Free to all on MyHeritage, this collection contains 59,552 death records from Newfoundland and Labrador between the years 1950 and 1968. The index entry gives birth and death information with greater detail on the linked certificate image.
The records are sourced from The Rooms, the Newfoundland and Labrador Archives.
FHS, FMP, FS, FTDNA, FTM — are some of the common abbreviations used by our family history community. They were included in a list of common abbreviations and acronyms for newer members in the most recent Journal of One Name Studies.
All disciplines have their share of these conveniences, seemingly more abbreviations (OGS) than acronyms (BIFHSGO).
For the military, you don’t need to be told the meaning of RCAF. Beyond that, it rapidly gets complicated. Terms in a service file, on a soldier’s medals or in a war diary can be terra incognito.
Modern Canadian military abbreviations are found in the 610-page MANUAL OF ABBREVIATIONS, DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE AND THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES (BILINGUAL). The latest online edition is dated August 2018.
Library and Archives Canada offers Military abbreviations used in service files.
For the British military there are long lists of First World War and Second World War abbreviations and acronyms that include Canadian terms.
You can often find lists in military publications like the three pages in Nicholson’s Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War: CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1919, starting on page 557
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Canadian protestors hold referendum to annex the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Hilarious. #NAFOexpansion pic.twitter.com/RwAEhsgvPJ
— Marcus Kolga 🇺🇦 (@kolga) October 6, 2022
Top 10 Secrets to Using MyHeritage
Are you using, or even aware, of all the capabilities of the genealogy websites you use?
Why Beechwood?
AmericanAncestors, the website of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, announced the addition of records for 22 Canadian cemeteries from Canadian Headstones using an image from Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery. It’s not one of the 22!
Ordnance Survey Ireland 19th Century Historical Maps
For nearly 150 cities, towns, and villages in the Republic of Ireland, mostly town plans at either five or ten foot to one mile scale between 1837 and 1896.
Waterfall flowing upwards due to extreme winds 😮 https://t.co/0RFzoTIDSk
— Steve Stewart-Williams (@SteveStuWill) October 6, 2022
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Barbara Di Mambro, Brenda Turner, Claire Santry, Dianne, gail benjafield, Glenn Wright, Nick Mcdonald, Sunday Thompson, Teresa, Unknown.
The regular day for the monthly BIFHSGO meeting on Saturday fell on Thanksgiving weekend. I came by OC Transpo, feeling a seasonal chill in the morning air during the 10-minute walk from uOttawa station while enjoying the display of fall colours.
A friend had told me it would be only the second monthly BIFHSGO meeting he would miss in 20 years, so my expectation for attendance was low. He mentioned catching it on replay. However, I hadn’t expected to see just 20 people in the room! That’s significantly less than last month — blame that on Thanksgiving.
I’ve no idea how many people attended the live presentation online; probably a few times more. It’s a bit of a drag going downtown, certainly for me as Ben Franklin Place was a short drive with good free parking. That would attract folks to online attendance at present.
I enjoyed both presentations; catch them if you can when posted on the members-only part of the society website. I also enjoyed the social interaction between presentations and after.
A couple of people I spoke with mentioned service from Library and Archives Canada. According to one regular researcher, the onsite research facility at 395 Wellington is working quite well. However, there’s been no improvement in LAC’s performance in delivering online orders — months of delay experienced. A comment was that the service deterioration occurred when the Harper government cut funding and has never recovered. Virtually all the specialist expertise was lost at that time, too—something to remember come election time.
During the pandemic, all BIFHSGO meetings and conferences were virtual, which attracted more than a few members outside Greater Ottawa.
BTW, why do some people question the term Greater Ottawa but not Greater London? Ottawa is 70% larger in area. But I digress.
It has long been debated whether the society should aim to attract members from outside the local area — Greater Ottawa — perhaps transforming to BIFHSC — C for Canada. As president, I felt the society didn’t have the means at the time to provide good value to those outside the area. That’s changed, and the present Board strives to provide all members good service, local or away. That does mean providing virtual access to meetings, but the previous Ben Franklin Place meeting space is not well equipped with reliable WiFi, and the will to make the facility suitable. So it sits empty.
On 5 October, The Office of National Statistics published a table and analysis of 2021 baby names for England on Wales. That’s a 6 month lag behind a similar analysis for Scotland that appeared on 7 April. Here’s a comparative table
| Rank | Boys | Girls | ||
| E&W | Scot | E&W | Scot | |
| 1 | Noah | Jack | Olivia | Olivia |
| 2 | Oliver | Noah | Amelia | Emily |
| 3 | George | Leo | Isla | Isla |
| 4 | Arthur | Oliver | Ava | Freya |
| 5 | Muhammad | Harris | Ivy | Ella |
| 6 | Leo | Finlay | Freya | Amelia |
| 7 | Harry | Lewis | Lily | Ava |
| 8 | Oscar | James | Florence | Sophie |
| 9 | Archie | Rory | Mia | Grace |
| 10 | Henry | Alexander | Willow | Millie |
For England and Wales the statisticians commentary is
“Noah has replaced Oliver as the most popular name for boys in 2021, moving Oliver into second place and ending an eight-year reign at the top. Olivia remained the most popular girls name in 2021, having held the top spot since 2016. Interestingly, Noah was not top in any of the English regions, but has risen up the ranks in most regions since last year to take first place overall.
While Noah and Olivia are enjoying their places at the top, some names could be in danger of falling out of favour. Leslie has had relatively little popularity in recent years with fewer than seven boys named each year since 2018. Others such as Clifford, Nigel and Norman have not fared much better with ten or fewer boys being named. Girls’ names such as Glenda and Kerry, that were more common before, are also becoming endangered and we have seen less than five girls being named each year since 2018.
Popular culture continues to influence parents’ baby name choices. Today we have also published analysis exploring cultural influences that could be inspiring baby name trends, from hit TV shows to musical icons.”
Find the release for England and Wales at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/babynamesenglandandwales/2021#top-baby-names
and for Scotland at
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/babies-names/21/babies-first-names-21-report.pdf
This 27,537-item collection comprises an index to post-mortem examination records and case books produced at St. George’s Hospital and Medical School in London, England. There are links to the images of the original, which are morbid reading — save for Halloween!
“Records in this collection may include the following information:
Name
Age at time of death
Occupation
Date of admission
Date of death
Names of the attending doctors
Diseases and cause of death
Doctor’s notes on the case”
It was more affordable. That was the comment during Tuesday evening’s hybrid meeting of Durham Branch of OGS when the host site for local digitized newspapers was mentioned.
Canadian Community Digital Archives aims to provide very high-quality images, with no compromise in image fidelity, in a simple and cost-effective way for Libraries, Historical Societies and other community based orginizations to share their historical content online.
The site presently hosts 169,558 pages of newspapers, clippings and photographs.
There are 33 newspaper titles for Bracebridge, Brampton, Comwall, Goderich, Hanover, Huntsville, Newmarket, Oshawa, Port Hope, Sudbury, and Uxbridge.
All are OCR’d and hits are highlighted on the image of the original, not always easy to spot.
The standouts in the collection are:
The Huntsville Forrester with 104,224 pages from 1895 to 2018,
Bracebridge Gazette with 13,902 pages from 1903 to 1955, Bracebridge Herald Gazette with 19,624 pages from 1955 to 1986
Muskoka Herald with 15,754 pages from 1888 to 1955.
The site provides a repository for small newspaper collections, 14 having fewer than 100 pages.
Do you have ancestors who were baptised, married or buried at Kingston upon Thames, All Saints, between 1813 and 1825? If so, rejoice. There aren’t many additions, a total of just 4,339 records which must be record-breaking!
Subscribers also get access to two newly digitized newspapers:
Building News, 1854-1855, 1862, 1869-1891
Hornsey & Finsbury Park Journal, 1879-1915
And updates to 12 other newspapers, the most notable being:
Leicester Daily Mercury, 1963, 1966, 1973,
1975-1979, 1990-1992, 1994-1995
Staffordshire Sentinel, 1888, 1950-1952,
1955, 1957-1958, 1960, 1963-1967, 1969-1973, 1976-1980
One year ago I stopped using Facebook in protest of their profits before people culture.
At the end of the post I wrote “If things get fixed I would maybe return.”
Have things changed?
New items like Meta Dissolves Team Assigned To Police Potential Ethical Issues Of Facebook, Instagram are of concern.
If you use Facebook, or other Meta products, what’s your recent experience?
RootsTech is back, 2-4 March 2023. with registration now open. The online event is free. The in-person experience in Salt Lake City, Utah is $98 — plus travel and accommodation.
I recommend registering now for the online version at RootsTech.org. If you do decide to make the trek to Utah, tardily in the footsteps of the Mormon Pioneers, you can always register for the in-person event later.
No program has been announced yet, just “inspiring keynote addresses, instructive classes, innovative technologies, and the opportunity to connect to family—past, present, and future.”
Register at RootsTech.org.
Here are the UK newspapers.com additions in the past month.
| Newspaper | Change | Place | Pages | Years |
| Evening Standard | Updated | London, Greater London, England | 2,365,163 | 1897–2022 |
| The Guardian | Updated | London, Greater London, England | 1,106,085 | 1821–2022 |
| Leicester Mercury | Updated | Leicester, Leicestershire, England | 710,195 | 1919–1996 |
| Derby Evening Telegraph | Updated | Derby, Derbyshire, England | 633,221 | 1933–1990 |
| Herald Express | Updated | Torquay, Devon, England | 560,430 | 1940–1999 |
| Bristol Evening Post | Updated | Bristol, Avon, England | 132,464 | 1939–1965 |
| The Hinckley Times | Updated | Hinckley, Leicestershire, England | 104,211 | 1925–1999 |
| Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph | Updated | Scunthorpe, Humberside, England | 103,842 | 1939–1999 |
| Derby Daily Telegraph | Updated | Derby, Derbyshire, England | 74,853 | 1881–1932 |
| Walton and Weybridge Informer | Updated | Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England | 37,806 | 1986–1995 |
| Stanmore Observer | Updated | Harrow, London, England | 37,332 | 1987–1994 |
| The Ormskirk Advertiser, etc. | Updated | Ormskirk, Lancashire, England | 36,633 | 1855–1995 |
| Surrey Herald | Updated | Chertsey, Surrey, England | 33,494 | 1986–1995 |
| Horley Mirror: Incorporating Horley Advertiser and County Post | Updated | Horley, Surrey, England | 21,523 | 1986–1995 |
| Hertfordshire Mercury | Updated | Hertford, Hertfordshire, England | 21,041 | 1991–1994 |
| The Advertiser | Updated | Eccles, Greater Manchester, England | 20,945 | 1987–1995 |
| Belper Express | Updated | Belper, Derbyshire, England | 20,750 | 1989–1996 |
| Burntwood Mercury | Updated | Burntwood, Staffordshire, England | 19,467 | 1990–1995 |
| Surrey Mirror | Updated | Reigate, Surrey, England | 18,708 | 1986–1995 |
| Wellingborough and Rushden Herald and Post | Updated | Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England | 17,603 | 1989–1995 |
| The Harrow and Northwood Informer | Updated | Harrow, London, England | 13,535 | 1986–1994 |
| Evening Post | Updated | Bristol, Avon, England | 10,715 | 1958–1999 |
| The Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial and General Advertiser | Updated | Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England | 10,086 | 1854–1881 |
| Horncastle Target | Updated | Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England | 8,678 | 1991–1994 |
| Manchester Metro News | New | Manchester, Greater Manchester, England | 7,941 | 1993–1994 |
| Stockton and District Herald and Post | Updated | Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England | 7,769 | 1992–1994 |
| Blairgowrie Advisor and East Perthshire News-Rewview | Updated | Blairgowrie, Tayside, Scotland | 7,401 | 1879-1994 |
| Neath Guardian | Updated | Neath, Wales | 5,489 | 1990-1994 |
| Stanmore, Edgware Observer | New | Harrow, London, England | 4,914 | 1994–1995 |
| Axholme Herald | New | Epworth, Humberside, England | 713 | 1992–1999 |
| Oadby and Wigston News: Incorporating the ‘Oadby and Wigston Advertiser’ | New | Oadby, Leicestershire, England | 256 | 1984–1985 |
| Loughborough News | New | Loughborough, Leicestershire, England | 248 | 1984–1985 |
| Leicester Advertiser | New | Leicester, Leicestershire, England | 144 | 1984–1985 |
There were no additions for Ireland.
For Canada, The Abbotsford News was updated so there are now 126,033 pages for 1977–2008. There were also additions for several current paper’s issues for recent months.
On 7-8 October 2002, the National Library of Canada, the forerunner of Library and Archives Canada, held an event, “Canadian Newspapers Online: A National Consultation,” in the Auditorium at 395 Wellington Street.
What happened as a result? Twenty years of LAC inaction speak for themselves.
Here, for the record, is the agenda for that event, the last time LAC did anything along the lines of its supposed leadership role within the Decentralized Plan for Canadian Newspapers.
