Tis’ the season for sales. There are times when an autosomal DNA test won’t do. If you’ve been waiting for a sale on a Y-DNA test, it follows a man’s male line back, or a mitochondrial test that follows the maternal line now is the time. Family Tree DNA has these specialist tests as well as their autosomal test on sale.
Note that prices are in US currency and do not include shipping.
On 15 November Jasmine Bouchard, previously head of services to the public at the city of Gatineau’s library, joined Library and Archives Canada as Assistant Deputy Minister, User Experience and Engagement.
The announcement is at https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/Pages/2021/welcome-new-adm-novembre21.aspx
I’m sure we all wish Ms. Bouchard well in taking up this challenging role. A good step would be to ask users, and potential users, for advice about the service improvements and services they want?
With Scotland’s People carefully guarding access to official BMDs and BMBs, and giving to information I could find on how many records are in the database(s), we look for alternatives
Ancestry has just updated the Select databases
Scotland, Select Marriages, 1561-1910, 4,298,852 records.
Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950, 27,121,897 records.
The source they cite is FamilySearch which lists:
Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910. 2,007,372 records, updated 11 March 2020
Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950. 8,151,224 records, updated 19 June 2020.
How can Ancestry get so many more records from the same source?
Findmypast‘s catalogue lists
Scotland, Parish Marriages & Banns 1561-1893. 5,875,752 records
Scotland, Parish Births & Baptisms 1564-1929. 10,543,847 records
Their sources are “compiled from a variety of different sources”, mainly family history societies.
MyHeritage lists
Scotland, Marriages, 1561-1910. 4,281,188 records updated 21 Dec 2013
Scotland, Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950. 26,765,821 records updated 21 Dec 2013
FreeReg does not provide information on the totals for Scottish records
Many Frith photos have been checked and upgraded from the ‘Reference Only’ category meaning they are now available in a wider range of products. This release covers Norfolk, Hampshire and a number of other places, including a total of 658 British cities, towns and villages.
https://www.francisfrith.com/releases/november-2021
Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended
Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.
Tuesday 16 Nov. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.
Tuesday 16 Nov. 2:30 pm: Saving Your Story: Preservation 101 for the Family Historian, by Annie Halliday for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5769131
Tuesday 16 Nov. 8 pm: Planning Research, by LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson for Legacy Family Tree Webinars
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/planning-research/
Wednesday 17 Nov. 1 pm: Holocaust History Under Siege, by Jan Grabowski for Gresham College.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/holocaust-history
Wednesday 17 Nov. 2 pm: Reeling ‘Em in with Cousin Bait—10 Ways to Connect with Family, by Cheri Hudson Passey for Legacy Family Tree Webinars
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/10-ways-to-connect-with-family/
Wednesday 16 Nov. 7 pm: Remembering Our Military Heritage, by John Grants for Sudbury Branch OGS.
https://www.sudburyogs.com/
Thursday 18 Nov. 6:30 pm: Social History of Early Massachusetts, by Seema Kenney for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5769152
Friday 19 Nov. 9 am: Victory and Loss: Britain after the First World War, by William Butler for the UK National Archives.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/victory-and-loss-britain-after-the-first-world-war-tickets-176952739407
Friday 19 Nov. 2 pm: Finding Your Scottish Ancestors in Canada, by Christine Woodcock for Legacy Family Tree Webinars
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-your-scottish-ancestors-in-canada/
Saturday 20 Nov. 10 am: Remembering My Cousin and His Family: Bomber Command in WWII, by Paul Van Nest for Kingston Branch OGS.
https://kingston.ogs.on.ca/
Saturday 20 Nov. 1 pm: Great Moments, by Wayne Wickson, Ian McKelvie, Ruth James-Morrow, Julie Hinton.
https://quinte.ogs.on.ca/2021/11/08/november-20-great-moments/
Kingston & District Branch, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada will hold its Annual General Meeting on Saturday, November 27 at 2:00 pm EST on Zoom.
The guest speaker will be Dr. Tim Compeau of the Department of History at Huron College, Western University speaking on “The Triumph of Villainy: The Loyalist Search for Honour in Defeat.”
All are welcome to attend: visit www.uelac.org/Kingston-Branch for the link to pre-register for the Zoom meeting, or email kingston.uelac@gmail.com to request the link.
Tim Compeau is co-editor of the book Seeing the Past with Computers. If you have a few minutes I recommend chapter 10, Tecumseh Returns: A History Game in Alternate Reality, Augmented Reality, and Reality of which he is the lead author.
James F. S. Thomson will present Finding World War II Records for Oxford County OGS Branch today, Monday, 15 November at 7 pm.
“James will provide an information-packed introduction to a broad range of resources now widely available for Second World War research, or which (as with additional service records) are likely to become more accessible. Adopting the perspective of a distance researcher, our survey encompasses and compares Canadian and British military records and selected further sources relating to war brides, the merchant navy and the home front.”
Tim Cook, serving as a military expert during the CBC TV coverage of the ceremonies at the National War Memorial on 11 November, mentioned twice that there are about 20,000 Second World War veterans still living. He didn’t mention a source.
According to Library and Archives Canada, 1,159,000 Canadians and Newfoundlands served. About 61,000 died leaving 1.1 million alive at the end of the war in 1945. That’s 1.8 percent of those alive in 1945 still living.
Applying the same percentage to the 43,454 war brides who came to Canada after the Second World War that would be 782 war bride survivours.
A previous estimate for living war brides in 2020 was 1,000 to 1,800. Applying the death stats from life tables the range at the end of 2021 would be 640 to 1,152. It’s a happy day when two estimates are in the same range.
Monday 15 Nov 2021 at 2 pm via Zoom.
Film, poetry and conversation on childhood.
https://www.bl.uk/events/speaking-volumes-on-childhood-memories
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Time to ban fossil fuel advertising. Tobacco, alcohol and cannabis advertising are banned. When will GHG spewing vehicle advertising be banned? Look for measures such as that in the Speech from the Throne — or recognize the government isn’t sufficiently serious.
I’ve been hoping the BBC WDYTYA episode with Pixie Lott would become available on YouTube. Not yet. In the meantime.
GBNames maps surname distribution from historical census data and modern consumer registers.
The “Dating Apps” of Victorian England
1000 Men, 1000 Stories: Canadians in Combined Operations, WW2. Eyewitness Accounts.
BCATP 1943 Canada
Following on the post on The History of Port Albert: No. 31 ANS, Roy Cook recalls his early training days with the RAF Meteorology Office in Port Albert.
Thanks to this week’s contributors. Ann Burns, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Christine Jackson, Jane MacNamara, Judith H., Nancy Frey, Unknown.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: www.cwgc.org/
General Register Office (England and Wales): https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp/
Booth Poverty Map and Notebooks: booth.lse.ac.uk/
National School Admission Registers and Logbooks, 1870-1914: findmypast.com
A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 10, Hackney. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1995: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol10/
Google maps (for travel times): https://www.google.com/
Anglo-Jewry’s Experience of Secondary Education from the 1830s until 1920, Emma Tanya Harris, UCL Ph.D. Thesis 2007: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1444779/1/U592088.pdf
British Army Officer Service Records, 1914–1922: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-officers-after-1913/
British Army war diaries 1914-1922: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-war-diaries-1914-1922/
National Library of Scotland, British First World War Trench Maps, 1915-1918: https://maps.nls.uk/ww1/trenches/
McMaster University WW1 Maps: https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww1/ndx5to40.htm
London Gazette: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/
British Army Medal Index cards 1914-1920: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-army-medal-index-cards-1914-1920/
World War I Roll of Honour – The Clove Club Hackney Downs School: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/17094170/world-war-i-roll-of-honour-the-clove-club-hackney-downs-school/
The December issue of UK Family Tree Magazine is now available, including through PressReader at the OPL website. It includes another climate-related article by Calgary genealogist Wayne Shepheard.
Family Tree:
Dive in and unravel the mysteries in our bumper end-of-year family history quiz. Family Tree Academy tutor David Annal has laid down the gauntlet, with 25 intriguing genealogy questions. It’s time to see how much you know about family history!
Plus learn how to ‘interview’ your ancestors (yes even those no longer with us) with professional researcher and blogger Susie Douglas’s intriguing and practical tips for writing up your family history.
And learn about the diligent folk who have been responsible our birth, marriage and death certificate details since 1837.
Also inside this issue:
– Rachel Bellerby reports on the latest news from the world of family history
– The impact of the Laki eruptions: Wayne Shepheard considers our ancestors and the events of pan-continental environmental catastrophe in the late 1700s
– Tales from the City of the Dead: Drs Anna Maria Barry and Fiona Snailham share stories from Highgate Cemetery – a place where social status could continue, even beyond the grave
– Paul Chiddicks rounds off a memorable year with a selection of stories with a family history festive twist
– Books & Gifts: Ideas to pop on your wish list or treat yourself too
– In the latest installment of Twiglets, Gill Shaw ponders on the poignant question of ‘Who survived to adulthood?’
– DNA advisor Karen Evans comes to the aid of a reader trying to solve a long-standing great-grandfather brickwall
– School records: Simon Wills reports on a selection of education related sources
– Spotlight on: Borders Family History Society has been helping people trace family for 35 years
– Diane Lindsay looks into an ancestor’s eyes and brings them to life in her inimitable way
– And: Your Questions Answered, Dates for your Diary this November, & Readers’ Letters.
