All historic burial records from Leicester City Council’s cemeteries are now available to view on www.deceasedonline.com.

The records available are for:

Belgrave Cemetery, 15,554 records, from 1881 to 2015, with 49 Commonwealth War Graves.
Gilroes Cemetery, 137,005 records, from 1902 to 2015, with 75 CWG
Saffron Hill Cemetery, 26,250 records, from 1931 to 2015, with 83 CWG
Welford Road Cemetery, 213,400 records, from 1849 to 2015, including 258 CWG.

The records comprise digital scans of all historic burial registers and computerized data for the most recent, maps showing the section in which the grave is located, and grave details for each of the graves and their occupants. Some details on register scans are masked for the last 15 years in order to comply with data protection.

In preparation for Deceased Online are 143,500 records from Gilroes Crematorium dating from 1902.

FTDNA now paints each chromosome according to ethnicity. That’s something 23andme has done for many years. How do they compare?

The FTDNA site results are found under Results & Tools > Autosomal DNA > Chromosome Painting. You choose a colourful painted chromosome image, either Super Population or Continent.  Also available are tabular detailed results. 

In my case, the Continent results are all European, except for regions on chromosomes 1, 9, 13, 14, 15, 21 and 22 which are not assigned.

For Super Population my results, shown in part in the image, have segments for Western Europe, European Jewish (EJ) and Eastern Europe (EE). As I have all UK ancestry, except a Dutch Jewish line from my maternal grandfather, I was expecting to see one of each chromosome pair coloured for EJ ancestry, with maybe EE on the same chromosome.

My results had 11 instances where only one of the pair had EJ painted, sometimes with also some EE. 11 chromosomes were painted with EJ and/or EE on both sides. With EJ/EE on both chromosomes, one of each pair had the lion’s share. It appears the segments are not always properly assigned to the appropriate member of the chromosome pair.

I had 46 EJ segments in total.

In my results at 23andme only one of each pair was ever coloured for Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ_. Seven pairs showed no AJ. I had 32 AJ segments in total some of which bridged more than one EJ segment.

To bolster faith in the results both company’s analyses identified many of the same chromosome segments as Jewish.

In May 2019 a report “Evaluation of the Co-Lab Initiative: 2016–2017 to 2018–2019” was published. Three recommendations were made to which, with a reservation on the first, LAC management agreed.

Recommendation 1: As the initiative evolves, document the strategic thinking around Co-Lab and its future directions.
Recommendation 2: Define and document what success for the initiative is and how it will be demonstrated.
Recommendation 3:
a. Ensure that the reporting system currently being developed identifies meaningful performance measures that include output and outcome indicators.
b. Ensure that consistent performance data is gathered as the initiative evolves to ensure that progress toward expected results can be demonstrated over time.
c. Document the rationale for any major changes to performance measurement.

Anticipated completion dates of December 2019 and September 2021 were stated. It is now September 2021.  Are performance indicators now being monitored on a quarterly basis as stipulated to be completed by this month in recommendation 3b?

In view of the lack of any progress on the Co-Lab challenges last month, and very limited progress previously, will LAC management conduct or commission a follow-on review? 

Thanks to Gail B for the tip.

Now try Bicester, Leominster, Southwark.

The Church of England is to launch a free website that will eventually, over the course of the 7-year project, list every grave memorial in every churchyard in the country.
The new free web-based record system is due to launch next spring, with the option to subscribe to additional services.
Further information from The Guardian here.

Leading off the issue Donna Potter Phillips lauds 25 years of publishing genealogy magazines from Moorshead Magazines Ltd.

Breaking Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Church Records
David A. Norris looks at church records and how they can help in getting past research roadblocks

Tell Me a Story: Sharing Your Family History Aloud
Sue Lisk suggests ideas for getting into an oral-story telling mode when the opportunity arises

Conceived Through Reconciliation: Birth of a Passion
Yvette LaGonterie embarks on a journey to uncover her Antillean roots

The Passing of The Silent Generation
Robbie Gorr looks at the necessity of interviewing senior family members

Finding Hidden Fathers
Ed Storey looks at English records that may help you to locate a missing father in your tree

Piecing Together the Puzzles of Personality
Sue Lisk looks for the clues that will help us piece together an ancestor’s personality

“Shhhh! I’ll Let You In On a Secret:
Our Female Ancestors Are Found in Ledgers” — Part 2, by Diane L. Richard

Letters Corresponding to Genealogy
Joe Grandinetti says letters home by Irish emigrants have unique relevance to genealogy

Us and Them
Stephen L. W. Greene looks at why it’s important to go beyond the bounds of your own family when doing genealogy research

Your Ancestors Come to Life!
Melody Amsel-Arieli gets into Deep Nostalgia, the animation technology from MyHeritage that can seemingly bring family photos to life

The Back Page: Do You Have a Disaster Plan?
Dave Obee reminds us why we should be prepared for catastrophic events

From 1-8 September 2021, free access to the Census & Voter Lists category on MyHeritage. Over 1.3 billion records, including census records from the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Scandinavia, and Canada as well as electoral rolls and other records from Australia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Armenia, Greece, and much more.

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

Tuesday, 31 August, 7:30 pm: Discussion with Terry Fallis about his latest book, Operation Angus. Organized by the Ottawa Public Library and Ottawa Writers Festival.
http://ow.ly/lFjm50FVey5

Wednesday  1 September, 11 am: History of the Railways in Britain, by Ellie Jones and Mike Esbester for Findmypast.
www.facebook.com/findmypast.

Wednesday  1 September, 2 pm: Your DNA Questions Answered Live with Diahan Southard for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1641

Wednesday 1 September, 6:30 pm: Deconstructing the UK Censuses 1801 to present, by Penny Walters for Huron Branch OGS.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIocu-urj8tGtJZqw_V3-YIP3UmpUIUKzqg

Thursday 2 September, 6:30 pm: Surprised by Your Ethnicity Estimate? by Sara Allen for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5549168

Thursday 2 September, 7 pm: I Found them on the Census: Now What? by Tara Shymanski for OGS.
https://ogs.on.ca/zoom-meetings/september-webinar-tara-shymanski/

Friday, 3 September, 9 am: Recovery from the Black Death in late-medieval Britain and Ireland, by Paul Dryburgh, TNA Principal Records Specialist (Medieval Records).
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Friday 3 September, 10 am: Start of Webtember presentations from Legacy Family Tree Webinars. See the full program at https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1785

Saturday 4 September, 2 pm: Google is your friend, by Robin Bellamy for Simcoe Branch OGS.
https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/events/simcoe-county-branch-google-is-your-friend-with-robin-bellamy/

Coming

19 – 26 September 2021: BIFHSGO Conference. Irish Lines and Female Finds: Exploring Irish records, female ancestors and genetic genealogy. www.bifhsgo2021.ca/.

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive now has a total of 44,623,934 pages online (44,125,390 last month).

This month 110 papers had pages added (163 in the previous month). There were 44 (73) new titles. Dates range from 1800 to 1992

Those with more than 10,000 pages added were:

TITLE	DATE RANGE
Boxing World and Mirror of Life	1894-1904, 1907-1924
Bury Free Press	1982-1986
Eastbourne Chronicle	1865-1895, 1897-1907, 1950
Liverpool Journal of Commerce	1870, 1872, 1874-1877, 1879-1882, 1884-1885, 1910-1940
London Chronicle	1800-1807, 1810-1811, 1813, 1816-1817, 1819-1822
London Mercury	1828, 1847-1848
Newmarket Journal	1882-1896, 1898-1911, 1913-1917, 1982-1984
Sheerness Times Guardian	1884-1887, 1889-1893, 1895, 1897, 1899-1900, 1902-1910, 1912-1915, 1922-1939, 1981, 1987
Suffolk and Essex Free Press	1982-1986
Week’s News (London)	1871-1879

When Winston Churchill said of the Battle of Britain “Never was so much owed by so many to so few” it wasn’t only the RAF in the skies.

No 1 Squadron of the RCAF, redesignated No 401 Squadron in Britain to avoid confusion, was part of the Battle, active on this date and for 53 days from 24 August 1940.

In 1,694 sorties (1,569 operational hours and 1,201 non-operational), three pilots were killed, thirteen wounded, and 17 aircraft lost.  The squadron claimed 30 enemy aircraft destroyed, eight probably destroyed and 35 damaged. 

There’s a brief history in Among Canada’s “Few”: The RCAF’s No. 1 Squadron in the Battle of Britain. Aircrewremembered.com has a memorial page for the first Canadian pilot killed — Robert Lesley Edwards.

It takes more than the pilots to make a functioning fighter squadron. The contributions of the ground crew who kept the aircraft flying is described in The Unsung Heroes: The Ground Crew of No. 1 (RCAF) Squadron. Several are mentioned by name. Trades such as clerks, cooks, motor mechanics, batmen, waiters and general-duties airmen should not be overlooked — pilots who are unfed and poorly supported don’t perform well!

All their names are in the passenger list for the Duchess of Atholl, on which they travelled from Halifax to Liverpool, arriving 20 June 1940. It’s available on microfilm C-5610 at Canadiana Heritage.

The officers, travelling first-class, are listed on images 18 and 19; also 66.

The NCOs travelling second-class, are listed on images 22 and 23..

A nominal roll with number, rank and trade as well as surname and initials of NCOs and other ranks starts at image 67 (surnames A-C), continuing with images 68 (C-G), 69 (G-L), 70 (M-R), and 71 (R-Y).

 

 

I’d like to be positive.

On 30 August 2019 Leslie Weir assumed the role of Librarian and Archivist of Canada. Faced with the extraordinary challenge of COVID-19 for most of that period, something nobody anticipated, it would hardly be surprising if things she set out to achieve were not accomplished.

What was achieved? Based on the LAC news items posted, the key items are:

1. 1. LAC/OPL building
   2. COVID-19
   3. Indigenous

The negotiation and agreement on the joint building took place while Guy Berthiaume was Librarian and Archivist. The design was already underway two years ago. It has proceeded. The major improvement, to make the building net carbon neutral, should likely be most credited to two environmentally concerned Cabinet Ministers.

COVID-19 was a challenge. Did LAC make adjustments and maintain productivity? Did employees work from home, with appropriate altered objectives where necessary, in the same way as at peer institutions internationally? In a year when one would expect clients to turn more to online resources visitors to the LAC website were down 3% in 2020-21 compared to the previous year. There is now a major backlog of ATIP requests, well beyond legislated timelines for response. Staff are stretched beyond reason. Delays for other requests extend beyond a year.

LAC received special funding in order to respond to demands regarding Indigenous languages and cultures. In 2020–2021, 27 of the 28 commitments in LAC’s Indigenous Heritage Action Plan made “significant progress and are
on the way to being completed.” However, LAC failed to seize the opportunity of the discovery of residential school graves to inform Canadians about the relevant resources held by the institution.

There are rumours of problems of mismanagement, inappropriate hiring and plummeting morale. While I can’t verify them if true they should be a concern.

I’d like to be positive. Projects, like the new storage facility, have moved forward as previously planned. For the coming months, as we all learn to live with COVID, staff will be returning to their duties and the public should once again be able to avail themselves of all the resources LAC has to offer.  Will there be an effort to reduce backlogs, reach out to provide the user community (including genealogists — mostly ignored although the largest user group) with new access and service as much as possible in the new normal?

Now two years into the mandate, compared to your expectations, what letter grade would you give Leslie Weir for her leadership achievements at Library and Archives Canada?

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

A Colorful Animated Short About the Inevitable Isolation That Comes With Digital Addiction

Derelict London Tours
Not what I’d think of as a tourist attraction
https://londonist.com/london/things-to-do/derelict-london-best-walking-tours

The Internet Archive has been fighting for 25 years to keep what’s on the web from disappearing and you can help

Ancestry Updates US  Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current, now with 163,896,145 records.

BC Marriage and Death Registration Update
Now available, marriage registrations from 1945 and death registrations from 2000.

Canadian university libraries shine during pandemic
Could the same be said for Library and Archives Canada?

Have you been enjoying the LAC website this weekend?
The site was unreachable for most of Saturday and early Sunday – back now.

Thanks to this week’s contributors.