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Web pages recommended for family history
These are just a few of the pages that I've mentioned on my 'Judy Webster - Genealogy' page on Facebook. Links open in a new window.
- Note the excellent suggestions in Else Churchill's top five tips for making the most of online indexes.
- I had an exciting find in the Prerogative and Exchequer Courts of York Probate Index 1688-1858: 'Thomas WEBSTER, drysalter of Leeds'. I know, from other research, that he's a brother of my brick-wall ancestor William WEBSTER. I ordered Thomas's will, and it arrived last week. To my delight, Thomas refers to 'my aunt Mary WEBSTER of Leeds, widow'. This brings me one small step closer to finding my William's origins!
- This week's 'brick wall breakthrough' (for a Queensland family) was via the Genealogical Index to Australians and Other Expatriates in Papua New Guinea. The transcriptions and subsequent index were created by Joan Ainsworth, a keen family historian, while she was living in New Guinea. Within this wonderful resource, in an extract from a PNG newspaper, I spotted an important clue. I then used Queensland orphanage records, electoral rolls, newspapers, BDM indexes and military service records to discover what happened to a child who appears to have been unofficially adopted in the very early 1900s.
- My latest family history 'success story'... In my matches list at AncestryDNA, I searched for the surname LEAPER. The person whose name appeared was a 'predicted 5th-8th cousin', so I was sceptical. I asked her for her grandparents' names; then I used online images of original documents (such as Yorkshire parish registers and British newspapers) to expand her tree back a generation, at which point it connected with my tree. (It's so important to trace descendants of siblings of your direct ancestors!) The predicted 5th-8th cousin is actually my 4th cousin once removed. (If you want to save on DNA test kits, discounts are available until 17 Mar 2020. See which testing companies I've used, and why.)
- I was delighted to find references to John PORTER (brother of my 4xgreat-grandmother Elizabeth Harley WEBSTER nee PORTER) in records that went online this week - Britain's Royal and Imperial Calendars 1767-1973. This index leads to transcriptions and images of over three million records from The National Archives, with information about the whereabouts and careers of people employed in various posts in the public sphere (official departments of state; branches of the public service; the law; the church; national or commercial companies and institutions; etc). John PORTER, a bookseller and stationer, is listed several times. In the Imperial Calendar for 1823 his name appears under the heading 'His Majesty's Household: list of Purveyors in the Lord Steward's Department'. My 3xgreat-grandfather was apprenticed to John PORTER, and I have his original Certificate of Freedom dated 1823.
- 'The essential State-by-State guide to Australian travel and migration records' (by Niall Cullen, 16 Jan 2020) has links to various records that are now online.
- Findmypast has a free app for Android and iOS devices. It allows you to search records; add to and update your Findmypast family tree; upload photos from your smartphone; and lots more.
- *Members* of the Queensland Family History Society can now search the index to the 1969 Commonwealth electoral roll for Queensland, in the 'Online Access' section of the society's website. This data is *not* available on Findmypast, MyHeritage, FamilySearch or Ancestry.
- Find out about new records released on Findmypast each Friday.
See also: 40 of my Favourite Genealogy Indexes
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PageUpdated 14 Oct 2021.
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