Findmypast has announced its latest archive project to increase access to over a million East Kent  baptism, marriage and burial records dating back to 1538. This is the first time that images of the original parish records from East Kent churches will appear online

Findmypast.co.uk has announced that it has been awarded a contract by Canterbury Cathedral Archives to publish online for the very first time historic records from the archive. The first phase of the Canterbury Collection project will see a browsable version of the parish registers of the historic Archdeaconry of Canterbury go online in the coming weeks at findmypast.co.uk.

An estimated 270,000 images containing over a million entries will be published on the website, covering parish churches from a wide expanse of East Kent, including:

•  the city of Canterbury
•  the towns of Faversham, Wye and Elham
•  Thanet
•  towns along the east Kent coast stretching from Whitstable in the north round to Hythe in the south

The launch has been timed to coincide with the temporary closure of Canterbury Cathedral Archives for refurbishment, so that family historians and local historians can continue to enjoy access to these fascinating records until the Archives reopens in autumn 2012.

From the initial online launch in February, visitors to the findmypast.co.uk website will be able to browse through the scanned pages of the parish records to search for their ancestors. At the same time, findmypast.co.uk will start to transcribe the records, with a view to creating an index and making them fully searchable on the website later this year.

Canterbury Cathedral Archivist Cressida Williams, added: “Working with findmypast has provided us with a wonderful opportunity to expand access to these records to a worldwide audience. This resource will be a great asset for anyone with an interest in the history of this part of Kent.”

The Canterbury Collection will join an impressive array of UK parish records at findmypast.co.uk and available free in the Society of Genealogists’ Library, including records from Manchester Archives, Cheshire Archives, Plymouth & West Devon Record Office and Welsh Archives, in addition to over 40 million parish records from family history societies throughout the UK in partnership with the Federation of Family History Societies.

Anyone wishing to be notified when the Canterbury Collection becomes available can register online at www.findmypast.co.uk to receive a newsletter.

About Canterbury Cathedral Archives

Canterbury Cathedral Archives collects, cares for, and provides access to, records relating to Canterbury Cathedral, the City of Canterbury, parishes in the historic Archdeaconry of Canterbury, and other local institutions and families. The Archives closes on 31st January for refurbishment work, due to reopen in Autumn 2012. Findmypast.co.uk is working with the Cathedral Archives on ‘the Canterbury Collection’, made up of registers of parishes in the historic Archdeaconry of Canterbury.

http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/history/archives.aspx

Technorati Tags: family history, findmypast.co.uk, genealogy, kent family history, Kent parish registers

Voting for the Anglo-Celtic  Connections Blog survey to determine genealogists of “rock star” status ends on Saturday 28 July

Many will be familiar with  SoG member John Reid’s excellent blog Anglo Celtic Collections. John is a stalwart of the Canadian genealogy community and certainly keeps attuned to news and events in the British and Irish Genealogy scene.

John has devised a  survey to determine rock star genealogists, women and men who give “must attend” presentations at genealogy conferences and/or write “must read” family history articles or publications.

Voting is now open. There’s more than one rock star so vote for as many as you want. it’s your opportunity to express your appreciation for the genealogists who wow you with their presentations and/or writing. Consider both style and content.

I note from John’s updates that the British community is  a little under represented amongst the the voters so we should make up for that. There are some excellent genealogy communicators from the English speaking world on this list (including several SoG members) and it’s a very interesting list of people to follow. Thanks to everyone who made nominations and congratulations to all who have been nominated.

As well as asking for your votes the survey asks basic questions on country of residence, gender and age range which you may respond to with “prefer not to answer.”

As John says – Please feel free to use Twitter, Google+, Facebook, blogs, emails, telephone, posters tacked to telephone poles, smoke signals, carrier pigeons and other publicity to encouraging voting which is planned to close late on Saturday 28 January.

START HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, genealogy rock stars

I’m very interested to note that Findypast have just published a new version of the 1881 Scottish census on findmypast.co.uk

The census recorded the population of Scotland at over 3.7 million in 1881 and they’ve freshly transcribed these records to ensure your ancestors’ details are accurately recorded.

The  1841-1871 Scottish censuses are already available on findmypast.co.uk. You’ll be keen to search the 1881 Scottish census for the ancestors you’ve traced in the previous censuses. If you haven’t been able to find your ancestors in the earlier Scottish censuses, now’s the time to search the 1881 census to see if they make an appearance.

The high quality transcriptions make it easy to discover the crucial details about your ancestors’ lives and will be interesting to compare this version of the index to that we have all been using for the last 10 years or so. Sadly it is not possible to view the original census images on findmypast.co.uk, due to the General Register Office for Scotland’s licensing regulations but anyone searching at the Society of Genealogists Library will be able to use our copies of the Scottish census films in conjunction with Findmypast Index. Of course Findmypast is free to use at the Society’s Library and our members receive a discount on the FMP subscription as part of their SOG membership benfits.

Technorati Tags: census, family history, findmypast.co.uk, genealogy, Scotland

Start Your Family Tree Week 26 Dec -1 January

The Society of Genealogists, our Centenary Sponsors findmyPast and our Show Partners Who Do You Think You Are? Live are encouraging everyone to get interested in family history this holiday.

Christmas is a great time to get the family together and climb the family tree. Top Tips,  Kids pedigree charts, Information leaflets and Help & Advice on tracing your family history can be found on the SoG FREE Help and Advice Pages

Win a Day at the Society of Genealogists

Each day from Boxing Day until New Year’s Day, findmypast.co.uk, sponsors of the Society of Genealogists’ Centenary Year will be giving you a helping hand on your journey into your past. Look at their website for the Start Your Family Tree Week daily hints, tips and activities to help you research your family tree. Discover some of the great prizes the Society of Genealogists, findmypast and other partners are offering for family historians throughout the week including a free Day at the Society of Genealogists with our Genealogist Else Churchill.

Make it your New Year’s resolution to carry on researching your family history and encourageyou friends and family to join you on the genealogy adventure - imagine what you can show your family next year.

Take part in FindmyPast’s Family Tree Week competition http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/start-your-family-tree-week/competition for a chance to spend a day tracing your family tree with SoG genealogist, Else Churchill, at the Society of Genealogists in London – using the resources of the SoG and getting an expert’s help with your family history. The prize includes return travel by train to London from within the UK and two nights’ accommodation in London for the winner and a guest.

Technorati Tags: genealogy

Family and local historians have been eagerly awaiting the launch of the British Library Newspaper Archive since we had a short opportunity to test it a few weeks ago.

Now the site is fully functioning and available to all. The British Library in partnership with Brightsolid (the company behind genealogy websites Findmypast and Scotland’s People) have launched the first phase of a ten year project to digitise 40million pages of newspaper. In the first release some 4 million pages have been made available online at the website www.britishnewspaperarchives.co.uk

About 200 titles have been made available so far. While the current list of newspapers does go into the 20^th century they are primarily for the 18^th and 19^th century, thus providing a wonderful resource for anyone researching before the census years. The project is concentrating on local papers and in the first release it looks like every county has at least one paper represented so the spread is quite good. In addition the Poor Law Gazette; Poor Man’s Guardian and The Odd Fellow have been included. It strikes me that the coverage is better for the rural counties than urban areas. Hull and Liverpool for example had several papers but each only has one included thus far. There is also some overlap with newspapers previously digitised through JISC academic funding, some of which have also been licenced for the BL’s previous 19^th century newspaper online project – but that is to be expected and all the papers digitised with JISC will eventually be in this archive.

Local newspapers are fascinating and throw up such amazing stories. You can search by key words not only through the editorial content but in advertisements and illustrations.

I have found some remarkable information for my ancestors in the Hereford Times and Herefordshire Journal. As poor labouring folk they were often found as victims of petty crimes such as theft. My Great Great Grandmother Mary Churchill gave evidence in 1861 against her neighbour tried at the Petty Session for a brutal assault of their son – something that of course you just wouldn’t know just by looking at the families listed side by side in the 1861 census.

My most interesting find has been the reports of the trial, conviction and transportation at the Hereford Summer Assizes of Mary’s Brother–in-law and My Great Great Uncle John Churchill (born 1819). He was tried in 1846 for the attempted murder of Elizabeth Morris at the Turnpike House in St Weonards in Herefordshire. The story is reported in one of the longest court reports I have ever seen. There was damning forensic evidence as the constable reported measuring and matching John’s boots to footprints found at the screen. John’s brothers James and my Great Great Grandfather William (who the judged called the more “respectable brother”) gave witness on John’s behalf and it is reported that William contributed £5 or £6 to his brothers defence saved out meagre wages of 8 shillings a week. The Defence Counsel tried to prove that there had been a past history of trouble between the Churchills and Mrs Morris claiming this was a false accusation against John as she had once cried “I do hate the set of you. I’ll transport some of you if it lies in my power”. However her evidence and identification was quite clear and accepted by the jury and while John was found not guilty of attempted murder he was convicted of the brutal assault (described frequently in the papers as “cutting and maiming”), which left Elizabeth badly injured and unconscious on the ash heap. John Churchill was transported to Tasmania on the Pestonjee Bomanjee in October 1846, gaining his ticket of leave in 1854/5 and dying there in 1883.

The peripheral information about the witnesses in this case, such as the amount they earned and who lodged with whom, is fascinating and brings a generation of my family history vividly to life, and I would never have known about it if it weren’t for the digitisation of the Herefordshire newspapers. The reports proved some theories I had about the family and answered other questions – notably why I had not found John’s burial or death record. John isn’t directly related to me and his crime was very serious indeed. But I can’t help but be delighted to have discovered it.

The digitised newspapers are full of such stories and will open so many avenues of research for family and local history. Searches are free but you have to pay to view the newspaper pages themselves. The fees start from £6.95 for 2 days access and 500 credits (50 pages views). A month’s subscription costs £29.95 for 30 days and 3000 credits. Annual subscription costs £79.95 with unlimited access. Images can be saved in folders to your account or downloaded as PDFs. You can order an A1 scan of a particular page which may well be useful. Old newsprint is fiendishly small and while a printout onto an A4 domestic printer has come out remarkably clearly I do wish I had a larger printer attached to my computer. I must admit to a small hiccup with trying to download an image of an article that crosses onto 2 pages which still needs to be sorted out but the email support response was very quick and we are working on the problem. The text of the newspapers has been captured by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) which captures a transcription of the article on the left of the screen. There is a facility for the public to correct any of the glitches that OCR throws up and as a good collaborative family historian I have edited the text of the article relating to John Churchill and tidied up a few errors so anyone after me who wants to read the entry will at least have all the names and places correctly transcribed and thus findable.

All in all this is a great new adventure in family history and will  enliven all our stories – good hunting.

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, newspapers