5,345 Free Online Canada City Directories

The amazing Kenneth R Marks has finished a section on his website The Ancestor Hunt presenting links to free online Canada city directories. It's a collaborative effort with Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website.

https://www.theancestorhunt.com/blog/5345-free-online-canada-city-directories

British Newspaper Archives Additions for July

The British Newspaper Archive now has a total of  38,109,702 pages online ( 37,517,070 last month).

55 papers (24 last month) had pages added in the past month. There were 26 (12) new titles. Dates ranged from 1803 to 1982. The Dail Mirror with 199,626 pages and more being added daily is the major addition.

The list of additions of more than 10,000 pages during the month:

TITLE	PAGES	DATE RANGE
Daily Mirror	199626	1903-1913, 1919-1920, 1922-1937, 1980-1982
Cork Daily Herald	41562	1858-1860, 1863, 1865-1867, 1872-1894
Leicester Chronicle	59334	1915, 1924-1979
Jersey Evening Post	12420	1899, 1901-1909
Nantwich Chronicle	12670	1945-1958, 1976, 1978
North Wales Weekly News	32324	1956-1980
Rochdale Times	16114	1872-1879, 1896, 1898-1899, 1910-1912, 1914-1923
Westmeath Guardian & Longford News-Letter	11448	1841-1860, 1862-1896
Richmond & Ripon Chronicle	1036	1857, 1859, 1865, 1889
Hampshire Independent	40430	1836-1852, 1858-1895, 1898-1910, 1912-1923
Clonmel Chronicle	20176	1848-1896

Edward Cohen: Passchendaele

The Battle of Pilckem Ridge, the opening attack of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), occurred on this date, 31 July 1917.

Edward Cohen, my great-uncle, serving with the 12th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers was mortally wounded in the advance on Bodmin Copse. He was one of 6,525 who died on that day, including 91 from his battalion according to www.cwgc.org. Like 70 others of his battalion, his body was not recovered and his name is on the Menin Gate.

He was awarded a posthumous Military Cross which was donated to Queen's College, Cambridge, where he had been a student.
The Third Battle of Ypres eventually cost a quarter of a million British Empire lives.
Read more about Edward Cohen at http://theyserved.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Cohen

CWGC Beechwood Cemetery: Goldwin Otter Kemp

Goldwin Otter Kemp was born in Ottawa on 6 May 1885

Ottawa Journal, 2 August 1920

As a result of physical infirmities contracted while on active service with the Canadian expeditionary force in France, Lieutenant Goldwin Otter Kemp, youngest surviving son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Kemp, Westboro’, passed away yesterday afternoon (31 July 1920) in Spadina Hospital, Toronto. Since his return to Canada in the autumn of 1918, Lieutenant Kemp had suffered with an acute affliction of the heart and, during the early months of the present year, was forced to abandon his business and enter hospital for treatment.
Lieutenant Camp was very well known in the capital, where he received his early education, later graduating from the Ottawa Collegiate Institute. In pre-war days he was employed by the Bank of Ottawa and later left his position there to enter government Service in the Department of Customs. Upon the outbreak of the war, he joined the Canadian militia and assisted in the work of recruiting the 130th Battalion, with which unit he sailed to England. Following its disintegration, Lieutenant Kemp proceeded it to France and joined the 38th Battalion, serving with distinction with them until he was severely wounded during the desperate Canadian assault on the city of Cambrai, September 1918.  He was invalided to England and, after spending several months in the hospital, was evacuated to Canada in the late months of 1918.
Lieutenant Kemp upon discharge from the Army ... was placed in a responsible position under the Department of Customs in Toronto, which position he was forced to forgo when he entered Spadina Hospital early this year.
The late Lieutenant Kemp leaves to mourn his loss his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kemp, Westboro’; his widow, formerly Miss Edna Raper, daughter of John Raper; two young daughters Mavis and Beatrice; one brother Mr. D S Kemp, principal of Cambridge Street School, Ottawa. 
The funeral will be held from Rogers and Burney’s Chapel, Laurier Avenue West at 3 this afternoon.

Interment at Beechwood Cemetery is in Section 19, S-E part. 154

What’s New in the Canadiana Collections

A long list of new titles is showing at https://www.crkn-rcdr.ca/en/whats-new-canadiana-collections. There are about 170 serials, most annotated as coming soon.  Three are "recently added."

Directory of the city of Kingston, and the villages of Waterloo, Portsmouth, Williamsville and Barriefield, 1855. http://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_00139
Montreal almanack for the year of our Lord ... ,1831, 1833, 1837, 1840, 1841, 1842. http://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.8_00397
Toronto World Jan. 1, 1913-Dec. 31, 1915. http://www.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.N_00367

There are no new items in the Héritage collection "due to the COVID-19 pandemic, digitization services at Library and Archives Canada are currently suspended which has paused the growth of the Héritage collection. Once digitization services resume, this table will be updated."

August Allsorts Web Seminar

The Guild of One-Name Studies will be opening up several presentations from its archives for two weeks, to start at 5 am on Saturday 1 August.

The provisional programme is:

•   The Royal Navy in Malta [March 2017] – Kim Baldacchino 
•   Using TNG to Create a Website [July 2016] – Jim Benedict
•   Genetic Genealogy [April 2019] – Debbie Kennett
•   Life in the Asylum [May 2019] – David Scrimgeour
•   C19th Boom and Bust – Trade Directories [May 2017] – Jackie Depelle 

https://one-name.org/seminar-events/

The National Brewery Centre Archive

The UK National Brewery Centre in Burton on Trent is "home to an unrivalled array of historical collections that relate to brewing. This includes an extensive archive of ledgers, books, plans, photographs and film from the breweries around the UK; a library containing brewing-related books and journals and objects that include paintings, ceramics, glass, bottles, cans, beer mats and Inn-signs."

Online find many of the more popular items in the collection, such as photos of historic pubs, breweries, brewing equipment, packaging and advertising. Items are continually being added.

nbcarchives.co.uk/

The Week's Online Genealogy Events

Choose from online events in the next four days. All times at ET.

🇨🇦Tuesday 28 July, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Tuesday, 28 July, 2 pm: Fabulous Photo Discoveries™ at MyHeritage by Lisa Louise Cooke. Register here.

Wednesday, 29 July, 11 am: Ask Me Anything with Myko Clelland. www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday, 29 July, 2 pm: Researching a Loyalist Soldier by Craig R. Scott, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Register here.

Thursday, 30 July, 8 am: Passchendaele ( The Third Battle of Ypres). https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/projects/cwgc-live/ with Alexandra Churchill and Bethany Moore of The Great War Group and CWGC's Max Dutton.

🇨🇦Thursday, 30 July, 1 pm: Oh, Canadiana!: the offerings on the Canadiana.org website, with Kathryn Lake Hogan. Register here.

Thursday, 30 July, 6:30 pm:  Navigating the (Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center) Catalog: Locating the Resource You Need. Register here.

Friday 31 July, 11 am: Tracing Catholic Ancestors by Brian Donovan. www.facebook.com/findmypast

Friday 31 July - 30 September: Celtic Connections Virtual Conference. 25 pre-recorded presentations and 10 live chat sessions with Fiona Fitzsimons, Maurice Gleeson, John Grenham, Chris Paton for $99US. http://www.celtic-connections.org/ccc_register.html

Videos from last weekend's Family Tree magazine (UK) conference are available to view until the end of the week. https://www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/conference/

Advance Notice: OGS Troronto Late Summer Lecture Series: Online

Four lectures about online Ontario research

Tuesday 18 August: Ontario Records on FamilySearch — Jane E. MacNamara
Wednesday 19 August: Upper Canada Sundries: An Under-used Genealogy Goldmine— Janice Nickerson
Tuesday 25 August: The Heir & Devisee Commissions of Upper Canada— Linda Corupe
Wednesday 26 August: Enhancing your Research with Find-a-Grave—Ruth Burkholder

Find out more and register at https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/late-summer-lecture-series-online/?instance_id=1427

The Second World War, Solving the Franklin Mystery, and more

The 1 August 2020 issue of Canada's History magazine features two articles by Canadian military historian Tim Cook.

A shorter one On All Fronts reviews Canada's role in the war.

After Victory: The Second World War led to fundamental changes to Canada shows how it stimulated "the emergence of the social-security state to advances in culture, from being more intensely tied to the United States to a new willingness to engage with the world. Canada moved forward as a wealthy nation, more certain of what it meant to be Canadian."

Solving the Franklin Mystery has Ken McGoogan speculation on the cause of death of crew members.

Canada's History is one of the many magazines available to read free online through PressReader if your local public library subscribes.

Latest Irish Lives Remembered Genealogy Magazine

The Summer 2020 issue of this free magazine is now available!

Articles: 
Fiona Fitzsimons – Senator Joe Biden's Irish Roots
Paul MacCotter – The Surnames of County Tipperary: A Brief Overview
Maurice Gleeson – The Future of Ancient DNA and Red Hugh O’Donnell
Niall Roycroft – How a 1954 Traffic Accident Revealed Medieval Athboy (County Meath)
Deirdre Powell – Matilda Cullen Knowles (1864–1933): A Pioneer of Irish Botany
Aisling O’Brien and Lorna Moloney – Brian Boru and the World of DNA
Nathan Mannion - Mary Mallon – Better Known as ‘Typhoid Mary’: A Lesson for Our Time?
Eamonn ‘Ned’ Kelly – The God of Wisdom and the Origins of the Legendary Hero Fionn mac Cumhaill
Maurice Gleeson – Select Academic Publications Relevant to Irish Genetic Genealogy on the ISOGG Website
Patrick Roycroft – New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy (4th Edition; by Brian Mitchell) [Book Review]
Brigit McCone – Book Essay on Michael Davitt’s Life and Progress in Australasia
Brian Mitchell – New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy (4th edition, 2020) [Book Excerpt]

Regular columns: 
Dear Genie (Our Genealogists help you with your research block)
Photodetective (Jayne Shrimpton analyses one of your family photos)
Patrick's Page (Patrick Roycroft deals with a client at the Irish Family History Centre)
FMP Roundup (Niall Cullen lets us know of the new Irish genealogy records that have been added to Findmypast)

https://irishlivesremembered.ie

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

OGS Copyright Consultant
Librarians are Genealogists' best friends, so the OGS announcement that Elise C. Cole is joining the OGS team to ensure that the Society is informed and compliant with copyright law and copyright best practices is welcome. Elise in her role with the Oakville Public Library blogged at the no longer active Librarians Helping Canadian Genealogists Climb Family Trees.

Links to 2,275 Free Online Ontario City Directories
Kenneth R Marks does it again. https://bit.ly/3jHMDm3




Reimagining Searching in Chronicling America
A blog post that raised my blood pressure in thinking about the lost opportunities owing to Library and Archives Canada's failed leadership.

Libraries have been bringing older books to digital learners: Four publishers sue to stop it
Do you use the Internet Archive? A blog post by Brewster Kahle on the threat from commercial publishers to the availability of orphan works.

TheGenealogist adds Australian Records

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Dunne, btyclk, Gail B., Ian Barker, Jon, K, K P,  Leslie Weir, M.Anne S., Nick Thorne, Unknown.

CWGC Update

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an example of an organization that's not been at rest during the pandemic.
There's a new logo and a refreshed website at the old address.

Weekly CWG Live webinars are being presented on Zoom, the latest was Emotional Responses to the Work of the CWGC presented by Public Engagement Coordinator, Megan Kelleher. There's an archive of previous presentations.

Next Thursday at 1 pm BST (8 am ET) the topic is Passchendaele ( The Third Battle of Ypres)

Rosalind Elsie Franklin Centennial

To Coventry with Findmypast

Records from three cemeteries have been added in this update to the collection of Warwickshire Burials.

Coventry, London Road Cemetery, 1916-2007, with 125,489 entries
Coventry, St Paul's Cemetery, 1893-1994, with 15,488 entries
Walsgrave on Sowe Cemetery, 1893-1994, with 2,503 entries.

The individual entries are transcripts. Linked images are maps showing the locations of the plot within the cemetery.

Warwickshire, Coventry Pawnbroker Tickets 1915-1923
These unique mementos from the First World War era reveal what the people of Coventry pawned and the money they made. As well as giving us an insight into the area's social history, the 11,143 records can also be useful for adding colour to Coventry family's past. They include details like:

Who pawned an item
Their address
What they pawned
How much they received

Covering transactions made at Wm. Brookes at 1-2 Silver Street and 118 Gosford Street and Philips Electric Arc Welding Ltd, the tickets were transcribed and provided by the Coventry Family History Society.

You may not be familiar with the term Sent to Coventry.

Also added this week, United States, Idaho, Reconstructed 1890 Idaho Census, 102,633 records assembled from records of births, marriages, deaths, wills, land and tax records, court records, mining and water rights, naturalisations and citizenship, information from Boise city directories, Boise County money orders and Century Farms records.

Reopening Library and Archives Canada

The following is posted on the LAC website as of Thursday 23 July 2020.

We are carefully planning a gradual reopening of Library and Archives Canada’s (LAC) service points across the country. The health and safety of employees and visitors is our priority. The offices located in Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver may open independently, following a staged approach. On this page, you will find the latest details and opening dates for each office as they become available.

Reopening stages
In the past few months, our staff has been hard at work to provide remote services to the public.

On August 12, 2020, it is expected that a limited number of staff will begin to return to the worksites. In this first stage of gradual reopening, LAC will remain closed to the public. However, we will resume copy services (online orders only) and be able to provide enhanced remote reference services, as staff will be on site and have greater access to items from the collection.

Although we do not yet have specific dates for when this will happen, we will increase our service offerings as additional staff return to the worksites. As such, we will begin to offer limited public access services by reservation only. These services will be gradually broadened, and access to the public service points and collection will be increased all the while following local and national health and safety measures. These will include limited reserved seating in our consultation, reference and genealogy rooms, expanded research capabilities, and greater services offered by our reference and information desks in our various locations.

We will continue to monitor the situation as we move toward a return to more open and accessible services to the public, including reopening of the DigiLab services and, when possible, a return of in-person public events, workshops and tours.

Current status per region
Here you will find region-specific links to the latest information on the stages of reopening and the gradual resumption of online and in-person services. In all cases, LAC will apply and reinforce local and national health and safety measures. Check back regularly and follow our social media accounts for the latest news. We are looking forward to welcoming you back soon!

Ottawa: Online Services Available – Closed to the Public
The facility located at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa is currently closed to the public. We are planning the return to the workplace of employees and implementing health and safety measures.

Read about the online services currently offered: COVID-19: Latest update for LAC’s public services and programming
Prepare for your visit by completing your User Card Registration (no opening date available for visits yet)

Halifax: Online Services Available – Closed to the Public
The service point located in the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, 1055 Marginal Road in Halifax, is currently closed to the public. We are planning the return to the workplace of employees and implementing health and safety measures.

Winnipeg: Online Services Available – Closed to the Public
The facility located at 1700 Inkster Boulevard in Winnipeg is currently closed to the public. We are planning the return to the workplace of employees and implementing health and safety measures

Vancouver: Online Services Available – Closed to the Public
The service point located on the 7th floor of the Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia Street, and at 420 – 300 West Georgia Street in Vancouver are currently closed to the public. We are planning the return to the workplace of employees and implementing health and safety measures.

Last Minute: WorldCat: Finding Genealogy Materials

From the Allen County Public Library, WorldCat: Finding Genealogy Materials.

Learn "how WorldCat can assist you in finding where genealogy materials are located, anywhere in the world. WorldCat also provides links to online materials, citations, the ability to create lists and more! This is a research tool that you did not know you needed."

www.genealogycenter.org/Events/SingleEvent/2020/07/23/default-calendar/worldcat-finding-genealogy-materials

Family History and Fashion

On Wednesday before leaving for the dentist I caught a few minutes of the conversation Your Ancestors and Fashion on the Findmypast Facebook channel with very knowledgeable guest expert Dr. Kate Strasdin.
She mentions several resources along the way that could be helpful in identifying the time period of clothes in a photo -- always remembering that people weren't always dressed in the most fashionable manner of the day.

Free UK Genealogy Conference — this weekend

The first Family Tree Academy: Weekend Conference, in association with FamilySearch, will be taking place online between Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July 2020.

The free web-based family history learning experience will comprise video guides, discussion panels and downloadable handouts. The team of presenters from FamilySearch is Brian McKechnie, Tim Manners, Andrew Milnes, Keith Penfold, Virginio Baptista, Jacob Hawkins, and Torsten Kux.

The presentations will be aired live online from 5pm BST (noon EST) each day, followed by a live family history panel discussion. Both the presentations and the panel discussions will be streamed via the Family Tree Facebook and YouTube pages.

To view the full programme of talks, visit the following link: https://familytr.ee/fullprogramme

Ancestry updates UK Death Indexes

Records for 2019 are added to this Ancestry collection. An index compiled by Wilmington Millennium, West Yorkshire, it covers approximately 55% of the total deaths.
This index provides name, gender, date of birth or age at death (missing in most cases), date of death, and residence place at death.
For England and Wales, the 1989-2019 death index has 4,777,565 entries. For Scotland and Northern Ireland 650,151 events.

String Band

When my great-grandfather John Marmon died in Carmarthen in October 1914 at 6 King Street the local paper reported there was a floral tribute from Messrs Jones' String Band. Previously, when his wife died in June 1910 there was a floral tribute from Messrs Jones, 60 King Street.

I wasn't aware John Marmon had any musical interest. There's a lot I don't know about this man who hid his origins.

The reference to a string band was interesting. What comes to mind for string band is the Incredible String Band



Not the kind of group for 1914, neither is the Google definition appropriate to the place and time "an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass."

The term "string band" appears in Carmarthen newspapers from 1859 with Messrs Jones' string band found from 1890. A report in 1891 included the somewhat ambiguous  "Messrs. Jones's string band were present in force, and played several selections between the different scenes. Praise is unneeded as the quality of the music discoursed by Messrs Jones's string band is too well known in Carmarthen and district."

In the following years there is frequent mention of Messrs. Jones's string band performing at community events. Based on the names of musical pieces mentioned the band is likely what we'd today call an ensemble - quartet, sextet or octet. Over time they expanded with piccolo and piano mentioned, no doubt others. The pieces played become more ambitious.

As far as I can determine the connection between my great-grandfather and the Jones family was their nearby businesses on King and later Queen Streets in Carmarthen.

Ottawa Genealogy Double-header

As posted here by Ottawa Branch OGS

"It does not look like we will be able to hold meetings in the City of Ottawa Archives until at least January 2021. " 

The Annual Meeting of Ottawa Branch which was postponed and is still tentatively scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday 12 September 2020 along with a Zoom presentation Picking Low Hanging Fruit from Your Family Tree by Bob Dawes.

That is the same day, in the morning the BIFHSGO AGM is scheduled along with a presentation There's No Business Like Show Business: Using DNA and Traditional Docs to Find Maternal Grandfather, by Brian Laurie-Beaumont.

The Week's Online Genealogy Events

Choose from online events in the next four days. All times at ET.

Tuesday 21 July, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Tuesday, 21 July, 8 pm: Elusive Immigrant: The Search for Dora Lühr
by Warren Bittner, CG. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Register here.

Wednesday, 22 July,11 am: Your Ancestors and Fashion, with Ellie Overthrow-Jones (FMP) and Dr Kate Strasdin www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday, 22 July, 2 pm: 50 More Websites Every Genealogist Should Know
by Gena Philibert-Ortega. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Register here.

Wednesday, 22 July, 10 pm: Portrait Detective: Streetscapes and Number Plates, with Cassie Mercer, from Ancestry Australia, www.facebook.com/AncestryAUS/videos/657743991480002

Thursday, 23 July, 6:30 pm: WorldCat: Finding Genealogy Materials, from the Allen County Public Library. www.genealogycenter.org/Events/SingleEvent/2020/07/23/default-calendar/worldcat-finding-genealogy-materials

Friday 17 June, 11 am: Findmypast Friday's Live with Alex Cox, www.facebook.com/findmypast

The Carmarthenshire Historian, and Newfoundland

Why this map of Newfoundland?

Published from 1961 to 1985 The Carmarthenshire Historian was "an attempt to stimulate interest in Local History; to encourage you to take a greater and deeper interest in the life of your village, your community and your county; to inspire you to find out what motives, fears and desires actuated our predecessors.
Issues were digitized by Chris Jones and are now available through The Internet Archive. He identified the following highlights, in no particular order:

Miss Nightingale Grieves to Say... - An extraordinary letter from an extraordinary woman.
Marching with Thomas Skeel - Follow the adventures of a Laugharne soldier.
The Footprints of a Master Craftsman - An independent soul.
Corporal Davies Goes to War - The Crimea: a foot soldier's perspective.
Alcwyn Caryni Evans 1828-1902 - Teacher, Historian, Landlord.
Madam Bevan - Pioneer of education in South Wales.
Loitering in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen - Do you recognise this?
A Saint and His Progeny - A fascinating portrayal of a prominent Methodist minister.
The Borough of Llanelly - An account of Llanelli, and the growth of its local government.
History of the Mynydd Mawr - Natural beauty, Anthracite, Rebecca.
Pentwyn Academy - A place to think.
An Arcadian In Parliament - William Williams, M.P.
Glo Garreg: Memories of the Anthracite Coalfield - From pit to Cabinet, memories of an MP.

There's also an outline index at http://carmarthenshirehistorian.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/Historian/WebTopicList/. Click the link and wait for the Internet Archive version and click again; sadly none of the image links are preserved although they are in the pdfs.

The map of Newfoundland is in the article Life in Seventeenth Century Carmarthenshire relates to a 1617 attempt to establish a Welsh colony on the island.

Sadly I didn't find anything about Messrs Jones String Band; that's another blog post!

Further Blog Posts from the Derbyshire Record Office

It's a month since my last post on blog items from the Derbyshire Record Office. Here are the new items. Again, although you may not have Derbyshire ancestry don't dismiss these; many of the posts have information of more widespread interest.

Coronors' Inquests and Other Records 
Lead Mining Records
Family History from Newspaper Reports of  Court Proceedings
Records of Crime and Punishment
The Bolsover Spitfires: 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain
School and College Archives
Coal Mining Records
Anglican Ecclesiastical Records 
Building Control Plans
Wonderful Words
Divorce Records

There's hope for Service from Library and Archives Canada

Although Library and Archives Canada continues to keep us,  its clients, in the dark about progress to reopening, the last notice posted on the website was dated 28 May, there is a hint.

I understand LAC management has been in touch with the Union(s) representing employees and some will return to their work locations on Wednesday 12 August.

It is highly unlikely that will be the date at which buildings will be opened to client visits and in-person service offered. We can look forward to the restart of service at a distance.

It's unfortunate that LAC has not been more open with its clients about its plans.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Lessons from the Reopening of Libraries and Archives in Europe
Some comments about digitization on request.

Librarians Turned Google Forms into the Unlikely Platform for Virtual Escape Rooms 
Is there scope for gamification in attracting youngsters to family history?



Notable and Recent Additions to the Waterloo Digital Library
COVID-19 and the closure of the University of Waterloo campus hasn't stopped the library making additions online. Included are some interesting early maps.

Ontario Land Registry Office Update
OGS posted news about plans to discontinue the land registration counter services at all Land Registry Offices effective 9 October 2020. It appears OGS has acted promptly — good, it should have been aware earlier.

Old British Lighthouses
The Historical Light Aids to Navigation dataset is an Excel spreadsheet that “shows the development of historical lighthouses, lightships, harbour lights and beacons in England and Wales for several benchmark years between 1514-1911. via Jeremy Singer-Vine at Data is Plural

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, Bob, Bob H., Dorothy Kew, Glenn Wright, Gloria, Jane, jon, Judy Lynn, K, LGLowrey, NigelBeale, Teresa, Terry, Unknown.

Ontario, Toronto Cemetery Records, 1989-1995

Earlier in the week, I mentioned an anomaly in new records posted to FamilySearch. Now the collection titled Ontario, Toronto Cemetery Records, 1989-1995 has 74,773 records as of 17 July described as

Cemetery records from the Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This collection contains interment registers and cremation registers from 1989-1995.

EXCEPT

Of 171 Reid burials, only 83 were in Ontario. 48 were in California and 37 in Nova Scotia.
None of those Ontario burials were in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery!

Findmypast Weekly Additions: Surrey BMBs

Over a million new records from Findmypast, most with transcripts linked to images of the original record.

Surrey Baptisms: over 558,000 records from 126 Surrey parishes added to this collection. Dates are typically 1846 to 1912 with some dating into the 16th century.

Surrey Marriages:  over 438,000 additional marriage records from 182 Surrey parishes typically dating from 1659 to 1933.

Surrey Burials: over 330,000 records added from 121 parishes typically from 1633 to 1957.

Check the Surrey Parish List for details of the individual parishes with time frames covered. There's a nice map of parishes at http://wsfhs.co.uk/pages/parishmap.php/.

These records are from holdings of the Surrey History Centre . Transcripts were made by the West Surrey Family History Society, meaning probably by people familiar with the local area.  It would be a courtesy if FMP gave credit to both with links to their websites in the blog post announcing these additions.

LAC Co-Lab Update for July

As of 17 July, there has been no progress reported on Co-Lab challenges since last month.

Back to our Past Virtual conference

If you have Irish ancestry, and maybe even if not, find out about this online event available at a really good price.

https://backtoourpast.ie/

COVID Collecting at the City of Ottawa Archives

Acting Ottawa City Archivist John Lund was interviewed on Thursday by Alan Neal on its collection of documentary materials related to the pandemic. He makes points about the type of material, the challenge of collecting online materials and need to coordinate with partner institutions.

Listen at https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-92/clip/15787537.

Canada Death Penalty Index

Maybe you recall something on this blog from 2009. I didn't.  But I was referred to it by Google when looking for information on the death penalty in Canada. That's thanks to a comment by DPW a 319-page document PERSONS SENTENCED TO DEATH  IN CANADA, 1867-1976:  An Inventory of Case Files in the Fonds of the Department of Justice, National Archives of Canada, 1994. Find it at
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001052.pdf.

Here's an example of an entry, this for the last woman to be hanged in Canada.

BLAKE, Emily Hilda
Female
Crime: Murder
Trial: 1899
Brandon, Man.
Judge: Killam
Result: O. in C. of 1899/12/26, PC 2695
Hanging: 1899/12/27; Brandon, Man.
Reference: RG 13, file 316A (missing).

Digitized newspapers now make it much easier to find information on such cases.

Favourite London Libraries and Archives.

It's not Hogwarts. It's the Rotherhithe Picture Research Library, the kind of place I love to go to research. According to their website  it was established in 1975 as a reference collection, freely available to anyone wishing to do picture research for any reason whatsoever. It's a non-profit-making educational trust.

It's in a list of favourite libraries and archives posted on the London Historians' Blog. Of the 26 places on the list I've researched at 10 and visited a few others. How about you?

Westboro Beach Genealogy Meetup - NOT

Around this time of year for the past few years, there's been an informal genealogy meetup at the Westboro Beach Cafe, usually at noon on a Sunday. Folks look forward to it.

Although the cafe is now open with plenty of distancing when I was there early on Wednesday afternoon, and the most recent Stage 3 declaration for Ottawa takes effect on Friday, this year I'm not promoting a meeting.

Most meetup attendees are in a more vulnerable age bracket. The beach attracts a crowd less likely to adhere to social distancing, and there's the inability to eat and drink while wearing a mask.

The Personal Past: History, Identity and the Genealogical Impulse

Just published online, the latest Canadian Issues, a biannual publication of the Association for Canadian Studies which takes a broad look at genealogy. It's free online here.

In his introduction, Randy Boswell describes the collection of essays as "a rich diversity of perspectives on how the personal past can add detail and texture to the broader canvas of Canadian history."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3 HISTORY IS ANOTHER WORD FOR EXPERIENCE: A TRIBUTE TO DESMOND MORTON (1937-2019)
Randy Boswell

5 INTRODUCTION
THE SEARCH FOR SELF AND THE DISCOVERY OF STORY
Randy Boswell

9 THE EMOTIONS OF FAMILY HISTORY IN CANADA
Tanya Evans

13 EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN GENEALOGY, GENOMICS AND SELF/IDENTITY
Natalie Ward

17 THE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSFORMATION OF CANADIAN GENEALOGY
John D. Reid

22 WHY ARE CANADIANS RESEARCHING THEIR FAMILY HISTORY? RESULTS FROM THE CANADIAN GENEALOGY SURVEY
Leighann C. Neilson

26 WHO AM I? REFLECTIONS ON MEASURING ETHNIC ANCESTRY IN CANADA
Jane Badets

33 CANADIAN MULTICULTURALISM AND INTEREST IN ANCESTRY
Jack Jedwab

40 INDIGENIZATION: HOW GENEALOGY AND DNA JUSTIFY RACE SHIFTING IN EASTERN CANADA
Jean Teillet

44 THE GENEALOGICAL CONTEXT: AN OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF CANADIAN IMMIGRATION
Robert Vineberg

52 DIBLINGS ASKING “WHO AM I?” - SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS, FINDING MORE QUESTIONS
Sara MacNaull et Nora Spinks

57 UNLOCKING GENEALOGY “TREASURES” AT LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA
Nicole Watier

62 DOES THE LAW CREATE BOUNDARIES LIMITING GENEALOGICAL EXPLORATION THROUGH DNA IN CANADA?
Margaret Ann Wilkinson

67 HOW GENEALOGY IMPROVES HISTORICAL STUDY
Tracy Arial

FamilySearch Record Update

For the week of 13 July FamilySearch reports the following Canadian and English indexed records have been added to existing collections where there are no associated digital images. The exception is the first, for Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which is a new collection and, strangely, in the original news release is given the title Ascension!

Collection	Indexed Records
Canada, Ontario, Toronto Mount Pleasant Cemetery Records, 1989-1995	3,703
Canada, New Brunswick, County Register of Births, 1801-1920	11,859
Canada, Nova Scotia Deaths, 1864-1877	581
England, Cumbria Parish Registers, 1538-1990	23,236
England, Herefordshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1583-1898	2,539
England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	54,458
England, Yorkshire Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1613-1887	347

Update from Jane MacNamara
The weirdly named FamilySearch records that I read about in your post this morning have some very serious issues—including large numbers of records from other locations all together. I have let FamilySearch know, and I suspect that they will pull them down temporarily.

I’ve also told them that I’ll mention it to you so you can warn your readers.

In the meantime, they can search up to 1935, and browse images up to 1988 here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1627831

Irish Surname Maps

Complementing the maps made available by John Grenham, Barry Griffin has made available maps based on the 1901 and 1911 censuses of Ireland for those with occupation farmer and for different religious affiliations.

https://barrygriffin.com/surname-maps/

If your name of interest isn't included there's an address to write with a request.

News of The Opening: How to do it. Why not at LAC, AO and others?

Here's the first paragraphs from the informative July Newsletter from the National Library of Scotland

"We hope to welcome you back soon

We are planning to open our reading rooms on a pre-booked basis at our George IV Bridge and Causewayside buildings from Tuesday 11 August. This is in line with the Scottish Government’s route map for reopening services following the COVID-19 lockdown.

We anticipate that we will open the Library at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow on Tuesday 15 September.

As your safety is our main concern, we will be offering a limited service in the first phase of our reopening. Equally, if the situation changes beyond our control, we will of course delay reopening in line with the latest government advice."

Simple, informative.

Why not the same type of information from Library and Archives Canada? On its website, the latest information is from 28 May. Has nothing happened in 45 days?

Why not the same type of information from the Archives of Ontario? On its website the undated information is "Following the guidance of public health and government authorities on the evolving COVID-19 situation, the Archives of Ontario in-person services will be closed until further notice."

Why not the same type of information from the City of Ottawa Archives? The best it can manage is a link to a general city COVID-19 site which has no reference to the Archives. The City of Toronto Archives website is equally uninformative.

The same goes for the museums in the Ottawa  Museum Network with the sole exception of the Diefenbunker.

While nobody wants the facilities we use to open without safety as an overriding concern, for staff and clients, the lack of information makes it appear those organizations are satisfied to not move to institute the type of measures we see at commercial and other facilities so that as much of the full range of services as possible can be provided.

If other organizations are opening up on a new (and hopefully temporarily modified) basis, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Ingenium museums, the British Library and the UK National Archives why no up to date information from our archival organizations?

UPDATE:

The following was posted by the City of Ottawa Archives this morning

COVID-19 Update
The highest priority of the City of Ottawa Archives is the safety and well-being of our visitors, volunteers, and our staff. Consistent with Ottawa Public Health guidance related to the spread of COVID-19, we are closed until September 7. As the City begins a phased reopening, more details will be provided as services resume.

The Week's Online Genealogy Events

Choose from online events in the next four days. All times at ET.

Tuesday 14 July, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Tuesday, 14 July, 2 pm: Connecting the Dots – Introduction to Auto Clusters at MyHeritageDNA by Paul Woodbury. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Register here.

Wednesday, 15 July, 11 am: The British in India, by Paul Nixon.  www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday, 15 July, 2 pm: On the Record Trail of My LDS Immigrant Ancestor by Sunny Morton:  Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Register here.

Wednesday 15 July, 7:30 pm: Treasures and The Truth: Vlogging to Record Family
by Lianne Kruger (BIFHSGO). Find out more and register at https://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127#er532

Thursday 16 July, 10 pm: Royalty in Family History and Society by Michelle Patient and Fiona Brooker, via Ancestry from Australia on Facebook.

Friday 10 June, 11 am: Friday's Live, with Ellie (FMP) www.facebook.com/findmypast

Advance Notice

The first Family Tree Academy: Weekend Conference, in association with FamilySearch, will be taking place right here 24 to 26 July 2020. The free web-based live family history learning experience will comprise of video guides, discussion panels, and downloadable handouts.

Keep updated on Conference news… sign up to receive free email alerts.

Questions for Discussion

Sharing is a valuable aspect of researching our family history. We can learn a lot from other's experiences. These days groups getting together online provides an opportunity to get to know people we might not otherwise speak to. After the introductions, the conversation can often benefit from a stimulus. Here are some topics that might help.

What remarkable thing did someone in your family tree do?

What well-known person is there in your FAN club?

What's the story of a person in your family tree who died in a disaster?

What's the story of someone in your family tree who died in a war?

Tell us about the most long-lived person in your family tree.

On what day of the week were you (a parent or grandparent) born?  What was the phase of the moon? What was the weather like that day? How prosperous was the economy? What was the community like? If you don't know how would you find out?

What was happening in the world on the day you (a parent or grandparent) were born? If you don't know how would you find out?

What role did weather play in your family history?

What are the major news events that happened during your life that you remember where you were when you heard about them? What were those events for your parents and grandparents?

Tell us about a pleasant surprise you had researching your family history?

How did you handle it when you found out about a less than honourable event in an ancestor's life?

Ancestry vs Findmypast vs MyHeritage, which and why?

How has genetic genealogy helped your family history investigations?

Is genealogy software passé?

Citations, who really cares?

Is genealogy a vain attempt at immortality?


If you have other suggestions please leave a comment.

Wednesday BIFHSGO Event: Treasures and The Truth: Vlogging to Record Family

Everyone is welcome. on Wednesday, 15 July at 7:30 pm for a Zoom event. Advance registration required.

Treasures and The Truth: Vlogging to Record Family
with Lianne Kruger

Do you have family treasures that have been handed down through the generations and you have them now? Do you like them? Do your children like them? Do you have room for them? Do you want them out of the house as soon as possible but you can't just throw them away because there are too many memories. Do you want to record history of houses or areas the family has lived? Have you written a family history and realized that no one wants to read it? This session will discuss ways to record these items and history so that future generations will know their family history in a way the next generation will enjoy, through pictures and video.

About the Speaker
Lianne Kruger began genealogy as a youth on family trips to relatives and graveyards; continued as a teenager at the Family Hsitory Library in front of a microfilm reader with a list of names to look for; and as a young mother researching her paternal line back to the first European landowner of Canada. She volunteers with Alberta Genealogical Society, Ancestry.ca advisory board and mitoYDNA.

Find out more and register at https://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127#er532

Quinte Branch OGS adds new records to Finding Aid free online

Quinte Branch celebrates its 40th anniversary as a branch of Ontario Ancestors, by updating its free online Finding Aid with over 166,000 new records. The total is now over 1,516,000 thanks to the incorporation of a number of major historical works and genealogical transcripts — and the efforts of volunteer indexers.

The database covering the whole Quinte Region including Hastings, Prince Edward and part of Northumberland counties.

Search the names index here.

Disappointing Update from the Archives of Ontario

The OGS eWeekly for 11 July included news from the Archives of Ontario by Jay Young, Outreach Officer.

Regarding reopening of the physical facility:

Although a re-opening date is not set, we have been working proactively on a plan for returning to the AO. For instance, renovations are underway at our public facility to ensure the safety of staff and visitors.

The lack of even a tentative date for reopening is disappointing. How is working proactively different from just working? Why is reopening an archive building, where an appointment system could be put in place to limited crowding, any more difficult than opening a hairdresser, dentist or store?

Regarding digitization:

Since most staff do not have access to original records, digitization of our collections is not currently possible.

Why could staff that could safely have access not be involved in digitization?

AO has a poor record in digitizing legacy records except for "exhibition" type images. When will AO realize it must change the way it does business — understanding that mass digitization will relieve problems with safe access at the physical facility leading to a more equitable service across the province and beyond? It will also save emissions of climate change inducing greenhouse gasses from transportation as people must presently travel to the site at York University to access materials.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Red Tape in the Archives
A LAC blog post by Leah Sander.

How to clean up Google Chrome when it’s slow

The Harper's Letter on Justice and Open Debate
We need to preserve the possibility of good-faith disagreement without dire professional consequences.

More progress needed on COVID-19
Ontario reports about 10 new cases per day per million population. A seven day average of one new case per million per day is the level at which the outbreak could be considered under control according to this UK expert report. That was the situation in Ontario in the second week of March.

OPL Tech Cafe: Tech Café : Connecting With Friends and Coworkers Using Your iPhone or iPad
Monday 13 July, 2020 at 10:00am

LATE ADDITION

British Podcast Awards Nominations

And the Winner is

Centre for the History of the Emotions · The Sound of Anger

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, Bob Dawes, Derrick Johnstone, Glenn W., Karen Prytula, Sophronia, Teresa, Tony Buttler, Unknown, Wayne Shepheard

Family Tree Magazine: August 2020

Wayne Shepheard emailed to let me know about his latest article published in the UK Family Tree magazine.

In 7-pages, with lots of illustrations, he "investigates the significance of castles in the world of our Early Medieval ancestors, exploring their rise and demise, and providing hints to help you trace your family connections."

If you associate Wayne and climate you won't be surprised that he makes a connection to the Little Ice Age and The centuries-long Medieval Warm Period!

Also in this issue:

- The Family Historian’s Guide to Maps – find new online map collections to research from home and explore your ancestors’ worlds

- Research the 1939 Register in-depth – learn how to find new clues from this awesome wartime ‘census’ in the Academy family history training module this issue

- VJ Day remembered – reflecting on the end of the Second World War in Japan 75 years ago, and our ancestors rebuilding their lives in a post-war world

- Improve your research skills – Learn why you should always check the originals. Discover the genealogical gems you may uncover when you take the time to look at original documents

- Reader house history story – A murderer and a fraudster hanged for his crimes were just two of the characters uncovered in this true tale research

- How to use newspapers for local history – a mini guide for swift research results.

Findmypast Additions This Week

Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions
This exclusive transcript collection with some memorial images has been enhanced with over 25,000 additions from 48 Yorkshire parishes.

Yorkshire Riding	Place	Year from	Year to	Record count
North	Aldwark	1857	1992	96
North	Gate Helmsley	1742	1998	255
North	Hovingham	1680	1989	369
North	Hovingham Cemetery	1829	1992	451
North	Murton	1669	1992	136
North	Myton on Swale	1735	1992	165
North	Nether Poppleton	1651	1992	493
North	Osbaldwick	1645	1992	492
North	Overton	1762	1962	220
North	Sand Hutton	1731	1999	330
North	Saxton in Elmet	1461	1993	522
North	Shipton by Beningbrough	1850	1992	381
North	Slingsby	1731	1991	460
North	St James Murton	1908	1908	1
North	Terrington	1514	1989	406
North	Upper Poppleton	1809	2000	566
North	Whenby	1813	1992	71
West	Blackley, Baptist	1791	1987	1,970
West	Copley, St Stephen	1867	1993	484
West	Eastwood, Congregational	1616	1991	653
West	Elland, Huddersfield Road Wesleyan Methodist	1807	1891	138
West	Elland, Providence Congregational	1821	1899	170
West	Halifax, All Souls, Boothtown	1833	1997	3,950
West	Halifax, Illingworth Moor Methodist Chapel	1804	2006	3,266
West	Halifax, Luddenden Dean Methodist Chapel	1811	1985	745
West	Halifax, Salem	1779	1969	1,237
West	Halifax, Society of Friends	1672	1894	254
West	Halifax, South Parade	1781	1916	1,746
West	Hedbden Bridge, Cross Lanes	1843	1966	394
West	Hebden Bridge, Ebenezer Chapel	1785	1864	186
West	Hebden Bridge, St James the Great	1835	2004	1,638
West	Hipperholme	1841	1870	24
West	Holywell Green, Stainland and H. Green United Reformed	1834	2000	1,429
West	Lightcliffe, Mount Zion Chapel	1853	1907	49
West	Loftus	1487	1905	327
West	Luddenden, Ebenezer	1822	1976	283
Ainsty & City of York	Acaster Malbis	1420	2009	344
Ainsty & City of York	Healaugh	1698	1995	346
Ainsty & City of York	Hessay	1900	1994	47

Derbyshire Deaths and Burials
The addition of  61,838 transcript records from seven parishes brings this collection to 167,231 records. Additions are:

Place	Year from	Year to	Record count
Belper Cemetery	1859	1889	8,135
Brimington Cemetery	1878	1994	7,279
Buxton Cemetery	1896	2011	7,513
Crosshill, Condor & loscoe Cemetery	1876	1994	5,377
Glossop Cemetery	1859	2011	31,086
Hope Cemetery	1835	2017	1,947
New Mills, Thornsett Cemetery	1994	2011	501

National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914
Admission records from two Kent schools: Stone, The Brent School (1894-1920) and; St Mary Cray, St Mary Cray School (1867- 1920) add to this exclusive collection of over seven million records from 41 counties in England and Wales.

Findmypast also announces the addition of civil registration records from FamilySearch for Peru, Lima, Births (1874-1996), Marriages (1874-1996), and Deaths (1874-1996); and a major FMP app update allowing record searching.

TheGenealogist releases Battle of Britain RAF Operations Record Books

To mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain (10 July 1940 - 31 October 1940)  TheGenealogist is releasing over 2 million new RAF records. These records not only cover this important fight for Britain’s survival but also encompass all of the Second World War period for a number of squadrons. This release brings the total Operations Record Books (ORBs) records to 3.7 million, part of TheGenealogist’s extensive Military records collection.

The ORBs are fully searchable by name, aircraft, location and many other fields. Find out more in TheGenealogist's extensive blog post here.

Odds and Ends

This Saturday — Scottish Indexes virtual conference  — www.scottishindexes.com/default.aspx

MyHeritage makes worldwide birth records free — 10-16 July  —www.myheritage.com/research/category-2010/birth-records

National Records of Scotland Annual Business Plan 2020-2021 —www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//about-us/nrs-annual-business-plan-2020-21.pdf

Progress on Handwritten Text Recognition — https://today.uconn.edu/2020/07/uconn-library-school-engineering-expand-handwritten-text-recognition/.

Ian Wilson and Leslie Weir on Library and Archives Canada

Nigel Beale interviews:

Ian Wilson on Arthur Doughty & his monumental publishing achievement
"On the merger between Library and Archives, about Canada's great Dominion Archivist Arthur Doughty and Canada and its Provinces his monumental, under-appreciated nation-building publishing project, and about the essential role Library and Archives Canada plays, or doesn't play, in cultivating a distinctive national Canadian identity."

Leslie Weir on a brand new Library & Archives Canada
On the merging of Library and Archives, the mandate of LAC, federal government departmental libraries, the Library of Parliament, budgets, acquisitions, fundraising and the new LAC Foundation, author archives, Michael Ondaatje, exhibitions, the new LAC building, partnerships, Access to Information requests, the white diamond building, legal deposit, the Internet, Dominion Archivist Arthur Doughty, gold claims, book collecting culture, Pierre Berton, Kay Lamb, and Winston Churchill.

The interview with Ian Wilson is much more successful than that with Leslie Weir who was only 7 months into the position, just before the pandemic. Nigel Beale came to the latter interview with an agenda instead of listening and learning as in the Ian Wilson interview.

Curiosities of Ancestry's Ontario Death Collection

Searching Ancestry's database Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1826-1938 year-by-year yielded the data for the blue line in the graph.

The red line is from data in Province of Ontario - Vital Statistics available in annual reports at the Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/ontariovitalstats.

Why overall does Ancestry have 10.7% more records than in the official record from which it's derived?

The two records track closely until 1900 except for 1889-91 — 1890 was an influenza year.

Through the first decade of the 20th-century Ancestry's database grows, 25% more entries than the official record in 1910, 37% larger in 1914, remaining nearly 30% larger until 1920.

There are two unusual peak death years in the Ancestry database in 1929 and 1944. The latter is likely the result of including overseas war deaths of Ontario servicemen and servicewomen.

It's unusual to find people named in Ontario's annual report of births, marriages and deaths; 1880 is an exception where the following list of centenarians who died is included on page 60.

In only 9 of the 29 could I confidently identify them in the 1871 census where on average they were born 3.5 years later than would be implied by the death information.

Journal of One Name Studies: July - September 2020

Two articles by Canadians feature in the new issue of Journal of One-Name Studies.
Some Perils of Online Databases by Wayne Shepheard, who tackles how to handle transcription and other errors twixt document and online database.
A Comedy of Names by Fraser Dunford, shows the confusion arising when combining a switch of forenames with an error in the original document.

Other main articles are;

The Origin(s) of the Surname Turbott in Ireland by Garth John Turbott
Mr Blix: A Norwegian Engineer in Western Australia and his Photo Album by Edwina Shooter
Measuring Social Change by Surname Analysis: The Tarascan Model by Joel Thurtell, the kind of analysis that keeps me interested in the Guild. Sadly, has some editorial problems.
The Dunsfords of Bradninch and York: A Tale of the Unexpected by Robert Dunsford
Completing the Challenge by Melody McKay Burton
On the Wrong Side of the Law Seminar Report by Alison Boulton
The Pyne families of Somerset: a brief ‘One-Name’ survey by Jeremy Pyne

https://one-name.org/

Lesley Anderson: Secrets and Shenanigans: How DNA helped solve a family mystery

This Saturday, 11 July at 1 pm is an opportunity to attend a Quebec Family History Society Zoom event with Lesley Anderson presenting one of the most fascinating presentations I've heard in the past couple of years.

Secrets and Shenanigans: How DNA helped solve a family mystery is the story of unravelling the origins of an adoptee.

Sign up to receive an invitation by email to qfhs@bellnet.ca

Also free on Zoom from QFHS:

On Friday, 17 July  at 1 pm,  a QFHS Genealogy Question & Answer Session 

On Monday, 20 July at 7 pm, Gary Schroder will present How to Research Wills in England and Wales

Curiosities of Ancestry's Ontario Marriage Collection

Searching Ancestry's database Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826-1938 year-by-year yielded the data for the blue line in the graph.

The red line is from data in Province of Ontario - Vital Statistics available in annual reports at the Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/ontariovitalstats.


Why averaged over the length of the records does Ancestry have more records than in the official record from which it's derived?

For the period after 1900 Ancestry is counting the number of marriage partners whereas the official record is the number of marriage events. The curious bump to over 100,000 marriage records on Ancestry for 1911 is unexplained. Any suggestions?

Ancestry includes records from two sources prior to 1900 both of which go back to the official Registrations of Marriages (MS 932). Combined with the difference in counting individuals rather than events accounts for the approximately 4 times as many marriage records as the official count.

As early as 1880 the annual report was praising the clergy for their diligence in reporting marriages, although it isn't clear if this extended to all denominations.

A curiosity in the 1877 report:

The oldest man married in 1877 in Ontario was 88 years; his wife was only 48, there being the extraordinary difference of 40 years between the two. Two youths entered wedlock at the early age of 17 years. They married girls of 17 and 20 respectively. Six girls of 14 married youths from 17 to 20, and 32 girls married at fifteen.

Not in Ancestry's Ontario Birth Collection?

Searching Ancestry's database Ontario, Canada Births, 1858-1913 year-by-year yielded the data for the blue line in the graph.
The red line is from data in Province of Ontario - Vital Statistics available in annual reports at the Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/ontariovitalstats.

Why does Ancestry have more records than in the official record from which it's derived?

You might think delayed registrations account for the difference. A study Incomplete Registration of Births in Civil Systems: The Example of Ontario, Canada,1900- 1960, by  George Emery estimated that registrations missed 14.1% of births in 1900, declining to 10.1% in 1915 and 2.7% in 1930. The cause was delayed registrations combined with those never registered.
Ancestry's source information for its collection references delayed registrations, but only from sources up to 1913. Emery's study indicates delayed registrations were largely motivated by subsequent events, such as benefits requiring proof of age.
That would explain missing birth entries, not why Ancestrywould have more events for every year. Could it be duplicate entries for the same event when patrons submit alternate information such as spelling variants?
Maybe OGS could advocate for the release to Ancestry, and others, of the delayed registrations for births to 1913.
A tip of the hat to Ken McKinlay for pointing to the Emery article.

The Week's Online Genealogy Events

Choose from online events in the next four days. All times at ET.

Tuesday 7 July, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Wednesday 8 July, 11 am: Your Ancestor's Childhood, by Aoife O'Connor (FMP) www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday 8 July, 8 pm:  Turning dry facts into exciting narrative, by Carol Baxter. Information and register here

Friday 10 June, 9 am: British Propaganda of the Second World War, by Katherine Howells (TNA). Register here.

Friday 10 June, 11 am: Friday's Live, with Alex Cox (FMP) www.facebook.com/findmypast

TNA to reopen 21 July

"The re-opening will be a gradual process and The National Archives will look and feel very different to what you are used to. We’ll be providing limited access to parts of the building and our services will operate differently for the time being.

In recent weeks, we’ve been busy preparing and introducing new measures.

We will be introducing a booking system. All visits will need to be pre-booked and we will ask everyone to pre-plan and order all documents in advance

 

You will notice a new document delivery process to protect you, our staff and to ensure the correct handling and quarantine of documents

 

A one-way system will be in place around the building with signage to help with social distancing. There will also be rigorous cleaning throughout the day."

Also

"Will digital records still be free to download from your website when you re-open?

Yes, we will continue to provide free downloads of our digital collection for the time being, as we are initially only able to reopen our reading rooms for a very limited number of researchers. We will continue to review this regularly."

Read the complete announcement www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/coronavirus-update