FamilySearch adds Wales, Glamorgan(shire), Parish Registers, 1538-1912

You can now search a collection of 753,759 records for Wales, Glamorgan(shire), Parish Registers, 1538-1912 at FamilySearch.org. The records are partial transcriptions sourced from Findmypast with links to see original record images ($).

Free Beer at 100 Tallwood?

Gallery 112: October 1, 2015 to March 19, 2016
Taverns & Troublemakers
The City of Ottawa Archives invites visitors to drink in the history of Ottawa’s taverns and explore their battle with the Temperance Movement, the troublemakers who had a different plan for society.

Please join us for the opening reception: Thursday, October 1,  2015 from 6:30 - 8:30pm. RSVP: Archives@ottawa.ca

British Newspaper Archive Additions for August

Here are the newspapers with thousands of pages of articles added to the British Newspaper Archive this month. For those of us lamenting the poor coverage of Est Anglia it includes a good run of the Framlingham Weekly News. If not at present they should all be soon accessible through a Findmypast subscription.

• Aberdeen Journal 1930
• Bedfordshire Mercury 1837 - 1842, 1844 - 1871
• Belfast Commercial Chronicle 1805 - 1812, 1816 - 1817, 1821, 1829, 1831
• Bell's Weekly Messenger 1801, 1809, 1819 - 1824, 1829 - 1830, 1856 - 1871
• Cambridge Daily News 1939
• Cambridge Independent Press 1939
• Clare Journal, and Ennis Advertiser 1848 - 1850
• Coleraine Chronicle 1845 - 1855, 1857, 1859, 1861 - 1865
• Cornish Times 1857
• County Courts Chronicle 1889, 1893 - 1896
• Coventry Herald 1939
• Downpatrick Recorder 1851, 1853 - 1854, 1857 - 1864, 1866 - 1870
• Enniscorthy News, and County of Wexford Advertiser., The 1866
• Evening Chronicle, The 1836 - 1847
• Evening Freeman., The 1851 - 1857, 1860 - 1861, 1868 - 1871
• Evening Mail 1802 - 1806, 1810 - 1814, 1816 - 1832, 1837 - 1854, 1856 - 1860, 1866 - 1867
• Falkirk Herald 1941
• Framlingham Weekly News 1873 - 1886, 1888 - 1894, 1899 - 1939
• General Advertiser for Dublin, and all Ireland 1853 - 1855
• Glasgow Evening Citizen 1870
• Gore's Liverpool General Advertiser 1795, 1800, 1805, 1822 - 1823, 1826 - 1841, 1843 - 1853, 1855, 1857 - 1860, 1863 - 1865, 1867 - 1871
• Hertford Mercury and Reformer 1939
• Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette 1829 - 1831, 1835 - 1838, 1840 - 1849, 1852, 1854 - 1859, 1866 - 1867
• Illustrated Malvern Advertiser, Visitors' List, and General Weekly Newspaper 1860
• Kelso Chronicle 1844 - 1847, 1849 - 1866, 1868 - 1871
• Kentish Gazette 1779 - 1786
• Kilkenny Journal, and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser 1832, 1834 - 1840, 1842 - 1843, 1845 - 1856, 1860 - 1871
• Leeds Mercury 1901 - 1902
• Leek Post & Times and Cheadle News & Times and Moorland Advertiser 1939
• Liverpool Mail 1836 - 1837, 1839 - 1841, 1843 - 1849, 1854 - 1856, 1860 - 1866, 1871
• Llandudno Register and Herald 1889
• Nairnshire Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Northern Counties 1855 - 1856
• Northern Standard 1859
• Pilot, The 1828 - 1838
• Shrewsbury Chronicle 1870 - 1872
• Silurian, Cardiff, Merthyr, and Brecon Mercury, and South Wales General Advertiser 1845 - 1846, 1850, 1852 - 1853
• Stonehaven Journal 1848 - 1852
• Tuam Herald 1838 - 1871
• Western Courier, West of England Conservative, Plymouth and Devonport Advertiser 1837 - 1849
• Westmeath Independent 1847 - 1859
• Wolverhampton Chronicle and Staffordshire Advertiser 1851 - 1854, 1856, 1858

Canadiana.ca has most Juvenile inspection report cards, 1920-1932

There's a wealth of digital microfilms available free online through the Heritage project of Canadiana.ca. Many of them are strong in genealogical content. Unfortunately they're not well well known or well publicized.

Of interest if you have a post WW1 Home Child in your ancestry are the eight films, about 12,000 pages, of  Canada. Immigration Branch. Juvenile inspection report cards, 1920-1932. They were created by Immigration officials as they regularly inspected children brought to Canada by various organizations, including Barnardos.

Unlike some of the other films in Heritage, they are not too difficult to search as they're arranged alphabetically by surname. Included are name, age or date of birth, date of arrival, name of ship, name of Home/Union, dates and results of inspections, name and address of employer(s) and comments.

HOWEVER, THE FIRST REEL, T-15420, IS NOT ONLINE!

Access the others from http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_161388

List of Juvenile Inspections Reports

​Microfilm reel number	​First name on reel	​Last name on reel
​T-15420	​ANDERSON, Newton and  ABBOTT, Auber	​CARDNO, Leslie
​T-15421	​CARDWELL, Andrew	​EVANS, Arthur E.
​T-15422	​EVANS, Arthur L.	​HENDERSON, Ann F.
​T-15423	​HENDERSON, Charles H.	​LOCK, Annie
​T-15424	​LOCK, Herbert	​O'BRIEN, Samuel
​T-15425	​O'BRIEN, Thomas	​SHAW, Victor
​T-15426	​SHAW, Walter A.	​WEALE, Walter
​T-15427	​WEALLS, Eric	​ZYCZYNSKI, Leon

Binge Watch WDYTYA on Sunday.

If TLC lives up to its advertised schedule, Tom Bergeron "American television personality and game show host" is the subject of the new WDYTYA episode at 9 pm on cable channel TLC. It's of particular Canadian interest as he investigates his French-Canadian roots on his father's side.

It's the climax of an opportunity to binge watch seven previous episodes.
2 pm: Christina Applegate
3 pm: Jessie Tyler Ferguson
4 pm: Angie Harmon
5 pm: America Ferrera
6 pm: Alfre Woodward
7 pm: Gennifer Goodwin
8 pm: Bryan Cranston

Starting at 11 pm there's another opportunity to watch the Bergeron episode followed at midnight by the Goodwin episode.

Ancestry adds West Yorkshire records

Leeds research interest?  Check out the newest British Ancestry.co.uk database Leeds, England, Beckett Street Cemetery, 1845-1987. It has 187,851 records

"This collection contains burial registers for the years 1845-1987 and inscription grave registers for the years 1907-1938 from the Beckett Street Cemetery in West Yorkshire, England. Both types of registers contain information that includes name, age at death, and grave number but, depending on the register, may also contain other information, including address of the deceased, description of the deceased (i.e., wife, son, etc.), death date, or burial date.
Also known as Burmantofts Cemetery, or Leeds Burial Ground, the Beckett Street Cemetery was founded in 1842 and opened in 1845. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, municipal cemeteries in England, it sits on 16 acres, and the remains of an estimated 180,000 people are buried within it.
The cemetery and its burial registers are split into two sections: Anglican (consecrated) and Non-conformist (unconsecrated). The burial registers and inscription grave registers, and many more records relating to Beckett Street Cemetery, are located in the Leeds office of the West Yorkshire Archive Service."

Also from the area, West Yorkshire, England, Select Removal and Settlement Records, 1689-1866

"The records include examinations and settlement inquiries, registers of settlement, orders of removal, and other documents.
Details included in these records vary widely, depending on the document. An order of removal may contain a name, age, current parish, and parish being removed to. A settlement register may note number of children and marital status. Documents from inquiries and examinations can be even more extensive. In the end, you may be able to uncover some of the following information:

• name
• age and birth information
• parish
• date
• places and dates of residence (both current and former)
• spouse and marriage details
• children’s names, birth dates and places, and legitimacy
• professional information and apprenticeships
• other family members’ names and residences
• summary of the situation and grounds for settlement or removal

Some of the cases include multiple documents, so be sure to use the arrows on the screen to browse surrounding pages to make sure you find all the records for your ancestor."

Findmypast database additions

Manchester Electoral Registers Browse 1832-1900

Over 330,000 Manchester electoral registers for the period 1832-1900 for Ardwick, Bradford, Beswick, Cheetham, Chorlton-Upon Medlock, Harpurhey, Hulme, Newton, Salford, Broughton and Manchester are now available to browse. There is no name index.
Registers included are for local government elections; Citizens’ Rolls and Burgess Rolls, and the registers for Parliamentary Elections; Parliamentary Electoral Registers. Electoral Registers are annually compiled lists of all adults eligible to vote and typically list a person’s name, address and the type of property they owned or rented that qualified them to vote.
The records are scanned copies of microfilms held at the Manchester Archives Central Library.

Derbyshire Hospital Admissions & Deaths

Nearly 4,000 records taken from two different sources: Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Deaths 1892 – 1912 and Victoria Memorial Cottage Hospital, Ashbourne Admissions 1899 – 1913.
Each record includes a transcript produced by the Ancestral Archives of Derbyshire. Records can include the patient’s admission date, reason for admission, condition after admission, marital status, residence, rank or profession, date of discharge or death and cause of death.

Additions to the Irish Newspapers Collection
Now included are the Belfast Commercial Chronicle, Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser, General Advertiser For Dublin and All Ireland, Northern Standard, The Enniscorthy News and County of Wexford Advertiser, The Pilot, Tuam Herald and Westmeath Independent. Substantial additions have also been made to three existing titles; The Belfast Morning News, Freeman’s Journal and the Cork Examiner.
Findmypast’s entire Irish newspaper collection now holds over 9.7 million fully searchable articles, covering an impressive 231 years of Ireland’s history (1719-1950).

New Zealand, Nelson, Petition After The Wairau Incident 1843
A transcript taken from the Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle on 15 June, 1844 of the names their occupations and any additional notes for nearly 600 settlers who signed a petition calling for action to be taken by the Governor of New Zealand following the Wairau incident that occurred on 17 June 1843.

Hidden treasurers at EThOS

Gail Dever has been writing about Canadian university theses as a resource -- My latest genealogical distraction — University theses.

What about British theses?

EThOS, the Electronic Theses Online System allows you to search over 340,000 theses records, freely download the full text of any UK thesis that has been digitised (more than 100,000), and order for downloading (may take some time) any thesis from one of the participating institutions, 131 of them.

Here are just some available online with a Canadian connection:

The promotion in Shropshire of emigration to Canada to 1914, with particular reference to the period from 1890.

Imperial nationalism : nationalism and the Empire in late nineteenth century Scotland and British Canada

Leaving the world : narratives of emigration and frontier life written by women in Upper Canada and the Old Northwest.

A history of publishing in Toronto, 1798 to 1841, with a descriptive bibliography of imprints.

A comparative study of pre- and post-famine migrants from north-west Ireland to North America.

Dutiful daughter : fashionable domestic embroidery in Canada and the British model, 1764-1911.

Rescue or bondage? : a case study of four voluntary agencies involved in child emigration to Canada 1870-1925

The Protestant-Catholic divide on Prince Edward Island, Canada : its creation, growth and resolution

A study of the factors that assisted and directed Scottish emigration to Upper Canada, 1815-1855

' Land of rape and honey' : settler colonialism in the Canadian West

Thy children own their birth : diasporic genealogies and the descendants of Canada's Home Children

The Holiness Movement in the Canadian Maritime Region, 1880-1920

Aliens en route : European transmigration through Britain, 1836-1914

mtDNA Full Sequence Sale at Family Tree DNA

I received an email about a limited time sale on full sequence mitochondrial tests at Family Tree DNA.  It's until the end of the month.
If you're already a FTDNA subscriber the discount is 25%, if not 20%. That's off the regular $199 US price.
mtDNA is inherited through the maternal line so this test is likely to be useful if you have issues to resolve regarding your maternal inheritance, or if you're "just interested."

ScotlandsPeople adds Seamen Death Records

The following is from a ScotlandsPeople press release

Complete record of the deaths of Scottish seafarers from late Victorian times until 1974 is being made available online for the first time through ScotlandsPeople.
Among the 14,000 new records available through ScotlandsPeople are monthly returns of the Deaths of Seamen,  which list Scots along with other crew members of all nationalities who were serving on British-registered vessels between 1897-1974.
The records were compiled by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen. Only the Scots can be searched for by name.
Other Marine Returns released online are the Returns of Deaths at Sea, 1902-1905. All the Marine Returns can be searched within the statutory registers by using the "Marine Returns" option under Minor Records. 

Read the full press release here.

Aircrew Remembered

The objective of this British site is "to present researchers worldwide with as much valuable data as we can manage, in the most useful ways we can find. Our hope is that researchers worldwide will benefit and that this might also lead to the development of more family histories and stories which we would be pleased to add to the site."

Of most interest at aircrewremembered.com are the databases:

RAF Bomber Command Operational Losses Database 73,000+ entries
Royal Australian Air Force Losses 1939 - 1945  11,000+ names
Runnymede Commemorations 20,000+ entries
The Kracker Archive 30,000 + individual Luftwaffe pilot records
Sites of Luftwaffe War Graves in England
Deutsche Kreuz im Gold Awards 6300+ entries
Paradie Archive: RCAF Personnel 1939 - 1945  45,000+ entries
Battle of Britain Roll of Honour  2918 entries
Polish Air Force Honour Roll 2200+ entries

Deceased Online adds four Lancashire cemetries

Now available at Deceased Online, nearly 35,000 digitized burial records for cemeteries managed by Wyre Council ( the area between the River Wyre and the Irish Sea including Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Garstang, Poulton-Le-Fylde and Thornton) in mid/north Lancashire. They are:

• Fleetwood Cemetery, Beach Road, Fleetwood, opened 1841; nearly 27,000 burials
• Poulton New Cemetery, Garstang Road, Poulton le Fylde, opened 1929; 2,552 burials
• Poulton Old Cemetery, Moorland Road, Poulton le Fylde, opened 1895; 3,660 burials
• Preesall Cemetery, Cemetery Lane, Preesall, opened 1856; 3,000+ burials

The records comprise burial register scan, grave details showing all occupants in each grave and
maps indicating the section in cemeteries for all graves.

Griersons of Torbolton

The Historical Society of Ottawa has issued #96 in its Bytown Pamphlet Series. In 36 pages Doris Grierson Hope recounts the Grierson family history, starting with Lieutenant John Grierson, Royal Navy (1780-1850) and his brother Commander James Grierson (1782-1856)  who settles in March and Torbolton Townships ca 1822.

There are three pages of endnotes but no index. Related surnames I noted are: Baird, Bell, Bernard, Bick, Bredin, Bridwell, Brown, Cole, DaSilva, Dickson, Dorval, Ferguson, Hedley, MacLeod, MacMillan, McLaurin, Penny, Roriston, Scarlett, Stevenson, Styles, Sullivan, and Taylor.

A reminder that anytime searching Ottawa valley history the indispensable website is bytown.net.

Free access to Ancestry.co.uk this weekend

Access to more than 1 billion UK records from Ancestry.co.uk, and a first chance to try out new features such as LifeStory, Facts View and Gallery, will be free from 28 August until 11:59 p.m. GMT on 31 August 2015.
To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address. You will receive a username and password to access the records. After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using an Ancestry.co.uk paid membership. To see a full list of the records in the featured collections please click here.

WDYTYA in Montreal

If you watched last Sunday's WDYTYA episode with Bryan Cranston you may be interested in the follow-up research Gail Dever did on local expert Janice Harvey who guided Cranston at Notre-Dame Basilica.
Harvey's thesis The Protestant Orphan Asylum and the Montreal Ladies’ Benevolent Society: A Case Study in Protestant Child Charity in Montreal, 1822-1900 has lots of good content if you're interested in that time and place. You can read it online at http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=38202&local_base=GEN01-MCG02
It's an example of the many historical studies available online, if you know it exists and where to look.

Post-war Dutch Immigrants

Canada and U.S., Dutch Emigrants, 1946-1963 with 19,083 records will be an Ancestry database of interest for those with a Dutch connection. These are derived from the Archives at Calvin College in Heritage Hall, Christian Reformed Church of North America, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Of these 12,050 came to Canada and 7,645 to Ontario.
The records are transcripts. You may find: name, birth date, place of origin, arrival year, destination, sponsor year, religion, relation to head, family size.

That Camera Icon at FamilySearch

The FamilySearch catalog at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list is the way to find out of a particular collection is available. Here's the list for the censuses of England and Wales.

They're all available, from 1841 to 1911. FamilySearch just updated the 1901 collection as highlighted by the asterisk against the date under Last Updated.

The other icon shown is the camera, in two styles with, or in the case of 1871 without, a black frame background. Do you know the difference?

The answer is at the FamilySearch Blog in a post from May this year.

"When an image of the original record is on FamilySearch.org, you see a small camera icon. When the image is on a different website, there is a small web page box behind the camera."

Who knew?

Alison Hare re-elected BCG Trustee

Local Ottawa genealogist Alison Hare, CG, is returning for a further three-year term as trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. The term starts in October.

via Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

John Speed's early 17th century maps online

If you like old maps take a look at the Cambridge Digital Library online edition of one of five known sets of proof maps prepared for John Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, which was published in 1611/12.

All 66 maps are now viewable in the Cambridge Digital Library

Images are available for download for non-commercial purposes (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-NC 3.0))/

These are just a small part of the collection at the Cambridge Digital Library freely available online including documents by Newton, Darwin and files of the Board of Longitude.

Image credit: extract of Ely from Speed's Huntingdonshire Atlas.2.61.1

Rockstar Genealogist 2015 is coming

On September 1st nominations will open for the 2015 edition of Rockstar Genealogist. This is the 4th year. As previously I'll publish a list of those nominated based in previous years. Nominations will be open until 6th September and voting should start on the 7th.

In case you've forgotten, Rockstar genealogists are those who give "must attend" presentations at family history conferences or as webinars. Who, when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy. Who you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter?

More US Newspaper Archives to go online

The following is an Ancestry press release. I'm shedding a tear over the situation in Canada while I type this.

Ancestry Collaborates with Gannett to Digitally Archive More Than 80 U.S. Newspapers

Cincinnati Enquirer the First Gannett Archive Launched with Over 4 Million Pages Online

August 24, 2015 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

PROVO, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ancestry, the leader in family history and consumer genetics, today announced its collaboration with Gannett Co., Inc., the largest local-to-national media company, to digitize more than 80 daily newspapers across the nation. Newspapers.com, an Ancestry business unit, and Gannett will provide a historical newspaper viewing experience complete with full text search, clipping and sharing features. Together, they expect to deliver more than 100 million full-page images of historical newspapers in a simple, easy-to-use online archive.

"We're thrilled to partner with Gannett to deliver newspapers from the past directly to subscribers' devices, allowing them to step back in time and experience the news as it was happening on that day, from new babies and marriages to war updates and other major news events," stated Brent Carter, senior director of business development at Newspapers.com.

Through this collaboration, more than four million searchable pages of The Cincinnati Enquirer were made available online. Newspapers.com and Gannett will begin the rollout phase of all public archives of more than 80 daily newspapers, including Detroit Free Press, The Arizona Republic, The Indianapolis Star, The Tennessean and many others to follow. Each archive will ultimately include every available page from the first date of publication up to issues from 30 days ago.

Each new archive will be accessible through an "Archives" link in the newspaper's primary online navigation, mobile Web site and native mobile app. Archives will be updated on a regular basis with content from the previous month. Gannett digital subscribers will have access to the most recent two years of content included in full-access subscriptions. Complete archives will be available to everyone with an affordable monthly or annual subscription.

"This collaboration is a significant value add for our subscribers. We share a commitment to providing individuals with information about the people and events that shaped their history and are excited that this joint effort will unlock new ways for people to discover and share that information," stated Maribel Perez Wadsworth, chief strategy officer at Gannett.

Ancestry Updated Record Collections

Playing catch up, Ancestry have filled gaps in:

England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966. There are now 12,772,219 indexed records with calendar images.

UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969, a diverse collection of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial records, now updated to 164,268 records with images.

UK, American Loyalist Claims, 1776-1835, includes books of evidence and memorials given by witnesses, accounts of losses (which can provide detail about places and possessions), evidence of claims, correspondence, indentures, and other documents collected over the course of these examinations. 30,752 records.

Manchester, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1930 (Cathedral), includes images with 425,377 records.

Cited: Who Killed Canadian History?

Are you interested in the context of your family history?

Using the title of Jack Granatstein's 1998 book, an episode aired last March from Cited, a weekly radio documentary program from the University of British Columbia, looks at "From the Hertiage Minutes/Drake mashup, to Harper's grand historical narrative; we debate Canadian history and how it ought to be taught."

The section that drew may attention was the Historical Thinking Project and its 6 key elements being adopted in history education: establish historical significance, use primary source evidence, identify continuity and change, analyze cause and consequence, take historical perspectives, and understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations.

Check it out as a podcast at http://citedpodcast.com/historical-thinking/

You may also be interested in The Other Climate Change Consensus, the final podcast in the past season, at http://citedpodcast.com/episode-7-the-other-climate-change-consensus/#more-459

WDYTYA: Bryan Cranston

 if ... if ... the advertised schedule is to be believed ... not to be taken for granted ... 9 pm should see the airing on TLC Canada of a new US WDYTYA? episode on Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston.

According to the promo "Bryan Cranston's happy childhood shattered when his father abandoned the family when Bryan was just 11. Seeking answers, Bryan explores his paternal roots, finds a troubling pattern of desertion, a man of honor and an aunt he never even knew existed." There's a Montreal connection.

The Scotsman in Canada

Archive CD Books Canada is out with their latest newsletter announcing two (or more depending on how you count) new items.

In two volumes, or one compilation volume, is The Scotsman in Canada. Volume 1 is Eastern, Ontario and east,  Volume 2 is Western (including the north). They are digital reproductions of the original 1911 publications. Read details from the main page at http://archivecdbooks.ca/.

You'll also find information there on a brand new publication Working Class Culture and The Development of Hull, Quebec, 1800-1929 by Michael Martin. Watch for an announcement of a book launch.

Malcolm and Chris Moody are regular vendors at the annual BIFHSGO conference so their The Scotsman in Canada publication is timely for one of the conference themes.

A list of all the marketplace vendors has just appeared on the BIFHSGO website. Again this year Rick and Sandra Roberts will be bringing a wide selection of materials from GlobalGenealogy.com  which is sure to include some of the Scots publications by Lucille Campey as well as books by Sunday conference speaker Chris Paton.

The BIFHSGO vendor list includes website links. If there's a book or other genealogy-related product you've been looking for it's never a bad idea to make contact and put in a reservation. You'll save being disappointed if they run out of a popular item and save on shipping.

New Welsh Parish Records at FamilySearch

These records of baptisms, marriages, and burials from Welsh parishes of the then Established Church are from the cooperation agreement FamilySearch has with FindMyPast.

Wales, Radnorshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912           115,726 records
Wales, Pembrokeshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912         378,652 records
Wales, Monmouthshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912     432,421 records
Wales, Montgomeryshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912  416,043 records
Wales, Denbighshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912         718,898 records
Wales, Flintshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912                 518,354 records
Wales, Merionethshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912      146,135 records
Wales, Carmarthenshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912    481,167 records
Wales, Cardiganshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912        95,420 records
Wales, Caernarvonshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912    281,126 records
Wales, Brecknockshire, Parish Registers, 1538-1912     220,591 records
Wales, Anglesey, Parish Registers, 1538-1912               203,43 records

Richard III

On this day in 1485 Richard III fell in battle at Bosworth Field, the last King of England to die in combat.

The 530th anniversary is an opportunity for advance publicity for my BIFHSGO presentation You be the Judge: Did DNA Prove the Skeleton under the Leicester Car Park was Richard III? on 10 October

In 1485 the body of King Richard III, killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field, was buried in nearby Leicester. Over the years the exact grave location and fate of the remains were lost to history. An archaeological excavation in 2012 revealed a skeleton. This presentation reviews the forensic evidence and asks you to be the judge whether the skeleton is the king as the evidence is revealed. We look at how the University of Leicester archaeologists came to their conclusion using likelihood ratios for non-genetic and genetic data and draw out lessons for genealogists.

Mark your calendar now!

Additional New Records on Findmypast

In addition to the text searchable probate calendars of England and Wales, 1858-1959, on Friday Findmypast also added those calendars in a browsable format; over 5.8 million new British newspaper articles and; additional Hertfordshire baptisms, marriages and burials.

Mind (The) Shift: LAC Digital Strategy

Now available, Library and Archives Canada's Digital Strategy which "articulates the digital opportunities that we can leverage to fulfil LAC’s mission and achieve greater value, relevance and credibility."

"By advancing our digital agenda, LAC will empower Canadians to discover and access their documentary heritage when and where they want. We are heading toward a digital future, using three themes as our compass."

The themes and elements of the strategy are:

THEME 1: DIGITAL CURATION

1 DIGITALLY ENABLED
Building the technology and instruments required to enable us to achieve our business model goals through the use of a Digital Curation Platform (DCP).
2 DIGITAL HERITAGE
Ensuring our collections include new forms of born-digital documentary heritage, such as data, web, and other sources of digital content.
3 DIGITIZE WISELY
Optimizing our services by digitizing portions of LAC’s analogue holdings based on popularity, ad-hoc requests, preservation needs, and other criteria.
4 DIGITALLY DESCRIPTIVE
Ensuring all our holdings (analogue and digital) have comprehensive metadata and descriptions
that are continually enriched.

THEME 2: DIGITAL DISCOVERY

5 OPEN ACCESS
Facilitating discovery and use of as much of LAC’s holdings as possible by anyone, anywhere,
anytime.
6 SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Enhancing the value of our holdings through active promotion and social engagement with clients.
7 NETWORK CONTENT
Playing a leadership role in creating a network of memory institutions providing comprehensive
access to Canada’s documentary heritage.

THEME 3: DIGITAL PERFORMANCE

8 CLIENT AWARE
Embedding client needs and outcomes into all levels of our policies, governance and actions.
9 DATA INFORMED
Making LAC an organization whose decisions are informed by timely and observed data.
10 DIGITAL CULTURE
Building an organization with the skills, capacity and culture to digitally manage and
deliver Canada’s documentary heritage.

Some of the items I noticed in the strategy are:

• Establish an advisory panel with private-sector digital leaders to help shape internal digital culture.
• Create a “Digital Innovation meet-up” at LAC 
• Skilled LAC workforce, working in tandem with partners and the “Citizen Librarian/Archivist”
• Exchange performance measures with partners
• Hold digital “town halls” or gatherings online or at cultural institutions to engage clients with collections as a mutual exchange of value
• Seamless client experience in the discovery and use of Canada’s documentary heritage
• Use gamification to increase engagement with collections
• Crowdsource the enrichment of existing metadata
• Crowdsource digitization priorities

There is a cryptic mention of "federal policies that can make it difficult to solicit public opinion on what clients want digitized"

LAC is looking for feedback from clients (a word that occurs 49 times in the document). If you have questions or comments on the strategy, please contact Paul Wager, Senior Director General and Chief Information Officer by phone at 819-997-4111, or by email at paul.wagner@bac-lac.gc.ca. 

A detailed implementation plan and other key documents will further guide in advancing the
Digital Strategy. That's when we'll see if the f in the title of this document is justified!

Last minute reminder: One World One Family Conference

It's here. Saturday, August 22nd, 2015 and he sixth annual One World One Family Conference of the Brampton Ontario Stake Centre of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. See the previous post here.

Full-text Search England and Wales Probate Calendars

Ever since Ancestry made available a part of the probate calendars, indexed by deceased name in August 2010 I've been wondering when they'd twig to the fact that the calendars also contain lots of names of executors.
Ancestry missed the boat, at least for now, and Findmypast has done it with a full text search capability.
Available at present on Findmypast are the calendars from 1858 to 1959.
As a test I searched the name Marmon for which Findmypast gave 43 calendar entry results. Ancestry gave 26 Marmon probates for that time period. At least 18 of the Findmypast results were for deceased not named Marmon.  The others are likely multiple entries for occurrences where the deceased and executor(s) shared the Marmon name or Marmon occurred elsewhere such as a street name. Then there's OCR and transcription errors!
Unfortunately the search term is not highlighted in the original probate calendar page image return so you do have to read through the whole page.
There are undoubtedly one-namers and one-placers salivating at the prospect of mining this database.
Don't forget that many deceased didn't have a probated will or administration; 130 Marmons are recorded as dying in the time period in FreeBMD.
Three stars to Findmypast.

Richmond B.C. company plans launch of personal DNA testing service

Next January you may have the option of a Canadian company for DNA testing.

A Vancouver Sun article about GenomeMe , a subsidiary of  Applied Biological Materials which provides "a facility for gene cloning and manufacturing agents used in the scientific research field" is facing regulatory and accreditation issues similar to those that derailed 23andMe's service two years ago, but with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.

The company focus is health, but their GenomeOne™ Test, at a cost of $950, promoted as "The One test that must be done once in a lifetime" suggests this is the "$1,000 genome" giving a complete genomic analysis.

As anyone who's looked at raw DNA test results knows get that data is a small part of the task. Interpreting it is herculean and the company makes no mention of an ancestry service.

January is a long way from August in this rapidly developing field. Lots can happen in between. Stay tuned.

The Dublin Gazette from 1750-1800 online

A nice discovery by Chris Paton, who will be a speaker on Sunday the 20th of September at the BIFHSGO conference, is fifty years worth of Dublin Gazettes, from the 1750s to 1800 (1809?). The Dublin Gazette at this time was the official organ of government, equivalent to the London Gazette.

PDF page images, searchable, are hosted at the Oireachtas library website at http://opac.oireachtas.ie. Convenient access is through a list near the end of the page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dublin_Gazette#External_links.

There are 49 files and downloading is slow -- tens of minutes for each file.

Relatively Speaking has new editor

Wayne Shepheard recently accepted the position of Editor of Relatively Speaking, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Genealogical Society.
Wayne, who has a personal family history blog, takes over at a time when major changes are contemplated for the publication and will be able to direct the journal into new territory as far as content and delivery. That will include going all electronic in delivery by 2017.

Heritage Calling

Heritage Calling posts some wonderful images to view when you're in a relaxed summer browsing mood. Posted this month are:

11 Striking Images from England’s Past
6 Fascinating Finds from the London Wreck, 1665
10 of England’s Most Beautiful Synagogues
8 Cutting-Edge Libraries of the Late C20

From last month

10 Great Seaside Resorts
England’s Seven Seaside Wonders

Thanks to Brenda Turner for the tip.

Baby Names, England and Wales, 2014

On Monday the (UK) Office of National Statistics released the 2014 list of the most popular English and Welsh baby names. Oliver and Amelia were the most popular first names given to babies born in England and Wales in 2014. Amelia has been in the top spot since 2011 while Oliver has been in top spot since 2013.

Lily replaced Mia in the top 10 most popular girls’ names for England and Wales, climbing from number 12 to 9.

Table 1: Top 10 baby names, boys and girls, 2014

England and Wales

	Boys					Girls
Rank	Name	Count	Change in rank since 2013		Rank	Name	Count	Change in rank since 2013
1	Oliver	6,649			1	Amelia	5,327
2	Jack	5,804			2	Olivia	4,724
3	Harry	5,379			3	Isla	4,012	+2
4	Jacob	5,050			4	Emily	3,991	-1
5	Charlie	4,642			5	Poppy	3,273	+2
6	Thomas	4,405			6	Ava	3,171	-2
7	George	4,320	+3		7	Isabella	3,022	+1
8	Oscar	4,269	-1		8	Jessica	2,995	-2
9	James	4,167			9	Lily	2,965	+3
10	William	4,134	-2		10	Sophie	2,905	-

The top 10 names only account for 12% of all names in 2014 when over 27,000 different boys’ names and over 35,000 different girls’ names were registered.

Of note for Canadians, in the top 100 of girl's names Harper comes in at number 89 (up 71 places from 160)!

Here's a list of popular names from the 1930s.