Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Records added to FindMyPast.com

1901 CENSUS FOR LONDON GOES LIVE AT FINDMYPAST.COM

Findmypast.com today announced that the county of London, comprising over 4.6 million records has been added to its new online version of the 1901 census for England and Wales. The new records join the counties of Surrey, Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, which are already available to search at
http://www.findmypast.com/CensusPersonStartSearchServlet?censusYear=1901. More counties are to follow in the coming weeks.

A fresh look at 1901 census

Findmypast.com's brand new version of the 1901 census is being transcribed from scratch and each image rescanned using the sophisticated scanning technology available today. The result is clearer images and more accurate transcriptions than previously seen.

Elaine Collins, Commercial Director at findmypast.com commented: "It's incredible what the latest advances in scanning have achieved. With findmypast.com's brand new version of the 1901 England and Wales census, it really is possible to find ancestors that you haven't previously been able to find on older online versions, so it's definitely worth taking a fresh look at this key resource."

Like all the records on findmypast.com, the 1901 census can be searched for free at http://www.findmypast.com/CensusChooseSearchType.jsp. Images and transcripts can be viewed with vouchers, pay-as-you-go credits or a Discovery or Explorer subscription.


BAPTISMS ADDED TO THE PARISH RECORDS COLLECTION

Findmypast.com working in association with the Federation of Family History Societies has also added 2.3 million baptism records to The Parish Records Collection, which already includes 15 million burial records and nearly 2 million marriage records. Some of the records date back to 1538, when Henry VIII's Vicar General Thomas Cromwell instigated the recording of records at parish level. They are available to search now at
http://www.findmypast.com/parish-records-collection-
search-start.action?redef=0&event=M.

Among the newly added records are 346,000 baptism records for London's Docklands area covering much of East London and provided by Docklands Ancestors.

About findmypast.com

Leading UK family history website findmypast.com (formerly 1837online.com) was the first company to make the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England & Wales available online in April 2003.

Following the transcription, scanning and indexing of over two million images, the company launched the first website to allow the public easy and fast access to the complete indexes, which until then had only been available on microfiche film in specialist archives and libraries. The launch was instrumental in creating the widespread and growing interest in genealogy seen in the UK today.

Findmypast has subsequently digitised many more family history records and now offers access to over 600 million records dating as far back as 1538. This allows family historians and novice genealogists to search for their ancestors among comprehensive collections of military records, census, migration, occupation directories, and current electoral roll data, as well as the original comprehensive birth, marriage and death records.

In November 2006 findmypast launched the ancestorsonboard.com microsite in association with The National Archives to publish outbound passenger lists for long-distance voyages departing all British ports between 1890 and 1960.

As well as providing access to historical records, findmypast is also developing a range of online tools to help people discover and share their family history more easily, beginning with the launch of Family Tree Explorer in July 2007.

Over 1.7 million people in the UK have researched their family trees and findmypast.com has over 800,000 active registered users, revealing the mass appeal of genealogy and findmypast.com's position as the leading family history website based in the UK.

In April 2007 findmypast's then parent company Title Research Group received the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation 2007 in recognition of their achievement.

Findmypast.com was acquired in December 2007 by brightsolid, the company which was awarded The National Archives' contract to publish online the 1911 census.

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