Anglo-Celtic Connections

Now that public libraries are opened up, albeit with COVID precautions and reduced service, here’s a tabulation of the 2021 published non-fiction genealogy books available in the Ottawa and Toronto systems.

Library	Title	Author
Ottawa	The Psychology of Family History : Exploring Our Genealogy	Moore, Susan
Ottawa	Sharing your Family History Online : A Guide for Family Historians	Paton, Chris
Ottawa	The Stitt Family of Stittsville ON : Tracing Some Descendants of James Stitt, 1773-1844 & Elizabeth Steele, 1783-1848…	Brown, Gerald R.
Ottawa	You Have A Match	Lord, Emma
Toronto	An infinite history : the story of a family in France over three centuries	Rothschild, Emma
Toronto	Sharing your Family History Online : A Guide for Family Historians	Paton, Chris
Toronto	A most interesting problem : what Darwin’s Descent of man got right and wrong about human evolution	Compilation
Toronto	Ancestors: a project of the Boston Review Arts in Society Program	Compilation
Toronto	La famille Darveau du Lac-Saint-Jean, de père en fils : (1903-1998)	Darveau, Aldéi

The list does not include family history-themed fiction and videos. They include Little Pieces of Me, by Alison Hammer in the Ottawa and Toronto systems:

Summary/Review: Investigating DNA revelations that say her father is a man she never met, Paige learns about her mother’s past as a straitlaced university student who had a one-night stand with the campus golden boy.

In the Toronto system, The summer of lost letters, by Hannah Reynolds

Summary/Review: The discovery of a packet of old letters sends seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg to Nantucket to unravel a family mystery about her grandmother’s past, but things get complicated when Abby meets the cute grandson of a prominent family who wants to stop her from investigating.

Born on 15 May 1895 in Arnprior (or Allumette Island), John Sallaway (40539) gave his occupation as car checker (at the Chateau Laurier), grey eyes, red hair, 5ft 8in tall when he enlisted on 22 September 1914. He left for the UK on 4 October and served with the 1st Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery.

On 27 June 1916 at Ypres, he received a severe shrapnel wound to the upper part of the right thigh which kept him in various hospitals until discharged the following February. He was granted permission to marry Bessie Emily Rummery in late 1917 and returned to Canada on 8 February 1919. He had a son George (1919-1995). 

On return, he worked for the Ottawa Fire Department, died of tuberculous on 21 July 1921 and was interred in section 19, lot 134 NW at Beechwood Cemetery.  The commemorative stake with firefighter symbols is nearby his grave

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

Tuesday 20 July, 8 pm: The Time of Cholera: A Case Study about Historical Context, by Alison Hare for Legacy Family Tree Webinars and BCG.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1591

Tuesday 20 July 2:30 pm: Sharing: Non-Traditional Family History Books, by Betsy Thal Gephart for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5322024

Wednesday 21 July, 11 am: Prisoners of War in ICRC Records. by Paul Nixon for Findmypast. https://www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday 21 July, 2 pm: That Scoundrel George, by Judy Russell for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1636

Thursday 22 July, 6:30 pm: Finding Your Ancestor’s Five Senses:
Using Manuscript Collections to Build Context, by Maire Gurevitz for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5323530

Friday 23 July, 9 am: In Their Own Write: The Testimony of the Victorian English and Welsh Poor, by Paul Carter for TNA. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-their-own-write-the-testimony-of-the-victorian-english-and-welsh-poor-tickets-158127725283?aff=wowp

Coming

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

Here’s a report on progress with Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges since last month.  One challenge reports progress and two are less complete this month than last!

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes, new and 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 is 98% complete, 94% last month. That’s nine additional images of the 446 in the collection.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 88% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 98% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities 0% complete,  2% last month.

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, is 3% complete, 61% last month.

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

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

There’s a new more attractive presentation of the Challenges progress.

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

Your choices are to get vaccinated or to get COVID.

The summary by publisher Ed Zapletal in his lead column says it all.

In her the first of two articles, Drawing Them In, Sue Lisk looks at ways to get our families interested in genealogical research through a variety of strategies. In her second article, In Memoriam, Sue shares a variety of ideas for paying tribute to a loved one.

In Tuberculosis: From Maine Cornfields to California Orange Groves, Merrylyn Sawyer looks at the tuberculosis outbreak of the early 20th century in the United States.

Have you experienced difficulties researching female ancestors? Diane L. Richard offers Part 1 of her article, Our Female Ancestors Are Found in Ledgers — Part 1. Watch for Part 2 in our September/October 2021.

In No Time Like the Present: Crafting Your Memoir, Lisa Alzo says that now is the perfect time to create a legacy for future generations.

In Bastardy Bonds, David A. Norris suggests that the absence of a marriage record does not mean the children of a couple were illegitimate. He looks at some well-documented online resources for North Carolina ranging from the colonial era into the 19th century.

In Case of the Missing Grandfather, Jerry Gioglio goes on a mission to uncover the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of his grandfather who emigrated to the U.S. from Italy in the late 19th century.

In My 19th Century Relatives Were Corona Virus Precursors, Stephen L.W. Greene looks at the cholera outbreak in Ellettsville, Indiana in 1833.

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

In Tradition is a Chronic Deceiver, Donna Potter Phillips says you should never accept a family traditional story at face value.

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

And don’t forget Dave Obee’s Back Page where he suggests Record Your COVID-19 Experiences for Your Family History’s Sake!

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Why Were Medieval Europeans So Obsessed With Long, Pointy Shoes?

Our Monstrous Archives: Memory and the End of Time

How to predict (UK) the summer weather – magic, miracle and meteorology

UK National Archives – Play Inspired by Pauper Letters

Time Team announces historic comeback

I’ll keep mentioning this as I wouldn’t want you to miss it
On Tuesday, 20 July at 8 pm Legacy Family Tree Webinars, in conjunction with The Board for Certification of Genealogists, is hosting the online presentation The Time of Cholera: A Case Study about Historical Context by Alison Hare, CG. To register, click here.

Thanks to this week’s contributors:  Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Gail Benjafield, Judith H., Ken Hanson, Nick Thorne, Unknown.

Recently added, 20th-century military maps to the NLS website, including very detailed plans of defensive works in and around the Forth and Clyde estuaries, constructed before and during the First World War. These formerly classified plans were the most detailed surveys of these sites, and allow the terrain and defences to be scrutinized in minute detail.

1. 1. Forth military defences (1911-18)
   2. Clyde military defences (1904-18)

Also online are detailed town plans of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, along with various special series maps. These series maps include some of the attractive and colourful Ordnance Survey Tourist Series, special Administrative District Maps of Glasgow, as well as geological and soil maps.

TheGenealogist this week added  85,959 individuals from the 1910s property tax records for the Borough of Haringey.  That makes over 1 million individuals now in this unique Lloyd George Domesday Survey recordset.

Covering the areas of Hornsey Central, Hornsey East, Hornsey West, as well as Tottenham A, Tottenham B, Tottenham C and Wood Green, this week’s release is made up of maps and field books that name property owners and occupiers. 

Read TheGenealogist’s article that finds the Tottenham cottage responsible for giving the old Spurs football ground its popular name: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2021/haringey-land-valuation-records-uncovers-the-modest-house-that-gave-its-name-to-a-famous-football-stadium-1429/

Exclusive to Findmypast, The Catholic Heritage Archive has grown, now with 447,663 new baptism, marriage, burial, and congregational records from Southwark.

235,580 baptisms from 1781 to 1912.
57,286 marriages from 1808 to 1911.
24,499 burials from 1820 to 1911
130,295 congregational records from 1810 to 1911

Is your parish of interest in Southwark? A present-day directory of the Arch-diocese is at http://directory.rcsouthwark.co.uk/

Here, arranged by the increase in the number of indexed records in the past week, are the FamilySearch UK collections being worked on.

Collection	New Indexed Records	Total Indexed Records	Percent Added
Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	101,216	2,610,916	3.9
Lancashire Non-Conformist Church Records, 1647-1996	31,970	306,619	10.4
Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920	5,811	148,156	3.9
Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971	4,674	154,131	3.0
Surrey Marriages Bonds and Licenses, 1536-1992	3,864	7,086	54.5
Lancashire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1746-1799	3,553	22,008	16.1
Herefordshire Bishop’s Transcripts, 1583-1898	335	1,545,469	0.0
Gloucestershire Non-Conformist Church Records, 1642-1996	207	134,431	0.2
Lincolnshire, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1574-1885	129	73,059	0.2
Hertfordshire, Marriage Bonds, 1682-1837	58	8,958	0.6

Why are deaths now significantly fewer than normal?

According to a release from Statistics Canada.

from the end of March 2020 to the beginning of April 2021, an estimated 62,203 deaths were reported among Canadians aged 0 to 64. This represents 5,535 more deaths than expected were there no pandemic, after accounting for changes in the population such as aging. Over the same period, 1,380 COVID-19 deaths have been attributed to the same age group (those younger than 65), suggesting that the excess mortality is, in large part, related to other factors such as increases in the number deaths attributed to causes associated with substance use and misuse, including unintentional (accidental) poisonings and diseases and conditions related to alcohol consumption.

Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0792-01 Adjusted estimates of excess mortality, all ages, all sexes by week.

Statistics Canada does not comment on the many fewer than expected deaths in the last part of the period. Could it be that some of the earlier deaths were people who would have died a natural death a few months later? Or perhaps wearing masks,  social distancing and less travel has a protective effect beyond that for COVID-19?  It seems doubtful it’s the result of vaccination as mortality transitioned from more to fewer than normal deaths for all age groups in February, at the beginning of the month for the oldest cohort and the end of the month for the youngest.