Genealogy Websites

New Zealand resources

  • Waimakariri District Council cemetery database - There are also 14 church cemeteries located throughout the district. In addition, Waimakariri District Burial Records CD is available at all libraries. This covers 17,260 entries from public and private cemeteries in the district, including headstone transcriptions.
  • Christchurch City Council cemetery records
  • Births Deaths and Marriages online - search for births that occurred at least 100 years ago, stillbirths that occurred at least 50 years ago, marriages that occurred at least 80 years ago, deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago, or the deceased's date of birth was at least 80 years ago.
  • Commonwealth War Graves Commission - lists the men and women of the Commonwealth who died in the first and second world wars.
  • Cenotaph database - details of NZ service men and women from the 19th century until today.
  • Waimakariri Genealogy Branch - a local group who can help you in your family history research. Meeting at 7.30-9.00pm at the Rangiora War Memorial Hall, 2 Albert Street, Rangiora - Every 2nd Tuesday of the month. Contact them here.
  • Papers Past - Digitised full-text New Zealand and Pacific newspapers, magazines and journals, books and other formats, from the19th and 20th Century
  • Archives New Zealand - the place to find and access over 6 million records created by government and public institutions of Aotearoa New Zealand
  • NZ History - The site features information and resources from within the Research and Publishing Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, Wellington, New Zealand
  • The Wilson Collection - Indexes to a range of public records for New Zealand births, deaths, burials, marriage and other family announcements.
  • FindNZarticles - search for your ancestors in the Bibliography of Published New Zealand Family Histories.
  • New Zealand history online - has an extensive list of web links for family history research.
  • New Zealand Yesteryears - has an extensive range of shipping passenger lists and shipboard diaries.
  • Christchurch City libraries - have a wealth of information and a beginner's guide to researching your family history.
  • The National Library of New Zealand - has a very good guide to researching family history.
  • New Zealand Society of Genealogists - has printable forms and charts to help you record your research.
  • The Cyclopedia of New Zealand - full-text volumes of The Cyclopedia of New Zealand from the NZ Electronic Text Centre.
  • Genealogy links - links to NZ military and passenger shipping lists, Maori genealogy, plus much more.
  • Caring for family papers and photos - from Christchurch City Libraries.
  • Digitising family history and whakapapa - excellent guide from DigialNZ on scanning, digitising or digitally copying aold family pictures, records and documents.

New Zealand War Histories

New Zealand war histories can provide background information about the times and places of your ancestors. These are available online from the NZ Electronic Text Centre.

Resources from other Countries

  • Ancestry.com - is a very extensive family history website. The Ancestry database provides access to millions of records from around the world. This is a subscription based database, but you can access the library edition of Ancestry.com – Ancestrylibrary.com for free at any Waimakariri Library.
  • FamilySearch - is the largest genealogy organisation in the world, with an extensive database of family records that can be accessed free
  • The Ryerson Index - an index to death notices appearing in Australian newspapers
  • Findmypast.co.uk - UK family history search site
  • Dustydocs - links to free websites in The British Isles containing parish records
  • OZ Gen Online - Australia's family history server
  • Scotland's People - births, deaths, marriages, census records, wills and testaments, 1513-now
  • Irish Family History Foundation - an extensive database if you are researching your Irish ancestors.
  • Expert Links: English Family History and Genealogy - comprehensive list of English genealogical sites
  • A Vision of Britain Through Time - a vision of Britain 1801-2001 including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions
  • Deceased Online - a rapidly expanding database of burial and cremation records for the UK, Ireland and Scotland
  • GENUKI - provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland
  • England IGI batch numbers - International Genealogical Index batch numbers for England counties
  • The National Archives - catalogues and online records -  includes records held by The National Archives, TNA records digitised on other websites, and records held in other archives