Month: March 2022

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.T

Tuesday 15 Mar. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/

Tuesday 15 Mar, 2:30 pm: Hiding in Cyberspace, by Luana Darby for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6235191

Tuesday 15 Mar. 8 pm: Identifying Unnamed Free Born African Americans – A DNA Case Study, by David Rencher for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/identifying-unnamed-free-born-african-americans-a-dna-case-study/

Wednesday 16 Mar. 7 pm: Discovering the Hidden Treasures of Rural Ottawa: Fitzroy, by Barbara Bottriell for Heritage Ottawa.
https://heritageottawa.org/events/discovering-hidden-treasures-rural-ottawa-fitzroy

Thursday 17 Mar. 7 pm: A Fresh Light on Newspapers, by Dave Obee for Brigham Young University Family History Library.
Pre-registration not required.
byu.zoom.us/j/97185943513?pwd=TkUyRkhucTJPMDVmRUROSm1RbWdlZz09

Saturday 19 Mar. 10 am: Irish Protestant Immigration to Upper Canada: A Case Study, by Janice Nickerson for Kingston Branch OGS.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItceivrj0rHt3vHGTYpu5z9QA6Jufn8G7Z

Saturday 19 Mar. 1 pm: Software for Genealogists, by Bob Dawes for Quinte Branch OGS. https://quinte.ogs.on.ca/2022/03/09/software-for-genealogists/

Saturday dates corrected.

 

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Saturday 12 March 2022 to contain 284,334,041 unique records, 283,958,905 at the previous update.

Years with changes of more than 10,000 records since the last update are: for births 1990-92; for marriages 1990-92; for deaths 1987-92.

In celebration of today, 14 March.

3 . 1 4 1 5 9 2 6 5 3 5 8 9 7 9 3 2 3 8 4 6 2 6 4 3 3 8 3 2 7 9 5 0 2 8 8 4 1 9 7 1 6 9 3 9 9 3 7 5 1 0 5 8 2 0 9 7 4 9 4 4 5 9 2 3 0 7 8 1 6 4 0 6 2 8 6 2 0 8 9 9 8 6 2 8 0 3 4 8 2 5 3 4 2 1 1 7 0 6 7 9

I’ve been researching RAF personnel training in Canada during the Second World War.

RAF recruit, Henry Eric Maudslay was to train at Tern Hill, Shropshire until the school was transferred to Canada in 1940. What can available records reveal?

He left Liverpool with a group of 1,048 RAF officers and men on 1 November 1940 on the S S Duchess of Richmond travelling to Montreal. Of those 42 officers and 521 men left on a 17-car train on 10 November for Moose Jaw and 32 Service Flight Training School.

Some of the stats for the voyage from Liverpool mentioned above are on Microfilm C-5704 from image 3289 to image 3385 at Canadiana.ca Héritage documents  Much of the microfilming is of poor quality.

Graduating in February 1941 Maudslay flew 29 operations and was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross before becoming Squadron Leader.

In the 617 Squadron’s Dum Busters raid (video) on the Mohne and Eder Dams on 17 May 1943 his whole crew, including two RCAF members, Flg Off R A Urquhart DFC (Navigator), and WO A P Cottam, were fatalities when his Lancaster bomber was shot down.

Over four years the school at Moose Jaw graduated 1,207 pilots for the Air Forces of Canada, New Zealand and Britain. LAC has original Operational Record Books for No. 32 Service Flying Training School, Moose Jaw, from January 1941, but not microfilmed. The University of Saskatchewan has a photo collection “Moose Jaw Air Training Base 1941 Photographs” which I’m hoping might provide an illustration for an article.

 

From Londonist, a London Etymology Map.  It has links to a map of Anglo-Saxon London, to the medieval tube map, through to detailed pieces on every tube station name.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Sunny Ottawa
The blog post Wikipedia’s Climate Data on an Interactive Map links to a facility where you can easily find climate data worldwide. Di you know that Ottawa has more annual hours of sun than the surrounding communities?

Society of Genealogists Family Trees

Whatever the politicians say, keep wearing a mask.

Online meetings have problems too!
In a previous blog post, I  pointed to the advantages of online rather than in-person meetings. When I looked out of my window on Saturday and saw the snow that had fallen overnight it seemed like another positive for online. Then at 9 am when the BIFHSGO meeting started we were informed that there was a power outage at the speaker’s home. Sad, but a power cut can occur anywhere and at least we didn’t have to drive to a meeting location only to find there was a power cut there!

Anglo-Celtic Roots: Spring 2022
The new issue is now available in the Members Area of the BIFHSGO website. Remember to log in first, click on the Membership tab, select Members Area and then click on Anglo-Celtic Roots. Don’t miss my exciting Cream of the Crop column so you have something to talk about around the water cooler!

The Really Useful Podcast from the Family History Federation this month is on Newspapers —  https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/podcast

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Ann Burns, Anonymous,  Brenda Turner, C, Graham, Dave Mullington, Don Ross, Family History Finds, Gail B., Glenn Wright, Jean, jon ackroyd, Ken McKinlay, M. Anne Sterling, Marilyn Astle, Maureen Guay, Melissa, Teresa, Toni, Unknown.

 

An article by Bill Weiser in today’s Globe and Mail notes the 110th anniversary of the proclamation of The Public Archives Act of Canada.

He notes the significance of the 1904 appointment of Arthur Doughty as Dominion Archivist. With strong political support, he secured recognition of the Archives as a separate department under the Secretary of State.  Generations of genealogists and students of history have investigated the constantly growing archives, now partly online, as they interpret and reinterpret the story of Canada.

The March issue is just out and available on PressReader. Four of the feature articles you may find of interest are:

Tailors, Dressmakers & Seamstresses
Adèle Emm looks at their lives and arduous working conditions in Victorian times.

The article quotes Thomas Hood’s poem Song of the Shirt that starts

 

 

With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread—
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the “Song of the Shirt.”

“Work! work! work!
While the cock is crowing aloof!
And work—work—work,
Till the stars shine through the roof!
It’s O! to be a slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,
If this is Christian work!

The Birth Day Clue
Discover how your ancestors’ birth dates can hold the key to the past, in this issue’s Family Tree Academy search skills piece with David Annal. He delves into techniques to get around fabrications in the official records.

How to use kirk session records
Explore the lives of your Scottish forebears in glorious (& inglorious) detail with Richard Morgan.

Determining the origin of surnames
Why, how and when did surnames come into use? Calgary genealogist and author Wayne Shepheard investigates a 700-year history of family names.

Check out a longer list of contents here.

 

New Zealand Suffragette Petitioners
Transcript records from the unsuccessful 1892 women’s franchise petition or the 1893 petition that finally succeeded in granting women the right to vote in New Zealand. 43,438 records in total.

Cambridgeshire Burials
Over 14,000 additions of transcriptions from Whittelsey Cemetery; Ickleton, St Mary; Eastwood Burial Ground; and Chatteris Cemetery. The total collection is now 599,214.

National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914
Adding over 12,000 new school admission records and log-book entries for the Halifax area of Yorkshire. I didn’t find images, just transcripts.

Now available, another year is added to Ancestry’s Ontario births collection, now running from 1832 to 1916.

The addition, the war year 1916, augments the collection by 72,767 for a total of 7,162,200 entries. Curiously, the update section of the Ontario births page, posted on 7 March 2022 claims 216,404 new records for the year 1916.

In a July 2020 blog post, I compared the official Ontario birth stats with those found from an Ancestry search. In 1913 they were running around a bit over 60,000, so 216,404 in 1916 cannot be right.

Perhaps even more curious is that the Archives of Ontario website lists 1917 birth registrations as available on microfilm reel MS 931, Reel 31. Why is  Ancestry a year behind?

Register in advance at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events for the following free online presentations

Starting at 9 am Shirley Monkhouse will present Tips For Genetic Genealogy DNA Research and Irish Case Studies.
The presentation will help you organize your DNA research, reducing the time and effort needed to work toward a better understanding of your DNA results. Included are case studies demonstrating and explaining the analysis used in ancestor research, with emphasis on Ireland. This talk will benefit everyone working with genetic genealogy. A handout will be provided.

Since a family reunion during the 1967 Centennial year, Shirley Monkhouse has been interested in learning about all her Irish ancestors. She grew up listening to her father explain family trees to visitors in the farmhouse built by her great-grandfather near Carp, Ontario, and located within 50 km of all the farms of her pioneer families who immigrated from Ireland from 1818-1858. All 32 3rd-great-grandparents were “born in Ireland” – paternal side from Leinster and maternal from Ulster. Shirley started researching online in 2008, and in 2015 sent in her first of many DNA kits. She has since connected with cousins around the world. Shirley has shared her knowledge by giving several presentations to the DNA Special Interest Group, continues to learn about DNA analysis, and is enjoying the many new sources for Irish records online.

At 10 am, following announcements, Carolyn Heald will present on The Irish Palatines in Ireland and Canada.
Their unique heritage is one that continues to live on in descendants both in Ireland and in Canada. The illustrated presentation will give an overview of their story, look at aspects of their identity from 1709 up to the present time, and identify key sources for finding Irish Palatine ancestors.

Leslie Weir’s rationale for her purge mentions “texts written about historical events and public figures that offer mainly colonial perspectives.”

Let’s look at an example, LAC’s biography of Nellie McClung.  Then compare it to that in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

LAC fails in any way to mention what the DCB points to, that “many scholars now find her ideology insufficiently inclusive, given her assumption of Anglo-Celtic and middle-class leadership, her blind spots about native and non-British peoples, her sympathy for eugenics, and her Christian maternalism.”

The DCB entry, which LAC ignores, is not only more balanced but places Nellie in a historical context.

DCB biographies are exhaustively researched. DCB receives Government of Canada funding through the Department of Canadian Heritage.

At a time of financial pressure, why are LAC funds being diverted to an activity outside its mandate?

And, If LAC is proceeding to clean up its website, perhaps a list of what is being amended or removed, and why, could be posted on the website. Be transparent about it and treat the LAC research community with respect.

 

New from Pen and Sword, Cemeteries and Graveyards: A Guide for Local and Family Historian in England and Wales, by Celia Heritage, a former BIFHSGO conference keynote speaker.

Here’s the publisher’s blurb.

This comprehensive and fascinating guide from genealogist and historian CELIA HERITAGE will prove indispensable for both local and family historians. A wide-ranging examination of historical and archaeological findings means that the book will also appeal to anyone with an interest in death and burial.

Celia throws light on changing social attitudes to death and burial from pre-historic times to the modern day, investigates the origins and evolution of cemeteries and graveyards, and discusses the many different types of graves and memorials as well as looking at how memorial designs have changed.

One chapter takes an in-depth look at the origins of the parish churchyard, while another looks at graveyards associated with nonconformist churches and institutions, including workhouses, asylums, hospitals and gaols.

Celia details a wide range of online and offline sources that will help locate burials and memorials, also offering vital advice regarding good research practice. There is plenty of detail about less well-known genealogy sources such as records relating to re-interment, undertakers’ and stonemasons’ records, together with better known sources such as burial registers and memorial inscriptions.

Throughout, there is a wide range of hands-on case studies which bring the subject to life and put it right into the hands of the researcher. This is far more than just genealogy, and Celia portrays this fascinating subject from the view of both historian and archaeologist.

I’m looking forward to reviewing it.