Anglo-Celtic Connections

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Is AI slop inevitable?
According to Wikipedia, AI Slop is: “A term for low-quality media, including writing and images, made using generative artificial intelligence technology, characterized by an inherent lack of effort, being generated at an overwhelming volume.

According to Perplexity, “AI slop appears to be largely inevitable given current trends, but its extent and impact depend on how society, technology builders, and platforms respond. The rapid growth of AI-generated low-quality content (AI slop) is outpacing the ability of search engines and moderation tools to manage it. This results in a cycle where AI models are trained on increasingly lower-quality, AI-generated, or misinformative content, thereby worsening the quality of output over time.

The current internet business model of advertising revenue that supports high-quality content is collapsing as many users get their answers directly from AI-generated summaries, leading to reduced traffic and revenues for legitimate content creators. Meanwhile, low-quality AI slop floods the internet because it is easy and cheap to produce. Platforms sometimes even amplify such content for engagement.

This landscape is creating a downward spiral where AI slop begets more AI slop, and the information ecosystem risks degradation in quality and trustworthiness. However, there are emerging hopes for a “curated web” with better tools and business models to promote high-quality content and filter out slop. Some argue that AI slop could even incentivize a cultural shift toward more offline interaction and reliance on trusted sources rather than low-quality digital clutter.”

Government of Canada to build new national Cultural Heritage Science facility to protect Canada’s heritage.
Politicians love announcing new things while cutting support for ongoing operations.

OGS News
Thanks mainly to the work of summer students, new databases are available in the members’ area of the OGS website. They are: an  Index of Jewish Residents According to the 1861 to 1901 Censuses of Canada; the Index of Jews Resident in Newfoundland According to the Censuses 1921, 1935 and 1945; and the Wesleyan Methodist Baptismal Register Master Index.
Coming soon are applications to a Hugenot lineage society, Century Farms, Dunnville Gazette, and IOOF applications. See the full lineup at https://ogs.on.ca/research-resources/

More OGS News
The Call For Speakers for the 2026 OGS Monthly Webinar Series came out on Saturday. For details and to submit proposals, due  Monday, September 15, 2025, please follow the link at https://ogs.on.ca/webinar-submissions/.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars call for speakers.
Visit https://familytreewebinars.com/call-for-presentations-2026 for all the details, and to submit. The submission deadline is Monday, September 1, 2025.

Reverse the Decision to Close Halton Region’s Heritage Operations

Corlene Taylor RIP
OGS members, especially those in the Niagara region, will be sad at the passing of historian and genealogist Corlene Taylor. She spent decades preserving Niagara’s stories and forgotten names and established the Mayholme Foundation, a not-for-profit genealogical and historical research facility.

Thanks to the following for comments and tips: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Bryan Cook, Christine Jackson, Gail, Kathleen Hawley, Kim Barnsdale, Linda Reid, MF, Teresa, and Unknown.

Royal York Rangers Records (1800s)

Formed in 1807from the Royal African Corps, the Rangers served in the West Indies campaigns, including Martinique and Guadeloupe. It was disbanded on 24June 1819 in Halifax. The regiment recruited from diverse sources including prison hulks, condemned prisoners, Black Loyalists from the American Revolution, West Indian Regiment soldiers, and East India Company personnel

Records include: Names, birth information, occupations, service details, company assignments, and death records where applicable, sourced from The National Archives series WO25, ADM337, WO116, HO9, and ADM37.

Military Service Memorial Collection
Spanning 1642-2012 with nearly 588,000 records from over 4,000 memorials across the UK, former British Empire territories, and Allied nations. The collection  includes:
War graves and community memorials
Rolls of honour and books of remembrance
Memorials to civilians killed in conflicts
Police and terrorism victim tributes
Full memorial inscriptions and photographs.

Breakdown by territory where commemorated is
England 473,510
Wales 25,874
Singapore 24,793
Canada 23,197
New Zealand 16,122
Australia 15,632
United States 5,234
Scotland 3,392

Newspapers

Twenty-five newspapers are mentioned in this week’s update, including four new publications. Those with more than 10,000 new papers are:

Scotland on Sunday – 23,912 pages (1997, 2000, 2002)
Fur and Feather – 10,632 pages (1890-1894, 1896-1897, 1899-1903, 1916-1918) new title
Oxford Review – 15,686 pages (1885-1888, 1890-1898, 1900-1910, 1912-1914) new title
Paddington Times – 14,918 pages (1870-1878, 1885-1892, 1894-1918) new title
Nenagh Guardian – 19,922 pages (1846-1877, 1881-1884, 1900-1903, 1906-1915)
Wetherby News – 14,796 pages (1986-1987, 1989, 2000-2001)
Lyttelton (NZ) Times – 64,578 pages (1915-1929)
Liverpool Weekly Courier – 11,702 pages (1904-1910, 1912-1925)
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail – 13,036 pages (1900-1909)
Isle of Man Times – 25,706 pages (1873, 1928-1931, 1939-1969, 1975-1977, 1980-1981)

The Canadian School yearbooks collection 1901-2005 now has 2,763,108 entries. Ontario accounts for 1,737,652, which is 62%. Except for PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Territories, there are entries for each province.
For Ottawa, Ashbury, Elmwood and Carleton University have long runs. Eight other institutions have a few issues each.

Ancestry has updated the US School Yearbook collection, now with 926,153,116 entries.

Today marks the anniversary of VJ Day, when the Second World War officially concluded with Japan’s surrender. Scattered Japanese units continued fighting, unaware that surrender orders had been issued.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission honours 137 Canadian servicemen buried at Yokohama War Cemetery. These men were predominantly survivors of the 1941 Battle of Hong Kong: 69 served with the Royal Rifles of Canada and 63 with the Winnipeg Grenadiers. During the brutal period from November 1943 to March 1944, eighty-three of these prisoners of war perished under horrific conditions in Japanese camps, succumbing to starvation, exhausting forced labour, disease, inadequate medical treatment, and systematic abuse.

The same two regiments had suffered losses during the Battle of Hong Kong itself. Four hundred and twenty-two Canadian casualties from that engagement are commemorated across multiple sites: the Sai Wan War Cemetery, Sai Wan Memorial, Stanley Military Cemetery, and the Hong Kong Memorial.

Lest We Forget.

Back in 2017, my old blog noted the following additions on Ancestry:

• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812: 266,558 records
• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1916: 965,717 records
• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1916: 1,753,821 records
• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1916: 377,867 records

Today, Ancestry’s update extends the coverage for the post-1812 series, pushing the end dates forward to 1924.

Here’s a breakdown of the new collection sizes and the increase in records:

• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1924: 393,011 records (an increase of 15,144 records)
• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1924: 1,016,765 records (an increase of 51,048 records)
• Wiltshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1924: 1,828,097 records (an increase of 74,276 records).

The Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council hold the original records. As usual for Ancestry, the indexed records are linked to images of the originals, which are browseable by parish.

 

The September issue content covers personal stories, practical guidance, and modern research techniques.

Two stories illustrate the personal narratives behind genealogical research. David Annal’s “The Life of Bryan” explores a complex case involving bigamy and disappearance, demonstrating approaches to unusual historical records. Julie Johnson’s “Frederick Fleet’s Titanic Journey” follows a Liverpool-born seaman’s experience during and after the disaster.

John Beaumont’s “Genealogy is changing … don’t get left behind” explores the potential of artificial intelligence for family historians, including common mistakes and strategies for avoidance. Wayne Shepheard reviews Legacy Family Tree v10 software features. Karen Evans’s “DNA Workshop” discusses both achievements and obstacles in genetic genealogy research.

Military historian Graham Bandy provides guidance on tracing women’s military service, acknowledging the challenges posed by historical record-keeping practices.

“Reframing Roots; How Family History Helped Me Heal” by Celia Heritage explores her journey toward appreciation of the emotional benefits of genealogical research. She now combines her previous genealogical expertise, she was a keynote speaker at BIFHSGO’s 2017 annual conference, with therapy skills through Reframing Roots groups. Three life events across generations she sees as key:

• death of a parent while children were still young
• death of siblings in childhood
• any children born outside marriage.

The article includes a content warning that revisiting these stories can be destabilizing.

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 conferencekeeper.org.

Perhaps you’re one of the select few who would benefit from this offer from MyHeritage. Here’s the opportunity.

“The MyHeritage Wiki contributor community is a curated group of passionate family history enthusiasts who are helping shape a valuable online resource for genealogists around the world. We’re currently seeking volunteers who’d like to share their knowledge, contribute articles, and become part of the movement to make genealogy more accessible for everyone, everywhere.

Contributors enjoy a variety of perks, including:

• MyHeritage subscriptions
• Personalized gifts
• A dedicated contributor page showcasing their articles, biography, and personal/professional links (including social media profiles)”

If you’re interested, start by filling out this short form.

 

During the last 18 years of his life, Andrew Carnegie gave away around $350 million (equivalent to $10.9 billion in 2024), almost 90 percent of his fortune, to charities, foundations and universities. Today, 11 August, is the anniversary of his death in 1919.

About 1,700 Carnegie Libraries were built in the United States.

In Canada, between 1901 and 1916, he donated over $2.5 million ($78 million today) to establish 119 public libraries. That’s according to a table here.  The top 10 contributions in Canada were:

Community	Year	Amount ($)
Toronto	1903	400,000
Winnipeg	1901	191,000
Ottawa	1901	115,000
Edmonton	1911	112,500
Hamilton	1909	100,000
Calgary	1908	80,000
Regina	1910	59,500
Victoria	1901	52,415
Vancouver	1901	50,000
Fort William	1908	50,000

Others are now following in his footsteps. According to Wikipedia,  as of 2023, Warren Buffett has given over $50 billion to charitable causes, while Bill Gates’ charitable donations have totalled $100 billion.

If you recently received a file from LAC, one that was way overdue, you’re not alone.

The June 2025 – ATIP action plan progress report from Library and Archives Canada shows progress, In 2024-25, it responded to 85% of requests within legislated time frames exceeding their expectations.

Files for individuals, such as those typically requested by family historians for the military, numbered 7,007 as of 1 April 2024. That was reduced to 3,452 a year later, despite an additional 6,869 requests.

The 4,531 requests classified as Government of Canada received during the year were added to the initial 2,397 backlog. By 31 March 2025, that was down by 7 per cent. 

The report details the administrative actions being taken.

You may not be aware that LAC has a freely accessible database of previously released ATI requests on archival records. There’s a lot of interesting content — beware — rabbit hole!

 

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Heat Event
Daytime highs of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, with humidex values of 35 to 40.
Overnight lows of 19 to 22 degrees Celsius.

The long-term perspective.

Jesus chatbots are on the rise. A philosopher puts them to the test

Why weather forecasters often get it wrong – or appear to

Netherlands Records
On 7 August 2025, Ancestry updated its collection of genealogical records from the Netherlands. The seven databases include indexes for civil and church marriages, births, deaths, baptisms, burials, and population registers. There are over 185 million records, from as early as 1524 to as late as 1973.

ChatGPT-5
In a special episode of the Family History AI Show recorded a couple of hours after the release of ChatGPT-5, Mark Thompson and Steve Little give a family history perspective on the new model. Mark reported on the analysis of a cabinet card, which he judged superior to those of previous models. I expect they will have more hands-on experience to report in the next episode. Other reactions are that it doesn’t live up to the hype, and isn’t as friendly as ChatGPT-4.0.

There’s an analogy between the search for artificial generalized intelligence (AGI) and the alchemists’ quest to turn lead into gold. Even though the Philosopher’s Stone was not found, much chemistry was learned in the search, and blind alleys were followed. Similarly, AGI may never be achieved, but discoveries along the way have had and will surely have many benefits.