Thursday, November 22, 2012

Expert Q&A :: Getting the most from findmypast Aust & NZ

For our Expert Q&A on Thursday, November 22 we had Vicki Dawson, Rosemary Kopittke and Melissa Davison from findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ answering questions on how to get the most from findmypast. Thanks again to Vicki, Rosemary and Melissa for their time and responses.

Please find the transcript of the Q&A and links below.

Don't forget our Expert Q&As happen every Thursday night on the Inside History Magazine facebook page.

When: NSW - ACT - VIC - TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm

Top tips from Rosemary Kopittke:
  1. My first tip would be - Don’t put in too much information to start with – “less” is often better; if you get too many results then refine using filters, a time span or keywords.
  2. Another helpful tip is to remember that much of the data is available as searchable documents which have been digitised – so for that data first/last names don’t mean much to the search engine. Use the keywords – for example, james ainsworth (83 hits) and ainsworth james (289 hits) in the keywords will produce more meaningful results than putting those words into the name fields (3,104 hits).
  3. And another - Search using both name and keyword fields – use the Record Type filter: search fully indexed data (Records) with the name fields and search the digitised data (Documents) with keywords and you will get much more useful results.
  4. And one more ... Don’t use the Chrome browser for searches – you lose a lot of what the pdf documents can offer with the Chrome browser as it doesn’t highlight matches on the page or give you all the acrobat tools.
Summary of links from the Q&A:

A pet cat listed in the 1911 England and Wales census 
Image courtesy of findmypast 

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Transcript of Expert Q&A - Getting the most from findmypast Australia & NZ: 

Our Expert Q&A with the findmypast.com.au Australia & NZ team starts in 15 minutes at 8:30pm AEDT. Tonight we’ll be discussing how to get the most from findmypast. Please ask your questions in a comment below & Vicki, Rosemary or Melissa will answer in a comment.

Q. From Rochell:  In case I forget about the q and a. I have a question. I am trying to find an ancestor coming to Australia around 1893. I know he was at his brother's wedding in April of that year. But I can't find him coming in. Is there anywhere I can find a list of major ships coming from London around that time?
A. IHM: We'll ask your question for you Rochell.
A. Rochell: I found him on the findmypast.com.au site. I hope it is him and not a crew member. I tried to become a member of the site but it didn't like my email address. So now I can't find out anymore details :( this is what I got. I would love a month. If poss. His name was WM STRUTHERS (Refer to Appendix A)
A. IHM: Blog from Rosemary Kopittke :: Part 1: Tips for using findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ :: http://ow.ly/fuw7S - lots more tips in tonight's Q&A!
A. Rosemary: @Rochell Your Wm Suthers on the Ormuz in 1892 was definitely a passenger and not crew - http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207265605/ shows the page from the passenger list.
A. IHM: Thanks Rosemary. For everyone else, here's Rochell's question from yesterday: "I am trying to find an ancestor coming to Australia around 1893. I know he was at his brother's wedding in April of that year. But I can't find him coming in. Is there anywhere I can find a list of major ships coming from London around that time? I found him on the findmypast.com.au site. I hope it is him and not a crew member. I tried to become a member of the site but it didn't like my email address. So now I can't find out anymore details :( this is what I got. I would love a month. If poss. His name was WM STRUTHERS".
A. Rosemary: @Rochell Interesting that the passenger list shows Wm Struthers entry as struck out suggesting he did not board. A comment from the specialist in the area says: I’d say that the married 27-yr old Scotsman Wm Struthers didn’t board the Ormuz bound for Sydney NSW in October 1892. Normally, however, in my experience when one sees a struck-out passenger, one would expect to find him on a voyage departing within the next few weeks.
A. Rosemary: One of my family was struck off a passenger list - he actually boarded in London instead of Liverpool a few weeks later - he and his wife came on separate ships and met in Brisbane at the end of the voyage - Robert had a new son born on the voyage when he met his wife again.

Comment: IHM: Welcome everyone, thanks for joining us tonight. Please welcome Vicki, Melissa and Rosemary from findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ to tonight's Q&A.
Comment: IHM: Reminder: Keep refreshing your browser to see the answers as they appear. 
A. Rosemary: Hi 
A. Vicki: Good evening!
A. Melissa: Hello
A. Carmel: Hi all

Q. From Trish: Hi Rosemary, Vicki & Melissa. Does Findmypast have access to different records than other genealogy sites?
A. Vicki: @Trish, yes we have many records that are exclusive to findmypast so you won’t find them elsewhere.
A. Rosemary: @Trish It does have many unique records not available elsewhere - Police and Government Gazettes for all Australian sites and and hundres of directories just to name a few - lots of exciting information in those records not easily accessible even in hard copy in libraries.

Q. From Kerryn: G'day. I'm not yet a subscriber to findmypast. How does it differ to ancestry?
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, many records you’ll find on findmypast are exclusive to us so you won’t find them elsewhere. Of course, you may need to use both sites as Ancestry will also have records that are exclusive to them. We do offer additional options other than an annual subscription including PayAsYouGo credits which start from $12.95 for 100 credits which gives you flexibility without locking into a subscription.
A. Rosemary: An example of records unique to FMP is the Queensland Police Gazettes - great details on criminals, victims and others - a good description at https://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records/full-list-of-australasian-records/institutions-and-organisations/queensland-police-gazette-1864-1900 (more years available than yet described there)
A. Kerryn: Thanks Vicki that sounds great. How many credits does it take to access a record or are they all different?
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, it varies depending on the record. You can view the costs here - https://www.findmypast.com.au/payments. Scroll down and click on ‘How much does it cost to view the records?’

Q. From Carmel: So Rosemary how would I find crew members? I have a feeling I may have a couple. Henry Barwise arrived sometime between 1851 (English Census) and 1857 when an advertisment appears in Maryborough for an unclaimed letter. He came from a family of mariners although he and his father were both printers. Also I have one from Sweden who I believe has changed his name. His Naturalisation papers say he arrived in 1863 on the Triton but I have not found a record for this ship at this time.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel The passenger records on FMP start only in 1890 when the Board of Trade records commence - anything before that will have to come from other sources. I know some crew are listed, for example, on lists lodged with the Customs House in Brisbane and held by the National Archives. Perhaps they have similar lists for other states.
A. Carmel: Mine are Victorian and still asking questions. They will be there somewhere I am sure. I do seem to come from a family of swimmers.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel I understand your problem! I had a fellow who was a pilot - couldn't find him for a long time but he definitely didn't fly.
A. Kerry: Hi - anyone looking for crew, from about 1845 up until immigration became a function of Commonwealth government (end of 1922) should have a look at http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/ - based around NSW records, but not only theirs.
A. Carmel: @Rosemary I have a couple married in London 10 days after arriving in Victoria in 1858, they would have flown home for the wedding!
A. Rosemary: @Carmel Sounds interesting - I haven't heard of anything like that before; looks like it requires further investigation.
A. Carmel: Actually Rosemary I do not think they did marry. He met her at the ship in Melbourne, the marriage comes from the children's birth certificates, always the same date but one in London one in Melbourne, but no record to be found.
A. Rosemary: @Carmel Sounds a bit like some of my family where the children didn't really know the facts - said their mother was born in Ipswich, Queensland when she had been born in England. We can't believe everything on certificates - unfortunately. We need to check multiple sources for each piece of information where that is possible.

Q. From Carol: Can anyone answer this general question... Apart from the prison husks does anyone know some other uses for abandoned ships that sat in Hobsons Bay in 1852? (This is for a setting in a novel l'm attempting)
A. Carmel: Carol I may be wrong but I have a feeling there was one used for abandoned children?
A. IHM: Hi Carol, Carmel is right - there was a hulk called the Vernon which housed orphan boys off Cockatoo Island: http://www.cockatooisland.gov.au/about/history-reform-school.html
A. Carol: One of the prison hulks was a reform school. Yes. And kids complain today! Thanks.
A. Wendy: G'day ,I was looking thru a book of mine that has been in storage for 8yrs and came across 2 pages of photos and a small amount of info on the 'Nautical Training Ships' ... 'one solution to ridding Sydney of it's young pariahs or 'Street Arabs' was to put them aboard nautical training ships moored in the harbour' . Photo's show the 'Vernon' and 'Sobraon' . Book is called The Young Australians .Australian children since 1788 .John Larkins & Bruce Howard 1981. Some one was asking about these ships in a Q&A recently . The photos are credited to the New South Wales Government Printer .
A. IHM: Click here for link to "The Young Australians" on Trove
Q. From IHM: Does findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ have Birth Death & Marriage records?
A. Melissa: In our Australian records the Birth, Marriage & Death records mostly cover cemetery records. Although these are not formal records of birth, death and marriages, the cemetery records often provide dates of birth and death, along with extensive information on the person and their family. However we have UK birth, death and marriage records available.
A. Melissa: We also have pre-civil records for SA which have very recently been added to findmypast.com.au and we expect to have Australian BDMs available next year, it is a top priority.

Q. From IHM: We're always being asked what's new on findmypast & what's coming next - what do you have in the pipeline that we should be excited about?
A. Vicki: We’ve recently added over 56 million new records for Australia & New Zealand and currently have so much in the pipeline that there’s a lot to be excited about! I can’t list them all but here is a teaser of what you can expect in coming months. The remaining existing records from the UK site and British Newspapers. From The National Archives in UK - British Army Pensioners - Kilmainham, Ireland, 1783-1822 which has been digitised for the first time as well as one of my favourites - our “bad boy collection” which will contain approx. 1.8m images and 3.1m criminal justice records. Irish BDMs & from the US - World War II records, 10m more World War I Draft Registration Cards and BDMs from the 1600s to the present day. And of course millions of new records for Australia & New Zealand – keep an eye out for an announcement shortly regarding new Australian records which will be digitised for the first time and exclusive to findmypast!
A. Vicki: We recently launched a 14 day free trial so if you haven’t already go give it a go for free!
A. Carmel: The Irish BDMs sound interesting, I have not been able to find anything on my Irish Ancestors
A. Rosemary: @Carmel If you have a subscription to the World Collection you will be able to access the Irish records through findmypast.com.au
A. Carmel: It was thanks to findmypast that I finally found the birth of my gg grandfather and found he did not even know his own name after I found he did not know his mother's name either. He always said his name was Alfred Benjamin Woodhead when he was registered and baptised Alfred Townley Woodhead. I am now trying to find out who Alfred Townley was, sounds like someone well known to Alfred's parents.
A. Kerry: I've found ancestors in the Irish Petty Sessions records, and some wonderful information about an entailment to a direct ancestor (that named their age, marriage date, residence & more) in the Irish Landed Estates records.
A. Vicki: @Kerry - Great to hear!
A. Vicki: @Carmel - wonderful to hear of your success!
A. Carmel: Yes he had his mother as Sarah Taylor, His mother was Isabella Jenkinson who died when Alfred was only 10 mths old. His father married Sarah Clarke so I am guessing this is where the Sarah came from and wonder if the Taylor was not linked somehow to the Townley. Amazing how one answer leads to a dozen questions! I have been doing this for 35 years and still looking for more. It amazes me when people say I have done my family tree.
A. Rosemary: @Kerry Kerry mentioned about some interesting Irish records she has recently examined. The following link will give a glimpse at what you might expect to see in the Landed Estate Court Rentals - when bankrupt property were put up for auction and the tenants and everybody associated with the property were named (not just the owners). Great records not available anywhere else. http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207346969

Q. From Michelle: Are there plans for FMP UK AUS & IRL to amalgamate? It would be easier to search the one database and have the one logon?
A. Vicki: @Michelle – Yes!! We hope to have them amalgamated in the first quarter of next year.
A Vicki: @Michelle - I should add to my previous comment that your login for AU, IE or US will work on each of those sites. All of the records from each of those sites are now available on findmypast.com.au and approx. 80% of the UK records with the remaining coming over the next few months. You can see the full list of what’s available here - http://www.findmypast.com.au/articles/world-records

Q. From IHM: Can you combine single subscriptions to get a World Collection subscription?
A. Melissa: Separate subscriptions for AU/NZ, UK & IE cannot be combined or transferred to one subscription, members will need to wait until their subscriptions expire before upgrading to one of the packages.

Q. From Kerryn: I've just signed up for free and made a boo boo already. Can I change the name of my tree I used my married name instead of maiden surname.
A. Melissa: @Kerryn, You can update your details from the "My Account" section located in your menu bar then in the drop down menu select "Personal Details".
A. IHM: Here's the link to the 14 day free trial :: http://ow.ly/fuI9I
Q (b): From Kerryn: Is it possible to change to pay as you go once free trial period is over?
A. Melissa: @Kerryn you need to cancel your FREE trial before the trial period ends otherwise the subscription will automatically be debited from your credit card. You can do this easily by selecting "My Account" from the menu bar and then selecting "My subscription" from the drop down tab, you will see the option to cancel. Once this is done you can purchase your pay per view credits.

Q. From Merilyn: Hi all I am enjoying all your comments and learning lots. I have found both ancestry and fmp both good sources of info. Keep up the good work. My brick wall is my gg grandfather who was a Mariner in Kent UK. Any ideas?
A. Rosemary: Merilyn Mariners can certainly be difficult. Not listed in all the censuses so tricky. Findmypast UK does have some Crew Lists though so it could be worth checking there.
Q (b): Merilyn: Thanks Rosemary. I know from past experience he won't come up if I just enter his name. Can you specify crew lists? What is the best way for Mariners?
A. Rosemary: @Merilyn Crew lists 1861-1913 appear under Education and Work on findmypast UK

Q. From Jonathan: Are there any plans on FMP to implement a citation button for a record? We all know how important it is to include citations when referencing data, making this information available to all would only enhance the product.
A. Vicki: @Jonathan. Not that I’m aware of but will certainly take up with the development team.

Q. From IHM: Time flies! 2 last questions then. 1) What would be your top tips for researching your ancestors with findmypast?
A. Rosemary's top tips: 
  1. My first tip would be - Don’t put in too much information to start with – “less” is often better; if you get too many results then refine using filters, a time span or keywords.
  2. Another helpful tip is to remember that much of the data is available as searchable documents which have been digitised – so for that data first/last names don’t mean much to the search engine. Use the keywords – for example, james ainsworth (83 hits) and ainsworth james (289 hits) in the keywords will produce more meaningful results than putting those words into the name fields (3,104 hits).
  3. And another - Search using both name and keyword fields – use the Record Type filter: search fully indexed data (Records) with the name fields and search the digitised data (Documents) with keywords and you will get much more useful results.
  4. And one more ... Don’t use the Chrome browser for searches – you lose a lot of what the pdf documents can offer with the Chrome browser as it doesn’t highlight matches on the page or give you all the acrobat tools.
A. Merilyn: Wow, thanks will certainly give all those ideas a try :)
A. Kerryn: I'm a bit disappointed about the chrome browser as it is my default browser.
A. Vicki: @Kerryn, the Chrome issue is only when viewing documents. Unfortunately it's an issue with Adobe and you lose some functionality that is really useful in Internet Explorer.

Q. From Michelle: Has FMP thought about a providing a knowledge page? Where researchers can check their knowledge? Would help people learn more about the resources.
A. Vicki: @Michelle. We’re shortly going to be revising our help & advice sections to include tutorials, knowledge base and other useful information.

Q. From IHM: So, we'll finish with some fun! 2) What is your favourite story you’ve found on findmypast?
A. Vicki: With so many records available it’s hard to choose a favourite but I would have to say I love the sense of humour of a John Charles Belton who included his cat on the 1911 Census as: Peter Tabby, relationship to family – servant, 6 months old, occupation mouser, nationality Persian! He obviously wasn’t intimidated by the enumerator…. http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidehistory/8207069167
A. Rosemary: One of my favourite stories is about a fellow who filled in his census form and was found dead when the collector came around the next morning - tragic really.
A. IHM: Leave them laughing & with a tear in their eye Rosemary, that's a great story!
A. Carmel: eek I did the census here a few years back and had a similar story, went to collect the forms and walked into a funeral.

Comment: IHM: Thanks again to the findmypast.com.au Aust & NZ team for joining us tonight! We’ll publish the questions, answers & links from tonight’s session in a blog post soon.
A. Carmel: Thanks to @Rosemary I have found that the Triton was in Newcastle NSW about 3 weeks after My John Johnson claims he landed in Aus on this ship. It had left from Warnambool with only a few crew members, now how do I trace it back to Warnambool to see if John was on it? I feel I am a bit closer to finding him.

Next Week: Who's joining us for next Thursday's Expert Q&A? Find out how to use the National Archives of Australia defence records. Join us here with your questions next Thursday.

When: NSW-ACT-VIC-TAS: 8:30-9:30pm AEDT | QLD: 7:30-8:30pm | WA: 5:30-6:30pm | NT: 7:00-8:00pm | SA: 8:00-9:00pm.

See you next Thursday, November 15 for more on the National Archives of Australia defence records.

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Read the previous Expert Q&A transcripts:
[1]  Thursday, July 26 :: How to get the best from Trove Australia
[2]  Thursday, August 16 :: How to get the best from BDM Certificates
[3]  Thursday, August 23 :: Getting the most from NAA
[4]  Thursday, August 30 :: Interpreting photographs for family history
[5]  Thursday, September 6 :: How to get the best from Ancestry.com.au
[6]  Thursday, September 13 :: Using Trove for research
[7]  Thursday, September 20 :: Today's toolkit for the digital historian
[8]  Thursday, September 27 :: Preserving your artefacts with NAA
[9]  Thursday, October 4 :: Studying and doing research at UNE
[10]  Thursday, October 11 :: How to research war graves and Anzac ancestors
[11]  Thursday, October 25 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au
[12]  Thursday, November 1 :: How to research cemeteries in Sydney & NSW
[13] Thursday, Nov 8 :: Australian War Memorial - Lost Diggers
[14] Thursday, Nov 15 :: Getting even more from Trove
[15] Thursday, Nov 22 :: Getting the most from findmypast AU & NZ
[16] Thursday, Nov 29 :: Using NAA defence records
[19] Thursday, Dec 20 :: What's new at Ancestry.com.au


Appendix A: 
Rochell's ancestor's details: 
WM STRUTHERS
Passenger Lists leaving UK 1890-1960
Collections from: United Kingdom
Country: AUSTRALIA | Title: MR
State: New South Wales | Ship Name: ORMUZ
Birth Year: 1865 | Age: 27
Ship Departure Port: LONDON | Destination Port: SYDNEY
Departure Year: 1892

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1 comment:

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