Anglo-Celtic Connections

Below are the updates to Full Text Search listed for this month. Do you notice anything about the dates? Do miracles happen?

Here’s a summary of top updates from February to date

There could be other updates and additions available only at FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries of FamilySearch Centres.

Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time, unless otherwise noted. Registration may be required in advance—please check the links to avoid disappointment. For many more events, mainly in the U.S., visit https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual/.

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Friday 25 Sepember 2026 to contain 296,707,946 unique records, an increase of 205,328 since August.

Years with more than 10,000 additions are: 1994-96 for births, 1995-97 for marriages, and 1996-97 for deaths.

Looking back over the past year, the vast majority of additions are from 1991 onward. Thanks to the volunteers for these additions, and for the numerous updates for earlier years, especially pre-WW1.

Today, 28 September 2026 (that’s for the record), Mark Thompson, a leader in AI and Genealogy, will speak on Beyond the Prompt. He promises you will find out how AI will change how you research, analyze and share your family history.

Before that Major John M. Stephens will describe the wealth of unique material for genealogists housed at the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives.

The online meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Register at https://torontofamilyhistory.org/september-2026-meeting-online/

Following on from last week, when FMP introduced records from the Royal School of Needlework, come two more small databases between 1889 and 1946.

Royal School of Needlework Teaching Staff Records

This new collection comprises 5,140 staff records from the Royal School of Needlework. A mix of records, some with no first name, some with a home address.

Royal School Of Needlework Student Records

3,441 records, spanning 1895 to 1944. Was your person of interest judged Excellent, Very Good, or Good?

Newspapers

Three new titles are added to the newspaper archive this week and updates to 22 existing publications, a total of 266,842 pages added. Note the long run of the Aberdeen Press and Journal, starting in 1748, and Lloyd’s List with a broken run, starting in 1801, to 1919.

New titles:

• Highbridge and Burnham Gazette, 1874, 1877
• Musician of the Salvation Army, 1897–1985
• Portadown Express and County Armagh Advertiser, 1906–1920

Updated titles:

• Aberdeen Press and Journal, 1748–1959, 1963–2008
• Argyllshire Advertiser, 1887–1888, 1974–1975, 1986, 1988–1994
• Banffshire Advertiser, 1881–1902, 1905–1982, 1986–1989
• Bicycling News, 1877, 1885–1887, 1890–1893
• Birmingham Weekly Mercury, 1889, 1897, 1912, 1918–1921, 1923–1945, 1947–1999, 2001–2003, 2005
• Blyth News Post Leader, 1986–2004
• Catholic Standard, 1933–1963
• Church in the West, 1885–1886, 1888, 1890–1891
• Co-operative News, 1876, 1881, 1885, 1887–1888, 1890–1891, 1893
• Doncaster Chronicle, 1889, 1950
• East Cumberland News, 1898, 1900–1901
• Hertford Mercury and Reformer, 1834–1837, 1840–1889, 1897, 1913, 1916–1918, 1939, 1950, 1953, 1958, 1960, 1963–1967, 1980–1999, 2002, 2004–2005
• Isle of Wight County Press, 1884–1919
• Knutsford Guardian, 1911–1913, 1919
• Lloyd’s List, 1801–1884, 1887–1890, 1892–1894, 1896–1919
• Macclesfield Express, 1981–2003
• Nation and The Athenaeum, 1907–1931
• Pink (Newcastle), 1987–1990, 1993–1999
• Shipping World and Herald of Commerce, 1883–1918
• St. Mary Cray & Swanley Express, 1900–1917
• Uxbridge Leader, 1986–2005
• Wokingham Times, 1931–1942, 1944–1958, 1977–1981, 1983–1999, 2001–2002

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

What happened the week Ottawa was born
In Saturday’s Ottawa Citizen first section  Randy Boswell rescues characters and details that have been lost to time, adding a new chapter to the capital’s origin story.

WDYTYA: Ian McKellen

Ontario, Canada Births, 1832-1918
On 24 September 2026 Ancestry updated the civil registration collection to now contain 7,794,437 records.

This new to Ancestry title has 570,090 records. Some are indexes, with name date and a portrait. Some link to a full obit. There’s a mix of anglo names with the majority francophone.

Using forenames in family history research. Chloe O’Shea tells how a little knowledge of forenames can take your research to a new level

Commonwealth Marriages – the impact of Oliver Cromwell on the records. David Annal looks at the marriage legislation introduced under Cromwell’s Commonwealth

Hidden figures – tips for tracing female ancestors. Phil Isherwood explains why women tend to be less well represented in the official records and suggests some strategies that might help in researching female ancestors more effectively

Regimental music. Graham Bandy takes a look at the military music that soldier ancestors marched to, from dawn to dusk, to celebrate and commemorate…

Karen Evans explains how GEDmatch can help with DNA research

The making of Mrs Smith. Julie Johnson continues Jessie Blackshaw’s story, which reaches a turning point as faith, friendship and family shape her life

What can a diary tell us about the past? Jack Jewers reflects on some personal diaries that have survived the march of time, and the insights they provide to previous eras,

PLUS

Readers’ letters and questions answered; Book reviews; Diary Dates; Photo Corner – with Jayne Shrimpton; Dear Paul – with Paul Chiddicks; Twiglets – with Gill Shaw; & Thoughts on… with Diane Lindsay.

On Friday, 25 September at 14:00 BST, that’s 09:00 ET, The National Archives presents a webinar by Steven King from Nottingham Trent and Paul Carter from TNA discussing how the central and local state created a framework of oppression to control the lives of the poorest citizens. From the 1780s to the outbreak of World War I, discover how actions of petty tyranny became entrenched within workhouse regimes under both the Old and New Poor Laws.

Find out more, and reserve a spot (if still available) here.

For the record, obituary and related collections were updated on Ancestry on 22 September 2026.

• What’s in Collection Search?
  As of 22 September, there are 7,942,117 (7,932,049 on 14 September) items in the Archives section of Collection Search, 8,227,688 (8,227,689) in the Genealogy section, 4,438,807 (4,424,294) in Library, and 352,748 (352,681) in Images.
• When is Genealogy not Genealogy?
  What’s in the Genealogy section of Collection Search? Of the first 100 entries 81 have the title “& child” or “& Children”. That’s not counting “& 2 Children”, “& 2 Maid”,  “& Chilaren” and other USELESS slop. It’s likely the result of  accepting automated indexing, which is inevitably flawed, without doing any data cleanup.  Cleanup is essential for credible indexing as LAC is demonstrating. How many of the 4,438,807 entries in the Genealogy section of Collection Search are this type of garbage.
  
• Missing
  Search for the word genealogy in LAC’s Collection Search Library section and you find 32,245 hits. They’re a mixture of “How to”, indexes and published family histories. None are found using a search in the Collection Search Genealogy section.  If that’s all you use, your search is incomplete.
• Reminder – Online workshop-conference with Alexane Drolet
  LAC’s Creator in Residence will share her ideas about the importance of staying informed with quality information and reliable sources on social networks. After that, she will delve into the process of creating a short news item or post, with an opportunity for participants to begin developing their own work.  It’s at 6:30 PM ET on Thursday, 24 September 2026. Find out more at https://evenements-events.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Events/Details/269.

Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time, unless otherwise noted. Registration may be required in advance—please check the links to avoid disappointment. For many more events, mainly in the U.S., visit https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual/.