Month: November 2025

The Untold Stories on Cenotaphs

On Monday evening, at 7:00 pm via Zoom,  a timely presentation for OGS Leeds and Grenville Branch by Blake Seward,

Irish Accent Challenge

Ancestry updates Find a Grave Index Updates

End of month updates for Germany, Norway,  Sweden,  Global, Italy, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, and Mexico,

Archives of Ontario RG 1-100 Patent Plans Update

Ken McKinlay has posted a highly detailed description of the new access to these early Ontario land records.

Reclaiming wellness: Key factors in restoring optimal well-being in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

According to this study reported in PLOS One, one-quarter of older adults with suboptimal well-being can improve to the point of regaining optimal well-being. Strategies for regaining optimal well-being include engaging in an active and healthy lifestyle —such as maintaining a healthy body weight, not smoking, becoming physically active, finding ways to address sleep problems, preventing and managing chronic diseases, maintaining psychological and emotional wellness, and fostering social wellness.

A poem by Thomas Hood

No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon –
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day.
No sky – no earthly view –
No distance looking blue –
No road – no street – no “t’other side this way” –
No end to any Row –
No indications where the Crescents go –
No top to any steeple –
No recognitions of familiar people –
No courtesies for showing ‘em –
No knowing ‘em!
No traveling at all – no locomotion –
No inkling of the way – no notion –
“No go” by land or ocean –
No mail – no post –
No news from any foreign coast –
No park, no ring – no afternoon gentility –
No company – no nobility –
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
November!

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Alison Hare, Ann Burns, Basil Adam, Brenda Turner, Glenn Wright, John Webb, Ken McKinlay, Kyla Ubbink, Leslie Anderson, and Unknown.

 

 

Leicestershire Electoral Registers 1836-1970

This collection of 10,420,906 records documents voters across Leicestershire for over a century. Find names, addresses, years, and districts for residents of Leicester city and the surrounding towns and villages, great for extending the coverage and filling in between censuses.

Leicestershire Monumental Inscriptions

From the 1400s to the 2000s, 414 records for burials in churchyards, cemeteries, and mentions on war memorials. Transcripts and images may reveal other family members buried in the same plot.

Lincolnshire Workhouse Guardians’ Minutes 1837-1902

These 10,529 records document residents and applicants for poor relief. The minutes note out-relief payments, apprenticeships, settlement cases, and doctors who treated sick paupers. The Lincolnshire Family History Society compiled this collection.

Twelve Newspaper Titles

Five new titles join the archive, including Allen’s Indian Mail (London, 1843-1891) and Y Celt (Wales, 1881-1891).

Newspaper Title	Location	County / Region	Years Covered	Number of Issues
Aberdeen Bon-Accord & Northern Pictorial	Aberdeen	Aberdeenshire	1951-1959	442
Allen’s Indian Mail	London	London	1843-1891	1707
Ayrshire Express	Ayr	Ayrshire	1879-1886	209
Chichester Observer	Chichester	Sussex	1986-2004	990
Felixstowe Times	Felixstowe	Suffolk	1937-1962	1336
Montrose Review	Arbroath	Angus	1994-1999	313
Newcastle-under-Lyme Times	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Staffordshire	1938-1950	638
Northern Review	Middlesbrough	Yorkshire	1887-1894	399
Paignton Observer and Echo	Paignton	Devon	1932-1962	1598
Peterborough Evening Telegraph	Peterborough	Northamptonshire	1986-1993	1515
South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times	Mexborough	Yorkshire	1992-2004	670
Y Celt	Bala	Gwynedd	1881-1891	187

I purchased a 150-year-old book at last weekend’s Ottawa Antiquarian Book Show. It had never been read. How do I know? Most of the pages were “unopened”, meaning pages were still connected at the edge.

I’ve had previous experience botching the job of cutting the edge, so I sought advice from the ever-helpful Kyla Ubbink, of Ubbink Book & Paper Conservation. She said I needed a very sharp knife, then offered to do it for me. I was delighted to take advantage of her professional expertise. The knife is at the lower left of the image.