Anglo-Celtic Connections

More than 185,000 new Lloyd George Domesday land tax records have been added by TheGenealogist to its Landowner and Occupier records. Consisting of records from the counties of Berkshire and the Buckinghamshire, this release provides researchers with the ability to discover owners and occupiers of property in the period 1910 to 1915.

Covering an area of over 800 square miles, researchers can use these records to see the size, state of repair and value of the house in which their ancestors had been the landlord of, or had lived in.

TheGenealogist has linked all the records to the large scale Ordnance Survey maps that were used at the time.These detailed maps show each property plotted on detailed mapping that can be viewed with TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ tool. This interface will show the same coordinates on a variety of modern and historical maps. Using this allows house or family historians to see how the area they are researching may have changed over time and with it to then explore their ancestors’ locality.

• Details of Individual properties can be found in these Lloyd George Domesday records
• Records are linked to extremely detailed maps used in 1910-1915 and viewable on the powerful Map Explorer™
• Ability to fully search the records by a person’s name, county, parish and street
• The Ordnance Survey maps zoom down to show individual properties
• Georeferenced to a modern street map or satellite map underlay the researcher can more clearly understand what the area looks like today

Areas covered in this release include:

Aldermaston, Aldworth, Amersham, Arborfield, Ardington, Ashampstead, Ashley Green, Barkham, Basildon, Beaconsfield, Beech Hill, Beedon, Beenham, Binfield, Bisham, Bledlow, Blewbury, Boveney, Boxford, Bradenham, Bradfield, Bray, Brightwalton, Brimpton, Buckland, Bucklebury, Burghfield, Burnham, Catmore, Caversham, Chaddleworth, Chalfont St Giles, Chalfont St Peter, Challow (East and West), Charlton, Chenies, Chepping Wycombe, Chesham, Chieveley, Childrey, Chilton, Cholesbury, Clewer Within, Clewer Without, Cold Ash, Compton, Cookham, Crowthorne, Datchet, Denchworth, Denham, Donnington, Earley, East Garston, East Ilsley, East Lockinge, East Shefford, Easthampstead, Ellesborough, Enborne, Englefield, Eton, Farnborough, Farnham Royal, Fawley, Fawley, Fawley, Finchhampstead, Fingest, Frilsham, Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Goosey, Grazeley, Great Coxwell, Great Missenden, Greenham, Grove, Hambleden, Hampden (Great and Little), Hampstead Marshall, Hampstead Norris, Hanney (East and West), Harwell, Hawridge, Hedgerley, Hedsor, Hendred (East and West), High Wycombe, Hitcham, Horsenden, Horton, Hungerford, Hurley, Ibstone, Ilmer, Inkpen, Iver, Kimble (Great and Little), Kintbury, Lambourn, Langley, Leckhampstead, Lee, Letcombe Bassett, Letcombe Regis, Little Marlow, Little Missenden, Maidenhead, Marlow, Medmenham, Midgham, Mortimer, New Windsor, Newbury, Newland, Old Windsor, Pangbourne, Peasemore, Penn, Princes Risborough, Remenham, Ruscombe, Sandhurst, Saunderton, Shaw, Shinfield, Shottesbrook, Slough, Slough, Sparsholt, Speen, St Giles, St Lawrence, St Mary, St Nicholas Hurst, Stanford Dingley, Streatley, Sunningdale, Sunninghill, Swallowfield, Taplow, Thatcham, Theale, Tilehurst, Towersey, Turville, Twyford, Upton, Waltham St Lawrence, Wantage, Warfield, Wargrave, Welford, West Ilsley, West Shefford, West Woodhay, White Waltham, Winkfield, Winnersh, Winterbourne, Wokingham, Wooburn, Woolhampton & Yattendon

Read TheGenealogist’s article: To the Cottage Born https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2022/to-the-cottage-born-1645/

Starting tomorrow, Yuletide R&R posts will keep the blog active while I’m otherwise occupied. Expect mostly humourous items, many classics from previous years.

Today, in celebration of Hanukkah, enjoy this music.

Choose from a few 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 20 DECEMBER

2 pm: OGS Ottawa Branch Virtual Drop-in.
https://meet.google.com/nvz-kftj-dax

2:30 pm: New York State Genealogy, by Sara Allen for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Centre.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7602962

8 pm: Wayward Girls: A Context Case Study, by Stephanie O’Connell for BCG and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/wayward-girls-a-context-case-study/

 

For the third successive month, there is no progress to completion for Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges, perhaps because they are difficult to find on the new LAC website. However, one challenge reported less progress than last month.

Expo67 remains 0% complete.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 11% complete.

Travel posters in the Marc Choko collection is 96% complete, last month 98% complete.

Women in the War remains 0% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes remains 0% complete.

John Freemont Smith remains 93% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 98% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 93% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 99% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 96% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 0% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 92% complete.

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

Other unidentified Co-Lab activities not part of the Challenges may have happened.

The LAC Departmental Results Report for 2020-2021 included the information “There were a total of 16,205 contributions from the public.” No further detail was provided.

Joy to the World Ottawa Genealogists.

We’ve been waiting for it for a long time.

Ottawa Public Library is now a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. That means library clients will now have greater and more convenient access to the wealth of genealogical resources available through FamilySearch at OPL’s 33 branches.

Due to contractual obligations, some images are only viewable online through FamilySearch centers and Affiliate Libraries
Through the affiliate program, OPL customers have access to over 350 million additional records that are otherwise restricted. This resource is available for in-library use only.

At the branches, you will have to log on to the WiFi network if using your own computer, then into your OPL account, then into FamilySearch using your own unique FamilySearch username and password.

The same resources continue to be available at the LDS Church Family History Center on Prince of Wales Drive which is open for limited hours on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Use and enjoy.

The databases were updated on 16 December with nearly 4.5 million addition since August 2022. The US accounts for 2.2 million additions.

Canada has 331,370 additions for the four-month period, a rate well ahead of the annual number of deaths of 323,221 reported by Statistics Canada.

Country	August 2022	December 2022	Increase
U.S.	168,814,684	170,992,351	2,177,667
UK and Ireland	14,651,323	15,329,390	678,067
Global	13,288,732	13,711,794	423,062
Australia and New Zealand	9,833,836	10,351,076	517,240
Canada	9,085,991	9,417,361	331,370
Germany	1,999,171	2,275,506	276,335
Sweden	313,255	356,925	43,670
Italy	269,307	287,125	17,818
Norway	200,269	206,975	6,706
Brazil	132,347	132,690	343
Mexico	52,524	56,015	3,491
Totals	218,641,439	223,117,208	4,475,769

The standalone Find a Grave website, now operated by Ancestry, was created in 1995.

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM) database, and Books of Remembrance, include more than 118,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders who have died in military service since Confederation.

It records the following breakdown from the Books of Remembrance: First World War ( 66,339 entries), Second World War ( 44,778), Newfoundland ( 2,396), Korea (516), South African War / Nile Expedition (296), Merchant Navy (2,206), In the Service of Canada (1947 – 2014) ( 1,912), In the Service of Canada, Vol II (2015 – )  (82). That’s a total of 118,525. There’s also a book for the RCMP (225).

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) maintains a database that includes 65,003 individuals who died serving with Canadian Forces during the First, and 45,388 during the Second World War.

Why the differences?

1, The Books of Remembrance seperate out Newfoundlanders from Canadians. 1,614 Newfoundlanders died during WW1, 739 during WW2. The CWGC combines them with Canadians.

2. The CWGC database records deaths by nationality of the unit in which they served whereas the CVWM includes all “Canadians” who served with Canadian and allied forces. For instance, there are 41 deaths for Canadian serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps, Canadian medical personnel were actively recruited.  More unusually, Oscar Cameron died on 24 January 1918 serving with the Australian Infantry, A.I.F. 59th Bn. His parent’s address is in Nova Scotia.

3. There could be confusion as there was no such thing as a Canadian Citizen until the passage of the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act. Before that Canadians were legally British Subjects.

4.  The CWGC website search tool finds 143 WW1 entries and 1,289 for WW2 for merchant mariners. The Canadian Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance records 680 deaths for WW1 and 1,592 for WW2. The difference appears to reflect Canadian merchant mariners serving on non-Canadian registered ships.

In case you’re not sufficiently confused by the above, the four volume, four book set by Robert P. “Bob” D’Aoust, published under the collective title They Gave There All, lists a total of 1,701 Canadian Merchant Sailors including 5 women who died while serving with the Merchant Navy.

Canadian Merchant Navy 1939-1940 Vol. 1 – lists all 199 (198 men and 1 woman) who died serving Canada between 1939 and 1940. 305 pages

Canadian Merchant Navy 1941 Vol. 2 – lists all 483 who died serving Canada in 1941. 535 pages

Canadian Merchant Navy 1942 Vol. 3 – lists all 629 (626 men and 3 women) who died serving Canada in 1942. 723 pages

Canadian Merchant Navy 1943-1947 Vol. 4 – lists all 390 (389 men and 1 woman) who died serving Canada between 1943 and 1947. 529 pages.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Battersea Power Station – London’s newest attraction.
Just one of several YouTube videos.

Carleton University: Shannon Lectures

MyHeritage adds 75,722 Northern Ireland, Wills and Administrations, 1621 and 1858

Winter edition of  Irish Genealogy Matters newsletter (pdf) from the Irish Family History Foundation.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous,  Brenda Turner, gail benjafield,  Glenn W., Nick Mcdonald, norm prince, Teresa.

If you want to take a deep dive into the famine and its impacts this 6-week lecture series, starting on Thursday 19 January at 7 pm GMT, 2 pm EST, is not to be missed.

It’s free.

Famine Lecture Series

 

Protestation Returns 1641-1642 are transcript records of those who took the oath of allegiance to the Protestant religion.

First and last name. county and parish are given, and occasional details such as “churchwarden” or “overseer of the poor”.

The counties available, with the number of records, are: Berkshire (7,497), Buckinghamshire (4,719), Cambridgeshire (2,435), Cheshire (1,372), Cumberland (18,372), Essex (6,295), Hampshire (907), Hertfordshire (1,460), Kent (9,371), Lancashire (34,912), London (1.676), Middlesex (27,223), Shropshire (1,884), Staffordshire (7,286), Warwickshire (2,985), Worcestershire (1,788), and Yorkshire (18,755).

The transcriptions I viewed were © Cliff Webb.

Surrey Burials
Another 4,700 Surrey burial records have been added to this existing set from the 1883 publication Croydon in the Past. While the information available varies, you may see small biographies on the original images, in addition to a birth year, next of kin, and a last residence.
Surrey Burials now has 1,403,078 records.

United States, Philadelphia Genealogy Abstracts
A 2,695 item collection

Newspapers
New items in the collection are:
Croydon Express, 1878-1895, 1898, 1900-1911, 1913-1916
South London Observer, 1895, 1901-1962
Southwark and Bermondsey Recorder, 1868-1884, 1903-1920

 

Several attributes are important for a good genealogist:

1. Attention to detail: Genealogists need to be able to pay close attention to detail and analyze a wide range of documents and records to build a family tree and establish connections between individuals.
2. Persistence: Genealogy can be a time-consuming and sometimes challenging pursuit, so a good genealogist needs to be persistent and have the ability to follow leads and track down difficult-to-find information.
3. Research skills: Genealogists must be proficient in researching using various sources, including online databases, archival records, and published materials.
4. Organizational skills: Genealogists need to be able to keep track of a large amount of information and data, so strong organizational skills are essential.
5. Communication skills: Genealogists may need to communicate with a variety of people, including family members, archivists, and other researchers, so good communication skills are important.
6. Critical thinking skills: Genealogists need to be able to think critically and evaluate the reliability and credibility of different sources of information.
7. Creativity: Genealogy can sometimes require creative problem-solving and the ability to think outside the box in order to find new leads or connect seemingly unrelated pieces of information.

What do you think of that? Is something missing?

It was written by ChatGPT in response to “What are the attributes of a good genealogist?” No other information was given.

What’s ChatGPT you ask?

“ChatGPT is a variant of the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) language model developed by OpenAI. Like other GPT models, ChatGPT is a machine learning model that has been trained on a large dataset of text and is able to generate human-like text in response to prompts. However, ChatGPT has been specifically designed to generate responses to questions and statements in a conversational context, making it well-suited for use in chatbots and other interactive applications.

The main advantage of ChatGPT and other GPT models is their ability to generate high-quality text that is difficult to distinguish from human-written text. This makes them particularly useful for tasks such as language translation, text summarization, and content generation.”