Month: February 2022

In a notice posted on Monday LAC announced that as of 1 March research, by reservation only, will restart. Use the online booking system to schedule your next visit.

“When consulting our website, you will notice that our Ottawa service offerings have been enhanced. They now include greater access to the Special Collections Room (third floor) and the Reference Room (second floor). This is part of our previously announced plan to gradually increase our service offerings.

You can contact us by using our Ask Us a Question or Ask Us a Genealogy Question forms, or by calling 1-866-578-7777 (option 8; toll-free in Canada and the United States).

Note that the temporary closure of our services to the public in Ottawa as of Friday, January 28, was the result of circumstances beyond our control.”

LAC has already been allowing people with reservations cancelled owing to the occupation (euphemistically “circumstances beyond our control”) to rebook.

One million plus! An amazing month for the British Newspaper Archive, now with a total of 48,548,902 pages online (47,533,433 last month).

This month 186 papers had pages added (136 in the previous month). There were 75 (17) new titles. Dates range from 1808 to 1999.

The project continues to process more recent newspaper editions. Of the 72 single-year additions 48 were for 1960 and later as were 39 of the multi-year additions. Content predating 1900 was added for 71 newspapers.

The 32 journals with more than 10,000 pages added are:

TITLE	YEARS
Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser	1975, 1977-1979, 1981, 1986
Andover Chronicle	1870-1895, 1898-1914
Bankers’ Circular	1828-1860
Birmingham Mail	1907, 1986
Bracknell Times	1973, 1975-1978, 1981, 1990
Burton Daily Mail	1981, 1983-1984, 1986-1987
Cheshire Observer	1980-1985, 1989
Cornish Echo and Falmouth & Penryn Times	1861-1912
Diss Express	1994-1998
Dover Chronicle	1835, 1837-1882, 1884-1888, 1890-1893, 1895, 1897-1927
Greenwich and Deptford Observer	1879-1909
Herts and Essex Observer	1984-1985, 1988
Hoddesdon and Broxbourne Mercury	1987-1989
Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner	1927-1962
Kilmarnock Standard	1978-1979, 1981, 1986, 1988-1989
London and China Telegraph	1858-1891, 1901-1921
Loughborough Echo	1985, 1987, 1990-1991
Lynn Advertiser	1944, 1952-1957, 1998
Methodist Times	1885-1902
Middlesex County Times	1984-1985, 1988-1990
Nantwich Chronicle	1961, 1963-1964, 1986-1988, 1990
Nonconformist	1841-1900
Nottingham Evening Post	1957, 1962-1966, 1970, 1972, 1984
Nuneaton Chronicle	1873-1900
Rutland Times	1994-1999
Saffron Walden Weekly News	1889, 1892-1894, 1899-1900, 1903-1904, 1906-1910, 1913-1914, 1916-1917, 1919-1925, 1927-1929, 1931-1934, 1936-1937, 1941-1942, 1945, 1947-1950, 1952-1954, 1956, 1959, 1961-1965, 1969-1970, 1974-1975, 1978-1984
Southall Gazette	1985-1988
Suffolk and Essex Free Press	1901-1911, 1928-1940
Trowbridge Chronicle	1861-1868, 1871-1906
Walthamstow and Leyton Guardian	1876-1914
Welsh Gazette	1899-1900, 1903-1910, 1912-1951
Woolwich Herald	1896-1900, 1902-1904, 1906-1931

TODAY: 28 February 2022
Who am I? Where did I come from?
Susan Moyer

Susan shares the very personal story of her journey to find and put together the missing pieces of her own family history puzzle. It all began when she learned as a teenager that she was adopted, with only the date and place of her birth to go on.

Find out more and register in advance here.

The free Zoom presentation starts at 7:30 pm.

Also, John Webb, a longtime Toronto resident with London, Cornwall and Yorkshire roots will give a mini-presentation on the Toronto Cornish Association, Then and Now.  John recently gave a fascinating presentation to the BIFHSGO London SIG.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Young Genealogists at the Helm
News and opinion from FHF President Janet Few

The US 1940 1950 census
NARA will release this census online on 1 April (no kidding). While Ancestry and FamilySearch are cooperating in producing a full transcription, based on handwriting recognition technology (HRT), NARA will release a transcription of only the names using HRT.

LAC must have had a great travel agent!
A report of Government travel expenses

Weir, Leslie $749.36
Librarian and Archivist of Canada March 27, 2020
Destination: Egypt
Organization: Library and Archives Canada
Reference number:T2019-P12-0029

Weir, Leslie $984.67
Librarian and Archivist of Canada From Apr 30, 2020 to May 16, 2020
Destination: Australia
Organization: Library and Archives Canada
Reference number:T2019-P12-0030

In 2021 LAC has had “Nothing to report for this period.”

AncestryDNA has updated communities to now include 87 in Italy, 9 in Croatia and Slovenia, 10 in Czechia, 61 in Poland, 15 in Slovakia & Hungary, 8 in Ukraine, 1 in Latvia & Estonia, 4 in Lithuania, 4 Russian communities, and 1 in the Transdanubia region.

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Georgia Roberts, jon ackroyd, Lynne Willoughby, Margaret Anne Sterling, Nancy Frey, Sheila Hewett, Teresa, Terry Mulcahy, Unknown.

Unprovoked actions by Russian forces are a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  We react emotionally to such aggression, as we would if our territory were violated.

In this fluid situation, with much information and misinformation circulating — the fog of war — it’s not easy to know the true situation.

The Red Cross Canada has a Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal and the Government of Canada will match all eligible tax deductable donations—not exceeding $100,000—made by individual Canadians  between February 24, 2022 and March 18, 2022, up to a maximum of $10 million.

On to genealogy.

I was pulled up short by Saturday morning’s OGS eWeekly stating that “Canada is home to the third-largest Ukrainian population in the world, largely responsible for early settlement of our Prairie provinces.”

I knew many Ukrainians settled on the Prairies. Were they”largely responsible for early settlement”?

A little Googling found an article Explainer: Why the Ukrainian diaspora settled in the Canadian Prairies in Pique news magazine out of Whistler, BC. It includes the “facts”

• In 2016, there were 1.36 million people in Canada that said they had Ukrainian ancestry (verified at StatsCan), about four percent of the population.
• Of those, almost 700,000 live in the three Prairie provinces (verified at StatsCan), where they make up around 11 percent of the population. (More than half are in Alberta)
• According to official sources, the first Ukrainian settlers to come to Canada were Ivan Pylypiw and Wasyl Eleniak in 1891.

That first Ukranian arrival was in the fall of 1891. The 1891 census showed a population of 67,000 in The Territories (the Prairies);48,000 Canadian-born; 12,000 UK and Ireland-born.

The Explainer states 150,000 immigrants came from the area of present-day Ukraine pre WW1. Data from the 1921 census show the majority came in the early 20th century just before the Great War.

So it’s stretching the truth a bit to claim Ukrainians were responsible for early settlement of our Prairie provinces.

Another 70,000 arrived post WW1; 34,000 between 1947 and 1954; 40,015 from 2001 to 2016.  Those stats give a total Ukranian immigration to Canada of nearly 300,000.

The 1,36 million in 2016 is probably an underestimate. People who only have one quarter or one-eighth Ukranian ancestry. particularly those living away from Ukrainian settlement areas, may well not report it as an ethnicity.

 

 

 

Time to check Ancestry for elusive Essex ancestors

Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921,
4,072,316 records.

Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1937,
2,003,102 records.

Essex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1996,
730,465 records.

Findmypast also has a substantial Essex BMD collection.

100% Virtual, 100% Free.
3–5 March 2022.
more than 1,500 sessions on 185 topics in over 30 languages.

A huge event makes it easy to get lost. What is there of interest to your family history?

There are nine keynote presentations and 20 speakers who will present live. The diversity is evident in that I only recognize two of those names. Those presentations go on almost around the clock reflecting the needs of a global audience.

Most presentations are recorded and they’re not the conventional 50 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions. Instead, 20 minutes is more typical, some less.

The presenters I recognize from the UK and Ireland include Dave Annal, Else Churchill, Myko Clelland, Gerald Corcoran, Jackie Depelle, Brian Donovan, Beryl Evans, Janet Few, Stephen Gill, Caroline Gurney, Gillian Hunt, Debbie Kennett, Michelle Leonard, Paul Nixon, Aoife O Connor, Alison Spring, and Penny Walters. I checked a few and they were already available to play. Go to www.familysearch.org/rootstech/home, click on the menu at the top right, select speakers and scroll or search for the speaker of interest.

There’s more than presentations. Details will come on the website. Expect announcements from the major sponsors so you’ll need to attend live to catch the latest, and perhaps find out about specials.

 

 

 

 

This week FMP adds 96,820 memorial inscriptions from 255 places to the burgeoning Norfolk coverage. Dates range from 1680 to 2012.

I didn’t have any luck finding the unusually named February Backlog, or any of the Backlog family, as their parish of Shipdham is not included. For perspective, 98,820 entries are less than the total number of deaths in Norfolk in the 1850s.

The National Burial Index on FMP, with 143,845 entries for Norfolk, includes 17 for Backlog, most in Shipdham.

Ancestry’s collection Global, Gravestone Photograph Index, 1265-2014 has one entry for a Backlog in Norfolk. Ancestry also has England, Norfolk Monumental Inscriptions, 1600-1900’s with 31 pages of unindexed MI transcripts with no Backlogs recorded.

FamilySearch and TheGenealogist have no MIs for Shipdham.

This week also sees US Census 1860, Slave Schedule Browse added to FMP, and an incredible 89 new and updated newspapers.

 

On Saturday at 1 pm ET Penny Allen will talk about researching in The National Archives, the London Metropolitan Archives, The Society of Genealogists, and some lesser-known London archives.

It’s a Zoom presentation organized by Ottawa Branch OGS.

Penny, a Canadian and a genealogist, has been researching off and on for more than 30 years, with kids, family, uni and work taking up time in between. She currently lives and works in the UK. Find out more at her blog UK to Canada Genealogy.

Register in advance for this meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcof-2opzovHNDjuYkJRu0L3k_Wh5GgDgTS

Tuesday afternoon is prime time for online genealogy events. There were three conflicts this week, not counting AncestryHour.

I choose a presentation by Curt Witcher from the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center on finding articles for a geographic area on the Periodical Source Index. The presentation should come to the ACPL Genealogy Center YouTube channel soon. In the meantime, the handout is available at https://acpl.libnet.info/frontend-images/pdfs/acpl/Genealogy/PERSI_Finding_Articles_Geographic_Area_2022.pdf

Do you find yourself wondering which of the Big Four large databases, Ancestry, FamilySearch,  Findmypast, MyHeritage, is best for the search you need?

In this post we’ll look at electoral registers. They help fill gaps between censuses, especially when a person moved house. Or they may not have moved, no longer appearing can be a clue they died.

Check out the table below that compiles data from the Big Four for the countries of the UK and Ireland to see where you might find anything to help your research.

Title	Records	Company
UNITED KINGDOM
UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors (1998-2021)	121,561,368	Findmypast
UK, Electoral Registers, 2003-2010	65,218,347	Ancestry
UK, Poll Books and Electoral Registers, 1538-1893	4,677,818	Ancestry
ENGLAND & WALES
London, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965	179,071,659	Ancestry
England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1910-1932	157,221,851	Findmypast
West Yorkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1962	46,743,829	Ancestry
Surrey, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1962	36,618,572	Ancestry
Glamorganshire, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1832-1978	35,226,372	Ancestry
Liverpool, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1970	32,578,653	Ancestry
Bedfordshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1986	17,982,265	Ancestry
Berkshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1840-1965	12,738,603	Ancestry
Gloucestershire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1974	11,544,708	Ancestry
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Electoral Registers, 1741-1974	10,239,239	Ancestry
Midlands, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1965	9,182,437	Ancestry
Worcestershire, England, Electoral Registers, 1837-1974	7,887,267	Ancestry
England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1832-1932	6,735,615	Findmypast
England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1832-1932 Image Browse	6,692,787	Findmypast
Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books, 1722-1966	6,234,037	Ancestry
Swansea and Surrounding Area, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1839-1966	5,918,713	Ancestry
Kent Electoral Registers 1570-1907	4,678,563	Findmypast
Norfolk Electoral Registers 1832-1915	4,557,907	Findmypast
England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1844-1952 Images	4,557,906	MyHeritage
Sutton, Surrey, England, Electoral Registers, 1931-1970	3,823,324	Ancestry
Cheshire Electoral Registers (1832-1900)	3,784,694	Findmypast
Bexley, Kent, England, Electoral Registers, 1734-1965	3,753,187	Ancestry
Pembrokeshire, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1740-1978	3,432,144	Ancestry
Lancashire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1935	3,146,854	Ancestry
Glamorganshire, West Glamorgan Electoral Registers 1839-1925	1,643,483	Findmypast
Anglesey, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1832-1977	1,602,837	Ancestry
Dorset, England, Electoral Registers, 1839-1922	1,584,958	Ancestry
Hampshire, Portsmouth Electoral Registers 1835-1873	198,310	Findmypast
Norfolk, Electoral Registers 1832-1915 Image Browse	161,799	Findmypast
Leicestershire Electoral Registers 1836-1970 Browse	115,295	Findmypast
Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Electoral Registers 1780-1973	74,093	Findmypast
England, Devon, Plymouth, Electoral Rolls, 1781-1973	57,142	FamilySearch
Wales, Monmouthshire Electoral Registers 1832-1889	54,032	Findmypast
Somerset Electoral Registers, 1832-1914	31,783	Findmypast
Manchester Electoral Registers Browse 1832-1900	23,298	Findmypast
Britain, Absent Voters Lists 1918-1921	22,827	Findmypast
Britain, Absent Voters Lists 1918-1921 Browse	19,311	Findmypast
Wales, Monmouthshire Electoral Registers 1832-1889 Image Browse	13,126	Findmypast
Kent, Bromley Absent Voters List 1918	9,165	Findmypast
SCOTLAND
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1857-1962	30,247,020	Ancestry
Edinburgh, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1966	19,784,218	Ancestry
Aberdeen City and Former Counties of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1976	14,346,425	Ancestry
Fife, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1914-1966	5,594,960	Ancestry
Scotland, Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Electoral Registers 1857-1939	3,750,727	Findmypast
Perth and Kinross, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1961	2,477,867	Ancestry
Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers 1864-1931	1,050,793	Findmypast
North Lanarkshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1847-1969	714,769	Ancestry
Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers 1864-1931 Image Browse	23,469	Findmypast
Scotland, Ayrshire, Kilmarnock Voters Lists 1837-1852	2,110	Findmypast
IRELAND
Dublin Electoral Rolls	427,974	Findmypast
Ireland, Clare Electoral Registers	311,080	Findmypast
Ireland Electoral Registers, 1832 – 1838 Images	52,630	MyHeritage
Ireland, Electoral Registers 1885-1886	3,253	Findmypast
Ireland, Electoral Registers 1885-1886 Browse	3,253	Findmypast

Looking at the totals, Ancestry has 709 million records, but nothing for Ireland. Findmypast has 328 million including the 122 million records in the recent past UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors (1998-2021) collection. MyHeritage has 4.6 million, and it seems electoral registers are not a thing for FamilySearch.

TheGenealogist has many small databases for specific towns and single years.

If the online databases don’t help you’ve just confirmed that everything isn’t online.

 

Up until the early 1970s there’s a good chance someone in the family travelling to Canada transited through the port of Liverpool. I did. Knowing the ship, you don’t forget the name of the ship, and approximate date, you may only remember it approximately, records of the movement of ships in and out of the port in local newspapers will likely add detail about the journey.  

The major Liverpool newspapers available through the British Newspaper Archive, and on Findmypast, are

Title	Issues	Years
Liverpool Echo	35887	1879 – 1999
Liverpool Journal of Commerce	21610	1861-1862, 1864-1867, 1869-1887, 1889-1892, 1894, 1896-1897, 1899-1940
Liverpool Daily Post	17262	1855-1873, 1875-1877, 1881-1883, 1885-1890, 1892, 1894-1897, 1899-1920, 1939-1945
Liverpool Mercury	15294	1811-1835, 1837-1871, 1873-1897, 1899-1900

The Post and Mercury are also digitized on newspapers.com. Check both, I found the OCR of one was different from the other.

From 1958 there’s a regular column Merseyside Shipping in the Liverpool Echo listing the name of the ship, whether it left or leaves (L), arrived (A), due (D), called (C), berthed (B), for (F), passed (P) or sailed (S), the port and the date. I found L and D entries for the ship I sailed on along with an article about a local Liverpool person, a widow leaving for Ontario to live with her daughter. It mentioned there were 1,000 passengers. From memory, it didn’t seem like that many.

Liverpool newspapers are good sources for maritime news in general; the Liverpool Journal of Commerce is especially strong.