Ones to Watch

This year’s Federation of Genealogical Societies <fgs.org> conference saw several product launches, a few still in their developmental stages at press time:

• 1837online.com, having finished indexing available British vital records, is compiling AncestorsOnBoard <www.ancestorsonboard.com>, a 30 million-name database (linked to record images) of passengers leaving the British Isles from 1890 to 1960. That includes people from all over Europe who boarded ships in Liverpool, London, Southhampton, Hull and other British ports. The launch date is to be determined.

• America’s Genealogy Bank, a subscription service from NewsBank, offers a searchable index to comprehensive collections of 900 US newspapers, plus government documents, books and other publications. Results link to article images. See <www.newsbank.com/genealogists/product.cfm?product=216> for fees and other details.

• ProQuest Obituaries is an index to death notices in seven major newspapers including The New York Times (from 1851), The Washington Post (from 1877) and the Los Angeles Times (from 1881). The service (not part of the HeritageQuest Online <www.heritagequestonline.com> records collection) is available through subscribing libraries.

• Search Irish Ordnance Survey maps by county or townland using Irish Historic Maps <www.irishhistoricmaps.ie/historio> First, you’ll need to purchase access (about $6.40 for a day to $383 for a year). Once you specify an area you want to print, buy an “A4” map as a PDF for about $41.50, or order a full sheet (“A0”) map by mail for $127. Irish Townland Maps <www.pasthomes.com> offers collections of Ordnance Survey maps on $39.95 CDs, or you can order one by mail for the same price.