Friday 9 November 2018

A Free Access Weekend Extravaganza!

This weekend, Armistice Day, Remembrance Sunday, Veterans Day (whatever you prefer to call it) marks the centenary of the end of World War One, and the major database suppliers have opened up part or all of their collections for exploration by family historians.

FindMyPast

To my mind, the best offer is from FindMyPast, which is opening up its entire collection of more than 9 billion Irish, UK, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian and US records and all historical newspapers for three days. It's not often, these days, we get an across the board freebie like this, so whether or not you're looking primarily for military records, it'll be worth dipping in this vast online repository. You need only to have a registered account, and you don't need to provide any more than name and email address to get one of those.

The offer runs until Noon (GMT) on Monday 12 November. Choose a flag below to access the FindMyPast 'territory' of your choice. The free access will be the same, whichever one you select.

*UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors 2002-2018 is the only record-set excluded from this free access promotion.


*UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors 2002-2018 is the only record-set excluded from this free access promotion.

Ancestry UK

Ancestry UK is offering free access to a collection holding millions of wartime records, both military and civilian. Access will be free until 11:59pm on Monday 12 November.

You can find details of the record sets in the free access collection here.

You'll need a registered account with Ancestry.co.uk. If you don't already have one, it's a simple enough process. After searching for your ancestor, you'll be prompted to fill in the registration form with your name and email address; you'll be quickly sent a user name and password, and will then be able to log in and get on with your search (until the free access period ends, obviously).

Ancestry USA

Ancestry.com has more than 250 million US Military records in its free weekend collection – you can check out the free record sets here. They include draft cards, service records, POW lists and casualty lists for all arms of the military.

This free access offer will run until Tuesday 12 November.

You'll need a registered account with Ancestry.com. If you don't already have one, it's a simple enough process. Use the link above and start your search on the landing page. When you find a search result of interest, click on the record and you'll be prompted to fill in the registration form with your name and email address; you'll be quickly sent a user name and password, and will then be able to log in and get on with your search (until the free access period ends, obviously).

Ancestry Canada

Until 23:59pm ET on Sunday 10 November, Ancestry.ca is opening up its Canadian Military Records for free access (you'll need a registered account). You'll be able to explore the entire collection, which includes records from the British Army service, World War I, and the South African War. You'll find a listing of all the record sets included in the collection here.


American Ancestors

The database of the New England Historical Genealogical Society holds more than 1.4 billion names, and it's records are open to search, free of charge, until 11.59pm EST Tuesday 13 November.

ALL the records are free during this period, not just military records. Among the hundreds of collections that may be of interest to those with Irish connections, are the parish registers of the Archdiocese of Massachusetts which date from 1789-1900. A browse version of this huge and growing collection is always available to non-members, but the searchable version is free during this exceptional access period.

You'll need a free guest account to gain free access to everything in the AmericanAncestors.org database, and you'll find a help video on the landing page.


My Heritage

All 47 million military records in the My Heritage database are free to search this weekend. The collection is global and mixed, with draft cards, service records, and medal cards among them.

The records are available to search here and there doesn't appear to be any requirement to register or have a guest account. I was able to dive straight in and start viewing records, and I have not used the site for real before.

The free access will run until Monday 12 November. I don't know what time it expires.



Enjoy yourselves!!