Searchable Records!

The National Archives of Fiji is working on a searchable list of Girmitya. All the names, from all the immigration passes and other records are being transcribed and posted online. These lists can also be downloaded as PDFs for you to look through offline later.

The online list consists of persons name, father's name, ship, and passenger number. With this information you can easily request a copy of the original record.

Records in the series include:
     Immigration Passes from 1879-1916
     Register of Indian Immigrants from 1879-1916
     Plantation Register 1879-1916
     Repatriation Register 1881-1921
     Death Register 1879-1927.

So far names starting with A-M are available to view online, and they continue to work on the rest of the list. The current list can be found at Girmit.org

With India looking to strengthen ties with Fiji, and those in Fiji starting to search for their Indian roots, this is a great resource. I look forward to searching through the records myself and finding family.

A Fijian Indian Finds His Ancestors

It's always nice to hear stories about people finding their roots. Last week I came across this article about a Fijian Indian who found some of his ancestors and their village in India. It even takes him to Basti district (where some of my husband's family comes from). It seems to have taken him 20 years to get to them, but I'm happy he finally found some family history and relatives.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/How-this-Fijian-girmitiya-found-his-India-home/articleshow/50608918.cms

I am still on the hunt, but hopefully we too can have a happy ending to our search for history.