The following News Release was received from Paul Nauta, FamilySearch:
April 5, 2011: Whether you say it maravilloso, wonderlijk, or merveilleux, it all describes this week’s new, free collection updates at FamilySearch.org—marvelous!
Researchers with Netherlands roots are going to have a heyday perusing the 9 million new digital images 
for the Netherlands Civil Registration, 1792 to 1952, collection. If your Netherlands ancestors headed south to Belgium, you might find them in the 1.5 million new records added to the Belgium Civil Registration, 1795–1910, online collection. And how about Canada, Chile, Slovakia, and South Africa, with another million records added between them? The wildly popular Ohio County Marriage collection just received a boost of 596,000 images of marriage certificates and an updated index. That means that about 76 percent of Ohio’s county marriages can now be searched online for free. Vermont and Wisconsin collections got a boost this week as well. See the table below for more details. You can search all of the record collections now for free at FamilySearch.org.
It is also worthy to note that the 1881 England and Wales Census index received significant enhancements this week. Searchable fields were added for county, civil parish, ecclesiastical parish, occupation, disability, and folio/page numbers. These additional fields will help users more easily identify the person they are seeking. Even of greater worth is the fact that households are now grouped together so users can see the family in context. The index is linked to the images on findmypast.com.
If you are enjoying the steady stream of free records added weekly, please consider “giving back” as a FamilySearch volunteer. You can start and stop volunteering at any time. Find out more at indexing.familysearch.org.
Collection – Records – Images – Comment
- Belgium Civil Registration, 1795-1910 – 93,074 – 1,469,558 – Added browsable images and index records to existing collection.
- Canada, Quebec Notarial Records, 1800-1900 – 0 – 45,442 – Added browsable images to existing collection.
- Chile, Concepcion, Civil Registration, 1885-1903 – 0 – 862,124 – Added browsable images to existing collection.
- England and Wales Census, 1881 – 0 – 1,113,073 – Added additional fields and family groups, to the index and image links to FindMyPast website.
- Netherlands, Civil Registration, 1792-1952 – 0 – 9,029,651 – Added browsable images from various regions to the existing collection.
- Slovakia Church Books, 1592-1910 – 0 – 76,819 – Added browsable images from Bratislava State Archive’s church books to the existing collection.
- South Africa, Cape Province Dutch Reformed Church Registers, 1660-1970 – 53,940 – 23,317 – Added images and index of baptisms, marriages, and membership records to existing collection.
- U.S., Ohio, County Marriages, 1790-1950 – 379,911 – 596,034 – This new collection of marriages contains indexes and images for about 76% of the county marriage records. Many of these records were included earlier in the Ohio Marriage collection but without images.
- U.S., Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954 – 225,524 – 340,771 – Added images and index to existing collection.
- U.S., Wisconsin, Probate Estate Files, 1848-1933 – 0 – 197,228 – Added browsable images (for Shawano, Green, and Pepin counties) to existing collection.
FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
