Canadians and Americans in Cooktown Hospital

Modern photo of Cooktown's old hospital
(source: scampiferous on Flickr)

Listed below are some of the Americans and Canadians who were admitted to hospital at Cooktown, Queensland, Australia, 1884-1901. Spelling of names and places is rather erratic. The hospital's admission registers are printed volumes with space for these details (which, if supplied by the patient, may be more accurate than those on a death certificate):

Name;  date admitted;  age;  birthplace;  occupation;  religion;  ship of arrival;  how long in colony;  place of residence;  marital status;  place of marriage, at what age, and name of spouse;  names and ages of children living;  number and sex of children deceased;  father's name and occupation;  father's present residence if living (or 'father dead');  mother's maiden name;  disease or reason for admission;  date of discharge or date and cause of death;  sometimes additional remarks (medical history, social circumstances, etc).

William BARRON born St Johns Newfoundland
Ira BASSIE born Manitoba Canada
Laurence BERNARD born Prince Edwards Island Canada
Andrew BROWN born Prince E Island, Canada
Edward BROWN born Toronto Canada
William CASEY born New York America
Louie DUVAL born Montreal Canada
Richard HIGGINS born Wisconsin America
William Henry LAWSON born St John, New Brunswick
Frank LENNOX born Mitigan(?), NY State America
Frank LENNOX born New York State America
Franshaw LENNOX born Silver Creek America
Joan LORD (nee STREET) born New York
John MORGAN born Philadelphia America
Edward MOSEBY born Baltimore America
Joan STREET (born New York; married name LORD)

To search for other names, or to find out how to obtain copies from the original hospital registers, see the three Web pages about Cooktown hospital.
~~~
(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com/2016/12/canadians-and-americans-in-cooktown.html.)

Favourite Web Sites

This is an updated version of a post that I wrote a few years ago in response to a survey at Genea-Musings. We were asked to rank eight Web sites in order of importance to our research. I don't use some of the American sites listed in the survey, so I have substituted sites that are important to me.

1. Google for general searching, blogs, and Google Alerts.


2. GENUKI - best starting point for UK/Ireland genealogy.


3. FindMyPast for indexes, transcripts and images of original documents, with (usually) more accurate indexing than Ancestry.


4. Discovery for records held by The National Archives (UK) plus 2,500 archives across the country. Over 9 million records are available for download.


5. Trove for searchable digitised Australian newspapers and much more.


6. Cyndi's List for the biggest list of genealogy links worldwide.


7. FreeBMD for civil registration indexes (England & Wales); and see how to use FreeBMD Postems to find distant relatives.


8. FamilySearch for its catalogue (especially good for finding out what records exist for a town or parish), genealogy guides, indexes, European records, etc.

Other sites that I use frequently:

• LostCousins (for Britain, Canada and the USA).


• CuriousFox (gazetteer, maps and message board system for the United Kingdom, Ireland and USA).

Although I've had great success with some of Ancestry's databases, especially the National Probate Calendar (an index of wills and administrations that shows the names and whereabouts of vast numbers of people in other countries), I cannot bring myself to rank Ancestry in the Top 8 because its indexing is often inaccurate and I don't like the way it presents search results.

Which Web sites do you find essential for your research?

Historical Photos and Sketches of People (Wednesday's Webpage for Genealogy)

This week's featured Web page is Historical Photos and Sketches of People.

All family historians are curious to know what the people in their family tree looked like. With that in mind, I am searching through various series of records in Government Archives and creating a name index for photographs or sketches of people. The original records include biographical or background details about the subject. This is a superb resource for family history!

My index includes photos (portraits) or sketches of:

• people sought by anxious relatives/friends
• people believed drowned or murdered
• other missing persons (some were children)
• wife / child deserters
• deserters from ships or military service
• fathers of illegitimate children
• prison escapees
• criminals and suspects.

Most of the subjects were born in the United Kingdom, Ireland, western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA or Canada. A few were from other countries.

This is an ongoing indexing project, with 1,700 names online now and about 1,000 names yet to be added. Check the list of names, which is spread over two pages. If you find a name of interest, scroll down to the 'Copying Service' section on that page. It explains how to get a copy of the photograph or sketch and its associated document.

This post is number 3 in my Wednesday's Webpage series. Each week I will focus on one page that either describes genealogy sources or research strategies, or lists names from indexes to original records in Archives or elsewhere.

(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com/2016/02/historical-photos-and-sketches-of.html.)

6 Genealogy Sources You May Have Overlooked

Image by Stuart Miles, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Searching for ancestors who vanished? Looking for a way to break down those genealogy brick walls?

Try these sources, all of which refer to people from many countries. In each record set, read 'Learn More' and 'Discover More' to find out about the record contents and sources. When images are available, either online or in Archives, they will have information that is not in the transcription.

1. British Civil Service Evidence of Age records
   
   These records are for people from around the world, including 654 from Australia / NZ. I've found some exciting details (especially for people whose birth was never registered) in images that have recently been added to this record set. Note that a right arrow leads to the next related image, which is often a baptism record.


2. Passport records
   
   Various series of passport records refer to people departing either temporarily or permanently (eg, going overseas on holidays or returning to their home country). Records held in Queensland (Australia) often give not only departure details but also ship and date of arrival and State of disembarkation.


3. Trade Union Records
   
   These are for railway staff, carpenters, joiners, cabinetmakers, woodworkers, lithographic artists/printers, designers, engravers, boilermakers, iron shipbuilders, etc. Countries included are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Channel Islands, England, Germany, Gibraltar, Ireland, Isle Of Man, Malta, New Zealand, Rhodesia, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, USA and Wales.  Australian branches include Adelaide, Ballarat, Bathurst, Bendigo, Brisbane, Broken Hill, Charters Towers, Fremantle, Geelong, Hobart, Ipswich, Kalgoorlie, Leeton, Mackay, Melbourne, Mildura, Mount Morgan, Newcastle, Perth, Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Sydney, Townsville, Wollongong and others.


4. Great Western Railway shareholders
   
   The index includes names of shareholders, executors, beneficiaries and others (many of whom lived overseas). The image often gives death or burial date/place, occupation, address, names of other parties (executors or legatees for deaths, and husbands for marriages), date of marriage or other event. Most events relate to residents of England and Wales, but there are also thousands of Scottish, Irish and overseas records, including more than 200 entries for Australians.


5. British India Office collection
   
   If you are researching someone who lived or worked in India, start here. This collection includes births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, burials, wills and probate records, civil and military pensions, East India Company cadet papers, and applications for the civil service. It covers military personnel, civil servants, surgeons, planters, entrepreneurs, missionaries and others. I found a pension record that gave names and exact birthplaces (long before civil registration) of the man's children, who were back home in England.


6. New South Wales will books (wills for people worldwide, as explained below).
   
   Don't be put off by the 'NSW' heading! The collection includes wills for many people from other States and other countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, New Zealand, Canada, USA, South Africa, Germany, Fiji, Mexico, India, Holland, China, Papua, New Guinea, etc. For my personal tips on using this magnificent resource, see Will Books 1800-1952.

If you've made exciting discoveries in any of these sources, please tell us about them in a comment below.

(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/6-genealogy-sources-you-may-have.html.)

I use and recommend the Book Depository.

Using LostCousins for genealogy (UK, Ireland, USA and Canada)

LostCousins logo

LostCousins is probably the only Web site that identifies (with virtually 100% accuracy) people who share the same ancestors. You do not waste time corresponding with people who are not related to you! I've found several new relatives via the site.

To use LostCousins you need to find your relatives in the census for England and Wales 1841, 1881 or 1911; Scotland 1881; Ireland 1911; Canada 1881; Newfoundland 1921; or United States 1880 or 1940. Then at LostCousins you enter the census source/page details for those names.

Before gathering and entering data, read the instructions on LostCousins very carefully ('Information - Read this first') because requirements for each census are different. If you prepare well, entering the data is a lot quicker.

Be sure to enter census data for brothers and sisters of your direct ancestors, because their descendants are the cousins you want to contact. One such descendant had a family bible and a letter from my great-great-grandfather, which overcame a dead end in my research.

After entering your relatives' census references, click 'Search', and the system checks whether anyone else has already entered identical data. If they have, it means that you are both researching the same people.

Remember to log in periodically, go to your 'My Ancestors' page and click 'Search' again to check for matches with new LostCousins members.

It is free to join LostCousins and enter your data, but you can, if you wish, pay a small annual subscription (about $10) so that there are no delays in making contact with my distant cousins when they are identified by the extremely accurate matching system.

The more people who enter census data for direct ancestors and their siblings, the greater the chances of finding our 'lost cousins'. Maybe you are my distant relative! I'm trying to find you - so please... start using LostCousins today!
- - -
(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/using-lostcousins-for-genealogy-uk.html.)

FindMyPast's world records discount offer

FindMyPast's logo

FindMyPast periodically offers discounts and 'free access' days, which in future I will list on the Discounts and Freebies page on my main Web site. You may also want to read why I use and recommend FindMyPast.

A one-month 'world' subscription to FindMyPast is just $5 (usually $19.95) for new subscribers who pay before midnight on 1 Sep 2014.

The world subscription gives you access to more than 1.5 billion family history records for Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, the USA and Canada.

If you do not want your subscription to automatically renew at the normal price after your initial period, un-tick the 'auto-renew my subscription' box in the My Account section of the site.

Check whether more recent offers are listed on the Discounts and Freebies page.

Paid Online Genealogy Tools (52 weeks of Abundant Genealogy, Week 2)

In '52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy', this year's series of weekly blogging prompts by Amy Coffin, we are invited to make others aware of genealogy resources, share our tips on their use, and show the providers that we appreciate them.

Week 2 - Paid Online Genealogy Tools.  Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of your list? How can it help others with their genealogy research?

Last week's LostCousins newsletter referred to a 7-page article in which four family historians compared the four main subscription sites. Three of the four historians said that overall they preferred FindMyPast. I agree - partly because FindMyPast's transcriptions and indexes are the most accurate, and partly because my research is mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia.

I suspect that many posts this week will be about the 'Big Four', so instead of dwelling on FindMyPast I want to highlight a smaller site, 'LostCousins'. Its claim to fame is that it is the only web site that is virtually 100% accurate in identifying people who share the same ancestors. You do not waste time corresponding with people who are not related to you! The automated system also keeps your data hidden.

To use LostCousins you need to find your relatives in specific online censuses for England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada or the United States. Then you enter the source/page details at LostCousins. Read the instructions carefully before gathering and entering data, as requirements for each census are different. If you prepare well, entering the data is a lot quicker. Be sure to include brothers and sisters of your direct ancestors, because it is their descendants who are the cousins you want to contact.

After entering your relatives' census references, click 'Search', and the system checks whether anyone else has already entered identical data. Remember to log in periodically, go to your 'My Ancestors' page and repeat the search.

The more people who enter census data for direct ancestors and their siblings, the greater the chances of finding our 'lost cousins'. For updated information about LostCousins, see Why I Recommend LostCousins.
- - -
(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/paid-online-genealogy-tools-52-weeks-of.html.)

CuriousFox (Follow Friday)

Those with genealogy interests in Ireland or the USA may want to read my blog post about CuriousFox, a gazetteer and message system that connects family and local historians. There are two versions: one for the the UK and Ireland and another for the USA.