Anglo-Celtic Connections

Mostly, FamilySearch has been concentrating on its South and Central American collections of late. For the record, earlier this month, several English databases were updated

England, Devon, Parish Registers (Devon Record Office), 1529-1974	170,194	5 April 2024
England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997	2,741,926	5 April 2024
England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975	45,160,818	4 April 2024
England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991	14,487,850	4 April 2024
England Marriages, 1538–1973	11,671,259	4 April 2024
England, Bedfordshire Parish Registers, 1538-1983	371,548	4 April 2024
England, Manchester, Miscellaneous Records, 1700-1916	675,097	3 April 2024
England, Manchester, Parish Registers, 1603-1910	1,772,265	3 April 2024

This week, Sunday Sundries looks at recent posts on Atlas Obscura, a global community of explorers, who have together created a comprehensive database of the world’s most wondrous places and foods

The Ancient Female Alchemist Whose Name Is in Your Kitchen

The Rare, Sweet Bread That Brings Road-Trippers to a Small Georgian Village

How to Be a Food Bank Influencer

Gastro Obscura’s Essential Places to Eat and Drink in Istanbul

Next Time, Travel to Another Beautiful Country to See the Future Eclipse

My Life in Three Places with Rick Steves (podcast)

Thanks to this week’s contributors:  Anonymous,  Brenda Turner, Bryan Cook, Doug C., gail benjafield, Teresa, Sunday Thompson, Unknown.

At 7 pm on Monday, you can catch the latest update of  Ken McKinlay’s presentation, Doing Family Tree Research in Your Pajamas.

“The overarching focus of this presentation is to examine various online resources for finding information on your family’s history. The talk starts by discussing how one might organize the material (paper or electronic) and mentions various software before diving into online resources and key types of records.”

It;s a Zoom-only presentation from OGS Sudbury District Branch, register at
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArc-uuqDMjHdHKCpNGVAfHziuW8K5NJQ3-

KEEP YOUR PAJAMAS ON FOR THIS 10 PM SESSION

Marianne Rasmus, BIFHSGO Program Director, is the guest speaker presenting A Russian Revelation, A family shaped by significant historical events for a Nanaimo Family History Society meeting on Monday, 15 April, starting at 10 pm ET.

“We have all hit our fair share of brick walls while doing family history research, but how about an ‘Iron Curtain’?  When Marianne Rasmus began exploring her family history, little was known about her maternal grandmother’s ancestry. Her grandmother had died before Marianne knew to ask her about her childhood, her emigration from Communist Russia in 1926, or how she adjusted to life in Canada. Starting with a handful of names, Marianne will reveal the process and sources used to discover a deep maternal heritage about which she knew little, and the circumstances which made it challenging to learn.

Marianne will share how historical events in both Canada and Europe affected her grandmother in a life-altering fashion, and how perseverance and a little DNA shed light on long-unanswered questions.”

Register to attend by Zoom by clicking on Add to Calendar at https://nanaimofamilyhistory.ca/event/nfhs-general-meeting-4/

	Title		Records
	Aberdeenshire, Scotland, School Admission Registers, 1852-1927		711,807
	Aberdeenshire, Scotland, World War II Related Records, 1940-1945		9,398
	Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Police Records, 1818-1948		63,323

The Aberdeenshire, Scotland, School Admission Registers, 1856-1928 collection contains images of school admission registers produced  between 1856 and 1928. The registers are arranged in a ledger format with printed column headings and handwritten information about students. Important dates for each student and information about their family were recorded. The registers included an index of students arranged alphabetically by surname.

The index provides the page number where each student can be found in the register. For schools closed before 1975, the collection is divided into geographic groups.

Aberdeenshire, Scotland, World War II Related Records, 1940-1945 

This is a real mixture. The item below is from one John Reid
in 1941, part of the Aberdeen Town Council Education Committee – English Examination Papers.

Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Police Records, 1818-1948

Another mixed bag. Here’s an example for a John Reid.

I suspect Ancestry has used handwriting recognition technology in processing these collections. HRT opens up these collections it’s doubtful one would ever search, or know about!

The Ottawa Public Library featured in a recent Legacy Family Tree webinar by Daniel Horowitz. It showcased the ease with which OPL cardholders can access MyHeritage Library Edition, free and right from home.

He emphasized the site’s multi-language support, 42 different languages,  and international databases with more than 20 billion historical records and growing. The latest are New York City Births, 1866-1909 (7,560,069 records), Marriages, 1866-1949 (20,912,651 records), and Deaths, 1866-1948 (8,893,688 records), all with image originals.

Canada has 177 collections with 120,009,673 records, including all the decennial censuses with images.

 

Did you listen to any Legacy Family Tree/MyHeritage presentations during the 24-hour marathon? I’ve only managed to view two, both in real-time.

If you are interested in AI and family history, and even if you aren’t, I highly recommend you watch Andrew Redfern’s presentation, Artificial Intelligence & Family History: An Introduction.

It was pitched at a level any reasonably sane genealogist, are there any other types(!), should appreciate. Andrew’s background as a primary school teacher makes his explanations clear and easy to follow. In particular, he demonstrated the use of ChatGPT 3.5 (free) in real-time. You’re bound to be impressed.

It’s avaiable free on-demand for the next few days at  https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/artificial-intelligence-family-history-an-introduction/

This week, Findmypast.com continues last week’s focus on Coventry in Warwickshire.

1. Coventry Bomb Damage Schedules 1940-1941 and Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941: This update includes 74,615 new and updated records that detail the bomb damage suffered by Coventry, a major industrial base of war-related production, during the German Air Raids of 1940 and 1941. The new set, Warwickshire, Coventry, Bomb Damage Schedules, comprises 73,811 images and transcriptions from 1940 and 1941. Additionally, 804 new transcriptions and images have been added to the existing Warwickshire, Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941 record set.
2. Coventry Workhouse Admission and Discharge Registers, 1853-1946: If your ancestor was in one of Coventry’s workhouses between 1853 and 1946, you might find their name in this new collection. There are 70,437 new workhouse records available for discovery. Read more about Coventry workhouses from Peter Higginbotham’s Workhouses.org/
3. Warwickshire Burials, 1847-1896: This week also saw the addition of 37,963 burial records from Coventry’s London Road Cemetery, covering the years 1847 to 1896. More background information on the cemetery is available from the Historic Coventry Trust.

Also added this week are digitized pages of the Coventry Graphic newspaper from 1912 to 1921.

Join in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin) in Geneva Hall, or online by registering here

Back to Basics: Church Records / 9 a.m. EDT

Presenter: Ken McKinlay

Prior to the establishment of civil birth, marriage, and death registrations, there were parish registers. This Back to Basics session will be looking at various registers and where to find those sometimes elusive records.

Ken McKinlay is a genealogy researcher with over 20 years of trial and error experience in researching his own family’s history in Canada, United States of America, England, Scotland and Ireland.

A member of British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (AKA BIFHSGO), and former Board member, and the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Ancestors (AKA Ontario Genealogical Society),  his speciality is methodologies for researching family history and also how to use technology to assist with doing the research.

Vimy: Exploring the Battle and the Legend / 10 a.m. EDT

Presenter: Dr. Tim Cook

Vimy is more than a battle from the First World War. It is common to hear that Vimy marks the “birth of a nation,” a claim repeated in school textbooks, by politicians, and in the news. Yet what is meant by this phrase? Do Canadians actually believe that Canada was born at Vimy, 50 years after Confederation? How did the four-day battle of Vimy in April 1917 transform into an origin story?

This was no militarist plot. While not all Canadians believed in Vimy’s importance, enough did, and the idea of Vimy was invigorated with the building of Walter Allward’s monument on the ridge. The monument’s unveiling in 1936 by King Edward VIII was attended by more than 6,000 Canadian veterans who crossed the Atlantic. Since then, Vimy has been incorporated into Canadian history, although its meaning has changed with each generation.

Based on his award-winning book, Vimy: The Battle and the Legend, Dr. Tim Cook will explore the emergence of the Vimy idea, its changing meaning, and its endurance as a symbol of Canadian service and sacrifice.

Tim Cook is the Chief Historian and Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. He was the curator for the First World War permanent gallery at the CWM, and has curated additional temporary, travelling, and digital exhibitions. He is the author of sixteen books and over a hundred academic articles and book chapters. In 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his contributions to Canadian history and in 2013 he received the Governor General’s History Award. He is a Director of Canada’s History Society, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a member of the Order of Canada.

Sadly, the resources at the online community cultural heritage website Our Digital World continue to be unavailable owing to a ransomware attack. Since 25 February, the City of Hamilton network, which serves ODW, has been out of service.

These are the resources unavailable.

As of 3 April a timeline for recovery is not yet known

 

It’s time for the 5th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon. Catch it at FamilyTreeWebinars.com. Free live attendance for each session is limited to 3,000. Myko Clelland on What’s New & Exciting in MyHeritage’s Historical Records is at 3 am! If that’s not for you, all recordings will be available free afterwards for a week. 

Time (EDT)	Full Title	Speaker
Thu, Apr 11, 5:00 PM	Silent Storytellers: A Genealogist’s Guide to Cemetery Photography	Judy G. Russell
Thu, Apr 11, 6:00 PM	Clustering with MyHeritage Labels	Michelle Leonard
Thu, Apr 11, 7:00 PM	Tracing Your Royal Navy Ancestors and the Ships on which they served	Paul Milner
Thu, Apr 11, 8:00 PM	A primer on Austro-Hungarian geography	Dave Obee
Thu, Apr 11, 9:00 PM	Artificial Intelligence & Family History: An introduction	Andrew Redfern
Thu, Apr 11, 10:00 PM	The Picture Bride Era: The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 between U.S. and Japan	Linda Harms Okazaki
Thu, Apr 11, 11:00 PM	Searching for Your Family in NYC? Resources and Techniques at MyHeritage and Beyond	Mike Mansfield
Fri, Apr 12, 12:00 AM	Why can’t I find it? Locating surnames in online databases	Carol Baxter
Fri, Apr 12, 1:00 AM	Exciting Discoveries – Organising Your Family History	Fiona Brooker
Fri, Apr 12, 2:00 AM	Common Challenges in Greek Genealogy Research	Gregory Kontos
Fri, Apr 12, 3:00 AM	What’s New & Exciting in MyHeritage’s Historical Records	Myko Clelland
Fri, Apr 12, 4:00 AM	My Top 5 Websites for Victorian research in Australia	Shauna Hicks
Fri, Apr 12, 5:00 AM	The Wilson Collection for New Zealand Researchers	Michelle Patient
Fri, Apr 12, 6:00 AM	How to successfully research at a German archive	Andrea Bentschneider
Fri, Apr 12, 7:00 AM	Scottish Genealogy – Are we a Clan or a Family? And can we have a Chief?	Bruce Durie
Fri, Apr 12, 8:00 AM	Moving, moving, moving! Migration Patterns within Germany	Ursula C. Krause
Fri, Apr 12, 9:00 AM	Can’t Find the Family Bible? 10 Places You May Not Have Looked	Lisa Lisson
Fri, Apr 12, 10:00 AM	Beginning Your Genealogy Journey: 8 Steps to Getting Started	Cheri Hudson Passey
Fri, Apr 12, 11:00 AM	Unlocking Birth Records: Exploring Birth Dates and Alternate Sources	Lisa Lisson
Fri, Apr 12, 12:00 PM	6 Tips to Build a Family Tree for Busy People	Tara Shymanski
Fri, Apr 12, 1:00 PM	African American Research 101 – Reconstruction Era (Part 2 of 3)	Ari Wilkins
Fri, Apr 12, 2:00 PM	10 Ways AI Can Help You Find Your Elusive Ancestors	Lisa A. Alzo
Fri, Apr 12, 3:00 PM	Using U.S. Church Records as a Brick Wall Strategy: Case Studies	Sunny Morton
Fri, Apr 12, 4:00 PM	What’s Your DNA Problem? Too Few Matches? Too Many?	Diahan Southard

According to The Top 200 names in England and Wales in 1840, the top ten for girls were Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ann, Jane, Eliza, Emma, Hannah, Margaret, and Ellen.

For the second given name, the top five are Ann(e), Jane, Elizabeth, Mary and Ellen.

For combinations, the top five are:

Mary Ann (16,820)
Sarah Ann (5,806)
Mary Jane (2,322)
Elizabeth Ann (1,734)
Sarah Jane ( 1,136).

With the top male name birth registered in 1840 being William Henry, I wondered how many Mary Ann and William Henry marriages were registered.

From 1840 to 1880 there were 7,024 found. However, FreeBMD gives a warning that “You may have missed some entries because you are searching for more than one first name (in at least some quarters) when there was only one first name plus initials” 

 

Here’s a quirky collection from Ancestry.

While most records are for blacksmiths, you will also find

Anchorsmiths
Boilermakers
Cartwrights and coachwrights
Convicts
Coopers
Coppersmiths and brass finishers
Coopers
Cutlers
Engine smiths
Farriers
Gunsmiths
Harness and saddle makers
Horologists
Locksmiths
Makers of agricultural implements
Makers of scientific, surgical, or musical instruments
Makers of bolts, nuts, nails, files, and other specialty hardware
Metalsmiths
Paupers, asylum, and workhouse dwellers
Plumbers and glaziers
Shipwrights
Wheelwrights.

Records are primarily from the United Kingdom, also from the Commonwealth and the United States, compiled by Ann Spiro at https://blacksmiths.mygenwebs.com/index.php

Beware. What Ancestry records as the birth date is likely the date of the record, often a census. You’re better off at Ann Spiro’s site.