FamilySearch Month-End Updates

The following databases have been updated at FamilySearch. The record count is the total, old and new.

TITLE	RECORDS
British Columbia, Victoria Times Birth, Marriage and Death Notices, 1901-1939	98,461
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922	3,907,325
England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1599-1860	182,070
England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918	1,574,546
England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997	1,455,084
England, Hampshire Bishop's Transcripts 1680-1892	836,206
England, Manchester, Parish Registers, 1603-1910	1,782,418

Tales from the Crypts

... good money was to be made by charging wealthy parishioners to stack coffins containing their dead family members under the church.

The daily blog Spitalfields Life publishes a timely item, A Brief History of Crypts, written by Malcolm Johnson, author of Crypts of London and formerly Rector of St Botolph’s, Aldgate.

We learn that:

"in the eighteenth century most parishes received around seven per cent of their income from interments, although at St James Garlickhythe the average was nearly twenty-seven per cent. 

No wonder there was resistance from the clergy to the closure of London churches to further burials as a sanitary measure in 1852.

British Newspaper Archive additions for October

The British Newspaper Archive now has 22,481,573 pages (21,937,298 pages last month). The 46 (49) papers with new pages online this month are tabulated below with the major additions bolded. Note particularly the national Daily Herald and speciality The Stage.

TITLE	DATE RANGE
Aberdeen Evening Express	1970-1971, 1975-1978
Aberdeen Press and Journal	1970-1971, 1975, 1977-1978
Alcester Chronicle	1889
Annandale Observer and Advertiser	1890
Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald	1881, 1898
Barking, East Ham & Ilford Advertiser, Upton Park & Dagenham Gazette	1910
Birmingham Daily Post	1954-1964, 1966-1972
Bolton Evening News	1889
Bridgwater Mercury	1857-1860
Cambrian News	1863-1868, 1874-1875
Carrickfergus Advertiser	1896
Chard and Ilminster News	1887
Coleraine Chronicle	1872-1910
Daily Herald	1913, 1923-1925, 1928-1938, 1946-1950, 1952-1956, 1958, 1961
Darlington & Stockton Times, Ripon & Richmond Chronicle	1847-1854, 1856, 1858, 1863, 1877, 1880, 1889, 1894, 1896
Dover Telegraph and Cinque Ports General Advertiser	1856, 1861
Dublin Evening Mail	1882, 1897-1907
Dudley Herald	1898
East Anglian Daily Times	1896, 1900, 1907
Eastern Daily Press	1891
Epworth Bells, Crowle and Isle of Axholme Messenger	1873-1904
Glasgow Evening Citizen	1868
Gravesend Reporter, North Kent and South Essex Advertiser	1873-1885, 1887-1909
Greenock Advertiser	1873
Hants and Berks Gazette and Middlesex and Surrey Journal	1892-1910
Lanarkshire Upper Ward Examiner	1879-1887, 1889-1892
Leigh Journal and Times	1877, 1879, 1885, 1888-1889, 1898
Leitrim Advertiser	1900
Lloyd's List	1888, 1893, 1910
Loughborough Monitor	1867
Nottingham Journal	1912
Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette	1877
Pateley Bridge & Nidderdale Herald	1889, 1899
Rhyl Journal	1877-1878, 1888-1889, 1891, 1897
Ross Gazette	1867-1890, 1893-1896, 1898-1909
Rugby Advertiser	1906, 1908
Salisbury and Winchester Journal	1897
Shipley Times and Express	1876-1881, 1885, 1897
Shipping and Mercantile Gazette	1874
Southern Echo	1897-1898
Thame Gazette	1857-1869, 1873, 1875, 1877, 1928
The Stage	1885, 1887, 1891-1894, 1896-1897, 1902-1909, 1913-1918, 1938
West Sussex County Times	1909
Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser	1868-1871, 1873-1876, 1887, 1897, 1908-1910
Winsford & Middlewich Guardian	1896
Cardigan & Tivy-side Advertiser	1870, 1877, 1879

Breaking Down Brickwalls by Blogging

Last Saturday's excellent presentation 21st Century Genealogy: Taking Advantage of Social Media for Your Research to Ottawa Branch OGS by Gail Dever prompted a blog post by Elizabeth Kipp. It tells how her blog established a contact that allowed her to push a branch of her family tree back further.

In Hardship and Hope: A History of the Liverpool Irish

Here's a new book of interest if you have Liverpool-Irish ancestry.

The author, Greg Quiery, writes

"The book is concerned mainly – but not exclusively – with the Catholic Irish.  Whilst the core of the book concerns the Irish in nineteenth and early twentieth century Liverpool,  it also examines the early years of the Irish community in the eighteenth century and – in the closing section –  the process of integration and assimilation which took place in the nineteen fifties and sixties.  It is an attempt to do justice to a dramatic story of courage and hardship.  I also hope it will illuminate, for the reader, one aspect of the story of our city – Liverpool – through a better understanding of one of its many communities,  and the difficulties that community has overcome."

Read more at www.liverpoolirishhistory.com/ including a link to order a copy online through Lulu.

via a blog post by Claire Santry.

Ancestry England Record Updates

Ancestry lists following databases as having been recently updated. Past experience is the additions or modifications are often minor, but there is never any information given on the extent of changes.

Collection	Records
Bexley, Kent, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1558-1812	50,085
Bexley, Kent, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1925	202,545
Bexley, Kent, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1985	49,848
Bexley, Kent, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935	100,435
Kent, England, Tyler Index to Parish Registers, 1538-1874	619,265
Liverpool, England, Catholic Baptisms, 1741-1906	1,411,612
Liverpool, England, Catholic Burials, 1813-1987	619,201
Liverpool, England, Catholic Confirmations, 1813-1920	80,889
Liverpool, England, Catholic Marriages, 1754-1921	290395

Record Annual Precipitation in Ottawa

Rain like your Ottawa ancestors never saw.

With 39 mm of rain recorded for Sunday, a record for the date, Ottawa has received 108.8 mm in October. It is still raining and there's more in the forecast.

The annual total precipitation (rain plus snow) for the year to date is 1,167.6 mm which would be a record if officially verified by the Meteorological Service of Canada. The previous record was 1,166.1 mm in 1972. And there are still two more months to go!

It was back in July that Ottawa's total precipitation for 2017 passed the city's climate normal for a whole year.

Portsmouth Parish and Workhouse Registers

This past Friday Findmypast loaded a gem of a collection for anyone with roots in Portsmouth, Hampshire. It has 550,207 baptisms, 379,004 marriages, 312,946 burials.
Index transcriptions are linked to images of the original record.
Find a list of parishes and years covered here.
You can also browse through 873 volumes of parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials held at Portsmouth History Centre. These records pertain to Church of England parishes in the deaneries of Portsmouth, Gosport, Fareham, and Havant.

The icing on the cake from Findmypast is the Portsmouth Workhouse Registers with 60,953 entries. Records for the workhouse on Portsea Island run from 1879 to 1953. Typically find name, year born, religion, where from (normally Portsmouth), informant (often self) and dates of admission and discharge.

Save with Library Extension

There's a utility that could help save time and the accumulation of books on your shelves.

If you're searching for a book on Amazon or Goodreads and you have Library Extension installed on Chrome, only on Chrome for now, it tells you if your library, or the library you've selected, has any copies.
I tried it out on Amazon with a pamphlet from 1967.  Here's the result. OPL has 7 copies.

via bookriot.com and http://documentary-heritage-news.blogspot.ca/

Free Ancestry Library Remote Access for OPL Members

The notation Available for in-library use only for Ancestry Library under Online Resources through the Ottawa Public Library has disappeared. As I write you can log on with your OPL library card, search and look at the results, including images of the original records where available, all free.
I suspect it's a glitch. If so it probably can't be fixed until Monday so you may want to take advantage of a rainy day to search.

TheGenealogist adds further Worcestershire and Warwickshire Parish Record Transcripts

In association with the Malvern Family History Society and the Nuneaton & North Warwickshire Family History Society, TheGenealogist has added over 140,000 individuals to their Parish Records for Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

● 97,841 individuals have been added to the Worcestershire baptism records
● 44,250 individuals join the Warwickshire baptism records.

These new records are available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

FreeBMD October Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 26 October 2017 to contain 264,343,835 distinct records (263,803,089 at previous update).

Years with major updates (more than 5,000 entries) are: for births: 1963-64, 1966, 1977-1981; for marriages: 1965-66, 1977, 1979-80, 1982-83; for deaths 1976, 1979-82.

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: International and Non-Domestic

Join me in congratulating the following top ten genealogists worldwide who received most votes as Rockstar Genealogists 2017.
The International list tabulates all votes, the Non-Domestic list excludes votes from those living in the same country as the nominee.

International List

1. Blaine Bettinger
2. Judy G. Russell
3. CeCe Moore
4. Roberta Estes
5. Thomas MacEntee
6. D. Joshua Taylor
7. Lisa Louise Cooke
8. Dick Eastman
9. Maurice Gleeson
10. Janet Few

Non-Domestic List

1. Maurice Gleeson
2. Blaine Bettinger
3. John Grenham
4. Judy Russell
5. Chris Paton
6. Debbie Kennett
7. CeCe Moore
8. Thomas MacEntee
9. Dick Eastman
10. Lisa Louise Cooke

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: USA

Join me in congratulating the following top genealogists from the United States of America who received most votes as Rockstar Genealogists 2017. The list comprises the ten receiving most votes of the twenty-three nominated.

1. Blaine Bettinger
2. Judy G. Russell
3. CeCe Moore
4. Roberta Estes
5. Thomas MacEntee
6. D. Joshua Taylor
7. Lisa Louise Cooke
8. Dick Eastman
9. Kitty Cooper
10. Diahan Southard

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: UK and Ireland

Join me in congratulating the following top genealogists from the UK and Ireland who received most votes as Rockstar Genealogists 2017.
For the UK the top five of the nine nominees are.

1. Janet Few
2. Debbie Kennett
3. Chris Paton
4. Kirsty Gray
5. Else Churchill.

For Ireland, with only five nominated, the top three are:

1. Maurice Gleeson
2. John Grenham
3. Claire Santry.

The combined UK and Ireland top seven of fourteen nominated is:

1. Maurice Gleeson
2. Janet Few
3. John Grenham
4. Debbie Kennett
5. Chris Paton
6. Kirsty Gray
7. Claire Santry.

Gail Dever at Ottawa Branch OGS October Meeting

Gail Dever, Canada's #1 Rockstar Genealogist for the second successive year, is coming to Ottawa to present the 2017 Ryan Taylor/ J. Brian Gilchrist Memorial Lecture this Saturday, 28 October 2017.

Her topic is 21st Century Genealogy: Taking Advantage of Social Media for Your Research.
Imagine there are genealogists around you 24/7, sharing resources, advising you, and perhaps learning from you as well. That’s social media. This presentation will focus on how genealogists can benefit from following top social media, such as Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, and blogs. Gail will explain how to use social media, find the best resources, maximize your time, and connect with genealogists around the world. Genealogists who are not using social media to help with their research — or leery about giving it a try — will also benefit from attending this presentation.

Gail is also BIFHSGO's webmaster, BIFHSGO Hall of Fame member and daily blogger at Genealogy a la Carte.

You may want to arrive at the meeting early to ensure a good seat.

As usual the presentation session, starting with announcements at 1:30 pm, is preceded by a social/networking opportunity. In the morning there's a back to basics session - this month a tour of the City Archives conducted by Branch Librarian Grace Lewis. The Computer Special Interest Group meets after the presentation.

It's all happening at the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (Room 115)

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: Australia and New Zealand

Join me in congratulating following top genealogists from Australia and New Zealand who received most votes as Rockstar Genealogists 2017. The list comprises the five receiving most votes of the ten nominated. 

1. Michelle Patient
2. Jill Ball
3. Helen V Smith
4. Chris Goopy
5. Alona Tester

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: Canada

Join me in congratulating the top Canadian Rockstar Genealogists 2017. The list comprises the six receiving most votes of the twelve nominated.

1. Gail Dever
2. Dave Obee
3. Lorine McGinnis Schulze
4. Glenn Wright
5. David Pike
6. Lynn Palermo

One-Day Genealogy Seminar, 29 Oct, 2017

Legacy Family Tree Webinars and parent company MyHeritage will be live-streaming a first One-Day Genealogy Seminar globally on Sunday 29 October, 2017 from 7 A.M. – 3 P.M EDT.

The sessions are:

Filling in the In-Between of the Jewish BMD
by Rose Feldman

Jewish Family Research Challenges
by Garri Regev

Introduction to the Use of Autosomal DNA Testing
by Tim Janzen

Google for Genealogy: Search Tricks to Tease Out Information
by Jessica Taylor

Discover Your Family History with MyHeritage's Unique...
by Daniel Horowitz

How to Pass Your Ancestors' Legacy to Your Grandchildren
by Jessica Taylor

Advanced Autosomal DNA Techniques used in Genetic Genealogy
by Tim Janzen

Find out more and register at https://blog.myheritage.com/2017/10/tune-in-to-our-one-day-genealogy-seminar/

2017 Gold (Superstar) Genealogists

Join me in congratulating those in the specified countries/areas receiving the most votes in the Rockstar Genealogist poll 2017, the gold award winners, your 2017 Superstar Genealogists.

International, USA, Genetic Genealogy

Blaine Bettinger
With a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and JD postnominal awarded by Syracuse University College of Law where he graduated magna cum laude in 2009, Blaine melds his practice as an intellectual property and technology attorney with his passion for genetic genealogy. His publications include The Family Tree guide to DNA testing and genetic genealogy and Genetic genealogy in practice co-authored with Debbie Parker Wayne. As well as the science side Blaine has drawn on his legal background in promoting a code of ethics for genetic genealogy practice. Find him on Twitter and Facebook including on the closed group Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques.

Australia/New Zealand

Michelle Patient
Australian by birth, Michelle’s science and engineering background has helped her develop research tips which she shares regularly with the wider genealogy community in face to face presentations, in magazines, and over the Internet. She was President of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists 2012 – 2014, New Zealand Regional Representative for the Guild of One-Name Studies 2015 – present and Education Committee Member Society of Australian Genealogists. Michelle, who is excited about adding DNA evidence to the genealogy toolbox, is particularly active on Facebook.

Canada
Gail Dever
Repeating in the Superstar Gold award position, Gail Dever writes daily about genealogy news, resources and issues facing the genealogy community at Genealogy à la carte and on a variety of social media. She is a popular speaker on social media and genealogy. A native of Toronto, resident of Montreal, Gail has a bachelor degree in French literature from Laval University and has held several senior positions in public affair, including external communications and advertising. She manages the BIFHSGO website and was recently inducted into the Society Hall of Fame.

England, Scotland, Wales

Janet Few
Returning as a Gold Rockstar Genealogist, Janet writes that she prefers the term Family Historian. As The History Interpreter, she aims to bring history alive in a variety of ways, notably encouraging young people to become interested in the past, especially through living history or family history. Author and columnist for The In-Depth Genealogist Magazine Janet teaches family and local history classes and is a tutor for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd. She is currently writing an historical novel.

Ireland

Maurice Gleeson
Repeating as a Superstar genealogist, with a background as psychiatrist, pharmaceutical physician and part-time actor, Maurice is widely known for his YouTube videos on genetic genealogy. He has organized the genetic genealogy lectures for Genetic Genealogy Ireland in Dublin and Who Do You Think You Are? Live in the UK since 2012. He is co-administrator for the Gleason/Gleeson, Spearin, Farrell, Irish Caribbean DNA and WW1 Missing Legacy projects. He works to reconnect Irish adoptees with their birth families.

Fold 3 adds Canada, Certificates of Military Instruction

From 1867 to 1932 candidates for militia commissions in the Canadian militia were required to attend one of the Schools of Military Instruction and receive a certificate.

Information on the certificates typically includes the man’s name, rank, and residence; the certificate type and date; and the name and location of the school.

You may also find information on how well the candidate performed, for example, Capt Charles F. Winter of the Governor General's Foot Guards obtained these marks during a course in Equitation (horsemanship).

The database is on Fold 3, an Ancestry database separate from Ancestry.com.

Rockstar Genealogists 2017: Silver and Bronze Awards

Here are the 2017 Rockstar Genealogist "silver and bronze award winners."

International (also USA and genetic genealogists)
Silver: Judy G. Russell -- The Legal Genealogist
Bronze: CeCe Moore -- TheDNADetectives.com

The following awards are for genealogists living in or affiliated with the specified county or area.

Australia/New Zealand
Silver: Jill Ball -- Geniaus.
Bronze: Helen V. Smith -- Dragon Genealogy
           
Canada
Silver: Dave Obee -- CanGenealogy
Bronze: Lorine McGinnis Schulze -- Olive Tree Genealogy

England/Scotland/Wales
Silver: Debbie Kennett -- Cruwys news
Bronze: Chris Paton -- The GENES Blog

Ireland
Silver John Grenham --Irish Roots
Bronze: Claire Santry --Irish Genealogy News

Congratulations to the award winners.

The "gold award-winners", Superstar Genealogists, will be posted tomorrow.

What's New in Genealogy Books at the Ottawa Public Library

Four more genealogy books published this year and available or on order at the Ottawa Public Library appear in the OPL catalogue since 7 August when last covered on the blog.

The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide
How to Find, Record, & Preserve your Ancestors' Graves
By Neighbors, Joy
Book - 2017 | First edition.
929.1072 NEIGH
Holds: 13 on 3 copies

French Canadian Roots : Discovering Your Family Tree and French Canadian Genealogy
By Compagna, Lawrence
Book - 2017
ON ORDER 2017
Holds: 26 on 6 copies

Tracing Villains and Their Victims
A Guide to Criminal Ancestors for Family Historians
By Oates, Jonathan
Book - 2017
929.1072 OATES

A Genealogists' Guide to Researching British Home Children
By Tubman, Gloria F.
Book - 2017
929.1072071 TUBMA
In-library use only at this time

Panel Discussion on Ukrainian DNA

For those really into genetic genealogy the October monthly meeting of the Ukrainian Genealogy Group of the NCR will feature a: "Panel Discussion on Ukrainian DNA”. This meeting format is summarized as follows: 

Several UGG members and guests who have received their DNA results from various companies (even if testing took place years ago) have been invited to this panel discussion. Each panel member will be asked to answer various questions about their experiences including:

 

· Why did they take this test? With what company?

· What were the results?

· Were there any surprises compared to family stories? Are there any explanations regarding the results?

· Were the results worth the 'financial investment'?

· Any plans for future research?

 

This will be followed by an answer-and-question period.

 

This meeting will take place on 24 October starting 7:30 pm at the St John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Hall, 952 Green Valley Drive, Ottawa. Free admission, free parking.

Rockstar Genealogists Voting Now Closed: counting underway

Thank you to the 1,009 people who voted in the Rockstar Genealogist poll for 2017 which closed at 2:01 pm EDT.

53 per cent of the responses were from those living in the USA. Here's the breakdown by country of residence.

Women cast 73.2 per cent of the votes, men 25 per cent and the remainder declined to specify.

47.2 per cent said they were genetic genealogists. That's up from 32.7 per cent last year.

Results will be posted starting on Monday.

Trafalgar Day

It's several years since I marked Trafalgar Day, the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

Nelson, Britain's greatest naval hero, was a son of the county of Norfolk, so I have a special respect. As well as numerous victories he was known for his handicaps.  He was beset by malaria, scurvy, dysentery, heart-stroke, toothache and - unhelpfully for a naval man - seasickness. His lost arm and eye are legendary well beyond Britain.

There is the story of prisoners, a mix of civilian and military, captured from a ship, the Rangitane, sunk by German raiders during WW2. My father was an Engineer on the Rangitane. The civilians were to be released, the soldiers sent for incarceration in POW camps in Germany. A passenger was suspected by the Germans to be a soldier. Desperately he pointed to his obvious glass eye and said that it proved his civilian status, in response to which a German asked if he had ever heard of Nelson.

The image is of Britannia atop Nelson's Column at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Rockstar Genealogists Nominees

A couple of queries have come to me regarding whether people can opt out of having their name on the list of Rockstar Genealogists nominees.

To clarify, I hope.

Only two people have ever approached me about their names not being on the list.

In both cases I explained that not including them would lead to lots of protest about worthy people not being on the list - I get lots of those. They both agreed to their names remaining on the list but the results not being tabulated as indicated in the list of nominees.

Last Call for Rockstar Genealogists Voting

Just a few more hours, that's all the time you've got  -- to show your appreciation by voting for the 2017 Rockstar Genealogists. More than 950 people have voted so far.
Find out what it's all about and how to vote here.

Voting closes at 2 pm EDT on Saturday.

Irish Genealogical Abstracts New at Findmypast

In the continuing quest to plug gaps created during the fire at the Public Record Office of Ireland in Dublin in 1922 Findmypast this week has added abstract collections from three Irish genealogists. All are indexed and linked to the original handwritten transcript.

Thrift Genealogical Abstracts comprises 150,275 transcript records of wills, bill books, parish registers, commission books, and freeman lists, as well as detailed family trees and pedigree charts. Records date from the 16th century to the early 20th century.

The Crossle Genealogical Abstracts contain 657,801 Irish records, including copies of prerogative court wills from 1620 to 1804 and yearly Army returns from 1767 through to 1816.

Betham Genealogical Abstracts and genealogical sketches created by herald Sir William Betham contains 489,774 records includes abstracts of wills, reconstructed family trees and detailed pedigrees that can be searched by name, year, or keyword.

Also this week 4,506 records from the local censuses - 1830, 1834, 1836, 1849, 1850, 1851, and 1852 - from the townland Pobble O'Keefe in Cork.

British and Irish Furniture Makers Online

The prototype database on this website focuses on information drawn from two sources – a digital re-publication of Geoffrey Beard and Christopher Gilbert eds. The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840 (1986), and the membership records of The Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers from 1640 to 1720.
Search by the whole record, name, place, occupation and active date (beginning and ending).
Information returned is a few lines, for example:

Sandham, John

Northwood, Sussex; (1678)

Joiners' Company Apprentice

Apprenticeship 1678

Son of Frances Sandham, Yeoman, of Northwood, Sussex. Apprenticed to John King for 8 years, from 15 May 1678.

Future phases of the project will make available information drawn from many different kinds of historical sources. The database is freely accessible to all.

via a tweet from Jane MacNamara.

FamilySearch Worldwide Indexing

There's a FamilySearch worldwide indexing event this weekend. You can be one of tens of thousands of people helping make records findable for us all.

Find out more about at https://www.familysearch.org/indexingevent2017.  You may be interested in the Ireland—Civil Registration, Deaths, 1864–1870 project.

There are no Canadian projects linked from above, and just one available here,  That's one more than I've seen recently. The project is to index late registration of birth documents from New Brunswick for the period 1810–1899. It's already 10% complete.

Ancestry adds Kikcaldy,Poor Law Records

The 11th most populous community in Scotland, Kikcaldy, Fife, has a population less than 50,000 souls. No wonder this new collection of the Poor Law Records for 1888-1912of the Abden Home Poor Law Institution, originally named the Kirkcaldy Combination Poorhouse, has only 2,690 entries.

Between the indexing and information on the images of the original records find
name, date of admission, date of discharge, reason discharged, occupation, gender, marital status, religion, age and perhaps date of death.

More on BIFHSGO Conference Presentations Online

A follow up to Wednesday's post about BIFHSGO conference resources online for Society members. You now have access to the slides and audio of presentations by Celia Heritage, James F. S. Thomson and Gillian Leitch as well as the Friday evening presentation by Glenn Wright.
Approval of the other speakers is pending before their presentations will be posted.

Reminder: Lesley Anderson and Glenn Wright OPL presentationss on Saturday

Mentioned previously this opportunity is worth a second mention. A free 2 hour, two part event this Saturday 21 October, 2017 at 9:30am at Ben Franklin Place, Nepean Centrepointe.
In the first part Lesley and Glenn will look at provincial birth, marriage, and death registrations which are fundamental resource for genealogy in Ontario.
Then Lesley will be presenting on DNA, and perhaps will be able to enlighten on the changes in your AncestryDNA webpage this week.
You may also be interested in this recording of a call in show with Lesley as the guest expert on CFRA.

Vote now for Rockstar Genealogists

Everyone appreciates recognition. Take a look at the list of nominees in this year's Rockstar Genealogists poll and see if there's one or more you'd like to show support for. There are probably many, and you can choose as many as you want. You have the power to push them up the rankings.

And what about those not on the list? They're not there because they didn't get properly nominated - I only needed to receive two nominations. Why not show your appreciation anyway by contacting them directly and telling them. Guaranteed they'll appreciate it. For Rockstars it shouldn't be difficult to find contact information online.

Quinte Branch OGS October Meeting

"The Skies Above Vimy Ridge and the Battle of Arras 1917" is the topic for the next Quinte Branch presentation, on Saturday 21 October.
The presenter is Major William March, presently with the Primary Reserve as the RCAF Historian. He served over 35 years in the CF/RCAF, is an RMC graduate, flew with several Maritime Air Squadrons, and had one tour in Afghanistan. Bill holds a Masters Degree from the University of Victoria.
The Quinte Branch welcomes everyone to their meetings and invites you to bring a friend. 
The meeting is at the Quinte West Public Library, 7 Creswell Dr, Trenton 1-3 pm.

Rockstar Genealogists Voting Progress

As of 8 am (EDT) on Wednesday 18 October 739 people had voted for their favourite Rockstar Genealogists. Three quarters of those voting were women.
There were 411 voters from the USA, 117 from England and Wales, 97 from Australia and New Zealand, and 75 from Canada.
Slightly over 50% considered themselves genetic genealogists, a majority everywhere except England and Wales.
Vote for your favourite Rockstar Genealogists by following this link.

Conference 2017 Resources for BIFHSGO Members

BIFHSGO members, even those who did not register for the conference, now have access to conference materials.

The audio and slides for Glenn Wright's Whiteside Lecture Another Bloody Englishman! Britannia in Red Serge, 1873-1920 are available. Handouts for the presentations below are also online, and audio and slide should be coming soon.

Presentation	Speaker
Beyond All Reasonable Doubt	Celia Heritage
Buried Treasures: What's in the English Parish Chest?	Paul Milner
Working with Sources	Gillian Leitch
Researching in English and Welsh Archives	Celia Heritage
Occupational, Guild and Freedman Records	Paul Milner
Genealogy and the Age of Shakespeare	James F.S. Thomson
British Military: Finding Your Pre-WWI Soldier	Paul Milner
Using Death Records in Family History	Celia Heritage
Tips and Tools for Navigating the English Probate System	Paul Milner
Historical Newspapers	James F.S. Thomson
I've Lost My Ancestor Before 1837: How Can I Find Him?	Celia Heritage

Kingston Branch OGS October Meeting

The Kingston Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will meet on Saturday, October 21st at 10 a.m. at the Kingston Seniors Centre, 56 Francis St., Kingston.  Ron Mann will speak on "Some Hints and Guidelines for Beginning and Veteran Genealogists."
Visitors always welcome.  Further details at www.ogs.on.ca/kingston

Clarity on Rootweb

Quite understandably the notice posted on the Rootsweb site last week,

"We will be discontinuing the Rootsweb Surname List and Genealogy Forum features on Tuesday Oct 24, 2017."

caused a lot of angst.

That notice has been removed, One of my readers contacted Rootsweb and received the following clarification.

We appreciate your concern that some information is being removed from the site. We will do all that we can to answer your questions. The Message Boards are not being removed. The " Genealogy Forum " references a web page maintained by the " Golden Gate Genealogy Forum ". It is accessible from the link below. They are moving their page.

Deaths and Great War Deaths

From time to time it's worth looking at figures like this
referenced in a post "UK drops in European child mortality rankings" by the UK Office of National Statistics. Obvious for births are the post war baby booms and baby boom echo of the early 1960s. Peaks in deaths at the end of WW1 during the influenza pandemic and associated with WW2 bombing are evident.
The deaths are those registered in England and Wales and don't attempt to account for those who died overseas. A rough calculation using British Forces deaths in WW1 from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, allowing roughly for those who died in Britain and subtracting those from Scotland and Ireland, indicates another 25% can be added for the overseas deaths of those from England and Wales.

Rockstar Genealogist(s) 2017 voting now open

Choose your favourites from a galaxy of stars from the English-speaking genealogy world. Let them know you appreciate their contributions.
Voting requires access through your Google account. That will limit the possibility of people voting more than once and mean you can change your vote by signing in again with your account. If you don't already have an account, most of us do to take advantage of the many Google apps, sign up for one for free here.
By voting you help folks organizing a speaker program to know who is popular internationally and in different regions.
Tell your genealogist friends. Ask them to vote, suggest who to vote for and multiply the power of your vote.
Note that two people are nominated who have declined to have their votes tabulated. Their names are included to indicate they have not been overlooked. Everyone who received two or more nominations is included, those who received only one are not.
What surprises will there be in this the sixth year of the survey?

VOTE HERE

Voting will close on Saturday.
Thanks to Chris Goopy for the graphic and help testing the system.

Some Progress at LAC on Newspaper Digitization

Library and Archives Canada has received funding over two years from the Salamander Foundation as a contribution to the National Heritage Digitization Strategy (NHDS).

The $25,000 grant in 2017, for a Pilot Digitization Project of Newspaper Material is described as"serving to demonstrate best practices for digitizing select collections that can be shared with memory institutions across Canada to help build a national, representative newspaper collection."  A small collection of Indigenous newspapers is being digitized.

The same funding in 2016 focused on prioritizing digitization of "'last copy' and 'at risk' material covering published heritage prior to 1917 including books, periodicals and newspapers, scientific journals and theses, audio and audio-visual recordings, high-interest archival fonds, photographs, artefacts, and fragile historical maps."

What are the products of this funding? NDHS Corporate Secretary Caitlin Horrall told me that they initially consulted experts across Canada to determine the state of newspaper digitization practice. I was surprised there was no consultation with major newspaper digitization initiatives internationally which are way ahead of Canada. Likely the Canadian expert's advice would be informed by that experience. One finding was that copyright is not as big an issue as it once was as newspapers are realizing their archives will not be a major revenue source given the up-front cost of digitization. That removes a major obstacle, but up-front cost is still a hurdle. A report on the consultation is scheduled for release next spring.

With the Salamander grant LAC is presently digitizing three Indigenous publications, likely the best known being Windspeaker. Published 12 times each year since 1983 this is a modest challenge and results should be available in the spring.

If any inroads are to be made in digitization and OCR of the many Canadian newspaper titles that remain in archival obscurity LAC will need to stop avoiding the obligation long since embraced by peer organizations internationally.

Perhaps like me you you are not aware of the Salamander Foundation which exists to promote continuity and discovery in the arts and in culture, and to recognize the forms, functions and interactions of natural systems in the environment. Approximately 20 - 25 grants per year are made "to specific initiatives or projects with clear objectives and measurable outcomes." Projects likely to benefit a broad population base either across Canada, regionally, or via the Internet are favoured with those based in Ontario given first consideration.

CEF Service Files October Update

As of today, 15 October 2017, 502,740 (491,373 last month) of 640,000 files are now available online in the LAC Personnel Records of the First World War database. That's according to a LAC Digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Service blog post. Unusually it was posted on a Sunday.
The latest box digitized is number 8555 (8363) for last name Russell (Robertson).
If my calculations are correct at last month's rate the project will be finished by October 2018.

Maybe LAC can then move on to another major digitization project. Newspapers anyone?

Rootsweb's Future?

"We will be discontinuing the Rootsweb Surname List and Genealogy Forum features on Tuesday Oct 24, 2017."

That's the announcement appearing at the top of the Rootsweb home page at http://home.rootsweb.ancestry.com/.

How much will disappear? As the word Forum does not appear anywhere else on that page the extent of what's being dropped is not clear to me. Mailing Lists? Message Boards?

Use of Rootsweb, as reflected in this chart of the number of messages posted on ROOTS-L, has been in terminal decline for years.

You have a week to search and perhaps rediscover any information you originally found through Rootsweb, the pioneer genealogy social network.

Rockstar Genealogists Voting Delayed

As it's taking longer to sort and set up than anticipated voting will not start until Monday (ET), all being well.

Congratulations to Jane Down

Former BIFHSGO program director Jane Down was announced as the winner of the Alan Neame Award for 2017 at the Kent FHS AGM on Saturday. It was for her article "Finding 21 Children: Simple—Not so Simple!"

Jane tells me it is the story of trying to find the siblings of her maternal grandmother's adoptive mother. She was supposedly one of 21 children. Jane investigated the family to see if any of the siblings or spouses might be related in some way to the biological family. Both families were from Kent in England.

Jane said "It was a fun piece of research .... frustrating at times .... but really interesting. It was also fun to write the article. It really made me examine all the pieces of evidence again and again."

I hope Jane can find the time between her other commitments, including as Administrative co-Chair for BIFHSGO conference 2018, to tell BIFHSGO members about this research.

Last year another Canadian, Lesley Wood, was awarded 2nd prize in the competition for her article "Tangled Web".

Findmypast adds to London and Canterbury Archdeaconry collections

London, Docklands and East End Marriages, 1558-1859  
10,512 transcript of the original registers for  St John Wapping, St Leonard Bromley, St Mary Bow & St Mary Whitechapel have been added for a total of 102,762 records.

London Docklands and East End Baptisms
40,394 new transcript records for St John Bethnal Green, St John Wapping, St Leonard Bromley, St Luke Limehouse & St Mary Whitechapel are added to a collection which now totals 783,077 records.

Greater London Burial Index 
St James Clerkenwell with 35,438 new transcript records brings the total to 1,670,403 records. It includes Anglican and non-conformist parishes in the City of London Burials, Middlesex Memorial Inscriptions, Middlesex & City of London Burials Index and the South London Burials Index. The bulk of the records are for the last half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries.

For Kent, transcripts and images of the original registers for the parishes of Chilham, Stalisfield & Staple are added to:

Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Baptisms 
13,870 new bring the total to 937,319. The collection is strongest for the 19th century.

Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Banns
2,416 new records , now totaling 219,155.

Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Marriages  
6,201 new records for a total of 496,386 records. The collection is strongest for the 18th century.

Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Burials 
9,799 new records for a total of 700,205 records. The earliest is dated 1431, the most recent 1992.

Circle of Life: Exploring Ontario Vital Records AND Using Ancestry DNA

OPL invites you to enjoy a two part full morning of Ontario genealogy with experts Glenn Wright and Lesley Anderson!

First, provincial birth, marriage, and death registrations are a fundamental resource for genealogy in Ontario. This presentation will discuss the history of civil registration in Ontario and show how the forms have evolved over time to reflect changes in society.  Find out where to access the records and how to make the most of them for genealogy and family history research.

Second, with Ancestry DNA you can add a whole new dimension to your family history experience.  Uncover your ethnic mix, connect with living cousins and distant relatives - perhaps even solve a mystery or break down a brick wall!

This 2 hour free event is on Saturday 21 October, 2017 at 9:30am in the Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, Nepean Centrepointe.

Registration required.

New OGS Website

That's right. According to a notice from OGS:

The new site has a fresh modern look and feel, and it will display properly on all access devices – desktop and laptop computers, tablets and cell phones. We’ve made it easier to find information quickly, and drill down for additional details where needed. Our indexes are available for everyone to see, and we are working on building better information delivery options for members and nonmembers.
OGS members are asked to log in to the Members’ Only section of the site before the end of October.

If you have forgotten your password, just click on “Lost your password?” to reset it. Please report any problems that are encountered to OGSwebreport@ogs.on.ca so that we can get them fixed before membership renewal begins on November 1st.

The majority of our transition is complete; however, you may encounter pages which ask you to return later for more information, as we work on rolling out additional elements of the site. We thank you for your patience and tolerance as we finalize all of the features.

As you explore the new site, we anticipate that there will be glitches – things which don’t work for you, or areas where you can suggest an improvement – and we want you to let us know when that happens. Email us at OGSwebreport@ogs.on.ca, copy and paste the URL (web address) of the
page and explain the problems you have experienced or suggestions you have.

This new site is the result of design/build expertise from our business provider, Cavera, Inc., and hundreds of hours of volunteer time on the part of Steve Fulton and Charles Godwin and other members of the Technical Support and Innovation Committee, and we thank them for the sleepless nights and endless days devoted to this task.

Comment:

What's new at the site? One thing, or maybe I'd not noticed before, is that you can now contact some branches which have an Ext: shown beside their name from the Branch/Sigs dropdown. Contact that branch by phone by calling 1 855 MYROOTS and then entering the extension number. These extensions lead to a voice mail system that will capture your message and email it to the responsible volunteer.

Steve Fulton tells me that as a temporary measure the old OGS web address is auto-forwarded to ontarioancestors.org/. While that's the case you'll find a saved username and password will not auto-populate. First world problems. You can always reset the password according to the instructions above.

Asked about that new ontarioancestors address Steve replied cryptically "it may be we have some plans, that you will soon be aware of."

Gloucester Historical Society: Blood on the Rapids

Escape the rain this Sunday, 15 October for a presentation by Ottawa author Terry Currie with the story of Ottawa's early reputation as one of the continent's most violent communities.
The presentation at the Gloucester Seniors Centre, 4550 Bank Street, intersection with Leitrim Road, starts at 2 pm. Free admission and free parking.

Military Records from TheGenealogist

The following is a press release of particular interest to those with British military ancestry.

TheGenealogist is pleased to announce it has added two new record sets that will be useful for researching the First World War and Victorian soldiers.

● Part one of this release is The Worldwide Army Index for 1851, 1861 and 1871 which adds another name rich resource to the already vast Military record collections at TheGenealogist with over 600,000 records
● Also released at the same time is another 3,368 pages from The Illustrated War News covering 6 September 1916 to 10 April 1918 and adding to those previously made available for this First World War paper from 1914 to 1916

The Worldwide Army Index for 1851, 1861 and 1871

If you have not found your ancestor in the various British census returns, and you know that they may have been serving at the time in the British Army, then this new release from TheGenealogist may help you to find these elusive subjects.

Many thousands of men of the British Army were serving overseas in far flung parts of the British Empire over the 1800s. This index of names is compiled from the musters contained in the WO 10-11-12 Series of War Office Paylists, held at the National Archives, Kew. The 1851, 1861 and 1871 Worldwide Army Index lists all officers* and other ranks subjects serving in the first quarter of 1851 and second quarter of 1861 and 1871, together with their regimental HQ location. The index is, therefore, effectively a military surrogate for the relevant census.

Over 70,000 records have extra notes that can indicate whether a soldier was a recruit awaiting transfer to a regiment, detached from his regiment or attached to another, possibly discharged, on leave, had deserted or retired. Men identified as using aliases are also included. Many notes include a place of birth and former occupation.

Also included within the records are recruits, boy soldiers, bandsmen and civilians working in the armed forces as clerks, pension recruiters, teachers and suchlike. Colonial regiments which invariably had numbers of British subjects are also featured.

The Illustrated War News was a weekly magazine during the First World War, published by The Illustrated London News and Sketch Ltd. of London. The IWN publication contained illustrated reports related entirely to the war and comprised articles, photographs, diagrams and maps. From 1916 it was issued as a 40-page publication in portrait format, having been landscape prior to this. It claimed to have the largest number of artist-correspondents reporting on the progress of the war until it ceased publication in 1918.

To search these and many other records go to: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/search/advanced/military/muster-book-pay-list/ 
or read our article at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2017/worldwide-army-index-1851-1861--1871-661/  

*While the 1851 and 1871 include officers, the 1861 index excludes officers as they were not mustered in all the Paylists.

Rockstar Genealogist Nominations Closing

Several people have sent in nominations for people to add to the list. Those accepted so far are in the updated original post here.

Others are under review or proponents have not yet made a convincing case from two nominators that they meet the criteria - repeated below.

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. If you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter they are likely Rockstar candidates. For clarity, it's about communication and influence not who's the best researcher.

Nominations can still be submitted following the procedure here. They will close at 2 pm ET on Saturday.

CanGen Summit

Greetings to all attending the Great Canadian Genealogy Summit this weekend. Special greetings to Ottawa genealogists and conference speakers Brain Laurie-Beaumont, Mags Gaulden and Patricia Roberts-Pichette.
 
Peggy Homans Chapman, Eastern Canada representative for the Guild of One Name Studies, invites you to stop by her table and perhaps win the prize now available as she wasn't able to get to the OGS Conference on Ottawa.

GRO birth and death record pilot

Welcome news. Obtain everything an official England and Wales birth or death certificate contains for genealogy at about one third off.

"The GRO is piloting a service from 12 October 2017 to provide portable document format (PDF) copies of digitised historical birth and death records. The pilot will run for a minimum of 3 months to enable GRO to assess the demand for this service over a prolonged period.

Applications for each PDF cost £6, must be made online, and include a GRO index reference.

England and Wales records which are available as PDFs in this extended pilot include:
Births: 1837 –1916
Deaths: 1837 –1957".

Ancestry adds Devon, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records

This "new" database in the Ancestry catalogue claims 43,018 records. "New" appears to refer to a repackaging of records from the UK Parish Baptism, Marriage and Burial Records database.
Mousing over the title for Devon opens a window claiming 560,200 records! I've reported the discrepancy to Ancestry.

Some of the resources listed as included are:

Devon: - Parish Registers Devon: Barnstaple - Parish Register, 1538-1812
Devon: Clyst St. George - PRS, Register of Clyst St. George, Devon, 1565-1812, vol 25
Devon: Lapford - Register of Baptisms, Marriages & Burials, 1567-1850
Devon: Exeter - Militia List for 1803
Devon: Exeter - Freemen 1266-1967
Devon: - Registers of Marriages, 1538-1837
Devon: - Registers of Marriages, 1581-1654
Devon, Somerset: (A-H Parishes), Wells - Parish Registers and some Bishop's Transcripts at Wells

Recognition for Brenda Dougall Merriman

Congratulations to Brenda Dougall Merriman on well deserved recognition by the Board for Certification of Genealogists as an Emeritus Member.

A Toronto resident and long-time OGS member, Brenda was for many years one of very few Canadians with BCG certification. She served as a Board Trustee and founded the Ontario Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

Author of the widely referenced books Genealogical Standards of Evidence, Genealogy in Ontario and, United Empire Loyalists: A Guide to Tracing Loyalist Ancestors in Upper Canada, Brenda continues to contribute to family history, and celebrate her passion for camels, through her blog at https://brendadougallmerriman.blogspot.ca/.

Brenda established courses for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. Institute Managing Director Louise St Denis commented on Brenda’s "meticulous methodology skills (that) made her the perfect author/instructor to be on the team to prepare the three part group of courses called the Analysis & Skills Mentoring Program" and that she "was terrific at making sure that everything that was in print was the most accurate it could be."

Find the complete list of BCG Emeritus members on the new BCG website at http://bcgcertification.org/side-nav-super-parent/history/emeritus/

BIFHSGO 14 October Meeting

Having given up her role as BIFHSGO Director, despite employment and family commitments, Susan Davis has found time to prepare two presentations for the Saturday, 14 October BIFHSGO meeting.

The Drouin Collection – Research Strategies 
9:00 am to 9:30 am
While the Drouin Collection offers an invaluable source of vital records for those searching for ancestors in Quebec and some surrounding areas, it can be quite challenging to decipher what was recorded. From understanding the French terms to collecting signatures, researchers can improve the results of their efforts by using these and other simple research strategies. 

Untangling a Parish to Find Family 
10:00 am to 11:30 am
The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive Nepean, Ontario
In the spring of 1852, the parish of Saint-Sylvestre was home to 3,733 people, including 1,059 Irish-born and 44 British-born immigrants. For the most part, these immigrants and their Canadian-born descendants got along well with each other and their 1,048 French-speaking neighbours. After 30 years of settlement, the parish located 70 kilometres south of Quebec City included two villages, a secret society, a peace-making priest and members of the Dougherty, Gormley, Doran and Shorten families. 

Susan Davis learned lots about her Protestant roots while visiting family in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. During one trip, she visited the two cemeteries in her father’s home town of East Angus. It turned out that while her great grandfather Edward John Henry Dearden was buried in the Protestant cemetery, her great grandmother Mary Ann Dougherty was buried in the Catholic cemetery. For the past year, Susan has been researching her Irish Catholic roots and recently found out through a DNA test that she is 31% Irish.

The presentations are in The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive Nepean, Ontario. All welcome. Free entry. Free parking.

Paul Milner reviews Tracing Your Pre-Victorian Ancestors: A Guide to Research Methods for Family Historians by John Wintrip

"This book is highly recommended, especially for researchers wanting a thorough framework by which to do their English research ..."

That's the bottom line in the most recent book review by recent BIFHSGO conference speaker Paul Milner on his resurrected blog - the first post since January.

As Paul writes, "Usually these (Pen and Sword) guides focus on the records and the contextual history. Here the author focusses on the methodology for doing research, thus the book is a well written complement to all the other books in the series."

Read Paul's full review at www.milnergenealogy.com/?p=885

OPL Presentation: A Store Older than Ottawa

Bruce Elliott has something old that's new.

Before there was Bytown, there was the Town of Sherwood, dating from 1822 and located at Chaudière Falls.  One of the stores that flourished there was Bellows & Stacey, from 1824 - 1828, when the townsite vanished.  Earlier this year the account book of Bellows & Stacey's store was discovered in a museum in Vermont.  It has much to tell us about the local economy of the region and about the earliest settlers on both sides of the Ottawa River, from Quyon to Cumberland and south to North Gower.  And it's coming home.

Bruce S. Elliott, Professor of History at Carleton University and author of The City Beyond: A History of Nepean, Birthplace of Canada's Capital, tells the story of this newly-discovered piece of Ottawa's history to a session on Monday 16 October at 6:30pm at Nepean Centrepointe Branch of the Ottawa Public Library. Register at https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/event/store-older-ottawa

Rockstar Genealogists Nominations

Thanks to Australian genealogist Chris Goopy, also a nominee, who sent this graphic.
Chris posts at her sites below, when not plagued by ISP issues!
http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com.au 
http://astheywere.blogspot.com.au
http://irishgraves.blogspot.com.au
http://thebackfenceofgenealogy-crissouli.blogspot.com.au
http://crissoulisbookspot.blogspot.com.au
https://urungamaiden.wordpress.com
http://headlinesofold.blogspot.com.au

Music of Times Past

Get inspiration from listening to the music that might have entertained your ancestors. 
Radiooooo, presently in beta, delivers music from around the world by decade starting in 1900. Just click on a country on the world map and select a decade. Music will start playing if available. You don't need an account unless you want to go further and contribute by uploading music.

Radiooooo is available as an app in both Google Play and on iTunes.

via Richard Byrne's Free Technology for Teachers.

Perth & District Historical Society Meeting on Thursday

On Thursday, 12 October, 2017 at 7:30pm P&DHS has scheduled the presentation

Our One-Room Rural Schoolhouses

Archives Lanark documents the stories of the area’s early schools. One room schools are an element of the past.  A school where students shared the classroom with all ages and where the teacher taught all grades and classes.  It could be a case where every student was first in his or her class, and at the same time was last in that class.  A school where, in earlier days, there was no electricity or plumbing – and the first to school in the morning was expected to start up the stove.  However, despite these conditions, there were great teachers and successful students.  These one room schools, full of so many memories, are the topic for the October 2017 meeting, documenting the community roots and educational system. 

By the 1960s, most of the area’s small country schools had been closed in favour of large, central institutions.  In time, it became apparent that the many stories of these traditional parts of the area history, and their teachers and students, were becoming lost.  In 2005, a group of six Archives Lanark members recognised the need to preserve these stories, and formed a Volunteer Group to research and record the histories for Lanark County.  Then they undertook the major task of publishing a series of books documenting the stories for individual townships in the County. 

Since the beginning of the project, Archives Lanark’s Volunteer Group has published one-room rural school books for ten Lanark County townships including: Darling and Lavant; Beckwith; Dalhousie; Drummond/North Elmsley; Lanark; Pakenham; and Ramsay Township.  The most recent, published in 2017, is “The One Room Rural Schools of Montague Township.”  Research has commenced for books on four more townships: North and South Sherbrooke; Bathurst; and North Burgess.  These books have proved popular and some are sold out. 

The speaker, Frances Rathwell, is a member of this Volunteer Group, and, also, on the Society’s Committee.  Frances was born in Almonte, and moved to Perth with her parents and older brother when she was one.  She attended Stewart School and Perth & District Collegiate Institute, and, in 1967, moved to Ottawa to start a graphic design career, returning to Perth in 2002.  Since then, Frances has volunteered on our Historical Society’s committee, at a local nursing home teaching Internet, and taught basic computer skills at the public library.  She has served as Public Relations Officer, Vice President, President and Treasurer for the Lanark County Genealogical Society, and four times as Archives Lanark Chair.

You are invited to this presentation at Perth's Royal Canadian Legion,
home of the Hall of Remembrance, 26 Beckwith Street E., Perth, 7:30pm (Toonie Donation

Rockstar Genealogist Nominations are Open

I've had several queries about the Rockstar Genealogist poll. So, by popular demand, nominations are now open for the 2017 edition, the 6th year, of Rockstar Genealogist.

Below is a list of those pre-nominated, mainly based on previous years.The pruning from last year's list has been severe, significantly greater than previous years. Some of my own favourites are missing.

Don't despair if a person you favour is not there. The list is open for further nominations until 2pm ET Saturday 14 October. As people who proved to get few votes were previously nominated two nominations will now be required. To do so send an email with your name, contact information and reason for the nomination, see the criteria below, to johndreid at gmail dot com. Then arrange for someone else to nominate. I will verify and only include those I judge have a fair chance of rating in the top ten for their country/region.

I anticipate voting will start on 15 October.

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. If you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter they are likely Rockstar candidates. For clarity, it's about communication and influence not who's the best researcher.

Anyone on the list who would prefer not to be ranked please let me know at johndreid at gmail dot com. Your name will appear, so voters will understand it isn't an omission, with an indication that any votes will not be tabulated. That's the case with Elizabeth Shown Mills.

The nominees are:

Jill Ball, Australia/NZ
Nick Barratt, UK
Blaine Bettinger, USA
Angie Bush, USA
Peter Calver, UK
Pauleen Cass, Australia/NZ
Else Churchill, UK
Audrey Collins, UK
Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Israel USA
Gail Dever, Canada
Brian Donovan, Ireland
Lisa Louise Cooke, USA
Bruce Durie, UK
Dick Eastman, USA
Roberta Estes, USA
Janet Few, UK
Fiona Fitzsimons, Ireland
Heather Garnsey, Australia/NZ
Maurice Gleeson, Ireland
Chris Goopy, Australia/NZ
Jan Gow Australia/NZ
Kirsty Gray, UK
John Grenham, Ireland
Celia Heritage, UK
Shauna Hicks, Australia/NZ
Kathryn Lake Hogan, Canada
Yvette Hoitink, Netherlands
Daniel Horowitz, Israel
Cyndi Ingle, USA
Debbie Kennett, UK
Thomas MacEntee, USA
Jane MacNamara, Canada
CeCe Moore, USA
Dave Obee, Canada
Lynn Palermo, Canada
Michelle Patient, Australia/NZ
Chris Paton, UK
David Pike, Canada
Mike Quackenbush, Canada
Judy G Russell, USA
Claire Santry, Ireland
Lorine McGinnis Schulze, Canada
Helen V. Smith, Australia/NZ
Megan Smolenyak, USA
Diahan Southard, USA
D. Joshua Taylor, USA
Alona Tester, Australia/NZ
Judy Webster, Australia/NZ
Sharn White, Australia/NZ
Katherine R. Willson, USA
Christine Woodcock, Canada
Glenn Wright, Canada