Welcome

AUGUST 2011

For those who can make it to London on 22nd May, this is an advance announcement of FIBIS ´Spring Open Meeting´

FIBIS ´Spring Open Meeting´ is to be held at 1.00 p.m. for a start at 1.30 p.m. on Saturday, 22nd May, 2010 at Hughes-Parry Hall, Uniiversity of London, 19-26, Cartwright Gardens, London WC1H 9EF. (Please note that attendance is now regularly approaching 100 and we have moved to this larger hall. This is quiet, air-conditioned and is slightly closer to British Library than our recent meetings. A map of how to get there is available on the FIBIS web-site at www.fibis.org/meetings.htm

The two lectures to be held are:

  1. “The Holdings of the Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge, and their Relevance to British India Family History Research. This is to be given by their Archivist, Dr. Kevin Greenbank. The CSAS is a truly major repository of data which, in many cases, offers complementary sources to those of the British Library and includes, for example, a wide range of Indian Newspapers dating from the days of the Raj.
  2. Life with Tea and India: Diaries of Life in the Cachar Area. This is to be given by FIBIS Member, Wendy Pratt and her nephew, Peter Bleakley. Although we are over eleven years old now, this is the first lecture to be devoted to one of the most important sources of the wealth of British India and will be of much wider interest than just to those who feature Tea Planters in their ancestry. ADDITIONALLY, on that morning – and at the same location – for any visitor with brick walls to jump in their ancestral research, a few experienced researchers will be available from 10.00 a.m. to 12.30 a.m. – on a less formal basis – to answer questions and to offer advice. In response to many requests, we shall focus for part of the time on obtaining full benefit from the FIBIS web-site. There is a canteen on the premises, if required.

All interested are welcome to attend – and NO CHARGE will be made. We do, however, request that those wishing to attend would please advise Emma Sullivan, FIBIS Membership Secretary, on Membership@fibis.org as much in advance as possible, but in any case before Sunday, 16th May.

Looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it.
Good Hunting!………Peter Bailey, Chairman
Families in British India Society. www.fibis.org

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New site to replace geocities previous website address of: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ceylonindiabranches/homepage.htm

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=lauza002&I11.x=5&I11.y=1
http://www.dutchburgherunion.org/genealogy.html
http://trees.ancestry.com.au/fhs/home.aspx?tid=6690222
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=lauza001
> http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=3224411&recno=0
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DIGITAL LIBRARY OF INDIA,

Information supplied by Nicholas Balmer, India-Raj list
Go to
http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/

This library is absolutely fascinating. It appears that the people doing this have gone to a very old and magnificent library, perhaps in Delhi, and have started to scan from one end to the other. Many of the the books are on things like gardening, or are very out of date text books, but all the gazeteers and many of the printed sets of correspondence are on the site.

I have been fixed to the screen reading bits of many books that I am aware of, but have been otherwise unable to get to in libraries.

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FIBIS are pleased to be able to announce that we have added over 1,400 entries from the index of baptisms for the Church Of England St Mary’s Church in Fort St. George, Madras between 1829-1848. These have all been transcribed by Chris Anderson who submitted them to this list last year, and complement the baptisms from 1815-29 which she did earlier. Many thanks again to Chris.
Best regards
John Kendall FIBIS Database Administrator
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The following websites have been provided to us by LYNNE HADLEY, from Melbourne, Australia. Our thanks for the valuable information which we are happy to pass on to our guests.

www.archive.com – a website which contains downloadable texts, images, video clips. It has many public domain texts relating to Indian and Anglo-Indian history. Books can be downloaded utilizing the DjVu plugin. The easiest way to download is to right-click on the link on the download page, and download from the drop-down menu choose the ´save as´ option. A good site for Researchers. Includes Foster´s books containing old EIC letters, as well as several EIC records.

www.gutenberg.org/catalog/. This site has ´plain vanilla´ downloadable books. Many things of interest to people who are researching all things Indian.

www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?gid=43. This site contains items from the Houses of Lords and Commons,items/articles from various British sources. Many related to India and Anglo-Indians.

www.a2a.org.uk/. This site is a portal for British archival sources. It provides reference and index numbers, enabling you to easily locate records in such places as the OIOC in the British Library. The India Office records indexed on the site are very useful – particularly if you are looking for a particular person who served in India, or was sent to one of the military colleges in Britain. Covers all categories of archival resources.

www.fullbooks.com/ Downloadable books of all types.

www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/Docs/index.htm. This is the Project South Asia site, which is a joint project by the Universities of South Dakota and Missouri. Mostly relating to India´s early history.

www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/indiasbook.html. This site was put together by Paul Halsell of Fordham University. A great deal on Indian history from ancient times to post-Partition times. Many documents available on the site itself with links to others. Useful to individuals researching the political history of India.

www.naa.gov.au. This site contains digitised images of archival records dealing with India/Indians, and Anglo-Indians. Members of the public can request (for free)any record with open access to be digitised. There is a long waiting list. You can also request that a record whose access hasn´t as yet been examined, be examined, and opened for public access. Documents available to anybody researching Anglo-Indian history, particularly around the time of Partition.
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THE GENOGRAPHIC PROJECT

National Geographic, IBM Corporation and The Watt Family Foundation has a unique program to trace Migration Routes of your ancestors, and ultimately defines your lineage through DNA markers. You can participate in this project by going to this website: _____________________________________________________________________

Genealogy Today was chosen by Ancestry.com to be one of several web sites that will be sharing free access to the 1920 Census with its visitors this week. This is a great opportunity to accelerate your research without spending a dime. From June 15th through June 17th, Ancestry.com is making their 1920 Census database free to visitors from select sites (including Genealogy Today).

To obtain free access, however, you must use the search box on our 1920 census page. A shortcut to that page is http://www.census1920.com/ — that’s all you need to know. Visit census1920.com, use the search box on the center of the page, complete a short registration (no credit card required) and you´ll have free access. This is NOT a free trial and there are no obligations whatsoever.
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We have designed this site to be the most complete international repository and exchange of Anglo-Indian information. Here you will find information on the History and the current culture of Anglo-Indians around the world. An index of one the world´s most complete Library´s of Anglo-Indian information is available here. We also list upcoming and recently past Reunions for those interested in meeting others who share our heritage. Please look through the site using the menu on the left. Take a moment to fill out the Contact Form with your comments, request more information or to find out about having a reunion or other information posted here.

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