Find My Past Historic Newspapers

Anybody who has studied old newspapers as part of their family history research will know how useful they can be. There are already a few websites offering historical newspaper transcriptions and digitised images, but fans of Find My Past will be pleased to know that a newspaper section has just been added to the site.

There are millions of pages of historical newspapers to view, dating from 1710 to 1950 and covering Scotland, England, and Wales. Each record costs five pay as you go credits to view, but subscribers to the Britain Full package will have unlimited access.

The project has been launched in conjunction with the British Library, and Find My Past have promised that new records will become available regularly.

Old newspapers are not only an extremely interesting insight into the past, but they can also provide information about your family history that you won't find anywhere else. 

Good luck with your research!

Interesting Names

This is not strictly speaking a genealogy story, but is interesting nonetheless. The BBC News website has an article about how some people in Britain have struggled with having unusual names. The names, such as Formaggia, Bandoodas, and Akinyemi, are described as "foreign-sounding." In other words, they are only unusual in Britain because they are not native to the country.

From a genealogical perspective the article is interesting for two reasons:

• Firstly, some of the people in the article share personal stories of their relatives and how they migrated to Britain. 
• Secondly, there are instances of names being changed over the years. As every genealogist knows, this can be extremely frustrating and troublesome when conducting research.

The article is worth a look, and can be found on the BBC News website.

Genes Reunited Price Changes

The website Genes Reunited have announced that they have made some changes to their pricing structure, effective immediately.

• Viewing an original 1911 census image now costs 5 credits, or 50p, instead  of 30 credits, or £3.
• Viewing a 1911 census transcription now costs 5 credits instead of 10.

This appears to be a permanent change rather than a promotional offer, and is very welcome. The more sites that offer important records at reduced rates the better.