How To
The following is a guide I have written for how to research your Family History. These are the methods and techniques I have used. I have found them quite useful and hope they may be a use to others who are researching their Family History, particularly when doing so in Australia.
Family
Your family members themselves should be the first place to go to find out information about your ancestors.
After speaking with your family, take this information to…
Births, Deaths, Marriage NSW - http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Use this resource to find out the names and dates of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. You are only able to search Births over 100 years ago, Deaths over 30 years ago, and Marriages over 50 years ago.
When looking at the results, the year after the slash (/) in the registration number is the year the event was registered. For Births and Deaths, the father and mother’s given names are listed as well as the district the event was registered. For Marriages, the bride and groom’s surnames are listed as well as the district the event was registered.
If more information is needed, certificates can be purchased for $31 from the website.
Once you have this information you can see if there is a listing in the newspaper by going to…
Ryerson Index - http://ryersonindex.net/search.php
Search for a death or funeral notice at the Ryerson Index with the name of your family member. It will tell you the paper and the date of the listing. Make a note if it is a death notice or funeral notice to know where to look in the paper.
If the death is before 1955 you can search for it at…
Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper?q=
Trove is a searchable database of digitised newspapers. You can search for your ancestors name then refine by state or year.
If the death is between 1955 and 1995, listed in the Sydney Morning Herald, and you have a NSW State Library card, you can search for it at…
State Library of NSW eResources - http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/eresources/browse.cfm?search=sydney
Use the death or funeral notice date of publication from the Ryerson Index and check that edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Once you have this information it is a good idea to start compiling it in some readable from. I use a free ancestry.com account and find it useful to view the family tree.
Ancestry Library Edition - www.ancestrylibrary.com/
If you access ancestry.com from a library, using their wifi, you can use it as if you were a paid member.
Trove Again! – http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper?q=
Trove is a great resource for all sorts of information about your ancestors that lived in Australia. From Birth notices, Marriage descriptions, arrests, ship arrivals etc There is a vast array of information to be gathered from Trove. You can use quotation marks when searching a name. You can refine by state if you know the area your ancestor was born. Another way to use trove is by selecting a regional paper by using the name of the town your ancestor is from in your search, refining by the regional paper only, then searching for your ancestors name.
Family
Your family members themselves should be the first place to go to find out information about your ancestors.
After speaking with your family, take this information to…
Births, Deaths, Marriage NSW - http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/family-history.aspx
Use this resource to find out the names and dates of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. You are only able to search Births over 100 years ago, Deaths over 30 years ago, and Marriages over 50 years ago.
When looking at the results, the year after the slash (/) in the registration number is the year the event was registered. For Births and Deaths, the father and mother’s given names are listed as well as the district the event was registered. For Marriages, the bride and groom’s surnames are listed as well as the district the event was registered.
If more information is needed, certificates can be purchased for $31 from the website.
Once you have this information you can see if there is a listing in the newspaper by going to…
Ryerson Index - http://ryersonindex.net/search.php
Search for a death or funeral notice at the Ryerson Index with the name of your family member. It will tell you the paper and the date of the listing. Make a note if it is a death notice or funeral notice to know where to look in the paper.
If the death is before 1955 you can search for it at…
Trove - http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper?q=
Trove is a searchable database of digitised newspapers. You can search for your ancestors name then refine by state or year.
If the death is between 1955 and 1995, listed in the Sydney Morning Herald, and you have a NSW State Library card, you can search for it at…
State Library of NSW eResources - http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/eresources/browse.cfm?search=sydney
Use the death or funeral notice date of publication from the Ryerson Index and check that edition of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Once you have this information it is a good idea to start compiling it in some readable from. I use a free ancestry.com account and find it useful to view the family tree.
Ancestry Library Edition - www.ancestrylibrary.com/
If you access ancestry.com from a library, using their wifi, you can use it as if you were a paid member.
Trove Again! – http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper?q=
Trove is a great resource for all sorts of information about your ancestors that lived in Australia. From Birth notices, Marriage descriptions, arrests, ship arrivals etc There is a vast array of information to be gathered from Trove. You can use quotation marks when searching a name. You can refine by state if you know the area your ancestor was born. Another way to use trove is by selecting a regional paper by using the name of the town your ancestor is from in your search, refining by the regional paper only, then searching for your ancestors name.