Month: September 2022

Will you be attending Saturday’s BIFHSGO meeting in person?

If so, don’t go to Nepean Centrepointe!

The new location is the church hall, Geneva Hall, at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin). Use the Garden Entrance off Elgin Street just south of the church building.

The morning gets underway at 9 am with an open mic session, an opportunity to share an exciting discovery.

At 10 am Suzanne Lesage, president of la Société de généalogie de l’Outaouais in Gatineau, will present on her ancestor Laughlin McKinnon who emigrated to Canada from Eigg in the Inner Hebrides.

The session will also be streamed. To join online, please register Here.

The bonus to travelling downtown is meeting face-to-face with colleagues you may not have seen since pre-pandemic times.

 

The first major in-person genealogy event in Australia for three years will also be the final event from Unlock the Past /Family history Down Under. It’s in-person and online.

Here’s a link to the media release with a collage of speakers, many you’re sure to recognize.

Did you know that perhaps 40,000 Canadian men and women fought on both sides of the American Civil War,  an estimated 4,500 dying from disease and 3,500 from combat? Here’s the source.

Perth writer Larry Cotton recounts some of their stories in “Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight: Crimps, Skedaddlers, and Bounty Hunters — The American Civil War From A Canadian Perspective.”

Regular reader Brenda Turner, having picked up the book in Almonte, sent these comments.

“I had had no idea so many Canadians were involved. And I also had no idea how many Canadians were gotten drunk by Yanks looking for new recruits to the Northern Army, and woke up already enlisted across the border. And if they escaped to go back to Canada they were at risk of being shot for deseration.

Cobbled together but interesting stories about some Canadians who went voluntarily to the US to join in the fight, especially a few Canadian doctors. But others did it too. If times were tight, it was 3 square meals a day. That’s how the British Army got so many Scottish soldiers.”

The book may be purchased direct from the author for $30 via e-transfer to ldcotton@sympatico.ca or cheque payable to Larry Cotton and mailed to:
P.O. Box 2008,
57 Foster St,
Perth, ON
K7H 3M9.

It’s also available at “better” bookstores in Carleton Place, Almonte, Arnprior and Perth.

I’m way late in posting on the September issue that became available on 12 August. It’s a few days until the October issue becomes available on 9 September.

A NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS
Dr Nell Derby examines the records that can help to shed light on our Georgian shopkeepers.

WELSH RESOURCES EXPLORED
Rachel Bellerby provides a round-up of Welsh websites, from the most basic census and civil registration to genealogical societies and the Dictionary of Welsh Biography.

NONCONFORMITY
BIFHSGO conference speaker Dave Annal shares a potted history and shines light on this smallish but extremely useful record collection.

As always there’s much more. That includes my response to a query on the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan arising from my article in the July issue and a letter referring to my article.

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 6 September 2 pm: OGS Ottawa Branch Virtual Genealogy Drop-in.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/virtual-genealogy-drop-in-2-2022-07-12/

Tuesday 6 September 2:30 pm: Pass Down More Than Just Things, by Heather Nickerson for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7143433

Tuesday 6 September 7:30 pm: Ontario’s Records of Inheritance on Family Search, by Jane MacNamara for Durham Region Branch OGS.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpf–pqj0uH9Z0C4Smfgs7zfITp24W0Ogi

Tuesday 6 September 10 pm: Shackles, shekels and shrapnel: the exodus to the Southern seas, by Michelle Patient for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/shackles-shekels-and-shrapnel-the-exodus-to-the-southern-seas/

Wednesday 7 September 2 pm: mtDNA and YDNA in 2022, by Diahan Southard for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/mtdna-and-ydna-in-2022/

Wednesday 7 September 7:30 pm: What language are they speaking in Zurich? by Gary Flaxbard for Huron County Branch OGS.
https://huron.ogs.on.ca/

Thursday 8 September 6:30 pm: Using technology to preserve, cherish and share family memories and stories, by Chris McDowell for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7156883

Friday 9 September 10:15 am: Delivering the Mail: Records of the United States Post Office, by Michael L. Strauss for Legacy Family Tree Webinars Webtember. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/delivering-the-mail-records-of-the-united-states-post-office/

Friday 9 September 11:30 am: What’s Next When You Are Told Those Records Were “Burnt up”, by J. Mark Lowe for Legacy Family Tree Webinars Webtember.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/whats-next-when-you-are-told-those-records-were-burnt-up/

Friday 9 September 12:45 pm: An introduction to Filae: the largest source of French archives, by Emmanuel Condamine for Legacy Family Tree Webinars Webtember.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/an-introduction-to-filae-the-largest-source-of-french-archives/

Friday 9 September 2 pm: Understanding and Using Scottish Kirk Session Records, by Paul Milner for Legacy Family Tree Webinars Webtember.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/understanding-and-using-scottish-kirk-session-records/

Saturday 10 September 10 am: Laughlin McKinnon, by Suzanne Lesage for BIFHSGO. Preceeded by an Open Mic session at 9 am. Hybrid event. In person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin) in Geneva Hall.
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

Saturday 10 September 10 am:  From the Vault II: A Look Beyond the Photos. by Jennifer Grainger for London-Middelsex Branch OGS.
https://londonmiddlesex.ogs.on.ca/events/london-middlesex-branch-from-the-vault-ii-a-look-beyond-the-photos/

New LAC Website

There were just 13 responses to the “The new LAC website is …” survey.

More than half the respondents were positive about the change, while a bit over a third unenthusiastically responded, “Ho hum.”

Many of the comments I’ve seen have been less than enthusiastic. They were perhaps hoping for something more substantive than a face-lift.

Library mini-survey

Urban or suburban Ottawa is home to half of the 34 respondents. Of those half who visit a library branch at least once a month, a quarter walk to the branch, and nearly 60% drive, which is not out of line for journeys in general.

There are 243 newspapers newly available to search and view for free on the latest update to the BritishLibrary/British Newspaper Archive.
Read the details, along with a list of papers added here.
The top ten titles by the number of years included in this addition are:

TITLE	YEARS
Newcastle Courant	1710-1718, 1720-1801, 1803, 1805-1807, 1819-1822, 1824-1874, 1877-1879, 1881-1885, 1887-1893, 1895-1896, 1898-1900
Bristol Mercury	1716 ,1790, 1819-1896, 1898-1900
Bury and Norwich Post	1786-1794, 1801-1871, 1873-1895, 1898-1900
Exeter Flying Post	1800-1866, 1869-1885, 1889-1900
Lancaster Gazette	1801-1836,1838,1841-1848,1850-1894
Glasgow Herald	1820-1822,1826,1827,1844-1900
Essex Standard	1831-1844 ,1846-1897, 1899, 1900
Blackburn Standard	1835-1840, 1845-1869, 1872, 1873, 1875-1882, 1884, 1886-1900
Liverpool Albion	1827-1880
Manchester Times	1849-1900

New on Ancestry, 101,383 index records sourced from the National Library of Wales. Find:

• Names of crew members
• Birth year
• Birthplace
• Age at end of employment
• Address
• Starting and ending dates of employment
• Occupation
• Ship names

The original crew lists, created by shipmasters, were filed with the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen at the Aberystwyth port’s Mercantile Marine Office. Data from the crew lists was transcribed by volunteers in coordination with the National Library of Wales, found here.

If you find and entry of interest you may find more about the ship in the Aberystwyth Harbour Records at the National Library of Wales,

Of the nearly 117,000 Canadians who have died in all wars, thousands have no known grave.

According to this 2021 news release “The (DND) Casualty Identification Program aims to identify the remains of more than 27,000 Canadian war dead so that they may be buried with their name, by their regiment, and in the presence of family. Since 2007, the Program has successfully identified the human remains of 31 Canadian soldiers, while five sets of remains have been buried as unknown soldiers when identification was not possible.”

In 14 years, 31 remains have been identified. At that rate, it will take over 12 millennia to complete the job.

Even that isn’t realistic. Many of the missing are interred but unidentified. With the Commonwealth War Graves Commission not permitting exhumations for the purposes of identification, including to extract DNA samples, they are destined to remain unidentified.

Those investigated are of newly discovered remains. Based on the stats above there’s an 86% chance of identification of those by name.

That success rate might be increased using autosomal DNA matching. However, as the article ARE CASUALTIES FROM THE WORLD WARS STILL FOUND? recently posted to the CWGC website makes clear, only Y-DNA and mitochrondrial tests are used.

Here’s an update on the UK newspapers with additions during August. The table is for papers in England, including one new to the site.

NEWSPAPER	PAGES	YEARS
Leicester Mercury	355,926	1919–1989
The Guardian	1,102,977	1821–2022
Evening Standard	2,364,483	1897–2022
The Leicester Daily Mercury	68,421	1874–1919
Black Country Evening Mail	16,707	1998–1999
The Brentwood Gazette and Mid-Essex Recorder	42,173	1919–1995
Burton Mail	188,082	1912–1999
Herald Express (Torquay)	563,384	1940–1999
The West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser	74,811	1816–1944
Sevenoaks Chronicle	37,583	1979–1994
Coventry Standard	65,433	1836–1969
Harlow Star	20,714	1988–1994
Herald and Express (Torquay)	54,147	1921–1939
Cambridge Weekly News	24,501	1986–1994
News: Chatham, Rochester, Gillingham	13,314	1990–1993
Sandwell Evening Mail	149,542	1975–1989
Cannock Chase Post	10,347	1992–1995
Chase Post	11,635	1989–1994
Central Somerset Gazette	75,168	1862–1999
The Cheddar Valley Gazette	40,120	1957–1999
The Wells Journal	88,427	1851–1999
Shepton Mallet Journal	19,777	1990–1999
Cambridge Evening News	210,707	1888–2000
Runcorn Weekly News	70,452	1963–1999
Ripley Express	15,552	1989–1995
Birmingham Evening Mail	649,281	1967–1999
Belper Express	17,303	1989–1995
Rugeley Mercury	24,772	1889–1995
Medway News (NEW)	4,381	1994
Surrey Herald	29,155	1986–1994
Thanet Times	28,330	1975–1995
Ruislip and Northwood Gazette	29,057	1986–1995
Sports Argus (Birmingham)	47,133	1966–1997
The Ormskirk Advertiser, etc.	32,145	1855–1993
Skelmersdale Advertiser	1,288	1987–1993
The Hinckley Times	65,749	1984–1999

No additions were made for Scotland or Ireland.  For Wales there were three papers with additions.

NEWSPAPER	PAGES	YEARS
The North Wales Weekly News	99,348	1905–1995
Rhondda Leader	6,769	1987–1995
Llanelli Star	10,460	1986–1994

There are also additions to seven Canadian papers, all extensions further into 2022.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Irish Lives Remembered
The summer issue of this free online magazine is now available.

My Library Editorial in Friday’s Ottawa Citizen

Putting the Lie to Libraries, by Ken Whyte

200 years of collecting newspapers

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Christine Jackson, Elizabeth Vincent, Gail B., Glenn Wright, Ken McKinlay, Teresa, and Unknown.

Records of those, all men, who served in the Home Guard, or Dad’s Army”, are rare.
This collection, new to MyHeritage, contains 83,093 records of people who served in the Home Guard in the county of Durham between the years 1940 and 1945. Forms typically include the individual’s name, date and place of birth, and the battalion in which they served.

The records may be freely accessed through TNA at https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C12483430