Anglo-Celtic Connections

Researchers with Ontario roots have reason to celebrate: The Ontario Name Index (TONI) is now available on Ancestry, significantly expanding access to this valuable resource.

For years, TONI has been available only through the Ontario Genealogical Society website. While genealogists familiar with OGS knew to search there, the collection remained relatively unknown to the broader community of researchers who might benefit from it.

Two Versions, Different Scopes

The Ontario Name Index is a comprehensive database spanning records from 1812 to 2023, created by OGS volunteers and launched in 2011. Now it exists in two locations with different record counts.

Ancestry’s collection contains 7,656,896 records—all those that OGS volunteers have transcribed from original sources. The version on the OGS website at https://ogs.on.ca/toni/ is substantially larger, with 14,668,724 indexed records.

Why the difference? According to Mike More, who leads TONI, the OGS website includes records that were incorporated with permission from other sites. While OGS can host these records, they don’t have the rights to share them on platforms like Ancestry.

What You’ll Find

The index draws from diverse sources including birth, marriage, and death records, newspapers, censuses, government documents, and family histories. Entries typically include the individual’s name, county and township, record type, year, and repository location.

While the collection doesn’t contain images of original records, it serves as a crucial finding aid, pointing researchers toward the repositories where original documents can be accessed.

A Practical Approach

For researchers, searching this might mean a two-step strategy. Start with a familiar Ancestry search. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, check the OGS website directly, as additional records may fill in the gaps.

 

A recent post about the LAC Annual Departmental Results Report for 2024-2025 included information that

A new partnership with Internet Archive Canada (IAC), announced in June 2024, contributed another 2.8 million images by March 2025. The collaboration focuses on copyright-free publications from the 1300s through the 1920s, making rare historical materials freely available online. The initiative has already processed over 14,000 publications.

Updated information from LAC is that as of October 2025, 20,254 publications have been digitized, generating 4,320,900 images.

Information on the digitized catalogue will be shared once the material becomes publicly available through the IAC website. There’s no target date.

Dick Eastman has a post about a new online resource that opens Ireland’s transport heritage to the public with a genealogical database of almost 7,000 names.

Library and Archives Canada has released its Annual Departmental Results Report for 2024-2025, revealing a year of significant digitization achievements alongside persistent challenges in request processing and facility standards.

You’d think the report would warrant inclusion on the main page under Updates. It isn’t. That’s a pity, as some significant progress is being made.

Preservation: Nearly Perfect Performance

LAC met seven of eight targets for its core mandate of acquiring and preserving documentary heritage. The single shortfall involved maintaining proper environmental standards across all preservation facilities—a critical measure for protecting analog collections from deterioration.

Digitization Reaches Seven-Year High

The department’s most notable success came in digital access. LAC digitized 10 million images from its collections, far exceeding its 6.5 million target and marking the highest output since 2017-18.

Two major projects drove this achievement. The Day Schools Project alone accounted for 5.8 million digitized images, including textual records, photographs, maps, and architectural plans documenting the Federal Indian Day School system. This material provides crucial documentation for researchers and Indigenous communities seeking historical records.

A new partnership with Internet Archive Canada, announced in June 2024, contributed another 2.8 million images by March 2025. The collaboration focuses on copyright-free publications from the 1300s through the 1920s, making rare historical materials freely available online. The initiative has already processed over 14,000 publications.

Despite these gains, LAC met only four of eight indicators for providing access to documentary heritage—the same performance level as the previous year, suggesting stagnation in some access measures.

ATIP Backlog Shows Improvement, But Remains Below Target

Processing of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests continues to lag, though the department has made measurable progress. LAC completed 66% of requests within required timeframes, up from 55% the previous year but still short of its 70% target.

The backlog affects researchers, journalists, and citizens seeking government records—a tension between LAC’s role as both guardian and gatekeeper of public information.

Looking Ahead

The report also details ongoing preparations for Adisoke, the joint facility that will house LAC and the Ottawa Public Library’s central branch when it opens.

The complete Annual Departmental Results Report for 2024-2025 is available, but buried on LAC’s website. To get there from the LAC landing page, follow the chain Library and Archives > About LAC > Transparency and reporting > Reports and publications > Departmental results reports.

TheGenealogist has added 1,090,293 records to its Great War Casualty List collection, completing the War Office lists and taking the total to over 4.5 million records!

This final addition covers the period from 8 April 1918 to 4 March 1919, officially concluding TheGenealogist’s coverage of the original War Office Weekly Casualty Lists.

This comprehensive release contains names derived from the official weekly lists published at the time, along with later corrections where available. The records are fully searchable and include key details for those who served.

• 🔍 Searchable Detail: Search by Name, Rank, Regiment/Unit, and (where recorded) Service Number.
• 🩺 Casualty Type: The lists record the specific nature of the casualty, such as Killed, Wounded, Missing, Prisoner of War, and Died of Wounds.

Library and Archives Canada has released its Annual Departmental Results Report for 2024-2025, revealing a year of significant digitization achievements alongside persistent challenges in request processing and facility standards.

Preservation: Nearly Perfect Performance

LAC met seven of eight targets for its core mandate of acquiring and preserving documentary heritage. The single shortfall involved maintaining proper environmental standards across all preservation facilities—a critical measure for protecting analog collections from deterioration.

Digitization Reaches Seven-Year High

The department’s most notable success came in digital access. LAC digitized 10 million images from its collections, far exceeding its 6.5 million target and marking the highest output since 2017-18.

Two major projects drove this achievement. The Day Schools Project alone accounted for 5.8 million digitized images, including textual records, photographs, maps, and architectural plans documenting the Federal Indian Day School system. This material provides crucial documentation for researchers and Indigenous communities seeking historical records.

A new partnership with Internet Archive Canada, announced in June 2024, contributed another 2.8 million images by March 2025. The collaboration focuses on copyright-free publications from the 1300s through the 1920s, making rare historical materials freely available online. The initiative has already processed over 14,000 publications.

Despite these gains, LAC met only four of eight indicators for providing access to documentary heritage—the same performance level as the previous year, suggesting stagnation in some access measures.

ATIP Backlog Shows Improvement, But Remains Below Target

Processing of Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) requests continues to lag, though the department has made measurable progress. LAC completed 66% of requests within required timeframes, up from 55% the previous year but still short of its 70% target.

The backlog affects researchers, journalists, and citizens seeking government records—a tension between LAC’s role as both guardian and gatekeeper of public information.

Looking Ahead

The report also details ongoing preparations for Adisoke, the joint facility that will house LAC and the Ottawa Public Library’s central branch when it opens.

The complete Annual Departmental Results Report for 2024-2025 is available on LAC’s website.

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.org.

This database contains 115,573 records from houses of correction across the County of Suffolk, England,  primarily from receiving books at Ipswich Gaol, with additional material from Beccles, Bury, and Woodbridge. If you had Suffolk ancestry in the period, I do, and given the population of 327,240 in 1851, there’s a fair chance of finding a miscreant.

I found a namesake of my two-times-great-grandmother, convicted of prostitution. If it had been mine, I’d know, from the surprisingly detailed biographical snapshot, details beyond the basics of name, age, and offence, such as:

• Physical description (height, hair colour, eye colour)
• Birthplace and residence
• Occupation and literacy level
• Religion and marital status
• Father’s name, birthplace, and occupation
• Complete timeline from warrant to trial, sentencing, and release

The receiving books sometimes recorded even more granular details, including which school an inmate attended, the amount and type of clothing they possessed upon admission, and whether they had prior convictions. Lists of confined inmates might note the work performed behind bars and comments on behaviour.

I asked Google Gemini to suggest five undreamed-of, but realistic, advancements in family history over the next 20 years.

Before dismissing these, pause and consider whether you’d have predicted the current state of the art in 2005.

Here’s the response:

1. AI-Driven, Global Record Synthesis

What it is: Artificial intelligence will achieve a near-perfect ability to not only transcribe handwritten, fragile, and foreign-language records, but also to synthesize them into a unified, verified life story.

• AI will automatically cross-reference information (names, dates, locations, and relationships) across billions of records worldwide—census, parish, military, land, and migration documents—regardless of data quality or linguistic differences.
• The system will suggest and validate family connections with high statistical certainty, effectively building and error-checking vast portions of your family tree automatically, replacing hours of manual record hunting.

2. Whole-Genome Genealogy 🔬

What it is: Current consumer DNA tests analyze a tiny fraction of your genome. In the next 20 years, whole-genome sequencing will become the norm and affordable, unlocking unprecedented genetic genealogical detail.

• This will allow for the identification of shared segments even with extremely distant cousins (10th+), vastly increasing the size of genetic match pools and breaking down long-standing “brick walls” in earlier centuries.
• It will also lead to high-resolution mapping of ancestral migration routes, tracking lineages not just to a country or region, but to specific historical villages or tribal groups thousands of years ago.

3. Immersive Heritage Experiences (VR/AR) 🗺️

What it is: Virtual and augmented reality will transform how you interact with your family history, moving beyond flat screens to three-dimensional, sensory experiences.

• Virtual Reality (VR) will allow you to “walk” through a digital reconstruction of your ancestor’s home, neighborhood, or village, built using historical maps, photos, and records.
• Augmented Reality (AR), accessible via a phone or smart glasses, could overlay information onto real-world locations—standing in your great-grandparents’ hometown, you’d see historical photos or record snippets tied to the buildings around you.

4. “Digital Twins” of Ancestral Data 💾

What it is: Genealogy platforms will move beyond simply storing documents and start creating dynamic, interactive digital avatars or “twins” of your ancestors based on all available data.

• This twin could be an AI-generated biography that automatically updates as new records are found, complete with a timeline and historical context (e.g., placing their life events against major local or world events).
• Future tools may even use voice synthesis and deep-learning models to simulate your ancestor’s voice based on historical recordings from their time/region, allowing for an interactive, conversational experience with your past.

5. Ethical Frameworks for Shared Genomic Data 🤝

What it is: As DNA testing reveals increasingly sensitive information (health risks, unexpected parentage), a new, widely adopted ethical and legal framework will be established for genetic and historical data sharing.

• This system will use blockchain or similar secure, decentralized technology to give individuals granular control over who sees which specific parts of their DNA data and for what purpose (genealogy, health research, law enforcement).
• This shift will be necessary to balance the powerful capabilities of whole-genome analysis with the fundamental right to genetic privacy and consent, ensuring the continued growth and trust in the field.

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

The law is changing for carbon monoxide alarms

Selected Items from the latest Documentary Heritage News

National Archive of Ireland launches search for Irish people who are 100 years or over to tell their stories
http://www.irishstar.com/news/ireland-news/national-archive-launches-search-irish-36184722

UK National Archives – The A–Z of the Royal Navy Captains’ letter project: D to M
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/the-collection-blog/the-az-of-the-royal-navy-captains-letter-project-d-to-m/

People have had to move house: Inside the British Library, two years on from devastating cyber attack
http://www.the-independent.com/news/uk/home-news/british-library-strike-cyber-attack-b2855495.html

British Library chief executive steps down amid strike action
https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2025/11/british-library-chief-executive-steps-down-amid-strike-action/

WWI letters reveal how social club lifted morale
http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceq0xw0e58wo

Do You Speak Cat?

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Anonymous, Diane Brydon. Gail, Glenn Wright, Teresa, and Unknown.

 

 

As I write this, 9:19 PM EST Friday 7 November 2025, Environment Canada has a

Accumulating snow likely on Sunday.
What: Snowfall amounts of 5 to 15 cm.
When: Beginning Sunday morning and continuing into Sunday night.
Additional information: A low pressure system could bring significant snowfall to parts of southern Ontario on Sunday. Confidence remains low with respect to the strength and track of this weather system, and as such the areas affected and snowfall amounts may change.

The most 9 November snowfall on record for Ottawa is 10.2 cm in 1897 at the Experimental Farm. 5.1 cm was recorded in 1905.

With Remembrance Day near, FMP released a collection to honour those who served in the First World War. Each photograph, drawn from the newspaper archive, reflects courage and sacrifice.

New This Week:

Faces of the Fallen 1914-1918
3,468 records added covering 1914-1918. These images come from local newspapers that published tributes to soldiers from their communities, often showing them in uniform. Scrolling through the array of faces is salutory, like visiting a war cemetery.

Anglo-Boer War Records 1899-1902
22,752 new records from 1899-1902 are now available.

British Isles Gazetteers
2,658 records added spanning 1870-1904. These geographical dictionaries help pinpoint historical locations and provide insight into the places your ancestors called home.

Nine Wartime Newspapers
New titles include Citizen (London), Midland Free Press, and Western Express. These papers demonstrate how the war impacted local communities and how people experienced events as they unfolded.