RootsTech Discounts

MyHeritage is selling DNA kits at RootsTech for $49 US,  and subscriptions with a 50% discount!

I suspect there's some fierce competition!

Interesting that while local LDS events are strictly non-commercial RootsTech is unabashedly so.

 

A Red Letter Day for Genealogy at LAC and OPL

Celebrate. The budget document tabled on 27 February contains a paragraph:

A New Partnership Between Library and Archives
Canada and the Ottawa Public Library
The Government also proposes to provide $73.3 million over six years, on a cash basis, starting in 2018–19, with $4.0 million per year ongoing, to support the construction and ongoing operations of a new joint facility that will house Library and Archives Canada and the Ottawa Public Library. This represents the Government’s share of the project, with the balance expected to be provided by the City of Ottawa. This new building will be an iconic community hub, a single door to the national library and archives, and a
world-class public library in Canada's capital city which will increase citizen participation in the community and improve access to Canada's history, culture and collective knowledge. It is expected that the new building will be completed by 2023.

The document contains a funding profile for the capital initiative starting in FY 2018/19 at $4 million, increasing to $12 million in 19/20, and about $18 million for the next three years for a total of $71 million.

There's a bit more detail included in this item from the Ottawa Citizen. When the proposal was originally presented genealogy was to be the major LAC component.

British Newspaper Archive additions for February

The British Newspaper Archive now has  24,209,059 pages (23,733,593 pages last month).
The single largest addition was 235,040 pages of the Daily Mirror for 1947-1979.
A surprising number of additions this month, 89, were for a single year. 40 for the year 1911, 27 for 1958 and 16 for 1874.
The 108 (31 last month) papers with new pages online this month, including these 9 new to the collection
Armagh Standard; Bromyard News; Congleton & Macclesfield Mercury, and Cheshire General Advertiser; Chepstow Mercury, Volunteers' Gazette, Monmouthshire & South Wales Advertiser; Evesham Journal; Loughborough Echo; North Star and Farmers' Chronicle; The Social Review (Dublin, Ireland).

Family Tree March 2018

Here, with publisher's permission, is a full listing of the contents of the March issue of Family Tree magazine (UK):

Family history news
Latest news with Karen Clare, including the unveiling of a moving memorial to those caught up in the worst civilian disaster of WW2, evidence of tea-drinking trailblazers from 1644, and HMS Belfast turns 80.
Dear Tom
Get your monthly fix of genealogical gems and funnies with Tom Wood.
Discover how to create a website (& the rewards in store for you)
Join professional website developer Paul Carter to learn how to create your own family history pages online - and the benefits you can reap by doing so.
How to organise a family history day
Find out how to plan a successful family history event with this handy guide from David Gynes of Dorset Family History Society, which is celebrating its 30th year.
(Comment: 2 pages in point form. Are there best practices here your society could adopt?)
The rise & demise of the Stuart family 1603-1714
Be inspired to trace your ancestral lines back to the 17th century with Steve Roberts’s fascinating account of the history and family tree of the Stuart monarchs of England, Scotland and Wales.
Top tools for Irish family history research 
Helen Tovey rounds up 10 useful resources to help you research your roots back to the Emerald Isle and a heritage to be proud of.
Create a Dig for Victory garden
Grab your garden spade before joining Kath Garner as she looks back to the time when growing your own veg was part of the British war effort.
The lunch-hour genealogist
Squeeze just 60 minutes of family history into your daily routine and you’ll soon see your tree start to blossom. Get cracking with Rachel Bellerby's suggested projects and genealogical crossword fun.
Scottish inheritance part 2:
Who could inherit a house?
Chris Paton takes an in-depth look at the records documenting inheritance of a house and land in Scotland.
Spotlight on The Channel Islands Family History Society
If you have ancestors in the Channel Islands, and particularly Jersey, you can find information and invaluable advice through The Channel Islands Family History Society. Mary Billot explains.
Become an online super sleuth!
Discover the best ways to mine the major family history websites to find your folk with our exclusive guide. Rachel Bellerby asked experts from the genealogy giants to give their top search tips.
(Comment: Ideas from Ancestry, FamilySearch, FreeBMD/FreeREG/FreeCEN, Findmypast and, TheGenealogist.)
Finding clues in your family photo albums
Jayne Shrimpton reveals the ancestor-hunting clues tucked away in our old family picture collections.
Giving a voice to mothers of the Great War 
When researching WW1 ancestors it’s often the men we know most about. But what about the mothers left behind? As we celebrate Mother's Day, Jacqueline Wadsworth reveals ways to hear their hidden voices.
(Comment: a reminder that as resources were targetted at the war effort women caring for children while their husbands were away, and attempting to keep up appearances, had an especially challenging time.)
Techy tips for family historians
Make the most of digital devices, websites, apps and gadgets, with genealogical web guru Paul Carter.
Family Tree Subscriber Club
Don't miss this issue’s exclusive competitions and discounts for subscribers to Family Tree.
Safe deposit
This issue in her monthly website spotlight, Julie Goucher delves into the resources in the Royal Bank of Scotland Heritage Hub.
(Comment: RBS has the archives for several banks which it acquired. Illustrated with a photo of a half-farthing coin I never knew existed.)
Documenting your sources
Just starting out on your family history? Don’t let your enthusiasm hamper your future efforts. Simon Wills explains how to keep your exciting findings on track.
Family Tree Academy
Improve your family history research skills with our Family Tree Academy, which has case studies to research, old documents to decipher and answers to last issue’s challenges. Tutor David Annal takes you through your genealogical paces.
Books
Enjoy some of the latest genealogical reads with Karen Clare.
Your Q&As: advice
Get top family history help with Mary Evans, David Frost, Jayne Shrimpton and guest experts.
Twiglets
Latest exploits from our tree-tracing diarist Gill Shaw.
Diary Dates
Find family history exhibitions, courses and events for your calendar this March.
Mailbox
Your entertaining and informative letters and Keith Gregson’s Snippets of War, plus crossword answers.
Coming next in Family Tree
Your adverts 
Thoughts on...
Diane Lindsay has the results of her Ancestry DNA test, but what will it mean for her research?
(Comment: The only item in the magazine dealing with DNA!)

Family Tree paper editions are sold from: https://www.family-tree.co.uk/store/buy-the-magazine/ and the  digital edition from: https://pocketmags.com/family-tree-magazine/. These are not affiliate links.

And After - The Consequences of World War I

For Heritage Ottawa's 2018 Phillips Memorial Lecture on Wednesday 28 February Senator Serge Joyal will discuss the transformative effects of World War I on Canada and on France.

The event starts at 7:00 pm in the auditorium at 120 Metcalfe Street, Ottawa, the Main OPL Branch. No charge, advance registration not required, and free on-street parking nearby.

OGS March Webinar: Irene Robillard

On Thursday, 1 March 1 at 7:00 p.m. the Ontario Genealogical Society offers a webinar Women’s Institute: Tweedsmuir Community Histories.
Irene Robillard will look at the wealth of genealogical and historical information contained within the award-winning “Tweedsmuirs” of the Women’s Institutes (WI) in Ontario, such as pioneer families, farm histories, newspaper clippings, and photographs. The presentation will also explain how to find and access these collections, both in paper and in digitized format, including their Virtual Archives site.
The webinar is sponsored by the Ottawa Branch of OGS. The digitization of the Tweedsmuirs is supported by the Documentary Heritage Communities Program of Library and Archives Canada.

Register here.

Damned Immigrants

Ignore the references to UKIP. Think about it in a US AND Canadian context.

Awards for Grandchildren

Not for you, but if you have a student grandchildren in Ontario with an interest in family history they should know about OGS student essay awards.

Dr. Don Brearley Genealogical Essay Competition is open to Ontario Secondary School Students enrolled in Grade 11 or 12 in the current academic year. Students may submit an essay of 1000-5000 words discussing the family history of an individual who is no longer living but who lived in your community. This person can be anyone, including a member of your family, early settler, etc. The essay needs to include at least three generations for the chosen persons family. All sources must be properly cited and the essay should include a variety of sources, both primary and secondary. The prize is $500.00 and a free one-year student membership in The Ontario Genealogical Society. The student’s essay will be published in the OGS journal, Families. The deadline for submission is 5:00 pm on April 1, 2018.

Mike Brede Genealogical Essay Competition is open to any full-time student in a university or community college who is either a resident of Ontario or attending an Ontario university or community college. Students may submit an essay of 1000-5000 words on a topic from within a given Family History. The Family chosen must have some connection to Ontario, and at least three generations must be included. The prize is $500.00 and a free one-year student membership in The Ontario Genealogical Society. The student’s essay will be published in the OGS journal, Families. The deadline for submission is 5:00 pm on April 1, 2018.

Opinion. Essay competitions are so 20th, even 19th century. A lack of submissions bears testimony.
OGS could open up the scope for other media.
OGS could recognize that many young people are immigrants without Ontario genealogy.

Gene-o-Rama 2018

Here are the Gene-o-Rama programme details we've been waiting for:

Friday, 13 April, 2018 
19:00    Registration Open
19:30    Official Welcome
19:45    LAC Update—New and Noteworthy, by Lisa Tremblay-Goodyear           

20:00   Pat Horan Memorial Lecture; What’s at the Archives of Ontario, by Ruth Burkholder. 

Saturday, 14 April, 2016 
08:00  Registration Opens
09:00  Computer Research Room - Opens
09:00    Session 1
Early Real Estate Agents in Upper Canada, by Ruth Burkholder. 
Richmond Village—A Planned Military  Experiment in the Settlement of Eastern Upper Canada—Was it a Success? by Marion Scott.
10:15    Break & Browse Marketplace 
11:00  Session 2 
 Researching British Home Children, by Gloria Tubman
 Using FamilySearch.org, by Jean Brown
12:00  Lunch & Browse Marketplace
13:15  Session 3 
Secrets & Shenanigans—How AncestryDNA solved an unexpected mystery, by Lesley Anderson
Genealogy in the Military History Research Centre, by Carol Reid
14:15  Break & Browse Marketplace
15:00  Session 4 
Abstracts and Registers:  Finding Your Way in the Land Registry Records, by Ruth Burkholder
Researching the Loyalists, by Brian Tackaberry                             
16:15  Closing Ceremony 

The event is being held at the Confederation Education Centre 1645 Woodroffe Avenue, (Corner of Hunt Club & Woodroffe), Ottawa, Ontario.

When posted online registration and further information will be at  ogsottawa.on.ca/Gene-O-RamaProgramme

OGS Conference Early Bird Discount Deadline is 28 February

If you've made up your mind to attend the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Guelph on 1-3 June 2018 don't miss out on the opportunity to save $20 on registration. A discount is available until the end of this month - February.
Undecided? Will attending advance you're family history? Does the program appeal? Everything you need to know about the conference to help you make up your mind is at https://conference2018.ogs.on.ca/.

Survey Results: likely and unlikely in genealogy

Thanks for the 85 respondents to this survey. I found the results surprising.
The survey question was:
A trusted professional informs you a genealogical relationship is "LIKELY". Move the slider to the probability you would assign to "LIKELY" on this scale of confidence?
There was the same question for "UNLIKELY".
The median result, as many above as below is 66% confidence for LIKELY, 25% for UNLIKELY, consistent with the results of the Perception of Probability study reported previously.

This plot of the number of responses in each 5 per cent bin shows a great range in understanding.
Ten responses had a higher confidence for UNLIKELY than LIKELY. It's possible the way they interpreted the question was that they were more likely to believe the "trusted professional: when they said something was unlikely than when they said it was likely.
My conclusion is that while the median confidence conveyed by the terms for genealogists is the same as in the general population the scatter of results shows there is no general understanding of probability in the genealogical community.

Findmypast adds to Derbyshire Record Transcriptions

The following are FMP additions this week covering the parishes of: Alvaston, Boulton, Chellaston, Holbrook, Longford, Newton Solney and Wilne in Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Baptisms 
New records: 24,853; Total records: 255,626.

Derbyshire Marriages 
New records: 20,684; Total records: 126,083.

Derbyshire Burials 
New records: 16,902; Total records: 81,488.

 The transcriptions are credited to Helen Betteridge and Jean Shannon.

New Worcestershire & Kent records from Ancestry

64,575 new records are now available in the collection Worcestershire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1541-1812. They are extracted from various published registers and books.
An additional 35,111 records are added to Medway, Kent, England, Methodist Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1798-1932. These indexed records linked to images of the originals are sourced from Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre, Chatham, Kent, England.

Buckinghamshire Colour Tithe Maps

TheGenealogist continues to set itself apart from the larger genealogy companies with unique content like the new colour maps for Buckinghamshire just added to their National Tithe Records collection.
Search by name and keyword (for example parish or county) to find everyone from large estate owners to occupiers of tiny plots such as a cottage or a cowshed.
The tagged 19th century colour maps are sourced from The (UK) National Archives and available to those with a Diamond subscription.
In addition to Bedfordshire the collection includes many other Home counties and beyond including Norfolk, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk -- I was unable to find a complete list.

The SNP Mess

The first day of the Genetic Genealogy Ireland event in Belfast this past weekend ended with a panel session.
My somewhat incoherent question to them was on the mess that is the naming of SNPs, what useful information is conveyed to a genealogist by a name like FGC22963?
There was a helpful discussion. Kathryn Bourges gave historical background. Debbie Kennett, James Irvine, Brad Larkin and Gerard Corcoran contributed suggestions for useful websites and ideas of how things might improve—over time.
The websites were:
genetichomeland.com/
ybrowse.org/
www.ytree.net/.
At the risk of getting completely lost in the weeds you may chance checking out the Producing an automated next-generation Y-DNA phylogenetic tree project under development. It has links to R-U106 and R-P312 projects.
The session was recorded and can be viewed by those registered with the GGI Facebook group.

Ancestry adds Liverpool Electoral Registers, 1832-1970

Search or browse for over 8 million entries in the new Liverpool, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1970 database on Ancestry.

No registers were produced during the war years 1916, 1917 and 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944.

The index was created using text recognition software, records were not transcribed.

Indexes of the electoral registers are for every fifth year. Browse registers may help narrow down occupancy for in-between years.

This would be a good place to look for Irish strays, there are over 1,000 Patrick Murphy's listed.

OGS Ottawa Branch February Meeting

The main presentation this month, at 1:30 pm on Saturday 25 February, is Identifying Historic Photographs, presented by Kyla Ubbink of Ubbink Book & Paper Conservation.

Family photographs can tell great stories, when you know who is in them! Learn a few of the many techniques that to help to date a photograph giving clues to who is in the image. Knowing the photographic processes used to create an image helps tremendously in placing the photograph within a certain era. Couple this with hair styles, clothing and backdrops and you are that much closer to naming that face.

The 10:30 am presentation by Cliff Seibel is on Canadian Headstones.

The Computer SIG will meet after the main presentation.

UHF Day in Ottawa

While in Belfast last weekend I had a brief chat with Fintan Mullan who was staffing the Ulster Historical Foundation stand at Back to Our Past Ireland at Titanic Belfast.
He was looking forward to coming to Ottawa on Saturday, March 10 for the BIFHSGO-sponsored day of lectures on Irish and Scots-Irish family research with Gillian Hunt.  It is the only Canadian stop on a 15-city North
American tour.

Fee for non-members: $30. Members can take advantage of the member's rate of only $20 by logging in to the Members Only section to register.

Learn more about the program, registration, and optional box lunch here.

Local newspapers from LAC

A blog post Local newspapers at the heart of Canadian life mentioning acquisition of microfilm copies of newspapers from Fort McMurray and Lac-Mégantic documenting their well known disasters is too good an opportunity to pass up.
Of course LAC is adding these to its collection. But why on microfilm, an outdated technology?
If LAC is only acquiring government records in digital format why access these born digital newspapers on microfilm?
Yet another sad example of how far behind the times LAC continues to be when it comes to the newspaper collection.
Shame!

"In the Footsteps of our Irish Palatine Ancestors" Tour

The Ontario Genealogical Society Irish Palatine Special Interest Group announces a new tour, to take place September 13 – 23, 2018, following the footsteps of the Irish Palatines who left Ireland in 1760 to go to the New World. Settling in New York City and then the Camden Valley, with the American Revolution in 1776 those who fought for the British fled to Quebec when Burgoyne was defeated. The tour will briefly explore some later Irish Palatine settlements in Quebec.

Find further information here including a link to the detailed tour brochure.

Historical Society of Ottawa February Meeting

Friday 23 February, 2018 - J. Andrew Ross -- The Story of How the First Ottawa Senators Went South

Details: Despite being the most successful of the early National Hockey League teams, with the most Stanley Cup wins in the 1920s, the Ottawa Senators often struggled to attract fans. This presentation discusses how the building of a new rink, the Ottawa Auditorium, was seen as the solution to Ottawa's woes, but could not fight the economic tide that was pulling NHL hockey to larger American markets.

Biography: J. Andrew Ross holds a PhD in history from the University of Western Ontario, and taught economic history at the University Guelph before joining Library and Archives Canada as an archivist in 2015. He is the author of Joining the Clubs: The Business of the National Hockey League to 1945 (Syracuse University Press, 2015).

The meeting is at 1:00 pm in the lounge of the Routhier Community Centre, 172 Guigues Street at Cumberland.

City of Victoria Archives Online Search

The following is a press release.

The City of Victoria Archives is pleased to announce the launch of its new Online Search, available at archives.victoria.ca<https://archives.victoria.ca/>.

Powered by Access to Memory (AtoM), the Online Search contains hundreds of descriptions of City Government and community records held by the Archives, as well as nearly 10,000 digital photographs.

We invite you to explore Victoria's rich documentary heritage and learn how Victorians have lived, worked, and governed themselves for the last 150 years.

We welcome your comments and feedback. Please be in touch with us at archives@victoria.ca<mailto:archives@victoria.ca>.

Free access to Ancestry.co.uk records

Get ready to take advantage if you don't have a paid subscription.
Ancestry.co.uk featured collections will be free to access starting on 23 February 2018 until 25 February 2018 at 23:59 GMT.
To see a full list of the records in the featured collections click here.
To view these records you will need to be registered for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address.

GGI Belfast 2018

Speakers for the Genetic Genealogy Ireland sessions at Back to Our Past Belfast 2018 pose of the replica Titanic staircase at Titanic Belfast.

Get access to (almost all) the videos of the presentations by joining the +4K members of the closed Genetic Genealogy Ireland Facebook group.

FreeBMD February Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 15 February 2018 to contain 266,393,467 (265,866,842 last update) distinct records. Major additions are, for births 1963-4, 1978-83; for marriages 1966, 1979-80, 1982-3; for deaths 1979, 1981-2.

Recognition for Paul Milner

Congratulations to Paul Milner, who returned by popular demand to speak at the BIFHSGO conference 2017, for this recognition by the Utah Genealogical Association.

http://ugagenealogy.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/paul-milner-mdiv-is-ugas-newest-fellow.html?m=1

Findmypast adds Yorkshire Parish Records

Added to the FindmypastYorkshire parish record collection for the East Riding are
Baptisms : 73,749 new records for a total of 5,371,218.
Banns : 16,788 new records, total 625,724
Marriages  : 57,936 new records, total, 3,025,288
Burials : 18,205 new records, total 4,812,550

And 21,941 new Parish and Bishop's Transcripts browse records.

Open access to Canadian Immigration Records from Ancestry, including Passenger Arrivals, Passports, Border Crossings on Ancestry

From 16 to 19 February Ancestry.ca offers free access, with registration, to their immigration records –just for Family Day.

Included are Canadian passenger arrivals, passports, border crossings and more.

Quinte Branch OGS February Meeting

The Quinte Branch of Ontario Genealogical Society presents
"All About Quinte Branch"
on Saturday 17 February, 2018 - highlighting the Branch structure, annual program for education and research. Also, the Library catalogue, finding aid, surname interest list, branch facebook and website.
Held at  Quinte West Public Library, 7 Creswell Dr, Trenton 1-3 pm. Everyone welcome, bring a friend.
Visit facebook.com/QuinteBranch.OGS

Ancestry adds London Directories 1736-1943

Nearly 20 million records are in Ancestry's new London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943 collection.
The index was created using text recognition software, not transcribed, with indexes of the directories for every fifth year. Expect OCR errors.
The originals, from the London Metropolitan Archives, comprise street, commercial, trade, court, and post office directories.
Check that directories for the borough/area and time period of interest are included to avoid fruitless searches.

New Irish Genealogical Research Society Videos

For a very limited time there's free access to three 20 minute videos on Irish records from the IGRS.
They are:
Roman Catholic parish records, by Claire Bradley,
Census returns, by Claire Bradley,
Church of Ireland parish registers, by Dr Susan Hood.
Free access is only until Sunday 18 February during the Back to Our Past event in Belfast. After that access will be a benefit of membership.

Videos can be accessed from https://www.irishancestors.ie/members/irish-genealogy-how-to-videos/

BIFHSGO Scottish SIG

The group meeting this Saturday, 17 February starts with Pam Cooper leading  on First Names. Tips and tricks.
Marilyn Lindsay will make a short presentation on Using the Scottish Association of Family History                     Societies website to get information on    Regional interests.
Following a break, and an opportunity to bid on the silent auction, Pam Cooper will update on the group's Regional interests, and the appropriate FHSs for them followed by A general discussion on successes or lack thereof, of working with Family History Societies, on site                 or on line.

The meeting runs from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm in Rooms 226 and 228, City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

Kingston Branch OGS February Meeting

Saturday 17 February, 2018 is the occasion for the Kingston branch annual general meeting and 45th anniversary celebration at the Seniors Centre, 56 Francis Street, Kingston.
There will be a small silent auction and an educational session on downloading data from FTDNA or Ancestry and uploading it to GEDmatch. 
Check www.kingston.ogs.on.ca for info and possible further details.

New articles from the JG&FH

The Journal of Genealogy and Family History has published the first two articles bfor 2018. 

Timppel and Gisela Boeck, titled "Else Hirschberg (1892–1942): the rediscovery of the private and professional life of the first female chemistry graduate at Rostock University in a digitised world.

and

"The early genealogy of Edward Jenner and the Jenner family of Kempsford, Marston Meysey and Meysey Hampton", by John Chandler.

You can read the articles online at http://www.qualifiedgenealogists.org/ojs/index.php/JGFH/index.

CEF Service Files Update for February 2018

As of 15 Febuary 2018 there are 555,443  (543,142 last month) of 640,000 files available online in the LAC Personnel Records of the First World War database. That's according to a Library and Archives Canada Digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Service blog at https://thediscoverblog.com/2018/02/15/digitization-of-the-canadian-expeditionary-force-personnel-service-files-update-of-february-2018/

The latest box digitized is 9,467 (9,247) and last name Swindells (Staunton).

At the last month's rate the last file will be online in September.

QFHS Conference 2018

Do you recognize these names?

Steven L. Cameron
Luc Lepine
Christopher Lyons
Kelley O’Rourke
Laurie Pratt
Tom Quinlan
Mario Robert
Gary Schroder
Gloria Tubman
Deborah Waddell Robertson

Some familiar. Some new. Some ...  Irish.

Deborah Robertson wrote to let me know this line up of speakers for the Quebec Family History Society conference at McGill University New Residence May 18, 19 and 20.

In addition there will be an Ancestry Friday, presented by Lesley Anderson. 
Geoffrey Kelley, MNA for the West Island riding of Jacques-Cartier will be speaking about his Quebec family history at the Opening Ceremonies and will be presented the results of his family’s DNA.

The official email address for the Conference is roots2018qfhs@gmail.com

I vow to thee: Centenary of the Death of Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice

These words written by Sir Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice, sung to the music of Gustav Holst, have become known as the greatest English hymn/patriotic song of the 20th Century. They were part of the marriage and memorial service for Princess Diana.

Spring-Rice died this day, 14 February 1918, on a stay in Ottawa having completed service as Ambassador to the United States since 1912. He is interred at Beechwood Cemetery.

Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Spring_Rice

RootsTech Streaming Schedule

Every year the organizers of RootsTech offer a limited number of sessions streamed live, or nearly live from the event in Salt Lake City.
This year there are sessions from 28 February to 3 March.
As in previous years they are a mixture of inspirational talks and professional family history presentations. This year the streamed talks cover a wider variety of topics than previously, and more genetic genealogy-- that's my impression anyway.

Find the schedule of talks here. All times are for the Mountain Time Zone.

MyHeritage Valentine's Day

MyHeritage would love you to know that their marriage records will be free for Valentine's Day,
through February 15. That's for all including guests without an account.

OntarioFamilyHistory.org

The following is a press release from the Ontario Genealogical Society

The Ontario Genealogical Society announces Redesigned GEDCOM Website – OntarioFamilyHistory.org

As the Society is moving into the digital future, we continue to seek a better understanding of the needs of the genealogical community for both digital and non-digital resources. Many of our members and of the Genealogical Community at large have adapted to the digital world and are now creating and sharing more digital documents than ever.

In recent months, the OGS has come together withCanadianHeadstones.com, to secure its future online availability and to further develop it’s web presence.  As we have begun to manage the data for this organization we have also been looking into the various websites under it’s umbrella, we have discovered a treasure trove of additional information within a website called CHFamilyTrees.com. This website allows for the uploading and management of donated Gedcom files using the software platform The Next Generation. Once we made this discovery, we then reviewed our resource management options and have decided to move and rebrandCHFamilyTrees.com to OntarioFamilyHistory.org.

This website already contains more than 830,000 Individuals and 315,000 Families within its database and cites well over 40,000 sources. One of the mandates of The Ontario Genealogical Society is to preserve genealogical information for future generations regardless of whether it has been properly or fully sourced.  This is our practise for both printed or digital donated family trees.

Maintaining websites like this requires the time, interest and attention of our volunteers. We are pleased to be able to activate this website today in a search only format. The site does allow you to contribute your GEDCOM files at this time and you will find the link on the website.  Over time and with further assistance from our volunteers, we hope to turn on other features that will allow the genealogical community to sign in and alert the volunteers of any errors or omissions, or to activate the DNA Section that is currently contained within the software.

At a time when so many resources dedicated to Canadian and Ontario Genealogy are disappearing or being archived, the OGS is committed to preserving those resources and allowing free access to those resources to interested researchers from around the world

Perth & District Historical Society February Meeting

On Thursday, 15 February, 2018 the Society will welcome a presentation by local historian and author Ron W. Shaw on Perth and area's earliest Black citizens, in support of Black History Month in Canada.  

 

Blacks have had a presence in Canada since the 17th century, when the first Black slave arrived at Quebec in 1629.  By the time of the conquest in 1759, there were 1,100 in the colony.  Following the American Revolution, Loyalists brought 2,000 Black slaves with them and Britain evacuated 2,000 freed slaves to Nova Scotia.  With the abolishment of slavery in Upper Canada in 1833, more than 25,000 runaway slaves fled to what is now Ontario from the United States, by the Underground Railway, between 1840 and 1860. Later, as a consequence of the U.S. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the impact of the Dred Scott decision of 1857, thousands of American free state Blacks joined the former slaves in Canada.  

 

Although generally thought of as exclusively Scots-Irish-English in its origins, and little effected by the Loyalist influx and the distant Underground Railway, the Perth area population included citizens of colour since its founding in 1816.  At least two of the original soldier-settlers were Black men, born in the West Indies.  They were followed, in the 1850s, by American-born Black families who called Perth home into the 1920s.  Successively operating businesses on Gore Street over a period of 70 years, the Browns, Gilberts and Jacksons were important and well-regarded members of the local community.  George Gilbert regularly won prizes at the South Lanark Agricultural Fair.  John Jackson played coronet in the Citizens Band, was a leading member of the Perth Cricket Club (recognized by the Almonte Gazette as having no equal in these parts as a wicket keeper) and was described in his obituary as one of the best-known men in town.  

 

Perth native Ron W. Shaw was educated at P&DCI and Algonquin College, and worked for a number of years as a newspaper, radio and television journalist in northern and western Ontario, before his career in international development and relief.  Over a 35-year period, Ron has lived in nine countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and worked in 31 others.  He is the author of seven books, five of which are related to the early history of Perth, and is a frequent contributor to our Perth & District Historical Society website.  Ron is married, the father of three children, and lives in Drummond Township where his ancestors settled in 1816. 

This presentation is at Perth's Royal Canadian Legion, home of the Hall of Remembrance, 26 Beckwith Street E., Perth, 7:30pm (Toonie Donation)

 

Find any updated information and new articles on Perth area history website at <www.perthhs.org>

Cheddar Man changes the way we think about our ancestors

An interesting article from The Observer.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/10/cheddar-man-changed-way-we-think-about-ancestors?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Survey: likely and unlikely in genealogy

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Tipperary Resources

A cold sunny day on Friday saw me travelling a couple of hours, getting lost on the way, to the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary. It's true, it is a long way to ...
Renovation is underway so access was limited and no guided tour was available.
On my return, and having warmed up with soup, I turned on the TV to news of new online digitized photograph resources for Tipperary and further afield. It's the Murphy Ballinamona (Cashel) Negative Collection c. 1898 - 1932 of 1,235 items available at http://tipperarystudies.ie/digitisation-project/.
The photos are only one of an exceptional local collection of digital resources for Tipperary at the site above including gravestone inscriptions, workhouse registers, school registers and more. Check it out. It's free.

The Genealogist adds over 650,000 criminal records

The following is a press release from TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist has added 651,369 quarterly returns of convicts from The National Archives’ HO 8 documents to their Court & Criminal Records collection. With this release researchers can find the details of ancestors that broke the law and were incarcerated in convict hulks and prisons in the 19th century.

The new data includes:

651,369 Records covering the years 1824 to 1854
Quarterly returns from Convict Hulks, Convict Prisons and Criminal Lunatic Asylums

These fully searchable records are from the The Home Office: Sworn lists of convicts on board the convict hulks and in the convict prisons (HO 8). They give the family history researcher fascinating facts that include the particulars of age, convictions, sentences, health and behaviour of the convict, as well as which court sentenced them and where they were serving their sentence.
Read TheGenealogist’s article “Criminal records of convicts on the Hulks” at:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/criminal-records-of-convicts-on-the-hulks-739/

Findmypast adds to Devon parish records

From Cornwall last week Findmypast this week moves on to Devon.

30,266 baptisms are added for a total 2,696,604 records.

39,325 additional banns make a total
423,980 records from 1629 to 1918

79,136 marriages are added for a total
1,992,386 records from 1507 to 2002

Burials are enhanced with 31,351 new records for a total of 2,107,220 over 450 years.

Also now available in the Devon, Plymouth & West Devon Parish Registers Browse collection, 180,078 new records in
916 total volumes.

 

DNA: tracing your ancestors and your genealogy

In a rapidly evolving field a book with its typical extended publication process risks becoming dated before publication. Yet many people like to have a publication in hardcopy to hand. 

Moorshead Magazines have recognized the potential of this market hitting the sweet spot with a series of magazine-style publications that can be updated and reissued retailing at an affordable $9.95. A second edition of Google for genealogy in the series by Lisa Alzo is a recent example.

The latest in the series, dealing with genetic genealogy, is written by Maurice Gleeson. Maurice was voted a top Rockstar Genealogist again in 2017-- a recognition of his dedication to advancing the field by sharing his own experience through skilled presentations and mentoring.

The chapters are:
Background
Some Basic Science
Y-DNA - Tracing Your Direct Male Line
Mitochondrial DNA - Tracing Your Direct Female Line
Autosomal DNA - Some More Basic Science
Autosomal DNA - connecting with Genetic Cousins
Using DNA to help Adoptees.

Susan Courage, who convenes the Ottawa DNA Group points to Maurice’s 4 step process on Analyzing Autosomal DNA Matches as a highlight.

One thing I liked about DNA: tracing your ancestors and your genealogy is that it starts with a background chapter, suitable for the complete genetic genealogy novice. If there's someone you might want to persuade to test this chapter gives the need to know information. You can draw on it to formulate how you present things or just gift a copy.

Subsequent chapters gradually build the knowledge base right up to the more challenging topics like triangulation and adoption. You can stop where you feel you know enough for your purposes, yet appreciate you have the option go further later.

If you need additional information, perhaps in more depth than presented, there are references to videos, blog posts and web resources, notably the ISOGG wiki, by Maurice and other respected genetic genealogists

The presentation carries Maurice's style over to print with straightforward advice on topics like "what test should I take".

As mentioned, this is a rapidly evolving field. More people are being  tested so understanding of DNA's contribution to our genealogy is being refined. Reference databases for "ethnicity", or whatever your preferred term is, are improving with better resolution. The human Y-DNA tree continues to grow with Y-SNP testing becoming more popular.

Tools and tactics are also changing. Ways to examine autosomal DNA segment matches are being added to or improved.

Hopefully Maurice will be updating the publication to cover these developments.

The bottom line is, as Susan sees it, "This magazine is a great resource for anyone with an interest in mastering genetic genealogy."

Order from history-store-cda.myshopify.com/collections/tracing-your-ancestors-series

Outside Canada try https://your-genealogy-history-store-usa.myshopify.com/collections/tracing-your-ancestors-series

If these don't work go to http://yourgenealogytoday.com
follow the Canada or US link, click for the drop-down menu and choose Tracing Your Ancestors Series.

Church of England Modern Parish Maps and Information

The Research and Statistics unit of the Church of England has produced an interactive Church of England parish map, with summary deprivation and census statistics mapped onto parish boundaries.
These will not necessarily be exactly the same as the parish your ancestor inhabited but will be a guide.
The statistic of deprivation is particularly interesting as it rarely changes dramatically.
The map is for England, not for other parts of the UK nor the Anglican community elsewhere.
The drop in adherents to the Church of England is dramatically shown in a Statistics of Mission report also produced by the Research and Statistics Unit.

Digital reconstruction of Irish Public Record Office

The folks at Trinity College Dublin will be bound for sainthood if they can achieve every expectation held out by this item ... digitally recreate the building and contents of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which were destroyed by an explosion and fire at Dublin's Four Courts in 1922.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0207/939122-records-office/

BIFHSGO February Meeting

I'm sorry to be missing the  Saturday, 10 February BIFHSGO meeting where the main presentation is The Book Creators’ Journey.

Have you ever wanted to write and publish a book about your ancestors? If so, you’ll want to attend a presentation by Tracey Arial, Barb Angus, and Claire Lindell, three of the nine genealogists/authors who recently released the book, Beads in a Necklace, Family Stories from Genealogy Ensemble.
In this presentation, Tracey, Barb, and Claire will outline the book creators’ journey, using readings from their recent compilation. They’ll give tips about turning genealogy research into compelling narratives without crossing the line into fiction. They’ll describe how they made decisions about sources, technology, properly presenting two languages, photo captions and layout. They’ll also detail their launch party plans, and how they handle distribution, publicity and sales.  You’ll leave with a four-step process to writing a short story, a list of questions that will inspire you to write up your genealogical research, and lots of ideas about how you can get your own book underway. 

Read about the speakers at here where you'll also find information on the 9 am shorter presentation Bailing Out: Avoiding and Responding to Water Damage and Floods in Archival Collection by Kyla Ubbink.

The meeting is in The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

Seven Million AncestryDNA Customers

On 2 November http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.ie/2017/11/six-million-ancestrydna-customers.html marked Ancestry reaching 6 million DNA clients. 

Now it's seven million according to the company corporate website at https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/about-ancestry/our-story/. 

That matches the pace of the previous two million client additions.

On the Road in Ireland

I'm away for a few days without a laptop. Expect a reduced frequency of posting on the blog while I enjoy cold, rain, and occasional snow in Ireland -- that's the forecast. Perhaps the weather will improve by the time of Back to the Past in Belfast, 16-17 February.

Findmypast adds two Durham Diocese browse collections

As of last Friday two Durham Diocese browse collections are added to Findmypast, sourced from FamilySearch. They are:
Durham Diocese Bishop's Transcripts 1639-1919 Image Browse (over 300 volumes).
If you can find transcript information from, say the IGI, knowing the parish and year will minimize the number of pages you need to scroll through to find the image you seek.
Durham Diocese, Calendar Of Marriage Bonds & Allegations 1594-1815 Image Browse (16 volumes). There is an index to men's names.

Votes for Women

On 6 February 2018, 100 years ago today, the Representation of the People Act was passed in the UK. All men over 21 and women over the age of 30 who met certain requirement acquired the right to vote.
Votes for women was the culmination of a campaign, which can be traced back at least as far as a petition presented to the UK House of Commons on 4 June 1866.
To mark the occasion Findmypast added the Suffragette Collection, some searchable, with over 3,000 records recording the details of the women and men who supported women's suffrage in the early 20th century. It includes arrest records, parliamentary papers, watch list of over 1,300 suffragettes, personal statements, reports of force-feeding, and transcripts of speeches from The (UK) National Archives series AR1, CRIM9, HO144, HO45, HO140, MEPO2, and MEPO3.
Also check out TNA's Sufferage 100 web portal.

What is PERSI and How Can You Use it to Improve Your Genealogy Research?

In yesterday's post about Sunny Morton's Legacy Family Tree webinar it was mentioned that Findmypast is the exclusive online source for PERSI, the Periodical Source Index from the Allen Country Public Library.
Find out more about PERSI in a recent short podcast from AncestralFindings.com. The YouTube version has just the title slide, no distracting images, with clear audio presentation.

Home Child Bonuses

Thanks to Dianne Nolin for a comment to a previous post pointing to a list of philanthropic organization emigrating children and youth receiving bonuses at $2 a head—Sessional Papers of Canada 1910:
Dr. Barnardo’s Home, $2,170;
Catholic Emigration Association, $266;
Children's Emigration Homes, Birmingham, $212;
Church of England Waifs and Strays Society, London, $170;
Geo. Greenway, Toronto, $144;
Hurst House Training Home, South Croydon, $26;
Miss Mac-Pherson’s House of Industry, London, $168;
Manchester and Salford Boys and Girls Refuges, Manchester, $104;
National Children’s Home and Orphanage, London, $148;
Orphan Homes of Scotland, $316;
Self Help Emigration Society, $78;
Sheltering Home, Liverpool, $278.

The government of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, prime minister from 1896 to 1911, was keen to stimulate development. It also paid bonuses to other types of agencies listed in the same sessional paper to build Canada's population.
Payment of incentives continued under governments of various stripes.
Maybe I should declare a conflict of interest here!
When I emigrated during the Pearson years, an interest free government loan paid my passage. Paid back within a year, the interest foregone was certainly greater than $2; and Canadian Pacific benefited from the extra passenger.
The charge has been made that some philanthropic organizations only migrated to Canada owing to the profit generated from Government of Canada bonuses.

According to the book Memoirs of the late Dr. Barnardo the cost to feed, clothe, and educate a healthy child for one year was £16 ($80)*.
At the time of his death in 1905 his organization had received a total of 3.25 million UK pounds in donations for his charitable work with children, much of it in small donations.
The government bonuses received, if $2 for each of the 15,687 migrated to Canada at the time of his death, amounted to less than one-tenth of one per cent of the total. Helpful, but a prime motivator for conducting a migration program?

*There's a chart of historic exchange rates in Appendix C at https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dollar_book.pdf

"Comparing the Genealogy Giants: Ancestry, FamilySearch, Findmypast and MyHeritage”

One of the most often asked questions is which genealogy site to subscribe to. The answer is—it depends. In my own case that means strength in British records and DNA.
This is a shutout for the recording of the Legacy Family Tree webinar "Comparing the Genealogy Giants: Ancestry, FamilySearch, Findmypast and MyHeritage” by Sunny Morton. It's available to view at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com for free for a limited time.
Sunny Morton gives a well reasoned presentation. I agree with almost everything thing she has to say comparing historical records, online trees, DNA tools, access options and the strengths of each site.

Where to find Cornwall Parish Records Online

On Friday FamilySearch updated its collection England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010 to 840,334 entries. It comprises 228 parishes, a few in the adjacent county of Devon. Baptisms are to 1910, marriages to 1935, and burials to present.

The Cornwall Online Parish Clerk has transcription records for 1,362,614 baptisms, 514,445 banns and marriages and 1,140,537 burials for a total of 3,017,596 records.

The above are free. What's available at the commercial sites?

Ancestry has Cornwall, England, Parish Registers, 1538-2010 with 339,301 entries for 228 parishes sourced from FamilySearch.

Findmypast includes 1,084,155 baptisms, 489,952 marriages and 280,580 burials. There are also 313,323 Cornwall memorial inscriptions. A total of 310 parishes are listed.

TheGenealogist has records for 236 Cornwall parishes, mostly baptisms and marriages. I couldn't find information on the number of records.

MyHeritage does not include Cornwall parish records.

in addition Society of Genealogists members have access to records for five Cornwall parishes.

If you know the parish of interest check it out GENUKI Cornwall for other possible resources.

Did I miss anything? If so please post a comment.

No.1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station Transcriptions and Biographies

40 more biographies have been added BIFHSGO’s centenary project to honour the 800+ soldiers who died at No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station in the First World War.
There are now over 400 stories, and they're not just about Canadians. I spotted Australian, British, French, German, Irish, New Zealand and Serb.
Start at https://bifhsgo.ca/cstm_cdnCasClrStn.php where you'll find a description and alphabetic list.

Were Canada's Home Children Orphans?

I was surprised to read the following in a speech in the House of Commons on home children on Thursday, 1 February by Linda Duncan (Edmonton Strathcona).

Canadians were falsely led to believe these children were orphans who had been living on the streets of British cities, but in truth only 2% were. Most of the children came from intact families that had fallen on hard times. 

Where did that information come from?

Of the 39 cases in British Home Children: Their Stories 14 are situations where both parents were deceased prior to the emigration. That's over one-third.

In many of the other cases one parent had died and for whatever reason the single parent was unable to cope. A broken home, alcoholism, father dead and mother a prostitute, illegitimacy where the father was not know, and remarriage where the child was not accepted by the step-parent are among the causes. While some situations are unclear and cases where "intact families that had fallen on hard times" are documented it is not "most."

Statistics for 1910-12 from English Life Tables No. 15 (pdf)from the UK Office of National Statistics indicate that 11 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women at age 25 would be dead by the time a child born at that time was age 15. That's for the whole of England and Wales—the expectation of life was shorter for earlier periods and for those living in the deprived areas of the cities where many of the young immigrants were raised.

With only the workhouse system for support it's unsurprising many turned to charitable agencies for the chance of a better life for their children or wards in Canada than they could realistically expect in Britain.

The bright side of the picture is the young immigrants who, judging by the admittedly small but unbiased sample in British Home Children: Their Stories, went on to lead a long and fulfilled life as contributing members of society. They overcame prejudice toward them, just as it existed toward other minorities—Asians, Irish, Indigenous, and today Jews and Muslims.

Voilà – Canada’s new National Union Library Catalogue

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has launched Voilà, Canada’s new national union library catalogue, hosted on the OCLC website.
OCLC stands for Online Computer Library Center, Incorporated, a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization operating in over 100 countries.
Entries from AMICUS, the old national union catalogue, from hundreds of libraries across Canada that subscribe to OCLC are now available through Voilà.
According to the LAC press release "LAC will start enriching Voilà to provide public access to its own holdings later this year." I was curious—how much LAC content is now available?
A Voilà search finds the 32 English language (sic) books with subject genealogy published in 2017 listed below. The titles of the nine in the Library and Archives Canada database are shown in red.

Gabriel Faugas dit Raymond et ses descendants, 1725-2017
by Jean-Louis Bussières, Lise Le Comte, Ginette Raymond, Association des familles Raymond (Faugas)

TRACING YOUR PRE-VICTORIAN ANCESTORS : a guide to research methods for family historians.
by JOHN. WINTRIP

Finding Oprah's roots : finding your own
by Henry Louis Gates Jr.,

The journey : a Reinson family history
by Donna J Reinson Koper

The Family Tree Italian genealogy guide : how to trace your family tree in Italy
by Melanie D. Holtz, Family Tree Books

Mastering genealogical documentation
by Thomas W. Jones

Al-Maqrīzī's al-Ḫabar ʻan al-bašar vol. V, section 4: Persia and its kings, part I
by Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī Maqrīzī, Jaakko. Hameen-Anttila

Jayewardene, Udunuwara Urulawatte Perera, Corea, Samarasinghe, Goonetilleke, Perera Wijegoonewardena, and other inter-related family genealogy : including Bandaranaike, De Alwis, Thudugala, & Jayetilleke Hulugalle lineages
by Anne-Marie. Samarasinghe

Famille Chatigny
by Charles G. Clermont

German genealogy research in Pomerania : with specific examples of Kreis Schlawe research
by Donna Schilling

Birth, marriage and death notices from the Carleton Place herald
by D. M. Allen, Joan McKay, John Charles Patton, Ontario Genealogical Society. Ottawa Branch,

RESEARCHER'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN GENEALOGY. 4TH EDITION.
by VAL D. GREENWOOD

Electric city : the Stehelins of New France
by Paul H. Stehelin

Genealogies and Conceptual Belonging : Zones of Interference between Gender and Diversity.
by Eike. Marten

Early descendants of James Cole of Plymouth, Massachusetts
by Susan E Roser

Tracing villains and their victims : a guide to criminal ancestors for family historians
by Jonathan Oates

The Family Tree Irish genealogy guide : how to trace your ancestors in Ireland
by Claire. Santry

The Family Tree cemetery field guide : how to find, record, & preserve your ancestors' graves
by Joy Neighbors, Family Tree Books

Tracing your nonconformist ancestors : a guide for family and local historians
by Stuart A. Raymond

Chinese Pioneer Family
by Johanna Margarete Menzel. Meskill

Mullet family history & genealogy: Emanuel J. Mullet
by LaVina Miller Weaver

Genealogy
by Matthew Helm, April Leigh Helm

International Vital Records Handbook
by Thomas Jay Kemp

Ancestors : who we are and where we come from
by David Hertzel

A dictionary of family history : the genealogists' ABC
by Jonathan Scott (Freelance writer),

The MacLeods of Prince Edward Island
by Harold S. MacLeod

The Haldanes of Gleneagles : a Scottish history from the twelfth century to the present day
by Neil Stacy

Genealogy For Dummies
by Matthew Helm, April Leigh Helm

Tracing your ancestors' lives : a guide to social history for family historians
by Barbara J. Starmans

Dauphinee family chronicles : ancestry, arrival, aspirations and achievements in Shelburne
by WD Dauphinee, Shelburne County Archives & Genealogical Society

Tracing your Irish and Scots-Irish Ancestors

A reminder that registration for the Saturday 10 March Ottawa session of the Ulster Historical Foundation 2018 North America tour mentioned previously is now available to all.
Registration is online only, and closes on 7 March. Optionally you can also order a box lunch.
Find out more and register here.
BIFHSGO members get a discount by logging on to the member only area.

MyHeritage DNA Advances

I'm impressed. My Heritage is moving fast in the fast changing world of genetic genealogy.
Earlier this week FamilyTreeWebinars, now part of MyHeritage, aired a webinar on MyHeritage's DNA Matching Technology which explains everything you need to know about using the service, including that you can upload autosomal DNA test data from other companies to them for free.
Watch at https://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=801/.
The major new announcement in the webinar was the soon to be released chromosome browser enabling comparison of up to seven matches.

Since the webinar a feature in beta has been added giving a perspective on the MyHeritage DNA dataset.
Here's the list of the top five ethnicities, by per cent, in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA according to MyHeritage DNA users' data.

Ethnicity	Aust	Can	GB	Ire	NZ	USA
English	47.0	38.8	50.0	15.2	53.5	39.9
Scandinavian	30.3	29.6	30.4	11.6	35.5	35.1
North and West European	29.6	31.5	28.1	8.3	27.8	35.1
Irish, Scottish, and Welsh	21.6	22.2	33.2	84.7	22.5	15.7
Iberian	13.5	22.2	14.2	10.2	12.7	20.3

I've ordered these in the table by median across the set. You'll notice that the sum for any country is more than 100%; we all have a diverse ancestry. The dataset is not reflective of the ancestry for the country as a whole, just those with DNA data in the MyHeritage collection.
Also since the webinar it's announced that contacting DNA Matches is now free to all MyHeritage DNA users — both managers of MyHeritage DNA kits and uploaders of DNA data from other companies. With one million DNA clients on the site everyone who has taken a test should seriously consider transferring data. I found a new match to an identifiable cousin when I did.

Twice as many Home Children were in Good placements as Poor.

Treatment of young immigrants, orphaned or abused in Britain, in their placements in Canada is a matter of sometimes heated debate. What's the reality?
In 2010 the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa published British Home Children: Their Stories. It includes information on 39 young immigrants who arrived in Canada from the UK between 1873 and 1938. Their average year of birth was 1893, age on arrival 12 years with a range of 4 to 17.
I reviewed these stories trying to discern their situation in their Canadian placement. In many instances there were two or more placements with an indication the earlier were not satisfactory, although it may also be that the first host's circumstances changed—including death.
Two of the stories omitted any mention of the treatment in the placement. The rest I categorized as either poor, fair or good splitting the assignment 50/50 where the situation in more than one placement was given.
Eight placements (21%) I judged to be poor; 12.5 (32%) fair and 16.5 (42%) good.
While acknowledging that this is  just a handful of the 100,000 or so young immigrants, for this sample twice as many were in good placements as poor.
Even a good placement often involved hard work and long hours—the nature of farm life—and the legacy of unfortunate childhood experience in the UK.
It's well to remember that a large percentage of the young immigrants were beyond school leaving age and considered as workers, not children. For much of the period childhood was regarded as preparation for working life which started as early as possible.
Times change. Those who think it's appropriate to judge actions in the past by today's standards should expect to be judged themselves by tomorrow's standards.

Ancestry adds Wiltshire, England, Wills and Probate, 1530-1858

Until 1858 probate was handled by the Established Church of England, with the responsible ecclesiastical court depending on how broadly assets of the deceased were scattered. For those of modest means the matter would usually be handled by a local deanery or archdeanery.
If that doesn't seem too complicated the devil is in the detail.
Wiltshire, England, Wills and Probate, 1530-1858 now online, sourced from the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, with 102,570 entries combines the holdings of no less than 30 such local courts.
A search will return name, probate year (which could be well after the death), probate place, record type and a link leading to an image of the original document.

Internet Genealogy Feb/Mar 2018

Here's the line-up in the latest issue of Internet Genealogy from Moorshead Magazines.

In the first article At Your Service: The Generous Genealogist, Washington DC-based Sue Lisk offers five ways to consider assisting other family historians in their research quests. The first, mentoring, is accompanied by a list of ten skills of effective mentors — for most of us aspirational.

In Bringing Ancestor Stories to Life with Animoto frequent contributor Lisa A. Alzo reviews this online video service to help you create and share family stories based on your own photos. The description is clear, especially as there's a link to an example Lisa produced. In common with most reviews in IG it would benefit from mention of alternatives — can you produce much the same product with Powerpoint?

That’s Entertainment! a longer article, has well-known US speaker and podcaster George G. Morgan looking at American ancestors’ amusements in the first half of the 20th century. We can spice-up any family history with content about an ancestor's times — much of which for Canadians permeated across the border from the US.

Gena Philibert-Ortega writes about 10 Databases You Didn’t Know Were on Ancestry.com, a site focus means the databases refer to US records.

Calgary-based travel writer Jill Browne uses the Irish port of Cobh, previously known as Queenstown from where many emigrants set sail and the last post of call of the Titanic, as the subject of her article Do You Have Lost Irish Ancestors? While the odds of finding any records there are slim the writing is interesting enough to tempt me to make it a stop during my forthcoming trip.

With a title Tampa Florida Moves Into The Future I was half-expecting to read about the hazard of sea level rise caused by climate change and how to ensure records survive inundation. In a way it is as Leslie Michele Derrough, apparently a charter member of the George G. Morgan admiration society, interviews him about the importance of preserving genealogical records at the local level through digitization.

Another IG regular David A. Norris looks at Zeppelin Passenger Lists and US Navy Airship Records in Airships and Family History.

In Digital Library on American Slavery… and More! Diane L. Richard discusses the growing body of online resources that might be helpful in researching pre-1870 slavery records.

The issue concludes with the regular NetNotes column by Diane L. Richard and Back Page by Dave Obee.

The back cover of the magazine mentions the scope of coverage, including DNA. While there's nothing on genetic genealogy in this particular issue it does remind me to mention Moorshead's volume, DNA & Your Genealogy authored by Maurice Gleeson now available.