Anglo-Celtic Connections

Google Trends web search data for Canada shows, since 2004, the popularity of various genealogy terms, starting with Ancestry and recognizing that it’s not necessarily referring to ancestry.com or ancestry.ca.

The first jump up starts in December 2009, the second and most prominent in November 2013, then December 2016 and another major jump starting in November 2017. There’s a sawtooth decline with peaks at the end of the year. It’s no surprise that May to October is the (relatively) quietiest time of the year.

Do you know what happened in November 2013, specifically early in the month? What happened in November 2017?

MyHeritage, FamilySearch and Findmypast have nothing like the search volume for Ancestry in Canada.

For most of the period from 2004 FamilySearch leads the pack with a bump in hits in 2015. What caused that big bump?

MyHeritage vies with FamilySearch from 2018 and with three major spikes. Findmypast trails, but the picture is different in the UK where it’s unique collections mean it leads the other two, since 2009.

Google Trends web search data shows, since 2004, in Canada, the popularity of the various terms genealogy, ancestry, family tree and family history.

The blue line for “genealogy” shows, while it was initially much more popular than the others, there has been a major continuing decline starting early in the period.
The yellow line for “family tree” shows a decline to 2008, retaining second rank and with a popularity spike in Fall 2022.
The green line (sorry to the colour blind) shows the term “family history”, initially third ranked, falling well below the others in recent years.
The most popular these days is “ancestry” which was lowest ranked initially, experienced jumps in 2010, 2013 and 2017 to rank first. Since then there’s been a slight decline.

Data for other countries show similar trends. In the UK “family history” is a more popular term than “genealogy.”

How popular is genealogy? The second most popular hobby? Google trends web search has golf (47), fishing (11), knitting (3), skiing (2), genealogy (<1).

Come back tomorrow for more detailed look at Ancestry and coming soon, a longer-term perspective.

Here are the British and Irish FamilySearch collections updated in the past month, with the total records now available.

Collection Title	Records
England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	6,054,736
England, Cumberland Parish Registers, 1538-1990	523,926
England, Rutland Parish Registers, 1538-1991	326,083
England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957	8,572,772
England, Surrey Parish Registers, 1536-1992	2,566,198
Ireland, Catholic Parish Registers, 1740-1900	2,957,563

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted.  Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Looking for more options? Additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.

Tuesday 20 June

2:30 pm: All Shakespeares are not from England: Researching an African American Family from Tallahassee, Florida, by Juanita Gaston for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8553415

8 pm: Finding Your One Among Millions: Methods and Tips for Urban Research, a New York City Case Study, by Amy Larner Giroux for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-your-one-among-millions-methods-and-tips-for-urban-research-a-new-york-city-case-study/

Wednesday 21 June

2 pm: Greece’s Top 5 Types of Genealogy Records, by Gregory Kontos for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/greeces-top-5-types-of-genealogy-records/

Thursday 22 June

6:30 pm: Finding and Using Pennsylvania Land Records to Solve Difficult Problems, by Megan Clark Young for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8553421

Friday 23 June

Saturday 24 June

 

One project report progress among the Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges; 14 report no progress.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary is 15% complete, 8% complete last month.

Expo67 remains 2 % complete.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 13% complete.

Women in the War remains 1% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes remains 0% complete.

John Freemont Smith remains 93% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 98% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 94% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 99% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 96% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 3% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 93% complete.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.

You can suggest a new challenge, perhaps one you think would be of broad interest, by sending an email to co-lab@bac-lac.gc.ca/. Make sure to include a reference number, Item ID number or e-copy number for the record.

Other unidentified Co-Lab activities not part of the Challenges have seen progress. There are currently 3,689  items in Collection Search identified as Co-Lab only contributions, an increase from 3,683 last month.

Did you know that 951 Canadian Army fatalities in WW2 have no known grave? They are commemorated on CWGC memorials listed below.

NASSAU MEMORIAL, Bahamas (2)
HALIFAX MEMORIAL, Nova Scotia, Canada (138)
THE QUEBEC MEMORIAL, POINTE CLAIRE FIELD OF HONOUR, Quebec, Canada (92)
SAI WAN MEMORIAL, China, including Hong Kong (228)
BAYEUX MEMORIAL, Calvados, France (268)
CASSINO MEMORIAL, Italy (193)
RANGOON MEMORIAL, Myanmar (1)
GROESBEEK MEMORIAL, Gelderland, Netherlands (96)
MEDJEZ-EL-BAB MEMORIAL, Tunisia (1)
BROOKWOOD 1939-1945 MEMORIAL, Surrey, United Kingdom (200, victims of the Dieppe Raid)

I was surprised to see 92 memorialized at  the Quebec Memorial in Pointe Claire, far away from any field of battle.

The CWGC Ottawa office explained that “Historically, there was no legislation to protect veteran graves in Quebec and the process was not in place for VAC/CWGC to be notified when a burial concession expired. In the cases where the family did not renew the grave, it was lost or resold.”

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission built the Quebec Memorial at the Montreal Pointe Claire National Field of Honour to commemorate Commonwealth war burials in the Province of Quebec whose graves can no longer be marked or maintained. The Memorial consists of two large blocks of granite, as well as a walkway from Currie Circle

The additional information field for the individual commemorated at the Quebec Memorial indicates where interment occurred.

Lost CWGC burials could still be recognized at the cemetery with a plaque similar to this in England. All is not lost, the cemetery’s CWGC page does list those in lost graves.

A special thanks to CWGC staff members Paul in England and Catherine in Ottawa for prompt and informative responses to my queries.

 

At its 2023 Annual General Meeting the Ontario Genealogical Society announced an Award of Merit to the Ottawa Public Library.

In addition to the specific items mentioned are access Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, Family Tree (UK) Magazine, and most recently Internet Genealogy Magazine, all free to access for cardholders.

I add my thanks to OPL for the service provided to the Ottawa genealogical community, and look forward to further initiatives. Contact me for suggestions!

Here are the most recent monthly updates added at newspapers.com. All are updates, no new titles, for England and Wales. No changes for Ireland, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

Newspaper	Community	Pages	Year Range
Evening Express	Liverpool, Merseyside, England	81,051	1874–1955
Clevedon Mercury and Courier and Somersetshire Weekly Advertiser	Clevedon, Avon, England	31,099	1867–1951
The Guardian	London, Greater London, England	1,128,152	1821–2023
Evening Standard	London, Greater London, England	2,372,223	1897–2023
Crediton and North Devon Chronicle and West of England Advertiser	Crediton, Devon, England	4,118	1882–1891
Crediton Gazette, East Devon Herald and County Press	Crediton, Devon, England	2,034	1945–1951
Evening Telegraph	Derby, Derbyshire, England	163,332	1990–1999
The Long Eaton Advertiser and Ilkeston and Erewash Weekly News	Long Eaton, Derbyshire, England	22,261	1882–1954
Dorking Advertiser	Dorking, Surrey, England	44,117	1986–1999
Wokingham Times	Wokingham, Berkshire, England	57,045	1931–1999
Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald and North and South Wales Independent	Caernarvon, Gwynedd, Wales	34,019	1835–1920
Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald and Merioneth News	Caernarvon, Gwynedd, Wales	784	1920–1922
Carnarvon Herald and North Wales Advertiser	Caernarvon, Gwynedd, Wales	1,036	1831–1836

Now with 41,730,203 entries, with duplicates, updated to October 2022. At the previous update in July 2022, there were 41,457,491 entries.
Each index entry is linked to an image of the original as published. The most recent entries, since 2020, are from the Abbotsford News, Ashford Journal, Calgary Herald, Courtenay Comox Valley Record, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, National Post (Toronto), Ottawa Citizen, Quesnel Cariboo Observer, Regina Leader-Post, Salmon Arm Observer, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Vancouver Sun, Vernon Morning Star, Windsor Star, and 100 Mile House Free Press.

Northern Ireland, Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933, with 3,193,180 records, is the largest database in the Ancestry collection specifically for Northern Ireland. Records in the collection may contain the following information:

Names of property owners
Names of occupants
Description of property
Changes in acreage
Changes in property valuation
Name of street
Name of city, county, parish, and townland
Name of affiliated poor law union
Date of notation

Web: Northern Ireland, Freeholders Records, has 129,894 entries with links to images of the original at PRONI. Freeholders were men who either owned their land outright or who held it in a lease for the duration of their life, or the lives of other people named in the lease. They are for the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Here’s a last opportunity for an in-person genealogy event in Ottawa until activities resume after the summer break.

On Saturday, 17 June, local speaker Joanna Crandell will present “Indigenous Enfranchisement Records 1880- 1970 in Canadian Orders in Council (Ottawa).” It’s in person at 1 pm at the Ottawa City Archives building, 100 Tallwood, Nepean, Ottawa and also online.

Further information at https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/indigenous-enfranchisement-records-1880-1970-in-canadian-orders-in-council-ottawa/