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.)

'Beyond the Internet' Geneameme

My eyes lit up when I read Pauleen Cass's 'Beyond the Internet' Geneameme (and not just because of the reference to Tips for Queensland Research, for which I thank you, Pauleen!) - 'Beyond the Internet' is definitely my scene.

Copy the text below and paste it into your blog or into a note on Facebook. Substitute your annotations for mine, and change the font to show your answers. Overseas researchers may want to add to the list or replace items with ones relevant to their own research. Remember this is all about locating information from sources not on the internet (with a couple of small exceptions).

Things you have already done or found = bold face type
Things you would like to do or find = italicize (colour optional)
Things you haven't done or found and don't care to = plain type

You are encouraged to add extra comments in brackets after each item.

1. Looked at microfiche for BDM indexes which go beyond the online search dates.
2. Talked to elderly relatives about your family history.
3. Obtained old family photos from relatives.
4. Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-grandparent.
5. Have at least one certificate (birth/death/marr) for each great-great-grandparent. (Many were born before civil registration. For the UK I have some certificates and lots of parish registers. One parish marriage register gave details that were not on the certificate!)
6. Seen/held a baptism or marriage document in a church, church archive or microfilm.
7. Seen an ancestor's name in some other form of church record, eg kirk session, communion roll.
8. Used any microfilm from an LDS family history centre for your research.
9. Researched using a microfilm other than a parish register (LDS family history centre/other).
10. Used cemetery burial records to learn more about your relative's burial.
11. Used funeral director's registers to learn more about your relative's burial.
12. Visited all your great-grandparents' grave sites (some don't have headstones).
13. Visited all your great-great-grandparents' grave sites (some are in Germany / Poland).
14. Recorded the details on your ancestors' gravestones and photographed them (including one that has since fallen face down - and the oldest headstone I've found is for gr-gr-gr-grandmother Mary AGAR, died 1794).
15. Obtained a great-grandparent's will/probate documents.
16. Obtained a great-great grandparent's will/probate documents (but the most useful was for my gr-gr-grandfather's *brother* - always research the siblings!)
17. Found a death certificate among will documents (lots of Queensland probate files have death certificates).
18. Followed up in the official records, something found on the internet.
19. Obtained a copy of your immigrant ancestors' original shipping records.
20. Found an immigration nomination record for your immigrant ancestor (I wish! Mine seem to have been assisted or free, not nominated.)
21. Found old images of your ancestor's place of origin (online or other).
22. Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor's place of residence.
23. Read all/part of a local history for your ancestor's place of origin.
24. Read your ancestor's school admission records.
25. Researched the school history for your grandparents.
26. Read a court case involving an ancestor (online newspapers don't count for this). (Actually it was my direct ancestor's brother.)
27. Read about an ancestor's divorce case in the archives (none of mine were divorced).
28. Have seen an ancestor's war medals.
29. Have an ancestor's military record (not a digitised copy eg WWII).
30. Read a war diary or equivalent for an ancestor's battle.
31. Seen an ancestor's/relative's war grave.
32. Read all/part of the history of an ancestor's military unit (battalion/ship etc).
33. Seen your ancestor's name on an original land map.
34. Found land selection documents for your immigrant ancestor/s.
35. Found other land documents for your ancestor (home/abroad).
36. Located land maps or equivalent for your ancestor's place of origin.
37. Used contemporaneous gazetteers or directories to learn about your ancestors' places.
38. Found your ancestor's name in a Post Office directory of the time.
39. Used local government sewerage maps (yes, seriously!) for an ancestor's street.
40. Read an inquest report for an ancestor/relative (online and/or archives) (inquests - including fire inquests re damage to property - are fabulous!)
41. Read an ancestor's/relative's hospital admission. (If only more hospital admission registers survived!)
42. Researched a company file if your family owned a business.
43. Looked up any of your ancestor's local government rate books or valuation records.
44. Researched occupation records for your ancestor/s (railway, police, teacher etc).
45. Researched an ancestor's adoption. (No adoptions in my direct line)
46. Researched an ancestor's insolvency.
47. Found a convict ancestor's passport or certificate of freedom. (No convicts in my tree)
48. Found a convict ancestor's shipping record. (No convicts in my tree)
49. Found an ancestor's gaol admission register. (My lot were too law-abiding to leave such interesting records. Sigh.)
50. Found a licencing record for an ancestor (brands, publican etc) (horse and cattle brands).
51. Found an ancestor's mining lease/licence (I haven't found any miners in my family).
52. Found an ancestor's name on a petition to government (petition about a railway) (I should look for other petitions - lots in Government publications and Colonial Secretary's correspondence.)
53. Read your ancestor's citizenship document (naturalisation record at Qld State Archives).
54. Read about your ancestor in an undigitised regional newspaper.
55. Visited a local history library/museum relevant to your family (several - and I was stunned to find a portrait of my gr-gr-grandmother's brother, John Campbell, in Sale museum in Victoria).
56. Looked up your ancestor's name in the Old Age Pension records (mine aren't listed, but I checked the index as I was creating it!)
57. Researched your ancestor or relative in Benevolent Asylum/Workhouse records (none of mine were there, but they are great records).
58. Researched an ancestor's/relative's mental health records (sister of my direct ancestor was in Goodna Asylum).
59. Looked for your family in a genealogical publication of any sort (but not online remember).
60. Contributed family information to a genealogical publication.

Please leave a comment on Pauleen's post, with a link to your response to her Geneameme.