Ancestors Abroad

It's galling for genealogists that Australian government policy is to destroy all name-related census material (it's done for privacy reasons); all...

Australia is a country with military records that go back to its foundation as a penal colony, as soldiers arrived as part of the First Fleet to...

From the start of Australia's time as a colony in 1788, each state has been responsible for its own records - the central government has never been...

Many people in Britain have their ancestral roots in Europe, and any attempt to trace the family tree means looking across the Channel to the...

With census records so sparse in Ireland you need other ways to trace your ancestors, and land records are a good genealogy source. Again, they're...

America is a land of immigrants. According to historians, even the Native Americans first arrived over the land bridge that originally connected...

Both the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, though part of the United Kingdom, stand separate from England, both geographically and in other...

The way the first British settlers found their way to Australia was as convicts, when the country was a penal colony from 1788-1868. After that, and...

Thiking About Native American Genealogy Records Researching Native American records presents its own, unique challenges in genealogy. Given that...

A person's vital records show the landmark events in life - birth, marriage and death. Whether you're searching for ancestors in Ireland or Northern...

As anyone researching family history soon learns, census records can be like gold. Not only do you locate a person in time, but also in a very...

It might not really be the case, but it often seems that no race is as well travelled as the Irish. Almost everywhere in the world you'll find people...

If you’re Jewish, then unless you or a relatively recent ancestor converted – your family came from somewhere outside Britain in the past, quite...

Genealogists should be glad that European births have been registered in New Zealand since 1848, not too many years after its original white...

As with births, New Zealand began the registration of European deaths in 1848, the collected records being kept by the Registrar General (as with...

The native people of New Zealand possibly suffered less in their relations with Europeans than many indigenous civilisations. But that didn't mean...

In New Zealand, the registration of marriage first became compulsory in 1854 and you can find records from that time onwards in the Registrar...

The first instance of a New Zealand conflict came early in the 19th century land wars, where colonists subdued the Maori. Since then New Zealand...

For most of the time since it was settled, immigrants to New Zealand have arrived by ship; there was simply no other way to reach the country....

Apart from the state and government records, there are other routes that can be helpful in tracing your ancestors in Australia. Where state records...

It wasn't only convicts who went to Australia during the 19th century. Plenty of free people chose to make a new life there and immigration continued...

As the saying goes the poor have always been with us, and Scotland has been no exception. If your ancestors from there weren’t among the rich,...

After 1855 it’s easy to find records of Scottish births since, like England and Wales, they were registered. If you're tracing family history you can...

Just like birth and marriage records there’s a divide in the history of recording deaths in Scotland, and it comes in 1855, when compulsory...

Researching marriages to trace your family history in Scotland is very similar to tracing those in England or Wales. But it’s a game of two halves....

For a genealogist, a will can be a treasure trove. It contains information about family, relationships, the way a person lived, and, obviously, what...

Wills are a vital source of information in genealogy. They take on a greater resonance in Ireland, where there's really no 19th century census...

Genealogists have to be thankful to the Church of Latter Day Saints or the Mormons as they're usually known. They created the International...

Unlike European countries, the United States doesn't have a central national depository of vital records - birth, marriage and death certificates....

Land records can be a wonderful resource for anyone researching family history. They can give plenty of information about who bought or sold the...

Census records are a wonderful means to discover information about your ancestors, one of the very best tools in genealogy. Not only can you see...

Reading an ancestor’s will can tell you a lot about how they managed to live their lives. It’s not simply the goods and property they acquired – be...

The Aborigines are the indigenous people of Australia, with a history that dates back for millenniums. However you might consider their treatment at...

Canada and Britain have had long and deep ties since the French were forced out of the country and it became a British possession. For thousands,...

New Zealand held its first parliamentary elections in 1853, and the first New Zealand Parliament met in 1856. At the time, the right to vote was...

For several centuries, Africans came to the United States as slaves, not free men and women. They were regarded as possessions rather than as people,...

The military tradition in the United States dates from its very foundation, when the Revolutionary Army fought and beat the British. From that point...

Emigration to America was commonplace in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Thousands from Britain and Ireland answered the challenge of seeking a...

When tracing relatives who lived in the United States, there are many sources available, although the depth of them varies greatly from state to...

When researching family trees for those with roots in India and Pakistan, it’s worth remembering that there are two strands involved. The first is...