New Zealand BDMS online

Well I hope that this caught your attention, because it did mine. The new Birth, Death and Marriage Historical Records website, is now available where you can search New Zealand Government records for births, deaths and marriages (BDM).

To achieve the best search result have an idea of the date range you are looking at.

If you have a brick wall and cannot find a death for a Victorian ancestor consider that they went to New Zealand - some of mine did!

A certificate can be purchased from the same site.

Victorian Historical Indexes

Family History Fest re-launches this week at Diamond Valley Library. An introductory session on searching the birth, death and marriage indexes in Victoria will take place this Wednesday at 1.30 pm.

Some useful websites to help you in this area include the following:

Digger
Describes Diggers features, Includes “Introduction to Digger” , a guided tour (downloadable)and tips.
Wiktionary Abbreviations for English given names
International Genealogical Index Another source to search BDMs
AFHC - Registries of Birth, Death, Marriage Australia
Spare BDM records for NE Victoria
Victorian Towns and Localities
list of all the current towns and localities in the state of Victoria, Australia, but also includes those that now no longer exist or those that had a previous existence under a different name. Useful to use against the abbreviations on the place names in the Digger indexes
Victorian Place Names Abbreviations from Digger indexes
Victorian Place name abbreviaitons
Index to Wills, Probate and Administration Records 1841-1925 You can now search for Wills, Probate and Administration records by name up to 1925. Links to digitised copies of these records where they exist.
What you can expect to see on a AUS BDM certificate

Basic Genealogy Class

Rosanna Library is hosting an Absolute basics in genealogy class this Saturday 21 February, 8.45 am - 10 am.

Some great websites to get you started:

Beginning Your Family History
Getting Started in Genealogy and Family History
RootsWeb.com Home Page
Genealogy.com : Learning Centre
US. Although a commercial site and the info is aimed to US researchers, the info is well organised and is largely free.
Federation of Family History Societies : First Steps in Family History
UK. PDF. Includes links, particularly useful for beginning UK research
The National Archives (TNA) Family History
UK film clips with simple tips on getting key information and building your family tree
FamilyRecords.gov.uk
UK. Covers basic information in seven key points. Once the basics are mastered use the topics tab found at the top of the page for further tips. Eg. BDMs, census
International Genealogical Index
Universal Relationship Chart
Genealogy Help and Guides
The Gene Pool: Family Naming Traditions
Society of Australian Genealogists - Databases
AFHC - Australian Family History Compendium
The information on this site is arranged by category: Specific State or Territory, Archives, Civil Registration, Glossary, Guides, Indexes, Libraries, Maps, Locations, researchers Societies Software Australian sellers of genealogical items
AFHC - Registries of Birth, Death, Marriage Australia
Ballarat & District Genealogical Society Excellent links
Where to start GenTutorials - presented by Genwriters
US. Detailed steps including links
Queensland Historical BDM Index
Search the historical births, deaths and marriages indexes for all: births that occurred in Queensland between 1829 and 1914 deaths that occurred in Queensland between 1829 and 1929 marriages that occurred in Queensland between 1829 and 1929.
Genealogy and family history: Basic advice - Judy Webster
Family Tree Magazine & Practical Family History - Just Starting to UK based
Family History Getting started
What you can expect to see on a AUS BDM certificate

Diamond Valley library will continue its successful Family History Fest program next Wednesday Feb 25 when we look at the Victorian Historical Indexes.
Diamond Valley Library: Phone: 9434 3809

Shake your family tree

The National Archives of Australia are hosting a free event. Shake your family tree

Wednesday 25 February 2009
10.00am–4.00pm
National Archives of Australia

Melbourne Office

Victorian Archives Centre

99 Shiel Street North Melbourne

Bookings: Bookings: phone (03) 9348 5600

This looks like a terrific day for researchers with various seminars offered for researchers to gain some extra insight into the many resources available and how we can access them.

Updated England and Wales birth records available on Ancestry

Ancestry is especially great for those of researching the UK side of the family. Ancestry has recently announced via its new databases link and blog (in part):

At the end of January Ancestry.com made 134 million General Records Office (GRO) UK birth records for England and Wales dating from 1837 to 2005 available online for the first time, fully searchable by name, registration date and district. This was done as an update to the existing England & Wales Birth Index collection. Ancestry is working to also fully index the GRO Marriage and Death indexes. When complete, more than 250 million individual birth, marriage and death (BMD) records will be searchable.


England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915

Free trial at World Vital Records

Gould Books (as a contributor to the site) have announced that a preliminary version of the World Vital Records Australasia web site is now available for a *Free 30 Day Trial*. You need to sign up by 15 February 2009. No credit card is required. I found it easy to do, although it asked me for my phone number which I did not include, I was still able to gain access to the site.

This is a good chance to preview an exciting new player in the field. Access over a billion records in all, including the best collection of Australian and New Zealand records online. You will find directories, government and police gazettes, electoral rolls, war records, histories and
biographies, church periodicals, newspapers and much more.

For a short time you can access site this FREE. There will be much more new content again
and other bonus features when the subscription site launches. The site at present is in development. But it is a good foretaste of what will come on the soon to be launched full subscription site. Your feedback is welcome. This can be via the Feedback tab on the site.

Please also leave a comment here, I would love to hear your feedback also and how it compares with your experience using Ancestry.

New Australian database on Ancestry

New South Wales, Certificates of Naturalization, 1849-1903
This database contains certificates of nautralization from 1849-1903 for New South Wales, as well as some registers of individuals who were issued certificates of naturalization between 1859 and 1876.
This database contains the following records for New South Wales:
Certificates of naturalization, 1849-1903
Lists of aliens to whom certificates of naturalization have been issued, 1859-1876
About Naturalizations:
The naturalization process is the process an individual undergoes to gain citizenship of a country. Certificates of Naturalization are the official records showing that a person has been granted citizenship. These records generally provide details about the individual and their immigration. Such information may include:
Name
Country or place of origin
Age
Ship of arrival
Arrival date
Place of residence
Similar information may be found in the lists of aliens to whom certificates of naturalization were issued.
Ancestry can be accessed on any computer at all branch libraries.