I first caught the bug for Family History way back in 1986 during a trip to Glasgow.  The bug went away for a while but has come back big time during the last 3 years I have been living in Cairns.

As a member of CDFHS, it never ceases to amaze me the knowledge our members have and the willingness to share same.

Let me share 2 recent discoveries – they haven’t solved any of my brick-walls but have certainly provided information that has not only padded out the family tree and sparked an interest from family members, and surprisingly from some, who previously were “oh, so not interested”!

OH!  I can hear you saying that these are common genealogical resources that most people would know about… I had not heard of them and certainly would not have suspected that they may have been of any use to me until I searched them.  I guess what I am saying is that “You don’t know what you don’t know” or maybe in my case I should be saying “You’re never too old to learn”.

FAMILIES IN BRITISH INDIA SOCIETY

fibis.org

I learnt of this resource at a presentation given by member Larry Andresen last September.   An amazing source of records for the East India Office, passenger lists, newspaper records, etc., are all searchable on the FIBIS website.   As soon I got home I searched for Great Uncle “Louis O’Donoghue” – records on FindMyPast indicated he was born in India and was a tea planter.  I didn’t find much on Louis, but a heap on his parents and grandparents.  I found the following record of the marriage of Louis’s parents in the India Times for 25 January 1892:

Jan 14th at St Peter’s Church Bimlipatam by the Rev FE Cameron BA Chaplain, Louie Rambold fifth son of the late Colonel Charles James O’Donoghue late of her Majesty’s 76th Regiment of Foot to Charlotte Amelia second daughter of William Elsworthy of Bimlipatam

An amazing amount of family history information in just a few lines!  If you are having trouble finding some of your British ancestors, have you ever thought that they may have gone to India or Ceylon?

Many British families were living and working there, some for many generations, most going there to work with the Honourable East India Company, tea plantations, railways, the Army, or Civil Service.

Images from Fibis can’t be republished here due to copyright, but you can click on the image below to go to the Fibis website and search their gallery:

Click on the image below to go to the Fibis website and search their database:

DECEASED ONLINE

deceasedonline.com

Central database for UK Burials and Cremations.  You can search this database for free, and records found can then be purchased.  I overheard a member talking about this site one Saturday afternoon, and interrupted the conversation – next thing I was on the computer and searching.

With at least 6 generations of Larchins living (and dying) in the same area of London, the 10 burial records I found and purchased were well worth the £2.00 cost per item.

If you haven’t come across these great resources before, I do hope you find some records that help to knock out a piece of your brick wall and extend your family tree!