A quiet day for gen-news is a good time to remind you about RootsTech 2026, the world’s largest family history conference, coming up 5-7 March. That’s just 20 days away.
Those of us reluctant to cross the border can still attend virtually. That also saves the hassle and cost of flights and accommodation.
Find out all you need to know about the more than 200 talks free online at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/
At 11:15 on this date in 1869, Patreick Whalen was hanged in Ottawa for the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee. It was the last public hanging in Ottawa.
James Powell, in a post for the Historical Society of Ottawa, recounts that “Despite a driving snowstorm, people started to arrive at the prison at 9.00 to get a good view of the gallows.” An estimated quarter of Ottawa’s population gathered.
The snow continued. There are no official weather reports in Ottawa for the period. They started in 1872. From newspaper and diary entries, the 7 feet of snow that had fallen so far that winter was compacted so that it could be driven over. William Upton of Concession 2, Lot 5, R.F., Gloucester kept a diary where he mentioned cows getting stuck in the snow. Snow continued. Train travel from Ottawa to Toronto was disrupted by drifting snow and, later, by flooding as the snow began to melt.
For a deeper dive into weather and its impacts, come to my free online presentation, Rain-Soaked Roots: Weather Shaped the Lives of Our British Isles Ancestors, for BIFHSGO on Saturday.
If you could use a hand researching those who passed through the upper Ottawa Valley, from Clara to McNab on the Ontario side and from Eddy to Onslow on the Quebec side, the UOVGG can help.
The UOVGG has a new website and a library at 222 Dickson Street in Pembroke. Some resources have been digitized and are available to members. Membership is just $10.
There’s also an active Facebook presence at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/251504948665394
Findmypast and the British Newspaper Archive have reached the 100 million historical newspaper pages digitized and published online.
The collection dates back to 1699 and includes over 2,700 titles and more than 7 million issues, offering a vast, powerful resource for uncovering vibrant family stories.
To celebrate, Findmypast is offering free access to the entire newspaper archive until 16 February 2026, giving family historians a full week to explore.
Explore the newspaper archive at www.findmypast.com
In case you’re interested, Newspapers.com has 73,857,483 pages in 1,527 UK papers. Old News, from MyHeritage, has 91,424 pages in its UK collection.
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/
2:00 PM: Discovering your Eastern European Ancestors on MyHeritage, by James Tanner for MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/discovering-your-eastern-european-ancestors-on-myheritage/
2:30 PM, Exploring Family History in Rhode Island, by Emma Holmes
for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/15525745
7 PM: Practical AI for Family History, by Cindy Robichaud for OGS Essex Branch.
https://essex.ogs.on.ca/meetings/essex-branch-february-2026-webinar-practical-ai-for-family-history/
7 PM: What Do I Do With All of This Stuff? [Leaving a Genealogical Legacy]
by Alan Campbell for OGS Lambton Branch.
https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/events/lambton-feb-2026-zoom-meeting-with-alan-campbell/
2:00 PM: Searching for Sisters? Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States, by Sunny Morton for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/searching-for-sisters-researching-catholic-nuns-in-the-united-states/
6:30 PM: A Fun Look at Fashion: What Did Your Ancestors Wear? by Stacie Murry for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/15525831
2:00 PM, Breaking the 1870 Brick Wall: Comprehensive Strategies for Tracing Formerly Enslaved African American Ancestors, by Andre Kearns for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/breaking-the-1870-brick-wall-comprehensive-strategies-for-tracing-formerly-enslaved-african-american-ancestors/
BIFHSGO Monthly Meeting
9 AM: Exploring Pictures with AI: the Good and the Bad, by Paul Cripwell
10 AM: Rain-Soaked Roots: Weather Shaped the Lives of Our British Isles Ancestors, by John D Reid
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events
11:00 AM: Breaking Down Brick Walls – The GPS Approach, by Janice Nickerson for OGS Simcoe Branch.
https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/events/simcoe-county-branch-breaking-down-brick-walls-the-gps-approach-with-janice-nickerson/
As I prepare my weather and family history presentation for BIFHSGO on Saturday, Rain Soaked Roots, I’m becoming more aware of the role of water in family history. You don’t get water on land without rain or snow.
199 years ago, in February of 1828, an early thaw and a sudden rise of the Rideau River washed away much of the dam under construction at Hogs Back Falls. In April 1828, spring flood waters washed it away again.
On 11 March 1864, the newly built Dale Dyke Dam broke as it was filling for the first time, releasing a huge volume of water that caused the Great Sheffield Flood. At least 240 people were killed, and hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed. Subsequent dams built to harness the Derwent Valley’s waters flooded centuries-old villages.
In the late 1950s, ten communities in Ontario, many of United Empire Loyalist origins, were fully submerged, along with parts of several others, when dams were built for the St Lawrence Seaway.
A memorable BIFHSGO talk by Jane Down recounted going to Devon to find Shop Farm, where her ancestors had lived. It turned out she was seven years too late, as the land had been flooded for a reservoir. It’s recounted in her article Down Family of Ontario and Devon: Part 2 in Anglo-Celtic Roots, 2015 Vol 21 / Winter.
None of those will be mentioned in my presentation on Saturday. Weather is just too pervasive. To find out more about my Rain Soaked Roots presentation, and the preceding presentation on AI, and to register, go to https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events . It’s free.
| Person | Home | Affiliate | FHC (FSC) |
| WHM | 16 | 28 | 28 |
| PM | 482 | 537 | 544 |
| JR | 1,299 | 1,972 | 2,042 |
| JDA | 51 | 191 | 192 |
| JM | 1,165 | 1,468 | 1,494 |
The median increase at the Affiliate over Home is 53%. At the FHC it is 57%.
When searching for a place name, the Affiliate Library had 28,284 hits, compared to 10,133 at Home and 29,409 at the FHC.
Could one claim to have done a “reasonably exhaustive search”, as required by the Genealogical Proof Standard, unless a search at a Family History Centre was conducted?
Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.
The UK Web Archive is to be restored towards the middle of 2026
Good and Bad News for LAC
On the bright side, the LAC Foundation announces a gift of $5 million by Diane Blake and Stephen Smith to support the digitization, access to and public engagement with Canada’s Second World War collections.
However, Leslie Weir, Library and Archivist of Canada, informs that the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) has been permanently discontinued and that there will be reductions to the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) functions. These measures are the result of federal budget cuts. On 5 February, the Association of Canadian Archivists sent a letter to Marc Miller, Minister responsible for LAC, asking him to “advocate for the restoration of dedicated federal support for community-based documentary heritage work.”
Perhaps through the donation ATIP will be relieved of the task of scrutinizing WW2 service file requests, at least where the person has been deceased for 20 years.
Destruction at the Gaza CWGC Cemetery
I received tips from two sources about this article in The Guardian. It quotes the IDF, “During IDF operations in the area, terrorists attempted to attack IDF troops and took cover in structures close to the cemetery. In response, to ensure the safety of IDF troops operating on the ground, operational measures were taken in the area to neutralize identified threats.” However, given that many of the graves destroyed were Australian, I was impressed by the words of Australian military historian Peter Stanley, “The first need is to stop people in Gaza dying and to provide succour to those who have been starving and suffering for years now: this needs to be kept in proportion.
Cost of UK TV licence fee set for 2026/27
The annual cost of a UK TV licence will rise to £180 from 1 April 2026, in line with inflation.
It’s Amazing I’m Still Alive
How to write a death notice
Forwarded to me by a prominent BIFHSGO member. Timely?
Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Bruce Elliott, Carolyn, Christine Jackson, Dianne Brydon, Gail, Glenn Wright, Ken McKinlay, Lynne Willoughby, Patte Wood, SundayThompson, Unknown.
This week, FMP adds over 1.1 million records from Essex and Suffolk, plus new newspaper pages.
Essex Marriages and Banns, 1537–1935
Over one million marriage and banns records from Essex, transcribed from records held by the Essex Record Office. Original record images are not linked. Each entry typically includes names, residences, occupations, marriage dates and places, fathers’ names, and witnesses.
Suffolk Hearth Tax Lists, 1662–1675
This new collection has more than 100,000 Hearth tax returns transcriptions, no images, from Restoration-era Suffolk, levied twice yearly based on the number of hearths in a property. These lists name taxpayers and those exempted due to poverty, recording the number of hearths, an indicator of wealth and property size.
Newspapers
FMP gets its newspapers from the sister site, the British Newspaper Archive. This week’s five new BNA titles are Wedding Bells (1893), Irish Railway Gazette (1844-1850), Hour Glass (1895-1909), Democrat (1890-1891), and Blackpool Magpie (1879). The largest addition is the Belfast Telegraph with 153,174 pages from 1986 to 1999.
My attention was grabbed by a hint from Fiona Brooker during the Legacy Family Tree Webinars presentation, Foundations in AI for Family History 4 of 5: Smart Tools—AI Helpers for Genealogy Tasks, on Wednesday evening.
Fiona mentioned getting 61 hits when searching at home for an ancestor on FamilySearch Full Text Search. The same search at a Family Search Affiliate Library yielded 91 hits.
I tried it myself at the Ottawa Stake Family History Centre, now officially termed a FamilySearch Centre. Here are the hit counts for five people.
| Person | Home | FHC |
| WHN | 16 | 29 |
| PM | 482 | 544 |
| JR | 1,299 | 2,042 |
| JDA | 51 | 192 |
| JM | 1,165 | 1,494 |
The median is 57% more hits at the FHC.
When searching for a place name, the number of hits jumped from 10,133 to 29,409.
I didn’t have time to do more than sample the hits. One, revealed at the FHC and not found during a home search, was an extensive will left by a wealthy two-time widow who had no children of her own.
I’ll have to remember to try the same searches at an affiliate library. If you try it please pop your experience into the comments.
On 5 February 2026, Ancestry updated two Ontario civil registration databases.
Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1953
Ontario, Canada Births, 1832-1919
Record counts include all indexed individuals, not just the principal (the deceased or the child born).
For further information, refer to the Archives of Ontario page Birth, marriage and death registrations, which was updated on 3 February 2026.
Pro Tip: If you don’t find the entry you’re looking for, check the Browse feature on Ancestry. It’s organized by County or District and Year. Perhaps the year is missing, or the entry isn’t under the name expected.
On 30 January, Canadian Heritage added a file, Military service files for members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and bandsmen and the Newfoundland Forestry Corps (1914-1919). It’s an imaged copy of LAC microfilm T-18517. Find it at https://n2t.net/ark:/69429/m20250000769c7j
There are 1375 images for 32 people, none of which are full-text searchable. There’s a list of names on image 7.
Typically the files consist of attestation papers, medical examination forms, conduct sheets, movement cards, pay documents, medical forms, casualty related forms and correspondence to and from the Department of Militia.
While the equivalent CEF files were stripped of what was considered extraneous information, the correspondence in these files offers a clue to what we are missing in the Canadian files. My sampling revealed correspondence regarding applying for and being denied a service gratuity, and returning a uniform.
