Your Family Tree Magazine

January 2011 - Promotional Feature

Search further with a Diamond subscription

Discover how The Genealogist can bridge research between Australia, New Zealand and the UK through early Census records, directories, electoral rolls and telephone directories

TheGenealogist.co.uk is the perfect resource for tracing your Colonial family members. The website has the broadest records available on the web, helping you pin-point your ancestors who may have set sail for distant shore, and taking you further back in your research.

Colonial records

Through a Diamond subscription package, you can access occupational records, new census releases, parish records and directories, electoral roll and poll book information, as well as regimental records and post office and telephone directories.

Not only do such records help you in your quest to trace emigrant ancestors, but many of these resources include lists of ancestors' addresses and details of their occupations.

For example, the 1834 New South Wales Calendar and Post Office Directory follows each road within the colony, giving details of the owners of various residences and farms.

For Sydney, you can view a detailed street map as well as a list of over 10,000 residents giving occupations and their addresses compiled with the aid of the census. The Australian directories cover the period from 1834 to 1938 and are rapidly expanding in coverage, while New Zealand has a growing number of resources.

Going back further

But Colonial records aren't the only examples of TheGenealogist.co.uk's expert resources that can take you even further back.

Parish, nonconformist and non-parochial records cover a wide period from 1960 back to the 1500s, and can include birth certificates, baptismal records and even give marriage witnesses.

Wills can take you even back even further. TheGenealogist's Yorkshire wills index starts at 1389 and its PCC wills show an image of the actual document.

The fortunes of your ancestors may vary over time and many of us will be lucky enough to find a wealthy ancestor who may have registered a coat of arms. If you do, you may find their family history and family tree in the Visitations section of TheGenealogist.co.uk. These are a fantastic resource for the family historian, giving you family trees, family histories and coats of arms! The Peerage and Landed Gentry resources can also give biographies, addresses and family histories.

The earliest records are for titled classes, such as knights, lords and the landed gentry, together with details of land ownership.

If you trace your way back to a knight, you'll be pleased to know that TheGenealogist.co.uk covers all knights of England going back from 1960 to 1127!

"A Diamond Subscription from The Genealogist now covers census data from 1841 to 1911"


 

Step-by-step: Find Australian forebears

Search www.thegenealogist.co.uk and track down essential Australian electoral registers

1 Enter a name to search for within the Australian electoral registers, or click on the Advanced Search option to refine your results further. You can do a general search across all Towns, Areas and Polling Districts, or limit the search by selecting a place from the drop-down menus.

2 Your search will return a page of matching entries, displaying details, when available, such as First and Last name, Town & County, Polling District and Abode. There's a link on the right to open up a printable view of individual entries. 3 The 'Full Details' option presents you with a view of the individual including all the details seen on the search results page, plus extra information such as why they were eligible to vote and descriptions of property if they were landowners.