Month: November 2022

If you’re reading this after 9 am GMT on 30 November, 4 am EST, ScotlandsPeople should give you access to the 1921 census of Scotland. Don’t try to jump the gun; the site expects to be offline for three hours before the release.

As with the 1921 census for England and Wales, new in this census is information on where people worked.

In preparation, ScotlandsPeople suggests checking your login details, reading the census records online guide and topping up the credits in your account. Census returns cost 6 credits (£1.50) to view.

The census was taken on 19 June 1921, so the release is 164 days after completing the 100th year.

Will Library and Archives Canada take this as a benchmark or the much shorter period between the availability of the 1950 US census and the 1921 census of England and Wales?

The British Newspaper Archive now has a total of  60,154,616 pages online (an increase from 58,888,233 last month).

This month 177 papers had pages added (147 in the previous month). There were 32 (18) new titles. Dates range from 1821 to 1999.

The 27 newspapers with more than 10,000 pages added are:

TITLE	YEARS
Chester Chronicle	1821-1824, 1880, 1883-1888, 1890-1892, 1894-1896, 1898-1913, 1919-1938, 1946-1949, 1952-1957, 1962-1985
Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph	1941, 1945-1948, 1951, 1953-1958, 1960, 1962-1964, 1973, 1976-1981, 1985-1988, 1990, 1992, 1996-1997
Alderley & Wilmslow Advertiser	1897, 1925-1937, 1939-1944, 1947, 1949-1977
Bristol Evening Post	1962-1965, 1970-1972, 1974, 1981
Nottingham Evening Post	1974-1979, 1998
Runcorn Guardian	1940-1941, 1944-1947, 1949-1950, 1952, 1955-1984
Newcastle Evening Chronicle	1921-1925, 1928-1937
Nottingham Guardian	1892, 1956, 1959-1961, 1963-1964, 1967, 1969-1971, 1973
Liverpool Daily Post	1930, 1932-1933, 1935-1937
Cambridge Daily News	1970-1972
Daily Record	1999
Nottingham Evening News	1956-1958, 1960-1963
Hull Daily Mail	1967-1970
Grimsby Daily Telegraph	1998
Brentwood Gazette	1996-1998
Southport Visiter	1996-1998
Royston and Buntingford Mercury	1996-1997
Dover Express	1995, 1997-1998
Burntwood Mercury	1996-1997, 1999
North Wales Weekly News	1996, 1998-1999
Irvine Herald	1996-1997
Bebington News	1995-1997
Sutton Coldfield Observer	1996-1997
Ormskirk Advertiser	1994, 1997, 1999
Esher News and Mail	1938-1939, 1946-1965, 1973-1974
Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser	1997-1998
Dumfries and Galloway Standard	1997-1998

While at the OGS website renewing my membership, I recalled recent information that a new issue of the Society journal Families is available. It’s a benefit of membership that isn’t of particular value to me as I don’t have Ontario ancestry, and it isn’t as “in my face” as when it came by snail mail. I took a look anyway.

It’s available online to members, along with issues back to 1962 when it was known as the Bulletin. You can search the Index from 1962 – 2007. Has any thought been given to making the complete corpus full-text searchable? There must be hidden names and places in the text of interest to many members that haven’t made their way into TONI.

I’ll resist the temptation to spoil the enjoyment and enlightenment you might get from reading the  November 2022 issue. It has these main articles.

The Stover Family in Norwich, Ontario
A Bit About War Brides
Taking Your Genealogical Education to the Next Level
Alan’s Genealogy Lists
Coral’s Corner, Mystery Photos, and more!

In her managing editor’s column Heather McTavish Taylor, now returned from other OGS duties, states her goal is “to evolve Families into a much anticipated, “must-read” journal for our members in the future.” A new working group for Families, made up of members, is in place to help steer the direction for the journal.

Scanning some past issues, it’s evident its nature has changed. Back in August 2006, the last and only time I published an article in Families, it was more “academic” with many citations. Is that what Families readers want today?

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) holds many sources for researching home children as described in a revised 54-page research guide. It includes resources at other institutions in Canada and the U.K., as well as at LAC. There is also background information and sources relating to specific organizations and homes.

A section on the children’s lives in Canada should be required reading for those who propagate the idea that Canadian farmers only exploited these young people.

It is commonly known that some of the children were abused, and many were poorly treated by today’s
standards. Many of those stories have been told and are heartbreaking to read.
What is less known is that most experienced a better life in Canada than if they had remained in the
urban slums of Britain, trapped in poverty and held back by a rigid class system.
In Canada, many home children went on to own farms themselves. Others became teachers, carpenters,
doctors, nurses, merchants, secretaries, clergy, tradespeople, politicians and a wide variety of other
occupations. Many enlisted with the Canadian and British armed forces during the South African War
and the two world wars.

You can request a copy of the Home children research guide in PDF format by using via LAC’s Ask genealogy a question form.

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 29 NOVEMBER

2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, Ottawa Branch OGS
https://meet.google.com/nvz-kftj-dax

2:30 pm: The Home Archivist: Preserving Your Ancestor’s Records Like a Pro!, by Melissa Barker for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center,
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7465721

WEDNESDAY 30 NOVEMBER

7 pm: Our Land, Our People: The Algonquins, by Merv Sarazin for Historical Society of Ottawa.
https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/80/16,17,19,21/our-land-our-people-the-algonquin

THURSDAY 1 DECEMBER

6:30 pm: Forensic Genealogy: Law and Order Meets Family History, by Michael Brophy for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center,
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7574742

7 pm: When You Do not Sync – Tracking Your Documents Between Online Trees and Desktop Software, by Linda Debe for OGS.
https://ogs.on.ca/zoom-meetings/linda-debe-when-you-dont-sync-tracking-your-documents-between-online-trees-and-desktop-software/

FRIDAY 2 DECEMBER

SATURDAY 3 DECEMBER

10 am: The No. 10 Stationary Hospital: A Remarkable Unit of Londoners in the First World War, by Paige Milner and Abigail Parsons for London & Middlesex Branch OGS.
https://londonmiddlesex.ogs.on.ca/events/london-middlesex-branch-the-no-10-stationary-hospital-a-remarkable-unit-of-londoners-in-the-first-world-war/

After an extended hiatus, since 4 June, the FreeBMD Database for England and Wales was updated on Friday, 25 November, to contain 28,6767,365  unique entries (285,217,675 at the previous update). That’s 1,549,690 unique records added to FreeBMD, the vast majority from 1987 to 1993

Years with changes of more than 10,000 additions are: for births 1990-92; for marriages 1991-93; for deaths 1987-88, 1990-93.

A reminder that FreeBMD is one of three transcription databases in the FreeUKGenealogy family.

FreeREG aims to provide a free finding tool with internet searches of baptism, marriage, and burial records transcribed from parish registers, non-conformist records and other relevant sources in the UK.

FreeREG currently has 56,642,564 records, 27,771,361 baptisms, 8,533,394 marriages, and 20,337,809 burials. From England, Wales and Scotland, and a few from Ireland. Over 10,000 records were added in the most recent 24 hour period reported.

FreeCEN provides free internet searches of the UK census returns for England, Wales and Scotland. In total 11,144 of the 68,935 census piece between 1841 and 1911 are on the database.  51 pieces were added in the last 30 days.

Thanks to Andrew Turvey and Denise Colbert for the notification of the FreeBMD update.

 

Sandra Roberts from Global Genealogy told me that two books frequently requested, but long out of print are now reissued.

Valley Irish (Ottawa Valley – Carleton, Lanark & Renfrew Counties), by Carol Bennett-McCuaig & D. W. McCuaig

“… documents the Irish settlement in the old District of Bathurst (part of the modern counties of Carleton, Lanark and Renfrew), drawing on the history of nineteenth century Ireland to explain why the people left their native land, and how these events affected the Ottawa Valley. In addition, she has profiles a cross-section of the old families of the area.”

and

In Search of Lanark, a historical overview of its towns, villages & townships (Lanark County, Ontario), by Carol Bennett-McCuaig & D. W. McCuaig

“… a historical overview of Lanark County’s towns, villages and townships. Each community’s chapter features a written historical sketch by Carol Bennett-McCuaig and photos of interest by D. W. McCuaig. Many individual settlers are mentioned as are noteable persons and families.”

Way back in October 2015, on the old Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections website, I mentioned  CemSearch, “a comprehensive compilation of thousands of burial plots in hundreds of cemeteries from around an area stretching as far north as Haliburton, east to Napanee, and West to Bowmanville.”

At the time, it had 381,895 cemetery transcriptions for those buried in the 10 county area.

Today the coverage is 446,382 cemetery transcription from 931 cemeteries in a 26 county area. Included are 39,557 monument photos. There are even a few cemeteries from Connecticut, USA.

The latest addition to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission YouTube channel is the Silent Cities series.

“

On Monday evening, 28 November at 7:30 pm, catch Toronto Branch’s last meeting of the year, the annual celebration of Great Moments in Genealogy. Eight branch members will share highlights of their family history research.

Presenters will be:
Janice Nickerson: Barking up the Wrong Tree
Debi Eatherly: My Great Grandfather, the Imposter, a.k.a. Joseph Eatherley: (mystery?)
Margaret Kipp: Endogamy is Us
Patricia Blackstock: Digging Deep Into Family Research
Bev MacCulloch: The Irish Registry of Deeds
Debbie Hewitt: More about my Maternal Line: Beyond the Census and BMD certificates
Michael Nettleton: The Addams Family
Georgie Kennedy: Reunited, and it feels so good!

Register to attend via Zoom, free at: https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/great-moments-2022/

It’s a hybrid meeting — in person at Lansing United Church at the corner of Beecroft Road and Poyntz Avenue, Toronto.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Digital revolutions: The limits and affordances of online collections.
A preprint of a book chapter by Australian Tim Sherratt, who writes “How do we discover relevant resources? What gets digitised and why? How can researchers use these collections to ask new types of questions? After more than 25 years, the web has its own history. What problems and possibilities has it brought to understanding of the past?” Goes in-depth into the situation in Australia, presented as an island entire of itself.

10,000 Step Myth

International Institute for Genealogical Studies
As announced at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies Winter graduation ceremony online, as of 2023, the institute will be rebranded as the International Institute for Genealogical Studies.

Why we feel like Christmas comes around more quickly each year

LAC Preservation Storage Facility
You probably saw the announcement of the official opening.
Does anyone else find the building ominous? Will LAC one day get over it’s fascination with new buildings – nitrite film storage, preservation storage, shared building with the Ottawa Public Library, and put as much effort into a virtual facility to enhance access across Canada.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Barbara Di Mambro, gail b., Glenn W., Teresa, Unknown.

This is a news post from TheGenealogist.

We have now linked all of our 1881 census records of England, Scotland and Wales to our powerful Map Explorer™ so that users can see the locations of houses plotted on georeferenced historic and modern map layers.

Unique to our website, viewing a household record from the 1881 census will now show a map pinpointing its location. Clicking on this pin opens Map Explorer™, enabling subscribers to explore the area and see the records of neighbouring properties.

With this new release, family and house historians are able to research the streets, lanes and neighbourhoods in which their ancestors lived at the time of the 1881 census. Joining earlier releases that saw the 1911, 1901 and 1891 census linked to the powerful mapping tool, researchers can easily identify with just the click of a button where their forebears once lived.