What’s new on Ancestry?

·  1939 Register This collection was previously only available on findmypast. If you haven’t found the information you're looking for try using Ancestry - their different transcription and search methods may give you different results

·  Edinburgh Electoral Registers 1832-1966  No registers were produced during the war years 1916, 1917 and 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944

·  Liverpool Electoral Registers 1832-1970 No registers were produced during the war years 1916, 1917 and 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944.

·  Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office 1746-1939 Includes employees, both civil and military, of the East India Company and later, the India Office. You may be able to find, where available, name, military rank, place of residence or military service, date of death, place of death, date of marriage or name of parents.

·  London, England, City Directories 1736-1943

What’s new on findmypast?

·  Suffragette Collection Over 3,000 records from The National Archives recording the details of the women and men who supported women's suffrage in the early 20th century.

·  England, Mining Disaster Victims Discover the names and circumstances of those who died in mining accidents with over 9,000 transcripts that list their name, birth year, age, event date, colliery, and incident details. Four counties are represented in the records: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.

·  British Army Officers' Widows' Pension Forms 1755-1908  Released online for the first time, the forms cover a period of more than 150 years of British military history and contain over 13,000 transcripts and scanned images taken from the National Archives series "WO 42: War Office: Officers' Birth Certificates, Wills and Personal Papers".

Free access to these and other online resources is available on any library computer if you are a library member.

We run a range of Family History events in our libraries. As well as introductions to Ancestry, findmypast and ‘Free Websites for Family History’, we are adding some new talks - ‘Understanding Census and Birth, Marriage and Death records’, ‘Tracing World War 2 ancestors’ and ‘Newspapers for Family History’. Tickets for all events are £5 including refreshments. To keep in touch with what's happening don't forget to check our What's On in Libraries page.

If you’re new to family history or want to find out more about the sources available and how best to use them you may be interested in the Record Office ‘Coffee Time’ workshops. They start at 10am on the first Monday or Wednesday of the month and cover a wide range of sources. The remaining programme for 2018 is as follows:

3 October 2018: Granny was a pauper: exploring poor law records

7 November 2018: Reading old handwriting

Tuesday Talks

You are also invited to our ongoing series of Tuesday talks, starting at 7pm. The next few talks are as follows:

18 September 2018: Bernstein, Hussey and the Chichester Psalms by Nigel Simeone

30 October 2018: Returning home: exploring the First World War's aftermath in West Sussex An illustrated talk by Emma Worrall and Professor Keith Grieves, focusing on the experiences of soldiers returning home from the front and the sometimes lively debates in local communities about the best way to honour the fallen.

27 November 2018: West Sussex Women: A Centenary of Suffrage by Lauren Clifton

29 January 2019: The Little Churches of Chichester by Alan Green

26 February 2019: The High Sheriffs of Sussex by Dr John Godfrey and Caroline Nicholls

26 March 2019: The abolition of British slavery and West Sussex archives by Dr Richard Huzzey

Book now!

If you’d like to come along to a coffee time workshop or a Tuesday talk, please call 01243 753602 to book and pay (advance booking essential, tickets non-refundable). Tickets for coffee time sessions cost £7.50 and for Tuesday talks £8.00, which includes refreshments. Visit www.westsussex.gov.uk/ro and view the ‘What’s on at the Record Office’ page for more details.

Sorry, it's not the UK one, although the latest news is that the National Archives have put the digitisation, transcription and publishing online of the returns out to tender so the countdown has started!

This is the 1921 census for Canada which has recently been made freely available online. The site is searchable by surname and images can be saved as jpeg or pdf. There are many more records to be found on the Library and Archives Canada website including earlier census returns, immigration  and military.

Tracing Your Georgian Ancestors: A Guide for Family and Local Historians (2018) John Wintrip

The Georgian period - 1714 to 1837 - was a key stage in our modern history so some understanding of it is essential for family historians who want to push their research back into the eighteenth century and beyond, and John Wintrip's handbook is an invaluable introduction to it. In a sequence of concise, insightful chapters he focuses on those aspects of the period that are particularly relevant to genealogical research and he presents a detailed guide to the variety of sources that readers can consult as they pursue their research. While fewer sources are available than for more recent history, obstacles in the way of further research can often be overcome through knowledge of a wide range of sources and a greater understanding of the historical context, together with the use of sound research techniques. The author provides not only a historical overview of relevant topics but he also describes the records of the period in detail. This expert guide to researching the Georgians will open up the field for experienced researchers and for newcomers alike.

Who do you think you are?: the Genealogy Handbook (2018) Dan Waddell

Who Do You Think You Are? has been a BBC hit since its first series in 2004, which ignited an extraordinary boom in researching family history in the UK. Since then the world of genealogy has been transformed and, while our sources of information remain the same, our ways of accessing them have multiplied and changed beyond recognition. In this practical, easy-to-use handbook, the WDYTYA team share their experience and expertise, essential for anyone who would like to discover their family's history. Drawing on celebrity stories to illustrate and inspire, and providing hints, tips and practical step-by-steps, this pocket handbook will bring family history to life for fans of the show and for any amateur sleuths starting out on their own journey of discovery. 

Referencing for genealogists, sourcing and citation (2018) Ian G. MacDonald

Reliable genealogical conclusions depend on reliable data. Central to any good investigation is an appreciation of where the data came from so that other investigators can re-examine it and re-establish the conclusions reached. Genealogy is little more than anecdote when the sources for facts are not cited and where clear references to sources are not given. Referencing for Genealogists will enable others to follow in your footsteps because it gives you the means to write clear, unambiguous references that provide solid support to the evidence you offer towards your conclusions. It is packed with examples that the reader can learn from and that also provide a treasure trove of sources invaluable to any genealogist.

Grow you own family tree, a comprehensive guide to tracing your ancestry. 2nd ed. (2018) Pauline Golds

Many people want to trace their roots and there has never been a better time to do so. However, with so many online resources now available it can be a daunting task for the beginner. This book will go through all the basics from gathering information from relatives and using County Archives to making use of the best of the internet. It explains in depth how to obtain relevant documents, how to gather clues to further your research and how to do all this in the most economical way. A new addition to the book is how to go about searching American, European and Canadian Records.