Author: John Reid

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended

Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Tuesday 25 Jan. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.

Tuesday 25 Jan. 2 pm: New Records on MyHeritage, by Mike Mansfield for MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/new-records-on-myheritage-2/

Tuesday 25 Jan. 2:30 pm: Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors, by John Beatty for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6010585

Wednesday 26 Jan. 2:30 pm:  Flappers, flights and freedom: a social history of the 1920s, by Kate Williams for the (UK) National Archives.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flappers-flights-and-freedom-a-social-history-of-the-1920s-tickets-221285630277?aff=hp

Thursday 27 Jan, 7 pm: Optimizing Your Searches on the Internet – It’s More Than FamilySearch and Ancestry, by Maureen Brady for Brigham Young University Family History Library. Click on the link at the time of the webinar byu.zoom.us/j/97185943513?pwd=TkUyRkhucTJPMDVmRUROSm1RbWdlZz09

Saturday 29 Jan. All Day. Family Tree Webinars offers five presentations, fours from their archive, one new, as the first in a series of free monthly online genealogy conferences in 2022.

Speaker	Title
Teri E. Flack	Organization: Create a Finding Aid to Locate Your Records (brand new)
Mary Hill	Get Organized Using the FamilyRoots Organizer Color-Coding System
Cyndi Ingle	Maintaining an Organized Computer
Lisa Louise Cooke	Organize Your Online Life
Thomas MacEntee	You Can Do This: Photo Organizing and Preservation

www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/Conference

 

There were 307,205 deaths in Canada in 2020, the year in which the COVID-19 pandemic began, an increase of 21,935 (+7.7%) over the 285,270 deaths observed in 2019. Life expectancy fell by more than half a year in 2020, the largest single-year decline in Canada since national vital statistics started to be collected in 1921

That’s the lead in Monday’s release Deaths, 2020 from Statistics Canada.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on mortality in Canada, contributing to, but was not the only reason for, the decline in life expectancy.

For the 50-75 cohort the gain in life expectancy since 2016 almost compensated for the loss in 2020.

From 24 January to 5 February MyHeritage is making available, free and unlimited use of In Color™, Photo Enhancer, and Photo Repair tools. 

Read more about the new colourization capability on the MyHeritage blog post.

Here’s my own test using a portrait of Ottawa businessman William Northwood (1844 – 1928) who is likely my distant cousin.

Which would you rather include in a family history?

The feature articles in the February issue.

Who is Britain’s  greatest monarch
Twelve historians tell us who they believe to be the most influential king or queen of the past thousand years.

A national institution
In the second part of our series on the BBC’s history, David Hendy traces the corporation’s journey from happy-go-lucky upstart to national institution.

The Nazis’ Soviet nemesis
Richard J Evans chronicles the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a titanic clash that cost Hitler the war.

Resisting the Romans
Miles Russell on the British tribe that decided that the best way to deal with Rome’s legions was to ignore them.

Detecting the dead
Fiona Snailham and Anna Maria Barry explore Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s obsession with the supernatural.

Lore of the land
From King Arthur to Harry Potter, folklore continues to define British idenüty, argues Francis Young.

A unique Caribbean voice
Stephen Bourne introduces Alfred Fagon, a writer who helped transform black British theatre in the 1970s and 80s.

A book review of George V: Never a Dull Moment, by Jane Ridley, echos his nomination as one of the greatest British monachs.

This photo posted on Twitter shows the memorial at Reading Cemetery to H. G. L. Smith, with the word (SLOPE) beneath the name and the inscription “Sergt Maj Princess Patricia Canadian LI. Died at Boulogne. France. Feb 2ND 1915 of wounds received in action. And laid at rest here, Aged 36. “For Honour and the Empire.”

The tweet pointed out it’s one of the rare cases of being repatriated after death. This is not a situation of the body being spirited away by the family contrary to regulations. The British government’s prohibition on exhumation and repatriation of soldiers remains only came into force the next month, March 1915.

Henry George Leslie Smith has a service file at Library and Archives Canada . He was born in London, England, worked for CN, had served in the South African War, and was medically examined in Ottawa on enlistment. His next of kin was his mother, Sarah Brown, a resident of Reading.

The word SLOPE beneath his name is a mystery. Any thoughts?

While Smith was legitimately returned from France other remains were repatriated without permission, and not just across the English Channel. According to Ottawa Citizen writer Brian Deachman, 65 war dead from Europe returned to Canada contrary to the policy of burying the dead nearby where they fell.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Friends of Friendless Churches

FHF Really Useful Podcast on social media

How to find out about your seafaring Dorset ancestors

Under the Influence: Long Overdue: The Creative Boom of Library Marketing
The long-running Under the Influence program is a personal favourite on CBC radio. Skip past the ads and intro to 2:00.

‘In the name of God, go’

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Anonymous, Beverly A. Craig, Brenda Turner, Glenn Wright, Ken McLeod, Nancy Frey, Unknown.

Leveraging the interest in the 1921 census of England and Wales, this week sees the release of images for the entire year of the 1921 Police Gazette — 152 issues, with 12 or 13 issues published each calendar month. The collection detailed wanted criminals, reported crimes, and apprehensions to police forces across the UK.

I’m puzzled why FHP released these as page images without a full-text search. The printed text looks to be very clear so character and word recognition is easily within the bounds of current technology.

In addition, this week FMP has five new newspaper titles this week – three from England, and two from Ireland – and 72 updated newspapers.

 

Until Sunday, GlobalGenealogy.com
offers 20% OFF on all orders greater than $20. No coupon code required…automatically discounted in shopping cart

The BIFHSGO Family membership category is being phased out. If you have a family membership and want to retain it you need to renew before 31 January 2022.

Also, with the new(ish) website now in place, please activate your BIFHSGO account and update your profile (address, phone number). See Steps to Edit Your Profile for BIFHSGO Members

If you have any questions, please contact the Membership Director.

In this new release find over 72,000 landowner and occupier property tax records, collected by the Inland Revenue’s Valuation offices, for Camden and the surrounding London areas in 1910.

These add Albany, Belsize, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Euston, Grays Inn Road, Highgate East, Highgate West, Kilburn, Priory and Adelaide Parish (Hampstead), St Andrew East, St Andrew West, St Giles East, St Giles North, St Giles South, Saffron Hill, Somers Town and Tottenham Court Road to TheGenealogist‘s collection taken from IR58 originals at The (UK) National Archives.

Read TheGenealogist’s article From showgirl to Dame of the British Empire, at https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/from-showgirl-to-dame-of-the-british-empire-1519/

Here is the complete table of contents for the February issue.

FAMILY HISTORY NEWS
The latest from the world of genealogy, with Rachel Bellerby.

1921 CENSUS FACT-FILE
Top 10 1921 Census FAQs, a crop of fascinating facts revealed about the 1921 Census, and a look at the tumultuous times in which with census was taken, with HelenTovey.

Comment; There’s a lot of information on the 1921 census floating around now, particularly from Findmypast and The (UK) National Archives, Mention in this article is that census forms were distributed from 11 June to census day –  19 June. Sinn Féin attempted to disrupt the census by collecting forms in one area before the enumerator visited to do so. New forms were distributed.

DEAR PAUL
Genealogical miscellanies to revel in with Paul Chiddicks

WRITING THE STORIES OF OUR ANCESTORS
With the help of her daughter and the love of her mother, family historian Sarah Lewis has written a book of her family’s story.

SCOTTISH LAND RECORDS
With maps, surveys and more, Chris Paton will heip you explore.

DOCUMENTING YOUR LIFE, CREATING YOUR LEGACY
Chris Broom takes a look at why now is the time to start keeping a log of what your life is like.

TWIGLETS
Gil Shaw tells us “Catherine’sTale”

INVESTIGATING OUR ANCESTORS’ NAMES
Family Tree Academy tutor David Annal discusses our ancestors’ first middle and surnames, and suggests ideas as to how we can better glean the clues from them,

5 WAYS TO RESEARCH WITH THE GAZETTE — Sponsored
Search for notable ancestor details back centuries.

THE RUMSFELDIAN APPROACH
Engineer Alfred Gracey suggests a practical method for turning unknown facts into know ones.

DISCOVER THE FREE RESOURCES ON SCOTLANDSPEOPLE
Professional genealogist Alison Spring is here to help you learn more.

DNA WORKSHOP
DNA advisor Karen Evans tackles a many-layered reader conundrum.

#RECLAIMJANE
Join family historian and family storyteller Natalie Pithers this February in her free online writing challenge.

SPOTLIGHT ON
The Anglo-Italian Family History Society

BOOKS & Co
Reads to enjoy these winter months.

Comment: The books profiled that looked interesting are Anatomy of a Nation: a history of British identity in 50 documents, by Dominic Selwood and Control: the dark history and troubling present of eugenics, by Adam Rutherford, Also profiled is Army Girls, by Tessa Dunlop which I profiled here.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
The Family Tree team of experts tackle reader research mysteries.

KICKSTART YOUR RESEARCH — Sponsored
Jumpstart your genealogy in 2022 with Ancestry in 5 simple steps

DIARY DATES
Note-worthy events to look forward to this coming February

LETTERS
Readers have their say.

COMING SOON
What’s lined up for the March issue of Family Tree.

SUBSCRIBER CLUB
Find out how to join the FamilyTree Study Club and more

LET’S RAISE A GLASS
To DianeLindsay, and her many happy years of married life.

 

Chris Paton is hosting a series of talks during February sponsored by Family Tree magazine and History Scotland.

Booking is open for a bundle price of £40 for all 5 talks (£35 for magazine subscribers) or £10 ($17 Cdn) for individual talks.

Making sense of the Scottish census, Emma Maxwell, 1 February, 1.30 pm –
Civil cases in the sheriff courts, Fergus Smith, 4 February, 9 am
Using DNA for Scottish family history research, Michelle Leonard, 8 February 1.30 pm
Tracing Scottish women, Kirsty Wilkinson, 17 February, 1.30 pm
Scottish research resources before 1800, Chris Paton, 22 February, 1.30 pm

There’s more information at https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news/scottish-family-history-month-2022/