Free Access to FindMyPast's Irish Records till 7 March

Perhaps it's the thought of St Patrick's Day or perhaps more of us have ancestors that came from Ireland than we thought.

Anyway, FindMyPast claims to have the largest collection of Irish Records and they're offering free access until 7 March.

Start your search of Irish Records.

If you need help with an English or Scottish family history problem, there are still some free family history surgeries available (you need to book in advance) on Berwick Family History Day on 16 April.

German Prisoners at Stobs Internment Camp (near Hawick) in Global Context, 1914-1919

During World War I, Stobs military training ground near Hawick was used as a mass internment camp for 4,500 prisoners; German civilian ‘enemy aliens’ who had settled in Britain before 1914 and were considered potential spies, civilian passengers and sailors from captured enemy ships, and military prisoners-of-war captured in Europe or at sea.

Stobs was the parent camp for a network of further facilities across Scotland and Northern England.

Although the majority of internees were German, there were some Austrians and some Turks.

There’s a free conference next summer about the Stobs camp, an opportunity to hear experts who have researched Stobs as well as camps in England, the Isle of Man, Ireland and others around the world, to see camp artefacts and perhaps to identify them, and visit the site with the Council’s archaeology officer, Dr Christopher Bowles.

If you have family members that worked at Stobs, or you’re descended from someone who was interned in one of the camps, I think you’ll find this conference especially interesting. Dr Bowles would also like to hear from anyone that has memorabilia relating to the camp.

Provisional programme.

The conference is on 18th and 19th June 2016 at Hawick. If you would like to attend, I suggest you register now at archives@scotborders.gov.uk

The Mysterious Berwick Lady on the Poster for the Berwick Family History Festival on 3 and 4 October

People have been asking if we know who the enigmatic lady on our poster is or if we know her name.

She's Ellen McKay known as Nellie, aged 25, born about 1878 in Ireland.

Descending under her chin, there are 4 other photos:

A family photo taken in Easter 1902 - see The McKay Family of Berwick-Upon-Tweed.

We think the other photos are of

• Constance (Connie ) McKay
• Nellie and Maud McKay in a group of females
• Nellie McKay and Winnie McKay

and are described on More Berwick-Upon-Tweed McKay Pictures.

Did you know the family ?

Are you related to them ?

If you can help us in any way to help track down descendants, please do get in touch on 01289 301865 or leave a comment below.  

Bookings for our family history surgeries are trickling in.

The surgery sessions are on Saturday 3 October and Sunday 4 October at 11.30 am, 12 noon, 12.30, 1pm, 1.30pm, 2pm, 2.30pm and 3pm each day with local experts, to help you start your family history, identify records for you to look at, help you scale that brick wall or solve a knotty family history problem.

We have only 16 sessions on offer, and already two are taken.

Booking for these surgery slots is essential (first come, first served), please email us at the address below stating which day and time you prefer and if possible, whether your query is about Scottish or English family history.

Use FindMyPast for Free this Weekend

From 12pm BST on Friday, 18 September  to 12pm BST on Monday, 21 September, you can access lots of family history records and historic newspaper pages at FindMyPast for free.

Access includes:

• Ireland census records from 1821, 1831, 1841, 1851 and 1911
• Poverty relief loan records that give an insight into the darkest days of Irish history
• Military records from conflicts such as the Battle of Waterloo, Crimean War and World War 1
• Travel and migration records
• 7 million historical Irish newspaper articles
• Over 11 million British newspaper pages from 1710 onwards

Extend your family history with FindMyPast's free weekend offer.

FindMyPast Free Family History Live Broadcast or Webinar on Saturday 8 November

To celebrate Remembrance Weekend, FindMyPast is running a live broadcast or free webinar on Saturday 8 November between 3pm (GMT) and 5.30pm.

The programme includes 6 speakers and covers: getting started, researching your family history, censuses,  British newspapers, military records, tracing ancestors from Ireland, international records.

More details of the programme and speakers.

The webinar is expected to be available later on their blog.

The webinar is followed by a live question and answer session on FindMyPast's Facebook page between 5.30pm (GMT) and 6.30pm.

Please add a comment below, if you learn something useful or get a question answered.

The McKay Family of Berwick-Upon-Tweed

From Linda Bankier:

Recently a member of the public brought into Berwick Record Office a series of photographs relating to a family. She has given us permission to digitise them but she has asked if the originals could be passed on to a descendant of the family. They were discovered when clearing out a friend’s house.

 

Easter 1902 (Picture ref: BRO 2089/01a)

Left to right at back : Nellie (25); Winnie (12); Eva (19). 

Left to right at front : Willie (23 ½); Emma (Mother) (50); Connie (6); Owen (Father) (52); Maud (17)

The photograph was originally framed. This information is taken from a piece of paper which was part of the back of the frame. We have the original and also a transcript.

In addition, I was told that the surname was McKay and that they lived in the Bell Tower area in the north end of the town.

On investigating the census and other records at the Berwick-upon-Tweed Record Office, it was possible to establish the following:

The father in the photograph is OWEN MCKAY who was born in Ireland and died in Berwick-upon-Tweed in July 1905, aged 55 years. He was buried in the Civic Cemetery, Berwick, on 22 July 1905 in a family plot. Owen was a member of the Royal Artillery – noted as a Battery Sergeant Major -  and appears to have undertaken service in Berwick at some stage, probably in the late 1880s. In 1891 and 1901, he is not listed with the rest of his family in Berwick. However, a note on the 1891 census states that his wife, was supported by her husband who was resident at Woolwich. 

The mother in the photograph is EMMA S MCKAY née WRIGHT, who was born in Woolwich in Kent in the early 1850s. She obviously met her husband whilst he was serving at the Royal Artillery in Woolwich and they married in the March quarter of 1876 in Woolwich. After living in Ireland, Emma appears to have moved to Berwick in the mid-1880s and then remained here with their children whilst her husband served in the Royal Artillery. She died in Berwick in the March Quarter of 1936 and was buried on 7^th March 1936, aged 83 years. 

All the other children can be found on various censuses in Berwick. In 1891, the family were living in 8 Albert Place and the entry contains the following information:

Census 1891

EMMA S MCKAY, wife, aged 39. Supported by husband at Woolwich. Born at Woolwich.

ELLEN M MCKAY, daughter, aged 13, Scholar. Born in Ireland

WILLIAM O MCKAY, son, aged 12, Scholar. Born in Ireland

JOCELYN E MCKAY, DAUGHTER, aged 7, Scholar. Born in Berwick

EMMA M MCKAY, daughter, aged 5. Born in Berwick

WINIFRED C MCKAY, daughter, aged 5 months. Born in Berwick.

Census 1901

Still living at 8 Albert Place.

OWEN MCKAY, Head,aged 50, Sergeant Major, Royal Garrison Artillery,. Born Ireland

EMMA SARAH MCKAY, wife, aged  49. Born Woolwich, Kent

ELLEN MARY MCKAY, daughter, aged 23, Draper’s Assistant. Born Ireland

EMMA MAUD MCKAY, daughter, aged 15, Pupil Teacher. Born Berwick

WINIFRED CHARLOTTE MCKAY, daughter, aged 10. Born Berwick

At the time of the 1901 census, their youngest daughter, CONSTANCE ROSE  MCKAY, aged 4, was in Berwick Infirmary as a patient. It was said that there was something wrong with her foot.  

Census 1911

Living at 15 Bell Tower Park in 3 rooms.

EMMA SARAH MCKAY, aged 59, widow, Army Pension, Born Woolwich, Kent

WINIFRED CHARLOTTE MCKAY, aged 20,School teacher at Convent School. Born Berwick

CONSTANCE ROSE MCKAY, aged 14. At school. Born Berwick.

Are you related to any of these McKays ? 

We have a lovely set of photographs relating to them here in the Berwick Record Office which should be returned to the family. 

If you can help us in any way to help track down descendants, do get in touch on 01289 301865 or leave a comment below. 

Use Find My Past for Free to Search the Ireland Census 1821 to 1851

It's not clear how long this is for but you can search the census for Ireland 1821 to 1851 for free on Find My Past.

That may seem great but it's not as marvellous as you might think.

The records are only for a few counties and some counties aren't complete:
1821: Antrim, Carlow, Cavan, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kilkenny, King's, Limerick, Mayo, Meath.
1831: Londonderry (Derry).
1841: Killeshandra, County Cavan.
1851: Parts of County Antrim

Most of these won't give you much useful information except to help you confirm that a person of that name lived there.

There's more information further down the search page (hint - click the chevron or arrow next to the census year).

You'll need to register if you don't have an account and sign in.

Free access to Irish Newspaper Archives - if you're quick !

According to Irish Genealogy News, there's free access to the Irish Newspaper Archives until 11am on Thursday 17th April.

A lot of people came from Ireland to work in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Northumberland, so if the Irish were in your ancestry (as they were in mine) or appear in your family stories, they might have been in the newspapers.

I've tried it out but haven't yet found anything relevant.
If you get stuck, there's a video tour when you login.

Login information needed:

User: freebie16
Password: freebie16

Thanks also to Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections where I first saw it.

Post a comment below, if you find anything interesting, please.