Findmypast Friday March 22nd

Search for your ancestors in the 1834 census for Dalkeith, Midlothian. The collection contains over 5,000 transcripts that that will reveal a combination of your ancestor's address, age, occupation, place of worship and corresponding details for their fellow household members. If they were a child at the time, the records will also reveal the names of both their weekday and Sunday schools.

Located on the River Esk, Dalkeith is a former market town in Midlothian, Scotland. In 1831 the opening of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway was a significant development as it enabled the transportation of farm produce and minerals from the local area and, allowed producers to take advantage of larger and more distant markets. At its peak, Dalkeith was the most important grain market town in Scotland.

British Army Records & Regimental Histories

Discover your British military ancestor with these regimental histories. Regimental histories are an excellent resource for discovering more about your ancestor's military career. You can discover where the regiment was stationed, read despatches from the First World War and records of the deeds and achievements of the British Army. This fascinating collection of more than a thousand PDF images currently includes three publications including;

US Servicemen in North Devon, England 1943-1945

Explore lists of over 5,000 US servicemen who were stationed in North Devon during WW2. The records consist of original visitor books kept by the local servicemen's club. The servicemen served at the Assault Training Centre in North Devon, which was set up in 1942. It was established during the Second World War as a centre to develop and practice amphibious assault exercises to prepare for the Normandy landing on D-Day. They practiced on the beaches at Woolacombe and Saunton Sands.

A service club was set up by the Red Cross in October 1943 at Bungalow Café, North Devon. It is now known as the Red Barn. The service club had a visitor's book which recorded the servicemen's name, date of signing, service number, location details, hometowns, and states. Not all servicemen who were based at the Training Centre signed in. A few have left a comment, although the layout of the pages did not encourage this. Some state pages are neat and tidy, with names arranged in an orderly fashion. Other pages have names written sideways, diagonally, across one another and on top of each other. Sadly, for those young men who did not return home, this may have been the last time they signed their names.

Scotland, Criminal Database 1801-1917

Search this database of more than 130,000 records of Crown Office Precognitions and High Court Trial Papers to find out if your ancestor was ever in trouble with the law or the victim of a crime. Each record includes a transcript of the original document that, depending on its age and nature, may reveal a wide variety of facts. Records may include biographical details surrounding your ancestor's birth, their address, descriptions and occupation as well as details of their trial. This may include the date, location and nature of their offense, the names of their victims, previous convictions, the date and location of their trial and the sentence they received.

Crown Office Precognitions are factual statements that have been given by witnesses to both the prosecution and defence before the case goes to trial. Precognitions differ from a witness statement, a witness statement is an account of what the witness has said or seen were as a precognition is an account of the witness's evidence.

International Records Update – El Salvador

Over 1.1 million records from the republic of El Salvador have recently been added to our growing collection of world records. The new additions consist of three indexes of baptisms, civil births and marriages spanning the years 1750 to 1940, including:

El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated countries in Central America. It is also known for its rainforests, waterfalls, coffee farms, and rich culture.

British & Irish Newspaper Update

This week we have added over 110,000 new pages to our collection of British & Irish newspapers. We are delighted to welcome two specialist titles, Justice – 'the oldest socialist journal in the British Islands,' and the Tablet, a Roman Catholic newspaper. We also have one further brand new addition, the Portadown News from County Armagh in Northern Ireland.

We have also updated two of our existing titles, the West Middlesex Gazette and the Staffordshire Sentinel. This week we have added the years 1930 to 1938 to the Staffordshire Sentinel, with 28,000 new searchable pages.