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Disclosure

To end the year, an acknowledgement and thanks to the organizations that supported the blog by providing complimentary access to their services during the year. In alphabetical order:

Ancestry for access to full Ancestry.ca, newspapers.com and Fold3 subscriptions.

FamilyTreeWebinars for full access to familytreewebinars.com.

Findmypast for full access to findmypast.com.

MyHeritage for full access to MyHeritage.com.

TheGenealogist for full access to thegenealogist.co.uk.

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FreeBMD December Update and Annual Summary

The FreeBMD database was updated on 29 December to contain 294,843,900 unique entries. Years with more than 10,000 additions are: births (1993-96); marriages (1995-96); and deaths (1991, 1994, 1996-97).

Thanks to the nearly 2,000 volunteers who have contributed to FreeBMD over the past year for continuing to add entries. Find out who’s behind the scenes and more in the FAQ. Thanks also for the new website with improved capabilities at https://www.freebmd2.org.uk/

Between December 2024 and 2025, there were 2,744,631 unique additions in the mid-1990s. Continuing at that rate, the project would be completed to 1999, in a bit over 3 years.

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Find A Grave Additions on Ancestry

For the record, 24.7 million dead people were added to Find A Grave in the past two years, which is a rate of about 40% of total global deaths annually.

Location for Find a Grave® Index
Records
 Records Percent Change
Dec 2025 Dec 2023 (Two years)
U.S. 184,339,956 175,802,716 4.9
UK and Ireland 23,818,332 19,341,965 23.1
Global, Burials at Sea & Select Locations 22,691,823 15,649,165 45.0
Australia and New Zealand 12,526,572 11,436,526 9.5
Canada, 11,905,737 10,080,603 18.1
Germany 4,491,626 3,017,935 48.8
Sweden 1,165,869 1,116,071 4.5
Italy 448,850 343,946 30.5
Norway 248,083 223,985 10.8
Brazil 210,032 189,211 11.0
Mexico, 93,256 69,789 33.6
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Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

The hidden engine room’: how amateur historians are powering genealogical research

Deceased Online Annual Update
In the last 12 months, DO has made significant changes and added and updated records from: Rugby Borough Council, Halton Borough Council, Hull City Council, Broxtowe and Erewash, Blandford Forum, the London Borough of Havering, and Cotswold District Council.

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Alison, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, David Blakey, Dianne Brydon, Gail, Teresa, Unknown.

 

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Findmypast Weekly Update

New Collections

British Royal Navy, Submarine Movement Cards
Years covered: 1896–1968
Records added: 27,654

If you have a person of interest in Britain’s submarine fleet, you should find a transcription that lists postings and includes linked document images. They are sourced from the National Museum of the Royal Navy.

British and Allied Warships Lost in the Second World War
Years covered: 1939–1945
Records added: 420

Also from the NMRN, this collection is a nominal list of major British warships and Allied (other than U.S.) warships under British Operational Control lost in the Second World War. It includes the date and location of the sinking and the axis vessel responsible.

British Royal Navy Casualty Logs, 1939–1945
Years covered: 1939–1945
Records added: 36,338

Based on the NMRN collection British Royal Navy Casualty Logs 1939-1945, transcriptions include the ship name. The linked image is a register grouping all who succumbed in the same incident.

Newspapers

Three new titles, with new pages from 1869 to 2004.

Title Date Range
Silent Messenger
254 pages, new title		 1895-1896
Norwood Press and Dulwich Advertiser
7088 pages		 1930-1952
Midhurst and Petworth Observer
10648 pages		 1986-2004
Irish Independent
1522 pages		 1921, 1926, 1960
Greenwich and Deptford Chronicle
4172 pages , new title		 1869-1870, 1872-1873, 1875-1876, 1878, 1880-1885
Dromore Leader
6066 pages		 1921-1950
Darwen News
2220 pages, new title		 1877-1880, 1888-1889, 1905
Blackpool Gazette
836 pages		 1888-1889