These lists of officers serving with the RFC and RAF are new on Ancestry. Available through the Internet Archive since 2012, you can now search within the familiar Ancestry environment.
Records in this collection, with links to the original published page, may include:
Name
Rank
Date individual joined the Royal Air Force
Military unit or organization
Military occupation,
For much of the period the volumes were issued bimonthly.
In Valentine’s Day, let’s show some love by giving a shout-out to the following notice from the Ontario Genealogical Society,
With a theme of Diversity in Genealogy – Spotlight on the Grand River, the 2023 Ontario Ancestors conference is scheduled for September 8-10, 2023, and we’re looking for presentations that will educate and motivate our attendees to advance their genealogy.
Specifically, we are seeking new, unique, and enterprising proposals, that speak to the cultural diversity across, and in, all parts of Ontario. Using our Zoom platform, we will deliver two streams of content over the weekend. One stream will be focused on Diversity across the province – stories, cultures, communities, religions, history, archives and genealogy techniques. The other stream will focus on that diversity specifically along the Grand River as it has its own history, stories and voices that we want to share. Interested speakers are strongly encouraged to submit multiple proposals for 45-minute sessions. There is no limit to the number of proposals a speaker may submit.
Topics to be considered include but are not limited to:
Indigenous records, research and genealogy stories
Emigration into and out of Ontario from different groups at various times over the past 200 years
Treaties, land tracts and settlement schemes
Genealogy in various cultures that made Ontario their home in the 20th century (last 125 years)
Black settlements in Ontario
Stories about people and the Underground Railroad
Franco-Ontarian movement to and through Ontario
Emigration to Ontario based on labour schemes
Industrial development throughout Ontario and related communities
Movement along the major waterways across Ontario
Researching and understanding various religions in Ontario
Research in diverse archives, libraries and museums
New research and writing techniques or tech gadgets.
To submit a proposal, please visit our website at Call for speakers – Virtual Conference 2023 (ogs.on.ca) and fill out the online proposal form. If you have any questions, please email conference2023@ogs.on.ca
The deadline for the submission of lecture proposals is Saturday, March 4th at 11:59 PM EST.
Choose from selected 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. Additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.
TUESDAY 14 FEBRUARY
2 pm: Family Statistics on MyHeritage, by Uri Goren for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/family-statistics-on-myheritage/
2:30 pm:The Making of a Mosaic: European Migrant Journeys during the Age of Steam: Part 2, by Nicholas Evans for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7835110
7 pm: My 2022 Irish Palatine Trip – never give up the search. by Donna Bjore for OGS Lambton Branch.
lambton.ogs.on.ca
WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY
7 pm: Searching for the Missing Pieces, by Janet Iles for OGS Bruce & Grey Branch
https://brucegrey.ogs.on.ca/events/janet-iles-searching-for-the-missing-pieces/
7 pm: DNA does not Lie, by Jane Teskey for OGS Essex Branch
https://essex.ogs.on.ca/meetings/february-webinar/
7 pm: Members Findings (members share discoveries) for Lakeshore Genealogical Society
https://kawartha.ogs.on.ca/Past-Events1/lakeshore-genealogical-society-presents-members-findings/
8 pm: When a Place is New, by Michelle Patient for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/when-a-place-is-new/
THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY
1 pm: Virtual Tour of the Trent Valley Archives, by Elwood Jones and Heather A Landry for OGS Peterborough Branch.
Register here.
6:30 pm: Eastern European DNA, by PJ Elias for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7908329
FRIDAY 17 FEBRUARY
9 am: Cleveland Street Scandal, by Mark Dunton for the UK National Archives.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-cleveland-street-scandal-tickets-482339298827
2 pm: Family History on the Canadian Prairies, by Dave Obee for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/family-history-on-the-canadian-prairies/
6:30 pm: What can we find in the (UK?) 1921 Census, by Penny Walters for OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch.
https://niagara.ogs.on.ca/events/niagara-peninsula-branch-monthly-webinar-series-2023-02-17/
SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY
10 am: History of Slavery Along the St. Lawrence River, by Jennifer DeBruin for OGS Kingston Branch.
https://us02web.zoom.us/
1 pm: GenPins and Research Boards – Using Pinterest for Genealogy, by Cheryl Levy for OGS Quinte Branch.
https://quinte.ogs.on.ca/meetings-events-2022/
What’s the latest reason for a discount offer? Family Day? Valentine’s Day? Into my email in-box since Saturday flooded:
Don’t worry if you miss out. Another one will be along soon!
New from Ancestry come four collections, small but rare, from the Berkshire Record Office. The collections include images of the original documents, which are in various formats with both typed and handwritten information.
Berkshire, England, World War II Related Miscellaneous Records, 1939-1971, 23,808 entries.
Comprises personnel records, remembrances, and other home front records. Includes visitor books recording military servicepersons far from home.
Berkshire, England, World War II Home Guard Records, 1943-1958, 568 entries.
Meeting minutes, civil defence certificates, and other records of the Home Guard
Berkshire, England, World War II Civil Defence Records, 1939-1945, 2,868 entries.
Includes air raid precaution plans, incident and bombing raid reports.
Berkshire, England, World War II Evacuation Records, 1939-1945, 37,601 entries
Records detail Berkshire’s work as a reception area. Besides the attendance registers of evacuated schools, there are files about emergency accommodation, maternity homes, nurseries and hostels.
This UK company is offering a monthly series on Air Force history, and its free. The next is on Wednesday 22 February at 2 pm EST. See the series information at https://www.alliedairforceresearch.com/webinars
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Mysteries of Venacular
26 short videos (A – Z) on the origins of English words and expressions.
OpenBenches
A map of 26,684 memorial benches – you can contribute.
Data bombing and dead cats – how PR uses practices of secrecy to influence media and society
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Nick Mcdonald, Teresa, Unknown.
Greater London Burial Index
Records from 22 churches dating from 1540 to 1849 are in this update of 52,883 records. Some have associated images.
Well over half the new records are from two parishes, 19,683 records for Isleworth, All Saints 1566-1838 and 19, 113 records for Hammersmith, St Paul 1666-1837.
Kent, Folkestone District Monumental Inscriptions
An additional 6,000 records now in this collection are from six churches in the area. The full collection is for the burial grounds of: Cheriton, St Martin; Folkestone, Bradstone Road Burial Ground; Folkestone, Cheriton Road Cemetery’ Folkestone, St Mary & St Eanswythe; Hawkinge, St Michael; Lympne, St Stephen; Newington next Hythe, St Nicholas.
The following is from a press release by TheGenealogist.
TheGenealogist.co.uk has just added over 342,500 new records to the 1939 Register for England and Wales. Researchers can now see all people born in 1922 opened under the 100-year rule along with those who have passed away since the last release.
TheGenealogist’s version of the 1939 Register is matched to its powerful mapping tool, Map Explorer™ so that researchers can see more accurately where their ancestor’s house was situated on maps down to house, street or parish level, giving more detail than ever before. With its SmartSearch family historians can discover even more from the records in the 1939 Register not just where their ancestors were living as the Second World War began in Britain, but potential birth and death records.
It’s one of those Saturdays when BIFHSGO and OGS Ottawa Branch both have monthly meetings. Both are free online and all are welcome, from sea to sea to sea and beyond.
Starting at 9 am, online-only, the BIFHSGO Education Talk is Census Records in the Virtual Treasury of Ireland, presented by Brian Gurrin, census specialist on the Beyond 2022 project.
Continuing online, at 10 am, BIFHSGO President Dianne Brydon steps into the spotlight to inform and entertain with Lust, Lucre and Lybell: An 18th Century Soap Opera. Dianne has previously been voted as giving the best talk of the year by a BIFHSGO member.
Find out more and register at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events.
Take a break for lunch, then come back online for 1 pm, or venture out for the in-person experience to 100 Tallwood, Nepean, the Ottawa City Archives building, for the OGS Ottawa Branch presentation.
BIFHSGO Director Ken McKinlay, a very knowledgeable and popular Ontario speaker, will perform Genealogical Miracles. Let’s hope that’s preceded with a meteorological miracle — avoiding stormy weather. The weather forecast is promising; you might enjoy getting out to witness the miracles, and enjoy the coffee, cookies and company beforehand.
Ken will be “taking a sometimes humorous look at some of the very interesting gaffs and errors that can be found in family trees such as “Resurrection”, “The well preserved”, and “Time travellers”. At the same time we will cover how to hopefully prevent those pesky mistakes in our own trees.”
Find further information at https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/genealogical-miracles-ottawa/.
In this article on his EOGN blog Dick Eastman discusses the reasons why many genealogy societies are losing members and suggests what can be done about it. It’s food for thought for those in leadership positions willing to reexamine what they do.
Dick who would throw out the term society and replace it with organization, favours these services:
1. Education
2. Publishing (on paper as well as electronic publishing)
3. Travel services to local and distant repositories or even to “the old country”
4. Lobbying services
5. Sponsoring a cruise for members and others and offer seminars when at sea
6. Fraternal organization services, somewhat like the Elks or Lions or Masons or other fraternities and sororities, all working towards common public service goals
7. And perhaps the most important of all: offer entertainment.
Personally I’m not so sure about 5 and 6. although the social side is important. Time to ask “Who Do You Think You Are?”
“Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses”
“The 19th century saw many new aspects in contemporary life, such as reading for leisure, faster transportation and compulsory education, all of which necessitated a high degree of visual acuity.”
Do you know which of your ancestors needed corrective lenses? Who needed them but didn’t wear them? Did any of them wear glasses, or spectacles, as a fashion statement?
From the Wellcome Collection, based on research by Gemma Almond, comes an online story on the history of spectacles.
