Here’s a report on progress, or more accurately complete lack of any progress, with Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges since last month.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes, 0% complete.

John Freemont Smith remains 89% complete.

War Diaries of the First World War: No. 2 Construction Battalion remains 99% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 98% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 88% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 98% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 95% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War, remains 3% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 93% complete.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.

Other Co-Lab activities not part of the Challenges may have happened; seemingly we’ll never know.

News from Patty McGregor Books.

Now Open: A small bookroom in my home. I carry a selection of used, rare and/or out-of-print books and ephemera related to genealogy and family history research. If you have seen my selection at various book shows and genealogy conferences in the past, you will know the type of titles I carry. The majority of the books relate to Canada, but there are some US and British/Irish subjects as well. Also available – a number of vintage cookbooks and travel books. You can also check my website as most of my genealogy-related inventory is listed online at www.pasttimes.ca/.

Visits to my little shop are by appointment only. For the time being, no more than 2 people at a time and face masks are required. If you live in the Ottawa area or are planning a trip to Ottawa and want to look at my selection, you can email me at pmcgr@rogers.com to book a time. For purchases, we accept cash, personal cheque or electronic transfer. 

Patty McGregor Books is part of the Gathering Place at bifhsgo2021.ca

“For the first time on Ancestry, we’re releasing indexed records of Canada’s war brides, available in the updated UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 collection.” Note that this is not a specifically war bride database and not all war bride voyages are included.

Ancestry has updated Flintshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1994 to 1,371,630 records and images of the original.

U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 now has 737,178,249 records

Ireland is prominent in the additions to FamilySearch this week.

Country	Collection	Newly Indexed Records	Comments
Ireland	Ireland, Merchant Navy Crew Lists, 1857-1922	832,770	New collection
Ireland	Ireland, Prison Registers, 1798-1928	3,127,594	New collection
United Kingdom	England, Devon, Plymouth, Plague Rate, 1626-1629	659	New collection
England	England, Cambridgeshire Bishop’s Transcripts, 1538-1983	11,796	Expanded collection
England	England, Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971	923	Expanded collection
England	England, Gloucestershire Non-Conformist Church Records, 1642-1996	14	Expanded collection
England	England, Herefordshire Bishop’s Transcripts, 1583-1898	121	Expanded collection
England	England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	81,697	Expanded collection
England	England, Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920	5,933	Expanded collection
United Kingdom	England, Hertfordshire, Marriage Bonds, 1682-1837	282	Expanded collection
United Kingdom	England, Lancashire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1746-1799	3,976	Expanded collection
United Kingdom	England, Lincolnshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1574-1885	170	Expanded collection
United Kingdom	England, Navy Allotment Records, 1795-1812	291,827	Expanded collection, 36.237 images

British Army, Royal Engineers 1900-1949
By adding over 130,000 more tracer card records this collection is now complete. Mostly for the Second World War, these tracer cards provide a headline summary of service through which a man’s movements can be tracked. They include the man’s first name/s, last name and army number, some have the date of enlistment and or date of birth, and other information in an abbreviated format. Find additional information on the contents at https://search.findmypast.com/search-world-records/british-army-royal-engineers-1900-1949

British Army Service Records
Over 6,000 new Chelsea Pensioners’ discharge documents added to the collection list the soldier’s name, birthplace, occupation, regiment, the reason for discharge, and more such as where served.  You may be able to trace life and career back to the 18th century.

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.

Friday 20 August, 2 pm: Early Ontario Research, by Janice Nickerson for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1668

Saturday 21 August, 9 AM: One World One Family – FREE Virtual Family History Conference, by The Toronto Ontario Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/one-world-one-family-free-virtual-family-history-conference-2021-tickets-161181093991

Coming

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

Between 1940 and 1944, LADY RODNEY made 40 westbound personnel voyages to Halifax, more than any other passenger vessel.  That’s a finding from extracting data on 328 voyages in files of Canada’s Directorate of Movements, the military organization that managed troop and other military transportation. According to the article The Lady Boats, by war’s end, Rodney had safely transported almost 60,000 troops in addition to another 66,000 passengers.

The Directorate of Movement files for the period, on LAC microfilms C-5704 to C-5717, are organized in roughly chronological order. Some are available in the canadiana.ca Heritage collection — C-5704 (Jan 1940 – June 1941), C-5709 (May-June 1943), C-5711 (August 1943 – Feb 1944), and C-5714 to C-5720 (from July 1944).

Ships in this collection that completed more than 10 westbound passenger voyages to Halifax during the period are:

LADY RODNEY 40
FORT TOWNSHEND 23
FORT AMHERST 20
LADY NELSON 18
BAYANO 10

It may be that the FORT TOWNSHEND and FORT AMHERST, which only appear from March 1943, were involved in coastal trade, not crossing the Atlantic.

Not all military personnel from the UK to Halifax were in ships in this database. For instance, the Duchess of Atholl, which left Liverpool for Halifax on 12 October 1940 had RAF, Fleet Air Arm, and Royal Navy personnel from barracks at Chatham, Portsmouth, Devonport

 

Compared to the giants of commercial genealogy, Ancestry, Findmypast and MyHeritage, TheGenealogist takes the road less travelled.

What’s exclusive to TheGenealogist? National Tithe Map Collection, 1910 (Lloyd George) Survey and, a Map Explorer.

Tithe records allow researchers to find land that was both owned or occupied by ancestors in the period 1837 to 1850s with some additional, altered apportionments in later years when the property was sold or divided. It was not just the wealthy landowners who are recorded in the tithe records but also those tenants who may have farmed a small plot or lived in a cottage.

A recent addition to Map Explore is Tithe Maps for Cornwall, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire. There are over half a million new Tithe Plots.

 

From the City of Westminster Archives, 16,818 index records for Westminster wills and probates with links to images of the originals handwritten in Latin, later ones in English. There are also modern cards, often referring to inventories, with scant information beyond name and date.

The bar chart shows the number of records in 20 year periods centred on the date shown. The gap at 1650 reflects the drop during the Cromwell Protectorate. Only 23 entries are for the 1650s with none for 1653 and 1654.

Today is the 80th anniversary of the death of Leading Aircraftman Harry William Long of the Royal Australian Air Force. He was training at No.2 Service Flying Training School, at CFB Uplands, Ottawa.

The circumstances are given in the RAAFA Aviation Heritage Museum.

“On 15 August 1941, Harvard 2689 flown by Leading Aircraftman Long was detailed to carry out a solo night training flight. At about 0230 hours, the Instructor in charge of night flying noticed lights of an aircraft that appeared to be flying against the circuit, gliding along at a height of about 100 feet some two miles away. It disappeared and instructions were given for all aircraft flying at that time to be grounded. It was then found that Harvard 2689 with Long as Pilot was missing and searches were commenced. The wreck of the aircraft was found 5 km from the aerodrome. The pilot was seriously injured and subsequently died.”

Harry William Long was the son of Arthur Henry and Brenda Mary Long, of Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia. By a bizarre coincidence, he was engaged to Jean Frances Lord— the only other Australian airman killed flying out of that Flying Training School had last name Lord.

He is interred at Beechwood Cemetery in Section 29, Lot 1, Grave 111.

There’s a YouTube video on the history of CFB Uplands at https://youtu.be/gIEeJc4qia4

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Neo-Luddism
… data must be reclaimed from corporate gatekeepers and managed as a collective good by public institutions.
When I read this I recalled the massive amount of personal data held by Google, Facebook and others, far more than collected in traditional BMD and census resources of the government. Why is that data not being archived and, eventually, released for historical and family history research?

Tales from the Parish Chest: bastardy in early modern north-Essex

Sir Walter Scott
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott, one of Scotland’s most famous authors. Read the blog post from the National Library of Scotland.

How the Argyll papers can support your family history research

Plagues and classical history – what the humanities will tell us about COVID in years to come

Why eye-catching graphics are vital for getting to grips with climate change

Tortured phrases’ give away fabricated research papers

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous,
Dena Palamedes, Nick Thorne, Unknown.

TNA’s online events tend to fill up fast. On Tuesday 24 Aug 2021 at 9 am ET Tracing your criminal ancestors will give an overview of the criminal records The National Archives holds and how to search them.

“From trial and conviction to imprisonment and pardon, in just 30 minutes we’ll show how 19th and early 20th century criminal records can be used to build a fuller picture of your ancestor’s life.

This webinar will be presented by Chris Day, Head of Modern Domestic Records.”

Register from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/top-level-tips-tracing-your-criminal-ancestors-tickets-161774555049?aff=em