Tasmanian Name Index

I have spent a lot of this weekend exploring the Tasmanian Archives & Heritage Office’s (TAHO – LINC Tasmania) new Tasmanian Name Index.  It has been a hot topic on the AUS-Tasmania Rootsweb mailing list during the last week.

I have a few Tasmanian ancestors &, as I live in Sydney, I haven't been able to do much research on them yet.  So having access to digital records is fantastic.  A month ago I contacted the AUS-Tasmania Rootsweb mailing list with a request for a lookup of the children of Margaret Sweeney.  The information I got back allowed me to identify 3 children from her 2nd marriage & 2 children from her 3rd marriage.  It also provided me with the registration number & year so that I could order copies of the children's birth certificates, however as Tasmanian certificates cost about $45 I haven't ordered copies of these (collateral line) certificates yet.

Using the Tasmanian Name Index, I was able to find Margaret Sweeney's children from her 1st marriage.  If found not only their births, but 2 of her daughters, Icey & Ruby, died when they were young.  I found Icey's death register entry, a report on the inquest into her death (cause of death - phosphorus poisoning) which was published in the Tasmanian Police Gazette on 10 December 1897, plus the official inquest findings.  Ruby's death register entry was also available.

Thanks to the Tasmanian Name Index, I now have images of birth & death register entries (plus an inquest) on my computer & it didn't cost me a thing.  It would have cost about $180 to order a copy of the certificates.

I haven't been able to locate any of Margaret's children (to her 2nd & 3rd marriage), who were born after 1900, on the Index yet, probably because births include 'some baptisms collected by the Registrar General (1900-1933 baptisms only)'.  So for births after 1900, there are only some which were collected by the Registrar General.

Some Examples:

To demonstrate what you can expect from the records on the Index, I've included some images relevant to my own research.  

Here's the birth entry for Icey Fowler (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):

Birth register entry for Icey Fowler

For the sake of comparison, I have scanned the certified copy of Margaret Sweeney's birth & 1st marriage records that I purchased & the birth & marriage register entries I obtained from the Tasmanian Name Index below.

Here's the birth register entry for Margaret (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):

Birth register entry for Margaret Sweeney

and the certified copy of Margaret's birth:

The only difference between the two is in the spelling of the Sweeney surname.

The following image is the marriage register entry for Margaret and her first husband Alexander Fowler (courtesy of TAHO LINC Tasmania - Tasmanian Names Index):.   

and here's the certified copy of Margaret's first marriage: 

Again, the only real difference is in the spelling of the Sweeney surname, although there is a different date under 'when registered' on the register entry.

When you find a record in the Tasmanian Names Index, you have a few options to view & / or copy the image.  You can view the image online & then download it, print it, have it emailed to you or use a permalink to send someone the image/s.  If you are a LINC Tasmania member you can also create a list for specific ancestor and add relevant records to the list (guests can also create temporary list. but the list will be lost when you finish your session). 
LINC Tasmania has a video that explains how to use the Tasmanian Name Index.  It is available on the LINC Tasmania website & on Youtube via their LINC Tasmania channel. This explanation includes search strategies such as how to include or exclude search terms such as dates, places & record types.


In conclusion, although there are some limitations to what is available, there are a lot of free resources which you can immediately download & save to your computer or print a copy out.  Free & instant - what's not to love!