Month: November 2023

A shoutout to an interesting blog post by Dana Leeds (of Leeds method DNA fame). She explains how she has developed her understanding of AI, and more specifically, ChatGPT-4 for genealogy.

Using Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy

Reposting this for those who didn’t see it yesterday.

John Sayers R.I.P.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Indigenous Peoples in the First World War: researching forgotten veterans
Does this suggest to you that WW1 indigenous veterans are more difficult to research than other racial, ethnic or cultural groups?

Natalie Zemon Davis: three brilliant examples of her microhistory writing

27 Headstones That Defied Expectations
None are Canadian! There must be one!

The Ancestor Hunt updates Free Canada Online Historical Newspaper Links

Funding of $1.5 million to support 25 First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation documentary heritage projects
British Columbia was particularly successful this year with seven projects funded, two to the maximum of $100,000. One project mentions genealogy, Stó:lō Genealogy Preservation Project out of Chilliwack, BC, for $43,610. Any proposals not funded would be eligible to be considered for the Documentary Heritage Communities Program, open for proposals until 11 January.

 

We love volunteers; We love self-starters. John Sayers, who passed on 29 October, was both.  Many people, especially those with home child ancestors, were helped to discover their story by John.
A member of the BIFHSGO Hall of Fame, for several years, in the days when BIFHSGO featured discovery tables at monthly meetings, John was there with cheerful advice and English resources.

Read his obituary here.

The Ancestry Ontario death title, which runs from 1869, has been extended to 1949. The information is from the Archives of Ontario, which holds death registrations and the indexes (where they exist) for 1869 to 1951. 

43,641 deaths are included for 1949, up from 42,845 in 1948, 41,984 in 1947, 39,592 in 1946, and 42,195 in the final year of the Second World War. Annual deaths gradually increased running in the thirty-thousands since 1921.

Several upcoming military-themed webinar presentations by Glenn Wright and Ken McKinlay were mentioned at the end of my OGS webinar on Thursday evening. I’ll include those in the regular Tuesday listings

One missed, coming on Sunday evening, is Glenn Wright speaking to the Quebec Genealogical eSociety, part of a “How To” series on Quebec Military. He will explore the major resources — and those not so well known — for researching Canada’s war dead in the two world wars, including digitized and non-digitized archival records, websites and publications.

It’s free to eSociety members, one of the benefits of membership.

 

Westmorland Baptisms
Find 56,692 new transcriptions with full name, baptism date, the place and both parents’ first names. You may also find the father’s occupation and address.

Westmorland Marriages
An additional 62,286 transcriptions added from the 1500s to the 20th century. You can typically expect to learn a name, age and residence, as well as the spouse’s name, age and residence. Some records also list a father’s name.

Westmorland Burials
Find 128,779 new transcriptions for burials between 1500 and 1900, with name, burial date, place, gender and perhaps a spouse’s name.

While the majority of these records are transcriptions, you’ll find register images for some of them.

For each, by a wide margin, the parish of Kendal has the longest time period of record and the most entries. Did people move there to get married, and then to die?

Ontario War Memorials, by Tim Laye – https://ontariowarmemorials.blogspot.com/

Canadian Military Memorials Database (now Military memorials in Canada) –https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/national-inventory-canadian-memorials

Canadian Virtual War Memorial –
https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission
http://www.cwgc.org

Library and Archives Canada: Personnel Records of the First World War
https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx

Library and Archives Canada: Service Files of the Second World War – War Dead, 1939-1947
https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/help/kia

Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry Roll of Honour
https://ppcli.com/the-roll-of-honour/

The Edmonton Journal ($)
https://www.newspapers.com/

UK Military Service and Conflict databaseat Findmypast ($)
http://www.findmypast.com

 

Everyone is welcome.

Registration Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrf-6tqDIvH9PYDkL8xTrOHFBawReg_Ypk

Until 11 November, Ancestry is providing free unlimited searches and views of all their global wartime records.

That includes the following, with over 100,000 records.
U.K., World War II Army Casualty Lists, 1939‑1945
U.K. and Allied Countries, World War II Air Combat Reports, 1939‑1945
Canada, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunteer Militia, 1857-1922
Canada, British Army and Canadian Militia Muster Rolls and Pay Lists, 1795-1850

and many more.

Now, this title has 27,772 entries from over 300 registers of the Foreign Office, series FO, archived at TNA. The entries, transcriptions and images, originate from embassies and consulates, mostly for births, deaths and marriages. The collection is also browsable.
A few other miscellaneous entries for passports, interments, wills, deeds, declarations, oaths, and consular notarial acts may be found.

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Monday, 30 October 2023, to contain 289,338,329 unique entries, up from 289,119,617 on 28 September.
Years with more than 10,000 new entries are for births, 1992-1994, for marriages 1991 – 1993, and for deaths 1990, 1993 and 1995.