Researching in New Zealand

I am writing  a post for each state of Australia and New Zealand with a list of great resources for researching ancestors in that particular place.  Tasmanian records are held mainly at Libraries Tasmania where both archive and library resources are on the one website.

In October 2021, our Twitter group #ANZAncestryTime had a session about New Zealand. The tips for great websites come from this chat.

All headings link to the website.

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay

BDMs in New Zealand

NZ govt Births Deaths and Marriages allows you to work out the day the event is recorded happening. You can order printout (not the certificate) for NZD25 and will arrive via email. Yes! It’s cheaper, and for older records it’s a copy of the actual register entry, whereas the certificate is usually typed/transcribed.

Archives New Zealand

Make sure you check the different portals and collections on the main page of the archives. Help is here for searching the collections.  They also explain how to search the collections using filters etc. You can also check the research guides for the archive.

PapersPast

This is the New Zealand equivalent of Australia’s Trove website where you can search newspapers to help tell the stories of your ancestors. As with Trove, you can also search diaries, journals, letters and books about New Zealand on this site. Make sure you read the help page so your searching can be done efficiently.

New Zealand Society of Genealogists

There are collections and resources available at this site but as a member there are other things to look at as well.

NZ Electronic Text Collection

Part of the Victoria University of Wellington Library. This includes digitized historical texts and manuscripts including the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand. To refine your search check out this help page.

Digital New Zealand

Millions of resources and lots of collections to check out. Check this out to explore by format, topic, place etc. Remember to check the help page especially for copyright and reuse of documents etc.

New Zealand History

Here you can search by topic, event, people or places. Most are sorted A-Z.

New Zealand Blue Books

Carmel Galvin has written a post about the New Zealand Blue books which can be found as part of the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). These books include lists of early colonial appointments.

NZ Genweb

Lots of links to various topics around New Zealand. Not sure when it was last updated.

Brogden Navies

Did you have a relative come out to work on the railways? Visit this site and click on link for thesis.

 

Readers: What are other important websites you use to gather information when researching ancestors in New Zealand?

Please read the comments as other family historians have added more websites to use.

Researching in Western Australia

Clker-Free-Vector-Images / Pixabay

I am writing  a post for each state of Australia with a list of great resources for researching ancestors in that particular state.  Tasmanian records are held mainly at Libraries Tasmania where both archive and library resources are on the one website.

All headings link to the website.

State Library of WA

There is a getting started portal for family history, as well as an online publication called Dead Reckoning which helps you through resources for family history research in WA. Also on this site is lists of passengers and ships. Another portal relates to Aboriginal family history research.

Friends of Battye Library

At the bottom of the main page are links to other sources for WA research, such as convicts in WA. There is also a dictionary of Western Australians.

State Archives or Records Office

Here is where you can search the archives collections. Listed are many of the resources found in the archives.

Department of Justice BDM

You can search WA birth, death and marriage indexes from here. Remember though, there will be year limitations depending on privacy rules for the state. You can also order certificates for the historic index results from here.

Department of local government

This department has many sources to researching your Aboriginal history. Some sources are online and able to be searched by yourself, others you need to apply for through a specialist researcher in the department.

Family History WA

Some online databases but also many others if you are a joined up member of the group. To find the databases, check under the tab indexes.

Family Search Wiki

Many sources here, some are free, others are at paying websites like Ancestry and Find My Past. Some sources are already mentioned in the other links in this post.

Readers: What are other important websites you use to gather information when researching ancestors in Western Australia?

Please read the comments as other family historians have added more websites to use.

Day 2 RootsTech 2022

A relaxing day yesterday, just watching a few sessions as I know I will be able to view most of them over the next year. So now to start day 2 at 10am my time in Tasmania.

Went to the Main Stage but all sessions had finished already. Then looked at the live sessions for today and have already missed 9 out of the 10 I wanted to see. Glad these will be recorded so I can watch later on.

So looks like my plan for today is to look at some series and other sessions I have ticked and added to my playlist. I have also been watching twitter to see what other sessions are being recommended by other genealogists I follow.

Bessi / Pixabay

Is Everyone Here by Jana Greenalgh 

Loved the introduction to this series. Common saying by mums of large families “Is everyone here?” Jana suggests ways to fill in those gaps in your family tree where you might have found some children but maybe not all of them. This is mainly for English families.

  • An individual’s story includes all their relationships.
  • Search broad family including step families.
  • Check out signatures on records.
  • Prior to 1900 families were generally big. Demographic statistics for population and infant mortality found here.
  • Before 1900 most married women had children every 1-3 years so check your tree for gaps that might show children missing
  • Ask questions about why there might be a gap – change church, dad in gaol, dad a mariner, stillbirth etc

Find your family in every census

  • Keep a spreadsheet or chart from 1841-1921 and mark off relevant censuses you find each member of the family in
  • Remember children grow and leave home or are apprentices or servants in other homes of get married
  • If not in a census, maybe emigration
  • Also use 1939 register
  • In 1911 census , you find how many children a woman had – how many alive and how many dead

Use civil registration records to help fill gaps

  • Use indexes on GRO website gives more info than other indexes on Ancestry etc – register for free and order certificates from here as well
  • Use birth and death indexes – good for those children who died young

Church records mainly Church of England prior to 1837 when civil registration began

  • From mid 1500s, two copies of christenings, marriages and burials are found in parish registers or Bishops transcripts
  • Inscriptions on gravestones, where they are buried, maybe other members buried nearby
  • If you can find the images, it can be better than indexes – they often have extra information in margins
  • Also look in neighbouring parishes and towns
  • In small towns, create lists with same surname – often they are related

Probate records

  • Wills, admons (didn’t leave a will), estate duty
  • From 1858, check at gov.uk or in Ancestry
  • Before 1858, you need to check county probate records which can be found on family search wiki – findmypast and the genealogist also have the images
  • In small town keep record of all with same surname

 

ElasticComputeFarm / Pixabay

Escaping the Famine – Irish settlement in Canada by Melanie McComb @ShamrockGen

This session really interested me as those readers who follow my blog, know of my frustrations with my Irish Jackson family. After three members of the family, William senior, William Junior and Rebecca as well as another relative Jane Steel, were sentenced to transportation, another member of the family Anne Jackson, who had dobbed them in for stealing, asked for help to get away from Ireland.

While I was travelling in Ireland I did some research on Anne and found her with two other children Mary Ann and Robert going to Canada on the recommendation of the magistrate who had sentenced the Jacksons.

Melanie’s session included the history of Irish Immigration to Canada and many of the reasons why this happened. She also discusses the voyages across the Atlantic from Ireland to Canada. Once in Canadian waters, there was quarantine to go through at various points along the coast.

Before 1865, no formal passenger lists but some shipping companies kept lists. This is where I found Ann and her children on the J.J.Cooke list arriving on the ship Superior in 1847. These records are now on Ancestry.

Melanie also mentions a collection of records coming into New England through the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick for the years 1841-1849. It includes more than just immigration records.

Grosse Ile quarantine station has a database that can be checked through the Libraries and Archives of Canada. Another database they have is for any immigrants prior to 1865.

Melanie then went into other ways to build your Irish family in Canada:

  • Using census to looking for parent(s) born in Ireland but children born in Canada. Different information found in each census will help you work out when someone came to Canada and maybe where they came from in Ireland.
  • Church records – some found online, others still on microfilm and found in registers at particular churches.
  • Land records also might help build your family tree in Canada – province level first then county level
  • Newspapers also give lots of information including goods belonging to dead people and how to claim them. Also check out obituaries and articles in area near where your Irish family settled.
  • Gravestones might also have town and parish in Ireland mentioned on them.

Readers: What was your takeaway from day 2 at RootsTech 2022?