Anglo-Celtic Connections

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.

156 serials were added to the Canadiana.ca collection in June. The additions consist of annual reports, almanacs and directories from the mid to late 19th century.

It’s an eclectic mix. Along with various 30-page annual reports,  like the Annual report of the Orphans’ Home of the City of Ottawa : Thirty-Third (1896/97) consisting of lists of volunteers and donors, is a 150-page Report of the … annual meeting of the Supreme Grand Lodge, Sons of England Benefit Society,  and 4-page document of the Sackville Cricket Club Literary Society.

See the full list formatted as a web page by clicking here.

I received an email from Ancestry.ca offering a 6-month membership at 40% discount. For the complete, World Deluxe 6-month membership the offer was $77.99 Cdn SAVE 40% off $129.99,

I’d provide the link but I’ve been trapped before mentioning an email offer only to find out it was exclusive to the addressee!

Interestingly the offer at Ancestry.ca is $129.99 Cdn, SAVE $50.

You can often get a good price by calling and negotiating. It’s part of the game. You play better if you know what’s been offered to others.

Another part of the game is the terminology.  Are you a member or a subscriber? 

Member: one of the individuals composing a group

Subscriber: a person who pays to receive or access a service.

Do you feel the relationship with Ancestry is best described as a member or a subscriber?

Most people know to never let a membership/subscription renew automatically. Delete the credit card linked and soon after the expiration, you’ll get a renewal offer. Sometimes if you wait a few extra days you’ll get an even better offer. That’s not just a game Ancestry plays. Companies know it costs a lot less to get a previous subscriber back than to get a new one.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Opinion: The Britisher

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra offers its entire lockdown video archive for free streaming – with free registration.

We can’t work it out.

Why retrieving former residential school records has proved so difficult

Manitoba and Canada’s North-West: Founders and Builders
A timely latest Canadian Issues from the Association for Canadian Studies.

Survey of London: Histories of Whitechapel

Fold3 is offering free access to more than 100 million US Civil War records until July 18th.

TheGenealogist has added more than 327,300 individuals to their Irish Catholic Parish Record Collection for the County of Carlow along with a suite of Thom’s Official Directories covering Great Britain and Ireland.

Thanks to this week’s contributors:  Amy Milne-Smith, Anonymous, Gail Benjafield, Helen Billing, Judith H., Ken Hanson, Nick Thorne, Shannen Bulley, Teresa, Unknown.

Over 107,000 Manitoba birth index records from 1882 to 1922.  Included are first name(s), last name, gender, baptism year, place, date of birth, date of registration, registration number, father’s first name(s), father’s last name, father’s birth place, mother’s first name(s), mother’s last name, mother’s birth place, parent’s married, mother’s marital status and administrative information.

Father’s information is often lacking.

Over 56,000 Manitoba marriage index records from 1882 to 1940. Included are first name(s), last name, birth place, marriage place, marriage year, spouse’s first name(s), spouse’s last name, gender, date of marriage, registration number and administrative information.

Strangely, there is no search by marriage year or date.

Over 76,000 Manitoba death index records from 1882 to 1952. Included are first name(s), last name, gender, date of death, age at death, place, registration number, administrative information.

 

At this time of year, the pace of family history presentations slows. Get your genealogy hit today (Saturday 3 July) at 2 pm when Simcoe County Branch of OGS offers Chipping Away at the Brick Wall with Ken McKinlay.

We all have them, those road blocks that prevent us from finding out the answers to our family history research questions. Some of these brick walls are self-imposed due to assumptions we make and hold on to or our by our own preconceptions. Yet there are also those research brick walls not of our own creation. By using real-life examples we will look at various common brick walls and possible ways to work around them.

Register at https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/branch-meetings/

Born in Ottawa on Thursday 29 June 1899 according to his Ontario birth registration, son of Adebert and Charlotte Young, Cecil Charles Young lied about his age when he enlisted with the PPCLI in December 1916. On enlistment, he gave his occupation as a papermaker and address as 50 Kent Street, Ottawa.

He had three sisters. His father is no longer in the household in 1911 having apparently left for the US.

Service Number 507483, he went overseas in November 1917 and to France the following spring where he received a gunshot wound in the leg on 27 August. Returning to Canada he was discharged on 25 July 1919.

He died a century ago, on 2 July 1921, of ulcerative endocarditis attributed to war service and is interred in Lot 14. Sec. 29. 22 at Beechwood Cemetery. A death notice placed in the Ottawa Citizen by his mother and sisters included the verse

In a graveyard on the hillside,
Where the trees their branches wave,
Sleeps the boy we loved from childhood,
In a lone and silent grave.
How we loved you, Cecil, loved you,
Friends may think the wound is healed,
But they little know the sorrow,
That is in our hearts concealed.

New Collections coming include

Glamorganshire, Wales, Electoral Registers, 1832-1978 —35,226,372 records and 455,794 images being added. It’s an Ancestry exclusive.

Staffordshire Parish Register Indexes\ — 7,176,340 records being added

Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, England, Indexes of Wills and Probate, 1518-1858 — 504,135 records being added

UK, Blitz 80th Anniversary Artwork, 1940-1941 —80 records and images being added. Exclusive to Ancestry.

Updates coming

Welsh Parish Records. Updates include place data including Denbighshire, Glamorgan, Brecknockshire and Anglesey, so that names are both more accurate as well as enabling users to search for both Welsh and English place names

UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 — Improving keying accuracy and completeness for passengers travelling on Montserrat and Windrush ships

UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 — Adding records for ‘War Brides’ – passengers travelling after WWII to Canada and US after/before marrying servicemen in the UK.

 

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 1 July to contain 280,862,829  unique records (280,520,033 at the previous update). Years with major additions of more than 10,000 records are, for births 1986-87 and 1990-91, for marriages 1986-90 and for deaths 1986-87 and 1989-90. 

Here are the contents of the forthcoming issue, available on 12 July.

COVER STORY: Drawing Them In
Sue Lisk suggests ways to get family and relatives interested in genealogy

TUBERCULOSIS:
From Maine Cornfields to California Orange Groves
Merrylyn Sawyer looks at the TB outbreak of the early 20th century in the US

“Shhhh! I’ll Let You In On a Secret
Our Female Ancestors Are Found in Ledgers” — Part 1 By Diane L. Richard

No Time Like the Present: Crafting Your Memoir
Lisa A. Alzo shares why now is the perfect time to leave your legacy for future generations

Bastardy Bonds
David A. Norris says family secrets may be the reason for genealogical “Brick Walls”

The Case of the Missing Grandfather
Gerald R. Gioglio offers a genealogical mystery with a touch of mysticism

In Memoriam
Sue Lisk shares ideas for paying tribute to a loved one

My 19th Century Relatives Were Coronavirus Precursors
Stephen L.W. Greene looks back to 1833 and the Cholera outbreak in Ellettsville, Indiana

Whodunit Fiction for Genealogy Lovers
Robbie Gorr wonders if reading too many genealogical mystery books can help or hinder our personal genealogical research efforts

Tradition is a Chronic Deceiver
Donna Potter Phillips says never accept a family traditional story at face value

Bad Luck Collisions with History
Lynn Cassity looks at one man’s run of bad luck and how his family chose to memorialize him

The Back Page:
Record Your COVID-19 Experiences for Your Family History’s Sake!
Dave Obee says it’s important to keep a written record for future generations

Over 2.2 million Irish records were just posted on Ancestry, although dated 28 June.

Title	Records
Ireland, Crew Lists and Shipping Agreements, 1863-1920	861,868
Ireland, Indexes to Wills, Probate Administration, Marriage Bonds and Licences, 1591-1866	836,216
Ireland, Census Fragments, 1821-1851	357,733
Ireland, National School Registers, 1847-1959	157,855
Ireland, Wills and Grants of Probate, 1858-1900	32,858
Ireland, Registers of Wills and Administrations, 1828-1885	15,671

These are all sourced from the (Irish) National Archives; check out their genealogy resources at https://genealogy.nationalarchives.ie/.