Month: February 2023

Everyone is welcome to an online presentation on Monday, 6 February at 7:00 pm, when Leeds & Grenville Branch hosts  Craig Stevenson on Rail History in Eastern Ontario and its relationship to local history and genealogy.

Craig will discuss a few areas where rail was most visible in local life through to about 1960: stations, agricultural and economic connections, impact on the geography of some communities, and where and how railways connect to social history.

Register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUof-iuqT8rHN2ksY97rGzXOij3sx0fxBkG

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Wonders of Street View

McLachlin Bros. Business Ledgers.
There’s a new blog post about indexes online to some of the names of employees and customers in ledgers of this local business at the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives.

Designing Ethical Self-Driving Cars

AI Generates Obits

Irish Family History Research Day
25 March 2023

Doors open at 8:15 a.m.– close at 4:30 p.m.
The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Dr., Ottawa, Ontario

How Smart Organizations Miss The Obvious
Another excellent post from Dan Gardner at PastPresentFuture.

Meet the Black snowshoers who walked 1,000 kilometres across Canada in 1813

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, corlene Dwyer Taylor, Emma Carey, gail benjafield, Jane E MacNamara, Nancy, Nick Mcdonald, Patti Mordasewicz, Sheila Faure, Teresa, Unknown.

Most researchers of family history in the area now known as Ontario are aware of the existence of Township Papers, a massive collection of Crown Land records at the Archives of Ontario now available to browse at home with your free FamilySearch account. That’s if you can find them.

In two posts Jane MacNamara, on her Where the story takes me … blog provides a roadmap to their use. It removes a fair bit of the agony of identifying the most likely digital microfilm from FamilySearch.

There’s little point in me repeating her explanation in the two posts Untangling Ontario Township Papers and Ontario Township Papers: How to find them. The second contains a huge table that will take you from Township, Lot and Concession to which digital microfilm to start searching by eye – no index available. The one covering the area where I live contains about 1,000 images. I got close fairly quickly, then on to the painstaking image by image examination.

That huge table listing the 541 reels is a godsend. A big hand to Jane! A pity the title Saint Jane is already taken.

Plans for 100,000 sq ft of new space for the British Library, including new exhibition galleries, a bespoke new learning centre and additional event spaces recently moved forward with approval of plans by Camden Council’s Planning Committee.

https://www.bl.uk/press-releases/2023/january/british-library-extension-given-green-light-by-camden-council

Meanwhile, newspaper digitization through a partnership with substantial free content available continues.

It’s unconfirmed, but there’s a Twitter post that:

From 1 April 2023 it will be free to apply for a military service record from the MOD. You’ll need to pay the £30 fee if you submit an application before 1 April.

Again, it’s unconfirmed. There’s nothing on the UK government website Get a copy of military service records but it might be worth waiting if you’re wanting to get a records and can wait. It’s unlikely the access restrictions will be changed.

 

New Northumberland BMBs.

Northumberland Baptisms
Over 13,000 new transcription records from six churches, covering the years 1571-1847. The additions are from:

Bothal, St Andrew (now with 5,121 results)
Earsdon, St Alban (now with 178 results)
Edlingham, St John the Baptist (now with 2,138 results)
Newcastle Upon Tyne, St John the Baptist (now with 499 results)
Rochester, Birdhopecraig Presbyterian (now with 78 results)
Tynemouth, Christ Church (now with 21,316 results)

Northumberland Marriages
The 384 new transcription records are from Newcastle Upon Tyne, All Saints, spanning 1769-1771. The total is now 62,373 results.

Northumberland Burials
The 86 new transcription burial records are for Haggerston, Our Lady and St Cuthbert. This is a Roman Catholic church, built in 1829.

Northumberland & Durham Memorial Inscriptions
A further 5,300 records spanning 505 years have been added to this collection, which cover seven burial grounds across Northumberland and Durham:

Bensham, St Cuthbert (38 transcription results, with images pending)
Dalton le Dale, St Andrew (263 transcriptions, with images)
Southwick, Holy Trinity (430 transcriptions, with images)
West Herrington, St Cuthbert (2,193 transcriptions, with images)
Hexham, St Mary – Roman Catholic (pending)
Horton, St Mary (pending)
Ninebanks, St Mark (pending)

The pending results may be available by the time you read this.

A message via Mike More informed of the passing of Myrtle Johnston “in her 91st year” on 11 January. Myrtle was a mainstay of OGS Leeds & Grenville Branch, most recently as newsletter editor. She was also active in the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada – https://www.uelac.org/Honours-Recognition/bio/Dorchester-Myrtle-Johnston-2017.pdf

Is there a recent unusual spike in deaths? In the UK, which publishes much more up-to-date stats than in Canada “The number of deaths registered in the UK in the week ending 20 January 2023 (Week 3) was 17,912, which was 11.6% above the five-year average (1,864 excess deaths); of these deaths, 881 involved COVID-19.”

Thursday 2 March is the start of the three-day Rootstech 2023. The program is now posted — it’s an amazing, and somewhat confusing array of presentations — some you’ll surely want to catch online for free.

Go to https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/calendar/.

Then go systematically through the three days and the Main Stage or Sessions presentations. You’ll find great speakers and topics of interest to you in both.

Once you register, use your FamilySearch account to do so, I suggest going systematically through and clicking on the plus sign for all those you think might be of interest. That will add them to your “My Playlist”. Then winnow that down to a manageable number. As many will be available to view after the presentation don’t worry if you can’t fit them all into your schedule live.

Here are the contents of the new issue to be available on 16 February.

COVER: In Their Neck of the Woods
Sue Lisk offers suggestions for exploring online local histories to better understand our ancestors’ lives

Researching Modern Ancestors: Unlocking the Life of an English Rose – Part One
Diane L. Richard shows us that researching close family can be difficult, but also rewarding

Newspaper Wins
Erin E. Moulton steps up to the plate to help you to search like a pro

Colonial American Genealogy – Part One
David A. Norris looks at genealogy sources “Olde” and New

BOOK REVIEW: A Guide to Norwegian Genealogy,
Emigration, and Transmigration
Diane L. Richard reviews a new book by Liv Marit Haakenstad

Gibraltar Census Records
David A. Norris reveals the remarkable resources available for genealogists

My Dad Lied About His Ancestry!
Meredith Young Renard recounts how she learned the truth and the reason for the tale

A Laugh at Our Ancestors’ Expense
Robbie Gorr looks at the humorous side of genealogy

Genealogy Questions: Is My House Haunted?
The Allen County Public Library shows you online resources for researching your home

Pound Masters, Hog Reeves and Other Common Positions
Sue Lisk looks at the unusual names given to the positions of some elected officials

Pass Me a Musket: Military Reenactments
Leslie Michele Derrough looks at how participating in reenactments can help you better relate to your military ancestor

Using Online Cemeteries
Karen L. Newman shows how to research families and their church records using online cemeteries

NetNotes
Diane L. Richard looks at websites andrelated news that are sure to be of interest

Photos & Genealogy
Rick Voight: “Have you captured your COVID story?”

Back Page
Dave Obee recommends regularly searching family trees to identify and dispel misinformation

For the Ireland researcher, Shane Wilson has a personal website, a “collection of digitized historic maps for Ireland and Dublin viewable in Google map format, and other Irish Family History resources, including a revised and improved townland database, scans and extracts from a number of directories, a database of Catholic and Church of Ireland parishes as they were during the mid-1830s, Catholic and civil parish links for over 1,000 parishes, and map coordinates to over to 2,000 churches and chapels etc. All free to access….”

https://www.swilson.info/index.php