Month: December 2022

I often feel like I’m shortchanging the editors and contributors in listing only my highlights of magazine issues.  There’s content on every page of interest to someone, maybe you. But not every item speaks to me. So below, after pointing to two highlight articles, I’m reproducing the complete contents page from the January issue of Family Tree. As you can see from a glance at the cover, it is designed to attract the Christmas shopper.

Who Would Be King or Queen? details what is known about descendants of many of the kings and queens back as far as Alfred the Great. It also looks are the various parts of the UK and Ireland when they had their own royal lines and how things might have changed if the rules of sucession had been different including for illegitimate children. There are many cases where there was no surviving child, and also many where there were multiple survivours.

Statistically we’re all descendants of Charlemagne, and there’s a high probability of descent from Edward I as younger children and their descendants married outside the aristocracy.

The article has a section referring to a gateway ancestor, one who has a well documented, and hopefully accurate, pedigree. That’s a term I’d only previously heard referring to some early US settlers. The same could be true in the UK, but the example given is a US person with links to royalty in the UK.

Printed adjacent to the article is an ad for the new second edition of the book The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States, by Gary Boyd Roberts, available from genealogical.com.

Graham Caldwell’s case study A big birth cover up
Exposed… 139 YEARS LATER! includes the tips that a surname given as a middle name of an illegitimate child could be the father’s surname;  if you find a mystery baby on the census the address might turn up other clues and; British travel distances between locations can be found searching Google maps or directly from the Google search page usingDISTANCE address + UK TO address + UK which brings it up, and a map. That works for Canada too.

Paul Chiddicks (@chiddickstree) is a regular contributor to Family Tree Magazine. Two of his recent tweets, the first referencing his blog post Casualty Clearing Stations During WW1, the second where he highlights “the wonderful @BIFHSGO volunteer project No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station https://t.co/qlgxvLilpq, reminded me of another WW1 medical resource.

At a recent webinar, “The No. 10 Stationary Hospital: A Remarkable Unit of Londoners in the First World War” from the London-Middlesex branch of OGS, Ken McKinlay posted a comment referencing a LAC resource, Record of service — Overseas Military Forces of Canada medical units.

While many are bare-bones histories, some records, those indicated by “narrative,” are more substantive.

Given the number of battlefield injuries, there’s a good chance anyone in the CEF would have been treated at one of the facilities. If you know which one he was treated at, use the resource to gain additional insight on that aspect of his service and probably will lead to further resources.

Here is a press release from TheGenealogist.

Over 629,000 Chelsea Pensioner Records are now on TheGenealogist – Many searchable for the first time!

TheGenealogist has been extending its ever growing Military records collection with a fascinating new record set for its Diamond subscribers, with high quality scans of the document pages and boasting more than 629,527 historic records for Chelsea Pensioners from 1702-1933.

The records in this release include registers, admission books, ledgers and so on that relate to army pensioners and the payment of pensions to these individuals. The majority of the records relate to pensions payable by the Commissioners of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, to either in-pensioners or out-pensioners.

Read TheGenealogist’s article: The Old Soldier
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/the-old-soldier-1641/

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

This is vastly more entertaining than it sounds
The embedded video on the London Underground and its iconic map, from a blog post by Persephone, is sure to amuse.

Today is Statute of Westminster Day

Virtual Tour of Juno Beach & Bunkers
Free. You’re invited to discover Juno Beach and the remains
of the Atlantic wall from the comfort of your own home
with the JBC’s new virtual tour!

‘The most chaste and correct specimen of its style in the kingdom’: Joseph Bonomi the Elder (1739 – 1808) and Rosneath House’
A scheduled presentation from The Friends of the Argyll Papers ($).

Ancestry has updated their UK and Ireland, Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current to 6,676,265 records, and
Canada, Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current to 8,424,860 records.

Canada’s journalism community urges fix to federal freedom-of-information system

I spy with my little eye. 
If you’ve had a cataract operation, this is one you may enjoy — another by Persephone.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Bruce Murduck, Christine Jackson, Dena Palamedes, Gail B., Paul Milner, Persephone, Teresa, Unknown.

How Canada is Helping Ukraine (loud)

Here’s a nine-year perspective drawing on data from annual returns filed with the Canada Revenue Agency. It includes years no longer online from the CRA that were included in previous blog posts.

It’s the reduction in both revenues and expenditures in 2020 and 2021 that stand out for the Ontario Genealogical Society. It’s likely not speculating too wildly to link that to the pandemic. With in-person events cancelled there was no need to hire meeting facilities, and no meeting fees to collect. Those two years had surpluses, a turn around from the previous six years, especially 2018 and 2019. 

As a result the erosion of the asset base was halted. It had peaked in 2018 when assets decreased by nearly 12% owing to the operating deficit. As a rule of thumb societies like OGS should have a fairly liquid reserve fund of 25 to 30 percent of expenditures. OGS was well within that guideline, as long as it didn’t continue. It didn’t.

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, a much smaller organization, showed a similar pandemic reduction in revenues and expenditures in 2020 and 2021. BIFHSGO doesn’t have the fixed expenses of an office and paid  staff of OGS so the reduction is more marked. BIFHSGO had operating deficits from 2016 to 2018, nearly 8 percent of net assets in 2018.

In 2021 BIFHSGO’s net assets were the greatest ever for the nine year period, and probably since the organization was founded.

The organizations don’t exist to have the biggest surplus, or the healthiest amount of assets. An excessive surplus and unnecessarily large asset base may be interpreted to mean the organization is not doing all it could to meet its objectives.

Each year organizations federally registered as charities in Canada for tax purposes are required to file returns with the Canada Revenue Agency. Financial and other information is available on the Revenue Canada website.

Search for individual society reports at
https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en.

In their most recent reports, the British Columbia Genealogical Society reported an exact balance. The Victoria Genealogical Society reported a $2,820 deficit. All others reported surpluses.

The individual membership fee appears to have remained stable across the board.

Alberta Genealogical Society

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $590,395 and liabilities of $175,854. The total revenue was $188,456. Expenditures totalled $183,798. The individual annual membership fee remains $50 for digital journal subscription, $60 for paper. 

British Columbia Genealogical Society

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $233,931 and liabilities of $37,201. The total revenue was $29,895. Expenditures totalled $29,895 (sic), The individual annual new membership fee remins $65. 

Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $80,912 and no liabilities. The total revenue was $35,743. Expenditures totalled $27,526. The individual annual membership fee remains $42.

Manitoba Genealogical Society

For the reporting period ending 2022-03-31, total assets of $87,173 and liabilities of $13,100. The total revenue was $ 69,300. Expenditures totalled $ 58,815. The individual annual new membership fee remains $50.

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $225,680 and liabilities of $12,342. The total revenue was $71,388. Expenditures totalled $48,791. The basic individual annual new membership fee is $40.

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $1,577,182 and liabilities of $271,019 The total revenue was $552,102. Expenditures totalled  $518,402. The individual annual membership fee remains $63.

For the reporting period ending 2021-07-31, total assets of $24,235 and liabilities of $7,260. The total revenue was $43,066. Expenditures totalled $31,269. The individual annual fee remains at $75.

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $232,273 and liabilities of $117,868. The total revenue was $240,443. Expenditures totalled $227,656.  Individual basic annual membership remains $70.

For the reporting period ending 2021-12-31, total assets of $1,049,135 and liabilities of $90,132. The total revenue was $197,305. Expenditures totalled $159,482.

For the reporting period ending 2022-05-31, total assets of $49,864 and zero liabilities. The total revenue was $25,410. Expenditures totalled $28,230. Individual annual membership remains $60.

Check back tomorrow for a history of the financial health of the BIFHSGO and OGS.

 

Here’s a free presentation you need to catch if you have genealogical interests around Belleville, Ontario,.

The Lakeshore Genealogical Society, not affiliated with OGS, is offering this Zoom presentation on Monday, 12 December at 7 pm.

Amanda Hill, Archivist of the Community Archives of Belleville and Hastings County will give an in-depth look at how to use the various online platforms where they share their information and tips on how to get the most out of their resources. They have 15,000 photos online and are presently working on digitizing over 100 years of Hastings County newspapers.

All are welcome but pre-register at lgsregister@gmail.com

The biggest Findmypast addition of the week is 7,795 burial records for the Kent communities of:

Stone-next-Dartford, 1899-1925
Swanscombe, 1895-1925
Greenwich Royal Hospital, 1815-1830

Two other additions are a bit of a mystery:

2,804 marriages and banns, and 2,655 baptisms for a community described only as “St. Paul’s Church, Devon Drive” in Kent.

More substantive is the addition of The Echo (London) from December 1868 to December 1905, including birth, marriage and death notices.

Saturday, 10 December, sees the final monthly meetings of 2022 for both the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa  (BIFHSGO) and the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, otherwise known as Ontario Ancestors (OBOGSOA OBOGS.)

BIFHSGO
“Saturday, 10 December 2022 – Join us in person or online!
Join us in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar and Elgin) in Geneva Hall. Please use the Garden Entrance on Elgin Street. Limited free street parking is available on Saturdays, and the City Hall Parking Garage is available for $2.00. In addition, within walking distance are two LRT stations – uOttawa (take the footbridge at Somerset) and Parliament. Those attending in-person do not need to register in advance. We will have coffee and festive goodies available!

To join us online, register HERE

9:00 am – 10:00 am: Christmas Social and Show & Tell
We will begin the day with our annual Christmas Social, a time for conversation and exchanges of information with our fellow genealogists. This is the first time we have been able to enjoy our Social in person since 2019, so we are looking forward to this with excitement.
Show & Tell. Do you have a holiday story to share? Perhaps you have an ornament, tradition, or holiday heirloom that has been passed down to you by an ancestor. Or, have you found a way to gift your family history stories to others? This will be an open forum session with opportunity for people both in the room and online to participate… and of course there will be Christmas treats to share.

10:00 am – 11:30 am: Great Moments
Maggie McConkey – what became of you? – Presenter: John McConkey
Born in 1883, Maggie was the illegitimate daughter of John’s great granduncle, George. As a young child she lived with her mother in London. Meanwhile, George returned to his birthplace in Ireland. By the 1911 census, Maggie is living with George in Bangor, Co. Down. She is still in Bangor when George dies in 1917 and is the main beneficiary of his estate. Then the trail goes cold: Did Maggie return to England, or remain in Ireland? Did she re-establish contact with her mother? Did she marry and have children? John describes how these puzzles were solved.
John was born in England. After emigrating to Canada, he worked for Nortel Networks in Ottawa. He has been a member of BIFHSGO since 2006 and served two years as Director of Research and Projects.

The Wright Way – Presenter: Duncan Monkhouse
Upon starting family history, there are always brick walls. One of Duncan’s he inherited from his mother was John Charles Wright. Duncan will explain what the brick wall was and how it was finally broken down.
Duncan worked as an investigator for the federal government. This interest in prying into others’ lives led to his interest in genealogy and searching for record gems in many different archives. He served BIFHSGO as president and Co-Chair Program for the annual conference, and remains on the Board in the position of Past President.

Ella’s Story, The Final Piece: Time and Place – Presenter: Marianne Rasmus
This instalment follows-up on Marianne’s May 2019 presentation about the discovery of the birth mother of Ella Moreland Kerr Rasmus, a Scottish war-bride and the paternal grandmother of Marianne’s husband. She will describe how COVID, the DNA tool WATO (What are the Odds), and the concepts of Time and Place helped identify Ella’s biological father, and – despite several unexpected twists – unlocked the final branch of Ella’s family tree.
Marianne began her family history research in 2008 when expecting the arrival of her first grandchild. She has served on BIFHSGO’s Board, first as Treasurer and currently as Program Director, and also on the BIFHSGO Conference Planning Committee.

OBOGS
You are invited to a Hybrid meeting at 1 pm live in the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (Room 115) and also by Zoom webcast.

Title: The Genealogical Adventures of Lois Long
Speaker: Janet Uren
Lois Long was nearing the end of her long life in June 2017 when she realized that, after 40 years of genealogical work, she had just one ambition unfulfilled – and that was to write a book synthesizing her many discoveries over the years. In the few months remaining before her death, she hired a writer, confided her huge research collection to the care of the Archives of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and entrusted her executors with the task of supervising the project. When she died in August that year, the work was just beginning. It continued over the next two years and resulted finally in the publication of a major work, over 600 pages long, about one of Ottawa’s earliest rural families. Janet Uren, the writer Lois Long hired in 2017, will tell Lois’s story both as a member of Ottawa’s rural community and as a notable amateur historian.

For those attending in person coffee,tea and cookies will be available at 12:30.

If attending online register in advance at  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-qtqj0vEtJHRv8zLB_mdANo1QUG8q9s

 

 

Like all Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Paul Milner’s presentation on Tuesday evening about Lloyd’s of London is available free for a week.

If anyone in your family tree travelled or worked on a merchant ship, Paul’s presentation will unlock facts about the vessel giving context through Lloyd’s online resources.

The presentation is free through 13 December. It continues indefinitely for Legacy Family Tree Webinars subscribers, I just renewed my subscription, along with access to the six-page handout.

Lloyd’s of London: its history and its records for shipping

Three books long out of print are now just revived by Global Genealogy.

In Search of the Red Dragon – The Welsh in Canada, by Carol Bennett, describes Welsh immigration and settlements in Canada, discusses the survival of the Welsh language and cultural institutions in Canada, and tells the story of a number of notable Canadians of Welsh extraction.

If you’d like a preview, Volume 1. No 2, of the BIFHSGO publication Anglo-Celtic Roots included an article The Hidden Welsh of the Ottawa Valley based on the book, along with Welsh Genealogy by Rev Howard R Rokeby-Thomas.

Also newly republished by Global Heritage Press this month are two books by Duncan MacDonald.

Diary of Deaths 1838-1866, (Glengarry County, Ontario) is a detailed transcription of Roman Catholic deaths recorded in the diary of Rev. John MacDonald from 1838-1866. Most records are of deaths of individuals in the Glengarry County area of Ontario. There are also several recorded deaths that occurred at great distances across Ontario, into Quebec and even New York State — presumably of family members of, or people known to the residents of the Glengarry area.

The BREVITY of Father John MacDonald – Tythes, Masses & Notes 1836-1866 (Glengarry County, Ontario) is the companion book of the Diary of Deaths 1838-1866 listed above. When author Duncan MacDonald finished extracting death information from the diaries of the Rev. John MacDonald and publishing them in 1989, he continued to extract information of genealogical interest from the diaries publishing his additional findings in this book in 1993. The result is astonishing. It appears that the good Rev. John MacDonald was a stickler for recording extraordinary detail about his flock.

 

FamilySearch expanded its free online archives in November 2022 with over 46 million new, name-searchable genealogy records from 44 countries, including one expansive database from the world’s cemeteries in Find-A-Grave Index.

For the United Kingdom the focus was on Liverpool with 534,620 Banns and Marriages, 1557-1960, and 722,177 Roman Catholic Parish Records, 1709-1968.

There were no additions for Canada, Ireland and Scotland or Wales.