Anglo-Celtic Connections

On Wednesday, CKRN – Canadiana served a fresh smorgasbord of historical documents, most from the late 19th century.

Among the annual reports, directories, proceedings, and statements are delicacies like “Den Skandinaviske Canadiensaren” from 1887 to 1895 and “Svenska Canada-tidningen” from 1907 to 1931.

If you are interested in Kingston (ON) in 1867 and are lucky, there’s a directory where you may find an ancestor mentioned with occupation and address.

The listing of “What’s New in the Canadiana Collections” has detail on the more than 40 items added, preceded by a teaser of the eclectic content coming soon.

Bon appetit.

 

I’ve commented several times on how standard 50-minute plus 10 for questions presentations are becoming passé. TED talks are 18 minutes. The average YouTube video is 11.7 minutes, lower than I thought, as music videos average 6.8 minutes. Even gaming videos on YouTube, the longest, are 24.7 minutes.

Another indication, today, I attended an online session from the Canadian War Museum where four excellent speakers gave 10- minute presentations.

There’s an interesting initiative from the Toronto Branch of OGS following the trend —  DNA—How It Can Help Your Research.

In four parts between 18  and 26 May, starting at 7:30 pm, each evening will include several presentations of between 10 and 20 minutes.

The sessions will be recorded and available to paid registrants until about 26 June.

It looks like a deal at $20 for OGS members and $25 for non-members. Judge for yourself at https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/dna-how-it-can-help/

With newspapers.com and The British Newspaper Archive going full tilt on adding pages to their collections how can you ensure you keep up with additions relevant to you?

The way they describe it, Newspapers.com makes it easy with Search Alert. You save your searches and receive an email when new newspaper pages are added that contain matches for your saved searches. It sounds as if it works like the Google alerts service.

As far as I can see The British Newspaper Archive has no such facility. It was suggested back in 2015 but seems to be too much of an engineering challenge for the BNA.

The retirement of Ottawa Public Library CEO Danielle McDonald was announced on Tuesday. A search firm has been retained and preliminary work is underway.

Over at Library and Archives Canada applications for five Director General positions are open until 29 May.

In the Collections Sector they are Government Record, Preservation & Digitization, and Published Heritage & Private Archives

In the User Experience and Engagement Sector they are Research and Access, and Communications and Policy.

Nine Ottawa City Councillors have announced they will not be running for their present seats in the election next November. There will also be a new Mayor as Jim Watson announced before Christmas he will not seek a further term.

From the latest Family History Federation Really Useful Bulletin, No 21 for May 2022 comes this map showing the FHSs coverage areas. It’s from an article by Elizabeth Burling of the LWMFHS.
Also in the issue, Ian Waller writes on Tracing Nonconformist Ancestors. Ian will at the BIFHSGO conference (virtually) presenting “In and Out of London.”

This Bulletin is free here. If you wish to receive the next editions subscribe via https://www.familyhistoryfederation.com/#contactlink.
Back issues are on the FHF website

Dave Annal, another speaker at this year’s BIFHSGO meeting, tweeted that he stumbled upon the Old Hampshire Mapped website.

He stumbled, I fell for far too long. Beware.

A new series, the 19th, is coming to BBC starting in late May. The subjects, most mean nothing to me, are:

• Sue Perkins – best known for presenting The Great British Bake Off and being one half of the comedy duo Mel and Sue, Perkins discovers more about her great grandfather’s experience during the First World War, whilst also learning of a poignant tale of her German ancestors plight during the Second World War.
• Richard Osman – the TV quiz-show presenter and novelist finds out more about his maternal grandfather and uncovers a story of an intriguing murder case.
• Matt Lucas – the comedian and presenter delves into the history of his maternal grandmother who came to Britain in 1939.
• Anna Maxwell Martin – the Line of Duty actor travels to Scotland and Ireland to explore her ancestry and learns more about a family tragedy.
• Ralf Little – the Manchester-born actor, famous for appearing in The Royle Family and Death in Paradise, discovers more about a talented footballer ancestor, echoing his own career as a semi-professional before he went into acting.

I hope to get to see them some day.

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 10 May. 1 pm: A virtual guided tour of  www.peterboroughcountygenealogy.ca, by Fraser Dunford for Kawartha Branch OGS. Register by email at TraceyT@curvelake.ca. 

Tuesday 10 May. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/

Tuesday 10 May. 2 pm: Drawing Insights from Your Family Photos, by Daniel Horowitz from MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/drawing-insights-from-your-family-photos/

Tuesday 10 May, 7 pm: Early Irish Immigrants to Essex County, by Laura Smith for Essex Branch OGS. 
https://essex.ogs.on.ca/meetings/essex-branch-may-presentation/

Wednesday 11 May. 10 am: Researching your house history, by The National Library of Scotland
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/researching-your-house-history-tickets-313699472567

Thursday 12 May, 6:30 pm: Ask the Experts: Death, Dying, and Genealogy, by Senior Librarians of Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6588393

Thursday 12 May. 7 pm: Meet the Alberta Genealogical Society. by AGS  for Lambton Branch OGS.
https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/calendar/lambton-county-branch-meet-the-alberta-genealogical-society/

Friday 13 May 7 pm: Resources for Family Historians at the Chatham-Kent Public Library, by Megan Cowan for Kent Branch OGS.
https://kent.ogs.on.ca/events/resources-for-family-historians-at-the-chatham-kent-public-library/

Saturday 14 May 9 am: Selection of Genealogy Programs and Services, by Bob Butler for BIFHSGO.
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

Saturday 14 May 10 am: The Diary Project, by Anne Coulter for BIFHSGO.
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

 

This new collection from Ancestry has just 558 records for the WRNS originating from ADM 318 at The UK National Archives, Kew. The extensive information, most in images of the original record. may include:

• • Name, including maiden name if married
  • Rank
  • Birthplace
  • Birth date
  • Age
  • Date and place of enlistment
  • Date and place of discharge
  • Nationality
  • Residence
  • Marital status
  • Physical description
  • Regiment
  • Unit
  • Names of family members
  • Relationships to next of kin
  • Addresses of next of kin

Over 5,000 women were in the WRNS during the course of the war so the collection is far from complete.

Here’s the third of my interviews with speakers at the 2022 OGS/Ontario Ancestors conference, 25/26 June.

The previous interviews were with Wayne Shepheard and Gordon L McBean.

 

Jean Crozier, writer, historian, and member of the Alberta Genealogical Society, Edmonton Branch, will present this interesting-sounding presentation on Tuesday at 9 pm EDT. Register in advance at https://www.edmontongenealogy.ca/events

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Ancestry this week added Edinburgh, Scotland, Alien Registers, 1794, 1798-1825, with 328 items composed of:
Registers of Aliens, 1798 July 20-1803 Oct 31
Registers of Aliens, 1803 Sept 5-1825 July 20
Registers of Aliens, Declarations of Foreigners, 1794 March 7-1798 April 26

The Blast From My Past is a podcast that features the incredible true stories of people whose lives were changed by what they discovered through MyHeritage about their family’s pasts — whether it was a close relative they never knew existed, the key to unlocking an old family mystery, or a newfound connection to a long-forgotten legacy.
https://shows.acast.com/blast-from-my-past

Camsell Arrow
The City of Edmonton Archives has completed digitizing available issues of the Camsell Arrow, a newsletter produced by the staff and patients of the Charles Camsell Hospital, which operated from the 1940s to the mid-1990s, mostly treating Inuit and Indigenous people from the north.

Online (Irish) Estate Maps
From John Grenham.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
OED online, all 20 volumes of the latest printed edition, plus tens of thousands of exclusive new and revised entries, updated every three months, is now available with an Ottawa Public Library subscription. The OED includes over 600,000 words … 3.5 million quotations … and over 1,000 years of the English language!

The Ancestry Canada and US newspapers.com obituary indexes were updated on 5 May.

Sleep: here’s how much you really need

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Anonymous, Brenda Turner,  gail benjafield, Glenn W., Helen Billing, Linda Reid, Margaret Anne Sterling, Robert Halfyard, Unknown