Category: Uncategorized

I’m chuffed to see my latest article, Was Your Ancestor Schooled in the BCATP? in print in this issue. It was a pleasure working with Editor Helen Tovey.
The article covers part of the material I’ll be presenting at the OGS conference on Saturday 25 June at 1 pm.

Highlights from the contents:

NAVAL RESERVISTS: Simon Wills decodes the uniforms
PHOTOGENEALOGY: AN INTRODUCTION: Ann Larkham unveils the first steps in creating an awesome home photograph archive/
A RETAILING REVOLUTION: Dress historian Jayne Shrimpton looks at the radical retail transformation of the British shopping scene between the wars.
DEATH DUTY REGISTERS A MASTERCLASS: David Annal shares practical advice and expert tips on using death duty registersfor family history research. Dave will be presenting at the BIFHSGO conference in September.
REMEMBERINGTHE PIONEER OF THE PACKAGE HOLIDAY Nicola Lisle looks back at the rise and fall of Thomas Cook.
WHAT MIGHT A RING SIGNIFY? Charlotte Soares on the rings that our ancestors may once have worn, and the stories behind them.

Editor Helen Tovey also compiled three GENEALOGY GADGETS AND APPS (FOR ALL OCCASIONS). One, suggested by Wayne Shepheard, also an OGS conference speaker, may be found at naturalreaders.com.

The FreeBMD Database was last updated on Saturday 4 June to contain 285,217,675 unique entries (284,959,570 at the previous update).
Years with changes of more than 10,000 additions are: for births 1990-92; for marriages 1991-92; for deaths 1987, 1990, 1992.

This week FMP throws a spotlight on collections drawn from the massive British Newspaper Archive collection. Separate collections have been extracted for births (baptisms), marriages and deaths (burials) from England. That should make the search more efficient. There are both indexes and images of the original newspaper entry.

Births comprise 204,576 entries, often the notice was published before the child’s name was selected, so it will read “of a daughter” or “of a son.” Expect to find an address and the exact date of birth.

Marriages, 681,852 entries, will give the names of the groom and bride, their residence places, marriage place and date and sometimes the father’s names.

Deaths,  1,827,488 entries. will give name, age, residence, name of spouse, possibly name and residence of father.

For other events with names, the good, the bad, the fortunate and the unfortunate, search the newspaper collection.

 

Act now!

There’s a 50% discount ending 7 pm ET on Friday 10 June. 12:00 BST.

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1921-census

The 50% off discount is automatically applied at checkout, with no code required. No subscription is needed to take advantage of the offer. 12-month Pro subscribers who already benefit from 10% off 1921 Census purchases will automatically have their discount increased to 50% for the offer period. The offer applies only to 1921 Census image and transcript purchases.

If you don’t already subscribe, you’ve missed out on the June issue of the FHF Really Useful Bulletin.

It includes news of the passing of the Federation’s founder chairman—Iain Swinnerton, and a lead article by Wayne Shepheard on The Great Storm in the UK of 1703.

You can subscribe from https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/resources-newsletter; that page also includes links to past issues, but not the June issue yet.

The Bulletin also has news from UK local FHSs and the Federation.

And I can’t miss the opportunity to mention that Wayne Shepheard will be presenting at the OGS/Ontario Ancestors conference 2022, coming up later this month,

Solving a 100-year-old mystery using DNA
Voices from a Silent Past
Lost Connections Found

The presentation titles are intriguing.

This Saturday discover the stories as told by Jennifer Hill, Christine Jackson, and Sue Lambeth in BIFHSGO’s semi-annual Great Moments session.

Find out more at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

Register free online for the session, starting at 10 am ET on Saturday.

BIFHSGO members, remember the AGM starts at 9 am.

3 – 2 – 2 – 1 …..

Diane L. Richard, a genealogy professional since 2003, who has been writing and lecturing since 2006, including at the OGS/Ontario Ancestors conference later this month, has three articles in this issue. In addition to her regular Net Notes column, she reviews Early American Sources and what the Permanent Legacy Foundation has to offer.

Two articles are by Lisa Alzo. Review: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2022 suggests that you can probably save your money and continue to use earlier versions of the program for core tasks. Not mentioned are alternative free programs, such as Photopea, which is online. Lisa’s other article, ten Ways to Share Genealogy at Your Family Reunion suggests ways to build fun into a family gathering as boxes, lines, charts, and citations don’t do it!

Being flexible and respectful of the other person’s needs and preferences, which are subject to change, is the advice in Sue Lisk’s article From You to Me and Back, which focuses on communication with older relatives. In Logging and Our Ancestors, Sue’s other article explores the history of logging in Northern Ontario, Minnesota and North Carolina, the camps where the men worked, and their experiences through several websites devoted to the subject.

Most contributors have one article, David A. Norris, Robbie Gorr, Karen L. Newman, Colleen Callahan Gilbert, Michelle Dennis, Rick Voight, The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center, and Dave Obee, who reflects on What Will the Future Hold for Genealogy Research in Ukraine?

www.internet-genealogy.com

 

This collection, new to MyHeritage, contains 89,235 Quebec Catholic parish burials between the years 1798 and 1979.  The transcription records typically include the name of the deceased, year of birth, date and place of burial, name of the father and name of the spouse.

Most of the records are for Montreal’s Notre-Dame cemetery supplemented by those from Immaculée Conception, Trois-Rivières.

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

Tuesday 7 June. 2:30  pm: Tips for Searching Newspapers.com, by Melissa Tennant for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6729027

Tuesday, 7 June, 7:30 pm: An Introduction to GEDmatch, by Mags Gaulden for OGS Durham Region Branch.
https://ogs.on.ca/events/an-introduction-to-gedmatch-with-mags-gaulden-durham-region-branch-june-meeting/

Tuesday 7 June, 10 pm: Government Gazettes as a Genealogical Resource, by Helen V. Smith for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/government-gazettes-as-a-genealogical-resource/

Wednesday 8 June, 7:30 pm: Strategies for Dealing With Endogamy, by Paul Woodbury for he Jewish Genealogical Society of New York and the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/events/dealing-with-endogamy

Wednesday 8 June, 8 pm: Documents + DNA + Method + a little bit of Luck: Combining Tools to Find Biological Family, by Elizabeth Williams Gomoll for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/documents-dna-method-a-little-bit-of-luck-combining-tools-to-find-biological-family/

Thursday 9 June, 9 am: Tracing First World War Ancestors, by Norfolk (UK) Records Office.
https://norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/events-in-march-june-2022/

Thursday 9 June. 6:30 pm: Journey to the West of the West: Genealogical Treasures at the Sutro Library by Dvorah Lewis  for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6710338

Saturday 11 June. 9 am: BIFHSGO Annual General Meeting. www.bifhsgo.ca

Saturday 11 June. 10 am: Great Moments in Genealogy, with four BIFHSGO speakers.
www.bifhsgo.ca

Saturday 11 June 11 am: OGS Annual General Meeting.
www.ogs.on.ca

 

Remembering the 26  Canadians who died this day in 1944, who have no known grave and are commemorated at the Bayeux Memorial

Surname	Forename	Rank	Regiment	Additional Info
THIBEAULT	LEOPOLD	Sergeant	Le Regiment de la Chaudiere, R.C.I.C.
YOUNG	JOHN DOUGLAS	Major	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of James V. and Willmot M. Young, of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
LEGGE	ALBERT J.	Lance Corporal	Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
LIZON	JOHN	Rifleman	Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, R.C.I.C.	Son of Alexander and Pauline Lizon, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
HOOTON	JOHN KITCHENER	Bombardier	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of George and Eliza Hooton, of Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada.
FERGUSON	JOHN THOMAS KELLINGTON	Lance Corporal	Royal Canadian Engineers	Son of Robert A. and May Ferguson; husband of Elizabeth Mary Ferguson, of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.
MAIN	JAMES RALPH	Lance Corporal	North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, R.C.I.C.	Son of Jane E. Main, of New Carlisle, Bonaventure Co., Province of Quebec, Canada.
ISBISTER	ARCHIE	Rifleman	Regina Rifle Regiment, R.C.I.C.	Son of James D. and Harriet Isbister; husband of Edith Isbister, of Eldred, Saskatchewan, Canada.
MOORE	HARRY G.	Private	Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
SCIBERAS	ROBERT	Sergeant	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of James and Jessie Buchanan Sciberas, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
SEARS	WILBERT GORDON	Trooper	1st Hussars, R.C.A.C.	Son of Charles Richard and Amarillia Sears, of Orillia, Ontario, Canada.
BALDWIN	JOSEPH E.	Private	Royal Canadian Army Service Corps	Son of James and Elizabeth Baldwin, of Morin Heights, Province of Quebec, Canada.
CLAVELLE	ALFRED F.	Gunner	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of Arthur and Emilienne Clavelle, of Whitewood, Saskatchewan, Canada; husband of Agnes Clavelle, of Whitewood.
GALLAN	CLYDE	Private	North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, R.C.I.C.
GOFF	ROBERT	Gunner	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of Robert and Mary Goff; husband of Florence May Goff, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
LEBEL	STANISLAS	Gunner	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of Mr. and Mrs. Stanislas Lebel; husband of Blanche A. Lebel, of Montreal, Province of Quebec, Canada.
McINNIS	ALEXANDER J.	Private	1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, R.C.I.C.	Son of Daniel and Jane McInnis; husband of J. R. McInnis, of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
IRVING	WILLIAM J.	Lance Corporal	Royal Canadian Army Service Corps
MASSEY	CHARLES A.	Gunner	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of Charles A. and Lillian S. Massey, of Rockport, Ontario, Canada.
MAYO	CYRIL A.	Rifleman	Royal Winnipeg Rifles, R.C.I.C.	Son of Benjamin Bertram Mayo, and of Flora Ann Mayo, of Selkirk, Manitoba, Canada.
PELLETIER	JOSEPH	Rifleman	Regina Rifle Regiment, R.C.I.C.
NEUFELD	LESLIE A.	Private	1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, R.C.I.C.
COURTNEY	CLARENCE V.	Lance Sergeant	Royal Canadian Army Service Corps	Son of Mrs. J. Courtney; husband of Margaret G. Courtney, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
DUPUIS	WALTER J.	Gunner	Royal Canadian Artillery	Son of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Dupuis, of Maynooth, Ontario, Canada.
HAUK	NORMAN A.	Corporal	Royal Canadian Corps of Signals
GORDON	FRANK R.	Trooper	Fort Garry Horse, R.C.A.C.

Information from www.cwgc.org

With ‘The Passchendaele Archives Database’ the Passchendaele Museum aims at adding a face and a story to those who gave their lives during the Great War Battle of Passchendaele.

In its latest initiative, the Passchendaele Museum is attempting to give as many as possible of the 6,928 Canadian whose names are inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial and have no known grave a tangible place in the landscape.

Drawing on records of the Commonwealth War Grave Commission and Library and Archives Canada, the Passchendaele Archives is developing a map of the places where those men were born, lived, enlisted and died.

Use the map at https://archives.passchendaele.be/en/geo/1, in to zoom in on a place of interest, zoom out for a perspective of the origins of these fatalities.

Also use the Advanced Search to find detailed individual information by selecting First name, Surname, Place of death, Place of birth, Profession. Unit, Rank, Date of death, as available.

Penny Allen, Canadian librarian/genealogist/blogger living in England who posts at the UK to Canada Genealogy, recently added  Whither thou art: ye Canadian speakers at UK Family History Shows.

Penny asks: WHY do virtual Genealogy shows in the UK seem to have little Canadian content?

Penny points out that THE Genealogy Show does have a few Canadian speakers. Andrea Lister, Prison and Court Records; Lianne Kruger, Vlogging Your Family History; Wayne Shepheard, Using Parish and Other Records To Determine How Natural Phenomena Affected People and Communities.

Let’s have a stab at Penny’s question.

Is it true that the UK genealogy shows have little Canadian content?

When the show organizers look at what their potential audience wants, how much Canadian content is appropriate? Could it be that the present level meets the demand?  Shows and conferences may only have room for a fraction of possible presentations, possibly less than one-third of proposals.

Then again, some may only invite presentations from speakers the organizers know, leaving those from outside their domestic ambit and newcomers out of consideration.

We need to remember that most people in the UK (and elsewhere) start out wanting to research their genealogy and their origins, which for most will be predominantly in their home country. Later they will move on to the life and times of their UK ancestors. Perhaps, after that, they become interested in collateral lines. They might get curious, even obsessed, about why someone two, three or more generations back disappears from domestic records. These days, with so many large databases available, they may easily stumble across a relative who strayed overseas, including to Canada.

Folks have other ways, aside from UK shows, to find out about Canadian genealogical resources. UK genealogy magazines often have Canadian content. I’ve had two articles in the past year, including one appearing in Family Tree magazine’s July 2022 issue. Wayne Shepheard is a frequent UK magazine contributor and a conference speaker.

Finally, there are many opportunities to attend events organized by Canadian societies in these days of virtual presentations. Many are free. There are also virtual conferences, like the Ontario Genealogical Society/Ontario Ancestors conference coming later this month. Admittedly, it’s more of a challenge for UK residents to find out about those than their domestic conferences. UK magazines could help with that.