Month: October 2021

Here’s an almost complete TOC for the new issue.

FAMILY HISTORY NEWS Rachel Bellerby reports on the latest from the world of family history.
ALCOHOL INSANITY Archivist Lisa Edwards looks at Victorian attitudes to mental health and the long-reaching consequences on our families.
TRACE YOUR FAMILY HEROES Explore the military collections on Ancestry.
IRISH LAND RECORDS Family historian Chris Paton provides an overview of some of the land records useful for Irish-based research.
A MINI GUIDE TO STARTING GENEALOGY Here are some tips to kick-start your family history search.
TWIGLETS Gll Shaw unravels more Riboldi riddles & colourful characters.
REALLY USEFUL FAMILY HISTORY SHOW TALKS Peruse the full program of the upcoming online show from the Family History Federation.
TWIGs Gill Shaw stumbles upon another unexpected turn of events.
TURN BACK TIME Try out the easy-to-use photo restoration tool Vivid-Pix.
THE VALUE OF USING ORIGINAL RECORDS Family Tree Acadamy tutor David Annal shows how they can help to find that incontrovertible link.
IN SEARCH OF A FAMILY LEGEND Clare Kirk weaves a masterful account of her complex history.
WHY FAMILY HISTORY MATTERS Chris Broom reflects on the unique nature of each of us and the importance of family history.
YOUR DNA WORKSHOP DNA advisor Karen Evans helps to piece together some very confusing pieces of a DNA puzzle.
BOOKS With Helen Tovey & Rachel Bellerby.
EUROPE’S WORST EARTHQUAKE Dr. Simon Wills provides tips to research the victims & heroes.
YOUR QUESTIONS Experts step up to help.
SPOTLIGHT ON. Cumbria Family History Society with John Steel.
DIARY DATES Essential family history dates.
LETTERS Readers have their say.
DREAMING OF ANCESTORS Diane Lindsay’s sleep has been interrupted by an ancestral visitation from a Regency forebear.

Was your ancestor involved in electoral violence? Likely not, but you probably don’t know. Check out this map showing English and Welsh election violence that occurred during the 20 General Elections between 1832 and 1914. It contains nearly 3,000 events, ranging from outright riots, involving multiple deaths, to minor incidents, such as the breaking of windows.

via Maps Mania

This Saturday, 16 October, the Quebec Family History Society offers four online presentations by speakers Luc Lepine and Gary Schroder,

The Presentations:

10:00 to 11:00 – How to Use Civil Registrations of Births, Marriages, and Deaths to find your Ancestors in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the 19th and 20th Centuries. With Gary Schroder

11:00 to 12:00 – What are the easiest ways to find your French Canadian Ancestors? With Dr. Luc Lepine

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm – How to Find and Use Cemetery Records in Quebec. With Gary Schroder

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm – How to Use the Lepine Militia Database for Anglophones in Quebec during the early 19th Century, currently over 35,000 entries. With Dr. Luc Lepine.

Cost: $25. Payment options – online (click here) or by cheque (click here for address). Your payment will be your reservation. Space for this seminar is limited.

For your consideration.

The following survey has been commissioned by the (UK) Family History Federation, Free UK Genealogy and The (UK) Society of Genealogists. All are Not for Profit organisations.

The purpose of the survey is to gain a better understanding of the Family History research space in terms of scale, activity and value. The results will be collated and used to improve the service to our research community, to support fundraising and grant applications, and to promote the growth of Family History research. We appreciate you taking the time to help us to do that.

It is very important to note that we are not collecting personal data. In other words, the survey data will not be associated with you in any way as an individual. We are not asking for name, email or any similar data, so you can rest assured that this will not be used for individual marketing, advertising or similar activities. It is purely for the purpose of gaining a better understanding of the Family History research space and to improve our service to you.

Thank you for taking part

https://forms.gle/YZcDpGF8sd6NTSMu8

FYI. The following was posted on Twitter. It should be an interesting read when published if you can get beyond the obligatory $2 words.

We are seeking contributions to a Special Issue of Life Writing on Family History and Life-Writing. Abstracts are due 30th November 2021. Full articles due by the end of May 2022.

Family historians are a large and often neglected group of historical researchers and life writers. They have a strongly articulated sense of their practice, and a well-developed set of methodologies and research apparatuses. In recent years, family histories have emerged in a variety of creative forms that include autobiography, biography and memoir. As a community situated outside the academy, however, family historians are often marginalised by the mainstream, dismissed for their naiveté and amateurism and ridiculed for seeking emotional connections with the past lives of their forebears. Those practising within the academy have often defined the research practice and interests of family historians as unscientific, uncritical, emotional and of little value to the academy or anyone else bar their own family group. In a Special Issue of Life Writing, we encourage authors to engage with these assumptions and explore the diverse ways in which scholars, writers and others are engaging with family history. We ask them to consider how family history is enabling growing numbers of people to think historically and to produce distinctive forms of historical understanding that challenge the long-standing academic monopoly of historical knowledge.

In this Issue we aim to bring together a range of scholars at different career stages to hear about their research and its impact. These scholars include those who have worked on family histories or with family historians and those in conversation with family historians. We encourage papers that consider recent developments in different styles of Family History and Life Writing. Our overarching aim is to broaden the range of voices we hear on Family History and Life Writing and to reveal the many benefits that can emerge from collaboration between practitioners within and outside of the academy.

One product from The Consumer Data Research Centre is a map showing the age of buildings. There’s coverage for most urban areas of England and Wales. The focus is post-Victorian developments.

There are other interesting maps available. Check out the map of Life Expectancy at Birth.

Beware the rabbit hole!

Choose from 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.

Tuesday 12 Oct. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.

Tuesday 12 Oct. 2 pm: Recent updates to MyHeritage’s historical record search engine, by Mike Mansfield for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/recent-updates-to-myheritages-historical-record-search-engine/

Tuesday 12 Oct. 2:30 pm: Working with Unusual Single Records, by Cynthia Theusch. for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5588276

Tuesday 12 Oct, 7 pm: Gathering Family Facts on a Timeline, by Lynn Palermo for Essex Branch OGS. https://essex.ogs.on.ca/meetings/#Upcoming-Presentations

Wednesday 13 Oct. 2:30 pm: Wednesdays with Witcher Series:
Preparing Our Research for the Future, by Curt Witcher for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5589831

Wednesday 13 Oct, 7 pm: Passing by History – The Capital History Kiosk Project, by David Dean and Danielle Mahon for The Historical Society of Ottawa. https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/44/16,17,19,21/passing-by-history-the-capital-history-kiosk-project

Wednesday 13 Oct. 8 pm: Navigating Your Way Through FamilySearch, by Cyndi Ingle for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/navigating-your-way-through-familysearch/.

Thursday 14 Oct. 6:30 pm:  Watching Historical Context: Using Historical Videos, by Allison DePrey Singleton for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5588429

Thursday 14 Oct, 6:30 pm: Searching for Ancestors When You are Adopted, by Penny Walters for Lambton Branch OGS. https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/home/lambton-branch-monthly-meeting/

Friday 15 Oct, 9 am: Re-thinking the lives of Black Victorians, Caroline Bressey for the UK National Archives. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rethinking-the-lives-of-black-victorians-tickets-169299943689

Friday 15 Oct, 2 pm: My ancestors were Irish – or were they? by Natalie Bodle for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/my-ancestors-were-irish-or-were-they/. 

Saturday 16 Oct, 10 am: Copyright and the Family Historian, by Elise C. Cole for Kingston Branch OGS. https://kingston.ogs.on.ca/events/copyright-and-the-family-historian/.

Saturday 16 Oct, 1 pm: A Genealogist’s Perspective on the Implications of a Cemetery Disruption: A Study of St. Thomas’ Church Burial Ground (Belleville), by Jane Simpson for Quinte Branch OGS. https://quinte.ogs.on.ca/2021/10/06/october-16-jane-simpson-presents/

 

Usually, Military Monday covers men’s activities and resources. Today it’s about a woman from my home county in England and a Canadian who died when her ship was torpedoed. A little problem — one was a nurse but not military, and her death was 12 October. The other died on 10 October. Between the two, on average, that’s today.

According to Wikipedia “Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse (from Swardeston in Norfolk), She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was accused of treason, found guilty by a court-martial and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad 12 October 1915. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.

 

Born in Galway, Ireland, according to the LAC Discover blog  “NS Henrietta Mellett from London, Ontario, died at sea during the sinking of RMS Leinster, on October 10, 1918, when she was returning from leave to service with 15th Canadian General Hospital. An experienced military nurse, she had already served with the Red Cross in France, Egypt and England. She perished with more than 500 other passengers, when the Leinster was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-123 in the Irish Sea.”

 

Since the last update, countless new DNA kits and family tree profiles have been added to MyHeritage.  That’s according to a news release from the company.

What’s new?

The total number of theories has increased 47.7%, from 39,845,078 to 58,866,331
The number of DNA Matches that include a theory increased 48.7%, from 27,130,989 to 40,335,252
The number of relationship paths increased 46%, from 312,222,662 to 456,091,094 (sometimes theories are found through multiple paths, and these provide additional supporting evidence of a relationship)
The number of MyHeritage users who now have at least one Theory of Family Relativity™ for their DNA Matches has increased by 22.2%,

My Results

I now have 16 Theory of Family Relativity connections identified, five are identified as new. Five are medium confidence, six are low confidence.

My best match is a third cousin once removed. We share 79.2‎ cM in 3 segments, the largest being 43.7‎ cM.

There’s a fourth cousin once removed with whom I share 35.4‎ cM in 3
segments, the largest 22.2‎ cM. The match’s tree includes a victim of Auschwitz.

There’s more for me to explore yet.

If you have not already done so you can upload your DNA data to MyHeritage and receive DNA Matches for FREE. Unlocking additional DNA features (Chromosome Browser, Ethnicity Estimate, Shared ancestral places, and more) costs an extra fee.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Leicestershire’s Thomas Cook archive goes online

Blogs
If you read my blog via the daily email you may overlook the good information in the blogs linked in the right-hand column of www.anglocelticconnections.ca/. They are
EOGN
Genealogy à la carte
Irish Genealogy News
Scottish GENES

The London Gazette – revisited
Audrey Collins rarely posts on her blog. Worth a look.

Cherry-picking the Bible

Trivia
What else do these prominent Canadian men have in common: Lester Pearson, Charles Caccia, Malak Karsh, Laurier LaPierre, Val Sears?

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Ann Burns, Anonymous,  Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Margaret A Kipp, Maureen, Melinda McRae, Toni, Unknown, Wayne Shepheard.

If you haven’t searched for theses on a topic of interest for your family history you haven’t done an exhaustive search.

Theses Canada, launched in 1965 at the request of the deans of Canadian graduate schools, is a collaborative program between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian universities. It strives to:

• acquire and preserve theses and dissertations from participating universities
• provide free access to Canadian digital theses and dissertations in the collection
• facilitate access to non-digital theses and dissertations in the collection.

The number of theses in the collection grew steadily from 2005 to 2012. Subsequently, it has fallen precipitously. What happened?

I doubt universities are producing theses at one-tenth the rate they did at the peak. Could it be the universities are less interested in making them available? Is LAC no longer interested and diverting resources needed to keep the system going? Whatever the reason, Theses Canada has declined in value as a research tool in recent years.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars is the biggest bargain in genealogy — aside from freebies. At 40% off with coupon 40flash until Sunday, for new subscribers only, it’s almost a steal.