The biggest Findmypast addition of the week is 7,795 burial records for the Kent communities of:
Stone-next-Dartford, 1899-1925
Swanscombe, 1895-1925
Greenwich Royal Hospital, 1815-1830
Two other additions are a bit of a mystery:
2,804 marriages and banns, and 2,655 baptisms for a community described only as “St. Paul’s Church, Devon Drive” in Kent.
More substantive is the addition of The Echo (London) from December 1868 to December 1905, including birth, marriage and death notices.
Saturday, 10 December, sees the final monthly meetings of 2022 for both the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) and the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, otherwise known as Ontario Ancestors (OBOGSOA OBOGS.)
BIFHSGO
“Saturday, 10 December 2022 – Join us in person or online!
Join us in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar and Elgin) in Geneva Hall. Please use the Garden Entrance on Elgin Street. Limited free street parking is available on Saturdays, and the City Hall Parking Garage is available for $2.00. In addition, within walking distance are two LRT stations – uOttawa (take the footbridge at Somerset) and Parliament. Those attending in-person do not need to register in advance. We will have coffee and festive goodies available!
To join us online, register HERE
9:00 am – 10:00 am: Christmas Social and Show & Tell
We will begin the day with our annual Christmas Social, a time for conversation and exchanges of information with our fellow genealogists. This is the first time we have been able to enjoy our Social in person since 2019, so we are looking forward to this with excitement.
Show & Tell. Do you have a holiday story to share? Perhaps you have an ornament, tradition, or holiday heirloom that has been passed down to you by an ancestor. Or, have you found a way to gift your family history stories to others? This will be an open forum session with opportunity for people both in the room and online to participate… and of course there will be Christmas treats to share.
10:00 am – 11:30 am: Great Moments
Maggie McConkey – what became of you? – Presenter: John McConkey
Born in 1883, Maggie was the illegitimate daughter of John’s great granduncle, George. As a young child she lived with her mother in London. Meanwhile, George returned to his birthplace in Ireland. By the 1911 census, Maggie is living with George in Bangor, Co. Down. She is still in Bangor when George dies in 1917 and is the main beneficiary of his estate. Then the trail goes cold: Did Maggie return to England, or remain in Ireland? Did she re-establish contact with her mother? Did she marry and have children? John describes how these puzzles were solved.
John was born in England. After emigrating to Canada, he worked for Nortel Networks in Ottawa. He has been a member of BIFHSGO since 2006 and served two years as Director of Research and Projects.
The Wright Way – Presenter: Duncan Monkhouse
Upon starting family history, there are always brick walls. One of Duncan’s he inherited from his mother was John Charles Wright. Duncan will explain what the brick wall was and how it was finally broken down.
Duncan worked as an investigator for the federal government. This interest in prying into others’ lives led to his interest in genealogy and searching for record gems in many different archives. He served BIFHSGO as president and Co-Chair Program for the annual conference, and remains on the Board in the position of Past President.
Ella’s Story, The Final Piece: Time and Place – Presenter: Marianne Rasmus
This instalment follows-up on Marianne’s May 2019 presentation about the discovery of the birth mother of Ella Moreland Kerr Rasmus, a Scottish war-bride and the paternal grandmother of Marianne’s husband. She will describe how COVID, the DNA tool WATO (What are the Odds), and the concepts of Time and Place helped identify Ella’s biological father, and – despite several unexpected twists – unlocked the final branch of Ella’s family tree.
Marianne began her family history research in 2008 when expecting the arrival of her first grandchild. She has served on BIFHSGO’s Board, first as Treasurer and currently as Program Director, and also on the BIFHSGO Conference Planning Committee.
OBOGS
You are invited to a Hybrid meeting at 1 pm live in the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (Room 115) and also by Zoom webcast.
Title: The Genealogical Adventures of Lois Long
Speaker: Janet Uren
Lois Long was nearing the end of her long life in June 2017 when she realized that, after 40 years of genealogical work, she had just one ambition unfulfilled – and that was to write a book synthesizing her many discoveries over the years. In the few months remaining before her death, she hired a writer, confided her huge research collection to the care of the Archives of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and entrusted her executors with the task of supervising the project. When she died in August that year, the work was just beginning. It continued over the next two years and resulted finally in the publication of a major work, over 600 pages long, about one of Ottawa’s earliest rural families. Janet Uren, the writer Lois Long hired in 2017, will tell Lois’s story both as a member of Ottawa’s rural community and as a notable amateur historian.
For those attending in person coffee,tea and cookies will be available at 12:30.
If attending online register in advance at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-qtqj0vEtJHRv8zLB_mdANo1QUG8q9s
Like all Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Paul Milner’s presentation on Tuesday evening about Lloyd’s of London is available free for a week.
If anyone in your family tree travelled or worked on a merchant ship, Paul’s presentation will unlock facts about the vessel giving context through Lloyd’s online resources.
The presentation is free through 13 December. It continues indefinitely for Legacy Family Tree Webinars subscribers, I just renewed my subscription, along with access to the six-page handout.
Three books long out of print are now just revived by Global Genealogy.
In Search of the Red Dragon – The Welsh in Canada, by Carol Bennett, describes Welsh immigration and settlements in Canada, discusses the survival of the Welsh language and cultural institutions in Canada, and tells the story of a number of notable Canadians of Welsh extraction.
If you’d like a preview, Volume 1. No 2, of the BIFHSGO publication Anglo-Celtic Roots included an article The Hidden Welsh of the Ottawa Valley based on the book, along with Welsh Genealogy by Rev Howard R Rokeby-Thomas.
Also newly republished by Global Heritage Press this month are two books by Duncan MacDonald.
Diary of Deaths 1838-1866, (Glengarry County, Ontario) is a detailed transcription of Roman Catholic deaths recorded in the diary of Rev. John MacDonald from 1838-1866. Most records are of deaths of individuals in the Glengarry County area of Ontario. There are also several recorded deaths that occurred at great distances across Ontario, into Quebec and even New York State — presumably of family members of, or people known to the residents of the Glengarry area.
The BREVITY of Father John MacDonald – Tythes, Masses & Notes 1836-1866 (Glengarry County, Ontario) is the companion book of the Diary of Deaths 1838-1866 listed above. When author Duncan MacDonald finished extracting death information from the diaries of the Rev. John MacDonald and publishing them in 1989, he continued to extract information of genealogical interest from the diaries publishing his additional findings in this book in 1993. The result is astonishing. It appears that the good Rev. John MacDonald was a stickler for recording extraordinary detail about his flock.
FamilySearch expanded its free online archives in November 2022 with over 46 million new, name-searchable genealogy records from 44 countries, including one expansive database from the world’s cemeteries in Find-A-Grave Index.
For the United Kingdom the focus was on Liverpool with 534,620 Banns and Marriages, 1557-1960, and 722,177 Roman Catholic Parish Records, 1709-1968.
There were no additions for Canada, Ireland and Scotland or Wales.
Stephen Marche’s article from The Guardian, ‘Our mission is crucial’: meet the warrior librarians of Ukraine” is an interesting read with lessons for all.
“The battles of the 21st century are hybrid wars fought on any and all fronts: military, economic, political, technological, informational, cultural. Often ignored, or relegated to marginal status, the cultural front is nonetheless foundational. The wars of this century are wars over meaning. As American forces learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, if you lose on the cultural front, military and economic dominance swiftly erode. The terrible battles for Kyiv and Kharkiv, the destruction of Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, Europe’s struggle to heat and feed itself this winter, spiralling inflation, the brutal material horrors of the struggle, might make any cultural reading of the conflict seem fantastical or glib. But at its core, and from its origin, this Ukrainian conflict has been a war over language and identity. And Ukraine’s libraries are the key.”
If you think an attack can’t happen in Canada you’re delusional. Think the Four Courts of 1922 Dublin, or the burnt WW1 service files in the UK lost in the Blitz. Contemplate how much better off we’d be if digitization had been an option back in the day. Are our purpose-build preservation buildings any protection from a targetted attack by modern weapons.
The time to digitize cultural treasures for preservation is before the attack … well before the attack … now. Secure them in a digital vault … many copies geographically distributed. Once digitized for preservation it’s a short step to online availability.
How well do Canadian institutions, federal, provincial, and local, rate in securing our Canadian heritage?
Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Many additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.
TUESDAY 6 DECEMBER
8 pm: Lloyd’s of London: its history and its records for shipping, by Paul Milner for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/lloyds-of-london-its-history-and-its-records-for-shipping/
WEDNESDAY 7 DECEMBER
2 pm: Creating a DNA plan for Geoff’s brick wall, by Diahan Southard for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/creating-a-dna-plan-for-geoffs-brick-wall/
THURSDAY 8 DECEMBER
2:30 pm: Your Surname and Research Questions Answered – Discussion & Panel Forum, for the Guild of One Name Studies.
https://one-name.org/surnameqa/
6:30 pm: A Killing in Capone’s Playground: The True Story of the Hunt for the Most Dangerous Man Alive, by Chriss Lyon for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7569855
FRIDAY 9 DECEMBER
2 pm: Trendy Tech Tools for Your Research: Yay or Nay?, by Cyndi Ingle for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/trendy-tech-tools-for-your-research-yay-or-nay/
SATURDAY 10 DECEMBER
9 am: Annual Holiday Social: “Show & Tell” theme. British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAocO2upzorGNCUgqcX4fzGNd3r7A8Dbkro
10 am: Great Moments in Genealogy, with John McConkey, Duncan Monkhouse, and Marianne Rasmus for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAocO2upzorGNCUgqcX4fzGNd3r7A8Dbkro.
1 pm: The Genealogical Adventures of Lois Long (Ottawa), by Janet Uren for Ottawa Branch OGS.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/lois-long-and-her-adventures-ottawa/
Claire Santry’s Irish Genealogy News points to updates in November to the now over 170,000 headstone transcriptions with linked photos in the volunteer Ireland Genealogy Project Archives. They are for the counties of Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Kildare, Limerick and Meath.
Something different, courtesy of MyHeritage AI Time Machine™
Here, gleaned from listings at CataList, are books on Canadian history scheduled for publication to mid-2023.
Unsettled: Lord Selkirk’s Scottish Colonists and the Battle for Canada’s West, 1813–1816
By (author):Robert Lower
9781770417182
Paperback, Trade
ECW Press
Jun 06, 2023
By (author):Glen A. MoffordForeword by:Greg Nesteroff
By (author):Ian Radforth
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Yuletide R&R
Each year around the holiday season, while regular news is scarce, the blog features humourous posts. Classics from past years will return. Your suggestions for new or favourite items are welcome.
Women are vastly underrepresented in Canada’s place names
Conservators bring passion, know-how to preserving history’s treasures
Features one of our favourite local entrepreneurs.
Why the Access to Information Act isn’t providing access to information
England is No Longer a Christian Country
East India Company discharged soldiers
Fold3 at 40% off
Today, Sunday 4 December, is the final day of the sale on new Fold3 subscriptions. Fold3 has an extensive collection of original military records, photos, and stories of the men and women who served — heavy on US records. Billed in one payment of US$47.95 for a one-year subscription, memberships automatically renew at the full rate. Make a note on your calendar to cancel before your renewal date if you don’t want to continue.
GenealogyGems
A weekly free newsletter from the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. While the focus is on their own resources and US resources, there is some content of more general interest,
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Basil Adam, Brenda Turner, Donna, Ken McKinlay, Gail B., Glenn Wright, Margaret Dougherty, Unknown.
Another nice collection from Ancestry, with over 5 million entries linked to images of the original record from the North Riding Record Office, Scarborough.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1558-1812 has 2,678,402 records.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921 has 1,432,220 records.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1937 has 791,373 records.
North Yorkshire, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1995 has 411,099 records.
The area covered is the modern archdeaconries of Richmond, Craven and Cleveland.
If you don’t find a record you think should be present, it may be that the register is still active in the church and has not yet been deposited in the record office. To find out, from the search page go to Browse the Collection, select the parish and the year range(s) will be displayed.
