Anglo-Celtic Connections

I’m not a football fan, but notice that Team England will be playing Team Italy on Sunday. It seems to be a big deal!

English Heritage brings together over 32,000 surnames on the England flag online and flying over some of their properties, including Stokesay Castle, one to which I have a real if very tenuous connection!

To view the flag and search for your ancestral names visit https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/whats-on/england-united/.

Are there any players on the England team with a surname collection to your ancestry? Here is the squad announced:

Goalkeepers: Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United), Sam Johnstone (West Brom), Jordan Pickford (Everton),

Defenders: Ben White (Brighton), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolves), Reece James (Chelsea), Harry Maguire (Manchester United), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Luke Shaw (Manchester United), John Stones (Manchester City, Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds), Declan Rice (West Ham)

Forwards: Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Phil Foden (Man City), Jack Grealish (Aston Villa), Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Man City)

 

 

This week FMP expands the collection for those with interests in India or the Caribbean islands of St Kitts & Nevis.

British Army Embarkation Lists, 1871-1889 to India

Transcriptions from original embarkation returns, with over 100,000 entries, are catalogued in the British Library’s India Office Collection IOR-L-MIL-15 series.

The records usually include:
Age (in year and months)
Approximate birth year
Regimental number
Rank
Regiment
Enlistment date
Embarkation date
Ship name
British Library India Office reference.

Many records only give the first initial. Are you up to the challenge of determining which of the 569 J Smith’s included is yours?

St Kitts & Nevis Baptisms 1716-1881
With an area of 269 square km and a population today just over 50,000 it’s unsurprising this collection has just 8,730 records. Of those 899 indicate “slave,” ending in 1834. Most of the records are for the later part of the period.

The August issue of BBC History, on newsstands and online on 8 July, features Oliver Cromwell on the cover —  Ronald Hutton’s article Cruel Cromwell examines the reality of Oliver Cromwell as a vindictive and bloodthirsty liar.

There are two articles on the French Revolution. Marisa Linton traces the descent from idealism to factionalism and brutality. Ian Mortimore shares 11 ways in which the French Revolution influenced Britain, from fashion to warfare.

The June issue of Canada’s History leads with After the Pandemic looking at the clues past pandemics may provide for our future. Ingenious Immitations reveals that many works attributed to Cornelius Krieghoff are fakes.

That’s lots more, both magazines available free through many Ontario Public library subscriptions to Press Reader.

 

Signatures magazine “seeks to provide a look at LAC’s treasures and the expertise involved in acquiring, preserving and supporting access to our shared history for the benefit of present and future generations.”

From the table of contents below you can see the coverage is wide ranging. The articles that mention geneal* are bolded.

• Introduction
• Demystifying Research with Experiential Learning Workshops
• The Dominion Bridge Company Archives
• Knowledge Mitigates Risk: Successful Proactive Block Review Project
• Highlights of the Canadian National Railways Reappraisal
• Housing Our Histories and Creating Capacity
• Reappraisal and Renewal in Renfrew
• Through the Looking-Glass: The Refracted World of Copyright
• Signatures Interviews
  • Émilie, Ovila and Blanche in the Archives: An Interview with Arlette Cousture
  • Literature, Learning and Life at the CBC: An Interview with Adrienne Clarkson
• LAC Perspectives
  • Regional Services / Online Public Programming
  • Winnipeg / Railway Land Development Records
  • National Capital Region / LAC Is Turning Green!
  • Ottawa / Dr. Guy Berthiaume Honoured
• LAC Looks Forward to the Next Decade
• On Loan from LAC

“Digital” gets 16 mentions,  “digitization” two. Neither of those two are in the article “LAC Looks Forward to the Next Decade.”  Will LAC not bring the legacy material we seek into the digital age? The present lack of digitization initiatives is not encouraging as the present is often the best predictor of the future. Surely LAC could find something more current to cite than the amalgamation of the National Library and Public Archives nearly two decades ago to show that “LAC is a world leader.”

Of the 33 men listed as serving with Canadian units in the WO 90 Courts Martial database at https://www.amymilnesmith.com/court-martial-records four received sentences of 10 years penal servitude. Two, serving with the Canadian Mounted Rifles in South Africa, were convicted of assisting the enemy on 13 June 1900.

The service file for Private W Pearce for the South African War at Library and Archives Canada gives his name as William, age 20 years and 1 month on enlistment on 28 Dec 1899, birthplace Bristol, England, father S. Pearce and mother S. Pearce.

A ship passenger list for the SS Dominion for May 1888 shows the family of Stephen Pearce (39) and Sarah Pearce (39) with children Henry (20), Emma (18), Thomas (14), Alfred (12), William (9), Stephen (4), and James (1). There’s a marriage record for Stephen Pearce and Sarah Ann Bentley in the September quarter of 1867 in Pewsey district.

Although the 10-year sentence was handed down in June 1900 he was soon free. In 1903 in Toronto there was a marriage of William Pearce, age 22, son of Stephen and Sarah, to Ina Jamieson. On 13 April 1904, William Walter Pearce was born in York Region to William and Ina. In the 1911 census William, age 7, is listed as a border with Alfred, likely his uncle.

The 1910 US census for Clayton, Genesee County, Michigan offers a tempting looking later record for William and his wife Ida. William Pearce, age 30, born Canada, a farm manager went to the US in 1908, followed a year later by his wife Ina (28), son Joseph (9) and Lillian (1), both born in Canada.

Any other suggestions for his later life?

 

From the Champlain Society — Witness to Yesterday podcast series, A History of Immigrant Arrivals through Pier 21 in Halifax.

Listen to an interview of Steve Schwinghamer, the co-author along with Jan Raska of Pier 21: A History published by the University of Ottawa Press.

Between 1928 and 1971, Pier 21 was the main gateway for immigrants arriving in Canada.  It’s now the site for the Canadian Museum of Immigration. The author is a historian in the Exhibitions, Research and Collections department of the Museum.

Check out other episodes in the Witness to Yesterday series at https://champlainsociety.utpjournals.press/podcast

Put 3-5 March 2022 aside on your schedule. FamilySearch announced those as the dates for RootsTech Connect 2022 as a fully virtual family history event.

Registration for the completely virtual and free event will open in September. 

Find out more at https://media.familysearch.org/rootstech-connect-2022-aims-to-repeat-success/.

Of the 33 men listed as serving with Canadian units in the WO 90 Courts Martial database at https://www.amymilnesmith.com/court-martial-records four received sentences of 10 years penal servitude. Two, serving with the Canadian Mounted Rifles in South Africa, were convicted of assisting the enemy. The date of the sentence is 13 June 1900. It’s likely only part of the sentence was served, perhaps at Pretoria, perhaps in the UK.

Private J Hopkins was sentenced for “assisting enemy with arming by allowing Boer Burghers in arms to retain rifles.”  According to a brief mention in Painting the Map Red by Carman Miller, Hopkins and a colleague William Pearce caught a group of Boer’s, took their rifles and then sold them back to them!

There are identical short paragraphs in the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Journal on 8 August 1900 giving his background. An article in the Globe on the same date adds that he was “well known in Toronto. He belonged to a local volunteer corps and afterwards joined the Canadian Dragoons. He had been two years in that corps when he enlisted in the Canadian Mounted Rifles for service in South Africa.”

His claim for a service medal and clasps was rejected in 1905.

His service file shows he was John Alexander Hopkins, a steam fitter who enlisted in Toronto on 26 December 1899 giving his age as 24 and next of kin his brother, Thomas S Hopkins.

There’s a 13 January 1876 birth registration for John Alexander Hopkins, son of George Hopkins and Sarah Sophia Scripture in Whitby, Ontario.

His father died on 16 October 1878.

In the 1881 census, for Toronto, there’s a household with W.H. Scripture 24, Elizbth. Hopkins 56, Sarah Hopkins 30 (Widow), Thos. Hopkins 8, Harrie Hopkins 6, John Hopkins 5, George Hopkins 3.

His mother died on 22 January 1898.

An Ancestry contributed family tree links to a US WW1 Draft Card for John A Hopkins in Lincoln County, Nebraska, USA, birth date 13 Jan 1876.

The same tree shows a US Social Security claim for John Alexander Hopkins, birth date: 13 Jan 1876, birthplace: Ontario, Canada, father: George W Hopkins, mother: Sarah Sophia, SSN: 520073560 and a June 1937 note confirming his name. The SSN Area Number 520 indicates issued in Wyoming.

Checking Ancestry’s collection with a US focus shows a death registration index record for John Alexander Hopkins, accidental death at age 74 on 17 July 1950 in  Lusk, Niobrara, Wyoming, USA.  He is in the same place in the 1930 and 1940 census, single, entry into the US shown as 1910, living as a lodger/border with Mary M. McGinnis, occupation painter/odd jobs.

 

Welsh Anglican Church records of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials have been updated on Ancestry — no indication of whether major or minor.

Anglesey, 1547-1994, 765,848 records
Brecknockshire, 1538-1994, 614,954 records
Denbighshire, 1556-1994, 1,657,612 records
Glamorganshire, 1570-1994, 2,969,215 records

Kenneth R Marks updated his Ontario newspaper listing, as of 5 July 2021, at https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/ontario-online-historical-newspapers-summary/ .

Most of the new material is from Canadiana.ca. The papers with more than 100 issues added are —

Location	Newspaper	Issues
Athens	The Athens Reporter (1915-1922 or 1923)	279
Athens	The Athens reporter & County of Leeds advertiser (1889-1915)	1092
Atwood	The Bee (1890-1924?)	100
Belleville	The Weekly Ontario and Bay of Quinte chronicle (1913-1921)	367
Brantford	Brantford Daily Courier (1913-1918_	1554
Goderich	Huron signal (1848-1890)	1460
Guelph	Guelph Evening Mercury (1867-1875 or 1876)	1509
Hamilton	Hamilton Times (1892-1912)	592
Kingston	Queen’s University journal (1893- 191-)	234
Kingston	Queen’s College journal (1873-1893)	177
Listowei	Listowel Standard (1878-1882)	233
London	London Evening Advertiser (1922-1936)	262
London	The London evening free press (1911-1978)	120
London	London Advertiser (1880-1922)	114
Mildmay	The Mildmay gazette (1895-1957)	620
St. Catherines	The Evening journal (1859-1920)	170
Toronto	The Weekly Mail (1872-1880)	300
Toronto	The Toronto world (1880 or 1881-1921)	2206
Toronto	The Knox College monthly and Presbyterian magazine (1887-1896)	103
Toronto	The Toronto weekly mail (1880-1895)	103
Waterdown	The Waterdown Review (1918-1977?)	298
Watford	Watford Guide-Advocate (1906-1925)	845

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. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Tuesday 6 July, 2 pm:  Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.

Tuesday 6 July, 2:30 pm: Organizing Your Research with OneNote, by Sherri Camp for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5310360

Tuesday 6 July, 10 pm: Death is not the end – litigation remains: Exploring Australian wills and probate, by Cathie Sherwood for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1603

Wednesday 7 July, 1 pm: Politics and Pills: An 1820 Medical Bill Uncovers a Fascinating Family History, by Caroline Gurney for Lennox and Addison Museum. https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nvDOsMBkSqyDnM-1orE-HQ

Wednesday 7 July, 2 pm: Grandpa’s Eyes and Grandma’s Hair: Tracing the Origin of Physical Traits with Genetic Genealogy, by Paul Woodbury for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1634

Wednesday 7 July, 7:30 pm: The Forgotten Legend: The Life Story of John Wilson McLaren O.S.A. Canadian Artist, Illustrator & Actor, by  Shawn Henshall for Huron Branch OGS. https://huron.ogs.on.ca/events/july-webinar-huron-co-branch-the-forgotten-legend-the-life-story-of-john-wilson-mclaren-o-s-a-canadian-artist-illustrator-actor-shawn-henshall/

Thursday 8 July, 6:30 pm: Learning to Use The Genealogy Center Catalog, by Allison DePrey Singleton for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5310491

Thursday 8 July, 7 pm: Tracing 20th Century Ontarians, by Janice Nickerson for OGS. https://ogs.on.ca/zoom-meetings/july-webinar-janice-nickerson/

Saturday 10 July: Scottish Indexes Conference XI/ First session starts at 2 am, second at 10am. Optional donation to defray expenses. https://www.scottishindexes.com/

Coming

19 – 26 September 2021: BIFHSGO Conference. Irish Lines and Female Finds: Exploring Irish records, female ancestors and genetic genealogy. www.bifhsgo2021.ca/.

One of the interesting resources on the website of Wilfrid Laurier University History Prof Amy Milne-Smith is an excel document with transcriptions of all Courts Martial (CM) from the WO 90/3 and WO 90/4 series at the National Archives in London 1851-1901.

The more than six thousand cases indexed include date, rank, name, regiment, location of CM, charge, sentence and any remittances. 

The 656 locations where the proceedings occurred give insight into the scope of colonial military activities. The top ten locations where CM occurred are:

Place	Count of Courts Martial
Ladysmith	291
Halifax	251
Malta	218
Gibraltar	211
Montreal	162
Quebec	157
Port Louis	130
King William’s Town	108
Toronto	87
Colombo	73

In total more of these were in South Africa and India than Canada (as now constituted). The Royal Artillery accounted for a larger number than any other regiment.

While the transcriptions are raw there’s lots of potential for research, for individuals as I’ll illustrate in a couple of posts, and for social/military history.

Another source linked from Amy Milne-Smith’s website is a series of nearly 40 military diaries available online, most for the second half of the 19th century. One, Wolseley, Garnet J. The Story of a Soldier’s Life v. 2, 1903,  has the most extensive coverage of service in Canada.