Ontario Ancestors Branches Open Access to Databases for Family Day

Never Done Before: A Special Opportunity from Several Ontario Ancestors Branches

As Family Day in Ontario draws closer, some of the Branches of the Society have developed an opportunity to further promote membership within the Society. The idea is to share the resources of their Branches through the Members’ Only Sections of their WordPress Websites. These Branches have invested a great deal of time in their Members Only and are prepared to be involved in this process.  We are hoping that by giving people a “sneak peek” into the amazing resources at six of our branches, that we can show non members the value of membership; and members can see the opportunities to join more branches.

To be honest, this has never been done before as Branches take the lead in promoting and encourage those seeking their past to join the Society and it Branches/SIGs to further gain access to documents and educational resources. This Boots on the Ground approach is how we as a Society as a whole bear responsibility for membership and promotion of the great work we do.

 

The Branches that are involved: Kent, Essex, Toronto, Niagara Peninsula, Huron and Lambton.

 

To be honest, we don’t know if this is even going to work, but we would rather fail than not do anything at all. So we mark this as a test and we will report back to you all on its success.

 

These are the parameters:

 

All Society Members receive free access with their membership.

 

All Non Society Members will have to purchase a Weekend Pass to view the Members Only Sections.

 

If they choose to join, Non Members will receive a $10 Credit towards their new Society membership and any Branches that they join as well.

 

This program will run from Friday February 12^th at 5 pm to Monday February 15^th at 5 pm.

 

Google Analytics will be used to monitor the success of this program.

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We would encourage you to promote this as well.

 

Thanks

 

Steve Fulton UE

 

Past President/I.T. Administrator

Ontario Ancestors

Free Access to FindMyPast's Military and Census Records This Week

On the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, Findmypast want to give you the chance to remember the military heroes in your family. This week, all of their world military records plus all their UK and Irish censuses are free to search, so you can track your ancestor's journey both before, and during the war.

Explore FREE military & census records

Free UK Records at Ancestry.co.uk This Weekend

This item was found in the Lost Cousins newsletter from the UK:

FREE access to all UK records at Ancestry ENDS SUNDAY

No subscription? Don't worry, because this weekend Ancestry.co.uk are offering free access to all their UK records! It's a great opportunity to extend your tree by researching your collateral lines - the descendants of your ancestors' brothers and sisters.

You've got three days to plunder Ancestry's UK records - the offer ends at midnight (London time) on Sunday 8th February. You may need to log-in or register in order to view the records, but you shouldn't be asked to provide credit card details or make any commitment.

Download the images you find to your computer. If you attach the images to your Ancestry On-line Tree, you won't have access after the free weekend ends!

Ancestry.ca Offers Free Access to all 235 Million Canadian Records

from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter of today:

In celebration of Canada Day on July 1st, Ancestry.ca is offering free access to all its Canadian records. Quoting from the web site’s home page: “Explore our extensive variety of Canadian records – ALL FREE this weekend – and connect the milestones of your ancestors’ lives.”

“Access to the records will be free until 11:59pm.(Eastern Time). To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.ca with your name and email address. Once you have registered we will then send you a user name and password to access the records. If you haven’t already, you will be prompted to register once you start trying to search and view the records. After July 1, 2014, you will only be able to view these records using an Ancestry.ca paid membership.”

For more information, or to view the records free of charge, go to http://www.ancestry.ca.

English Records Free on Ancestry.co.uk for the Easter Weekend

from the Toronto Branch's e-Newsletter:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/grouplist.aspx?group=easter_free_records

Click on the  link to see which records are free this holiday weekend.

Happy searching!

Free Civil War Documents on Fold3

For those of you with American ties, Fold3.com has FREE access from April 14 - 30th to their Civil War Collection.

The link is at http://go.fold3.com/civilwar/

You will have to create an account, or sign in if you have created an account in the past. Once you have signed in, the above link will take you to the free content.

Origins.net Celebrates St Patrick’s Day

The Irish Wills Index 1484-1858 contains over 102,000 names compiled from records found at the National Archives of Ireland. It is only concerned with records that survive in more than index form, i.e. where original documents, copies, transcripts, abstracts or extracts exist.

Access FREE until Tuesday 18 March 2014, 08:00 GMT.

Although the vast majority of Ireland's testamentary records were lost in the destruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) in 1922, staff at the PROI (now the National Archives of Ireland) have spent many years trying to recover from that loss, and today there are thousands of testamentary records again, although they are not always easy to find.

This index lists records at the National Archives of Ireland that are not simply an index. In other words, there is a document worth looking at behind every index entry. Each index entry contains the name of the person leaving a will, or being covered by a grant of probate or administration. It also contains their address, sometimes their occupation, and the place where the document was proved (i.e. a diocesan or the Prerogative court). The index also contains the names of the executors for almost half the entries, along with their addresses. In essence this index contains all the information contained in the National Archives finding aids (i.e. card catalogues, typed lists, and original summaries).

Irish Origins St. Patrick's Day Subscription Offer - 36% discount!

Irish research has its own very special challenges. Let Irish Origins help you uncover your past.
Access nearly 6 million Irish genealogy records including: Censuses, Wills, Directories, Burials, Marriages, Electoral registers, Passenger lists, Military records, and rare publications.

St. Patrick's Day Offer: Access Irish Origins for 1 month for the price of 72 hour access - only £6.
Valid until 24th March 2014.

Step 1: Choose Irish Origins Monthly from our subscription packages.
Step 2: Enter Promotional Code StPatrick2014 at Sign up or Checkout.