The 31st Scottish Indexes Conference, online, will be held on Saturday, 31 January 2026.

On the programme are:

‘How did my Scottish ancestors get married?’ by Tahitia McCabe, Head of the Strathclyde Institute for Genealogical Studies

‘Taking The High Road’ by Andrew Armstrong, genealogist at Relatively Scottish

‘The Edinburgh Public Dispensary, Patients and Doctors’ by Daisy Cunynghame, Heritage Manager & Librarian at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE)

‘Dive Deeper Into Scottish Church Records’ by Alison Spring, genealogist at Scottish Ancestral Research

‘Crofter ancestors and the Crofters Commission records’ by Jane Harris, retired genealogist

‘Using DNA for Family History Research – A Beginner’s Guide’ by Chris Paton, genealogist and author

‘Locating Scottish Burial Records’ by Emma Maxwell

Scottish Genealogy Q&A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell, genealogist and co-founder of Scottish Indexes.

Find out more and timing options for your location at https://www.scottishindexes.com/conference.aspx

 

It’s particularly timely this 27 January, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to reflect on the lessons of history.

Given recent shifts in the US social and political landscape, we are reminded that exclusionary rhetoric can erode civil liberties rapidly.

Ancestry has freely accessible holocaust-related databases, and a blog post which increases awareness of them, and the reasons they exist.

Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time, unless otherwise noted. Registration may be required in advance—please check the links to avoid disappointment. For many more events, mainly in the U.S., visit https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual/

Tuesday 27 January

2:30 pm: “Gone But Not Forgotten”- (US) Military Records and Genealogy, by Kristen Bailey for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/15260880

8 pm: Sorting DNA Matches with MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity, by Shuna Hicks for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/sorting-dna-matches-with-myheritages-theory-of-family-relativity/

Wednesday 28 January

2 pm: Make Easy Video Stories Your Family Will Cherish, by Rhonda Lauritzen for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/make-easy-video-stories-your-family-will-cherish/

8 pm: Foundations in AI for Family History 3 of 5: Using AI Responsibly: Principles and Ethics, by Andrew Redfern and Fiona Brooker for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. (Legacy FTW Members Only)
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/foundations-in-ai-for-family-history-3-of-5-using-ai-responsibly-principles-and-ethics/

Thursday 29 January

6:30 pm: No Documentation, No Problem! Leveraging Context,
Relationships, and DNA to find Harry’s Father, by Linda McCracken for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/15266087

Friday 30 January

Saturday 31 January

For several months, I’ve been puzzled by what is showing as recently added to FamilySearch Full Text Search.  So I asked ChatGPT.

You are an expert on the FamilySearch.org website. Why at FamilySearch.org, when I call up the list of Full Text Seach databases do I most often see a list with the latest being Brazil, Minas Gerais, Legal, 20 October 1923, last updated on 9 October 2025. Very occasionally there are many more shown for subsequent dates.

The interesting response is below.

What you’re seeing is a quirk of how FamilySearch serves and caches the “Full-Text Search” collections list, not a reflection of what actually exists or what has most recently been indexed.

Here’s what’s going on, based on how the site works internally and what many experienced users have observed.

---

1. The list you see is not a live, complete list

The Full Text Search → “Browse all published collections” view is not dynamically generated each time you load the page.

Instead:

• FamilySearch serves a cached snapshot
• The snapshot often reflects the last batch update that was fully propagated
• That snapshot frequently stops at:
  “Brazil, Minas Gerais, Legal, 20 October 1923 – last updated 9 October 2025”

That entry has effectively become the “default top of list” in the cached dataset.

---

2. Why you sometimes see more recent entries

When you occasionally see many newer entries appear, it’s usually because:

✔ A cache refresh occurred

FamilySearch periodically refreshes:

• CDN caches
• regional mirrors
• internal API responses

During that window, the UI briefly shows the true current dataset, including:

• newly released AI-indexed collections
• additional jurisdictions
• more recent “last updated” dates

Then the system often reverts to the cached list again.

This is not user error and not browser-related.

---

3. Why this happens specifically with Full Text Search

Full Text Search is still:

• relatively new
• computationally expensive
• backed by a different infrastructure than classic indexed records

Unlike standard collections:

• Full Text collections are generated by AI text recognition
• They are published in rolling batches
• The metadata feed lags behind the actual indexing work

So the public list you see is:

a presentation layer, not the authoritative backend list.

---

4. Why Brazil, Minas Gerais keeps appearing as “latest”

That collection:

• Was part of a large, stable batch
• Has a clean metadata record
• Was among the last fully synchronized updates before a backend change

It has effectively become the anchor record for the cached list.

It does not mean:

• no newer collections exist
• indexing has stalled
• Brazil is receiving special treatment

---

5. How to reliably see newer Full Text material

Instead of relying on the list page:

✅ Use Search → Full Text directly

Search by:

• Place
• Keywords
• Year ranges

You will often retrieve material not shown in the list.

✅ Use the catalog

Some Full Text collections appear only via:

• Catalog → Place → Record type
• Then open images and check for “Search inside images”

✅ Use collection URLs directly

If you follow links from:

• FamilySearch blog announcements
• Wiki pages
• Recent user forum posts

…you’ll often access collections not visible in the main list.

---

6. Why this hasn’t been “fixed”

In short:

• The Full Text system is still evolving
• Priority has been on indexing and OCR, not UI polish
• The list page is not considered mission-critical internally

FamilySearch staff have acknowledged in forums that:

“The Full Text collection list does not yet reliably reflect all available content.”

---

Bottom line

✔ You are not imagining it
✔ It is not your browser or account
✔ It is not date-sorted correctly
✔ The list is partially cached and incomplete
✔ Newer material does exist even when not shown

If you like, I can show you:

• how to surface hidden Full Text collections
• how to tell if a film is Full-Text indexed
• how to exploit Full Text search for legal, probate, or parish records
  — especially useful for UK, Irish, and Canadian research

Just say the word.

Because AI can hallucinate, I ran the same query with Gemini and Perplexity. Perplexity suggested refreshing the list with Ctrl+F5, which worked some of the time. In Windows browsers like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Ctrl+F5 clears temporary files for the specific page and forces a complete reload. However, getting an up-to-date list of what’s on Full Text Search remains hit-or-miss.

The lesson for me is that it’s worth trying the same prompt across multiple AI sites.

 

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

Neuroscience Explains How and Why Humans Should Hibernate a Little in Winter

I’m confused.
Four Canadian authors published a study in Plus One with the first line of the abstract, “Race is a critical variable in understanding health disparities, yet health databases lack consistent practices for identifying race.”

Yet we’re told “There’s no such thing as Race.”

How George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four predicted the global power shifts happening now

Humans returned to British Isles earlier than previously thought at the end of the last ice age

Celebrating Burns Night?

For those who need help – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_to_a_Haggis

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Anonymous, Barbara May Di Mambro, Brenda Turner, Gail, Kathryn Lake Hogan, Teresa, Unknown, Vaughn Thurman, William Cookman.

The focus this week is on maritime history and Berkshire ancestors, featuring an expansion of Royal Navy records alongside thousands of new parish entries from the “Royal County.”

British Royal Navy Records
British Royal Navy Casualty Logs (1939-1945): 16,503 records added. Created in partnership with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, these logs document ships lost or damaged during WWII. They provide vital details on incidents such as enemy attacks and collisions, often listing the names of shipmates and specific injuries.

British Royal Navy, Submarine Movement Cards: 1,436 records added. These cards cover 1916 and trace the movements and postings of submariners during the First World War. They are essential for reconstructing an ancestor’s service across various boats and shore bases.

Berkshire Parish Records
Berkshire Baptisms Index: 1,255 records added. These transcripts cover baptisms from 1538 to 1921 and can reveal parentage, residence, and, occasionally, unique social details, such as whether a child was a foundling or an orphan.

Berkshire Marriages Index: 1,796 transcript records added. This update includes records from 1538 to 1933, offering potential insights into occupations, witnesses, and parental consent for those who married before age 21.

Newspapers
The newspaper archive sees 238,144 new pages this week, many older issues from the 19th century. Notable is 48 issues of the Sherborne Mercury from 1789.

There are five new titles to explore, including a unique theatrical publication, alongside significant updates to existing regional favourites.

New titles and significant updates of interest for those with roots in the following areas include:

Yorkshire & Lancashire: New pages for the Bridlington and Quay Gazette and the Bootle Times.

Scotland: Large updates for the Edinburgh Evening News (over 1,500 issues) and the Sunday Post in Glasgow.

London & The South: The addition of the Cicerone and Record of the Drama, Music and the Fine Arts, along with the Clapham Observer and Harwich & Dovercourt Newsman.

Midlands & East Anglia: Significant expansions for the Heanor Observer in Derbyshire and the Thetford & Watton Times.

Isle of Man: New coverage for the Ramsey Weekly News spanning 1890 to 1904.

Well known to those of us with British (English) ancestry, Peter passed on Monday, 19 January.

Peter launched Lost Cousins, an online family history website and matching service that connects genealogists who share common ancestors by comparing entries from key census and historical records, in 2004.

He ran Lost Cousins, largely single‑handedly, while also writing widely read newsletters and giving talks on DNA testing and family history methods.

Peter also organized Genealogy in the Sunshine events in the Algarve.  I had the privilege of participating in 2015 and giving talks. It was one of my most memorable genealogy events, even if the weather didn’t quite live up to the billing.

My condolences to Peter’s family and friends.

Read more from Peter’s partner, Sian, at https://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters2/Jan26deathnews.htm

The next couple of days are forecast to be very cold in Ottawa, likely the coldest nights of the year. Here’s the forecast from the Meteorological Service of Canada.

Another source is predicting -32°C.

Based on the long-term average, Ottawa is past the 21st and 22nd of January, which are the coldest days of the year.

The record minimum temperatures for each day of January are below -30 °C. It may seem particularly cold this year as the past couple of winters have been warmer than average.  In 2025, the coldest temperatures ranged from -25°C to -27°C in late January and early February. In 2024, Ottawa experienced an unusually mild winter, with temperatures rarely dipping below -20°C. The last time the temperature dropped to -30°C or below was 4 February 2023, when a low of -33.1°C was officially recorded at the airport.

The latest extended forecast also shows a gentle warming, perhaps better expressed as a less-cold trend into February.

Ancestry has updated this collection, now with over 653,000 records from graveyards across Scotland.

Created by Scottish Monumental Inscriptions, the database typically includes death dates and burial locations, but may also contain birth dates, spousal and children’s names, residences, occupations, and full inscription text. Most entries are from the 19th and 20th centuries, when stone monuments became affordable across all social classes.

So far this month  FamilySearch has added three Canadian (Quebec) Collections to its Full Text Search.

	Collection Title	Records	Last Updated
	Canada, Quebec, Legal, from 1826 to 1889	21,778,245	14 January 2026
	Canada, Quebec, Others, 1969	5,340,040	14 January 2026
	Canada, Quebec, Deaths, from 2008 to 2011	635	8 January 2026

Although nothing has been added for the UK or Ireland, FamilySearch has been busy, adding 196 titles. Here’s an Ai-generated summary of the additions.

1. Major Regional Highlights

• Philippines: Massive updates across dozens of provinces (Cebu, Metro Manila, Iloilo, etc.). Most are Legal records ranging from the mid-1800s to the late 20th century.

• Brazil: Extensive coverage of Civil Registration and Catholic Church Records for almost every state (São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, etc.), with many records extending into 2023.

• United States: Significant focus on Biographies, Legal, and Property records. Notable large collections include Kansas Legal records ($3.5M+$ records) and New York Legal records ($27M+$ records).

• Portugal: Broad updates to Catholic Church Records across various districts like Coimbra, Braga, and Vila Real.

2. Largest Collections by Record Count

If you are looking for the most “searchable” new data, these are the heavy hitters:

Collection Title	Record Count
United States, New York, Legal (1985)	27,121,873
United States, Military Service (0001-2012)	32,007,492
Canada, Quebec, Legal (1826-1889)	21,778,245
United States, Oklahoma, Legal (1907-1959)	7,912,817
United States, California, Deaths (1972-1973)	7,065,301
Venezuela, Catholic Church Records (1577-2022)	6,380,292

3. Notable “Deep History” Records

Several collections date back exceptionally far, which is rare for digital indexing:

• Spain, Sevilla, Municipal Records: Dates back to 1293.

• Netherlands, South Holland, Legal: Dates back to 1314.

• Portugal, Civil Records: Dates back to 1437.

• Italy, Puglia, Births/Marriages/Deaths: Comprehensive sets from the mid-1800s to early 1900s.

UPDATED BELOW

The Arolsen Archives is the largest archive on victims and survivors of Nazi persecution, sharing knowledge and promoting active remembrance and democracy.

Ancestry’s two new databases are:

Index to Tracing and Documentation Files from Arolsen Archives (Formerly ITS), 1947 (in German)
An index of approximately 1.5 million records that document inquiries to Arolsen about people who had been impacted by the Holocaust. Records, in the language of origin, may include the following information:

Name, including any known aliases
Date of birth
Record number
Database number
Arolsen file number

Arolsen Concentration Camp Lists, 1939-1944 (in German)
This collection contains 8,137,272 records of concentration camp internees who were held captive by the Nazi Regime during World War II. Most records came from Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenburg, Mauthausen, Mittelbau-Dora, Natzweiler-Struthof, or Neuengamme; but records from other concentration camps are also present. Types of records available include:

Transports lists
Registers
Death certificates
Death reports
Witness records
Prisoner records
This collection is multilingual. Most are in German, but you may also encounter records written in English, French, Czech, or other languages.

Records may include the following information:

Name
Age at registration
Nationality
Occupation
Religion
Date and place of birth
Date of arrival
Name of concentration camp
Prisoner number
Type of prisoner
Role within the camp
Rank and Unit
Date of departure
Date and place of death
Age at death
Names of family members

Linked images of the original are available. ChatGPT and Gemini will provide a transcription and translation, to be treated with caution.

How long until Ancestry starts producing a similar collection for victims of ICE?

UPDATE
Ancestry has asked I make it clear that the Arolsen databases are free.  They do require a searcher to be logged in to their Ancestry account, which can be a free account.