Anglo-Celtic Connections

Not new, but a useful compilation from Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine here.

1. Old Bailey Online
A fully searchable edition of the largest body of texts detailing the lives of non-elite people ever published, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London’s central criminal court.
2. Old and New London
A multi-volume popular history of London published in the late 19th century.
3. Collage: The London Picture Archive
Over 250,000 images of London from the collections at
London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery
4. London’s Screen Archives
Browse fascinating film clips drawn from borough collections across the metropolis.
5. London Lives
A fully searchable edition of 240,000 manuscripts from eight archives and fifteen datasets, giving access to 3.35 million names.
6. London’s Pulse
The Medical Officer of Health reports: statistical data about births, deaths and diseases, but they also allowed the authors to express the diversity of their local communities and their own personal interests.

If you have Catholic ancestors who lived in the Leeds area between 1757 and 1913, you’ll want to explore this week’s FMP additions. The Catholic Heritage Archive has been bolstered by the addition of thousands of new parish records from the Diocese of Leeds, many recorded in Latin.

England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
24,3092 baptisms are added this week. From these images and transcriptions, you can expect to learn key information like a name, birth date, baptism date, church, parish, deanery, diocese, and county, as well as both parents’ names. Some original images include extra information like godparents’ names, the name of the minister who performed the baptism, and the address of the person baptised.

Occasionally these records will include notations about a subsequent marriage. You may also find the notation “sub cond”, added if there is doubt concerning the ability of a person to receive the sacrament. perhaps because it was previously received.

England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
There are now also 56,525 marriages records from the Diocese of Leeds for you to explore starting in 1776. You may find nothing more than the location, date and names of the spouses. More extensive records will add the spouses’ fathers’ names and the name of the priest who performed the service.

England Roman Catholic Parish Burials
These 26,195 transcriptions and images of the original sacramental register for the Roman Catholic Leeds Diocese start in 1759. Detail varies, you may be able to learn a name, age, birth and death date, burial date, address, age, grave coordinates, church, parish and diocese. 

England Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records
Just 152 original register images and transcriptions have been added, spanning from 1798 to 1845. The records include events like first communion. You will likely have to scroll back through the images to find the type of event, it’s not usually transcribed.

Following on the new ones reported yesterday, today here are four UK military collections recently updated by Ancestry.

UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admissions and Discharges, 1715-1925
Registers of the award of out-pensions of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, now with 919,874 entries.

UK, British Army Records and Lists, 1882-1962
Updated index lists of officers in the British Army from 1882 to 1962 giving name, rank, regiment, and date of birth. Now with 2,421,506 entries. The images are available at Fold3, and elsewhere depending on dates.

UK, Naval and Military Courts Martial Registers, 1806-1930
838,431 cases. The original data: Admiralty: Courts Martial Registers ADM 194/1-45, 47-49, 180-242. The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey, England.

• ADM 194/1-45, 47-49, 180-242 Admiralty: Courts Martial Registers
• WO 213/1-25 Judge Advocate General’s Office: Field General Courts Martial and Military Courts, Registers
• WO 86/1-94 Judge Advocate General’s Office: District Courts Martial Registers, Home and Abroad
• WO 92/1-3, 8-10 Judge Advocate General’s Office: General Courts Martial Registers, Confirmed at Home.

The original image is at Fold3. 162 cases were heard in Canada or in Canadian military facilities in Europe.

UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Records, 1760-1920
This collection of 1,040,213 items comprises service documents of soldiers (but not officers) who either became in-or-out-pensioners of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

The Ottawa Public Library now collection includes the 2022 book Ancestor Trouble:  A Reckoning and A Reconciliation, by Newton, Maud in print, eBook and audiobook versions.

Digging into her own ancestry, the book explores “why the practice of genealogy has become a multi-billion-dollar industry in contemporary America, while also mining the secrets and contradictions of one singularly memorable family history,”

The book is also found in the catalogues of many public libraries including Halifax, Kingston Frontenac, Toronto,  London, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria.

UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Returns of Payment of Army and Other Pensions, 1842-1883 includes 649,782 records of pension payments from the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The original data is from WO 22 at TNA — see the catalogue description here. The collection typically doesn’t include records of soldiers who died in service or were discharged by purchase.
Ancestry has a browse capability by location with three periods for Canada: 1845-1848, 1849-1854, and 1854-1862.

UK and Allied Countries, World War II Air Combat Reports, 1939-1945 comprises 11,150 reports of air combat activities by UK and allied forces during the Second World War from 1939 to 1945.
The reports are related to the activities of squadrons, wings, and groups in British fighter, bomber, and coastal commands and of Fleet Air Arm squadrons. The collection also includes reports about individual senior or distinguished officers and reports related to Commonwealth and Allied units based in the United Kingdom, including the U.S. Army Air Forces. The collection includes images of the original documents, which are typed and include narratives of combat events. 292 records include the word Canadian.
I was unable to find any records after 1941.

On the occasion of Bastille Day, not just a BIFHSGO member’s birthday, MyHeritage is giving free access to all 1.3 billion French historical records, from July 12–16, 2023.

MyHeritage has one of the most comprehensive repositories for French records in the world, with 120 collections covering a vast array of vital records, newspapers and periodicals, and other essential records, as well as all the family trees from Filae. In the past year 51,252,583 records from France have been added, including a massive collection of French censuses.

According to this news item in The Irish News, around 3.2 million name indexes, relating to the six counties in The Northern Ireland, Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933 can now be accessed for free at www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62658/. 

The records are indexed with image links and can also be browsed. Sadly they are not dated exactly, but mostly within a range, sometimes more than ten years.

Researchers need at least a free Ancestry guest account for access. 

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 11 July

11 am: Navigating Maritime History: A Comprehensive Webinar, by Peter McCracken for Ohio Genealogical Society.
https://www.ogs.org/event/navigating-maritime-history-a-comprehensive-webinar-with-peter-mccracken-of-shipindex-org/

2 pm: OGS Ottawa Branch Virtual Genealogy Drop-In. https://meet.google.com/nvz-kftj-dax

2 pm: See Your Family in a Whole New Light! by Diane Henriks for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/see-your-family-in-a-whole-new-light/

2:30 pm: Hopping the Pond: Researching in Germany: What You Need to Know and Websites to Help – Part 1, by Carol Carman for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8689678

6 pm: Collection Close-Ups: “New York City Birth Indexes” and “New York State Birth Indexes”, by Kalyn Loewer for New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/events/collection-close-ups-%E2%80%9Cnew-york-city-birth-indexes%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9Cnew-york-state-birth-indexes%E2%80%9D

8 pm: Introduction to Using ChatGPT and Family History Research, by Michelle Mickelson for St. George FamilySearch Center.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/St._George_Utah_FamilySearch_Center/Classes

Wednesday 12 July

8 pm: Indentured Servitude in the Mid-Atlantic States, by Craig Roberts Scott for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/indentured-servitude-in-the-mid-atlantic-states/

Thursday 13 July

6:30 pm: Chicago Genealogy Research, by Jaymie Middendorf or Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8689679

Friday 14 July

2 pm: Celebrating 2,000 Webinars! Plus 10 tips you can use today by Geoff Rasmussen for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/celebrating-2000-webinars-plus-10-tips-you-can-use-today/

Saturday 15 July

 

Before railways, your ancestor would use turnpike roads to get quickly between cities in the 18th and most of the 19th century in England and Wales.
The turnpike road system was not planned centrally but resulted from local enterprise, regulated through Acts of Parliament. Bodies of local trustees were given powers to levy tolls on the users of a specified stretch of road, generally around 20 miles in length. Using money secured against this toll income, a trust arranged to improve and maintain a particular stretch of turnpike road.

The development of the system meant average speeds increased from 4 mph in the 1700s to 8 mph in the 1800s

Find out just about all you could want to know about turnpikes, gates, tollhouses and associated infrastructure, with maps by county, at http://www.turnpikes.org.uk/.

This topic was a presentation at a Travel and Mobility Seminar on 13 May this year and summarized in the Journal of One-Name Studies, Volume 14, Issue 11 July-Sept 2023,

 

 

 

Chris Paton in his latest Scottish GENES Newsletter recounts a research trip to the National Records of Scotland’s Historical Search Room. He found a document he wanted to consult was held offsite, that not mentioned in the catalogue.

It’s something many of us have encountered, not just at the NRS. Catalogues are never perfect and offsite storage is common. It costs to store archival materials, and costs more in a prime central location. Simple economics demands storing materials that are rarely consulted where real estate is less expensive.

Over ten years ago I was part of a group consulted on the site for the new City of Ottawa archives. We agreed to the present location at 100 Tallwood, Nepean, recognizing it would be  less convenient to downtown, but meant all the materials could be in one place. The site has room to add additional storage onsite, is adjacent to planned rapid transit, decent bus service now, and free parking. Similar considerations must have been behind the choice of location for the Archives of Ontario at York University, with the exception of free parking!

Never assume the document you want will be readily available. Even if it is onsite it could take a while to retrieve. It may also be temporarily withdrawn. Order in advance where possible; don’t rely on the catalogue.

You can sign up for Chris’ newsletter at http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com.

This is the 80th anniversary of the allied landing on Sicilly during the Second World War. American and combined British and Canadian troops were involved from 9 July – 17 August 1943.

How deadly was the action? Agira Canadian War Cemetery contains 490 Commonwealth burials including 434 Canadians. Agira was taken by the 1st Canadian Division on 28 July 1943. An additional 35 Canadians who died during the period, but with no known grave, are among the over 3,100 Commonwealth servicemen commemorated at the Cassino Memorial.

The Canadian War Museum has a transcript of an interview with Robert Kingstone which includes a description of the chaos of the landing in Sicilly.

Even though it’s chock full of interesting history, I rarely go to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography website. At the most recent visit, I found new biographies for BELL, FREDERICK McKELVEY; GREEN, THOMAS DANIEL; BÉDARD, JULIEN-AUGUSTIN and MACDONALD, ANNIE CAROLINE.

I checked it recently, not for the content so much as to see the length of the citations. Take the first paragraph of one for this recent addition.

MACDONALD, ANNIE CAROLINE , missionary, social reformer, and interpreter; b. 15 Oct. 1874 in Wingham, Ont., fourth of the five children of Peter Macdonald, a medical doctor and future Liberal mp , and Margaret Ross; d. unmarried 18 July 1931 in London, Ont., and was buried in Wingham.

The hatch, match and dispatch information is there, but with no citations to where the detail can be found. A genealogist might shudder at the omission.  Where do you come down in between wanting a series of facts, or a presentation of the significance of the person’s life. For me there’s enough in the article to allow follow-up with research in civil registration, census and other sources if you want, without being directed by a traditional citation.