Month: October 2022

British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records, 1704-1919
Over 20,000 wills have been added to this collection, covering the years 1786-1822. The records could contain the date of the will, their rank and the name of the ship they served on. The originals can be accessed via The National Archives website and contain even more rich detail.

British West Indies Regiment Servicemen, 1915-1919
A new collection encompasses nearly 17,000 records from the First World War. It’s possible to uncover names, ranks, service numbers, and often additional notes. The records are for privates and non-commissioned officers, and is a work in progress endeavouring to identify all men who enlisted and served in the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) during the First World War. It is compiled and collated from multiple sources.

Dorset Monumental Inscriptions
A further 10,000 records have been added to this collection, now covering Poole Cemetery, Old Farm Road, Poole, Dorset. Taken from gravestones, tombs, monuments and even stained-glass windows. Two of my first cousins once removed are in the database; the information I aleady had from Billion Graves, with an image of the gravestone.

The newspaper additions this week include the Bury & Suffolk Standard, 1869-1870, 1873-1887 and the Bury and Suffolk Herald, 1827-1837, 1839-1849.

Located on the grounds of Westminster Abbey, St. Margaret’s, Westminster has seen baptisms, marriages and burials from all levels of society. The image above is part of the certificate for the marriage of Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier on 12 September 1908.  There are lots of aristocrats, those with connections such as the marriage of an accountant to the daughter of a superintendant at the House of Lords on the same page as Churchill’s, as well as ordinary folks in trades.

From 1538 there are 189,785 baptisms to 1922, 107,458 marriages to 1934 and 221,137 burials to 1856. Each has an attached image.

Ancestry lists this database as Web: Scotland, Sheriff Court Paternity Processes or Case Papers, 1752-1921

It comprises 8,678 index records, most from the mid-19th century when churches became active in helping in court cases of a mother attempting to prove who was the father of the child.

The information indexed may include:

Name, occupation, and residence of the mother
Name, occupation, and residence of the father
Birth date of the child
Child’s sex assigned at birth
Year of the court case
County where the case was heard
Sheriff court name
National Records of Scotland reference

The original index data is from Scottish Indexes at  https://www.scottishindexes.com/coveragepaternity.aspx
which provides a commercial service to collect and supply digital images of the original court records from the National Records of Scotland

Are you interested in a presentation using DNA and a variety of records?

This Saturday, 15 October at 1 pm, Julia Scott will present Robert Harris: A (British) Soldier’s Journey, in a hybrid meeting of Ottawa Branch OGS.

“This presentation will tell the story of a young man, born in Barbados, descendent of an enslaved woman, who enlisted at age 15 in the British Army. Robert served as a drummer and then a private in the 100th (later the 99th) Regiment of Foot (Prince Regent’s County of Dublin Regiment), settling after the War in Hull with Philemon Wright, and finally in Shawville, PQ where he raised a large family. Julia will share her ongoing journey to solve a 50-year family puzzle, using all the tools available to family historians today. Overcoming past prejudices, assumptions, and inconsistencies, she has delved into DNA, muster rolls, historical records, and journals across the globe, to get closer to understanding who Robert was, why he joined the British Military, and how he contributed to the building of Canada.”

Julia Scott is formerly an OGS Director at Large.

Julia will present remotely to the meeting at the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (Room 115) or via Zoom by registering in advance  at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYlce6rrzkpG9c7gpM61vn8RA-4x-PcBk-J

Does this seem familiar?

“Please note that as we implement our new online tool, you may experience some technical challenges. We appreciate your patience.”

The “New Online Tool” is supposed to allow for easier searching of archival, library and art collections using the new Archives and Information Management System (AIMS). Here;s the new search page,

As I don’t use the Archivies of Ontario site much I won’t comment over than to pass along the comment that you can expect to find links broken from those to the previous site.

Please post a comment on your experience, positive or negative, if you’ve tried it.

After disappointing US ratings for the reintroduced Who Do You Think You Are? NBC has made no decision on whether or not to fund another season.

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 events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual/

Tuesday 11 October 2:30 pm: Vivid-Pix and Photo Reminiscence Therapy, by Rick Voight for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7249337

Tuesday 11 October 7 pm: The Wyandot Women in Anderdon Cemetery, by Mckelvey Kelly for Essex County Branch OGS.
https://essex.ogs.on.ca/meetings/essex-branch-october-2022-presentation/

Wednesday 12 October, 2 pm: Researching the British armed forces in the 19th and 20th centuries; Records at The National Archives, by William Butler for Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the Antrim and Down branch of the Western Front Association.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/records-at-the-national-archives-by-dr-william-butler-tickets-344163340817

Wednesday 12 October, 8 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/

Thursday 13 October 6:30 pm: I Have a Civil War Ancestor… Now What?, by Brian Rhinehart for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7249185

Friday 14 October 7 pm: Not Researching in the Rain-Researching in England from Away, by Alan Campbell for Kent Branch OGS.
https://kent.ogs.on.ca/events/kent-branch-not-researching-in-the-rain-researching-in-england-from-away/

Saturday 15 October 1 pm: Robert Harris: A Soldier’s Journey, by Julia Scottfor Ottawa Branch OGS.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/robert-harris-a-soldiers-journey-ottawa/

On Wednesday, 12 October, at 1 pm in the auditorium at the Ottawa Public Library, Main Branch, the Historical Society of Ottawa hosts a presentation by Jean-François Lozier, Curator, Canadian Museum of History.

Hatpins & Defiance: The Battle in Ottawa against Regulation 17

The Ontario government in 1912 could not have imagined the outrage that would result when they passed legislation to outlaw French-language education in the province’s schools.

The anger and resistance was no greater than in Ottawa’s Lowertown, scene of the fabled “Battle of the Hatpins” in which dozens of mothers armed with hatpins, brooms, rolling pins, and frying pans surrounded the local school and successfully fended off the police in defence of their children’s right to be educated in their mother tongue.

All are welcome to attend without charge.

Launching today, Tuesday 11 October, Findmypast is opening a new premium subscription option which will include unlimited access to the 1920 census of England and Wales.

As I write this on Monday evening, the Findmypast websites make no mention of it; my source is this panel in the Federation of Family History Societies Really Useful Bulletin, October 2022 Edition No 26.

Existing 12-month Pro subscribers can upgrade for $23.99 US

 

Free to all on MyHeritage, this collection contains 59,552 death records from Newfoundland and Labrador between the years 1950 and 1968. The index entry gives birth and death information with greater detail on the linked certificate image.  

The records are sourced from The Rooms, the Newfoundland and Labrador Archives.

FHS, FMP, FS, FTDNA, FTM — are some of the common abbreviations used by our family history community.  They were included in a list of common abbreviations and acronyms for newer members in the most recent Journal of One Name Studies.

All disciplines have their share of these conveniences, seemingly more abbreviations (OGS) than acronyms (BIFHSGO).

For the military, you don’t need to be told the meaning of RCAF. Beyond that, it rapidly gets complicated.  Terms in a service file, on a soldier’s medals or in a war diary can be terra incognito.

Modern Canadian military abbreviations are found in the 610-page MANUAL OF ABBREVIATIONS, DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE AND THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES (BILINGUAL). The latest online edition is dated August 2018.

Library and Archives Canada offers Military abbreviations used in service files.

For the British military there are long lists of First World War and Second World War abbreviations and acronyms that include Canadian terms.

You can often find lists in military publications like the three pages in Nicholson’s Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1919, starting on page 557

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Canadian protestors hold referendum to annex the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Hilarious. #NAFOexpansion pic.twitter.com/RwAEhsgvPJ

— Marcus Kolga 🇺🇦 (@kolga) October 6, 2022

Top 10 Secrets to Using MyHeritage
Are you using, or even aware, of all the capabilities of the genealogy websites you use?

Why Beechwood?
AmericanAncestors, the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, announced the addition of records for 22 Canadian cemeteries from Canadian Headstones using an image from Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery. It’s not one of the 22!

Ordnance Survey Ireland 19th Century Historical Maps
For nearly 150 cities, towns, and villages in the Republic of Ireland, mostly town plans at either five or ten foot to one mile scale between 1837 and 1896.

Waterfall flowing upwards due to extreme winds 😮 https://t.co/0RFzoTIDSk

— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) October 6, 2022

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Barbara Di Mambro, Brenda Turner, Claire Santry, Dianne, gail benjafield, Glenn Wright, Nick Mcdonald, Sunday Thompson, Teresa, Unknown.