Anglo-Celtic Connections

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

Population change in Europe between 1961 and 2024
Scroll down for a zoomable map.

Planning and Preparing Your Genealogy Legacy
Last minute, Sunday, April 26 at 2:00 p.m. ET. OGS Halton-Peel Branch Online Meeting hosts Heather McTavish Taylor.
https://haltonpeel.ogs.on.ca/

From Wulfstan of York to Pete Hegseth, fake Bible verses have often been politicized

‘Bombing our little hearts out’ — How Trump taps into America’s enduring appetite for destruction

All You Fascists (Bound to Lose)

Round the Horne
Here’s an episode I recall when it was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme.

Ireland, Directories and Almanacs 1844-1928: This collection is updated with 13,056,071 records. They help fill in the gaps prior to the 1901 census and between census years.

Ireland National Census Reports 1926-1991: Another 17,068 records are added to this set, providing a statistical look at Irish life throughout the mid-to-late 20th century.

Newspapers
This week’s addition is 236096 pages of the Daily Star, back to its founding in 1978. A tabloid, its content revolves around celebrities, sport, and news/gossip about popular television programs, such as soap operas and reality TV shows.

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Friday, 24 April 2026, to contain 295,650,593 unique records, increased from 295,418,598 last month.

Years with more than 10,000 additions are: 1996-96 for births, 1995-96 for marriages, and 1994, 1996-97 for deaths.

Two updates are worth noting.

Welsh Newspapers

Ancestry’s newly updated collection Wales, Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800’s to current, has 155,387,572 records in 9.2 million pages. The earliest is 1821, the latest 2026.

There are other digitized Welsh newspaper sources

The National Library of Wales free collection of Welsh Newspapers which has with 15 million newspaper articles, but stops at 1919.

The British Newspaper Archive has 274,000 Welsh newspaper articles,  somewhat under ten per cent are free to view.

OldNews, from MyHeritage, appears to have Welsh coverage. The statistics are not separated from those for the UK.

Lancashire, England, Non-Conformist Registers

Registers of Non-Conformist Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1785-1997 now has 447,404 records sourced from the Lancashire Archives. It includes Baptist, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Quakers (Society of Friends), Methodists, and
Salvation Army records.

The vast majority are US titles and short runs. The focus is on Missouri, Illinois and Ohio.

There’s one Canadian paper, the Port Colborne Leader (2011–2023). About 25 are from England, mostly 21st-century issues, with a few short runs from earlier years. And seven papers from Poland.

MyHeritage is opening up 2.4 billion historical records from Australia and New Zealand for free until April 26.

This includes 353 collections, including standout military records such as the Anzac Memorial and the Australian World War II Nominal Roll, as well as newspapers and vital records.

The collection Australia, Roll of Honour has 34 entries mentioning Ottawa. 32 are on the Ottawa Memorial. Harry William Long and Douglas Mervyn Lord of the RAAF died in accidents while training under the Commonwealth Air Training Plan and are interred at Beechwood Cemetery.

On 20 April 2026, the UK government unveiled a national vision for England’s archives, centered on three pillars: Sustainability, Accessibility, and Inclusivity. Facilitated by The National Archives, it aims to ensure records remain a vital resource for identity and justice.

The focus on accessibility highlights a “tipping point” where limited staffing and obsolete systems threaten both physical and “born-digital” records. To combat this, the vision emphasizes:

• Using Artificial Intelligence to clear cataloging backlogs and streamline searches.

• Adopting jargon-free, intuitive digital platforms to reach global audiences.

• Expanding digital capacity to prevent the loss of modern data.

• Implementing a National Touring and Supported Regional Loan programme to bring collections to local communities.

• Launching a “Belonging and Placemaking” grant program and a leadership initiative with the Archives and Records Association.

By embracing hybrid access models and innovative technology partnerships, the sector aims to remove barriers, ensuring shared history is preserved and easily discoverable for generations to come.

In general terms, this vision reflects the same challenges faced by Library and Archives Canada.  As archives wander through a financial desert, to what extent will the vision prove to be a mirage?

When the Probate Registry took control of proving wills and administrations in 1858, a Principal Probate Registry was established in London and several district probate registries created around the country.

On 20 April, Ancestry added wills from 1858 to 1940 from the Shropshire Registry to its collection. There are 205,769 records, likely reflecting all names mentioned in the wills. 

Searching for Canada in the Location box for Any Event yields 134 results.

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.

Tuesday, 21 April

2:00 PM: Genealogy Drop-in: Genealogy Software and Programs, for OGS Kingston Branch. https://kingston.ogs.on.ca/events/kingston-branch-genealogy-drop-in-virtual-4/

2:30 PM: The Queen City: Tracing Ancestors in Cincinnati, by Kate McKenzie for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/events

7:00 PM: The Role of Remembrance & How to Research Your Ancestors’ Wartime Histories, by Vanessa Kirtz for OGS Nipissing Branch. https://nipissing.ogs.on.ca/events/nipissing-branch-the-role-of-remembrance-how-to-research-your-ancestors-wartime-histories

8:00 PM: What’s in a Name? Finding Your Norwegian Ancestors, by Kristina Gow Clever for Board for Certification of Genealogists (hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars). https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/whats-in-a-name-finding-your-norwegian-ancestors/

Wednesday, 22 April

10:00 AM: Introduction to Family History: Researching Your Family Tree, by Anne Coulter (BIFHSGO) for the National Association of Federal Retirees. https://nafrottawa.com/our-events/introduction-to-family-history-researching-your-family-tree-with-bifhsgo/

2:00 PM: Fields of Hope: African Americans, Immigrants, and Women in the Homesteading Era, by Angela Packer McGhie for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/fields-of-hope-african-americans-immigrants-and-women-in-the-homesteading-era/

8:00 PM: From Research to Data with AI 5 of 5: Your AI Research Assistant—Logs, Notes, and Citations, by Andrew Redfern and Fiona Brooker for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. (members only). https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/from-research-to-data-with-ai-5-of-5-your-ai-research-assistant-logs-notes-and-citations/

Thursday, 23 April

6:30 PM: Wills and Their Whereabouts (England), by Rachael E. Mellen for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/events

7:00 PM: Logging Experiences on the Ottawa River, by Gord Black for OGS Ottawa Branch. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/logging-experiences-on-the-ottawa-river-ottawa/

Friday, 24 April

2:00 PM: Essential Skills for New Genealogists 2 of 12: Vital Records—Records of Hatchings, Matchings & Dispatchings, by Dave McDonald for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/essential-skills-for-new-genealogists-2-of-12-vital-records-records-of-hatchings-matchings-dispatchings/

Saturday, 25 April

8:30 AM:  Genealogy in Bloom: Canadian Genealogy and Cross-Border Family History, by Kathryn Lake Hogan for Rochester Genealogical Society  https://mms.nyrgs.org/Calendar/moreinfo.php?eventid=200494

I notice OGS has a limited-time discount offer for MyHeritage subscriptions. Could you benefit?

Click to find out more.

I have DNA tests from four companies: Ancestry, FamilyTree DNA, Living DNA, and MyHeritage. They use different reference populations and algorithms. The table combines them into five ethnicities. 

Ethnicity	MyHeritage	Ancestry	Family Tree DNA	Living DNA
British & Irish	70.1%	76%	29%	46.1%
W. & Continental Europe	11.4%	2%	40%	40.2%
Jewish	16.5%	22%	19%	0%
Scandinavian	1.9%	0%	8%	0%
Near East / Other	0%	0%	4%	12%

Family Tree DNA’s British and Irish is exclusively Irish. It does not separate out English, Scottish and Welsh ethnicity, grouping them into W & Continental Europe. 

Living DNA does not identify Jewish ethnicity. MyHeritage likely attributed some of my Jewish ancestry to W & Continental Europe.

Overall, I’m most comfortable with Ancestry’s results, especially the breakdown by regions of the British Isles, which aligns reasonably with my own study of records.

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

Internet Archive Canada and the Multicultural Historical Society of Ontario Partner to Expand Access to Historical Newspapers

Maps
TheGenealogist’s MapExplorer is enhanced with newly added historic
maps from the 1940s–1970s.

A selection of map-related books on sale from the TNA bookstore.

A conversation with Claude – the AI program

The 2026 OGS Virtual  Conference
Early-bird registration is now open for the conference, themed “From Steamship to Microchips”.

Ireland 1926 Census
You never know! I hadn’t expected to find anyone in this census from my family tree. So I was surprised to find my great-aunt’s husband. His ship, which traded between Ireland and England/Wales, was in the port of Dublin on census day.

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips:  Anonymous, Barbara Tose, Gail, Paul, Peggy Chapman, Teresa, Unknown.