Anglo-Celtic Connections

Every year Employment and Social Development Canada fund proposals under the Canada Summer Jobs program in which genealogical organizations participate.  Nine organizations have been part in the past two years, four each in Nova Scotia, and Ontario and one in New Brunswick, for a two-year total of $83,583. Most received repeat funding.

Organization	2022 & 23 Funding $
Argyle Municipality Historical and Genealogical Society (NS)	9266
New Brunswick Genealogical Society	4775
Ontario Genealogical Society, Leeds and Grenville Branch	9672
Pictou County Genealogy & Heritage Society (NS)	19487
Shelburne County Archives & Genealogical Society (NS)	13139
The Ontario Genealogical Society, Essex Branch	8444
The Ontario Genealogical Society, Huron Branch	4667
The Ontario Genealogical Society, Kent Branch	9500
The South Shore Genealogical Society (NS)	4633

AI is a technology tool revolutionizing genealogical research, and much more. It’s hard to keep up. A shoutout to a presentation, “7 Tips for Using Al as Your Genealogy Assistant,” by Dana Leeds, which was given on Wednesday in the Legacy Family Tree Webinar series. The tips are:

1. Research Assistant:
2. Information Summarizer:
3. Data Extractor:
4. Writing Assistant:
5. Text Transformer:
6. Tech Support Specialist:
7. Visual Illustrator.

It’s available for a week at www.legacyfamilytreewebinars.com.

 

This lecture presented at LSE  is about using census data to study economic history. The speaker,  James Feigenbaum from Boston University, discusses methods for linking census records across time to track individuals and families. This allows researchers to ask new questions about economic mobility, health, and demographics. For example, the speaker mentions a project that linked census records to study how automation affected workers, specifically young telephone switchboard operators, in the labour market.

Some specific points of interest to family historians:

• The lecture discusses methods for linking census records across time, which can be used to track families over generations.
• The speaker mentions using genealogical data from FamilySearch to supplement the census data, particularly for women whose name changed on marriage.
• The lecture acknowledges the challenges of using genealogical data, such as selection bias.
• The speaker emphasizes the importance of considering the context of the data when interpreting the results.

It occurs to me this type of study would be a way to address questions like were children who came to Canada from Britain with organiztions like Bernardos advantaged or disadvantaged in later life compared to others in the age cohort.

As people frequently travelled to Canada via the US, especially during the winter, this newly added MyHeritage database with 15,213,248 entries and linked images is of interest. Records typically include the passenger’s name, year of birth, year of arrival, and the ship’s name.

These are not as informative as the Ellice Island immigration records, which also cover a longer period, from 1892 to 1954. On MyHeritage, those are part of the Ellis Island and Other New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 database, which has 113,554,317 records. The new records may be helpful in filling in gaps or with transcription issues.

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, 19 March

2 pm ET – Ottawa Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, by OGS Ottawa Branch.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/virtual-genealogy-drop-in-2-2024-03-19/

2:30 pm ET – Vital Records of Pennsylvania from 1682 to Today (Presented by Allen County Public Library)  https://www.genealogy.acpl.lib.in.us/

7 pm ET  – My Family Tree: Tales from the Crypt, by Jack de la Vergne for OGS Nipissing District Branch.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEvcuyorDssEtCfPRgZ-1EbKN0rH5L2Vw6F#/registration

8:00 pm ET – Maternal Threads Unwoven: Identifying Margareta’s Mother in 18th Century Sweden, with Jill Morelli, (BCG Sponsored) (Presented by Legacy Family Tree Webinars)
https://familytreewebinars.com/

Wednesday, 20 March

7 pm: March Medley (RootsTech, Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic), for OGS Thunder Bay Branch.  https://thunderbay.ogs.on.ca/events/thunder-bay-march-medley/

7 pm ET – Canadian Women Astronomers and the Dominion Observatory, by Sharon Odell for Heritage Ottawa.
https://heritageottawa.org/events/canadian-women-astronomers-and-dominion-observatory

Thursday, 21 March

2:00 pm ET – 7 Tips for Using AI as Your Genealogy Assistant, with Dana Leeds (Presented by Legacy Family Tree Webinars)  https://familytreewebinars.com/

6:30 pm ET – United States Military Records: A General Overview (Presented by Allen County Public Library)
https://www.genealogy.acpl.lib.in.us/

7 pm ET – Walk-through & Learn to Navigate the New OGS
Website. by Colleen L’Abbe with guest Mike More. for OGS.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrcOiuqT0oGtW2QdZTnUmaMGdqdN2WYMFb

Friday, 22 March
Saturday, 23 March

 

 

There are currently 3,705 items in Collection Search identified as Co-Lab-only contributions. What happened? Last month, there were 3,875 contributions!

The reporting format has changed. Two projects among Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges appear to be reporting progress.

Treaty 9. is now 26% tagged. Previously 0 % complete.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary remains 47% complete.

Expo67 is 7% complete, up from 3 % last month.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 13% complete.

Women in the War remains 1% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes is 1% complete.

John Freemont Smith remains 93% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 98% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 95% 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 95% complete.

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

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 3% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 94% compete.

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

Find 1,617,527 records for Cheshire and 199,906 for Glamorgan. No source is specified. I doubt MyHeritage recorded these independently back to 1538!!!!

At the recent RootsTech, MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet presented another talk in what has become an annual tradition. He started by discussing a development in his genealogy that added 100 people to his family tree using DNA recovered from an envelope. He then covered recent developments and what to look forward to from the company, including a forthcoming arrangement with FamilyTreeDNA.

Glenn Wright’s well-attended presentation, Hidden Treasures: Canadian Military Records Seen and Unseen, to OGS Ottawa Branch on Saturday was far too rich to summarize here. Become an Ottawa Branch member to view the recording now posted.

Toward the end, Glenn mentioned the  new to me website World War Graphic History. By Matt Barrett,  historian, animator, illustrator, and caricaturist, it details the biographies, experiences and personalities of each and every CEF battalion commander.

While many give the names as header, others are cryptic: The Prohibitionist; The Orangeman; The Physician; The Public Defender; The Elder; The Exonerated; The Bankrupt; The Indian Fighter; The Man Among Boys; The Labour Man; The Independent; The Police Chief; The Bug; The Nazi-Watcher, The Home Wrecker, The Broken-Hearted, The Philanderer, The Soldier o’ Fortune; The Quiet Man; The Incompetent; The Also Ran; The Undead.

There’s also a full-text search capability.

The following are updates of UK newspapers. Only one pre-dates the 21st century.

ENGLAND

Newspaper Title	City/Community	Years Included	Number of Pages
The Shuttle	Kidderminster, Hereford and Worcester	2014-2019	22,272
Oxford Mail	Oxford, Oxfordshire	2015-2019	14,499
The Guardian	London, Greater London	1821-2024	1,143,179
The Bolton News	Bolton, Greater Manchester	2014-2019	63,543
Harwich and Manningtree Standard	Colchester, Essex	2016-2019	6,511
Andover Advertiser	Andover, Hampshire	2015-2019	11,228
Leigh Journal	Leigh, Greater Manchester	2014-2019	12,733
Knutsford Guardian	Warrington, Cheshire	2014-2019	14,029
Harrow Times	Harrow, Greater London	2015-2019	12,210
Bury Times	Bury, Greater Manchester	2014-2019	12,204

SCOTLAND

Newspaper Title	City/Community	Years Included	Number of Pages
Greenock Telegraph	Greenock, Strathclyde	2015-2019	9,265
Clydebank Post	Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire	2015-2019	8,316
Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser	Alloa, Central Region	2015-2019	9,743
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald	Ardrossan, Strathclyde	2015-2019	9,900
Border Telegraph	Galashiels, Borders Region	2015-2019	7,434
East Lothian Courier	Haddington, East Lothian	2015-2019	11,138
Central Fife Times and Advertiser	Dunfermline, Fife	2015-2019	7,375
Dunfermline Press and West of Fife Advertiser	Dunfermline, Fife	2015-2019	11,247
Helensburgh Advertiser	Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute	2015-2019	7,906
Cumnock Chronicle	Cumnock, Strathclyde	2015-2019	7,876
Evening Times	Glasgow, Strathclyde	2015-2019	1,683
Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter	Dumbarton, Strathclyde	2015-2019	7,628
Irvine Times	Irvine, Strathclyde	2015-2019	8,308
Ayr Advertiser	Ayr, Strathclyde	2015-2019	8,920

There were no new papers or updates for Wales or Ireland. Updates for Canada are for recent months.

You may be interested in the latest Newspapers.com Fishwrap blog post, Guinness World Records: How a Brewery Launched a Book on Records

Ancestry sourced this new collection from ManxBMD,  a database of 349,789 index entries for civil registration in the Isle of Man. Civil registration began in 1849 but was not compulsory until 1878 (1884 for marriages).

The index provides birth year, surname, name, district, vol, entry, and notes for births.

For marriages, the year, surname, name, place of marriage, district, and further details are given.

For deaths: year, surname, name, age, district, vol, page, entry,  where from, notes.

Information on how to order certificates and fees, which increase on 1 April, is at https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/enterprise/central-registry/legislation/

Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage and FamilySearch have other IOM databases which give additional information for a more limited timeframe, such as parents for births/baptisms and spouse for marriages. 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

St. Patrick’s Day: How Irish-born writers contributed to Canadian and Irish histories

A genetic perspective on the recent demographic history of Ireland and Britain

Ravenser Odd: the medieval city Yorkshire lost to the sea

Housing policies need to fully consider market dynamics to move beyond ‘tall and sprawl’ cities

Sitting is bad for your health and exercise doesn’t seem to offset the harmful effects

Everyone Archives
Kyla Ubbink is presenting at 6:30 pm on 26 March on archival presentation at Bethell Fieldhouse, 166 Frank St, Centretown, Ottawa. Everyone Archives, a new initiative in Ottawa, will offer workshops, resources, and social opportunities for people working on archiving projects outside of major institutions.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Allen Grant, Ann Burns, Anonymous, Barbara May Di Mambro, Bob,  Brenda Turner, Dianne, Donna Jones, gail benjafield, Jean, Kenneth R Marks, Linda Stufflebean, Nancy, Nick McDonald, Sunday Thompson, Teresa, Unknown.