, photographs, documents, stories,
and so on. A scrapbook album is a great way to organize and showcase your
family heritage. Read this article to get started.
SOFTWARE
http://mattcombs.webs.com/sfmain.html
Surname Findit Main Page
Software for hard to read tombstones or documents.
TASK MANAGEMENT
http://www.thefamilyhistorian.org/archives.asp?category=Task_Management
