ACR Omnibus Edition 30 May 2010

Lots of new databases to highlight in this issue, but to begin let's mark the passing of Sister Marianna O'Gallagher on May 24th, 2010 at the age of 81 years. The daughter of the late Dermot I. O'Gallagher and the late Norma K. O'Neil she was an expert on the Irish in Quebec and had spoken and published on the topic with BIFHSGO.

In this issue

Deceasedonline adds Aberdeen Cemeteries
Ancestry adds London, England, Non-conformist Registers, 1694-1921
Ancestry updates Ontario Births (1869-1909), Deaths (1869-1934) and Deaths Overseas (1939-1947)
LAC Announces Updated Database: Soldiers of the First World War - CEF
LAC Client Statistics
TNA Podcast: Tracing marriages in 18th century England and Wales: a reassessment of law and practice

Deceasedonline adds Aberdeen Cemeteries
Newly available at deceasedonline.com

Nellfield Cemetery, Aberdeen
7,813 burials, dated 22 December 1856 to 18 August 1892 are available as burial register scans in various formats with up to 23 entries per scanned page;

Old Machar Churchyard, Aberdeen
181 burials, dated 5 October 1863 to 30 March 1907, are available as burial register scans up to 38 entries per scanned page;

St Clement’s Churchyard
6,731 burials, dated 1 January 1855 to 1 February 1928, are available as burial register scans with up to 34 entries per scanned page.

Grove Cemetery
149 burials, dated 9 March 1905 to 21 November 1983, are available as lair register scans.

In total Aberdeen City Archives will be making available approximately 190,000 burial records over the next 6-8 weeks. Other cemeteries to be added are: Allenvale Cemetery (1875-1966); John Knox Churchyard (1837-1894); Nigg Cemetery (1878-1923); St Nicholas Kirkyard (1824-1965); Spital Churchyard and St Peter’s Cemetery (1769-1972); and Trinity Cemetery (1882-1940).

Ancestry adds London, England, Non-conformist Registers, 1694-1921
This major new data collection contains baptism, marriage, and burial registers from 1694-1921 for many Non-Conformist churches in the greater London area. I counted 511 of them, from Acton Green Wesleyan Methodist Hall to Zion Chapel http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1906

Ancestry updates Ontario Births (1869-1909), Deaths (1869-1934) and Deaths Overseas (1939-1947)
General availability of Ontario birth, marriage and death registrations is restricted until after an embargo period. every year another year of records becomes available. Ancestry routinely plays catch-up.

LAC Announces Updated Database: Soldiers of the First World War - CEF
Library and Archives Canada has started a program to add digitized copies of the service files to the existing attestation papers database to make CEF records more accessible. It will help preserve the originals and to avoid copying the same file more than once. This is something suggested at the LAC Services Advisory Board more than a year ago for files that are being scanned in response to a specific request.

The LAC announcement explains that for files that have not yet been digitized, most of them, you can order photocopies or scanned images. The cost is the same. When a photocopy or digital copy is requested, the complete file will be scanned and the digital images will be added to the database the next time it is reloaded. In this way, all Canadians can help contribute to the preservation of our country's military heritage.

LAC Client Statistics
For fiscal year 2009-2010 the usage was:
In person: 54,265
Telephone: 32,243
Written (mail, e-mail, webforms): 89,755
Web visits: 17,709,491 (9,393,911 visitors; 149K page views)

TNA Podcast: Tracing marriages in 18th century England and Wales: a reassessment of law and practice
Rebecca Probert considers the Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753 which marked an important development in the history of marriage by putting the requirements for a valid marriage on a statutory basis for the first time. But what was the situation before 1753, and what practical impact did the Act have on popular practice? This thorough reassessment of law and practice is of particular relevance to those tracing their ancestors. First, the universality of formal marriage increases the likelihood that a record of an ancestor's marriage will exist somewhere; secondly, parish-level studies provide us with a clearer idea of where one may need to look for a marriage; and, thirdly, success or failure in tracing a marriage can be set within the context of the marriage law and practice of the time. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/tracing-marriages-in-18th-century.htm