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 16 August, noon:  Genealogy and Eastern Europe Border Changes, by Edie Adam for Surrey (BC) Libraries/
https://www.surreylibraries.ca/events/genealogy-and-eastern-europe-border-changes

Tuesday 16 August, 2:30 pm: Where They Lived: Immigrant Neighborhoods in US Cities, by Elizabeth Hodges for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6972045

Tuesday 16 August, 8 pm: Finding Fayette’s Father: Autosomal DNA Reveals Misattributed Parentage, by Jennifer Zinck for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-fayettes-father-autosomal-dna-reveals-misattributed-parentage/

Wednesday 17 August, 2 pm: FamilySearch.org – 5 More Links You Have to Try, by Devin Ashby for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/familysearch-org-5-more-links-you-have-to-try/

Wednesday 17 August, 2 pm: Tackle Your Photos Today, by Maureen Taylor.
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/tackle-your-photos2022/1

Thuesday 18 August, 6:30 pm: Ask the Experts: PERSI, for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6972091

Friday 19 August, 2 pm: Tracing Your Alberta Connections, by Dave Obee for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/tracing-your-alberta-connections/

 

There are 134 locations in Canada that have affiliate library status with FamilySearch.  That’s according to this tabulation at the FamilySearch wiki. Ontario has 86, Quebec 19, Alberta 12, British Columbia, Nova Scotia 5 and Prince Edward Island 1.

Don’t take the listing as gospel. The Toronto Public Library is listed once although there’s access at all branches AFAIK., whereas 6 locations are listed in Burlington.

There’s no affiliate library access at all in Ottawa!!!!!

The closest would appear to be Biblotheque et archives nationales Du Quebec- BAnQ Gatineau at 855, boulevard de la Gappe.

There’s also Eastern Ontario access via the Mississippi Mills Public Library – Almonte Branch at 155 High Street, Almonte; Mississippi Mills Public Library – Pakenham Branch, 128 MacFarlane Street, Pakenham; Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group at 222 Dickson St.,  Pembroke; Kingston Frontenac Public Library, 130 Johnson Street, Kingston; and Madawaska Valley Public Library at 19474 Opeongo Line, Barry’s Bay.

According to a recent blog post on Irish Genealogy News:

“The difference between accessing FamilySearch.org from your personal device and searching via an Affiliate Library terminal is that you can access a portion of FamilySearch’s digitised microfilms that researchers cannot view via regular Internet access.

The FamilySearch wiki suggests the Affiliate computer will give you up to an additional 400 million records. So, if your regular computer is showing the camera icon with a key symbol above it alongside the name of the collection you want to search, you probably need to visit an affiliate library. Check with the library before travelling, though, as it’s possible access to that particular collection may be available only at a Family History Center (FHC).”

This Friday is the 80th anniversary of the disastrous raid on Dieppe when over 6,000 Allied troops began the assault on Dieppe. Of 4,963 Canadians 807 died; one hundred more would succumb to their wounds or die in captivity. The Germans captured 1,946 Canadians.

Now the Juno Beach Centre has compiled the home addresses of all those Canadians who perished. About half of those houses still exist today.

At the end of July in the He Lived Where You LIve campaign each address was mailed a unique postcard that shares the name and story of the soldier of Dieppe who lived there at the time of his enlistment.

Those from Ottawa are:

Private Antonio Gariepy of Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, R.C.I.C. (Bolton Street)
Lance Bombardier Ferdinand Herve Lalonde of the Royal Canadian Artillery. (York Street)
Lance Bombardier Lucien Joseph Fournier of the Royal Canadian Artillery, (Lyndale Ave)
Pilot Officer John Edwin Gardiner of the Royal Canadian Air Force, (Clemow Ave)
Signalman Thomas Malcolm Dean of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, (Wilton Cres)

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Inside the Vault: Vinegar Syndrome
A blog post from Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives

Using New Tech to Investigate Old Photographs

Book Review: Letters of the Lost Franklin Arctic Expedition is a significant addition to the Franklin canon

6 Basic Strategies for Searching on Newspapers.com™

Meanwhile, in Ottawa, anxieties are still running high as a mysterious pro-”freedom convoy” group sets down roots in a deconsecrated church. Scroll a little over halfway down at https://www.bugeyedandshameless.com/p/welcome-to-the-new-hyper-normalization

From Imperialism to Postcolonialism: Key Concepts

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Christine Jackson, Donna Jones, Gloria Tubman, Ken McKinlay, Mary Bronson, Mike More, Teresa, and Unknown.

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan saw tens of thousands of young men arriving in Canada.  Not all left after completing their training. Accidents happen.

Pilot-Sergeant Blair Kempton-Werohia was killed when his plane plunged into Lake Ontario 10 miles west of  No 31 Bombing and Gunnery School at Picton. He is buried in Section 29, Lot 1, Grave 130 at Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery, the only grave of a New Zealand airman in the cemetery. He had previously trained at BCATP Stations at Dunnville and Ottawa Rockliffe, where is was awarded his pilot’s wings.

The bodies of two others in the plane, David N Jones and Harry C Pigerham from the RAF, are interred at Picton’s Glenwood Cemetery.

Kempton-Werohia was to have been married the following week to Margaret Mary Humble of Ottawa.

 

 

Here are the contents of the latest issue, due on newsstands on 19 August.

Creeping on Facebook
Robb Gorr looks at using social media to find family information

Tableau
Diane L. Richard looks at newspaper datasets relevant to genealogists

More than the Same Old Song and Dance
Sue Lisk explores websites to help you understand the music of your ancestors

“Analog Google” for the Georgians & Victorians
David A. Norris looks at reference books for home and business

Edward Waugh Atkinson – A Family Anti-Hero
Adam Winstanley looks at online newspapers to enhance family stories

Researching State Archives? Stop! Go Online First
Karen L. Newman says go online before going to the State Archives. A featured look at West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio

AI Tools for Family History Writers
Lisa Alzo looks at AI Tools for family history writers

Scanning Personal Genealogical Records
Ed Storey suggests using simple thumb drives to store your valuable family history data

What They Threw Away
Constance Cherba with Sam and Joe Ashkar examine what our ancestors threw away

Pondering Puzzles
Sue Lisk suggests ways to solve your own family history puzzles

REVIEW: DeepStory
Lisa A. Alzo reviews a new animated storytelling tool from MyHeritage

Genealogical Records at Somerset House
David A. Norris looks at 133 years of the records held at Somerset House in the UK

New York Historical Vital Records Online
Joe Grandinetti looks at finding the Big Apple on the family tree

Tribble: A Family Story
By Donna Potter Phillips

NetNotes
Internet Genealogy looks at websites and related news that are sure to be of interest

Photos and Genealogy
Do you remember the times of your life?

Research Questions from the Genealogy Center
More on Exploring PERSI at the Genealogy Center

Back Page:
Dave Obee suggests sensitivity should be the watchword when asking questions about family history.

Click an underlined heading at  https://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm to preview the first page of multi-page articles.

Short videos from four of the speakers at the BIFHSGO conference,  28 September–2 October 2022 present previews of their presentations at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/in-their-own-words.

Alan Ruston will speak on using maps in family research, Gill Blanchard on parish records about the poor, Derek Blount on the availability of Welsh records, and Ian Waller on ancestors who moved into, around or out of London.

I’m told more are coming.

The North of England is the focus this week.

City of York Electoral Registers 1848-1938
Ninety years of electoral registers, 1.76 million records.

These records will give you a name, place, district and address. However, check the original image, too – you may find extra information such as the type of property and whether it was rented or owned.

Durham Baptisms
Over 16,000 records, indexed and with images of the original, are added to this collection.

These records span  257 years, between 1664 and 1921, and cover 19 churches across the county. These churches include those of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist faiths and even cover the Unitarian Free Church in Sunderland.

Find a full Durham parish BMB list here.

Northumberland Baptisms
The 9,500 new additions to this collection, indexed and with images of the original, brings the total number of records to 758,000.

They cover 1571-1921, a wider span than the previous additions, 11 churches across Northumberland – check out the complete parish list here.

These include Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Presbyterian churches, and the All Saints Dissenter church of central Newcastle. The information will vary from record to record. You may be able to gather parents’ names and occupations, helping you trace multiple generations.

If you’re looking for a Y-SNP test, for yourself or a (possible) male relative along the paternal line, there’s a sale from Family Tree DNA until the end of the month.

Similar discounts are being given on some other tests for men and women alike.

Map Explorer™ from TheGenealogist has been added to Gold and Starter level subscriptions.

“From today, a significant number of databases including 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses, plus TheGenealogist’s Image Archive pictures and along with the Domesday Book 1086,
are now available with pins on georeferenced maps in Map Explorer™. This makes Starter & Gold Subscriptions powerful resources for researchers to see where their
forebears lived, as well as to investigate the neighbourhood and surrounding area.
Accessing Map Explorer™ on a mobile allows researchers to walk in the footsteps of ancestors and discover where homes, schools, places of work and other buildings may once have stood but have now disappeared.
This interface will place a pin on the house using historical data to identify its location where possible or if not, the street or parish on an appropriate map of the area connected to the
record. As this resource makes use of a number of historical and modern maps matching the same precise coordinates, Starter & Gold subscribers are in a much better position to see where their ancestors had once lived even if the area has now changed.

To find out what’s included in the discounted Starter and Gold subscriptions go to www.thegenealogist.co.uk/PRTGAUG22”

Read more about the capabilities at Mapping the records from a PM’s house to the Conqueror’s Manor.

COMMENT.
Considering that many of the records available are also on the three more popular genealogy websites, along with many others, one has to look hard at the benefit of the additional access available on The Genealogist. It must be a takeover target!

Following the Information Commissioner of Canada’s investigation of the failure by LAC in meeting the deadlines set out in the Access to Information Act there is now an action plan.

“This action plan provides the foundation for initiating important changes to LAC-ATIP, but tangible results will still take time.”

You can read the plan at https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/transparency/atippr/Pages/atip-action-plan-progress.aspx . It has three components: Getting back on track, Internal review and improvements, and Engage with external partners on broader issues affecting ATIP.

While the proposed actions make sense, it’s notable that no quantitive measures are included. For those who have requested copies of a Second World War service file, and have waited more than two years, there is no indication of when they can expect to receive it. 

While there is a commitment to “report progress on this action plan on a semi-annual basis,” there is no statement of how many requests of different types are pending and commitment to reporting on the change in the numbers in the semi-annual reports. Without that, will those reports contain anything other than encouraging verbiage?

 

It’s been a long two years.

One of the most valuable, and free, services for family historians is now available again in Ottawa. You get access to records you won’t find at Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage and other commercial genealogy sites. And it is totally free.

Perhaps like me, you missed the announcement.

The Ottawa Stake Family History Centre of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to give its full title, reopened on 29 June.

The facility, at 1017 Prince of Wales Drive, north of the intersection with Heron Road/ Baseline, is now open every Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30 am – 3:30 pm.

I stopped in on Wednesday to see what’s changed.

The entrance, at the back of the building, hasn’t changed much. You need to buzz to be let in.

Inside the layout was familiar. Things appear to have been tidied up a bit with fewer books on the shelves, those now available online have been removed.

Cabinets with locally held microfilms are still there.

Old fashioned microfilm readers are in one room, one of the volunteers on duty was using it.

For a Wednesday morning the computer room with access to the full range of FamilySearch digitial microfilms and other resoirces was comfortably busy. Because of the small space masks are required throughout.

Service disruptions do happen. It’s good practice to phone ahead to 613-800-4250 to check the FHC is actually open.