Sunday, April 15, 2012

English Parish Registers

Another website which may help you locate English parish records is DustyDocs. The site is a gateway to pre 1900 English baptisms, marriages and burials. Check out Phillimores English county map and 'What are Parish Registers' The site has links to churches, FreeREG and more. Dustydocs

Historical Societies

Your local historical society may hold resources including photos and memorabilia which may help or add to your family history. The Melville History Society in Perth Western Australia maintains Millers Bakehouse and conducts regular tours of Millers bakehouse museum. The bakehouse harks back to when horse drawn carts were delivering loaves of bread around Fremantle and Bicton in the 1930s. Visit the societies website for further details
Melville History Society

Friday, April 13, 2012

Valuation Rolls

Scotlandspeople.gov.uk has indexed the 1915 Scottish Valuation Rolls. The index contains the names of the owners and occupiers along with the address, parish and county. The images may contain further information e.g. occupation. The Scottish Valuation Rolls were used as an assessment for rates to provide funds for education, drainage and street lighting.
The assessors recorded the name of the owner, tenant and occupier. Unlike a census it only contains details for the head of the household and doesn't list other members of the household.
The valuations were carried out during 1914 and published in May the following year. It gives a valuable snapshot of who was the head of the household, where they lived and who owned property. For further details visit scotlandspeople
1915 Valuation Rolls for Scotland
Valuation rolls (also called assessment rolls) were also carried out in some states of Australia. These records were annually published in Government Gazettes and contain valuable information for the family historian. They can be used to trace a families movements and property ownership.

Westminster Church Registers

Findmypast has published over 1.3 million records from parish registers from over 50 Westminster churches. The earliest records date from 1538 and span until 1945. The Westminster collection also includes rate books, settlement examinations, workhouse registers & wills. These records will become available over the coming months. Read about the Westminster collection at
findmypast.co.uk news westminster

Norfolk Sources

Norfolk Sources has a variety of records you can search including books, Trade Directories 1851 to 1925 and Probate records 1800-1857 Norfolk Sources