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Dr
CJ Smee has
generously donated his Early Australian
Colonial Database files to the Fellowship.
Many are familiar with the many books that he has
produced over four decades, which have
contributed so much to Australian family
history researchers.
We asked Dr Smee how he began his monumental
efforts - to read his story, click
HERE
Dr Smee's database can be accessed from this page,
which is a portal to Dr
Smee's 1788 - 1830 files, in excess of 900
pages. These
can be accessed via the Dr CJ Smee
Database "Main
page".
The
Dr CJ Smee Database covers births,
marriages and deaths over four periods of
the Early Australian Colonial era:
-
1788
- 1800
-
1801
- 1810
-
1811
- 1820
-
1821
- 1830
-
1831
- 1840
Dr Smee has used a
number of abbreviations in his database and
these can be found in the
Introduction.
Dr Smee's research
also answers the question that many ask: "Why
can't I find a birth record for my ancestor
in the Early Australian Colonial era?"
From his research, Dr Smee has determined,
for instance, that in the period 1788 -
1800, only 58% of children were baptised
(see
Prologue). And of course, baptism was
the main form of recording the "arrival" of
a child prior to mandatory civil registration in 1856.
Assistance
Request from Dr Smee:
I am pleased to submit the
fifth and final installment of
my "Births, Deaths & Marriages" database,
covering the years 1831 to 1840.
Regrettably I have not been able to complete
the Baptisms for this decade -
the twenty six thousand odd births
were simply impossible to record and
research on my own. Having said that I
still believe that what I have
achieved will be of interest and use to your
members. On the other hand it is
rather nice to bring the project to
the end of convict transportation to the
colony.
As a consequence this has
left my project more dependent
than ever on members supplying family
information where it is lacking. Could I
request a favour please, would it be
possible for members to assist by
sending any relevant details they may have
on baptisms that may be missing for the
period 1831 - 1840?
Dr Smee had also
created two other Early Australian Colonial
Databases, which in total comprise
1070 pages. Upload of these 1070 pages has
commenced. However the 1000's of links
interconnecting these 1070 pages will take
quite some time, and so will be progressed
over 2025.
Once the
abovementioned work is completed, these
three early Colonial Australian Databases,
of 2,400 pages, by Dr C J Smee will provide
a very comprehensive resource.
This resource is Dr
Smee's gift to the Australian Nation as his
ongoing legacy. The Fellowship of First
Fleeters is delighted to assist Dr Smee in
this regard.
Back to
Original Website Home Page or
New Website Home Page
Please note that
if you have any questions about the content
within Dr Smee's database files, then please
email Dr Smee at
craigjamessmee@gmail.com
.
Also, if you have
noticed a web link not working within Dr
Smee's database files, then please email the
FFF Web Weaver at
kcact@tpg.com.au .
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