Although many may know of this resource, I found it particularly helpful when attempting to locate a death record of my great great grandmother who died on the ship while coming from Madeira to Hawaii. I had been unable find any written info regarding her death in the normal passenger ship lists and manifests. It simply listed her as one of the family members who was on the ship and who arrived to Hawaii, although I knew she had died on the ship. It is the UK Archives (formerly the Public Records Office) which holds many open-access records, one of which is their BT Series.
This set of records is useful for those who are looking for info on their families when they came over from the Azores and Madeira to Hawaii and the US on *British Registered Ships*. The regular passenger lists did not always give details on individual births, marriages and deaths. >From these records I was able to locate the death record of my g.g. grandmother as well as one of her children. The BT series consists of Registry of Shipping and Seamen, 1854-1908. BT158 was the helpful series for me. You can search the index for these records for free and then you can order/purchase the actual page of the record. Although you have to pay for it, it is definitely worth it when you find the record you have been looking for. Here is the website where you can get more info on the records and search the indexes. http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk/ >From their website: BT158 Registry of Shipping and Seamen: Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages of Passengers at Sea. Covering dates 1854-1908. These are registers compiled from ships' official logs of births, deaths and marriages of passengers at sea by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen (RGSS) and its predecessor. >From 1874, the RGSS was required to report births and deaths at sea, aboard all ships registered in Britain or its colonies and on foreign-registered ships carrying passengers to or from the UK, to the Registrars General of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland (the General Register Offices). The name of this series is misleading as it includes events related to persons of any nationality, not just British nationals. It should also cover events on foreign-registered passenger ships travelling to or from a UK port, but there is little evidence of this in the registers themselves. Just thought I would share this info, David -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
