Thursday 15 August 2013

A catch-up round-up of recent news

Right, it's catch up time. With my back finally playing ball, I've been concentrating on the day-job backlog over the last week, so here's a wee round up of news that's been waiting to be aired.

FindMyPast
Some 125million newspaper articles covering the period 1753-2012 have been added to FindMyPast's World subscription collection. The breakdown is as follows:
  • 4,322,702 articles from Canadian newspapers, 1872-2012
  • 144,845 articles from Chinese newspapers, 1850-1926
  • 1,019 articles from Danish newspapers, 1884-1936
  • 54,361 articles from French newspapers, 1848-1979
  • 573,759 articles from German newspapers, 1948-1999
  • 1,304,344 articles from Jamaican newspapers, 1834-2012
  • 589,460 articles from Japanese newspapers, 1920-1999
  • 560 articles from South African newspapers, 1904-1945
  • 119,462,212 articles from American newspapers, 1753-2012.
These records can also be accessed through the use of PayAsYouGo credits.

Books Ireland 
For the first time in years, all volumes of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs are in print and available via Books Ireland. They're also on special offer with prices ranging between £3.75 and £5 per volume.

The Memoirs are an incredibly detailed source for the history of the northern half of Ireland immediately before the Great Famine. They were written in the 1830s to accompany the 6" Ordnance Survey maps, but, with one exception, were not published at the time. In this new edition they act as a 19th-century Domesday book and document the landscape and situation, buildings and antiquities, land-holdings and population, employment and livelihood of the parishes.

The two most recent books to have been reprinted complete the set now available. The first is Ordnance Survey Memoirs Volume 39 -- Co. Donegal. It contains the Memoirs for 20 parishes in north west, south west, central and Lagan areas of Donegal, an extensive area comprising the towns of Ballybofey, Ballyshannon, Castlefinn, Convoy, Donegal, Falcarragh, Fintown, Gortahork, Killybegs, Letterkenny, Lifford, Manorcunningham, Mountcharles, Newtowncunningham, Raphoe, Stranolar and St Johnstown.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs Volume 30 – Londonderry includes the Memoirs for the parish of Banagher, which is situated towards the west of the county, and includes the important market town of Feeny. The material paints a fascinating portrait of life in this largely agricultural area whose "wild and romantic" mountains and glens hold both a great wealth of antiquities and a huge variety of wildlife, notably wolves and eagles. As well as recounting the population, through marvellously detailed tables of schools, emigration and manufactories, this volume contains a wonderful collection of local traditions and superstitions.  


1921 Census of Canada
After a 92-year closure period, the 1921 Census of Canada has been released and Ancestry has made all 197,509 pages available for free browsing. In time, a name index for the 8.8million people included in the census will be produced in due course.

For the present, the browseable database is searchable by province, district and sub-district. 

New Zealand Passenger Lists
A hefty 2,669,755 indexed records from New Zealand's Passenger Lists collection has been added to FamilySearch for free searching. The lists cover the period from 1855 to 1973.

They include immigrants from Europe and Asia, but the majority were passengers leaving the geographical British Isles, including many Irish. The details contained hold some or all of the following details:
  • Full name
  • Adult or child
  • Male or female
  • Country of emigration
  • Place where ship landed when immigrated
  • Estimated age
  • Occupation
  • Total cost of passage and how paid
  • Name of ship and port of embarkation
  • Port of destination and date of arrival

DiscoverEverAfter
Kilbridge Cemetery in Doagh, near Ballyclare/Newtownabbey in County Antrim has been surveyed by EverAfter and the resulting 2838 records, including a few dating from the late 17th century, uploaded to the company's website. This latest addition means there are now more than 129,000 burial/inscription records available for free viewing at DiscoverEverAfter.

AncestryIreland
The Ulster Historical Foundation has added seven members’ databases to its collection at AncestryIreland.

Holding more than 2,000 names, the new databases are:
  • Index to Hamilton references in County Down Deeds in Registry of Deeds, Dublin, 1739-1810. Listed by townland, lessor and lessee’s surname, 1739-1810
  • A list of Roman Catholics in the Diocese of Down and Connor, named in the 1766 Religious Census, 1766
  • A Rent Roll of the Manors of Cloghogle and Derrywoon, in the County of Tyrone, part of the Estate of the Marquis of Abercorn, 1820 & 1821
  • Names of the proprietors of the Belfast Commercial Buildings, 1823
  • List of the names of the owners and occupiers of the lands through which the proposed canal from Newtown Limavady to Lough Foyle is to pass, c1827
  • Census of Protestants in the parish of the Chapel of the Woods, arranged by townland, 1829
  • List of names regarding Tenant-Right in County Monaghan, published in Freeman’s Journal, 1852.