Ireland Catholic Parish Registers Free in March!

Ancestry.com has launched the Ireland Catholic Parish Registers online. With more than 10 million Catholic Parish records, this launch will help create the largest collection of Irish registers available online.

Best of all the records are free during March 2016.

Here's some facts before you start your search!

The collection means that Ancestry.com will have over 55 million Irish records and will provide the largest collection of Irish Catholic parish records available online.

The collection is made up of Baptism, Marriage and Burial records from over 1,000 Catholic parishes across the whole of the island of Ireland - both in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Baptism and Marriage records make up the majority of the collection and Burial records can be found primarily for parishes in the northern regions.      


Ancestry.com has indexed records from over 3,500 parish registers. This is the first time that the collection has been indexed with the images linked online.

New War of 1812 Database Online

Boarding and taking the American Ship Chesapeake
by the Officers and Crew of H.M. Ship Shannon
commanded by Capt. Broke, June 1813

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has just put up another terrific database for the War of 1812

The War of 1812 took place from June 18, 1812 to February 16, 1815. During this conflict between the United States and Great Britain, many military events occurred on Canadian soil.

There are no service files for the Canadian militia; however, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds a unique and vast collection of records about the Canadian men and women who were involved in the War of 1812. Their names can be found on muster rolls, pay lists, claims, certificates of service, land grants, and medal registers. Many of these documents are only available in the original format and have not been microfilmed or digitized.

This database does not include the name of every person who served during the war, only those whose names appear in the records that have been indexed for this project from specific fonds. The list indicates the archival reference, volume number(s) and the microfilm reel number, if applicable.

Search the new database for your ancestors.

Image Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1937-31-1

Ukrainian Immigrants 1891-1930 New Database Online

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, Ukrainian Immigrants, 1891–1930.

This online database allows you to access more than 14,700 references to names of Ukrainians who arrived in Canada and the United States between 1891 and 1930. 

Names were taken from passenger lists held at LAC for the following Canadian and American ports:

    Halifax, Nova Scotia
    Montréal and Québec, Quebec
    Saint John, New Brunswick
    New York, New York
    Portland, Maine

Names were also taken from notes about early Ukrainian settlers and pioneer families in Canada gathered by Dr. Vladimir Julian Kaye (1896–1976).

Start searching immigrants from Ukraine now!

Credit: Image from http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/

Library & Archives Canada New Immigration Database!

Olive Tree Genealogy just received the following announcement:

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, Immigrants to Canada, Porters and Domestics, 1899–1949.

This online database allows you to access more than 8,600 references to individuals who came to Canada as porters or domestics between 1899 and 1949. Names were taken from lists contained in the Central Registry Files series of the Immigration Branch (RG76 BIA) and other files held at LAC.

Start searching porters and domestics now!

This looks like it will be a great addition to existing Canadian Immigration records. I'm off to see if any of my British family are to be found there.

Don't forget you can also search for ancestors on ships on OliveTreeGenealogy.com 

If you have Illiinois ancestors check out the Chicago Tribune Archives in Beta (Free)

The Chicago Tribune archives are online and searchable from 1849 to 1991. This is a Beta Version and for now it's free. 

However when the beta is over, researchers will need to sign up for a digitalPLUS membership (details here) for full access to the archives.

Thanks to Gail Dever for posting the link to this newspaper database.

Have You Checked Assessment Records for that Elusive Ancestor?

Genealogy records for early Ontario (Canada West, Upper Canada) are challenging to find. They are sporadic and held in different repositories. Some often over-looked pre 1850 records include Assessment Records. 

Assessment Record Page

These work well as a census substitute and they usually provide an exact location of land (Lot and Concession Number) within a Township.

Some give numbers and type of livestock and crops. Assessment records were used to assess individual's property and holdings in order to calculate and collect tax revenue.  

Not all townships' Assessment Records have survived. Not all townships did assessments for the same years. So if you are looking for these records you will need to find out if your County and Township of interest has any that survived. 

I am very pleased to announce that thanks to the generousity of transcriber Fred Blair, Olive Tree Genealogy has published 10 Assessment Records for early Ontario. Following is the list of Assessment Records now available for download on Olive Tree Genealogy Ontario Assessment Records section

    Assessment Ancaster Township, Wentworth County, Home District 1816
    Assessment_Ancaster Township, Wentworth County, Home District 1818
    Assessment Beverley Township, Wentworth County, Home District 1816
    Assessment Beverley Township, Wentworth County, Home District 1818
    Assessment Grand River Tract, Haldimand Township, Wentworth County, Gore District, 1816
    Assessment Nelson Township, Halton County, Gore District 1816
    Assessment Nelson Township, Halton County, Gore District 1818
    Assessment Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Gore District 1816
    Assessment Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Gore District 1823
    Assessment Trafalgar Township, Halton County, Gore District 1825