Chinook

For the January 2014 issue of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society, editor Wayne Shepheard has assembled articles around the theme of Organizing Your Genealogy

Caring for Family Keepsakes: Ten tips to help you preserve the past – Denise May Levenick

Sources and Citations in Genealogy: What are they? – Elizabeth Lapointe

Starting Over – Michele Simmons Lewis

Personal Digital Archiving for Individuals, Families and Information Professionals: Issues to consider – Donald T. Hawkins

Succession-Proofing Your Family History – Jim Benedict

Organizing Family History Research  – Lois Sparling

Organizing My Genealogy Files – Marion Peterson

Organizing Digital Files – Kim Mills

Kent Archives User Group

Celia Heritage was kind enough to copy me on information about a new user group formed for the Archives Centre in Maidstone (Kent). I'm pleased to give it some space on the blog, especially to acknowledge the initiative for the clients of the archives, now at the Kent History and Library Centre, working to encourage provision of a better user experience. Those who use the Kent Centre remotely might want to convey any concerns to the email address at the end.

The purpose built Kent History and Library Centre (KHLC) opened among much publicity in 2012 claiming to be 'built to protect and give people access to more of our archive material'. Sadly, however, it would seem that all is not well at KHLC. Statistics show that there has been a drop of more than 16% in the number of customers rating the service of the new archives as 'good' or 'very good' compared to the service in the previous archives at the Centre for Kentish Studies (CKS).
One of the purposes of the new building was to provide easy access to the information held in the archives.  However, since the move from the Centre for Kentish Studies many issues have arisen which are in fact inhibiting easy access.  The focus of the new building is that of a library rather than of an active archive; the facilities are poor and there are staff with little or no knowledge of the documents.   The centre currently fails to provide an appropriate environment for the public to access the records and worse, a number of important documents cannot now be located since the move from the archive at CKS.
As the custodian of these important records it is KCC’s responsibility to provide appropriate storage conditions which will preserve them for the future which KHLC does do.  It is also their responsibility to ensure that they are readily accessible to the many members of the public who wish to access them. This is where it fails spectacularly.  By means of feedback from users and regular meetings we hope to be able to work with management at KHLC to improve access to and understanding of the archives for all users.
The first meeting with KCC representatives will take place on Thursday 16th January at 2pm at KHLC and all are welcome to attend.
Further details of the group can be found at http://www.khcarchivesusergroup.org.uk/  If you have any concerns about the archives you would like the group to raise on your behalf please email usergroupkhcarchives@gmail.com.

Book Review: Forensic Genealogy (revised)

Forensic Genealogy
By Colleen Fitzpatrick and AndrewYeiser
Rice Book Press, Fountain Valley, CA
ISBN-13: 978-0976716075

This is following up on a post from July on the revised edition of Forensic Genealogy. I've finally been able to see the old and new versions side-by-side.
Superficially the revised 2013 version is much like the original published in 2005. Colleen Fitzpatrick is now joined by her partner Andrew Yeiser has an author and there are eight more pages, now 228.
Up front are a page of acknowledgments and a forward to the revised edition where it is explained that the major changes are in the DNA Detective section.

The book retains the same basic structure with sections on Digital Detective, Database Detective and DNA Detective. Some material from the previous version is now relegated to appendices. Throughout the book you'll find minor changes in the way things are expressed. The opportunity is taken to correct errors such as the identity of the playwright of Charlie's Aunt. Most of the images are the same, there are a few additions and the washed out appearance of many images in the original has been corrected.

The DNA Detective section is substantially updated with 5 1/2 pages on autosomal DNA testing which was not available at the time of the original publication, and their is substantially revised information on genetic genealogy testing companies and testing options.

As with the original publication the strength of this book is the examples showing how the techniques discussed can be employed. It's unfortunate this is not carried forward to the discussion of autosomal DNA.

While I'd certainly recommend the purchase of the revised edition rather than any of the older version still in stock the updates are relatively modest.

Owners of the original need not rush to purchase. There is the option of purchasing just the DNA Detective chapter at http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/services_1.html. For the additional DNA content you might do as well reading the ISOGG wiki at http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Wiki_Welcome_Page which is even more up to date.

England and Wales, Birth Index, 1800 (sic) -1920 at FamilySearch

While the title of this database, new to FamilySearch, suggests it starts in 1800 there are no Smith entries prior to 1837. Its another way to access the England and Wales GRO Birth Index, in case Ancestry, FindMyPast and FreeBMD are down.

Yuletide R&R: John Cleese on threat alerts in modern Europe

Thanks to Brenda Turner for forwarding the following.

    The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Libya and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

    The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

    The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.
   
    Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

    The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."

    Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels .

    The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

    Australia , meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.

    -- John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person

The item is found all over the web as far back as April 2012. It's attributed to John Cleese who also wrote most of Shakespeare's plays.

This will end the Yuletide R&R postings.

January backup nag

Did you celebrate the new year and forgot your monthly hard drive backup? This nag is the usual post on the 2nd of the month. Save yourself heartache. Backup your hard drive now and make it a resolution to backup at the start of every month.

Yuletide R&R: More Pam Ayres

More Pam Ayres, by popular request

Benchmarks update for December

First up in 2014, after a wish for a Happy New Year, a look at how your favourite genealogy sites did during December. Comparable figures are for a month ago. About two-thirds of the sites showed declines in Alexa ranking.

Familysearch.org has added or updated record collections for a total of 1,699 (1,667). Census & lists account for 152 (152); birth, marriage, & death 1018 (1006); probate & court 157 (152); military 119 (118); migration & naturalization 103 (94); other 150 (145). Familysearch.org has Alexa rank 5,286 (5,045).

Ancestry.com has Alexa rank of 667 (624); ancestry.co.uk ranks 9,499 (9,290) and ancestry.ca 24,614 (24,839). There are 31,477 (31,441) datasets in the collections including 1,965 (1,965) for Canada, 1,741 (1,735) for the UK, 133 (133) for Australia and, 25,175 (25,150) for the USA.
MyHeritage.com's Alexa rank was 6,631 (6,256)
Findmypast.co.uk has an Alexa rank of 31,928 (30,835). Findmypast.com ranks 135,036 (166,169).

Family Tree DNA has 663,510 (660,594) records in its database. It ranks 25,710 (24,392) on Alexa. 23andMe ranks 9,314 (8,968).

GenealogyinTime.com ranks 31,473 (27,126); Mocavo.com 49,917 (49,726); eogn.com 22,544 (21,052).

Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk contains 7,242,336 (7,075,304) digitized pages, an average addition of 4,807 (2,582) pages per day; Alexa rank 131,424 (132,070).
Newspapers.com contains 2,072 (1,990) newspapers including 667,144 (666.836) pages for England and 1,208,259 (1,205,902) pages for Canada. The Alexa rank advanced to 44,760 (54,574).

Cyndislist.com claims  329,378 (328,743) total links in 204 (203) categories, with 1,775 (1,776) uncategorized; Alexa rank continued to advance 74,074 (75,708).

FreeBMD.org.uk has 234,654,611 (233,278,246) distinct records, Alexa rank 85,288 (95,993).

CanadianHeadstones.com has 772,000 (756,000) gravestone photo records from across Canada. It returned to Alexa ranking to 584,091 (490,344) (581,713).
Deceasedonline.com ranked jumped to 572,995 (751,311).
Now entering its 15th year of operation, the Canadian Gravemarker Gallery (gravemarkers.ca), has over 800,000 (794,000) photographs from across Canada and ranked 7,260,634 (6,335,750) on Alexa.

Amongst Canadian family history societies bifhsgo.ca slid to rank 2,118,252 (1,755,214), qfhs.ca recovered to rank 4,798,171 (6,199,023), and ogs.on.ca retreated again to rank 299,490 (251,586).

And in case you're curious, Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections has 5,267 (5,189) posts; on Alexa the .ca site tanked to 191,163 (155,892).

Did I miss something significant? If so please post a comment with statistics if applicable.

Thanks to contributors for 2013

2013 saw 1013 items posted on the blog. That was made possible by many of you who helped and encouraged this year by posting comments, questions, providing information, completing polls and surveys, or publicizing the blog, including;

Alison, Alona, Andrew, Ann, Anne, Anonymous, April, Archivus, Audrey,
Barbara, Barrie, Bill, Blaine, Brenda, Bob, Brian, Bruce,
Cannuk, Caroline, Carolyn, Carter, Catherine, Cathern, CeCe, Cecil, Charles, Chris, Christine, Claire, Cliff, Conchita, Craig,
Dan, darto, David, Debbie, Debra, Denis, Derek, Dex, Diana, Diane, Dorothy,
Edward, Elizabeth, Ellen, Else, Erika, Evangelina,
Fawne, Frank,
Gail, George, Gerald, Glenn, Grant,
Heather, Helen, Holly, Hugh,
Ian, Irene,
J, James, Jane, Janice, Janie, Jean, Jess, Jill, Joan, John, Jon, Josh, Judith, Judy,
Kathryn, Ken, Kevin, Kevlar, Kirsty,
Leighann, Les, Leslie, Linda, Lisa, Liz, Lorne, Louise, Luc, Lynda, Lynne,
Malcolm, Marian, MarieRose, Marion, Melanie, MC, MHD?, Michele, Mick, Mike, Miles,
Pam, Pat, Patricia, Paul, Pauleen, Pearl, Pearson, Persephone, Pierce,
Randy, Richard, Rick, Robert, Ron, Rona, Rorey, Rosemary, Ruth, Ryan,
Sandra, Sharon, Sheena, Shirley Ann, Stephane, Steve, Susan,
Tamara, Terry, Thomas, Tony, Trudi, Tyrone,
Unknown,
Verna, Virginia,
Wallace, Wayne, Wendy,
Yolanda, Yvonne.

Included are bloggers, Facebookers and Google+ posters, tweeters and folks who send out information on new resources from various organizations from the family history community.

Thank you all, and not forgetting the silent majority of readers:

Happy New Year.

Reflections on 2013

One of the advantages of compiling the thank you to contributors list as I do each year is that it forces me to look back through the year's posts.

For Canadians the genealogical event of the year had to be the release of the 1921 Census of Canada. Officially transferred on June 1st it became available online as images on August 9th, and in an Ancestry indexed version free, with registration, to all in Canada on October 29th.

A concern that ran through quite a few  of my posts is the future of genealogical/ family history societies. A blog I profiled in April, the History Repeating Family Tree Blog, ran a six part Society Spotlight series the last post of which, on October 24, provided a summary. Based on a survey of societies around Cambridgeshire it might contain relevant ideas if you're involved in running a society.

As predicted in a 21 July post Find My Past has opened a Canadian site. FindMyPast.ca is now active but only as a gateway to existing content. There's nothing Canadian about the site beyond the .ca in the web address. No major Canadian databases are available, the only venture into Canada is the incorporation of material from Archive CD Books Canada in the FindMyPast.com site.

How things have changed at LAC in 2013! Up until May and the resignation of the Librarian and Archivist the picture was bleak. Moral was rock bottom. Managers took stress leave. Services and holdings were being trashed. Now there are signs of improvement. Working on a much reduced budget will mean we won't get everything we'd like, a Canadian version of Australia's Trove or TNA's physical and online facilities are yet dreams. As a memorial to the old days we'll likely have to live with the LAC website message "In order to provide you with better service, we are currently redesigning our website. If you have difficulty finding what you are looking for, feel free to contact us" now well into its second year.

A sign of turn around came on November 18 when LAC announced it was recommencing participation in inter-library loan although only as lender of last resort. There's been a more active social media presence.

The organisation is again recognising that family historians are a major client group that cannot be taken for granted. Just this week I heard a story showing true client consideration. A WWI CEF file (a Vimy Ridge veteran, badly injured) was that of the father of a 76 years old man suffering with little mobility in a long term care hospital in Vancouver. The initial response was that the file was scheduled for digitisation and would not be available until after 14 June, 2014. Would that be in time? A appeal was made explaining the urgency and through some twist of fate that particular box was still available. Sometimes the Gods are looking out for you, officially described as an odd circumstance unlikely ever to reoccur. The file was retrieved and copies will be available in a matter of days. Sense, kindness, and compassion are returning to LAC.

There are major challenges ahead, but the reverse side of the challenge coin is opportunity. I'm optimistic. The way ahead is being examined by various studies, such as that of the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on the Status and Future of Canada's Libraries and Archives, which should appear in 2014. As we commemorate the centennial of the beginning of The Great War expect to find much more online WW1 material from the LAC collection. And the rumour is that the Government is ready to announce the name of the new Librarian and Archivist of Canada and that it will be a woman with a background as a librarian.

Yuletide R&R: Two for the ladies

Thanks to Christine for the tip.

Archive CD Books Canada midwinter sale

The following is from Archive CD Books Canada

Once again we are running our limited time midwinter sale:
We have marked almost ALL OF OUR CANADIAN PRODUCTS down an amazing 50% for the duration of the sale.
We are also clearing our Inventory of British (UK) products (i.e., already made and packaged) at up to 40% off.  There is only one of two of each of these and once they are sold - THAT’S IT!  (After all the idea is to CLEAR the stock - not to remake it.)
All the sale prices are marked in our online catalogue AND for your quick reference there is a temporary, new CATALOGUE CATEGORY, “Sale Up To 50% Off” so come to our web site and view the regular catalogue,
OR:
follow the link below to go straight to the complete listing:
http://www.archivecdbooks.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.viewCatalog&lstCtl=29&lstCat=&lstSCat=#cat29
This sale won’t last for ever but the more popular you show us it is the longer it will last!  (British CDs excepted - when they’re gone - they’re GONE!)

Archive CD Books, Chris and Malcolm Moody, have a Facebook page with frequent genealogy news posts. Three more friends will get them to 150.

Grenham praises PRONI Valuation Office records

The most recent Irish Roots column by John Grenham suggests the Republic should take inspiration from PRONI

 

http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/irishroots/2013/12/30/valuation-office-records-how-it-should-be/

 

Yuletide R&R: Stanley Unwin

English comedian Stanley Unwin (1911-2002), inventor of "a corrupted form of English in which many of the words were altered in playful and humorous ways."

Book Review: Life in the Victorian and Edwardian Workhouse

Life in the Victorian and Edwardian Workhouse, By Michelle Higgs|
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: The History Press Ltd; 07 edition (30 April 2007), second reprint 2012
ISBN-13: 978-0752442143

If your English or Welsh family history leads you to someone who was either an inmate or employee of a workhouse.
The idea behin the workhouse was to provide a social safety net placed at a level where only the most desperate would want to take advantage.

Workhouses had a fearsome reputation severely limiting the availability of out-relief, which had been more broadly available under the Poor Law prior to 1834, and imposing a spartan regimen which separated men from their wives and parents from their children.



In separate chapters Michelle Higgs deals with how the workout system applied to able-bodied men, able-bodied women, children, the elderly, the infirm, lunatics and, vagrants. through examination of specific cases she illustrates the variation one might find between workhouses, the large and the small, the well and poorly managed, the dictates of the local guardians and changing attitudes through the years as reflected by regulations issued by Poor Law commissioners.

I was particularly interested to find as an example of a child Mary Ann Mangan (Manggon) who came to Canada in 1903 through the Crusade of Rescue of the Catholic Emigrating Association, was initially in several unsatisfactory situations in Québec. She moved to Ottawa where she married. She had 17 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren by the time she died in 1958, certainly contributing her share to the common assertion that one in 10 Canadians has a home child ancestor.

The second half of the book comprises chapters on the management and staff of the workhouse; masters and matrons, schoolteachers, medical officer, nursing staff, Porter, chaplain, guardians, clerk, relieving officer.

The book is currently in its second reprint, testimony to the value to those looking to understand the situation of those involved, in one way or another, in the workhouse system.

FreeBMD 2nd December update

The FreeBMD database was updated on Friday 27 December 2013 to contain 234,654,611 (233,278,246) distinct records.
Major updates are, for births 1943, 1960, 1962, 1964-70; for marriages 1952, 1962, 1964, 1966-69; for deaths 1967, 1969-71.

Yuletide R&R: Faulty Towers

A snippet of British-Canadian content

Yuletide R&R: Frankie Howerd

This multi-part video is of English comedian Frankie Howerd (1917-1992) at the Oxford Union.

Yuletide R&R: Harry Worth

British comedian Harry Worth (1917-1989) is characterized in his Wikipedia profile as "a genial, bumbling middle-class and middle-aged man from the North of England, who reduced all who came into contact with him to a state of confusion and frustration."




There are several other shows in the series on YouTube.

Ancestry.ca free access

The following is an invitation from Ancestry.ca

As the holiday season comes to a close, keep the family spirit alive with a resolution to learn more about your family's story. Enjoy FREE ACCESS* to more than 100 million records on Ancestry.ca and discover the ancestors who made your family what it is today. Explore our newest, as well as our most popular collections from Canada, the U.S., UK and around the world!

Learn more about an ancestor's line of work in occupation records, a spouse in marriage records, service details in military records and information that will help you paint a more vivid picture of your family's past. Free access to Ancestry.ca makes learning more about your family a resolution you can keep.

http://search.ancestry.ca/search/group/favourite2013

*Visit ancestry.ca/newyears to find select Canadian and international records available for free on Ancestry.ca until December 29, 2013, 11:59 p.m. (ET). To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.ca with your name and email address. Once you have registered we will then send you a user name and password to access the records. If you haven't already, you will be prompted to register once you start trying to search and view the records. After December 29, 2013, you will only be able to view these records using an Ancestry.ca paid membership.