FAMILY HISTORY CORNER
No 1 3 April 2020
I am sure that you have thought of researching your family history many times in the past, something to do when you have the time.. Now that you are stuck at home perhaps this is a good time to start.
Where to start?
Try to write down as much as you know about your ancestors. Your grandparents are a good place to start. What were their names, when were they born, when did they marry and when did they die? Where did they live? Who were their brothers and sisters? Do not at this stage worry about what you do not know. Once you have collected together what you know it is time to start researching.
RESEARCH RESOURCES.
1. Family Search. https://www.familysearch.org/search/ https://www.familysearch.org/search/ This is a free website. It does require you to sign up. Family Search provides access to records from many countries, including Australia, the UK and the USA.
2. Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com.au/ It does not cost anything to join Ancestry.com.au and to start your family tree. However you would need to subscribe (pay) in order to access Ancestry’s extensive database.
3. Findmypast https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ This British website also has an extensive database. This is also a subscription website. I find their database of British and Irish newspapers particularly useful.
TROVE . https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/search?adv=y
Trove is a very useful resource for Australian researchers. This database from the National Library of Australia allows you to search Australian newspapers,Government Gazettes, photographs etc.for mentions of your ancestor.
You can also get a free membership card for the National Library which will allow you to use their other online resources.
See https://www.nla.gov.au/getalibrarycard/
5. Google. https://www.google.com.au/?gws_rd=ssl A good place to start is to google your ancestor’s name. Place the name in inverted commas, followed by a place name. Eg “John Frederick Smith” Moruya. If you get too many results then add more information (eg year of birth). If you obtain no relevant results then remove some of the information. Try for example “John Smith” Moruya. Do your own research to verify the information found online.
6. Individual Countries. Many countries have their own resources. I am aware of sites for Wales, South Africa, Netherlands and Scotland. I am sure that other countries have dedicated family history sites. Some of these websites are free, some partly free and others require payment.
We hope to publish regular Family History articles for the duration of the Coronavirus lock-down period.
I welcome questions relating to Family History Research and will do my best to answer them and I also welcome the opportunity to help readers develop their Family Tree.
My email address is lupton@westnet.com.au
Happy Researching!
Roy Lupton.
Interested in Local History then visit https://www.mdhs.org.au
Photo: Moruya and District Historical Society Inc
