British Newspaper Archives additions for December

The British Newspaper Archive now has a total of 29,480,604 pages online (28,935,426 last month.)  26 papers (23 last month) had pages added in the past month.

A year ago there were 23,319,767 pages, 17,567,270 pages a year earlier. At the present rate the 40 million page project target would be reached in August 2020, a slight advance on a year ago.

Three quarters of the major additions in December, titles with more than 10,000 pages, were Irish titles from the 20th century as tabulated below.

TITLE	PAGES	DATE RANGE
Drogheda Argus and Leinster Journal	81,334	1965-1969, 1971-1986, 1988-2005
Western Mail	58,830	1912, 1919-1923, 1933-1938, 1946-1947, 1952, 1959
Kerryman	15,034	1986-1987, 1991, 2003-2005
Belfast Telegraph	75,220	1973-1983
Evening Herald (Dublin)	80,994	1991, 1993, 1999-2000
Newcastle Evening Chronicle	29,208	1885-1892, 1895-1896, 1899-1908
Irish Independent	87,432	1992, 2001, 2007, 2009
Cheshire Observer	15,010	1901-1913, 1919-1930
Sunday Tribune	11,386	1989, 2004
The Bioscope	24,424	1919-1922, 1924
Enniscorthy Guardian	19,986	1890, 2001-2002, 2004-2005

Top posts of 2018

Here month by month are the most viewed posts on Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections for 2018.

January — Ontario Historical Land Registration Books Online
February — Twice as many Home Children were in Good placements as Poor
March — The Irish in Upper Canada, 1819-1840
April — Maurice Gleeson Free Webinar: Using DNA with Your Study
May — Halifax, Nova Scotia City Directories Online
June — 1926 Census of the Prairie Provinces
July — Surnames Resource
August — Sunday Sundries
September — Winnipeg Tribune Archive Online
October — New location for Quebec Family History Society
November — Postmedia newspapers digitized by Ancestry
December — DNA Cousins are more distant than they appear

As 2018 draws to a close thanks for your suggestions for posts and your comments.

A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR.

Yuletide R&R

Don't hesitate, buy your GRO certificates now

A few days ago it was announced that England and Wales BMD certificates from the GRO will see prices rise on 16 February 2019.  

The headline was paper certificates increasing from £9.25 to £11. 

I'd not noticed before that PDF certificates will rise from £6 to £7.

Sales of these certificates continues to be a cash cow for the GRO. 

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Married Men Outearn Single Men (and Women as a Whole)
Analysis of US data show that when marital status is factored in, single men tend to earn roughly what single women and married women do, while married men far outearn the other three groups.

Estimates of the Heritability of Human Longevity Are Substantially Inflated due to Assortative Mating
Look at what can be done with pedigree data from Ancestry public trees. Includes some interesting stats on Ancestry public trees.
Although “nominal heritability” estimates based on correlations among genetic relatives agreed with prior literature, the majority of that correlation was also captured by correlations among nongenetic (in-law) relatives, suggestive of highly assortative mating around life span-influencing factors (genetic and/or environmental). Assortative mating is individuals with similar phenotypes mating with one another more frequently than would be expected under a random mating pattern.  The true heritability of human longevity for birth cohorts across the 1800s and early 1900s was well below 10%, and that it has been generally overestimated due to the effect of assortative mating.

Everyday terrorism: A woman or girl is killed every other day in Canada

For perspective from StatsCan "In 2017, the majority of both homicide victims (74% or 485 victims) and those accused (87% or 459 accused) were male. These proportions have remained relatively stable over the past 13 years for victims of homicide and since the beginning of collection (1961) for accused of homicide."

Charles Dickens on Seeing the Poor
Via Tim Taylor, the Conversable Economist, a piece by Dickens written for the weekly journal Household Words that he edited from 1850 to 1859. It's from the issue of January 26, 1856, with his first-person reporting on "A Nightly Scene in London."

Yuletide R&R

The Son Also Rises: surnames and the history of social mobility

The social status of a person in the current generation can be explained by the social status of prior generations.

That's the conclusion Gregory Clark came to when confronted with evidence of the persistence of status over 500 years that was too glaring to ignore. As he writes "I was forced to abandon my cherry assurance that one of the joys of the capitalist economy was its pervasive and rapid social mobility. Having for years poured scorn on my colleagues in sociology for all their obsessions with such illusionary categories as class, I now have evidence that the individual's life chances were predictable not just from the status of the parents but from that of the great great great grandparents. Indeed there seems to be an inescapable inheritance substrata, looking suspiciously like social class, that underlies the outcomes for all individuals."

Clark's book The Son Also Rises: surnames and the history of social mobility published in 2014 documents examples from various countries. The graph, based on probate records for England and Wales, shows how surnames associated with different classes maintain their relative wealth over 150 years showing only a slow regression to the mean.

Find the book at https://www.amazon.com/Son-Also-Rises-Surnames-Princeton/dp/0691168377 or, as I did, at the Ottawa Public Library.

Yuletide R&R

FamilySearch adds England, Cheshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1598-1900

This new collection, as of 27 December on FamilySearch,  contains 2,179,329 baptismal, marriage, and burial records in the county of Cheshire for the years 1598-1900. Search and find an index record linked to an image or images.

The original records are held at the Cheshire Archives.

Findmypast has a more complete Cheshire collection.

Not to be overlooked, almost 500 Cheshire tithe maps available free online, together with the information recorded in tithe apportionments, record of land ownership, occupancy and use in Cheshire 150 years ago.

Book Review: Tracing Your Oxfordshire Ancestors

Experienced family historians know that while you can get a long way with the resources offered by the top websites there's more to be discovered on smaller sites, and many times more items held offline. You only find out about those by consulting a local specialist, and that's what's offered by Pen and Sword's Tracing Your [name] Ancestors series. Name can be a place, an event, an occupation or other cohort.

The country of Oxfordshire, which ranks 35th by population and 22nd by area among the traditional English counties, is the subject of the latest volume. While modest in those dimensions it has considerable heritage of interest to local and family historians.

Author Nicola Lisle (@NicolaLisle1), an Oxfordshire-based freelance journalist specializing in local history, family history and the arts and a contributor to newsstand genealogy magazines organizes the material in 10 chapters.

1. Introduction to Oxfordshire
2. Getting Started with Oxfordshire Records
3. Church of England and Non-Conformity
4. Healthcare, Poverty and Crime.
5. Agricultural Industries
6. Transport and Industry
7. Education
8. Oxfordshire at War
9. Oxfordshire at Play
10. Directory of Archives, Libraries and Other Useful Resources

Whether you intend using the book as reference or for study be sure to read the introductory first chapter. If you're not sure of the geography you might want to open a map of the county for reference while you read about the various communities named. Lack of a map in the book is one oversight.

Dip into the subsequent specialized chapters. In each for the beginner there's usually some general context for topics of interest. Be patient if that's below your grade level — you may only discover what for you might be gems for your research later in the chapter by a close reading. For example, a website for the Banbury Second World War Memorial.

A three page Table of Contents and five page Index means you won't struggle to find the topic of your interest.

Even the experienced family historian newly chasing her ancestry into the county will find this a valuable addition to her resource collection.

Tracing Your Oxfordshire Ancestors (Paperback)
A Guide for Family Historians
By Nicola Lisle
Imprint: Pen & Sword Family History
Series: Tracing your Ancestors
Pages: 200
ISBN: 9781526723956
Published: 21st November 2018
Cover price: £14.00, $24.95 US

Yuletide R&R

What did your Ag Lab ancestor earn?

Gregory Clark, Professor of Economics at UC Davis has compiled data on the history of the English economy, 1150 - 1914 from which I extracted this data on Ag Lab wages.
The jump at the time of the black death in the late 1340s, climb to a peak during the Napoleonic War and subsequent collapse which prompted emigration, are evident.
There's much more at his website like prices of 22 domestic farm products, 1500-1914 wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas, beans, potatoes, hops, straw, hay, beef, mutton, pork, bacon, tallow, milk, cheese, butter, wool, eggs, faggots (firewood), timber; 
"The Price History of English Agriculture, 1500-1914"; farmland rents 1208-1914; and estimated wheat yields and wheat prices, annually, 1208-1452. It's worth checking out when looking to put your ancestors in context.

http://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/gclark/data.html

Yuletide R&R

FreeBMD December update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Wednesday 19 December 2018 to contain 268,185,403 unique records (267,844,455 at previous update).
Years with major additions, greater than 5,000 records, are: for births 1964, 1978, 1980, 1982-86; for marriages 1965, 1980, 1985-86; for deaths 1981-83, 1985.

www.freebmd.org.uk/

Yuletide R&R

Yuletide R&R Extra

Conference – Canada 1919: A Country Shaped by War

Thursday, 17 January to 19 Saturday, January, 2019

Join world-renowned historians to explore different aspects of the First World War and its many legacies: the return of Indigenous veterans, the conflict’s impact on French Canada, the contributions of nurses, the challenges of forging peace from the ashes of war, and much more. Scholars and history buffs won’t want to miss this bilingual academic conference, organized by the Canadian War Museum in conjunction with the exhibition Victory 1918 – The Last 100 Days and in commemoration of the centenary of the end of the conflict.

www.warmuseum.ca/event/country-shaped-by-war-canada-1919/

Yuletide R&R

Shared Surnames between Canada, France the UK and USA

If you take the top 100 surnames in each of Canada, France, the UK and USA there are 304 unique names. In three of those countries 20 names are in the top 100  - ALLEN, ANDERSON, BROWN, CLARK, DAVIS, GREEN, HALL, HARRIS, HILL, JACKSON, JOHNSON, JONES, KELLY, MARTIN, MURPHY, ROBERTS, ROSS, SMITH, THOMAS, WILSON.

The table is a count of the names in common between countries. Canada and the USA have more top 100 names in common reflecting the porosity of the border. The USA and UK share 27 top 100 names, the UK and Canada 19.
The USA has most shared top 100 names closely followed by Canada. France has the fewest. The one shared name between France and the UK is Lambert.

	Canada	France	UK	USA
Canada	100	9	19	44
France	9	100	1	5
UK	19	1	100	27
USA	44	5	27	100
Total	172	115	147	176

The lists of names are found at www.locatemyname.com/ for Canada, France and the UK, and at 

https://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm for the USA.

A Genealogist's Christmas Eve

"Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even my spouse.

The dining room table with clutter was spread
With pedigree charts and with letters which said…

"Too bad about the data for which you wrote
Sank in a storm on an ill-fated boat."

Stacks of old copies of wills and the such
Were proof that my work had become much too much.

Our children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.

And I at my table was ready to drop,
From work on my album with photos to crop.

Christmas was here, and of such was my lot
That presents and goodies and toys I"d forgot.

Had I not been so busy with grandparents' wills,
I'd not have forgotten to shop for such thrills.

While others had bought gifts that would bring Christmas cheer,
I'd spent time researching those birthdates and years.

While I was thus musing about my sad plight,
A strange noise on the lawn gave ne such a great fright.

Away to the windows I flew in a flash,
Tore open the drapes and I yanked up the sash.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But an overstuffed sleigh and eight small reindeer.

Up to the housetop the reindeer they flew,
With a sleigh full of toys, and 'ole Santa Claus. too.

And then in a twinkle, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of thirty-two hoofs.

The TV antenna was no match for their horns.
And look at our roof with hoof-prints adorned.

As I drew in my head, and bumped it on the sash,
Down the cold chimney fell Santa - KER-RASH!

"Dear" Santa had come from the roof in a wreck,
And tracked soot on the carpet, (I could wring his short neck!)

Spotting my face, good old Santa could see,
I had no Christmas spirit you'd have to agree.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, (I felt like a jerk).

Here was Santa, who'd brought us such gladness and joy;
When I'd been too busy for even one toy.

He spied my research on the table all spread,
"A genealogist!" He cried! (My face was all red!)

Tonight I've met many like you, Santa grinned,
As he pulled from his sack a large book he had penned.

I gazed with amazement - the cover it read,
"Genealogy Lines for Which You Have Plead".

"I know what it's like as a genealogy bug,"
He said as he gave me a great Santa hug.

While the elves make the sleighful of toys I now carry,
I do some research in the North Pole Library!"

"A special treat I am thus able to bring,
To genealogy folks who can't find a thing".

"Now off you go to your bed for a rest,
I'll clean up the house from this genealogy mess."

As I climbed up the stairs full of gladness and glee,
I looked back at Santa who'd brought much to me.

While settling in bed, I heard Santa's clear whistle,
To his team, which then rose like the down of a thistle.

And I heard him exclaim as he flew out of sight,
"Family History is Fun! Merry Christmas Goodnight"

Yuletide R&R

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

LAC Progress Report Q2 (July to September 2018)
It's a mixed picture with some notable successes, some less so. The block review process has opened much more than the 1 million pages of government records available per year target, but LAC is falling behind in making them discoverable by users.
Most disappointing is that now the CEF service file digitization project is complete the pace of digitization has dropped with still 24% of the 30 million three year target of images remaining to be digitized with 17% of the period remaining.

For the First Time in More Than 20 Years, Copyrighted Works Will Enter the US Public Domain
At midnight on New Year’s Eve, all works first published in the United States in 1923 will enter the public domain.

Best Sites for Finding Song Lyrics

Book Review: A Year of Turner & the Thames
"... a journey, but also a journal, of a year spent tracing the footsteps of Joseph Mallord William Turner. The beautiful narration draws together several threads, charting the life and times of Turner and visits made in pursuit of this, interwoven with entertaining accounts of encounters on the way."

Conversation with Daniel Kahneman
Kahneman joined Tyler Cowen for a live conversation about bias, noise and more, including happiness, memory, the replication crisis in psychology, advice to CEOs about improving decision-making, superforecasters, the influence of Freud, working in a second language, the value of intuition, and why he can’t help you win arguments with a spouse.

Yuletide R&R starts tomorrow

My annual break this year has things old and new.

Can't wait.  Look back at these which have been popular for the last two years.

Findmypast adds Fermanagh BMBs, Donegal and Leitrim Cemetery Records

Fermanagh Parish Registers Baptisms
Looking for someone born in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, between 1660 and 1978? These 15,386 parish register entries may help you discover father's occupation and mother's maiden name if from Aghavea, Bellanaleck, Devenish, Inishmacsaint, and Mullaghdun parishes. Some of the townlands overlap into the nearby counties of Cavan, Monaghan, Sligo, and Donegal.

Fermanagh Parish Registers Marriages
Explore 6,131 parish marriages covering the parishes of Aghavea, Bellanaleck, Devenish, Inishmacsaint, and Mullaghdun parishes in County Fermanagh. The records span the years 1662 and 1949 will reveal the date and location of the marriage as well as the names of both the bride and groom.

Fermanagh Parish Registers Burials
The collection contains 7,767 records of burials in Fermanagh between 1662 and 1912 that may include age, and possibly even their cause of death.

Donegal Cemetery Records
This collection of more than 16,000 records of burials in Ballyshannon and Inishmacsaint, County Donegal, Ireland, between 1681 and 2015. The memorial inscription may also reveal the age and occupation of the deceased, and details of other relatives who were buried in the same grave.
The 'Notes' field provides information on the condition of the gravestone and any decoration, age of the deceased, occupation of deceased, names and ages of other family members who are buried in the same grave, details of the inscription on the headstone, and the erector's name.

Leitrim Cemetery Records
View an image of the gravestone in this collection from Rossinver parish from 1709 to 2015.
Each result has a transcript of the vital facts and an image of the original gravestone. The transcripts should include a combination of full name (including maiden name), age at death, birth year, death year and parish. The records also contain at least one full-colour photograph of the gravestone. You may be able to see the exact location of the grave and the condition of the grave, as well as any inscriptions that are not included in the 'Notes' field of the transcript.

Map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Fermanagh#/media/File:Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Fermanagh.svg

DNA, Me and the Family Tree

A documentary podcast from the BBC

Where do you come from? Tracing your ancestry in the USA is one of the most popular hobbies along with gardening and golf. TV is awash with advertising for the do-it-yourself genetic testing kits which have become much sought after gifts, especially at Christmas time. The kits have revolutionised family tree research and gone are the days of sifting through old documents. But, as Lucy Ash reports, the DNA results are now revealing far more than many had bargained for. How do you react when you find out your mother had a secret affair half a century ago…and the man who raised you isn’t your dad? Produced by Charlotte McDonald.

27 minutes at www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/p06w68bs

2019 Genealogy Webinars

Hard on the heels of the announcement of the 2019 BCG webinar series comes news of other webinars offered by and in cooperation with Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Here's the announcement (the word Canad* does not appear).

MyHeritage webinar series
And for the second year - we will be the host of the exclusive webinar series, MyHeritage Webinars, where we will learn about matching technology, and get insights into old photos, city directories and much more. Watch this blog for the announcement soon.

Down Under series
We are most proud to host the new Down Under series - webinars designed for genealogists in Australia and New Zealand - at 12pm (noon) on Wednesdays. They'll have their very own Webinar Wednesday with convenient timing. See www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com/downunder.

FGS series
We've partnered with the Federation of Genealogical Societies to help you prepare for their annual conference to be held August 21-24 in Washington DC. First, learn from conference Chair, Pamela Boyer Sayre, in her free webinar What Would You Do If You Had Five Days in Washington DC? Then in March, we will release a 13-class series to learn about the attendee's repository of interest - The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Library of Congress, or Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library. This will give conference goers the special knowledge they need to decide which pre-conference research opportunity they want. This bonus webinar series will be available to FGS registrants and webinar subscribers.

International Languages For the first time, we will host live webinars in foreign languages: Swedish, French, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish and Finnish. More information to come soon.

Closed Captioning
Every webinar recording will be captioned for the hearing impaired. We really are striving to serve the entire world!

BONUS webinars for subscribers
In addition to the live webinar series, every Friday is "Member Friday" where subscribers will enjoy a bonus pre-recorded webinar! Watch for the schedule of titles soon.

Webinar Brochure
Print the webinar brochure to share with your friends, genealogy society, or Family History Center.

FamilyTreeWebinars.com memberships
All live webinars are free and their recordings are free to watch for the first 7 days. With a webinar subscription you get these additional benefits:

- Access to 1) all the existing 833 classes in the library (1,082 hours of quality genealogy education), 2) plus the 116 webinars that will be added during the 2019 season, 3) plus any additional bonus subscribers-only webinars (hundreds of these so far) - all available for the duration of your membership

- Access to all 3,582 pages of instructors' handouts plus the new handouts of the 2019 season

- Access to all webinars and handouts from our new Down Under series

- Chat logs from the live webinars

- Additional 5% off anything at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

- Chance for a bonus subscribers-only door prize during each live webinar

- Additional members-only BONUS webinars

- Playlist, resume watching, and jump-to features

It's just $49.95/year.

Nowhere else - on land, at sea, or online - will you find genealogy courses as comprehensive, diverse, or as numerous as you will find at FamilyTreeWebinars.com.



2019 Webinar Channels and Schedule

Down Under Channel (1st Wednesdays, 12pm Sydney time)
- Researching in Australian Archives by Helen Smith January 2
- Six Feet Under Down Under - Cemetery records in Australia by Jill Ball February 6
- Polled! Finding your ancestors in New South Wales colonial muster and census returns by Carol Baxter March 6
- One Touch Genealogy Research: How to Handle a Record Just Once by Thomas MacEntee April 3
- English Parish Records: More than Hatch, Match and Dispatch by Helen Smith May 1
- They really didn’t swim! Finding your ancestors in New South Wales colonial shipping records by Carol Baxter June 5
- Remedies for Copy & Paste Genealogy by Cyndi Ingle July 3
- Finding Families in New Zealand by Fiona Brooker August 7
- Are you Lost? Using Maps, Gazetteers and Directories for British Isles Research by Paul Milner September 4
- The Stories Behind the Segments by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D. October 2
- Trove: An Australian and Beyond Genealogical Treasure by Helen Smith November 6
- Buried Treasures: What’s in the English Parish Chest by Paul Milner December 4


DNA Channel (1st Wednesdays, 2pm eastern U.S. time)
- DNA Rights and Wrongs: The Ethical Side of Testing by Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL January 2
- DNA and the GPS solves a mystery: Hamiltons in Colonial New England by Shellee Morehead, PhD, CG February 6
- A Guide to Third Party Tools For DNA Testing by Michelle Leonard March 6
- An Introduction to DNA Painter by Jonny Perl April 3
- How to use autosomal DNA to resolve historical paternity cases Ugo Perego May 1
- Lessons in Jewish DNA by Israel Pickholtz June 5
- Evaluating Shared DNA by Paul Woodbury July 3
- Case Studies in Gray: Identifying Shared Ancestries Through DNA and Genealogy by Nicka Smith August 7
- Combining DNA and Traditional Research - In-Depth Case Studies by Michelle Leonard September 4
- A Day Out With Your DNA by Diahan Southard October 2
- Understanding Ethnicity Estimates by Mary Eberle, JD November 6
- Which Spot Does ‘X’ Mark, Anyway? X-DNA Testing in Action by Debra Renard December 4
**other DNA webinars in Misc and MyHeritage Channels


MyHeritage Channel (2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 2pm eastern U.S. time)
Registration coming soon...

Foreign Language Channel (2nd Wednesdays, 2pm eastern U.S. time) Registration coming soon...

Misc Channel (2nd/5th Wednesdays, 8/2pm eastern U.S. time)
- Maintaining an Organized Computer by Cyndi Ingle January 9
- You Can Do This: Photo Organizing and Preservation by Thomas MacEntee January 30
- Reconstructing Your Genetic Family Tree by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D. February 13
- Reclaim The Records: Using Freedom of Information Laws for Genealogy by Brooke Ganz March 13
- Plain Folk – Researching Amish and Mennonite Families by Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, AG April 10
- Surprise Webinar by Surprise Guest May 8
- Tools for Translating and Transcribing Genealogy Records by Thomas MacEntee May 29
- Tracking Your Digital Bread Crumbs: Bookmarks, Toolbars, Notes, and Other Applications by Cyndi Ingle June 12
- Prince Edward Island Repositories and Records by Melanie McComb July 10
- Google Photos: one photo app to rule them all by Devin Ashby July 31
- Basics of Land Platting - Part 1 by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA August 14
- Advanced DNA Techniques: Using Phasing to Test DNA Segments by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D. September 11
- 50 Records that Document Female Ancestors by Gena Philibert-Ortega October 9
- Seven Steps to Manage Digital Files by Denise May Levenick October 30
- Soldier’s Homes (1865-1930) – Caring for our veterans by Rick Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA November 13
- Grandma's Obituary Box: The Use of Obituaries in Genealogical Research and Their Role in American Culture by Pam Stone Eagleson, CG December 11


Board for Certification of Genealogists Channel (3rd Tuesdays, 8pm eastern U.S. time)
- Visualizing Information for Genealogists by Margaret R. Fortier, CG January 15
- Applying Evidence to Genealogical Research Questions by Melissa Johnson, CG February 19
- The Five-story Fall: Correlating Indirect and Direct Evidence to Extend the Pedigree by Debra S. Mieszala, CG March 19
- Transcribing Documents: There is More Than Meets the Eye! by LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG April 16
- Valid and Unsound Assumptions: What Was She Thinking? by Jeanne Bloom, CG May 21
- Using Another Library Source: the Government Document Section by Patricia Stamm, CG, CGL June 18
- Lesser Used Records for Research in the Netherlands by Yvette Hoitink, CG July 16 *2pm start
- Ten Tools for Genealogical Writing by Harold Henderson, CG August 20
- Civil Law Concepts and Genealogy by Claire Bettag, CG September 17 *live only
- Civil Law Records in Genealogical Research: Notarial Records by Claire Bettag, CG October 15 *live only
- Native American Research: Things You May Not Know by Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA November 19
- Marriages Here, There, and Nowhere: Finding Gretna Greens and Borders by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA December 17


Places/Ethnicity Channel (3rd Wednesdays, 2pm eastern U.S. time)
- What Would You Do If You Had Five Days in Washington, DC? by Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA January 16
- Online Resources for French Genealogy part I by Paul Woodbury February 20
- One African-American family’s story of Migration from the South: A Boarding House in Detroit… by J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA March 20
- Boost Your Germanic Research: Understand Historical Jurisdictions by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, CG April 17
- The 10 Most Useful Databases for Eastern European Research by Lisa Alzo May 15
- Researching in New Mexico by Henrietta Martinez Christmas June 19
- Research Your Newfoundland Ancestors by Tessa Keough July 17
- Bullet Journaling for Genealogy by Shellee Morehead, PhD, CG August 21
- Research Latin America Genealogical Resources on the Internet by Daniel Horowitz September 18
- Italian Civil Registration (Stato Civile): Going Beyond the Basics by Melanie D. Holtz, CG October 16
- A la Karte: Borders, Maps and Gazetteers for German Genealogists by James M. Beidler November 20
- How to trace your UK ancestry by Kirsty Gray December 18


Technology Channel (4th Wednesdays, 2pm eastern U.S. time)
- Using OneNote With Your Genealogy by Tessa Keough January 23
- A Month’s Worth of Must-Have Tech Tips To Start Using Today by Gena Philibert-Ortega February 27
- No Purchase Necessary: Free Genealogy Tools for Your iPad/iPhone by Devin Ashby March 27
- Comparing the Genealogy Giants: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, Findmypast and MyHeritage – 2019 edition by Sunny Morton April 24
- Google Drive: an Office in the Cloud by DearMYRTLE and Russ Worthington May 22
- Spreadsheets 401 : Excel-lent Inspiration by Mary Kircher Roddy June 26
- Should You Take the Hint? Automatic Record Hinting on the Giant Genealogy by Sunny Morton July 24
- Using Teams With Your Genealogy by Tessa Keough August 28
- Meaningful Tables and Graphs for Correlation in Family History by Ruth Wilson Craig, CG September 25
- Top Tech Tips for the Technologist and the Genealogist - 2019 edition by Geoff Rasmussen October 23


Methodology Channel (4th Fridays, 2pm eastern U.S. time)
- Patriot or Not?: Using the Genealogical Proof Standard on a Closed DAR Line by Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL January 25
- Using Timelines and Tables to Analyze Your Research by Cari Taplin, CG February 22
- A Terrible Malady: Disease and Epidemics in New England by Lori Lyn Price, MAS, MLA March 22
- How I Built My Own Brick Wall by Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL April 26
- Compiling a Military Service Record by Craig R. Scott, MA, CG, FUGA May 24
- 5 Steps to Becoming a Good Ancestorby  Marian Pierre-Louis June 28
- Census Hurdles: How to Jump Over or Go Around by Cari Taplin, CG July 26
- Introduction to Forensic Genealogy by Kelvin L. Meyers August 23
- The Home Archivist: Preserving Family Records Like a Pro! by Melissa Barker September 27
- Decoding Secret Societies: Finding Your Female Fraternal Ancestors by Michael L. Strauss, AG October 25
- No Will? No Problem! by Sharon Monson November 22

TheGenealogist adds Lloyd George Domesday Records for Westminster

The following is from a Press Release by TheGenealogist.

Westminster joins the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Records with annotated maps 

TheGenealogist has just released the maps and field books for the Westminster area into its exciting record set, The Lloyd George Domesday Survey. This new release can be used to find where an ancestor lived in 1910 to 1915 in the area around Westminster. This unique combination of maps and residential data held by The National Archives has been digitised by TheGenealogist so that researchers can locate where an ancestor lived. The maps are large scale and exceptionally detailed with hand annotations that, in the majority of cases, allow family historians to find the exact property in the street.

This release of Lloyd George Domesday Survey records covers Westminster and the area shown above

Researchers often have difficulty using modern maps to find where ancestors lived as road names changed over time, the Blitz saw areas bombed to destruction, developers changed sites out of all resemblance from what had stood there before and lanes and roads were extinguished to build housing estates and office blocks. As these records are linked to the maps from the period this means that you have the ability to find the streets as they existed when the survey was carried out and often pinpoint where the old properties had once been.

● Links properties to extremely detailed ordnance survey maps used in 1910 
● Shows the original Field book giving a detailed description of the property
● Fully searchable by name, parish and street

Complementing the maps on TheGenealogist are the accompanying Field Books that will provide researchers with detailed information relative to the valuation of each property, including the valuation assessment number, map reference, owner, occupier, situation, description and extent.

This mammoth project is ongoing with over 94,500 Field Books, each having hundreds of pages of information on properties to digitise with associated large scale IR121 annotated OS maps. 

The release this month covers the civil parishes of Brook, Bryanston Square, Cavendish Square, Church, Conduit, Curzon, Dorset Square, Dover, Great Marlborough, Grosvenor, Hamilton Terrace, Hamlet of Knightsbridge, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge, Lancaster Gate, Liberty Of The Rolls, Maida Vale, Pall Mall, Petty France, Pimlico North, Pimlico South, Portland Place, Portman Square, Queens Park, Regent 1, Regent 2, St Anne Soho, St Clement Danes, St John Westminster, St Martin in the Fields, St Mary Le Strand, St Paul Covent Garden, Westbourne and Westminster. More areas will be released soon for other London Boroughs and the county of Buckinghamshire.

Find out about these land records at: TheGenealogist.co.uk/1910Survey/ 

You can read our feature article “Westminster Lloyd George Domesday Survey reveals the American born MP and the Lady with the Lamp” at:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2018/westminster-lloyd-george-domesday-survey-reveals-the-american-born-mp-and-the-lady-with-the-lamp-1017/

FamilySearch updates Ireland, Civil Registration

The FamilySearch version of Ireland Civil Registration, 1845-1913 was updated on 19 December to contain 3,585,505 records, up from 2,996,793 in October.
These are copies of the original documents and volumes held at the General Register Office and include 1864-1913 births, 1845-1870 marriages, and 1864-1870 deaths. 
Do you need something more up to date from FamilySearch? Try Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958, or you can go to the source from the GRO in Ireland at www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/irish-records-what-is-available/civil-records.

New UK Titles from Ancestry in 2018

It's easy to overlook additions to genealogy databases. There were 28 additions to UK titles in the Ancestry collection in 2018 for a total of 95,434,950 records. That's according to the card catalog and including some smaller ones for Jersey, Gibraltar and pre-1810 probate records for Ireland.

The major addition was the 1939 National Register for England and Wales accounting for 48 per cent of the new records. Together with London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943 and Liverpool, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1970 it accounts for 77 per cent of the new records.

Here's a complete list of the new titles on Ancestry. I've included the one Canadian title added this year.

Title	Records
1939 England and Wales Register	45,876,575
London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943	19,793,623
Liverpool, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1970	8,128,468
Norfolk, England, Transcripts of Church of England Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1600-1935	5,930,500
Edinburgh, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1966	4,898,177
Aberdeen City and Former Counties of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Electoral Registers, 1832-1976	3,219,223
UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923	1,958,049
Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers, Burgess Rolls and Poll Books, 1722-1966	1,694,140
UK, Allied Prisoners of War, 1939-1945	1,294,406
Yorkshire, England, Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1873	1,192,245
UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939	643,303
Kent, England, Extracted Parish Records, 1539-1876	149,928
Fife, Scotland, School Admissions and Discharges, 1867-1916	138,517
Wiltshire, England, Wills and Probate, 1530-1858	102,570
Web: Scotland, Sheriff Court Paternity Decrees, 1792-1922	68,621
Buckinghamshire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1535-1812	64,981
Worcestershire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1541-1812	64,575
Cheshire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1564-1837	51,686
Ireland, Index to the Prerogative Wills, 1536-1810	38,829
Web: Jersey, Hospital and Poor House Admissions, 1879-1916	29,132
UK, Historical Photographs and Prints, 1704-1989	23,310
Cambridgeshire, England, Juror Books, 1828-1883	20,157
Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, Dockyard Employee Books, 1892-1967	18,474
Web: Gibraltar, WWII Evacuee Embarkation Records, 1940	15,057
Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, Carnegie Music Institution Registers, 1910-1920	13,699
Web: UK, Register of Railway Employee Injuries and Deaths, 1911-1915	3,915
Nova Scotia, Canada, Book of Negroes, 1783	3,009
Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, War Albums, 1899 - 1916	1,511
Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, Directory and Yearbook, 1892	1,279

The title most recently added was the nearly 2 million UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 added on 1 October and updated on 8 November.

Living with Machines: can LAC and SSHRC be inspired?

A new £9.2 million UK initiative is funded that will see data scientists working with curators, historians, geographers and computational linguists with the goal of devising new methods in data science and artificial intelligence that can be applied to historical resources, producing tools and software to analyse digitised collections at scale for the first time.

Family Tree magazine has a news release here.

At a recent LAC meeting a LAC speaker mentioned that the need to make their holdings amenable to data mining is on their radar.

I reached out to Ian Milligan, a leading Canadian digital historian, for a comment:

This is really exciting news out of the UK. I think Canada is moving in this direction – the recent SSHRC “New Frontiers in Research Fund” is really promising as it aims to support interdisciplinary and high-risk research – but we’re not quite there yet in terms of the ability to bring together this much funding to involve such large teams of experts across fields. Library and Archives Canada is moving in new innovative directions, however, so hopefully SSHRC and LAC can be inspired by this sort of work to begin to imagine funding schemes that could support this kind of work.

 Looking forward to seeing more as this comes together.. I think I just saw the first glimmers of this on my Twitter timeline this morning.

BCG Free Webinars for 2019

The following is a news release from the (US) Board for Certification of Genealogists.

For Immediate Release: 18 December 2018 from BCG

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) is excited to present the following free webinars through Legacy Family Tree Webinars in 2019:

January 15 – Margaret R. Fortier, CG, “Visualizing Information for Genealogists”

February 19 – Melissa A. Johnson, CG, “Applying Evidence to Genealogical Research Questions”

March 19 – Debra S. Mieszala, CG, “The Five-story Fall: Correlating Indirect and Direct Evidence to Extend the Pedigree”

April 16 – LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, J.D., LL.M., CG, CGL, “Transcribing Documents: There Is More Than Meets the Eye!”

May 21 – Jeanne Larzalere Bloom, CG, “Valid and Unsound Assumptions: What Was She Thinking?”

June 18 – Patricia Walls Stamm, CG, CGL, “Using Another Library Source: The Government Document Section”

July  16 – Yvette Hoitink, CG, “Lesser Used Records for Research in the Netherlands” **

August 20 – Harold Henderson, CG, “Ten Tools for Genealogical Writing”

September 17 – Claire Bettag, CG, FNGS, FUGA, “Civil Law Concepts and Genealogy” **

October 15 – Claire Bettag, CG, FNGS, FUGA, “Civil Law Records in Genealogical Research: Notarial Records” **

November 19 – Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FMGS, FUGA, “Native American Research: Things You May Not Know”

December 17 – J. Mark Lowe, CG, FUGA, “Marriages Here, There, and Nowhere: Finding Gretna Greens and Borders”

BCG’s webinars are normally held on the third Tuesday of each month at 8 p.m. Eastern time. In order to accommodate those who might have schedule conflicts, most webinars can be accessed by the public at no charge for a week after each live broadcast. 

Back to Our Past, Belfast 15-16 February 2019

Here's the schedule for the next Genetic Genealogy Ireland event scheduled for Belfast. It's a mixture of familiar faces and newcomers.

Find out more at https://backtoourpast.ie/

LAC Co-Lab Update

Co-Lab has added a new challenge, 384 images of correspondence, notes, clippings, and other records relating to Bill Miner, legendary train robber and prison escapee. Find out more here.

Here's an update on other Co-Lab projects.

War Diaries of the First World War: 1st Canadian Division, 60 images added a month ago, is now 30% complete.
Japanese-Canadians: Second World War is 64% complete.
The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918–1919 is 100% complete.
The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters is 64% complete.
Rosemary Gilliat (Eaton)’s Arctic diary and photographs is 33% complete.
New France and First Nations relations is 28% complete.
Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes is 100% complete.
Letters from Wilfrid Laurier to Zoé Lafontaine/Laurier is 100% complete.

Top Scottish Baby Names for 2018

National Records of Scotland is out with the provisional list of top choices for baby names for 2018.

The main points are:
 Jack remained the most popular first forename for baby boys, for an eleventh
consecutive year. Two names were tied in second place: Oliver, which was second
last year, and James, which was third. Logan rose one place to fourth.

 The rest of the boys’ Top Ten were Lewis (down one place to fifth), Leo (up three
places to sixth), Alexander (up one place to seventh) jointly with Harris (which
remained seventh), Rory (up eight places to ninth) and Noah (down four places to
tenth). Rory was the only entrant to the boys’ Top Ten; Harry (down two places to
twelfth) dropped out of it.

 The fastest climbers within the boys’ Top Twenty were Rory, Lucas (up five places
to eleventh) and Thomas (up five places to fourteenth). There were two entrants to
the boys’ Top Twenty: Max (up five places to nineteenth) and Finn (up five places
to twentieth).

 Olivia was the top girls’ name for the third year running. Emily remained second,
Isla remained third, Sophie remained fourth and Amelia remained fifth.

 The rest of the girls’ Top Ten were Ella (up two places to sixth), Ava (remained
seventh), Grace (up five places to eighth), Aria (up one place to ninth) and Jessica
(down four places to tenth).Grace was the only entrant to the girls’ Top Ten;
Charlotte (down two places to eleventh) dropped out of it.

 Grace and Sophia (up four places to twelfth) were the fastest climbers within the
girls’ Top Twenty. There were two entrants to the girls’ Top Twenty: Eilidh (up two
places to nineteenth) and Mia (up three places to twentieth).

 Other big climbers within the 2018 baby name Top Fifty charts included (for boys)
Jaxon (up 10 places to joint 33rd), Liam (up 9 places to joint 33rd) and Freddie (up
nine places to 36th), and (for girls) Georgia (up 13 places to 24th), Rosie (up 13
places to 27th) and Willow (up 11 places to joint 34th). Particularly fast-rising
entrants to the Top Fifties were (for boys) Hunter (up 38 places to 30th), Arthur (up
43 places to 46th), Luca (up 55 places to joint 47th) and Robert (up 17 places to
50th), and (for girls) Mila (up 16 places to 36th) and Ivy (up 20 places to joint 38th).

 National Records of Scotland registered the births of 24,532 boys and 23,253 girls
in the period covered by these figures. In total, 3,322 different boys’ first forenames
and 4,130 different girls’ first forenames were registered; 2,085 boys and 2,635 girls
were given names that were unique (within the period). The numbers of different
names, and of unique names, were well above the levels of 10 and, much more so,
40 years ago. For example, the number of boys with unique first forenames was
greater this year (2,085 in the period covered by these figures) than in the whole of
2008 (1,932) or 1978 (843).

 Jack was the first forename of only 1.6% of the boys, and Olivia was the first
forename of just 1.8% of the girls. Of all the boys’ births that were registered, 39%
had a first forename that was in their Top Fifty, and 37% of all girls had a Top Fifty
first forename.

Find statistical information and documentation about Vital Events including births, marriages, deaths, civil partnerships and divorces in Scotland at www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events.

Writing It Up (For People Who Don't Want To Write It Up)

That's the title of a two page article in the December issue of Genealogists' Magazine written by the magazine's editor Michael Gandy. Here's a summary.

Because the chances of anyone who inherits your family history research being nearly as interested in it as you are he recommends brevity. Write it before you go gaga.
He recommends five elements.

1. A large one-page chart of direct ancestors arranged clearly up to 256 ancestors, preferably designed yourself so you can hide things you don't want to highlight.
2. A collection of family trees showing siblings, and possibly more distant if they show a link to an interesting person. Important people highlighted. Make sure they're accurate as errors may lead them to trash the whole collection.
3. Limit the evidence to only that that's critical and can't be found by readily available online sources.
4. Copies of unique heirloom documents, nothing run of the mill.
5. Family history: a) a 4 - 8 page summary, b) your personal reminiscences - less is more.

That's it.

Even the best of us ...

https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2018/12/17/a-cautionary-tale/

What is the influence of genetics on age at first birth and number of children?

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Kayla Schulte from Oxford University about the Sociogenome research project, a "comprehensive study of the role of genes and gene-environment (GxE) interaction on reproductive behaviour. Until now, social science research has focussed on socio-environmental explanations, largely neglecting the role of genes.

Drawing from recent unprecedented advances in molecular genetics we examine whether there is a genetic component to reproductive outcomes, including age at first birth, number of children and infertility and their interaction with the social environment."

Although there is evidence of genetics influencing traits, including facial features, I'd always assumed socio-environmental factors played a dominant role in demographics and that if genetics played a role it would be through correlations, such as genetics associated with the Irish would also be associated with larger numbers of children.

The Sociogenome project is building on an article published in final form as: Nature Genetics 2016 December ; 48(12): 1462–1472. doi:10.1038/ng.3698.

Genome-wide analysis identifies 12 loci influencing human reproductive behavior 
Abstract
The genetic architecture of human reproductive behavior – age at first birth (AFB) and number of children ever born (NEB) – has a strong relationship with fitness, human development, infertility and risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, very few genetic loci have been identified and the underlying mechanisms of AFB and NEB are poorly understood. We report the largest genome- wide association study to date of both sexes including 251,151 individuals for AFB and 343,072 for NEB. We identified 12 independent loci that are significantly associated with AFB and/or NEB in a SNP-based genome-wide association study, and four additional loci in a gene-based effort. These loci harbor genes that are likely to play a role – either directly or by affecting non-local gene expression – in human reproduction and infertility, thereby increasing our understanding of these complex traits.

Although the article is behind a paywall a table with a list of the loci identified is table 1 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5695684/.

If you're interested you can check to see if your DNA results suggest an influence on your age at birth of your first child and number of children ever born.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The Demise of the Winnipeg  Tribune and how the library (archives) was saved.
Dona Harvey, last editor of the Winnipeg Tribune  -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Search the Winnipeg Tribune archive free at https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm:1243378

Recovering unsaved MS Office files
http://suefrantz.com/2018/12/12/recovering-unsaved-ms-office-files/

Dreaming of a green Christmas? Here are five ways to make it more sustainable

Maud Ethel Eades (Madge Gill) : British Home Child
From Spitalfields Life, prior to a major exhibition next summer, curator Sophie Dutton tells the story of East London-born artist, Madge Gill, and appeals for anyone with a connection to this enigmatic woman to get in touch. http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/12/16/looking-for-madge-gill/

Global Gazette Archive

Over a 22 year run, Global Genealogy published more than 5000 genealogy and history news items and articles in an online magazine, The Global Gazette. Though discontinued over a year ago, many articles are still being used by thousands of readers each month.  Some contain lists (militia lists, passenger lists, etc) and others include helpful research guidance. This week Global Genealogy began building a page where the most popular of those articles can be found.  The first 100 articles are now listed by category, with another 100 slated to be added next week.

Find the archived articles categorized geographically, plus miscellaneous at http://globalgenealogy.com/news/index.htm

2021 Census of England and Wales

The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales is planned to take place on 21 March 2021.

Some of the highlights from a press release are:

The recommendations include the proposal that, for the first time, the 2021 Census for England and Wales will be predominantly online.  The Office for National Statistics (ONS) intends to make it easy to respond online on all devices, including mobiles and tablets, with Assisted Digital face-to-face help available for those who need it. Paper questionnaires will also be available.

With every census we undertake, consideration is given to new questions which should be added to provide information which is not available from elsewhere. The 2021 Census will, for the first time, collect information on veterans of the UK armed forces. This enables monitoring of the Armed Forces Covenant – the deal between the country and those who served it.

There will be questions on gender identity (while keeping the existing question on sex) and sexual orientation for those aged 16 and over. As with the question on religious affiliation introduced in the 2001 Census, we believe these new questions should be voluntary and no individual should have to answer these questions if they prefer not to. The Government and UK Statistics Authority will now consider the appropriate mechanism to ensure this is the case.

We will continue to ask questions on key themes including carers, demography, education, ethnicity and national identity, health, housing, labour market, language, migration and citizenship, and religion. A full list of topics is available within the White Paper (page 32).

As well as adding a new Roma tick-box to the ethnic topic in recognition of the specific needs of the Roma community ONS will be making it easier for everyone to identify as they wish through the development of “search-as-you-type” capability.

Read the White Paper.

Findmypast focus on Portsmouth

There are seven separate collections in this week's release of Portsmouth records from Findmypast, all indexed and linked to the images of the original.

Hampshire, Portsmouth, Portsea Island Rate Books
Search through over a million pages of poor rate books from as early as the 1700 through to the 1921. The books recorded the amount of rates paid at each property, ownership of the property, and its location in the parishes of Portsea and Portsmouth. Discover the history of an ancestral home, today. With each record you will find a transcript of the vital facts and an image of the original rate poor.

Poor rate books were records of the amount of rates paid and by whom. Rates were levied annually and collected from both property owners and occupiers. The money was used for local poor relief. The Poor Law Act of 1598 made the parish responsible for the poor. The original records are held at the Portsmouth History Centre.

Hampshire, Portsmouth Hospital Records
Search this fascinating collection of assorted hospital records and medical journals from St James Hospital between 1878 and 1918. At that time, the hospital was known as the Portsmouth Lunatic Asylum. Each result will give you a transcript of the vital facts and an image of the original hospital document. Images may provide you with even more information including condition and treatment.

The Portsmouth Hospital Records have been digitised by Findmypast from the collection held by the Portsmouth History Centre. The collection includes a range of documents from the years St James Hospital operated as the city's lunatic asylum including civil registers, deaths, indexes to admissions and discharges, maintenance ledgers, patient notes, registers of discharge and transfers.

Patient notes recorded the individual's progress from their condition when they first entered the hospital and how or if the person improved. You will find notes such as, 'delusions of grandeur', 'excited', 'clean', or one patient was recorded as claiming she was the 'Queen of Brighton'.

Hampshire, Portsmouth Police Staff Records, 1908-1924
Discover English police heritage in this collection of police records from Portsmouth. The collection has been digitised by Findmypast from the records held at the Portsmouth History Centre. The Portsmouth Police Service was formed in January 1836. The city had its own police force from 1836 until 1967. The city's fire brigade was also a branch of the police force when it was first formed.

With every results you will find an image of the original document and a transcript of the vital facts. The transcripts may include a combination of the officer's age, birth year and birth place as well as their trade or calling, years of service and dates of appointment and discharge. Images may contain a variety of additional details including physical descriptions, photographic portraits, service histories and reasons for discharge/retirement.

Hampshire, Portsmouth Quarter Sessions Browse
Explore thousands of criminal records from these court Quarter Sessions, discover Portsmouth people caught up in a criminal activity. Findmypast's browse search allows you to search each Session register from beginning to end. As well as the accused's age, aliases and home parish, the records will provide you with a wide variety of details relating to their offence, trail and sentencing.

The courts of quarter sessions were held over a number of days in rotation at different locations at four set times each year. They dealt with serious non-capital crimes, and formed the middle tier of the court system. Quarter sessions were presided over by unpaid magistrates, also known as justices of the peace, appointed by the Lord Chancellor. At each session, two juries would be elected. The Grand Jury's job was to hear the evidence against the accused and to decide whether the case should go to trial. If they sent it forward it was the turn of the Trial or Petty Jury who would decide guilt.

Hampshire, Portsmouth Burials
Buried in Portsmouth, Hampshire? Discover burial entries in over 129,000 additional Portsmouth parish records to uncover the location of final resting place. The new additions cover Portsea, Highland Road and Kingston cemeteries between the years 1831 and 1902.

Results will provide you with transcripts and images of the original register entry. Transcripts will reveal a combination of the deceased's birth year, death year, age at death, burial date, burial location, denomination, occupation, residence and relatives names. Image may provide additional details such as the name of the minister who performed the ceremony.

England & Wales, Electoral Registers 1832-1932
Over 64,000 additional images covering the Parliamentary Borough of Portsmouth have been added to the collection. You can search the records by personal name, polling district, county and constituency, as well as by keyword search to discover the history of your family home in the nineteenth and twentieth century.

Electoral Registers are lists created annually of people who are eligible to vote and include their reason for eligibility, such as their residence or ownership of a property. Until 1918, the right to vote was closely linked to property ownership. The details in the registers may vary slightly, but in most you will find a combination of your ancestor's address, qualification to vote and occasionally a description of the residence, their occupation and age.

Hampshire, Portsmouth Trade Directories 1863-1927
Explore more than 30,000 pages of Portsmouth trade directories. Trade directories are an excellent resource for anyone researching their family history and want to understand more about their ancestor's life. They provide insights into local business owners, trades people, civil servants, church leaders, school teachers and much more.

Each record includes an original image of the trade directory that will list your company name, occupation and address.

News from some English Record Offices

Many English record offices are so strapped for funds they can no longer afford to post news items on their website, except perhaps announcing curtailing operating hours over the next few weeks. Other make use of Facebook and Twitter. The following are some news or blog items I found in a trawl.

Cheshire Archives & Local Studies
Autumn/Winter News

Dorset History Centre
Archives A-Z: H is for houses

East Sussex Record Office
The Long Journey Home: Edith Cavell and the “Cavell” Van

Essex Record Office
The last forest (Hatfield Forest)

Norfolk Record Office
King’s Lynn’s Bohemian Rhapsody
The Appliance of Science: Using Science in Conservation
King’s Lynn and The War of the Spanish Succession
The Work of an Archivist

Suffolk Record Office
Suffolk County War Memorial Roll of Honour

Ottawa Branch OGS December Meeting

This Saturday, 15 December 2018

10:30 Genealogy: Back to Basics - The First World War: Beyond the Western Front
13:00 Networking and refreshments followed by presentation The Tunney's Pasture Shantytown: Research and genealogical challenges, by Dave Allston

In August of 2018, the Kitchissippi Times published for the first time anywhere, the story of the shantytown that existed from the 1930s until the mid-1950s on the government-owned Tunney's Pasture property. The article was years in the making, impeded by a lack of information, photographs and most importantly, people from this important story. This presentation will discuss the shantytown itself (the families who lived there, the incredible challenges and hardships they faced, and what little the government did for them), but also the challenges in researching a story like this, and how a variety of sources helped finally bring the story together.

15:00 Computer Group Meeting

All welcome at the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (Room 115)

LAC's Aurora Shines

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has launched Aurora, a new interface to access LAC’s published holdings. It replaces AMICUS, technologically outdated after 20 years service.

Use Aurora to explore LAC’s collection of newspapers, magazines, Canadian official publications, theses, monographs, maps, music, and more. Searching this web interface is free in Canada and internationally. Registered LAC users will be able to order materials online for consultation at 395 Wellington.

Confused with Voilà, Canada’s National Union Catalogue. Voilà is made up of bibliographic descriptions and location information for published materials held at libraries across Canada, including LAC. Use Voilà to search the combined catalogues of these Canadian libraries. Voilà covers all subject areas and formats, including printed books, computer files, sound recordings, videos, maps, microforms, newspapers, and works in large print and Braille.

From the LAC home page mouse over "Search the Collection" and select "Library Search" from the drop down. Choosing either Aurora or Voilà brings up a simple clean search box with option for an Advanced Search. Results can be filtered by criteria in a panel on the left hand side.

A search for genealogy found 142,388 results in Voilà and 25,589 results in Aurora.

In a brief trial I found the system to be very responsive, much better than AMICUS.

Archives of Ontario data sets online

The Archives of Ontario announces data sets available to view and download through the Government of Ontario Data Catalogue: https://www.ontario.ca/search/data-catalogue.

Of most interest for genealogy are:

• Immigration Records (1865-1883): https://www.ontario.ca/data/immigration-records-1865-1883

This data set is an index to the four volumes of assisted immigration registers created by the Toronto Emigrant Office between 1865 and 1883. The registers are a chronological listing of those new immigrants who were assisted by the government to travel to different destinations across southern Ontario. Over 29,000 entries have been transcribed from the registers.

• Second Heir and Devisee Commission Case Files: https://www.ontario.ca/data/second-heir-and-devisee-commission-case-file

This data set is an index to the 5,184 case files that document claims made to the Second Heir and Devisee Commission.

Chris Paton reports on the PRONI Stakeholders Forum Meeting

What's new and forthcoming at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland is reported by Chris Paton from a meeting last Friday. He mentions the Prisons Memory Archive project, Londonderry Papers, Augher Co-operative Agricultural and Dairy Society, Steeple Community Association, Cairnshill Residents Association, Northern Irish Council for Ethnic Minorities, Ulster Society of Organists and Choirmasters, church records digitisation project, and Absentee Voters Lists among others.

See his blog post at http://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2018/12/latest-news-from-pronis-stakeholder.html

Financial Health of Canadian Genealogical Societies - Update

Below is an update to the post on 4 October  to cover the remaining three societies without 2017 information available at that time.

In total of those examined there were seven societies with annual surpluses. Five had annual deficits.

The mean annual membership fee was $54.09, the median $50, the maximum $75 and minimum $39.

Alberta Genealogical Society
For the reporting period ending 2017-12-31. Total assets of $624,963 ($612,912, $595,845, $558,845, $606,312, $540,282), and liabilities of  $225,753 ($229,017, $251,116, $213,134, $257,883, $200,592). The total revenue was $291,747, ($264,331, $294,466, $208,033, $229,344, $254,380). Expenditures totaled $276,432, ($225,165, $295,448, $210,752, $250,276, $218,231). The individual annual membership fee remains at $50 for digital journal subscription, $60 for paper.

New Brunswick Genealogical Society 
For the reporting period ending 2017-12-31. Total assets of $182,646 ($186,437, $ 180,604, $177,857, $182,016, $194,048) and liabilities of $14,159 ($16,428, $14,045, $13,844, $13,224, $21,542). Total revenue was $38,412 ($35,424, $ 40,102  $37,517, $33,846, $37,121). Expenditures totaled $41,331 ($33,639, $46,629, $43,588 $39,396, $36,974). The individual annual membership fee is $40.

Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
For the reporting period ending 2017-12-31. Total assets of $159,582 ($141,278, $114,170, $86,875, $106,334, $46,921). Liabilities totaled $123,268 ($123,279, $135,921, $127,116, $125,662, $65,054). Total revenue was $235,969 ($280,227, $237,391, $239,577, $256,667, $261,767). Expenditures were $217,654 ($244,704, $252,436, $260,490, $268,140, $262,316), Basic annual membership is increased to $70.

Ontario Genealogical Society Early Bird Prize Winners

Congratulations to these OGS members:

OGS $50 gift card - Richard K.
OGS Fee Rebate - Tanya J., Susan S. and Laura G.
OGS MyHeritage Library Edition - Anastatia G. and Christina F.
Ancestry DNA Kit - Sharon M. and Mike N.
MyHeritage DNA Kit - Veralyn H.
FTM CD Software - Linda M. and Patricia F.
Ancestry Subscription - Gerald C. and Nancy M.
FMP Subscription - Grant M. and Doug M.
MyHeritage Subscription - Pat B.

OGS will be in touch with the winners via email.

No, I don't see my name there either 😢

Recovering the memory of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home children

This week's post on John Grenham's blog Catherine Corless starts:

A few days ago I heard a full half-hour radio interview with Catherine Corless, the local historian responsible for tracking down the 796 death certificates of young children in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home between 1925 and 1961.  It was riveting.

He ends by voicing the issue of the desirability of giving each child a proper burial against the possibly invasion of privacy of now elderly mothers as well as the cost.

The article and comments, the first from Maurice Gleeson, make worthwhile reading.

Advance Notice: Kingston UELAC Meeting

Kingston & District Branch, United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada will meet on Saturday, January 26, 2019, 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall, 137 Queen Street at Montreal Street.

Speaker Leigh Smith will present “Pack Up Your House and Sail!” - the story of the Loyalists from Castine, Maine, who founded Saint Andrews, New Brunswick.

All visitors always welcome.

See http://www.uelac.org/Kingston-Branch/ for further details.

National Library of Scotland (NLS) Digitizes and Makes First Edition of ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ Available Online (Free)

A news release from the National Library of Scotland.

An online copy of the first edition of ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ is published today by the National Library of Scotland.

It was exactly 250 years ago that the first pages of ‘Britannica’ were published in Edinburgh.

With a distinctly Scottish viewpoint, the first edition emphasised two themes — modern science and Scottish identity.

Explicit engravings relating to midwifery scandalised subscribers, and were torn out of every copy on the orders of the Crown. Fortunately the Library has a complete copy in its collections, which is available free to view online thanks to a fundraising campaign for its digitisation.

‘Britannica’ was conceived by printer Colin Macfarquhar, engraver Andrew Bell, and William Smellie, who edited the first edition. Originally issued in 100 weekly parts, it took three years to produce and consisted of three volumes when it was completed in 1771.

Subsequent editions expanded during the 19th century, often featuring content written by experts in their field. By the 20th century ‘Encyclopaedia Britannica’ was a household name throughout the English-speaking world.

The spelling is of the time including the long s that looks like an f.

Record Societies in England

The most recent edition of Malcolm Noble's Talk Genealogy Podcast, Episode #33 is on Record Societies in England.

Most counties or regions in England have record societies, some dating back over 100 years, that have published books of local historical interest. There are transcriptions of old documents, court rolls, churchwardens accounts, wills and inventories, diaries and more. He singles out the Suffolk Record Society as one of the leading examples.

A good starting point to find what societies exist, and thence to their publications catalogue, is online courtesy of the Royal Historical Society at https://royalhistsoc.org/publications/national-regional-history/. They're not just for England.

Overlooked Canadian Memory Institutions

Last Wednesday afternoon I attended a session entitled “Memory Institutions in the Digital Age” at Library and Archives Canada jointly sponsored by LAC, The Royal Society of Canada (RSC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA). It built on two reports, an RSC Expert Panel Report entitled The Future Now, published in late 2015 and the complementary assessment Leading in the Digital World, published by the CCA in early 2016.

The speakers reviewed progress, opportunities and outstanding challenges for libraries, archives, museums and other memory institutions in the digital age. Librarian and Archivist of Canada Guy Berthiaume's transcript is here.  Unfortunately having started late the session ran long and there was no time for questions. Had there been I'd have commented on the lack of recognition of science data archives.

Look through the reports and mention of science is scant, most often "library science", "archival science" or "federal science libraries". The numerous organizations that archive scientific data are apparently beyond the pale as memory institutions. C. P. Snow's Two Solitudes are still firmly in place.

Are science data archives valued? They could be. Disposal of government records from government custody is permitted only with the permission of the Librarian and Archivist of Canada. Section 12 (1) of the Library and Archives Canada Act that provides:

No government or ministerial record, whether or not it is surplus property of a government institution, shall be disposed of, including by being destroyed, without the written consent of the Librarian and Archivist or of a person to whom the Librarian and Archivist has, in writing, delegated the power to give such consents.

However,  does the Librarian and Archivist know whether the procedure is being followed? Are departments practicing "shoot, shovel and shut-up?" There are no penalties specified in the Act if permission is not sought. Unlike in the UK in Canada there is no inventory of places where such federal data records are housed. The holdings of data-rich science-based departments and agencies are too valuable a national asset for them not to be deliberated along with humanities holdings.

Canada's Meteorological Service is an example of an agency that holds important records. It has a huge amount of data on historic weather since 1840. Weather is part of our heritage - ice storms and tornadoes - and weather data is fundamental to understanding climate change. While it would seem that those records are well managed, find them online at http://climate.weather.gc.ca/index_e.html, is that the case for the many other federal science-based departments and agencies with legacy data holdings? Who knows?

Under the UK Public Records Act approved Places of Deposit are designated committed to looking after certain data “in perpetuity” and making it available for future research. There's a list of those places here.

If in Canada there is no inventory of such data archives how can we have any confidence they are being appropriately preserved and managed? Bringing them into the community presently dominated by the humanities would be a step forward, maybe the humanities would benefit too.