Family History

Military resources

2010-04-24T17:14:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in looking at records of military personnel then there are a number of good websites to try. Auckland Museum's cenotaph database is a good place to start. The Commonwalth War Graves Commission is good for tracking down graves of those who died in battle. Records of New Zealand Soldiers who served during World War 1 are held at Archives New Zealand. Some of these have now been digitised. Hamilton City Libraries also holds the nominal rolls for World War I and World War II. We also hold a number of very good military histories and rolls of honour.

British Newspapers

2010-04-11T23:59:00.001-07:00

We are currently trialling the British Newspapers database. This consists of several historic British newspaper collections: British Newspapers 1600-1900, 19th Century British Library Newspapers, 17th and 18th collection Burney Collection and the London Times from 1785-1985. See our databases page for access. If you find this database useful let us know.

Night @ the Library

2010-03-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hamilton City Libraries will be hosting the third annual Night @ the Library on Saturday 1 May 2010. The evening will provide 8 hours of research time for genealogists and will run from 4pm until midnight. The $25 charge includes pizza, tea, coffee, milo and juice unlimited printing as well as access to Ancestry Library Edition and the Times Digital Archive. Registrations close 19 April and places are filling fast. Contact heritage@hcc.govt.nz for a registration form.

Newspapers

2009-12-09T18:51:00.000-08:00

Newspapers can be a very useful source of information for researchers. Hamilton City Libraries holds the Waikato Times on microfilm from 1872 onwards. A scanner is now attached to the microfilm reader so you can scan articles, death notices etc directly to your flash drive and file them on your computer or print them out. For more recent issues of newspapers check out the library's online database Press Display, which allows you to view the whole paper for a period of 3 months from the day of publication. For historical newspapers from all over New Zealand check out PapersPast. A selection of newspapers fully searchable from 1839 to 1932 are now available.

World War 1 Records

2009-10-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

Check out the digitised World War I records held out Archives New Zealand. As records are requested Archives New Zealand will make a digital copy of the record as well. These are viewable from archway http://archway.archives.govt.nz/ So if you are lucky the record you want may already be there available for you to view.

The New Zealand Gazette

2009-06-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

The New Zealand Gazette contains a wealth of information for genealogists. Information pertaining to official government business is often published in the Gazette. This can include information such as lists of names eg. school teachers, doctors, postmasters, mining licences as well as land information. Hamilton City Libraries holds the The New Zealand Gazette in hard copy from 1854 onwards. Searching for information published in the New Zealand Gazette has just become a whole lot easier at Hamilton City Libraries with the purchase of The New Zealand Gazette Archive, this searchable database is available on level 3 of the central library.

CD-ROMS for Family History

2009-05-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

The Information and Heritage department at Hamilton's Central Library holds a number of CD-ROMS which can save you a lot of time when researching your family history. One recent addition to our collection is the New Zealand Society of Genealogist's New Zealand Burial Locator version 2. This is well worth checking if looking for a death in New Zealand and you are not sure where they might be buried. This latest version indexes over 3 million names a vast improvement from version 1 which indexed 1.3 million names. Click here for a full list of Family History CD-ROMS held at the library.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand

2009-04-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

All six volumes of the Cyclopedia of New Zealand published between 1897 and 1908 are now available on http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-corpus-cyclopedia.html. The six volumes present a glimpse of life in New Zealand at the turn of the twentieth century. Around 20,000 people are profiled including biographical notes and photographs.

Night @ the Library

2009-03-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday 21 March, genealogists from as far afield as Tauranga converged on the Central Library ready to embark on 8 hours of researching. Whilst some had been researching genealogy for 20 plus years others were totally new to genealogy. If you attended the evening we would love receive your comments.

Birth, Death and Marriage indexes

2009-02-25T17:34:00.001-08:00

Looking for historic birth, death and marriage records has just become a whole lot easier with the department of internal affairs new website for historical indexes http://bdmhistoricalrecords.identityservices.govt.nz/Home/. These contain indexes for births more than 100 years ago, marriages more than 80 years ago and deaths more than 50 years ago. Beyond these years Hamilton City Libraries holds indexes on microfiche from 1840 to 1990.

Night @ the Library

2008-12-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

We will be holding another Night @ the Library on 21 March 2009 4.00pm to midnight. If you fancy the idea of getting together with a bunch of other keen family historians, out of normal library opening hours then this is the night for you. Your $25 registration fee includes pizza, unlimited printing, wireless internet and free access to ancestry library edition. Library staff will be on hand to provide assistance and to retrieve items from the archives. Contact heritage@hcc.govt.nz to request a registration form.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand

2008-10-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand was published in six volumes between 1897 and 1908 by the Cyclopedia Company Ltd. Each volume deals with a region of New Zealand and includes information on local towns and districts, government departments, individuals, businesses, clubs and societies. Biographical entries frequently include the subject's date and place of birth, the name of the ship by which immigrants arrived, spouse's name, and the number and gender of children born to a couple.

Hamilton City Libraries holds all 6 volumes of this very useful resource. Volumes 1 and 6 are now available online through the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-corpus-cyclopedia.html

Newspapers

2008-07-03T21:32:00.000-07:00

Newspapers

Newspapers can be a vital source of information when compiling a family history. Birth, Marriage and Death notices can give useful information regarding other family members. Some death notices may give other useful facts such as birthplace, age, address and even surname of married daughters. Newspapers also publish obituaries, accounts of crimes including the petty ones such as the four brothers charged with stealing pumpkins in the 1870’s, advertisements for businesses, public notices advising of bankruptcies, school examination results and accident reports. All these can add to the story you compile of your family history. The Heritage department at Hamilton City Libraries holds the Waikato Times from 1872 onwards. A searchable cd rom is available with transcribed notices from the Waikato Times from 1864 – 1900 as well as Early Auckland births and deaths and Births, Deaths and Marriages from the New Zealander. Other historical newspapers are accessible on www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz, some are even searchable. Share your experience with others on the value of newspapers in compiling your family history.