Scotland, Names of Witches 1658
In this small but spooky collection, you’ll find details on some of those accused of witchcraft in early modern Scotland. 117 results.
Scotland, Court & Criminal Database
Unlock criminals and victims in your Scottish family tree with this detail-rich collection. The records include names, occupations, addresses and information about the crimes. Most results are from the latter part of the 18th century and later. 473,288 results.
Ancestry has made one of its periodic updates to its Canadian and US newspaper indexes, this time for marriages.
The US index, now with 261,346,523 entries, runs to 2020 while the Canadian with 6,996,403 ends in 1999 according to the title but does include later announcements.
Starting today, for the first time in over a year, I’m away. Expect blogging to be somewhat less than normal for a week.
TNA, the UK National Archives, and Findmypast announce that the 1921 Census for England and Wales will be published online by Findmypast on
6 January 2022.
As with previous releases, the census will first be made available on a pay per vire basis at a cost of £2.50 for every record transcript and
£3.50 for every individual image. A 10% discount will apply for Findmypast’s Pro subscribers. Visitors to TNA’s facility at Kew will likely receive free access.
Find out more at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/1921-census-online-publication-date-announced/
and
https://www.findmypast.com/blog/family-records/1921-census
Who will you be rushing to research?
I count 114 items added to Canadiana serials so far this month.
Most are niche. The titles of 31 start with “Annual”, 24 with “Report(s), 8 with “Minutes.” Those are mostly for religious and charitable organizations.
Some of more general interest:
Evening Gazette (Saint John, N.B. ) [January 1, 1889-December 31, 1891]
Fredericton Globe [June 6, 1891-December 16, 1893]
Guardian (Bay Roberts, NL) [January 28, 1910-December 24, 1925]
Star, and Conception Bay Journal [January 1, 1834-October 7, 1840]
The Herald (Saint John, N.B.) [July 14, 1877-Dec. 14 1878]
Victoria weekly times [April 14, 1893-March 30, 1894; April 13, 1894-August 2, 1895]
Welcome incoming, and returning Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, MP for Honoré-Mercier since 2004 – with one break. He previously served as Heritage Minister from July 2018 to November 2019.
I’m sure we all wish Minister Guilbeault well as he takes on the responsibilities of Minister of Climate Change and Environment, one which fits his background far better than Canadian Heritage.
The following was posted on ResearchBuzz, one of my daily go-to sites, on Monday.
I wanted to let y’all know that while I will continue to index articles relating to Facebook’s controversies, I will no longer include articles that are primarily about Facebook features or updates. This includes WhatsApp and Instagram. (Articles that mention them briefly or as a small part of a larger whole will still be included.)
I try to maintain a healthy sense of my own importance in this world (minimal) and consequently this is not intended as A Gesture. Instead I want to make sure I am not encouraging anyone to use Facebook or any of its affiliates. The company is far, far worse than I imagined.
Deciding to completely ignore such a huge part of the Internet was not easy, but it was the only solution that would answer my conscience. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes.
Despite the inconvenience, I hope more of us decide to follow this path. Activity, and the consequent profits, are the only languages Facebook understands.
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 26 Oct. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.
Tuesday 26 Oct. 2:30 pm: The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692: History and Sources, by John Beatty for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5589505/.
Tuesday 26 Oct: 7 pm: How Do I Know What I Don’t Know: Fast Tracking Your Genealogy Education, by Thomas MacEntee for Wellington County Branch OGS.
https://wellington.ogs.on.ca/next-meeting/
Wednesday 27 Oct. 2 pm: Building Family Trees for Your DNA Matches, by Mary Eberle for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/building-family-trees-for-your-dna-matches/.
Wednesday 27 Oct, 7 pm: Grandpa Jack – British Home Child, by Emma Kent for the Historical Society of Ottawa.
https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/54/16,17,19,21/grandpa-jack-british-home-child/
Thursday 28 Oct. 6:30 pm: Brick Walls and Busting Through Them, by Staff of the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5589545/.
Friday 29 Oct. 2 pm: Tech with Thomas, by Thomas MacEntee for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/tech-with-thomas/.
Another interesting episode. This YouTube version has an audio problem for the final minute.
Here’s a perspective on UK and Canadian newspaper coverage of the First World War.
From the British Newspaper Archive, 1911 to 1919, counting occurrences of the terms Ypres, Somme and Vimy. Ypres was dominant in 1914 and 1915, Somme thereafter. Vimy gets its most mentions in 1917 with more in 1919 than 1918. Summed over the period Somme is mentioned more than Ypres.
Canadian newspapers digitized by newspapers.com shows Ypres dominating in 1915, Somme in 1916, Vimy showing strongly from 1917, leading in occurrences in 1919. The absolute numbers are less for Canada than the UK reflecting population and the extent of the database.
The validity of these data depends on the quality of the OCR.
Did you know Library and Archives Canada has a Youth Advisory Council? It has 22 members, age 19 to 25 with the current terms running from February 2021 to June 2022. According to the LAC information on the Council, “members discuss a variety of topics related to Canada’s documentary heritage and contribute to LAC management decisions by providing fresh perspectives and innovative ideas.”
This word cloud derived from the individual members summary gives a window on the Council member’s background and interests. 
There’s no information on the LAC website about any recent Youth Advisory Council meetings.
Other advisory committees and mechanisms are:
Acquisitions Advisory Committee, most recent information on meetings is December 2018;
Indigenous Advisory Circle, no information on meetings;
LAC Forum with University Partners, last meeting March 2019;
LAC foundation, the latest information is September 2021;
Official Language Minority Communities, mentions a conference in 2021 – no further information;
Services Consultation Committee, last information May 2019;
Friends of Library and Archives Canada – no recent information.
Is LAC just not updating the website, or maybe management has lost interest in these mechanisms for accessing external advice?
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Hidden branches in Joe Biden’s family tree
Records of enslaved people – Derbyshire
Women in the War – a new LAC Co-Lab challenge
Thanks to this week’s contributors. Barbara, Brenda Turner, Donna, Gail Benjafield, Glenn Wright, Patte Wood
