Just announced at RootsTech, a new initiative from MyHeritage — digitized newspapers. Oldnews.com, a stand-alone subscription, just as newspapers.com is a separate subscription from Ancestry, is “the leading website for exploring historical newspapers from around the world.”

According to the company promo, the site gives:

Access millions of historical newspaper pages
A wide array of titles, from international newspapers to small-town gazettes
Historical newspapers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Netherlands and many more countries
Extensive coverage of the 1800s and 1900s, from major world events to local news
Articles that were extracted and enhanced using AI technology
Millions of newspaper pages are added each month.

Available at launch, and for a 7-day free trial, are:

United States: 64,368,505 pages in 14,054 titles
Australia 24,430,061 pages in 1,705 titles
Austria: 13,545,808 pages in 627 titles
United Kingdom: 3,894,581 pages in 3 titles
Czechia: 1,796,938 pages in 81 titles
Germany Newspapers: 1,378,556 pages in 94 titles.
Netherlands: ?

I had early access and found:

There are many Canadian newspapers available, although it isn’t clear if they are in addition to those available through MyHeritage.

The London Gazette is the main UK newspaper available. It is also freely available at https://www.thegazette.co.uk/.

The Australian papers are a large set that includes various government gazettes, and much more. It looks like they derive from Trove?

The US, and perhaps other content may be derived from the now defunct Elephand.com/.

“Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd”

Although a medical appointment meant I missed a lot of the livestream, it didn’t concern me knowing that much would be available on replay.

I first tuned into the FamilySearch Tech Forum.

As anticipated, the focus was AI and the applications FamilySearch is making across various of its offerings. In particular, three sets of transcriptions of handwritten collections are now available, two US and one Mexican — US Land and Probate Records and Mexico Notary Records. We’re all hoping they get around to that handwritten record set we’ve been struggling with, the one we’re certain has elusive genealogy gold.

Go to familysearch.org and scroll down to FamilySearch Labs in the right-hand column.

There you’ll also find Family Group Trees, a way to “gather your family into a group, and see the same living tree and enrich your history with photos, stories, and sources.”

Mid-afternoon it was Ancestry’s turn with spokesperson Crista Cowan. She spoke about the Family Groups initiative, which appear to be quite similar to the FamilySearch Family Group Trees.

Crista also highlighted how Ancestry is scraping newspaper.com, initially for the US, to produce a Stories and Events Index. The files are huge, so there’s a seperate one for each state. The largest, Pennsylvania, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800’s-current, has 1,768,049,707 entries. A search yields Name, Topic, Residence Date, Residence Place, Newspaper Title. You need a newspapers.com subscription to see the actual article.

Finally, Ancestry and partner sites have several specials available in connection with RootsTech. Check them out at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/expohall/ancestry. You may need to be registered for RootsTech.

Findmypast is using RootsTech to profile a new cooperative project “Bringing to light British Home Children’s stories.” Read the release here.

The sub-head is “Between the 1860s and 1970s, over 130,000 children were sent to live in overseas dominions by the British government. Known as British Home Children, many of their stories have been lost to history.”

Where does the number 130,000 come from? Does it include those past school leaving age who should be termed juveniles, NOT children?

What is the basis for the claim that “Around four million people around the world are descended from a British Home Child?”

What is the basis for claiming the British government sent them?

Many were termed orphaned at the time as they had lost one parent. Losing both parents, which we think of as orphaned today, was not the definition at the time. Many youngsters found themselves unwanted when the surviving parent remarried. Many others where abused and neglected and found refuge with the organizations that subsequently arranged their move and settlement in Canada and elsewhere.

Those who call for an apology from the Government of Canada for its involvement should reflect of the young immigrants fate if they had not been helped and emigrated. My own grandfather lost both parents by the time he was age 10, and after leaving the London orphanage at age 14 is found as a coal miner (hewer) in South Wales where those as young as 14 are recorded doing the same work in the 1911 census. Would he have been better off on a Canadian farm? There’s no guarantee. Aside from death and taxes, very little is guaranteed in this life.

Perhaps the descendants, instead of seeking an apology, should acknowledge the circumstances at the time and thank the Canadian government for having provided a refuge, just as many of today’s refugees do.

Add your DNA result to MyHeritage for FREE

For each new DNA file uploaded this week (i.e. one that hasn’t been uploaded to MyHeritage in the past), the uploader will receive free access to all advanced DNA features, saving them the usual $29 unlock fee per file. This rare offer is valid for the next few days only, until 4 March 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

MyHeritage has 7.9 million DNA profiles in its database with a broad geographic coverage. You will continue to enjoy all MyHeritage DNA features for free, forever!

RootsMagic Offer

Save up to 50% on RootsMagic 9, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas.

RootsMagic is discounted to $20 US with the same conference discount as at the show online by visiting www.NotAtRootsTech.com. 

This offer is only available through Monday, 4 March at 11:59 pm MST.

As previously posted

Legacy FamilyTree Webinars

New members can get 50% off a Legacy Family Tree Webinar membership through Saturday ( 29  February  – 2 March 2024).

Also, Legacy software is available for $20 US (usually $34.95 US) through Saturday (February 29 – March 2, 2024).

I understand the discounts may already be available.
https://familytreewebinars.com/rootstech24/

The Guild of One-Name Studies held a seminar, “Working the Land,” last weekend. These presentations are freely available for two weeks.

Up With The Lark – Agricultural Labourers, by Ian Waller

All Roads Lead to Smithfield – Drovers and Cattle Dealers, by Ian Waller

How Agriculture Saved the Nation in WW1, by Cynthia Brown.

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about many more mainly US events at Conference Keeper at https://conferencekeeper.org

Tuesday 27 February

2 pm: Boosting Your Family History Discoveries with MyHeritage DNA, by Gal Zrihen for MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/boosting-your-family-history-discoveries-with-myheritage-dna/

Wednesday 28 February

2:30 pm: Women’s Work: Lives in Stitches, by Naomi Tarrant for the Guild of One-Name Studies.
https://one-name.org/livesinstitches/

Thursday 29 February

RootsTech Day 1

6:30 pm: Identification of the Romanov Russian Royal Family, by Suni M. Edson for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9938469

Friday 1 March

RootsTech Day 2

2 pm: Telling Your Family’s Story with MyHeritage’s AI Features, by Janna Helshtein for MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/telling-your-familys-story-with-myheritages-ai-features/

Saturday 2 March

RootsTech Day 3

New members can get 50% off a Legacy Family Tree Webinar membership through Saturday ( February 29 – March 2, 2024).

Also, Legacy software is available for $20 US (usually $34.95 US) through Saturday (February 29 – March 2, 2024).

I understand the discounts may already be available.
https://familytreewebinars.com/rootstech24/

The brides of Second World War Canadian servicemen who came to Canada, mainly in 1946, numbered 43,454. Reading their obituaries, you are impressed with how they became a significant part of Canada’s postwar landscape, shaping our social and cultural fabric. Sadly, their era is coming to a close.

This post is an update and extension of one in March 2020
where I estimated the median age of war brides as 24 when they arrived. A few were much older, some younger.

In 2016, I estimated 5,500 survivors. In 2020 , a range of 1,000 to 1,800 living war brides with media age 98.

A sample of 50 obits published in Canadian newspapers as late as 2023 confirms the median birth year remains 1922.

The number of survivors depends strongly on the age distribution of the initial cohort, particularly those who were the youngest.  That has never been released. Based on a Canadian life table for females born in 1921, my estimate is there are no more than two hundred war bride survivors in 2024.

The median number of children born to each war bride mentioned in the 50 obits is three, ranging from zero to seven.

The median number of grandchildren is six, ranging from zero to 15. Six of the war brides had ten or more grandchildren. On average each war bride child had two children, about the same as the population at large.

The median number of great-grandchildren mentioned is nine, they are still being born.

This post estimated the number of their descendants “in round figures, 2%, probably less, of Canada’s population in 2020 are WW2 war brides and their descendants.” Given that immigrants now outnumber births in Canada, and the calculation does not account for those who do not live in Canada, 2% remains a reasonable estimate, certainly not ten percent as was at one time claimed.

On Monday, 26 February, you have the luxury (or challenge) of choice.

At 7 pm, Sudbury District Branch invites everyone to well-known speaker Dave Obee‘s presentation Canadiana’s genealogical treasures.
Dave explains it this way, “The Canadiana website has a vast amount of material for family historians, but not many use it or even know about it. Canadiana’s rich genealogy and local history collection includes local and family histories, telling of pioneering, settlement, and local government in early Canada. The focus on individuals and communities makes the collection an ideal genealogical resource, helping people explore the experiences of previous generations and leaving clues about their wider social and cultural background. Related documents include voters lists, eulogies, directories and gazettes, biographies, civil service lists, published diaries, church magazines and pamphlets, militia lists, publications from professional and trade societies, school publications, and more. This talk is your guide to mining the 40 million pages of primary-source documents.”
https://sudbury.ogs.on.ca/events/using-canadiana/

At 7:30 pm, popular presenter Thomas MacEntee will be returning to OGS Toronto Branch with his presentation Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox. You’ll learn about some of the most important online resources for genealogical research and how to organize them into an easy-to-access and portable virtual toolbox.
After Thomas’ talk Branch member Beth Adams will share her husband’s grandfather’s story and how it was discovered that he had been a British Home Child in the presentation Grandpa’s Secret.
https://torontofamilyhistory.org/