Hints and Tips


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HINTS AND TIPS FOR SEARCHING FREE SETTLER OR FELON DATABASE

The Free Settler or Felon database is an on-going project. It now has over 120,000 references to people and places in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. It is intended as a guide only and in all entries more information may be found by consulting the original Source. It is not a complete record of all inhabitants.

Please keep in mind that most references are about people, places and events of Newcastle and the Hunter Valley prior to 1860

SEARCH by Surname, First name or Ship ( or all three)

There are a number of references to Local History of the Valley. To search for this information select from the following search terms and enter in the SURNAME/SUBJECT search field:

Hotel Breakwater Barracks Australian Agricultural Company Regiment Aboriginal Hospital Mounted Police Church Farm Cottage Bridge vessel shipwreck Industry Gold Discovery Gaol Executed School or the name of the property or town you are interested in

For more information about Doctors, Ministers, Soldiers or Police, enter their title in the FIRST NAME search field, eg. Rev Dr Constable Captain Corporal etc.

If you are searching for inquests J.S. Parker was the coroner for the Maitland district for many years and references to many inquests can be found by a search under his name.

Areas covered include: Maitland, Dungog, Wollombi, Scone, Newcastle, Brisbane Water, Raymond Terrace, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Murrurundi, Merton, Paterson, Lake Macquarie, Lochinvar, Jerry's Plains, Morpeth, Cassilis, Hinton, Clarencetown, Black Creek, Port Stephens, Hexham, Sugar loaf as well as many more

Try alternative spelling of the name you are searching or enter just part of the name. For example, entering 'Dav' into the search will return Davis, Davies, Davidson, Davey, Davison etc. There may be differences in spelling in the First name field. For example Daniel John, D.J., Daniel, Dan, Danny, D.

Entering the Ship followed by the year it arrived for example Phoenix 1826 is a better option than Phoenix if you are searching for those who arrived on a ship in a particular year. Use the Convict Ship page (link to the left) and copy and paste the ship/year into the search field

It may be better to search only by surname, and then scroll through the entries which are listed alphabetically. If the initial search is too limited some entries may not be retrieved.

Search by Surname, First name or Ship ( or all three)

Try alternative spelling of the name you are searching or enter just part of the name. For example, entering 'Dav' into the search will return Davis, Davies, Davidson, Davey, Davison etc.

To search by ship - enter the name of the ship and the year of arrival. eg Hooghley 1834; Royal Admiral 1835 etc. By just entering Royal Admiral or Hooghley references to all years will be retrieved.

If you have found an entry by searching under 'ship', be sure to do another search under 'surname', as more records for your person of interest may be found.

The search is not case sensitive. Use either upper or lower case.

Please note that once you have run a search, the records are not necessarily in date order. Scroll through the pages to locate your ancestor. Some names may have multiple entries.

Just because your ancestor's name appears in the database doesn't mean it is necessarily him or her. For example there were at least nine John Browns in Newcastle in the early 1820's.

I add to the database frequently, so even if you didn't find a reference to your ancestor this time you may do in the future.

Please check original Sources