Family History Beginners’ Day

Family group late 1890s

Presented by the State Library of Western Australia as part of the Western Australian Heritage Festival
Warning! Family history is addictive!
Always wanted to find out where you came from but didn’t know where to start? This event is for you! The Family History Subject Specialists at the State Library can inspire you to begin your journey of discovery with a full-day program of talks and tours: 

• Pathways to the Past, family history for beginners.
• Getting the best out of Ancestry and Findmypast: how to get the best results from two of the most popular family history subscription sites with tips to improve your searches.
• Fantastic Websites: our pick of the top websites for family history from around the world.  

Take introductory tours of the Genealogy Centre and Battye Library for an overview of our family history and WA heritage collections.

State Library,Perth Cultural Centre
25 Francis St, Perth

Wed 8 May 9.30 am – 4.30 pm
Free
Bookings essential: Phone 9427 3111
www.slwa.wa.gov.au
For full catalogue of Festival events:
www.nationaltrust.org.au/wa/Heritage-Festival

 

Findmypast Ireland provides access to Prison Registers 1790-1924

The subscription database Findmypast Ireland has added a new series of records that offer a great new resource for family historians with an Irish background.

Irish Prison records are a key source for tracing family history because they record such a huge volume of prisoners, their relatives and in many cases their victims. This dataset is compiled from the collection housed in the National Archives of Ireland and covers most surviving records for prisons in the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland. In total there are 2.7 million records, with information on over 3.5 million people. Please note that the database can only be used within the State Library building. To access, simply type Findmypast into our online catalogue or click on the logo above.

New Irish family history database at the State Library

Findmypast Ireland

The great news for those with Irish ancestors is that we now have a new database at the State Library – Findmypast Ireland.

It includes indexes to wills, a large collection of directories, cemetery transcriptions, land records and much more. Used together with the Irish Newspaper Archives, family historians now have access to more online resources for Ireland than ever before. Please note that the database can only be used within the State Library building. To access, simply type Findmypast into our online catalogue or click on the logo above.

Happy hunting!

Findmypast is back

Great news!
The State Library now has a subscription to both Findmypast UK and Findmypast Australasia following a trial earlier this year.

Please see my previous post for a reminder of some of the highlights of these family history subscription sites which are available within the State Library.

So head into the Library for free access to Findmypast as well as Ancestry and a range of other family history databases.

1911 Census for Scotland to be released on 5 April

Those with Scottish ancestry will be pleased to know that the 1911 Census for Scotland is due to be released tomorrow (5 April) one hundred years after it was taken. It will be available on the pay-per-view website, Scotlands People.

For the first time questions were asked about marriage and fertility, in addition to the usual questions about name, occupation, birthplace etc., making this an even more useful source of information for family and social historians.

The 1911 Census for England and Wales was released last year and is available on the subscription site, Findmypast. The State Library recently had a trial of Findmypast which has now ended - watch this space for further news!

Findmypast family history database available on trial

The State Library currently has a trial subscription to the family history database, Findmypast, which will be available within the Library building until 22 February.

To access this database, go to our online catalogue and type findmypast in the keyword search box or access from our Family History Databases page. There are two separate databases; one with Australasian content and one with UK content.

The Australasian database includes post office directories, electoral rolls, police gazettes, government gazettes, cemetery records and more. Have a browse under Search Records to see what is available for each state and for New Zealand.

The UK content includes census and birth, marriage and death records for England and Wales. These can be a useful alternative if you have been unable to find your ancestor on Ancestry library edition.

Please note that the UK census collection includes the 1911 Census for England and Wales. This is the first time that this particular census has been available at the Library.

Under the heading Migration you will find the outgoing passenger lists for the UK from 1890 to 1960. These were previously available to search on the Ancestors on Board website but, as part of this trial, you will now be able to view the digitised images of the passenger lists.

Please note that the Chelsea Pensioner records are searchable but the digital records are not available as part of the trial. Please make the most of this trial and we welcome any comments.