FAMILY HISTORY CORNER
No 2 15 April 2020
Types of Resources.
There are many different types of Family History Resource that can be found online. In the first article I gave examples of where information can be found. Today I will try to explain the three most important types.
1. Indexes. Many Government Archives give free access to a variety if indexes. Examples are :
The following is a list of the Samuel Taylors born in NSW in 1885
· Indexes are also available in the Family History websites. They commonly cover BDMs, Passenger Lists, Census lists and Electoral Rolls.
2. Transcriptions. Some Family History organization have transcriptions of some records online. For example the Cornwall OPC (Online Parish Clerk) have transcriptions for Births, Marriages and Deaths. These transcriptions give more information than can be found on the index.
Some transcriptions can be found on Ancestry.co.uk, on Family Search and on Findmypast.
3. Original Documents. Some original documents are available when you subscribe to a site such as Ancestry or Findmypast (ie pay for a subscription) but others require a purchase. When I wished to know more about my great-great grandmother who was married in Devon I purchased her marriage certificate from The General Register Office in England :
I obtained the following certificate. The cost was £7
This named Hannah’s father as John Sharpe, Railway Contractor. That single certificate opened up a new direction for my research.
Similar certificates can be purchased by the official State sites in Australia. Some are cheap and some are more expensive. Some give extensive information and others give more limited information, but the general rule is that more can be obtained from an original document than from a transcription or from an index.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to know about resources relevant to your search.
It is hoped to publish Family History articles for the duration of the Coronavirus lock-down period.
I would welcome questions relating to Family History Research and will do my best to answer them.
I would also welcome the opportunity to help readers develop their Family Tree.
My email address is lupton@westnet.com.au
Happy Researching!
Roy Lupton. FAMILY HISTORY CORNER No 1 3 April 2020
