Friday 27 April 2018

New data sets include Surrey Baptisms and Suffolk graves.

Another week passes by and even more records are available at ogindex.org.

 Archive.org continues to add numerous genealogical resources to the database.  This weeks updates include 105 archive.org links.  Many of these records are not found anywhere else online so they are unique sources.

 Also, a new Surrey Baptism collection from findmypast which covers 180 parishes fills a gap in records from that county.

 A summary of this weeks additions follows:
The total of today's imports is 357 data sets.

The current total of archive.org pages reviewed is over 204,000.  This only includes the records I have recorded in a list to follow my progress as there are many I found years ago before keeping a seperate list for just archive.org sources.  This method of finding genealogical data has resulted in over 3,800 sets of unique records such as these from this week's discoveries.






I am still amazed at the resources buried in the thousands of genealogical publications offered freely on archive.org and will continue searching for new records to help break down those genealogical brickwalls.

This week, I heard an exciting rumour that a number of English counties are negotiating with findmypast to host the parish records held by their historical record societies.  This could increase the availability of online records by the millions.  Remember that findmypast.co.uk is free at any LDS Family History Centre.  Your nearest one can be found here.

Ancestry also recently updated their London parish record collections adding millions of new records.  

It is comforting to know that finding an ancestor will become more possible through the growing collection of online records.  And, please remember to come to ogindex.org to find those new records when you know the place to search!

Until the next update,

Tim Manners





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Friday 20 April 2018

Two updates in one week!

I don't usually have two major updates in a week but it has happened this month!

 Here is an overview of today's import of 1,183 new data sets!

 Findmypast has added new documents for Somerset, Northumberland, Rutland and Nottinghamshire.  These include parish registers for a variety of parishes.  See details here.

 I have spent hours this week going through the digital films available from FamilySearch looking for memorial inscriptions in Suffolk.  This has resulted in an addition of 246 data sets to the OGI.

 Another find was this document found on the Wiltshire Record Society's website.  It includes 209 graveyards and extracts of memorial inscriptions.  These are all now linked by place in the OGI.

 My greatest impression this week was of the many researchers who, over the past 150 years or so, have spent years of their lives transcribing records in churchyards all over the country.  I know this continues today with billiongraves and findagrave, etc but here are some examples of old notebooks written long ago recording the names and dates from headstones.  I wonder if these men died young due to so much outdoor exposure or, perhaps, the opposite effect.... a longer life due to so much fresh air!

Mr Burdon reviewed hundreds of churchyards in Suffolk.  His works are now filmed and available to view at FamilySearch.org through their catalog.


Mr Whitehead is another who worked tirelessly recording the names, dates and inscriptions on thousands of headstones.


There are also bound volumes available which include the works of researchers such as G H Lawson who also devoted much of his life to the recording of headstones.

The above examples are only those I have reviewed this week but I have come across dozens of people who have specialized in this field.  Their contributions have helped to locate missing children, siblings, parents, etc.  Take a look at these headstones from my own family tree.  The amount of information on one headstone can expand your pedigree chart in new directions.



If you wish to get involved, take a look at billiongraves.com who collect cemetery transcriptions and photos from around the world.  Other sites collecting gravestone data are gravestonephotos.com and findagrave.com.  They are always looking for contributions which will help others find their ancestors.  As I have discovered with my own line, even those not christened and lived to adulthood were buried in churchyards.

This weeks additions have benefited from those individuals who have transcribed headstones.  This has brougth the OGI total to over 374,000 data sets.  

I will leave another post as soon as there are new entries added to the site.

Thanks to all those signing up as Friends of the OGI (see the bottom of the home page of ogindex.org).  I now have over 700 names and emails of those wishing to stay in touch with the updates to the site.  I hope to eventually have a regular mailing list to inform of new updates and blog entries.

Until the next updates!

Regards,

Tim Manners



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Monday 16 April 2018

New OGI additions for April

It is good to return to all those using the Online Genealogical Index and especially those who take the time to read the blog.

 To justify the month of silence, I was with my family in Utah, USA celebrating the wedding of my daughter Reilly and her husband Sam.  I also had the opportunity to visit the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, the world's largest genealogy library.  

 Image result for salt lake city genealogical library

 I was invited to present the Online Genealogical Index to the support team working on the British Floor of the library.  Thanks to Val Atkinson for arranging this event.  There were two one hour sessions given and I enjoyed meeting over 50 attendees who seemed quite interested in how the OGI can help with researching British ancestry quickly and efficiently.

 Here is the list of the latest updates to the OGI.

  • Cardiganshire Burials collection updates from Findmypast.
  • Cheshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire Civil Registration births and marriage updates.
  • Cornwall Burials collection updates from Findmypast
  • Gravestone Photos updates (lots of new cemeteries included)
  • New Gloucestershire Monumental Inscriptions collection covering 318 churchyards from Findmypast.
  • New Kent Parish Record collection for a few parishes from Ancestry
  • Updated transcriptions from the Lancashire Online Parish Clerk website.
  • New memorial inscriptions for a few British cemeteries hosted on Geneanet
  • Updated baptism transcriptions from Norfolk Baptism Project
  • New Findmypast collections of digital parish register images for Suffolk and Surrey.
  • New Yorkshire Parish Record collection of 95 digital books from Ancestry.
  • 58 new archive.org links to digital books covering parish registers and memorial inscriptions from Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire.
  • And finally, a burial register for Chiddingly, Sussex from FamilySearch books!
The total number of links on the OGI is approaching 373,000.  Still hope to reach 400,000 by the end of the year.

There is a slight bug when switching between countries using Chrome on the OGI home page.  The counties do not always load for Wales, for example.  It seems to be blocked due to either security software or a browser issue.  I tested the same process on Firefox and this seems to work perfectly.  I hope to find a solution soon for those using Chrome or other browsers.

I may need to remove the broken Rootsweb links to data in the near future as they are still not repaired.  This mainly effects links for Derbyshire.

Thanks again for your support and interest.  I will continue reviewing my monthly list of ever-changing source sites and also look for new resources to fill in the gaps in data.  I hope that one day, the records for parishes in England and Wales will be so well represented, researchers will always come to the Online Genealogical Index first.

I wish you all well and hope your research is fruitful and your family tree continues to grow.

Until next time,

Tim Manners
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