British Newspaper Archive additions for July

The British Newspaper Archive and sister database FindMyPast recently passed a total of 33 million pages, now a total of 33,004,439 pages online (32,591,927 last month). 43 papers (47 last month) had pages added in the past month. There were 8 new titles. Dates range from 1784 to 1998.

The new paper The Queen, or to give it its full title, The Queen, The Ladies’ Newspaper and Court Chronicle, has the most pages added. It was established as a society magazine by Samuel Beeton in 1861, and followed the goings-on of high society and the British aristocracy.

The 11 newspapers with more than 10,000 pages added during the month are:

TITLE	DATE RANGE
The Queen	1886-1901
Aberdeen Press and Journal	1985-1990
Field	1869, 1902-1911
Aberdeen Evening Express	1985-1990
Bristol Times and Mirror	1897, 1900-1907, 1911
Calcutta Gazette	1784-1815
Labour Leader	1894-1919
Sandwell Evening Mail	1989
Clarion	1891-1915, 1928-1932
Huddersfield Daily Examiner	1871, 1885, 1888, 1896-1897, 1905-1909
Reading Evening Post	1989-1990

REMINDER: Have you registered yet for the BIFHSGO annual conference, as the 25th it's something special. See information here.

Ontario Ancestors Conference & Family History Show 2020

The following is a call for presentation proposals from OGS/OA. The theme "Finding the Past - Moving into the Future" provides plenty of scope for technology-oriented presentations. Note the deadline for submissions is coming up fast — 29 August.

Shoutout for mitoYDNA, THE new Y-DNA and mtDNA Database

Mags Gaulden told me about this some while ago. Here's the announcement on her Grandma's Genes website. I haven't had a chance to check it out. Please post a comment if you have.

http://grandmasgenes.com/mitoydna-the-new-y-dna-and-mtdna-database/

WDYTYA Magazine August 2019

You can likely get free access to the latest issue through your local public library collection of online resources via Press Reader.
In this issue; perhaps you've wondered why former teen idol and singer Donny Osmond is featured in RootsTech London. WDYTYA? Magazine editor Sarah Williams finds out about his passion for family history in an interview.

It turns out he's not just a latter-day teen age idol; he has a long-standing interest in his family history from Wales and England. "Like every genealogist, he clearly loves the thrill of the chase — like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Every time you add a piece, who you are becomes clearer and clearer. It's almost a spiritual experience to find out where you come from, and discover the people responsible for you even being here.”
Also in the issue, there's an article of Canadian interest "My Missing Ancestors Were British Home Children."
As my grandfather was a professional musician I was interested to find a three-page article recommending best websites for finding them. Another three-pager under the topic Ancestors at Work, on Commercial Travellers, is another one relevant to my family history.
There's much more.
Find WDYTYA Magazine listed under UK/National records. There's a bit of a learning curve to find it among the wide range of other specialist magazines, those of likely interest are BBC History Magazine and BBC History of War.

REMINDER:  Have you registered yet for the BIFHSGO annual conference, the 25th is something special. See information here.

Ontario library statistics 2018

On 8 July the Ontario government published online a spreadsheet of self-reported data for 2018 from 379 public libraries, First Nation public libraries and contracting organizations. It includes a huge amount of data, over 300 columns.
For the nine public library systems that serve communities of over 250,000 residents, Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton, London, Markham, Vaughan and Kitchener:

• Median usage is 31% of the resident population varying from 45% in Markham to 23% in Brampton. For Toronto its 31% and Ottawa 33%.
• Funding from the local tax base is a median $115 per household with a range of $178 for Vaughan to $95 for Brampton. At $107 per household, the Ottawa Public Library received $8 per household less than the large municipality median and $50 per household less than the Toronto Public Library.

The 2018 spreadsheet, with similar data back to 1999 is available at https://www.ontario.ca/data/ontario-public-library-statistics/.

REMINDER:  Have you registered yet for the BIFHSGO annual conference, the 25th is something special. See information here.

Debrett's moves online

Death of the blue bloods 'red book' as Debrett's moves online only Jacob William Rees-Mogg may be Leader of the House of Commons and champion of anachronistic tradition but reaches its limit with this 250-year-old British tradition.

Book Review: Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA, and more

This 2019 book by British, mainly Scottish authors aims at the beginner to intermediate genetic genealogy reader.

The contents are:
Chapter 1 Why use DNA testing for genealogy?
Michelle Leonard, Alasdair F Macdonald, Graham S. Holton
Chapter 2 The ethical and legal aspects of genetic genealogy
John Cleary
Chapter 3 Understanding the principles of DNA testing for genealogy Michelle Leonard
Chapter 4 atDNA tests
Michelle Leonard
Chapter 5 Y-DNA tests
Alasdair F. Macdonald, John Cleary
Chapter 6 mtDNA tests
Alasdair F Macdonald
Chapter 7 Choosing between testing companies
Alasdair F Macdonald
Chapter 8 Projects
John Cleary, Iain McDonald
Chapter 9 An integrated approach to DNA testing for genealogy
John Cleary, Iain McDonald, Graham S. Holton

Chapter 10

Ancient DNA

John Cleary

Chapter 11 What does the future hold?

Iain McDonald, Michelle Leonard

Glossary 

Further Reading

Of the authors John Cleary and Michelle Leonard are well known to genetic genealogists in Britain and more broadly through their presentations available on YouTube, the latest being here and here.

The book has been reviewed by Chris Paton at British GENES and Peter Calver on his Lost Cousins Newsletter. They both give it a thumbs up. I agree and recommend the book. As with all rapidly developing fields, there is dated material — for instance, AncestryDNA no longer provides DNA Circles.

While reading this book I've also had at hand Advanced Genetic Genealogy, another multi-authored publication this year. The authors of Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA are all from the UK while Advanced Genetic Genealogy has all US authors with the sole exception of Debbie Kennett's contribution of the final chapter on the Promise and Limitations of Genetic Genealogy. Further, most of the references in "Advanced" are to US articles and books whereas those in "Tracing" are UK and Ireland based. Blaine Bettinger is a notable exception in "Tracing" and while Jony Perl is not mentioned by name in the index to "Advanced" his DNA Painter and WATO are. Canada's David Pike gets a mention in both volumes.

While there is considerable overlap I was struck that while "Tracing" has several pages devoted to surname, haplogroup and geographical projects "Advanced" covers these only in the context of specific case studies. Considering the challenges of running such a project the treatment in "Tracing" is welcome.

Three chapters in "Advanced" are in a section titled DNA and the Genealogical Proof Standard whereas the GPS is not mentioned in "Tracing" reflecting its tenuous foothold outside the US.

Blaine Bettinger has posted on Facebook on the updates made to his book "The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy" in the 2nd Edition:

- 32 additional pages: edition #1 is 240 pages, edition #2 is 272 pages.
- Fixed typos/errors found in edition #1.
- Added information about MyHeritage DNA throughout the book.
- Added information about Living DNA throughout the book.
- A new section about law enforcement and DNA.
- Entirely revised atDNA chapter (including a two-page sidebar about “False Positives and Small Segments, an update on the Shared cM Project, more about shared matching, and more).
- A section in the Y-DNA chapter about the Big Y-700 test.
- A new “DNA in Action” section in the X-Chromosome chapter.
- A new section about DNA Painter (6 pages).
- Extensive additions to the Ethnicity chapter, including a new section about AncestryDNA’s Genetic Communities.
- New sections in the “Analyzing Complex Questions With DNA” chapter and the “Genetic Testing for Adoption and Other Brick Walls” chapter about shared match triangulation.
- A fully revamped/revised “Choosing a DNA Test” flowchart.
- A fully revamped/revised “Testing Company Comparison” chart.
- A relationship chart for determining cousins (what is a 2nd cousin versus a 1st cousin once removed?). Although not new, very helpful for DNA analysis.
- New genealogy charts found at the end of the book.
- A revised “More Resources” section.

Here's a link to the pre-order page for the second edition (not an affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/Family-Guide-Testing-Genetic-Genealogy/dp/1440300577

Sale of DNA kits at 8 August event "DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History"

There will be sales of DNA test kits at VERY favourable prices only for attendees at this event.

MyHeritage DNA Ancestry Only Pre-Sale Registration
Daniel Horowitz will be lecturing at the event and will have MyHeritage DNA "Ancestry only" kits (no health information) available for purchase at a reduced price of US$49 = CA$ 65, saving the cost of shipping. To pre-order DNA kits fill in the form at https://forms.gle/N9tdsU2eZ418fs2m7
Payment will be collected at the event via credit card. Kits will be distributed once the credit card payment is processed.

AncestryDNA Kits
Lesley Anderson will be speaking and, in coordination with Global Genealogy, will have AncestryDNA kits for sale, likely at a price competitive with that of MyHeritage DNA.

Find out more about the event with a link to register, which is free, here.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The past of 40 million Canadians being deciphered by UdeM students
Students from the University of Montreal and other universities, in collaboration with Ancestry which briefly mentioned it at the OGS conference, are working on in a project called The Canadian People - The Canadian Peoples. It will codify and clean the data of the seven censuses carried out from 1851 to 1921. The original is in French — Google can translate.

Will Reanimating Dead Brains Inspire the Next Frankenstein?
In recent experiments, scientists brought back cellular functions to the brains of dead pigs, recalling early galvanism. Could this be the next major advance for genealogy after DNA?

The Typewriter Mystery
A blog post from the Ottawa Jewish Archives. Do you have an old typewriter stored away? Check it out on The Typewriter Database.

Air Pollution Kills
Volkswagen’s cheating diesel cars increased the number of low birth weight babies and asthma rates.

Russian Twitter trolls stoke anti-immigrant lies ahead of the Canadian election
Be concerned about fake social media posts, not just from Russia as Canada heads into a federal election. From The Conversation.

First Batch of Vernon’s Directories Available for Viewing

Announced on the OGS eWeekly Update, availability of the first results of the directory digitization project partnership with Library and Archives Canada (the repository for many of the directories) and FamilySearch, the experts in digitizing and sharing such resources, to get the project underway.

Volumes are from Barrie, Brockville, Belleville, Brantford and London. The dates range from 1903 to 2005. More are being added.

Visit the OGS launch page at https://ogs.on.ca/vernons-directories/.

New WW2 era records on Ancestry

Two new databases have appeared in the Ancestry card catalog, the product of cooperation with the
Arolsen Archives, formerly known as the International Tracing Service, or ITS.

Europe, Registration of Foreigners and German Persecutees, 1939-1947, 10,164,406 records
This collection consists of people who were persecuted by public institutions, social securities and companies. The records may also include information on those who died, including burial information. The documents were assembled according to the Zones of Occupation - American, British, French and Soviet - by the Allied forces within Germany. Areas outside Germany were also recorded.
This first release, for the American zone, includes 12,140 with nationality given as England, 716 as British, and 303 as Canada.

Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971, 1,704,403 records
The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced labourers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.
It includes 85,613 who gave their destination as Canada including 870 where Ottawa was specified.

Your mtDNA journey video from FamilyTreeDNA

People who've taken a variety of DNA tests typically find the results of a mitochondrial DNA test the least exciting. Although it gives a good view of your mother's mother's mother's ....  ancestry back millennia, mtDNA changes so slowly that you get many matches back before a time when you can find them in your family tree, often even the exact matches.
Now FTDNA has produced individualized videos giving insight into mtDNA and your test results.
See mine at https://bit.ly/2Yobyzg/.
Debbie Kennett comments on twitter that "While this is a great initiative for customer engagement it presents a highly misleading view of haplogroups. People did not travel around the world in unison based on their membership of a haplogroup. We do not know where any haplogroups originated thousands of years ago."

Northern Ireland Baby Names 2018

The following is extracted from a press release by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

James, Noah and Grace were the most popular first names given to
babies in Northern Ireland, for births registered in 2018.

Since official, annual reporting of baby names began in 1997, this is the second time
that Grace has been the most popular girls’ name, a position held jointly with Emily in
2013. James has been the most popular boys’ name in each of the past four years,
joined by Noah this year for the first time.

In terms of boys’ names, Jack (which held the top spot for 12 consecutive years
between 2003 and 2014) comes a close third to James and Noah in popularity,
followed by Charlie. Leo joined the boys’ top 10 for the first time in 2018. Within the
boys’ top 100, the highest climbers in popularity between 2017 and 2018 were
Tommy, Theo and Hunter.

Some of the less common names given by loving parents in 2018 were Axl, Blaze, Hendrix, Phoenix and Wolf for boys and Disney, Hermione, Moana, Storm and Zandaya for girls.

You can dig deeper at Baby Names 2018

Findmypast: Billion Graves, Kent, Orkney and Finland

Additions to the collection this week are:

Billion Graves Cemetery Indexes
The latest update on Findmypast includes\:

Over 2.6 million new additions to the United States Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 214,000 new additions to the Canada Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 114,000 new additions to the England Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 2,000 new additions to the Ireland Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 80,000 new additions to the Scotland Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 42,000 new additions to the Wales Billion Graves Cemetery Index
Over 323,000 new additions to the Australia Graves Cemetery Index
Over 71,000 new additions to the New Zealand Billion Graves Cemetery Index

Billion Graves is the largest resource for GPS-tagged headstone and burial records on the web, with over 12 million headstone records.

Kent Burials
Over 4,500 records of burials that took place at St Martin's church in Cheriton are now available to search. These new additions cover two periods, 1843 to 1855 and 1907 to 1958. For a full list of all parishes and date ranges currently covered, view the handy parish list.

Scotland, Orkney, 1821 South Ronaldsay Census
The 1821 Orkney census, taken on the night of 18 May, was part of the third decennial census taken in the UK. Each result includes both a transcript and image of the original documents.
Although normally it's only statistics that survive from the 1821 census the enumerator for South Ronaldsay and Burray, schoolmaster Peter Nicholson McLaren, decided to make full lists of names. He records the names along with ages and occupations.
UPDATE: Check out David Annal's blog post on the history of this extraordinary census record which strongly indicates the document is a late 19th-century transcription of the now-lost original.

Finland
This release includes three indexes of more than six million baptisms, marriages and burials between 1657 and 1909.

Deceased Online adds Headington Cemetery, Oxfordshire

With the addition of 8,678 records for Oxford's Headington Cemetery, Deceased Online now includes 55,671 burials in four cemeteries for the university town.

Botley Cemetery – 8,996 records from 1894 to 2016
Headington Cemetery – 8,678 records from 1899 to 2016
Rose Hill Cemetery – 20,834 records from 1894 to 2016
Wolvercote Cemetery – 17,163 records from 1894 to 2016

The records comprise digital scans of all burial registers up to 2007 and computerized data from 2007 to 2016, maps showing the section in which the grave is located, and grave details for each of the graves and their occupants.

Virtual Genealogical Association Conference

The following is from a VGA Press release.

Virtual Genealogical Association’s 2019 virtual conference will be held Friday, November 1 through Sunday, November 3, 2019 from 8:45am Eastern to 6:00pm Eastern each day.

Registrants will have access to the recordings and handouts for all sessions for 6 months following the conference - watch any time, any place, on any device. Register at https://virtualgenealogy.org/2019-vga-conference ($59 for members, $79 for non-members).

Closed captioning via Rev.com will be added to recordings of all sessions and will be made available to registrants within 7 days of the live broadcast.

Conference speakers are Lisa Alzo, Jen Baldwin, Bernice Bennett, Blaine T. Bettinger, Michelle Tucker Chubenko, Audrey Collins, Daniel Earl, Marcel Elias, Julie Goucher, Colleen Robledo Greene, Ursula C. Krause, Peggy Clemens Lauritzen, Denise May Levenick, Gena Philibert-Ortega, Judy G. Russell, Helen V. Smith, Nicka Smith, Ari Wilkins, and Christine Woodcock.

UK WDYTYA Daniel Ratcliffe episode (no longer) on YouTube

Monday's BBC broadcast of the first in their new Who Do You Think You Are? series with Daniel Ratcliffe is (update) NO LONGER available on YouTube. It's in a curious version where the programme occupies about a third of the screen.
I enjoyed the episode although it's annoying having to ignore the remainder of the screen.

Nova Scotia BMDs

FamilySearch list Nova Scotia Marriages, 1864-1918 as updated to 157,898 records as of 24 July 2019, the latest update to its online collection. It's a title where you can view linked images of the originals that don't require you to be at a Family History Centre or affiliate library.

A companion title Nova Scotia Births, 1864-1877 was updated to 218,587 records on 14 July.

In total there are 17 Nova Scotia titles available free on FamilySearch.
Births, with incomplete coverage, are from 1702 to 1904.
Marriages, again incomplete, are from 1711 to 1932.
Deaths from 1864 to 1957.

There's better coverage through subscription service Ancestry.ca:

Nova Scotia, Canada, Births, 1840-1915, 330,053 records.
Nova Scotia, Canada, Marriages, 1763-1940, 503,931 records
Nova Scotia, Canada, Deaths, 1864-1877, 1890-1965, 466,982 records

You may prefer to go to the source, the Nova Scotia Archives which has its own online resource.

Every name is linked to the original record in digitized form and you can search and view every item free-of-charge or purchase better quality copies/



There are no Nova Scotia BMD records at Findmypast or MyHeritage.

Unbelievable?

On Monday morning, when I read that the cost of a digital copy of post-1857 probate records from England and Wales was reduced from £10 to £1.50 I checked the date. No, it wasn't the first of April.

I was still doubtful, but numerous sources have carried the joyful news.

Take advantage by starting at this UK Government site.

US Family Tree Magazine joins Old Farmers Almanac

New Hampshire based Yankee Publishing Inc. (YPI), publisher of Yankee, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and New Hampshire magazine, has acquired US Family Tree magazine which had gone into bankruptcy protection along with all the assets of publisher F+W Media.

Active Interest Media had acquired Family Tree along with 14 other brands then immediately flipped it to Yankee Publishing.

Though the terms of the deal between AIM and Yankee were not disclosed, AIM’s bid for Family Tree was $100,000. Asked about the state of the magazine coming out of the bankruptcy Jamie Trowbridge, president and CEO of Yankee Publishing stated “On the business side, Family Tree depends more on consumer revenue than on advertising. That’s the case for most of our brands.” Trowbridge says that Family Tree’s print revenue held steady, but the online learning and e-commerce businesses require immediate attention, though he anticipates having them “back up to speed” by early fall.

Sourced from Folio here.

The US magazine Family Tree has no connection with the British magazine Family Tree.

Canadian history context for your family history

If like me you didn't study Canadian history in school, or you could do with a refresher, two recently updated open-access textbooks by John Douglas Belshaw (formerly?) of Thompson Rivers University directed at the undergraduate level will be of interest. Available to download in a variety of formats they are:

Canadian History: Pre-Confederation, a survey text that introduces undergraduate students to important themes in North American history to 1867. It provides room for Aboriginal and European agendas and narratives, explores the connections between the territory that coalesces into the shape of modern Canada and the larger continent and world in which it operates, and engages with emergent issues in the field. The material is pursued in a largely chronological manner to the early 19th century, at which point social, economic, and political change are dissected.

Canadian History: Post-Confederation includes Newfoundland and all the other parts that come to be aggregated into the Dominion after 1867. Much of this text follows thematic lines. Each chapter moves chronologically but with alternative narratives in mind. What Aboriginal accounts must we place in the foreground? Which structures (economic or social) determine the range of choices available to human agents of history? What environmental questions need to be raised to gain a more complete understanding of choices made in the past and their ramifications? Each chapter is comprised of several sections and some of those are further divided. In many instances, you will encounter original material that has been contributed by other university historians from across Canada who are leaders in their respective fields. They provide a diversity of voices on the subject of the nation’s history and, thus, an opportunity to experience some of the complexities of understanding and approaching the past.

There's a good part of a university education in the open texts. Another of potential interest to family historians is Teaching Autoethnography: Personal Writing in the Classroom.

Boris Johnson WDYTYA

He'll the first British Prime Minister to be featured on WDYTYA. There's a How We Did It summary of his episode when he was still Mayor of London.
I couldn't find the complete episode online; there are extracts.
His BREXIT stance is either at odds with or a reaction against his European ancestry.

The Lady Jane Franklin collection and the Derbyshire Record Office blog

A crowdfunding campaign for packaging objects from the Derbyshire Record Office Franklin collection quickly reached its £1000 target and is now closed. Excess funds are being used to preserve other "fabulous, exciting – and sometimes downright strange – objects in some of our other collections." Some are mentioned in the Discovering objects blog post.

Other DRO blog posts this month are:
Arctic scraps
The Defalcation of Charles Biggs
Historical recipes – both good and bad
A Russian chocolate box

New on MyHeritage

27,612,119 new records from four new collections are added to the MyHeritage SuperSearch™:

Australia Electoral Rolls, 1893-1949;
Québec Marriage Licenses, 1926-1997;
Honolulu, Hawaii Passenger Lists, 1900-1953; and
Baltimore, Maryland Passenger Lists, 1891-1943.

There are 7,901,481 records in the Québec marriage collection which contain bride and groom name, age, birthdate, birthplace, marriage date and location. Many records have additional information, such as parents name, date and place of birth, on a linked original form image. It may be in French or English. The source is a provincial government form which appears to have been completed at the time of marriage.

Read about all these collections newly added this month in the MyHeritage blog post.

The Essex Record Office on newly available parish registers online

In an Essex Record Office blog post, Edward Harris, Customer Service Team Lead, takes a look at some of the unusual stories found in the pages of their parish registers. Also information on accessing the county BMB records through an index on Ancestry, and also Findmypast.

Access to original record images for Ancestry users is simple, a click-through from the index to Essex Archives Online in order to buy a copy of the indexed image. Images are emailed out automatically on payment; each one costs £2.99 including VAT.

The British do buy passes for a conference with classes

RootsTech London is not your average family history show. It has a lot to offer although I for one get stopped in my tracks when I read "3 huge days with over 150+ classes"

But "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Brits watch US TV (I grew up watching Jack Benny, the Lone Ranger and Perry Como), US films and even American football. So why not admission (or tickets) for conferences (or shows) that offer excellent presentations?

RootsTech London has a number of different tracks including sessions on DNA; English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh research; Jewish research; German research; research in France; as well as research in Spain/Portugal. And I'm told Canada is to be announced! You can see them all so far here, reformatted in a way you may find more convenient than on the RootsTech London website — courtesy of Paul Jones.

Don't let "class" prejudice stop you from enjoying all that's on offer at RootsTech London, much more than presentations.

Pinhey's Point Event: 22 July

Whether or not you choose to take advantage of this conducted tour, Pinhey's Point Historic Site on the Ottawa River is a favourite place for a quiet getaway.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity Update
Combining your DNA matches and their family trees, this updated MyHeritage service provides "theories" about possible common ancestors. If you have DNA results at MyHeritage and have posted an associated family tree check for an update. The total number of Theories has increased from 6 to 14 million and more than 46% have at least one Theory. Sadly I'm in the majority — no Theories. Check out Roberta Estes blog post to learn more.

Advance Notice: Book Donations
If you're coming to the OPL free 8 August DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History event BIFHSGO and Ottawa Branch suggest you consider bringing a surplus non-fiction or fiction book in good condition from your collection as a thank you donation. More later.

Scotland and Maps
What's with Scotland and maps? The NLS continues a major project of map digitization. Now there's a book Scotland – Mapping the Islands reviewed on Paul Milner's blog about which he writes "The knowledgeable authors present the rich and diverse story of Scottish islands from the earliest maps to the most up-to-date digital mapping in engaging and imaginative ways. This book is an informative delight to read and view."

The NYT Privacy Project

Public Library Virtual Reality
"Virtual reality library programs give local residents the opportunity to explore the emerging technology and to let them see its potential uses as an educational tool."

Fake News in Canada's Election

Have you seen the hashtag #TrudeauMustGo on Twitter? According to this post much of the activity surrounding the hashtag, which has seen it periodically appear in the top ten most tweeted here, was driven by accounts tweeting at non-human rates, including about two dozen accounts created in the past 48 hours.”
Be careful about what you read and believe.

Why this man became a hermit at 20

A Plea For Shade
In summer we walk in the shade; in winter the sunny side of the street. In a changing climate, how can we favour an urban design that optimizes comfort?

Family Tree Live 2020 call for presentation proposals

The second Family Tree Live is being held at Alexandra Palace on 17 & 18 April 2020.

Family Tree has issued a call for papers - lectures and workshops.

We are seeking talks and workshops on subjects that will help people on the first steps of their genealogy journey, through to more advanced record sets and search skills and strategies. We are interested in topics that are educational, but entertaining and inspirational approaches are very welcome too! This is your chance to come and share your knowledge and passion for family history with others at Family Tree Live.

Find information on how to apply at https://www.family-tree.co.uk/news-and-views/news/family-tree-live-2020-call-for-papers-lectures-and-workshops

50 Years On

This fifty-year-old newspaper hangs on the wall in my office, a reminder of where I was on that memorable weekend.


For me, the weekend was notable as a family history event as well as the moon landing.

I'd driven south from Montreal, where I was studying at McGill. It was my one and only visit with my first cousin twice removed, Sidney Cohen who had a summer home near Peekskill, New York.

He was eight years younger and much more robust than my grandfather, his cousin. Soon after I arrived we went swimming in a nearby lake. Just as Apollo 11 was guided by a computer no more powerful than today's smartphones, a box-like protrusion under the skin on his chest marked the presence of an early implanted pacemaker.

I have the vaguest memories of the other relatives I met. They must have included his wife Rosalind, likely their two daughters and their families.

After a good steak dinner, we stayed up late into the evening to watch the events televised from the moon.

My return journey on the east side of Lake Champlain took me through Rutland, Vermont where I picked up the newspaper.

Sidney died in New York a year later, only 3 months older than I am today.

What do you remember about that weekend?

Free Ancestry.ca Access

There's free Ancestry.ca access from 19 July 2019 to 21 July 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Registration is required.

After the free access period ends, you will only be able to view the records in the featured collections using a paid Ancestry.ca membership. Click here.

Additions to Findmypast this week: Essex

Over 5 million Essex BMB transcript records sourced from the Essex Record Office are now at Findmypast.

Essex Baptism Index 1538-1920
Search a brand new collection of more than 2.3 million Essex baptisms. Spanning over 350 years of the county's history and 532 parishes, these transcripts of original parish register entries may reveal date and place of birth, parents' names, father's occupation, residence, baptism date and the church in which they were baptized.

Essex Marriages and Banns 1537-1935
Explore more than 1.4 million transcripts of original Essex marriages and banns to discover marriage date, marriage place, residence and occupation as well as the names of the father, spouse and witnesses.

Essex Burial Index 1530-1994
Containing over 1.5 million records, this newly-released transcript collection of Essex Burial records will reveal a combination of your ancestor's age at death, birth year, marital status, burial date and burial place.

Note that in May this year Ancestry added the following transcript records
Essex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1994, 730,118 records
Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1935, 1,968,439 records
Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1918, 3,937,941 records
Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, 4,389,173 records

Although Ancestry's total number of records is larger than Findmypast's it includes many duplicates.

Derbyshire Births and Baptisms
Just under a thousand additional records from 15 non-conformist parishes have been added to FMP's collection of Derbyshire Births and Baptisms. Mainly covering Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians, the full list of new additions has been highlighted in our Derbyshire parish list.

International Records Update - Belgium
Explore two indexes, Belgium Marriages 1563-1890 and Belgium Deaths & Burials 1564-1900, containing more than 212,000 records.

News from TheGenealogist

The first in the new BBC series of WDYTYA? airs on 23 July. The subject is Daniel Ratcliffe. I'm hoping to view it later. In the meantime, there's a spoiler post from TheGenealogist.

TheGenealogist has just released over 658 War Memorials with 75,973 new individuals. This means that there are now a total of over 568,000 individuals that are fully searchable in TheGenealogist’s War Memorial records.The new data will allow the family history researcher to discover:

• close to 76,000 individuals recorded on War Memorials
• 658 War Memorials from England, Australia, New Zealand and Canada

These fully searchable records are transcribed from images of the tributes put up to honour the war dead from various conflicts including the Boer War, the First World War and World War II. This latest release from TheGenealogist covers war memorials from many parts of the UK, as well as some further afield monuments in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

LAC Co-Lab Update

Here's an update on Co-Lab projects since last month.

NEW
Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is 18% complete

PROGRESS
Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner is 97% complete (92% last month).
War Diaries of the First World War: 1st Canadian Division is 94% complete (92% last month).
Rosemary Gilliat (Eaton)’s Arctic diary and photographs is 39% complete (38% last month).
The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters is 85% complete (77% last month).

NO CHANGE
New France and First Nations Relations is 33% complete (was 39%!).
Japanese-Canadians: Second World War is 61% complete.

COMPLETED
The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918–1919.
Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes.
Letters from Wilfrid Laurier to Zoé Lafontaine/Laurier.

UPDATE
The article Crowding the Library: How and why Libraries are using Crowdsourcing to engage the Public makes reference to Co-Lab.

MyHeritage updates Theory of Family Relativity

The following is an announcement from MyHeritage.

The Theory of Family Relativity™ scans billions of family tree profiles and historical records to craft detailed theories of how DNA Matches on MyHeritage may be related to each other. Since launching the feature in February, our DNA database has grown significantly, the number of family trees on MyHeritage has reached 45 million, existing trees have grown, and more historical records have been added to SuperSearch™.

A new notification system has been created to update MyHeritage users about new theories as they are discovered, one theory at a time. This email will be sent periodically, as of this week.

We hope that MyHeritage DNA users will enjoy the current update, which has more than doubled the number of theories available.

Read more about this update and some key facts and figures in the blog post.

More Wexford and Limerick Records coming to RootsIreland.ie

Irish Genealogy Matters, the newsletter of www.rootsireland.ie and the Irish Family History Foundation carries news that Roman Catholic registers for the parish of New Ross, County Wexford, as well as more Limerick records are coming to RootsIreland.ie. It also lists additions already made this year.

via a post on IrishGenealogyNews.

Ontario Civil Registration

A reminder, you don't need an Ancestry subscription to research some Ontario civil BMD registrations.

FamilySearch has
Ontario Births, 1869-1912 with 2,081,426 records
Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927 with 1,382,652 records
Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947 with 2,050,112 records

There's also free access to associated images.

Some later Ontario BMD records can be accessed through Ancestry, including the Library edition for free at many public libraries and other institutions, which now hosts births to 1913 births, marriages to 1937 marriages and deaths to 1947.

If you want to research beyond these official records check out the Ontario section at 320 Birth, Marriage, and Death Record Collection Links from Canada on The Ancestor Hunt.

Prof (Retired) Bruce Elliott

At Sunday's Westboro Beach Meetup Bruce Elliott confirmed that not only was he retiring from Carleton University, but has retired as of 1 July.

Read about his many academic achievements at https://carleton.ca/history/people/bruce-s-elliott/.

Touching genealogy and local history, he started his leadership with the Census of Canada, 1871, Ontario, heads of household name index, an early census index project of its scale. It became available in the mid-1980s.

In 1991 he published The city beyond : a history of Nepean, birthplace of Canada's capital, 1792-1990 .

Honorary life membership of the Ontario Genealogical Society in 1992.

In 2005 to the BIFHSGO Hall of Fame for “long and varied contributions to the Society and to the field of genealogy”

I'll stop. This isn't an obit. Bruce tells me he has plans for completing books and projects after he meets the challenge of moving mountains of paper out of this long-time office.

Top Ten Genealogy Websites

According to worldwide statistics compiled by SimilarWeb in their category Hobbies and Leisure > Ancestry and Genealogy these are the top-visited websites. The figure in brackets is the rank for visitors from Canada.

Rank	Website	Avg. Visit Duration	Pages / Visit
1	ancestry.com (2)	0:13:46	26.21
2	familysearch.org (3)	0:17:20	30.07
3	ancestry.co.uk	0:16:05	34.84
4	myheritage.com (4)	0:04:43	7.24
5	geneanet.org	0:09:55	13.52
6	23andme.com (5)	0:06:05	7.71
7	geni.com	0:06:23	6.51
8	ancestry.ca (1)	0:10:43	26.36
9	ancestry.com.au	0:11:24	20.14
10	wikitree.com	0:09:27	9

In Ottawa, if you'd like to learn more about three of these most popular sites attend the free DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History presentations on 8 August at Nepean Centrepointe (Ben Franklin Place).

548 Volumes of U.S. Navy Muster Rolls now digitized

USS Rattler from U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Volumes of 19th-century,1861 to 1879, US naval muster rolls are now digitized accessible to the public through the National Archives Catalog.  That's according to a NARA press release.
The muster roll data provide the names, birthplaces, ages, discharges, and physical description of enlisted seamen — and more.
At present, you need to know the name of the ship — search the catalog by ship name and the word muster.
A citizen volunteer transcription project is pending.

Summertime Reading for the Family Historian

UK magazine Family Tree published a list of 5 books all family historians should take on holiday.

While I dislike "should" the suggested book are mostly ones I'd not read. The first two on the list are more light poolside or beach-reading fare than the others.

Dadland, published in 2017 by Keggie Carew is described as "part-family memoir, part-war story ... a loving tribute to her extraordinary father who, as he began losing his past to dementia, she was fighting to retrieve it." Read The Guardian review.

Common People: The History of an English Family by Alison Light – a wonderful family-cum-social history featuring Victorian ancestors with incredible warmth and insight into human behaviour through the generations. The Guardian review ends "Light's final wish for her book is that it will encourage others to write their family history as a public history ... However, it is possible to finish her book wishing the opposite: that a historian and critic of her rare gifts would leave family history to the dabblers, and write us, for instance, a literary and cultural history of the workhouse, with her personal passion as background, not foreground."

The other books on the list seem out of place as summer reading. The presence on the list of Ethical Dilemmas in Genealogy by Dr. Penny Walters motivates me to attend the panel session she will be part of at RootsTech London.

Adding my own suggestion, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
by Dani Shapiro I borrowed from the OPL and devoured unusually quickly. It's another example of discovery using DNA. Read the New York Times review.

What do these people have in common?

Easy. They're genealogists.

They're all speaking at RootsTech London.

As far as I know, four of them have another thing in common. What would that be, and which four?

Hint. One of them, bottom left, is Daniel Horowitz who will be in Ottawa on 8 August speaking at the DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History event. A month later Daniel is speaking at MyHeritage LIVE 2019 taking place on the weekend of 6-8 September 2019 at the Hilton Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
To close the circle, that Amsterdam event also features talks by Blaine Bettinger and Cyndi Ingle who will be speaking later in September at the BIFHSGO 25th Anniversary conference.

Ancestry Updates Obituary Collections and indexes — how useful?

Ancestry has posted these updates.

Dataset	Dates	Entries
Caribbean, Obituary Index	2003-2011	96,557
Canada, Obituary Collection	1898-2018	8,507,085
UK and Ireland, Obituary Index	2004-2018	4,855,799
U.S., Obituary Collection	1930-Current	178,827,618

Let's look at Canada. According to Statistics Canada in 2018, there were 279,936 deaths reported in Canada. As the population increases and ages, the number has increased. It was 217,000 in the year 2000, so about 4,719,000 deaths since 2000.

If you search year by year the Ancestry Canada, Obituary Collection includes 1,096,540 entries since 2000. That's 23% of all deaths.

It's less than that as the database includes many duplicates. In a sample, I found 24 unique entries out of 42. That means coverage of a bit over 10% of all deaths.

I was suspicious of the claim of 8.5 million entries in the Canada collection. As a check, there are 11,451 deaths in the database for people named Smith which typically accounts for 1 - 2 % of  all events. For the 10 years around 2005 Smith accounts for 1.1% of entries which would suggest a bit over 1 million entries in the Canada Obituary collection, not over 8 million.

Where are the other 7 million?

Beechwood CWGC Burial: James Dyer

Under the headline COMRADE DYER'S FUNERAL the Ottawa Journal reported on Friday 18 July 1919 that:
The funeral of Jamaa Dyer of the Ordnance Corps who was killed by an A.S.C. truck at Westboro' on Tuesday morning was held from the residence of his son-ln-law. Mr. Albert Parkinson, Stratheona Avenue. Westboro yesterday afternoon.
According to an article in the 15 July Journal he was struck by a truck when he stepped out from behind a parked car while hurrying to cross the road to catch another vehicle. An inquest found he died of internal injuries and returned a verdict of accidental death.
James Dyer was a native of Bristol, England born on 13 May 1869. He had lived in Westboro for about 7 years, enlisted in 1916 giving his birth year as 1874 but was not allowed to go overseas owing to age. Survived by his wife, Florence who was on her way to England at the time of the accident, two daughters (Ada and Lily) and one son (James), he is buried at Beechwood Cemetery in the Military Section 29. Lot 13-14 West part G20.

Did You Know:  Beechwood Cemetery isn't only for the dead. There's a program of live events this summer. See www.beechwoodottawa.ca/en/foundation/events

Short Deadline: LAC seeks NCR nominees for Youth Advisory Council

Imagine a young person being able to put on their resume that they served on a Library and Archives Canada Advisory Committee.

The deadline for nominations to serve of LAC's Youth Advisory Council is noon 16 July, 2019. If you know of a young person with an interest in gaining such experience check out whether there's a fit and how to apply at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/Pages/youth-advisory-council.aspx/.

A makeover for BIFHSGO's unique databases

BIFHSGO's website has a "new look" Research & Projects menu. The number of projects with databases grew so large that Director John McConkey decided to categorize them so they're easier to find.

The "Home Children" category has four databases; "Military" has four, "Migration" two, and there's an "Other" category.

If you have a suggestion for a new project or are interested in volunteering, please send an email to the Director of Research and Projects.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

A reminder about today's Westboro Beach Meetup.

Anglo-Saxons deserve reparations for the Norman Conquest
Where do you draw the line?

Agnes Chamberlin’s Flower Prints
Agnes Chamberlin, daughter of Susanna Moodie, and niece of Catharine Parr Traill who were well known for their now classic descriptions of pioneer life in Ontario, was a prolific artist of Canadian wild flowers. LAC blog post.

Two items from Europeana
Reporting from the trenches: newspapers in World War I
Mining and exploring 200 years of newspapers: the impresso project

The Amber Alert system on phones is already annoying people, and that’s dangerous
The Amber Alert, which sounded on my phone six times early on Thursday, left me fatigued all day. If alerting me in Ottawa to a situation in York Region/Toronto was going to be helpful I wouldn't object. So far nobody has given an explanation of why warning to such remote areas is necessary. Weather warnings using the same technology are more targeted. Why not the same for Amber Alerts?

The Anti-Vaccine Chronicles
From The Pudding, the story about the pernicious claims borne out of a single, discredited scientific paper in 1998. But it’s also a story of how this belief has persisted among a growing number of Americans, despite its scientific foundations crumbling in the years following its origin.

Flying in the Time of Climate Emergency
“I don’t like harming others, so I don’t fly” climate scientist Peter Kalmus explained, noting that airplane emissions heat the planet, imperilling humans and non-humans alike. From activehistory.ca/.

Latest Irish Lives Remembered magazine

The free summer issue of online magazine Irish Lives Remembered includes:

• Croagh Patrick (County Mayo): The Sacred Mountain of the Sun God by Eamonn 'Ned' Kelly;
• Linking your DNA to Ireland's Ancient "Kings and Queens" by Maurice Gleeson;
• The Kavanagh/Cavanagh Surname and its relatives, Kinsella and Redmond by Paul MacCotter;
• An Irishman Abroad: David Tynan O'Mahony [Dave Allen] by Nathan Mannion;
• A concise guide to tracing your Irish Ancestors using US, Canadian, Australian and British Records by Maura Flood;
• Money, Mountain Dew, and Murder: Illicit Potin Distillation in Ireland during the 1920s - a four-part series, part 2 "Children going to and coming from school are reeling round the roads drunk with poteen" by Stephen Pierce. 
• Gone With the Wind. A Southern US Reflection of Hierarchy, Power and Essentialism in Ireland [Film Discussion] by Brigit McCone

Canadians in The Journal of One-Name Studies

The quarterly publication of the Guild of One-Name Studies is not where I expect to find a lot of Canadian content, Volume 13, Issue 7 for July - September 2019 is an exception.

A Fishy Story: The Mitchelmores of Green Island Cove, by Michael Micthelmore, explores the reason why in this small Newfoundland community 67% were named Mitchelmore and 32% McLean. That's according to the 1945 census.

My Gillespie World-Wide Research, by Norma Gillespie caught my attention as her ancestors owned the land where (or nearby where ) I live. Gillespie Crescent is part of my route any time I go out. The family is traced back to Ireland and Scotland.

Should you start a One-Name Study if there is no one to take it over?, by Wayne Shepheard is this Calgary genealogist's musings. I ask, does it matter? I expect to have more to say in a forthcoming post prompted by this thought-provoking article.

Finally, an article that's not Canadian, The Incidence of Non-Paternal Events (NPEs) in Men of Manx Origin by John A Creer. His study estimates the NPE rate in the Isle of Man as 0.4% per generation, much lower than the 1 - 2 % typically quoted. I suspect 0.4% is an underestimate as it doesn't account for cases where a male from the same bloodline as the supposed father was actually the genetic father.

Additions to Findmypast this week

Huddersfield Baptisms
Over 52,000 transcript records covering 14 new parishes, Adwalton, Armitage Bridge, Batley Carr, Battyeford, Berry Brow, Birchencliffe, Birstall, Bradley, Chickenley, Cleckheaton, Cowms, Crosland Moor, Cumberworth, and High Hoyland have been added to the 10 already in the FMP collection of Huddersfield Baptisms. Each record includes a transcript of an original parish register entry giving a combination of baptism date, parent's names, father's occupation and address.

Yorkshire Memorial Inscriptions
Over 5,000 additional records covering 14 Anglican churchyards across the York area (West Riding, North Riding and Ainsty) have been added to the collection, mainly covering the years of the First and Second World War. There are now 201 locations included with nearly 138,000 entries. Rawmarsh, Kimberworth and Masbrough each have more than 5,000 inscriptions included.

Middlesex Baptisms
Over 64,000 new records have been added to existing parishes within this collection. These transcripts of original parish register entries will reveal a combination of baptism date, parent's names, father's occupation and address. The collection also covers parts of London, Surrey, and Hertfordshire.

United States, Passenger and Crew Lists
Containing more than 100 million records, this new and improved national collection of US passenger lists is a blend of all FMP's existing US lists as well as more than 2 million new additions covering Boston, Texas and South Carolina. Spanning 165 years of travel (1800-1965), the collection includes ship manifests kept by shipmasters, crew lists, flight manifests, passenger arrival lists, and more.

This extensive collection of migration records includes ship manifests kept by shipmasters, crew lists, flight manifests, passenger arrival lists, and more. The numerous lists document the arrival of millions of immigrant from Europe, Asia, and South America into America, where most created a new life for themselves and their descendants.

Transcripts will reveal birth year, birthplace, place of arrival, arrival year and ship name. Within the images, you might discover travelling companions, occupation, last permanent residence, and the lists also recorded the names of those who died during the voyage. On crew lists, you may discover occupation on the ship, whether they were able to read or write, length of service, as well as a physical description.

International Records Update – Czech Republic
Two new Indexes, Czech Republic Births & Baptisms 1637-1889 and Czech Republic Marriages 1654-1889 are now available to search. These transcripts will provide you with vital dates and locations as well as the names of parents and spouses.

Beechwood Cemetery CWGC: John Taylor (1877 - 1919)

Private John Taylor (219492) was another of the British-born who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Born in Reading, Berkshire on 19 March 1877, the second son of William a hairdresser and Sarah, he had 12 years experience including serving in South Africa before emigrating to Canada.

Enlisting at Picton with the 80th Overseas Battalion in May 1915, a time when a married man needed his wife's consent, he went to England in August but was discharged in May 1917 as physically unfit. He was able to reenlist in November 1917 serving with the Canadian Army Corps of Military Staff Clerks. He died on 12 July of enteritis/influenza leaving his wife Edith a son and a daughter.

His grave is at Beechwood Cemetery in Section 29, Lot 15. S.W.

Society of Genealogists RootsTech London Extra

If you're going to RootsTech London, 24-26 October, you may want to take advantage of an extra genealogy day being offered by the Society of Genealogists.

There are two free lectures on Wednesday 23 October being presented by Alec Tritton, a RootsTech London 2019 featured speaker.

The Old Poor Law Before 1834, being offered at 2 pm
The Tudor poor laws limped on, administered by the church in its civil capacity, until it was replaced in 1834. The resulting records produced an amazing amount of information about those who did or who might become a burden on the parish.

Finding the Wills of your Ancestors, being offered at 4 pm 
This talk will help you to understand the genealogical value of Wills, be able to use them in compiling Family Histories, understand the differences in probate administration and records (before and after 1858) and to be able to navigate the various systems.

Free tours of the society library are also being offered on the same day starting at either 11:15 am or 2:15 pm.

Space is limited.

Further information and booking at http://www.sog.org.uk/books-courses/events-courses/calendar-day/2019/10/23/

Optimising your Privacy with DNA tests

Seven suggestions from Maurice Gleeson, starting with don't test and ending with deleting your account.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Optimizing privacy means NOT optimizing the benefit from a DNA test.
Read Maurice's suggestions here.

Updates to the #1 CCCS Project

Soldiers and a nurse at No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station.
George Metcalf Archival Collection, CWM 19920044-385.
Courtesy of Canadian War Museum, Ottawa, Ontario.

The following are the names for bios most recently added to the BIFHSGO No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station database which totals 879 names. Nearly half also include biographies.

2nd Lieutenant Earl Henry Mulley
2nd Lt Guy Maddison Vaisey
Corporal Cecil James Richard Paterson
Corporal Henry Percy Carr
Corporal John Charles Buck
Lance Corporal William Albert Pavett
Private Aloysius Paul O'Connor
Private Archibald McIlquham Hendry
Private Ernest Edwin Gumbrell
Private Ernest Rogerson
Private Frederick William Mounteney Winks
Private George Reid Atkinson
Private George William Simpson
Private Norman Francis Staples
Private Quincey Sutherland
Private Reginald Burrows
Private Robert Ricketts
Private Roy Louis Woodward
Private Tauetuli
Private Thomas Simmonds Harvey
Private Wilfred Carter
Private William Charles Gibson
Private William Creed
Private William Ernest Charles Woods
Private William John Pride
Gunner Percy Henry Card
Rifleman Middleton Beckett
Sapper Thomas Arnold Clayburn

Herefordshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1583-1898 now on FamilySearch

866,311 transcripts of Herefordshire Bishop's Transcripts are now available in this updated collection from FamilySearch. An estimated 85% of the records are for the years 1750 to 1850.

All the detail is here on the FamilySearch Wiki.

Westboro Beach Genealogy Meetup

Join us at noon on Sunday, 14 July, for the annual Ottawa informal genealogy meetup. Folks look forward to it.

The forecast is sunny with a high of 29 C, probably a bit cooler by the water. Sunscreen and hats recommended.

Find out about the Westboro Beach Cafe, and remember the Parkway is closed to vehicles on Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm. If driving there's free parking on Kirchoffer and Lanark Avenues and an underpass to the beach.

Hearth Tax Digital

Hearth Tax Digital
Via Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine: A large collection of 17th-century tax records has come back online and is set to grow over the next few years.
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/hearth-tax-records-return-online

BTW, did you know that the 2 July issue of WDYTYA? Magazine is available through PressReader? It's accessible free with your library card through the OPL and likely through the digital resources of many other public library websites.

And the Winner is ...

Who will be getting a complimentary admission to RootsTech London?

Tickets for all entrants who answered the skill-testing question correctly were put in a hat and the winner was drawn out of the hat by Glenn Wright while we were meeting for coffee at Second Cup. He was evidently pleased with having met that challenge!

The winner is Angela Meyer from Florida.

Angela is the spouse of Miles Mayer who will be speaking on Thursday at RootsTech on Tour of Online European Archives.

Several other RootsTech Ambassadors still have their competitions going so there are more chances.

Sylvia Valentine has a Wacky Word Competition.

The Rules of Competition

What is the wackiest word you have come across whilst researching your family tree and which had you reaching for the dictionary?
Explain the circumstances where you found it and its meaning.
Cite your source.
The judge’s decision if final.
Closing date for Entries is 4 August 2019.
Send your entry by email to: sylvia@recoveryourroots.co.uk

Heather Nowlan's competition is at https://www.familytreesearchers.co.uk/rootstech-competition/.

You can likely find others by Googling.

Podcast: Ottawa Synagogue History

Perhaps like me, you've passed this building without giving it a second look.

Every building has a story. From the Ottawa Jewish Archives Podcast - The King Edward Shul, otherwise Adath Jeshurun Synagogue — Ottawa's second synagogue.

A Month from Today: DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History

Don't miss a rare August opportunity, a month from today, 8 August for an Ottawa family history event. Organized by the Ottawa Public Library, in partnership with the Ottawa Branch the Ontario Genealogical Society and the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, come learn about

DNA and Online Resources for Discovering Your Lost Family History

in The Chamber at the Nepean Centerpointe Library.

Here's the program:

Daniel Horowitz: MyHeritage Treasure Trove: An overview of features for family research, and Integrating DNA and Family History Research at MyHeritage

Daniel Horowitz is expert genealogist at MyHeritage, the world's fastest-growing genealogy social network. Daniel is a Venezuelan-born genealogist living in Israel. Computer engineer and linguist, he applies his training to his genealogical passion as one of the first to join MyHeritage.

Leanne Cooper: The Wonders of WikiTree: Collaborative Genealogy and DNA

Leanne Cooper is a frequent local speaker with roots mostly in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and back to the UK.

Lesley Anderson: Secrets & Shenanigans: How AncestryDNA was used in an unexpected mystery

Lesley Anderson has worked for Ancestry.ca for over 11 years as their Canadian Spokesperson and has been involved in the personal research of her family tree for over 50 years.

 Register for this free event running from 9:30 am -4:00 pm at Eventbrite here.

More than 100 people are already registered.