Save time with our records round-up! It’s your at-a-glance guide to what’s new in genealogy. In this series, exclusive to newsletter subscribers, we will be bringing together a monthly round-up of record releases from genealogy sites around the world. (Please note that many of the below websites may need a subscription to be able to access the records mentioned).

 

ANCESTRY

Indexes to Wills, Probate, Administrations and Marriage Licence Bonds, 1371-1858 - Norfolk

This new collection contains an index of wills, probate records, marriage bonds, and administrations from the historic county of Norfolk The indexed records include wills, letters of administration, and probate inventories that were heard by Norfolk church courts from the 14th century to 1858.

Some early wills may be in Latin or Norman French. While most were written in English by the mid-16th century, notations concerning approval of the will were usually in Latin until 1733 and most administration bonds were also in Latin until 1733.

What information will I find?

Wills and probate records can provide information about an ancestor's family and friends, land ownership, and personal property. Historically, property descended to the eldest son, so a will was likely drafted only when special bequests were made to others. Wills for married women were rare until the 20th century, as women were prohibited from owning property until 1882.

Each index entry provides a link to the original repository and instructions for ordering copies of the original records can be found by following the link.

Explore HERE

British Newspaper Archive

The Bookseller

The BNA has recently added the ‘Organ of the Book Trade,’ the landmark publishing magazine The Bookseller to its collection. Spanning 150 years of book-related news, the archive have released over 400,000 new pages for this title.

Explore 150 years of literary history, including how the world’s best-loved titles were reported on as they were released, from George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss in 1860 to Zadie Smith’s White Teeth in 2000.

Access the collection here.

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FIND MY PAST

Canada military records: 2 collections

Canada, Military Honours and Awards Index 

This new set from Library and Archives Canada contains over 113,000 transcriptions, taken from a variety of medal award collections. For around 28,000 of them you’ll also find an original image. You’ll typically discover a name, regiment, rank, medal type, and the date it was awarded. The collection spans over 150 years, from 1812 to 1969. 

Explore HERE

Canada, Courts Martial of the First World War Index 

An index of court martial records, recounting members of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces who were accused of military and civilian offences. You’ll find some detail of a person’s offence in these 11,000 records, plus their name, service number, rank, regiment and unit, and the date of the event. Some of the transcripts also contain further remarks to shed more light on each case.  

Explore HERE

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MyHeritage

November releases

Last month, MyHeritage published 17.4 million historical records from 36 historical record collections from Australia, Belgium, the Channel Islands, England, France, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The records include obituaries, marriages, court records, deaths, tax registrations, births, census registers, and emigration records.

The biggest release was for Sweden, with 3.2 million index of census register records from Stockholm, covering the years 1800 and 1884.

Find out more at MyHeritage.

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Does your group, society, record office or archive have a record release you'd like to share? Email us and we'll be in touch.