Ancestry.co.uk are offering a selection of their World War I records FOR FREE between 10th-13th November.

For 4 days you can access:

• British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920
• British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920
• British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920

It's been 12 months since I started my blog (the main site has been going for about 4 years now) and in that time I've posted over 150 articles ranging from items from Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book, images from my grandpa's collection of slides, 'On This Day' in the history of my family, features on specific ancestors, a slection of genealogical links and tips, and more.

I don't have a favourite post but I like my 'Ancestors Corner' category most of all as it fleshes out some of the details of my forbears and, at times, allows me to indulge in my own thoughts and draw my own conclusions.

I'm not entirely certain what sort of following I have so if you'd like to say hi, please drop me a line in the comments section. I'd love to hear from you.

Here's looking forward to my next blogiversary!

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

As Christmas approaches some of you may be thinking about a genealogy gift to give to someone special or maybe you'd like to give your own family the nod about something you'd quite like them to buy you.

Last year, I posted some links to offer inspiration for the perfect gift and this is a quickie to remind you once again. Here's the link...

Christmas around the corner - genealogy gift ideas (UK)

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

Have you ever discovered your photographs dotted around the internet on other people's websites or family trees without so much as a courteous approach? Without accreditation, these images sometimes spread around the net and the source of the original content is lost completely. Quite often, a lot of time and effort has gone into capturing these images, not to mention the cost of travelling to some of these places to obtain the pictures. I don't know about you but I hate this level of audacity and it's something that gets right under my skin.

The family history community are, on the whole, very willing to share their efforts with others and quite often I've found it's been of mutual benefit. However, there still remain some 'leeches' out there who simply take and don't give back (or worse still, take without permission).

It only takes a minute or two to send an email and there's every possibility that in doing so, some good can come of it. For example, I recently contacted a distant cousin with whom I'd been in contact with in the past, to request permission to use her photographs for a particular project. In the course of our email discussion, she mentioned that transcripts of the parish records up to 1812 and graveyard records for Exton are now online. For anyone with Hibbitt ancestry, this will most likely be of great value as the majority of Hibbitts seem to trace back to this small village in Rutland. Many thanks, Caroline.

In an attempt to get others to play fair I've recently added a 'Copyright & Conditions of Use' page to my website. Please could I ask anyone already using any of my content from either my blog or my main website, that they add the required accreditation. Likewise, if anybody spots an image on my site that I've omitted to give credit for, please let me know and I'll readily rectify the situation asap.

Moan over!

I recently discovered a useful facility within Google Books - I'm not sure if it's new or been around for a while but if you're anything like me you'll come across something new about an ancestor in a book in Google and forget to make a note of it there and then. This is where 'My library' comes into its own.

Sign into Google with your Google account, go to Google Books and you'll see a menu on the left called 'My library'. When you find a book you want to save, just click on the 'Add to My Library' link in the left-hand menu. If you've created new bookshelves (ie. categories) you can add the books straight into them. I've so far categorized my bookshelves by surname.

Once a book is in your library you can add a note. This is where I write a brief explanation of what I've found of interest in the book together with the page number so I can easily identify what I'm looking for when I'm ready to document my sources.


'My Library' in Google Books
[Why Sorting Saturday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

FindMyPast.co.uk have recently launched several more military collections as follows:

• 1861 Worldwide Army Index
• Royal Fusiliers Collection 1863-1905
• Paddington Rifles 1860-1912
• Surrey Recuitment Registers 1908-1933

In addition, they've also published over 500,000 soldiers' records in their Militia Service Records 1806-1915. The Militia was a voluntary county-based part-time force for home defence. It ceased to be summoned after the Civil War but was revived in 1757, when the Militia Act established militia regiments in all counties of England and Wales.

Ancestry is allowing free access to its National Probabte Calendar, 1861-1941 collection until 8th July. You can search the indexes to see where and when your ancestors died, see the original records to discover how much they left behind, and use the information to order their full wills and probate records from the Principal Probate Registry.

Ancestry are also offering Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790-1976, for free. This collection of obituaries, death notices and other announcements was put together by heir hunters.

Ancestry's latest collection of parish records are for West Yorkshire. These include:

• West Yorkshire, England, Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906
• West Yorkshire, England, Marriages and Banns, 1813-1921
• West Yorkshire, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1985
• West Yorkshire, England, Confirmations, 1859-1915
• West Yorkshire, England, Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1512-1812

Also, if you sign up to Ancestry before 29th July, they're offering a Premium membership package for the price of an Essentials membership package, a saving of £24.

Dorset Records

Ancestry have added two major record collections - Dorset Parish Records, 1813-2001 and Dorset Wills and Probate Records, 1565-1858.

I haven't personally found any ancestors from Dorset so far and I'm feeling pretty envious of anyone who does have connections with the county as I'm sure these records will prove extremely helpful.

1911 Census

Ancestry have also completed the first stage of their 1911 Census release. Members can log in to the site and browse the scanned record images from all over England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

At present, it's not possible to search the records as you would with previous censuses. They've already started work on the transcriptions and are on track to have them all finished by the end of the year. In the meantime, you can browse the records by county and civil parish. This page shows you how.

FindMyPast.co.uk have added 40,000 new 18th century records for Gloucestershire:

Baptisms - 18,985 records - Dates: 1695-1794 - Parishes: Cam, Coaley, Dursley, Nympsfield, Owlpen, Slimbridge, Stinchcombe, Uley

Marriages - 4,969 records - Dates: 1696-1796 - Parishes - Cam, Coaley, Dursley, Nympsfield, Owlpen, Slimbridge, Stinchcombe, Uley

Burials - 14,513 records - Dates: 1697-1795 - Parishes: Cam, Coaley, Dursley, Nympsfield, Owlpen, Slimbridge, Stinchcombe, Uley

I have family connections in Coaley, Uley, Slimbridge and Dursley but unfortunately I don't currently have a subscription to FindMyPast. I might have to do something about this but I need to check the IGI before shelling out my cash.