The following news release is from FindMyPast:
Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive continues to grow
Findmypast brings Cincinnati and Liverpool Catholic records online for the very first time
● Findmypast adds indexes containing over 1.2 million records from the Dioceses of Cincinnati and Archdioceses Liverpool to its exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive
● Published online for the first time, family historians from around the world can now search for Catholic ancestors in these significant regions
● New records date back to 1800, span more than 130 years of Catholic history and cover 150 parishes across both regions.
Leading family history website, Findmypast, has today announced the online publication of indexes containing over 1.2 million sacramental records in partnership with the Archdioceses of Cincinnati and the Diocese of Liverpool.
These landmark releases form the latest in a series of substantial updates to Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive, a ground-breaking initiative that aims to digitize the historical records of the Catholic Church in North America, Britain and Ireland for the very first time.
Findmypast is today releasing indexes of baptism, marriage burial and congregational records covering 103 Catholic Parishes across the Archdioceses of Cincinnati and 47 in Dioceses Liverpool.
The records shed new light on the history of Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic and will provide researchers all over the world with the opportunity to discover early American immigrants.
Between 1830 and 1930 about forty million people left Europe in search of a better life and roughly nine million of them sailed from Liverpool, then the largest emigration port in the world. These people were mostly travelling to North America, Australia and New Zealand – the ‘New World’ – and the millions of Irish, English, Scottish, Italians, Germans, Polish and many others who settled in or passed through the city are captured in the Diocese of Liverpool’s registers.
In 1850, Cincinnati was the 5th largest city in the United States. Its location on the Ohio River made it a popular stopping off point for immigrants and pioneers traveling west, many of whom stopped long enough to create a sacramental record. Early in the history of the Archdiocese there were large numbers of German and Irish immigrants spread throughout its counties and, by the end of the 19th century, there were joined by increasing numbers of Italians and Eastern Europeans.
The Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best-preserved genealogical records in existence. However, as many of these documents memorialize important religious sacraments, their privacy has long been protected and access to original copies has, until now, been hard to come by.
In collaboration with the Diocese of Liverpool and the Archdiocese Cincinnati, Findmypast is helping to digitize these records and make them widely accessible for the first time.
Today’s release marks just the latest update to a collection that will continue to grow throughout 2019 as additional updates from a variety of British, Irish, US and Canadian Dioceses will be added to the Roman Catholic Heritage Archive throughout the year. The millions of new records will complement Findmypast’s massive collection of British and Irish data, providing many more connections and a more comprehensive experience to family historians in North America, Britain and all over the world.
Tamsin Todd, CEO of Findmypast said: “Immigrant stories shed light on the bravery and sacrifices of previous generations, and yet so often the details are hard to discover. We are delighted to be partnering with new Archdiocese to bring these important records online for the first time. As part of our millions strong Catholic Heritage Archive, these records will help family historians recover the stories of Catholic ancestors on both sides of the Atlantic, those who settled and those who migrated to the ‘new world.”
Sarah Alter, Archdiocesan Archivist at the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, added:
“It has been a goal of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Archives to make our sacramental records more readily available to researchers looking to uncover stories from the past. We are happy to be working with Findmypast to make this goal a reality. Researchers will find that southwest Ohio is a treasure trove of family information, whether from immigrants who decided to make Ohio home or those who stayed for a while before moving farther west. Now researchers can search these records themselves and find the many paths the records will take them.”
