Morwyr Cymru - Welsh Mariners

Morwyr Cymru - Welsh Mariners: "Mariners represent a difficult group to research from the point of view of the family historian. I wanted to make information about our Welsh maritime ancestors more easily available to anyone researching their family and Welsh heritage, and so it seemed appropriate to develop this website and make the information on it freely available to all."

The core of the site is a database of (currently) over 23,500 Welsh Merchant Mariners - masters, mates and engineers. A more detailed explanation of who is on the index and who is not is available here

As 2005 was the bicentenary year of the battle of Trafalgar the October 2005 update of our website now includes two separate searchable databases of Welsh mariners. These are the existing database of merchant seamen active from 1800 to 1945 and a new database of over 3000 men active in the Royal Navy from 1795 to 1815, which includes Welshmen at the battle of Trafalgar. More on the RN database.

Bodleian Library Map Room Oxford UK

Welcome to the Bodleian Library Map Room Home Page: "The Map Room is in the
New Bodleian Reading Room
Opening times
09.00-19.00 Mon-Fri
10.00-16.00 Sat"

Sheldon Tapestry

Sheldon Tapestry: "Sheldon Tapestry Map of Gloucestershire

The Bodleian Library acquired at auction a further part of a unique series of Tudor tapestry maps. Woven in wool and silk, the Sheldon Tapestry Map for Gloucestershire is a fine example of cartography and decorative art from the 16th century. Depicting southern Gloucestershire and parts of Wiltshire and Monmouthshire, the map is a part of the set of four famed 'Tapestry maps' dating from the 1590s. Commissioned by Ralph Sheldon for his home at Weston, Warwickshire, the series illustrates four midland counties of England: Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire."

Your Archives beta version

Your Archives:Historical Streets Project - Your Archives: "Currently the street indexes to the 1841 and 1851 censuses are uploaded onto Your Archives.
[edit] Why have we done this?

* Historically the only way to find people in the censuses was by knowing an address where someone lived. If they lived in a small village it wasn't too difficult to browse all the pages for that village to find the people you were interested in. However, in larger towns especially as populations moved into urban areas many parishes grew rapidly in size making browsing difficult, also populations in urban areas moved quite regularly as their situtation changed with better or worse jobs or change in family sizes. Some towns grew rapidly in size meaning that streets were lengthened, changed, abolished, renamed etc. To help researchers street indexes were produced for towns and areas with populations of more than 40,000 people.
* Although, all of the English and Welsh censuses are now digitised and indexed by person's name, it is not possible to search some censuses by address. At the moment only the 1881, 1901 and 1911 censuses allow address searches.
* Why would people want to find addresses? They may be wanting to make a study of a property or area. They may be looking for a family known to be at a particular address but can't find them in searches.
* By uploading into 'Your Archives' rather than producing online wordprocessed or pdf documents we are making the street indexes fully searchable and using the flexibility and functionality of Your Archives to enable you to write stories of places, streets, buildings, businesses and institutions and to create cross-references and links to articles in Your Archives and to external resources."

Home page - Your Archives: "These pages are for you to contribute your knowledge of archival sources held by The National Archives and by other archives throughout the UK."

Arlington errors

Arlington unveils a new unknown soldier | Salon News: "At first, Arlington denied any problem. Salon asked the cemetery last summer, 'Has the cemetery ever dug a grave only to find there is already someone there, though the grave is unmarked?' Cemetery spokeswoman Kaitlin Horst responded, 'We are not aware of any situation like that.' Salon later produced internal paper records showing that the cemetery did not know the identity of the remains in grave 449.

That apparently caused Arlington to change its tune. 'Arlington National Cemetery officials have known about this situation since 2003, when in the process of preparing for a burial, a casket was discovered in grave 449 in Section 68,' Horst then admitted. 'At that time, a review of records took place to locate the corresponding documents. The files could not be matched.'"

IT News Online

IT News Online > - - Ancestry.com Expands Partnership With the US National Archives Through New Off-Site Scanning Location:

"PROVO, Utah, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/
-- Ancestry.com today announced an expansion to their relationship with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that enables the company to digitize NARA record collections at a new Ancestry.com facility in the Washington, D.C., area. The new facility will help bring millions of new NARA documents online for the first time. Ancestry.com currently has the largest online collection of digitized and indexed NARA content, including the complete U.S. Federal Census Collection, 1790-1930, passenger lists from 1820-1960 and WWI and WWII draft registration cards

. 'Our ten-year relationship with NARA goes far beyond digitizing documents,' said Tim Sullivan, CEO, Ancestry.com. 'The new facility and expanded relationship with the National Archives enables us to scan millions of paper records, carefully preserved for decades at NARA, and put them online to help millions of Americans more easily unlock the stories of their family's past.'

Since the signing of an agreement in May 2008, Ancestry.com has been working with NARA to digitize historical records collections on-location at NARA's archive in Maryland.
This is the first time NARA has partnered with a commercial entity to have documents scanned off-site. The new scanning facility will allow Ancestry.com to digitize more than five times the records than it could at the NARA archive, with the capacity to scan at least 5 million documents, many still in paper form, each year.

'Considering the enormous number of historical records housed at NARA archives across the country, the cost is too great for us to digitize the documents on our own,' said James Hastings, Director of Access Programs at NARA. 'Our relationship with Ancestry.com allows us to drastically increase the rate of digitizing records in a fiscally responsible fashion and helps us provide the public with even greater access to America's treasured collections.'

To celebrate this growing relationship with NARA, Ancestry.com has launched two collections that were a part of the May 2008 partnership announcement: Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1963-1974, which have not been available to the public outside of NARA research rooms and Honolulu Passenger Lists, 1900-1953, which have not been available online until now."

1911 England ad Wales Census

Will ancestry.co.uk get access to the 1911 England Census? - Yahoo! Answers:

"Will ancestry.co.uk get access to the 1911 England Census?"

Publish Post

Danish DNA

The Danish Demes DNA Project: "The Danish Demes project is intended to utilize DNA testing as a tool for genealogists researching their Danish origins."

Hello Hugh,

I was just viewing this page on your blog:
http://hughw36.blogspot.com/2009/10/danish-dna.html

and I was shocked to see a long, verbatim quote from my site copied there.
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Danish_Demes/default.aspx

While I appreciate the link, I'm afraid I do not appreciate your using my
copyrighted text without my permission. Frankly, I would prefer that you simply
delete this entire entry from your blog (I have a high ranking at Google and do
not need the link). If you prefer not to delete the entire entry, then please
limit the amount of verbatim text used to be within the bounds of "fair use"
(e.g., in this case, no more than two sentences), and please put that text in
quotes and cite my name, Diana Gale Matthiesen, as the author of it. Then write
your own ideas/reactions/thoughts, *in your own words*, to fill out the entry.

Blogs are a wonderful medium for self-expression, but the entries need to be the
blogger's own creations.

Diana
Family Tree DNA - Genetic testing to answer your genealogy questions

1911 census of England and Wales administrative problems continued

The seven institutions soon to launch free access to the census records are:

• Birmingham Archives & Heritage

bookable 0121 303 4549 for 30 minutes up to 3 days in advance
available from 6 October 2009

• Devon Record Office (Exeter)

bookable 01392 384253 1 hour sessions on a computer

of 200000 freebie vouchers available since 7 Sepember 2009
140000 have ben used so unlikely tobe available longer than mid October

• The National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth)

+44 (0)1970 632933 not bookable 30 minute sessions - first come first served

• Manchester Archives and Local Studies and Greater Manchester County Record Office

not available anymore because all the credits have been used up

• Norfolk Record Office

"The Norfolk Record Office is one of seven archive services in England and Wales which is offering free access to the online 1911 census, thanks to a partnership with The National Archives. As part of its commitment to broadening the availability of its records, the National Archives is funding up to a year’s worth of free access to the online 1911 census in each of the seven archives.

Access to the 1911 census is via two terminals in the Norfolk Sound Archive Listening Room. Printing will be available at a charge."

not bookable 30 minute sessions - first come first served

• Nottinghamshire Archives

"The 1911 census is now available free of charge at Nottinghamshire Archives. The census is only available for a limited time. It is available on two PCs. It is necessary to book in advance.

• You can book a one-hour slot
• You can book one hour per day
• The first slot available each day is at 9.00am
• A booking can be made one week ahead of your visit.
• To make a booking, call us on 0115 958 1634, with your name and telephone number and the day and time you would like. If the slot is not available we will try and offer an alternative as close as possible
• Further information is available on our 1911 census page."

• Tyne and Wear Archives

"Free access to the 1911 census has been hugely popular and we have been delighted at the number of people contacting us to access the census. However, this has meant that all the available slots are now fully booked and we are unable to take any more bookings at this time."

Before planning a trip, visitors are urged to contact the relevant institution to find out the when the service will be available.

The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU have unlimited access

1911 Census

Email: support@1911census.co.uk or telephone: +44 (0) 203 326 4700

The Drouin Collection - Ancestry.ca

Back on line

The Drouin Collection - Ancestry.ca: "Joseph Drouin founded the Drouin Genealogical Institute in 1899 and began publishing family books based on the vital records he gathered over centuries. Eventually his son Gabriel took over for him.

The Drouin Collection represents the largest and most valuable French-Canadian family history resources available, including an impressive collection of Quebec vital records. The collection includes neary 15 million records, marking the history of Quebec families over three centuries."

TinyURL.com

TinyURL.com - shorten that long URL into a tiny URL:

"Preview of TinyURL.com/57psxs
This TinyURL redirects to:

http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LG
NL_Services/Leisure_and_culture/Records_and_a
rchives/Ancestry+digitisation.htm

Proceed to this site."

Digitisation of London Metropolitan Archives:

"It is anticipated that the full digitisation and indexing program will include:

* Parish baptisms, marriages and burials
* Bishops transcripts
* Parish poor law records
* Boards of Guardians records
* Diocesan marriage bonds and allegations
* Non-conformist baptisms, marriages and burials
* School admission and discharge registers
* Electoral registers, overseers returns and poll books
* Land tax records
* Wills
* City of London Freedoms
* Middlesex Sessions – Transportation Contracts
* Consistory Court of London Matrimonial and Testamentary Papers

We will provide free access to view the indexes and images through Ancestry.co.uk on the computer terminals in our public rooms. The program will start shortly and we will release further information about the project over the coming months."

U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives

Learning Center-Article Page:
"Sometimes the greatest family history gifts come in interesting and unusual packages. Such is the case with the recently posted database of U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895.

The records in this collection were created by the Volta Bureau in Washington, D.C., to explore whether marriages where one or both parties were deaf impacted the chances that they would have children who were deaf. Questionnaires were sent to deaf couples and family members of deaf individuals that asked for information on three generations of the family—the couple’s parents and siblings, the married couple, and their children.

Section one asked for the couples name and marriage date and place. It also asked whether they were related in any way before the marriage and other details. Among the records in this collection is that of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel who was deaf."

genealogy on computer in Germany

Verein für Computergenealogie: genealogy.net - Der deutsche Genealogieserver:
"Willkommen auf dem deutschen Genealogieserver
Alles rund um Familienforschung (Ahnenforschung/Genealogie)
Der Verein für Computergenealogie e. V. betreibt mehrere Internetserver.

Von dieser Portalseite aus können Sie direkt auf die verschiedenen Angebote zugreifen"

Mailinglisten	Mehr als 100 Mailinglisten in denen sich Forscher austauschen

COMPUTERGENEALOGIE MAGAZIN FUER FAMILIENFORSCHUNG http://www.computergenealogie.de

Genealogy's Star Blog

Genealogy's Star: Another look at New FamilySearch:
". . . . . . . I have also found, over the past two years, that to understand what you are looking at, it is necessary to understand some of the limitations of the data. New FamilySearch is a huge database of names collected from several sources. Only a very limited number of the entries could, under any criteria, be considered as original sources. In this sense, New FamilySearch is not a place to go to do research. It is more like a place to do an original survey, to see what others may have done on your family lines. I cannot recommend downloading a pedigree line from New FamilySearch under most circumstances. The entries are likely a mixture of fact and fantasy and it is very difficult, in some cases, to tell the difference.

In looking at the data from the five original source databases, (the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, the International Genealogical Index, LDS Church records and Temple records) none seems to be more reliable than the others. All of the entries in each of these databases are copies and sometimes multiple layers of copies from any record that could be considered an original source. In each separate database, there could also have been multiple submissions. I know that many of my relatives have dozens of copies of their information, some entirely wrong, in the Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File. Some of the wrong information in the Pedigree Resource File was submitted by me many years ago, before I found the correct information. The two most reliable databases contained in New FamilySearch, the membership and Temple records, often disagree about the date for the same event. Although the Temple records are generally reliable, the general Church records relied on the accuracy of the person inputting the records, generally, a Ward Clerk who was not related to the person and not present at the event being recorded.

Given that the information may be either unreliable or reliable and given that there is no easy way to either correct the unreliable information or distinguish between the reliable and unreliable information, it is a tragedy that many users of New FamilySearch take the attitude that it is online (written) and therefore it is true.

This attitude, that the information is from the Church and therefore true, is pervasive among many the users of the program. When confronted with the inherent rampant contradictions among the various contributors, some users are astonishingly angry that someone would have the audacity to put the wrong date or place for their ancestor. They are totally put off by the program when they find out that the user has only a very limited ability to correct information. The only way to make a correction by removing wrong information is with the cooperation of the FamilySearch staff through E-mail or telephonic correspondence.

The fact that new users, unfamiliar with the program continue to come online, do not help the attitude of those who have been working with the data for some time. At first, there was a common consensus that the information needed to be corrected through collaborative effort. However, in most cases, this proves to be impossible since the contributors either cannot be identified, have died, or are unresponsive to attempts to enlist their assistance. There is a mechanism for claiming a legacy user but it is cumbersome and not always available.

I don't want to leave this post in a negative mode. I am merely pointing out some of the limitations of the data, not the program itself. For a person with no LDS heritage, the program will appear to be much simpler and easier to use."

because my gedcom are always a work in progress, I regretfully decided not to upload a copy to old familysearch because I can not delete and correct my own data there.

As a user outside the church I feel a debt to all the LDS volunteers whose film and extractions I regularly use so I do some indexing as my tiny contribution.

The Genealogy Corner Blog

The Genealogy Corner… New FamilySearch Made Easy | Senior Sampler:
LDS church members log on with membership number and confirmation date and create a new user ID

" - - - - - When the new FamilySearch first starts, you will be prompted to view an overview introducing you to the system. Watch the overview!

You need Adobe Reader 8.0 or higher and Flash Player 9.0.115 or higher. Your computer now also needs at least 512 MB RAM and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels.

Browse around the new FamilySearch to familiarize yourself with its features. When you go to the See Me and My Ancestors page, you will view the family pedigree and see what information the system already has about your family. Look at your pedigree on the page and at the bottom you can also see more information by clicking one of the following: Individual Time Line, Individual Details, Individual Map, Parent and Siblings, Spouses and Children, LDS Ordinances or Possible Duplicates.

This release of new FamilySearch is limited to members only. It will be released to the public probably within the next year. You can find your local family history consultant by clicking on the Home page, click Help Center, then click the local assistance tab."

TREHARRIS VILLAGE

TREHARRIS VILLAGE. - Google Search: "Treharris is a village in the very south of the Welsh county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan."

website dedicated to the Treharris Postal district:
"My name is Paul Corkrey, I was born at 76, Cilhaul, Treharris in 1959. My grandparents lived there, Edwin and Louise Corkrey, My father was Jimmy Corkrey, he was employed at the Trelewis drift mine.

My mother was Marion, she was born a Chapman, and was brought up in 50 High street Trelewis, now demolished due to subsidence in the village. I lived in the new Wimpey estate in Trelewis (built in 1960) throughout my Youth and attended Trelewis primary school before entering the grammar school at Pengam.

At sixteen I left school to take a mining apprentice at Britannia colliery, I was then employed as a Trainee at Taff Merthyr colliery in Trelewis. I had a serious accident in the B4 coal face on May 9, 1978 and I was the first major accident victim to be treated at the newly opened Prince Charles Hospital. The severity of the accident meant many months in hospital and over 40 operations.

I was married at St Mathias church by vicar Winkle on February 12 1983, after being allowed home from hospital for the week end. The reception was held at the New club, Treharris. I continued to have problems with my injuries and it was decided that the best option left was to amputate my right leg, Mr Hombal, my surgeon, and a resident of Treharris in Pantanas had saved my leg for nearly five years and was disappointed but at the end of the day I was newly wed and amputation meant a better quality of life for me than spending more time in hospital.

Following the miners strike I started work back at the Taff Merthyr colliery on the surface, I stayed there until a few months before it closed in 1993. I have two grown up sons, Geraint and Peter Corkrey and a Handsome grandson called Taylor. I currently live in Railway Terrace in Treharris and apart from a year in the Rhondda, I have always lived in the Treharris postal district.

I was visiting the Treharris Library in January 2009, and I could find very little information about the area around Treharris, the area was also poorly served on the internet. February 2009 and I was at the Merthyr Library, once again I was astounded at the lack of reference books about the bottom of the valley in comparison to Merthyr itself.

Carolyn Jacob, one of the librarians said that there was not really much about Treharris district online and she was trying to collate information herself, to help patrons who attended the library. She sent me the information she already had and I decided to build a website dedicated to the Treharris Postal district...that would include the six villages in the Treharris area, Bedlinog, Trelewis, Edwardsville, Nelson and Quakers Yard.

Although I spend a lot of time on my computer I am no expert, a lad from Cilfynydd, Ashley Bale, kindly built the website, using the information I had collated. We bought the domain name ”treharrisdistrict.co.uk” and will keep it live.

The site is absolutely non profit making, it will include business names that are currently thriving in the towns and businesses that no longer exist, no charge or fees will be expected for this, they are purely here as a record of life in the area."