My Heritage has just added this collection of 599,985 records of passengers arriving in the Port of Boston, Massachusetts, United States between the years 1848 and 1891. Records typically include the name of the passenger, place of birth, age, residence, destination, the date of arrival, and the name of the ship.

A search for destination place Canada yields 26,732 results. But beware. The transcription is highly problematic.

A search for last name Wiggins surfaced five results for Ackins, Aagenes and Ackens. Two of the ship names were “On Time” and “Only Son”! A search for last name Cross surfaced W. Murphy with occupation “Orient La Cross Club.”

FamilySearch has a database Massachusetts, Index to Boston Passenger Lists, 1848-1891 posted on 21 August 2023 citing NARA microfilm publication M265. A search for Wiggins there produces 123 results, half of which are for the exact name and the remainder variants. What’s more, there are links to images of the original index cards.

Each week, on Tuesday, I reference conferencekeeper.org for upcoming mainly US genealogy events supplemental to my list of mostly Canadian online events.  Now, as of 1 October, ConferenceKeeper.org is officially part of the National Genealogical Society (US) family.

Created in 2012, ConferenceKeeper was the brainchild of Jen Baldwin. Tami Osmer Mize has been its sole manager since 2016 and will continue in the role as a consultant for NGS.

Opening hours are extended for LAC’s consultation rooms at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa.

Users can now access textual documents and microform consultation rooms between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays, and between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturdays. The reference and genealogy rooms are open to the public without service from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

The restricted documents consultation room is now open until 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday only and the special collections room remains open until 4 p.m. from Monday to Friday as well.

Details are here.

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. Are you looking for more options? Additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.

Tuesday 24 October

2 pm: Are You Missing Important Family History Clues in Your Old Family Photographs? by Lisa Lisson for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/are-you-missing-important-family-history-clues-in-your-old-family-photographs/

2:30 pm: Black and White and Read All Over: Delving into African American Newspapers, by Allison DePrey Singleton for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9191811

7 pm: The Girl in the Canoe in the Photo, by Jeff Bowman for OGS Wellington County Branch. 
https://wellington.ogs.on.ca/events/wellington-county-branch-family-history-resources-at-the-museum-of-dufferin/

Wednesday 25 October

9:30 am: Navigating the Maps Website, for the Natioanl Library of Scotland.
eventbrite.co.uk/e/navigating-the-maps-website-tickets-726841742217?aff=oddtdtcreator

2 pm: “She Came From Nowhere…” – A Case Study Approach to a Difficult Genealogical Problem, by Michael D. Lacopo for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/she-came-from-nowhere-a-case-study-approach-to-a-difficult-genealogical-problem/

2 pm: Wednesdays with Witcher: What Do I Do With All My Stuff,  by Curt Witcher for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9189306

7 pm: Phyllis Turner Ross: Career Woman and Single Mother, by Paul Litt for the Historical Society of Ottawa.
https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/106/16,17,19,21/phyllis-turner-ross-career-woman-and-single-mother

Thursday 26 October

6:30 pm:  The History and Evolution of American Funeral Practices, by Todd Harra for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9189264

7 pm: Court Records At The Archives Of Ontario​, by Emma Robinson for OGS Ontario Series (Members Only)
https://ogs.on.ca/events/ontario-ancestors-ontario-series-court-records-at-the-archives-of-ontario-emma-robinson/

Friday 27 October

Saturday 28 October

9 am: Two Centuries of Adventure and Exile: Voices from Scottish emigration, by Marjory Harper, keynote address for the BIFHSGO Annual Conference. See the full 2-day conference program and register at
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/2023-conference

 

Today, 24 October  2023, I celebrate the anniversary of the sunny day I arrived on The Empress of Canada at Quebec City and first set foot in Canada.  Here’s the evidence of the movement of the vessel from the Library & Archives Reading Room of  the National Museum of Science and Technology. It holds 47.57 metres of textual records and other materials about Canadian Pacific Steamships Limited catalogued at https://www.archeion.ca/canadian-pacific-steamships-limited-fonds .

October 24 – 29 is member appreciation week at the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of History.

The following special perks are available throughout the week:

“Bring a guest for free from October 24 through 29.
From October 24 through 27, visit the cafeteria for a free latte and cookie.
Visit our Boutiques and get 20% off your purchase throughout the week.
Visit either Museum during Member Appreciation Week and you will automatically be entered to win an amazing gift basket full of curated items from our Boutiques.”

Those are on top of the regular benefits.

Individual annual membership is $65, with a 20% discount for seniors 65+.

 

Register for a 7:30 pm presentation on Municipal Records in Ontario, by Fraser Dunford for OGS Toronto Branch.

https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/municipal-records/

For those attending in person at Lansing United Church, the event starts at 7 pm with a Genealogy Swap and Socialize.

Find the 65 additions so far this month listed below.
Unfortunately, the contents aren’t (yet?) fully searchable, and often don’t look promising to the family historian. But, if you had an ancestor C.A. Mayberry in Stratford in 1884, you’d likely appreciate knowing that:

The Classical Master, C. A. Mayberry, B.A., (Tor/), who is a master of five years experience (and who has taught
under Principal Mills and Inspector Hodgson), obtained 1st
Class Honors in Classics, Mathematics and English during
his course at Toronto University. The teachers in the county have expressed their high appreciation of him by electing him President of the Perth Teachers‘ Association.

Where else would you find that?

Title	Publication Date
Announcement for the year … / Stratford High School	1884
Annual financial statement, for the year … / First Presbyterian Church, London, Ontario	1879
Annual report of Georgetown Presbyterian Church …	1891
Annual report of St. Andrew’s Church, Vancouver, B.C., for the year ending 31st December …	1895-1897
Annual report of the Deacons’ Court of Knox’s Church	1852/53
Annual report of the directors of the Consumers’ Gas Company, of Toronto, to the stockholders	1858/59; 1863/64 – 1868/69; 1873/74; 1875/76 – 1878/79; 1881/82 – 1883/ 84; 1885/86 – 1899/1900
Annual report of the directors of the Provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital	1898-1900
Annual report of the directors of the War Eagle Consolidated Mining and Development Company, Limited to the shareholders meeting held on the …	1896/97 – 1898/99
Annual reports for the year … / First Presbyterian Church, London, Ontario	1881; 1887; 1889
Annual reports for the year … / St. Joseph Street Presbyterian Church, Montreal	1876
Annual reports for the year ending December 31 … / Knox Church, Stratford	1875; 1887-1895; 1898-1899
Annual reports of the president and treasurer of the Board of Trade, Toronto	1881
Annual reports of the president and treasurer of the Board of Trade, Toronto	1882
Annual statement / the Toronto Electric Light Company, Ltd	1896
Bow River Horse Ranche Company, Limited	1890/91
City of London and county of Middlesex directory for …	1881/2
City of London and county of Middlesex directory for …	1883
Directory of the town of St. Thomas …	1879
Exhibition of … to be held at the grounds of the Association … : programme, rules and regulations / British Columbia Agricultural Association	1885
Financial statement from … / St. Andrew’s Church, Picton, Ont	1888-1899
Fisher & Taylor’s county of York townships directory …	1876
Gazetteer and directory of the county of Perth …	1867
Home missions of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba and the North-West	1882/83
Home missions of the Presbyterian Church in Manitoba and the North-West	June 1884
Huron Signal illustrated almanac for the year …	1873
Hutchinson’s Prince Edward Island directory, for …	1864
Journal of proceedings of the … session / the General Synod of the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada	1902
List of shareholders of the Merchants’ Bank of Canada on 1st June …	1883
London general and business directory, for …	1866/7
Notice sur les missions du Diocèse de Quebec, qui son secourures par l’Association de la propagation de la foi	1839
Proceedings at the annual meeting … and the report of the committee / St. George’s Society of Toronto	1858
Procédés de la … assemblée générale annuelle des propriétaires du chemin à rails du St. Laurent et de l’Atlantique	1850
Quebec city pocket directory	1891/92
Rapport de l’Association de la propagation de la foi	1839-1870
Rapport sur les missions du Diocèse de Quebec, qui sont secourues par l’Association de la propagation del la foi	1840-1874
Report of proceedings of the … meeting of the Canadian Bar Association	1897/98
Report of the Coldstream Mechanics’ Institute for …	1894
Report of the committee of the House of Industry, for the year …	1840-1841; 1846; 1850
Report of the trustees for the year … / St. Andrew’s Church, Montreal	1888-1899
Report on the missions of the Synod of the Presbyterian Church of Canada, in connection with the Church of Scotland, for the years …	1833/1834
Reports for … read at the annual meeting / St. Andrew’s Church, Picton, Ont	1887
Rutherford’s directory of the town of Owen Sound	1892
Sargant & Shaver’s free trade house farmers’ almanac, for the year of Our Lord …	1865
Students’ handbook / University College Young Men’s Christian Association, Toronto	1890/91; 1893/94 – 1895/1896
Students’ handbook of useful information	1888/1889
Students’ handbook of useful information	1889/90
Synopsis of the course of zoology, M’Gill College	1857/58
Synopsis of the course of zoology, M’Gill College	1862/63
The annual report, and the papers read during the year … / the Western Horticultural Society	1898/1899
The Canadian almanac, and miscellaneous directory, for the year …	1898
The Chatham directory	1892
The city of London and county of Middlesex directory for …	1871/72
The constitution, the annual report, and the papers read during the years … / the Western Horticultural Society	1896/1898
The county of Lambton gazetteer and directory for …	1877
The directors’ reports of the Provincial Royal Jubilee Hospital	1892
The year book of the University of Toronto	1886/87
Thomas Nast’s illustrated almanac for …	1872
Town of Galt gazetteer and general business directory, for …	1880
Treasurer’s statement from … / St. Andrew’s Church, Picton, Ont	1886
Treasurer’s statement from … / St. Andrew’s Church, Picton, Ont	1887
Union Publishing Company’s (of Ingersoll) farmers’ and business directory for the counties of Frontenac, Grenville, and Leeds	1894
Union Publishing Company, of Ingersoll, business and professional directory of all cities in Ontario, including Montreal, Quebec and Winnipeg	1899/1900
Varsity students’ hand book / presented by the Young Men’s Christian Association of University College	1897/98 – 1900/1901
Vernon’s city of Chatham street, alphabetical, business and miscellaneous directory for the years …	1900/1902
Woman’s Morning Music Club, London …	1896/97; 1898/99 – 1900/01

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Edward VIII’s secret memoir shows him as you’ve never seen him before: he was the hardest working Royal

Artificial Intelligence Genealogy Insights – First Blush: ChatGPT Plus with DALL-E 3

Automated Text Recognition with ChatGPT 4

Recovering enslaved peoples’ perspectives from archives, literature, and art
Henry Louis Gates, Jr in conversation with Isaac Julien and LSE’s Imaobong Umoren.

A quick shout out to Steven King, Peter Jones, Natalie Carter, Carol Beardmore and Paul Carter for winning the North American Victorian Studies Association’s (NAVSA) prize for best book in the field published in 2022.

In Their Own Write: Contesting the New Poor Law, 1834–1900, “rethink(s) the grim picture of the Victorian workhouse through the authentic words of the poor and their advocates” based largely on archival resources of TNA.

Read more about the book, published by the McGill-Queen’s University Press, at https://www.mqup.ca/in-their-own-write-products-9780228014324.php

 

Scotland, Renfrewshire, Paisley Poor Law Records extends from 1837 to 1933. Typically, you can find the name of the individual applying for aid, place of birth, age and year, place of residence and notes. There are 186,557 index records.

Due to an inability to support themselves financially through the ups and downs of the local economy, these individuals applied for aid from the Parish. The elderly, orphans, widows, sick or disabled people and those in poverty would usually be among those applying for aid.

The records in this collection are available in a 5,383 page searchable pdf from Renfrewshire Libraries at https://libcat.renfrewshire.gov.uk/iguana/www.main.cls?surl=poorlaw

Find newly available pre-1800 BMB transcripts and images of the source publication for Dublin.

The following registers for the Church of Ireland published by the Parish Register Society are included:

St. Andrew, St. Anne, St. Audoen, & St. Bride
St. Catherine
St. John the Evangelist
S. Marie, S. Luke, S. Catherine and S. Werburgh
St. Michan
St. Nicholas Without
St. Patrick
Saint Peter and Saint Kevin

Irish newspaper additions this week include the:

Belfast News-Letter, 1977-1978, 1988-1989
Derry Journal, 1990, 1992
Lurgan Mail, 1897-1914, 1916-1925, 1927-1984