Acknowledgement: Our thanks to Marg Rickarby, Tomaree Family History Group member, for development of this research page and tutorial
This is a refresher on web sites. Remember that sites get updated all the time - especially free BMD and Free Census.
- Rule number 1 - avoid paying for information unless you have exhausted all other avenues.
- Rule number 2 - someone probably has the information you are looking for and will be willing to share it. JOIN a LIST.
- Rule number 3 - we possibly have it on our CDs at Tomaree Family History Group, so come on in and have a look.
AUSTRALIA
30,000 mailing lists, place names, surnames etc. Joining a list is the best thing you can do. http://lists.rootsweb.com/ see end of document for instructions.
Births from 1788 to 1905 and marriages and deaths to 1945. Always remember that NOBODY got the spelling right every time. Even if your ancestors spelt it the same since 1066, the person who transcribed it, messed it up. If you lose the actual www address just put nsw bmd into the search engine.
TASMANIA
- Public record info – certs for fee
BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES - addresses for all states
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- BMD exchange includes Australia – it is searchable
QUEENSLAND
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
- like Victoria, you pay to look
WESTERN AUS
VICTORIA
CONVICTS
- Irish convicts – searchable data base (this was Irelands gift for 1888 bicentenary)
Found the all in Aus and now you need to look in the UK?
SHIPPING
AUSTRALIANS AT WAR
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Australian War Memorial
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Commonwealth War Graves
http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14 lists1.7million men and women around the world
OTHER SITES
Latter Day Saints. International Genealogical Index (IGI); British Vital Records; Pedigrees; Census etc, Personal Ancestral File - go to familysearch.org
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A huge searchable data base – but wait…. No – everyone is not on it. However if they have copied files from your particular parish, then you may be lucky. If a relative has placed your family line on it, it may be far from accurate. Even if there are twenty five Hamilton Milford SNODGRASS entries on it, your HMS may be number 26 who missed out.
Best ways to search – do the IGI only first - look for the person, place, time frame.
Cut and paste any possibles to a document, email or family tree program note section.
Next enter parent names and get all the children. Cut and paste.
Check the batch number for the name and get possible extended family. Cut and paste.
Eg James HARTLEY of Leeds 1827 (use with 1881 census and freebmd)
England and Wales 1881 census is on the LDS site. YES, everyone is on it, although they may be badly spelled.
Scottish records on line Scotlandspeople
Cyndislist
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Surname navigator http://www.kuijsten.de/navigator/ put a name into this search engine and you get a whole range of genealogy responses in layers. Just work your way through it page by page. If you cant get through using windows, use Mozilla Firefox - free download http://www.firefox.com/
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LOOK UPS – your new friends will look up anything for you.
If you join a list, you can ask members for a look up. The resources on a list may be endless (I usually belong to about 4 lists at any one time, may change some every few weeks as the trail change. Some lists I have belonged to for years eg GENANZ and LANCSGEN)
Lists are managed by an individual who will apply the overall rules eg rootsweb rules, and may have a few of their own as well.
Once you have joined, introduce yourself when ready and ask your question. (Don’t give your home address or phone number – give a locality - eg Jane Brown from Port Stephens NSW. (add Australia if it’s an international list)
Be specific - tell people what you know and have already checked otherwise dozens of people waste time checking on something you already know.
[SKS is some kind soul]. So you may see a request for:
- “SKS to look up a death for Nicholas John or John Nicholas GIBBONS (put surnames in capitals) somewhere in Australia. Already have his marriage to Sally Smith in 1865 in Vic, cant find his death in Vic or NSW and it seems he was deceased by the time his daughter Eliza Sally married in 1889."
That question may get ten replies within a 24 hour period including three or four replies within ten minutes.
In the subject line you would put: GIBBONS SMITH death look up please.
Some people only check the headings - don’t open messages unless of special interest. You may just want to leave a trail, and say “I have a good deal of information on the Singleton family of the Hunter valley and would like to make contact with anyone interested.”
If you are able to do any look ups in return, you list those eg with your signature. Some people just write and say, I have Log of Logs, or a convict book from the library and am happy to do look ups for the next two weeks.
HOME RESOURCES
Many people have amazing resources at home, not just CDs, but reference books, local history lists eg people buried in the cemetery in their local town and their monumental inscriptions. Lists may contain hundreds or thousands of people. Just as Aussies join overseas lists, many people overseas join our local lists.
LOCALITY RESOURCES
List members may live in that original town you are enquiring about - with extreme luck, some may even be your distant relatives. Some people will check if great grandma’s house is still there and will take a photo for you.
List members may visit major genealogy sources in large cities, on an almost daily basis and don’t mind doing a look up if you have good information to start with.
EXPERTS
Very experienced genealogists, professionals and agents also belong to lists, so you get the benefit of both amateur and professional advice and tune in on many interesting discussions and learning opportunities. [I recently needed to get a will and an inquest copy form Melbourne and a Genanz member who is also a registered agent, got them for me. I always use a particular member of the LANCSGEN list to get UK certificates for me. ]
CONVICTS, OCCUPATIONS , IMMIGRATION FACTORS
Some people are experts on various aspects of the living situations, occupations and times when your ancestors lived
ARCHIVES
Lists have archives you can search for names etc, so you not only get the benefit of the present resources but can pick up information from the past few years of the list.
SOCIETIES
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Australasian Federation of Family History Organisations Inc. (AFFHO) www.affho.org
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HUNTER VALLEY AND LOCAL
Australian National Maritime Museum
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Naturalisation index
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NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages
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NSW Government Databases
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A private NSW site
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Public Record office of Vic includes shipping
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Index of ships world wide 1829-1900
NSW state archives includes shipping
http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/searchform.aspx?id=
MORE USEFUL RESEARCH SITES | 
