FamilySearch Updates

Here are the titles updated on FamilySearch in the past week with the total number of records.

Canada, Nova Scotia Church Records, 1720-2001: 135,042 records

Canada, Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947: 2,050,112 records

England, Herefordshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1583-1898: 1,200,135 records

England, Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920: 250,252 records
(an increase from 226,213 records on 3 December)

England, Gloucestershire Non-Conformist Church Records, 1642-1996: 71,913 records

England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988: 1,403,194 records

England, Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971: 82,959 records

Isle of Man Parish Registers, 1598-2009; 438,382 records

England, Devon, Plymouth, Electoral Rolls, 1781-1973: 57,142 records

BBC History Magazine: Christmas Issue

Here's the table of contents for the feature articles available through PressReader

Richard the radical
Matt Lewis casts Richard III as a champion of the people, whose progressive policies led to his downfall

Sacred Second World War
Alec Ryrie argues that the west's obsession with the war impinges on its ability to tackle modern-day challenges

Living by the sword
Guy de la Bédoyère offers 10 fascinating snapshots of life in the Roman army

The powerhouse of Europe
Martyn Rady shares the survival secrets of the Habsburg dynasty

Historians on 2020
Kerri Greenidge, Tom Holland, Suzannah Lipscomb and Michael Wood debate how the past has shaped 2020

A plot to kill Hitler
Roger Moorhouse delves into the daring schemes of Georg Elser, the man who nearly assassinated Hitler

Biting husbands’ bottoms
From chunks of coal to human flesh, Jennifer Evans explores bizarre early modern pregnancy cravings

Nelson in his own words
Marianne Czisnik combs through Nelson's love letters to draw out a hidden side of the naval hero

For me the best part of this issue is the 2020 book recommendations by 10 historians.

British Newspaper Archive November Additions

Going above and beyond the original target, the British Newspaper Archive now has a total of 40,111,574 pages online (39,633,926 last month). 

This month 43 papers had pages added (44 in the previous month). There were 9 (12) new titles. Dates range from 1841 to 1984.

Those with more than 10,000 pages added were:

TITLE	DATE RANGE
Leicester Evening Mail	1929-1937
Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore)	1876-1883, 1885, 1887, 1895-1898, 1900-1905, 1907-1909
Rugeley Times	1926-1984
Halifax Evening Courier	1921-1930, 1932-1934, 1938-1943, 1959-1960
Kinematograph Weekly	1922-1925, 1927-1944, 1946-1947, 1953-1960
Lynn Advertiser	1913-1925, 1929-1944
Monmouthshire Merlin	1841-1842, 1844-1848, 1852-1853, 1856-1877, 1879-1880
Drogheda Conservative	1852-1888, 1890-1896
Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer	1899-1910, 1912-1962

Sunday Sundries

 Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

What to Call Your Distant Relative

"For Merchants and Mariners: The Business of Nautical Manuals," focused on the 16th and 17th centuries, which saw an explosion of printed manuals dedicated to the science of navigation. The Seltzer Lecture for 2020 is available on the Fisher LibraryYouTube channel,

How scribes of the ancient world were the pollsters of their day Not a parallel I find convincing.

Amazing Amazon — NYTimes: Amazon added 427,300 employees between January and October, pushing its workforce to more than 1.2 million people globally, up more than 50 percent from a year ago. Its number of workers now approaches the entire population of Dallas the National Capital Region.

Five film ‘failures’ you should give a second chance

Illusion

John Taylor RIP
Carleton University professor emeritus John H. Taylor, distinguished urban historian and author of the landmark 1986 publication Ottawa: An Illustrated History, has passed away at age 81. The book was described in the HSO Newsletter as "one of the most impressive studies of the capital’s post-1800 past — not only a stunning visual record of Ottawa’s history, but also a meticulously researched and elegantly crafted narrative of the evolution of a world-class metropolis. He was the partner of BIFHSGO member and former director Ruth Kirk.

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous,  Christine Jackson, Mike More, Unknown

Order of Canada Appointments

It's not often genealogy is mentioned when lists of new appointments to the Order of Canada appear. Here is the appointment of Jacques Légaré from the most recent list.

As indicated in the short citation, he is best known for his work as a demographer with more than 60 items to his name as author in WorldCat.

Others named for contributions to history are:

Brian McFarlane, C.M.
Stouffville, Ontario
For his contributions to the sport of hockey, as a sportscaster, writer and historian.

Tom Radford, C.M.
Edmonton, Alberta
For showcasing the history and culture of the western and northern regions of Canada through his films and documentaries.

Vera Schiff, C.M.
Toronto, Ontario
For her illustrious career as an author, historian and public speaker who is nationally recognized for sharing her moving experiences of the Holocaust.

Historical Society of Ottawa Videos

Uncovering Canada's Past: Digging up Parliament Hill is a recording of a presentation on 18 November 2020 by Stephen Garrett, Project Manager of the archeological excavation of Parliament Hill in 2019. He shares stories and discoveries from his work.

Researching Ottawa’s Past is a presentation by a part-time teacher at the University of Ottawa, Jo-Anne McCutcheon who spoke about the many resources available to students, historians, genealogists and researchers online. In this HSO presentation from 14 November Jo-Anne picks out some of her favourite tools sites and shows how to take advantage of their features.

Findmypast Weekly Update

 For St Andrew's Day on the 30th, FMP adds

Scotland Monumental Inscriptions

Exclusive, over 600,000 records added to this collection for over 800 burial grounds across every county in Scotland. This collection now has over 1 million records. 
The bar chart shows the number of records for each 40 year period centred on the year shown, Time takes its toll, an estimated 15% of the records have no death date and many of those no last name.

Caribbean First World War Rolls of Honour

New records added from rolls of honour from The Bahamas, Barbados, St Kitts & Nevis, and Bermuda.

Many of the men listed in this collection served in the British West Indies Regiment. These records,  5,944 in total, can reveal their names, service numbers and, sometimes, how, when, and where they died.

United States, World War II Casualty Lists

A collection of 139,757 U.S. Navy records sourced from printed records at the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Find out names, ranks, and parents' details. This is an initial release, records for other arms of the military services will be added over time.

British Army, Coldstream Guards 1800-1947

Now these 128,628 records for this elite regiment are in their own standalone set. Each record features a transcript and a full-color, digitized copy of the original record. The sources are:

• Casualties 1939-1947
• Courts Martials 1800-1815
• Decorations and Rewards 1914-1918
• Decorations and Rewards 1939-1948
• Discharges 1884-1947
• Enlistments 1884-1947 (lacking 1915)
• Missing in Action 1939-1945
• Nominal Roll of 1st Battalion men serving in Sudan 1932-1933
• Officers’ Record of Services 1861-1915
• Shanghai Defence Force 1927-1928
• South African Campaign 1899-1902
• Succession Book of 2nd Battalion officers 1797-1926
• Succession Book of Officers 1826-1936
• Record of Campaigns 1854 to 1895

Discounts on DNA Tests

Black Friday DNA test specials abound.

AncestryDNA is offering their lowest price of the year, $69 including tax, shipping is extra. The offer ends 30 November 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

MyHeritageDNA offers their test at $55 with free shipping on orders of 2 or more kits, optionally the test kits can be gift-wrapped. Hurry, the offer is only available until 11:59 pm on Friday 27 November.

FamilyTreeDNA is offering their FamilyFinder test at $49 US (about $64 CDN) with free shipping on orders of $99 (US) or more with code FREESHIP. The offer ends 1 December. There are discounts on other tests as well.

LivingDNA has a Black Friday Sale of up to 40% off & free shipping on 3+ kits. The Ancestry test is $89 with options if you want additional health-related information.

If you want to go "whole sequence" Dante Labs is offering a Black Friday Special priced in Euros. https://www.dantelabs.com/collections/advanced-dna-tests/. Be aware this is data, there is no matching database for genealogy.

The Ancestor Hunt Historic Photo Links Updated

The Ancestor Hunt collection of Canadian photo links has been updated for Ontario and Nova Scotia. 

Find a list of Canada-wide photo links and separate lists for each province and the combined territories by scrolling down to Canada at https://www.theancestorhunt.com/photos.html.

There's a link to a Flickr collection of over 2,000 Ottawa Vintage Photos.

Zoom: Buried Tombstones in Kingston

I'd really like to be able to be in two places at once, or in this case online for both the OGS Ottawa Branch and the Kingston & District Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada presentations on Saturday afternoon.

The Kingston event is "The Many Layers of the Lower Burial Ground, St. Paul's Churchyard and under the Church Hall, Kingston, Ontario" being presented by Sue Bazely, archaeologist and anthropologist. 

Nancy Cutway emailed that she had a sneak peek at a 3D image of buried tombstones produced by ground-penetrating radar: fascinating! 

The meeting is also the AGM, so members should sign in a little before 2:00 PM EST; visitors might prefer to wait until about 2:15 to sign in, but all visitors are most welcome. Use the link

https://zoom.us/j/96450762418?pwd=cjFCVEJBd3M0NGwwd3RvTDU2SC9IQT09

Ottawa Branch OGS November Meeting

This Saturday, 1 pm

Title: Genealogy and the Canadiana collections

Speaker: Émilie Lavallée-Funston & Francesca Brzezicki

Details: In this presentation, staff from the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) will share genealogical research possibilities for the Canadiana collections. We will present a brief overview of the history and materials in the collections before diving into possible research avenues and approaches for both Canadiana (digitized historical publications, published prior to 1921) and Héritage (Library and Archives Canada’s most popular archival collections). Using examples from community researchers who have consulted the Canadiana collections in the past, we will share examples of the different types of materials in the collections that can support genealogical research.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.

When: 28 November 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuce6prDstHNOtH5eb4qohLwbcbL_uqbGt

All Ottawa Branch monthly presentations are open to the public at no charge.

FamilySearch Updates

Nova Scotia is prominent for Canadian record additions for the past week with more than 10,000 records added for:

Nova Scotia Marriages, 1864-1918 (169,148 records)
Nova Scotia Births, 1864-1877 (18,985 records)
Nova Scotia Deaths, 1864-1877 (12,185 records.)

For the UK the major additions are:

Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935 (96,152 records)
England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997 (64,856 records)
England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988 (19,564 records)
Norfolk Bishop's Transcripts, 1685-1941 (15,004 records).

A complete list of updates for the week of 23 November 2020 is at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-23-november-2020/

The Most Popular Anglican Church Names in England and Wales

A database in development is The Churchwardens' Accounts of England and Wales. It lists over 13,600 parishes for which about 2,500 have surviving churchwarden accounts, typically going back to the early 18th century, either original documents or transcripts. I've yet to explore the data, looking at that for Kirklinton, Cumberland is on my to-do list as it's where my earliest known Reid ancestor was a Churchwarden for part of the time records are available.

Below is a list of the top 20 most frequent names across England and Wales. St Mary has almost double the next most frequent. There's a lot of double counting for cases where a parish has more than one entry. That shouldn't have much impact on the relative frequency.

How do you think the church name was chosen? I'm imagining St Mary may have been favoured prior to the Reformation. Did All Saints get selected as a compromise? Were saints associated with fishing or sailing more common in coastal parishes? As the names likely go back hundreds of years the way the choice was made is likely lost to history. 

Parish	Count
St Mary	2100
All Saints	1074
St Peter	813
St Michael	625
St Andrew	551
St John the Baptist	400
St James	346
St Nicholas	341
Holy Trinity	307
SS Peter & Paul	227
St Margaret	224
St Giles	163
St John	147
St Bartholomew	140
St Martin	139
St Leonard	136
St George	128
St Laurence	121
St Mary Magdalen	117
St Helen	114

It would be interesting to look at regional variation. St Mary remains the most frequent in Norfolk, which has the most parishes. In Cornwall, St Michael is the most frequent along with several that occur in no other county. 

This week's online genealogy events

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required. Check so you're not disappointed.

Tuesday 24 November, 11 am: Preserving Family Stories, with Judy Russell and Jen Baldwin for Findmypast . https://www.facebook.com/findmypast 

🇨🇦Tuesday 24 November, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch OGS anhttps://www.facebook.com/findmypastd The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Tuesday, 24 November 24, 2 pm: MyHeritage Mobile App: All New Features From 2020, presented by Daniel Horowitz for MyHeritage. 
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1314

Tuesday 24 November, 2:30 pm: Read All About It! - Free Newspaper Sites to Assist Family Historians. Presented by Melissa Tennant for the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcqd-CuqzsvG9fsaCNFxm4mTCvmV6M-ObaN

🇨🇦Tuesday 24 November, 7 pm: AGM & Digging Up Stories - The Cowkeeper'sWish: A Genealogical Journey, presented by Kristen den Hartog for Wellington County Branch of OGS https://wellington.ogs.on.ca/next-meeting/

🇨🇦 Wednesday 25 November, 7:30 pm:  What were they thinking? presented by Debbie Dee for the Quebec Genealogical eSociety, https://genquebec.com/en/webinars-0

🇨🇦 Thursday 26 November, 7 pm: QFHS Genealogy Question & Answer Session. 
http://qfhs.ca/eventListings.php?nm=121#er253

Friday 27 November, 11 am: Friday's Live with Myko Clelland for Findmypast 
https://www.facebook.com/findmypast 

CA Saturday 28 November, 1 pm: Genealogy and the Canadiana collections, presented by Émilie Lavallée-Funston & Francesca Brzezicki from Canadiana.ca for Ottawa Branch of OGS
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/ottawa-branch-presentation-3/

Send a Free Historic ePostcard

The Francis Frith website has a massive collection of old UK photographs. You'll likely find one for a place nearby where an ancestor lived.

Now you can sign in, choose any photo and send it as an e-card, free of charge as a greeting for various occasions.  Send it immediately, or on any chosen date.

The website is www.francisfrith.com

Be aware that you will be giving email addresses for yourself and your recipient — nothing is free!  

Francis Frith has an online shop with a range of items that might make good, convenient and virtually hassle-free  Christmas presents.

WDYTYA Magazine: December 2020

Here's the main content for the latest issue.

Family Stories
Give your relations the star treatment using the research strategies that make WDYTYA

Polish Refugees

Were your relations among the hundreds who fled to England following the November Uprising in 1830?

Mystery Hunt

Researching the contributors to the Lady's Magazine

Christmas Crackers

Discover the origin of this much-loved festive tradition

Best Websites

Key online resources to locate final resting places

Record Masterclass

Make the most of army service records from WW2

Ancestors At Work

Were any of your relations employed as valets?

Tech Tips

Add a family tree widget to a Word Press website

Focus On

How to locate clues for Victorians who were lost at sea

There are also items on the best resources for Northhamptonshire relations

Skimming the issue I stopped at a news item about the new Suffolk Archives building in Ipswitch. Following a link and searching for my Suffolk Digby ancestry I found a marriage bond for a late 18th-century marriage with enough information in the snippet I didn't need to see the original. That shows yet again the benefit of checking out WDYTYA? Magazine which is available through PressReader at the OPL and "other fine Canadian public libraries." 

Was Yout London Ancestor a Cockney?

There was a discussion on the BIFHSGO London SIG last Wednesday about who was a Cockney. Traditionally it's someone born within the sound of Bow Bells. 

Group member Mick Jaques emailed with the information "The map at the following website shows where the bells used to be heard and where they can now be heard with the prevailing southwest wind. https://www.quora.com/Strictly-a-cockney-is-one-born-within-sound-of-Bow-Bells-What-radius-would-that-have-been-obviously-it-will-have-changed-with-ambient-noise-levels."

Wikipedia's article on Cockney mentions that "According to legend, Dick Whittington heard the bells 4.5 miles away at the Highgate Archway, in what is now north London. The studies mean that it is credible that Whittington might have heard them on one of the infrequent days that the wind blows from the south."

Winds can blow from all directions. Data for London City Airport shows southwest is the very predominant direction with a small secondary maximum from the east. On those occasions, the bells of St Mary le Bow might be heard well to the west as an easterly wind, which is often accompanied by a temperature inversion, traps sound near the ground.

The Cockney accent can be heard much further afield than the bells!  - here.

British Newspaper Archive Meets Page Target

Ahead of schedule Findmtpast's British Newspaper Archive Project has surpassed the 40 million page goal.

40,063,616 Pages

The goal was achieved with the digitization of 38,924 pages of the weekly Rugeley Times from 1926 to 1981. Rugeley is in south-central Staffordshire next to the River Trent.

The BNA Project, a joint initiative of Findmypast and The British Library, had the end of this year as the target date for reaching the 40 million target. Kudos for having succeeded despite the challenges of the pandemic.

FreeBMD November Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 19 November 2020 to contain 277,619,947 unique records (277,287,378 at the previous update.)

Years with major additions, greater than 5,000 records are: for births 1986-90; for marriages 1969, 1986-89; for deaths 1984, 1986, 1988-90. 

There were also a large number of duplicate entries deleted for the period before 1860.

www.freebmd.org.uk/

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

John Fairburn’s Chapbooks - from Spitalfield's Life

The Foolishness of Trump's Tariffs -  tariffs increased washer and dryer prices by about 12% or $88. The cost per US job created was $811,000.

Shopping at Sears: A window into the archives - LAC blog post by Jennifer Anderson

The Fall/Winter 2020 issue of LAC Signatures

TheGenealogist looks at Roald Dahl records in over 1.8 million additional R.A.F. Operations Record Books.

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous,  Unknown

Findmypast Weekly Update

British Armed Forces Soldiers' Wills 1850-1986

Covering over 130 years of British military history, 190,282 index records reveal name, service number, and when they died. The vast majority are for the two world wars.

This is the same information as available from the government Probate Search website at https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/.

Purchase the original will from Probate Search for next of kin information, the value of the individual's estate, and more. 

Ireland, Londonderry (Derry) War Memorial 1914-1918

The Diamond War Memorial in Londonderry (Derry) lists 754 locals who lost their lives in the Great War. In addition to the name, the transcription gives death date, soldier number, regiment and residence. The linked image of the memorial register adds rank and battalion.

British Red Cross & Order of St John Enquiry List, Wounded & Missing, 1914-1919

These 158,035 new records can help unlock details about the First World War’s wounded and missing that you won’t find in other sources. The collection consists of transcriptions from published lists.

5,339 entries are for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

You will find multiple entries for the same person. For instance, the 18 entries for Reid serving with the CEF refer to 8 individuals.

DeceasedOnlne adds Streatham Cemetery Records

A year after adding cremation records for Lambeth and West Norwood, and promising more the area, records for Streatham Cemetery, located on Garratt Lane in Tooting, are now available.

Opened in 1893, the Streatham Cemetery database comprises 118,000 records from 1893 to 2014. Many memorials have been removed so these records are especially valuable.

There are 218 First World War burials and 167 for the Second World War. Three who served with Canadian Forces are among those for WW1.

Deceased Online is working on further records from authorities in the East Midlands, London, the West Midlands, and the South East of England.

Co-Lab Update for November

Library and Archives Canada is once again reporting no progress since last month at Co-Lab, including on the new-last-month Molly Lamb Bobak project. There is no explanation given for the lack of progress. The status since last Spring remains.

Molly Lamb Bobak is 0% complete

Women Lightkeepers: heroes by the sea is 96% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin is 16% complete

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities is 2% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War is 96% complete

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is 71% complete

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner is 98% complete

War Diaries of the First World War: 1st Canadian Division is 94% complete

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War is 61% complete

The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters is 97% complete.

New France and First Nations Relations is 78% complete

Projects that are 100% complete are no longer reported here.

Ontario Township Papers Online

They're a fundamental source for early Ontario, known as Upper Canada and Canada West, The Archives of Ontario lists the date range as ca. 1783-ca.1870 and describes them as:

a miscellaneous group of land-related records, which have been arranged by township name, then by concession and lot or by town name and lot number. Under any lot for which documents are available, researchers may find the following: copies of orders-in-council; copies of location certificates and location tickets; copies of assignments; certificates verifying the completion of settlement duties; copies of receipt; copies of descriptions; and copies of patents; and copies of incoming correspondence.

AO has a pdf list of what's available on microfilm at http://ao.minisisinc.com/LISTS/RG%20%201-58.pdf. They inform how to access them at AO (when it's open) or by microfilm interloan.

What AO does not tell you is that there's a large collection of these microfilms digitized and available through FamilySearch that you can browse free from home.

Go to https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/185567?availability=Family%20History%20Library for communities A- H and https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/2759321?availability=Family%20History%20Library for H-Z.

Click on the icon on the right, sign in to FamilySearch if you've not already done so, and start browsing. They're handwritten, reading them is often a challenge.

 

Your Genealogy Today Nov/Dec 2020

I just received the complete text of the issue of which I listed the tentative line-up at the start of the month. It's almost as advertized — Diahan Southard is now credited as the author of DNA & Genealogy: How Much Testing Do We Really Need? with a corrected summary. I've added a few additional comments.

The Value of Gossip
Robbie Gorr looks at five ways to find family tales told over the back fence

25 Places Where Your Family’s Facts May Hide
George G. Morgan suggested sources for where you may find hidden clues include at least a couple you may not have thought about.

Advertising Trade Cards from the 1880s
Stephen L. W. Greene looks at the once-popular advertising method often collected by our ancestors. Is this true beyond the US?

“A Temporary Colony”: British Florida, 1763-1784
David A. Norris shows us where to find the records for those who settled in Florida before joining the United States ... an interesting and overlooked period of British colonial and US history.

The Importance of Being Frank If You Can’t Be Earnest
Sue Lisk looks at possible reasons for how our ancestors got their names. A romp through how names were chosen and changed with examples from her family history.

Death Records…Let’s Look Beyond the “Usual!”
Diane L. Richard goes beyond the usual resources used to document the death of an ancestor

Sororities and Genealogy
Leslie Michele Derrough looks at the importance of sororities in the lives of our ancestors

DNA & Genealogy: How Much Testing Do We Really Need?
Diahan Southard looks at full sequencing of DNA code and whether it’s really necessary. She summarizes the positions for and against more complete sequencing and comes down on the side if more,

Advice From the Pros: Track Your Speaking Engagements with Trello
Lisa A. Alzo shares how to use a free tool to manage your speaking calendar

The Back Page: Don't Be Afraid to Stumble
Dave Obee says a stumble can be a step forward when doing family history research - serendipity.

FamilySearch Updates

 A bumper crop of additions to FamilySearch this week 

New Brunswick County Registers of Births Index, ca. 1812-1919 is a new indexed records collection with 142,670 records.

Two new indexed records collections for England are:

England, Berkshire, Reading, Cemetery Records, 1843-1959, 64,917 records
England, Norfolk, Bishop's Transcripts Index, 1600-1941, 12,664 records

Also England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950 has 11,133 new indexed records and 218,240 images added. There are now 2,554,370 indexed records

A complete list of updates for the week of 16 November 2020 is at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-16-november-2020/

CWGC Beechwood Cemetery Burials: A. E. Mitchell

The regimental emblem on this tombstone is for the Royal Garrison Artillery of the British Forces. Armed with heavy, large-calibre guns and howitzers 111 companies of the RGA were stationed across the British Empire. 

Corporal Arthur Ernest Mitchell (76639) details of whose service with the RGA are unknown, died on this date in 1920. 

Born ca Oct 1888 in Bishop Auckland, Durham, England, he came to Canada with his wife Christina nee Thompson and son John in June 1919. A son George was born soon after their arrival. 

He died of a pulmonary abscess for which he had been operated on in July.

His grave is Plot 29. Lot 14. No. 26. at Beechwood cemetery.

His family continued living in Ottawa and the area.

This week's online genealogy events

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required. Check so you're not disappointed.

🇨🇦Tuesday 17 November, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

🇨🇦Tuesday 17 November,  7 pm: Remembering Our Military Families, OGS Sudbury Branch members share stories. Registration at: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtcO6hpjwrG9UH5fmhG_qgJzSFgbVthj4g

Tuesday 17 November, 8 pm: Separating and Merging Identities of Same-named Men, by Shannon Green for the Board for Certification of Genealogists 
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1287

Wednesday 18 November, 11am: WW1 Military Research, with Paul Milner and Jen Baldwin for Findmypast
https://www.facebook.com/findmypast

Wednesday 18 November, 2 pm: Surname Projects and DNA Projects, presented by Mags Gaulden for Legacy Family Tree Webinars
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1238

Wednesday 18 November, 2:30 pm: The Scoundrel Harry Larkyns, presented by Rebecca Gowers for TNA.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rebecca-gowers-the-scoundrel-harry-larkyns-tickets-116864981305?aff=homepage

Thursday 19 November, 6:30 pm: A Grave Matter (US), presented by Jeannie Regan-Dinius for the Allen County Public Library, 
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/4674033

Friday 20 November, 9 am: The Victorian (re)invention of Christmas,  by Katherine Howells for TNA
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-victorian-reinvention-of-christmas-tickets-125470113487?aff=wowp

Friday 20 November, 11 am: Findmypast Friday, with Alex Cox
https://www.facebook.com/findmypast

🇨🇦 Saturday 21 November,  10 am:  The Ultimate Black Sheep: What Happens When You Discover A Serial Killer In Your Family Tree, presented by Michael Onesi for Kingston Branch OGS. Registration at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pdOypqzkpG9eO86IeygS0QLRuexSEpW6W

🇨🇦 Saturday 21 November,  1 pm:  Great Moments Goes Virtual. Quinte Branch OGS members share stories
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMpf-yoqDouE9SIHEVYUaseYEChtjiemaHK

Wars and Rebels Lecture Series: OGS Toronto Branch

On Wednesday 18 November you can join a free presentation Exploring Military Records at Library and Archives Canada presented by Sophie Tellier (Senior Archivist, Reference Services) and Jeannie Buchanan-Breit (Orientation and Archival Technician, Regional Services) from Library and Archives Canada.

With a focus on the First and Second World Wars, this session will review Library and Archives Canada’s online tools for military research, as well as how to access service files, identify an individual’s unit, and consult resources such as war diaries to learn more about the context of a person’s service. 

The presentation starts at 7:30 pm. Register in advance from 
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=i6wnctjab&oeidk=a07ehd22mv74c8442a8

The three other lectures in the series are:

Thursday 19 November: Researching Military Service in Canada, 1840-1902, by Glenn Wright

Wednesday 25 November: 1837 Rebellion and Our Difficult Path to Democracy, by Bruce Beaton

Thursday 26 November: Second World War Research: Are You Ready?, by James F. S. Thomson

Find further information, costs, with discounts for OGS members, and registration at
https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/wars-and-rebels-2020/

23andMe 50% off for a limited time

Until November 26 you can purchase the 23andMe Health & Ancestry test for $124 Cdn. 

Find out more at https://www.23andme.com/en-ca/dna-health-ancestry

Be sure you understand the fine print; the company business model includes monetizing your anonymized data in medical research.

MyHeritage Gift Membership Deal

50% off a MyHeritage membership, 6-month or 1 year, is available for a limited time.

As Daniel Horowitz wrote in an email

With many people spending more time at home and looking for meaningful activities to enjoy, the MyHeritage gift membership makes the perfect holiday gift and is sure to delight a dear family member or close friend.

The gift membership provides access to all features and all 12.7 billion historical records on MyHeritage.

Order a gift membership in a few clicks, and your chosen recipient will receive an email explaining the super simple steps needed to redeem their gift.

You can choose to give either a 1-year or 6-month gift membership. Gift memberships are one-time and do not renew. At the end of the membership period, the recipient will retain access to their MyHeritage account and all family tree data. If they wish to continue enjoying the full benefits of a membership, it will be up to them to extend their plan (or you can decide to be kind to them and give them another gift membership – it’s up to you).

YOU CAN GIVE YOURSELF THE GIFT - 50% OFF

Find out more at https://www.myheritage.com/gift-membership

O/T: Weather and Climate: Not what your grandparents knew!

David Phillips, a renowned climatologist, Order of Canada member and one-time BIFHSGO Don Whiteside lecturer, will be giving a public forum, online of course, on Tuesday 17 November at 7 pm.

Urban floods, ice rains, winter heat waves, interface wildfires, weather bombs, megadroughts - if you think we’ve been cursed and clobbered a lot harder and a lot more often recently, you are not imagining it. It used to be that our weather was “normal” and dependable. Now, more and more Canadians are asking: What’s happening to our weather? If our weather is becoming weirder and wilder are people responsible or is it nature doing this to us? Or both? Maybe we are changing more than the weather. What has become clear is that the Earth is warming, and the number of weather-related disasters is on the rise. We can no longer assume that yesterday’s weather will apply tomorrow.

To attend the free Zoom webinar, sponsored by the Toronto and Ottawa Branches of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, register in advance at www.cmos.ca/.

If that link doesn't work for you try here.

New West Midlands Files on Ancestry

Categorized under Directories & Member Lists, the 39,424 records of West Midlands, England, Police Files and Ledgers, 1850-1950 cover "appointments of regular and special constables, promotions, disciplinary actions, transfers, lists of applicants, injuries sustained in the line of duty, and physical descriptions." They are for the constabularies of Birmingham, Staffordshire, Coventry, Walsall, West Midlands, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

These are most interesting records for those with ancestors in police service. There are linked images recording the ups and downs of service. If you find a record of interest scroll back and forward from the image as there may be additional information.

Within the Court, Land, Wills & Financial category find 10,157 records of West Midlands, England, Criminal Registers, 1850-1933. Information usually available is: name, age at time of incarceration, birthplace, nature of the crime, conviction date, conviction place, sentence, photograph and/or a physical description. When you see a picture, especially of a youngster, it's natural to wonder how they got into the situation and what happened to them. You may find more information in newspapers.

Both databases are provided in association with the West Midlands Police Museum.

Sunday Sundries

 Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Canada’s health care expensive and lagging behind OECD countries - based on a report from the Fraser Institute, so treat with caution.

How to search newspaper articles (and more) at BAnQ - a blog post by Dianne Nolin

Kelowna Courier: the paper, from its founding in 1904 until 1949, is now digitized and fully searchable.

Our Migration Story. An education-oriented website dealing with migration into the UK. 

The Ten Equations That Rule The World And How You Can Use Them Too - a podcast from the LSE.

Five CWGC Videos. Exploring the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and its role in caring for the 1.7 million men and women who lost their lives during the two world wars.

The following two items make one ask ... why not in Canada?

Australia's National Archives signs $4.4m contract to digitise World War II service records

Australian Defence Force turns a page on its paper archives with mammoth digitisation project

Take 4:15: From the Canadian Brass.

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, BT,  S4Ottawa, Unknown, and Documentary Heritage News.

UK Honours and Awards

As a follow on to yesterday's post which highlighted the database Canadian Army Overseas Honours and Awards Citation Details I wondered if there's a UK Second World War equivalent.

There is, in WO 373 with the title War Office and Ministry of Defence: Military Secretary's Department: Recommendations for Honours and Awards for Gallant and Distinguished Service (Army)

Search and download — WO 373 is also available as part of the Digital Microfilm project.

It's not just for the UK. Searching keyword Canada finds 183 hits, Canadian 2,560. In addition keyword Ottawa finds 11 hits for service with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, 14 for the Toronto Scottish Regiment.

I wondered about duplicates between the Canadian and UK databases. Searching for Gilchrist, the subject of yesterday's post, didn't find him in the UK collection. Information for Capt John Campbell Veits, also from Ottawa who was awarded the Military Cross, is available in both.

Viets, a barrister who went by the name Peter, died in a traffic accident in 1952 and is buried at Beechwood Cemetery.

Findmypast Weekly Update

 Warwickshire, Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941

On the 80th anniversary of the Coventry Blitz FMP adds lists of 2,471 casualties with names, addresses and more in a transcription of key information, plus an image of a contemporary typed casualty listing. 

There are five lists in all covering the air raid dates:

14th/15th November 1940 (568 killed)
7th January 1941 (6 killed)
8th/9th April 1941 (451 killed)
10th/11th April 1941 (101 killed)
4th/5th June 1941 (2 killed)

In each case, names and addresses are given, followed by details about where the person was treated. This might have been at a First Aid Post or at a hospital. Some people were treated and sent home, others were detained in hospital.

British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records

Additional records giving the names of injured soldiers, military details, and where they were treated with admission and discharge records from over 20 hospitals, field ambulances, and casualty clearing stations during the First World War. The collection now totals 1,333,477 records from The National Archives’ series, MH106, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen. I noticed several serving with Canadian forces; there is no nationality search.

National School Admission Registers & Log-Books 1870-1914

Over 17,000 more Yorkshire school records sourced from the Calderdale Family History Society are added to this collection which now has 9,246,566 records. Additions are for the following schools:

Brighouse National
Brookfoot
Clifton
Elland Edge
Greetland
Rastrick
Southowram

Yorkshire Baptisms

Over 6,000 new baptism records from St Simon’s Church, Sheffield added to this collection that now totals 9,193,484 baptisms, many with linked images.

Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions

Over 4,600 more church records from the West Riding of Yorkshire for a new total 206,132 records. The churches covered are:

Charlestown, Hebden Bridge, Mount Olivet Chapel
Langfield, Mankinholes Chapel
Luddenden Foot, St Mary
Lumbutts, Free Methodist Chapel
Midgley, Methodist Providence Chapel
Mount Tabor, Moor End United Reform Church

Ancestry 40% Discount on 6 Month Membership

 

I've been burned before by publicizing Ancestry offers I get via email.

This one states clearly "Offers available until 11:59 p.m. ET on 15 Nov 2020 by following the links in this email only. 

I suspect the link has my information embedded so won't be good for anyone else, except that knowing of the offer you may be able to bargain for the same deal.

 

Lying for Canada

In his presentation last evening to Lambton Branch of the OGS Second World War-Researching the Canadian Fallen Ken McKinlay made mention of a publication that is now a database — Canadian Army Overseas Honours and Awards Citation Details. Its existence was news to me. It has entries for those who survived as well as the fallen.

To test it I tried a name I've recently been researching in the First World War — Gilchrist.

Charles Whitney Gilchrist was awarded the OBE in July 1945. Here's the detail.

However, there's more to the story given in the Brown's Beat column in the Ottawa Citizen of 28 June 1996, shortly after Gilchrist's death. 

In early 1945. some 90.000 battle-hardened troops, mainly Canadians, were quietly moved from Italy to the campaign in Holland. Deception was needed to keep German manpower committed to the Italian theatre. That was Gilchrist’sjob.

With hardly a Canadian left in Italy he labored away at the Maple Leaf for months, creating and publishing stories about the comings and goings of people who were no longer there.

Col. Strome Galloway says the success of Gilchrist’s invented news stories wasn’t fully appreciated until the end of the war. “Until we were identified in the Dutch campaign, the Germans thought we were still in Italy.’’

Gilchrist was given an Order of the British Empire, not just for lying, but for doing it well on a grand scale.

 Charles Whitney Gilchrist is interred at Capital Memorial Garden in Ottawa.

Ken has posted the handout accompanying his presentation at
https://familytreeknots.blogspot.com/2020/11/second-world-war-researching-canadian.html

Widening Horizons Webinar Series

The Guild of One-Name Studies, in cooperation with the Local Population Studies Society, has just completed a series of presentations with the umbrella title Widening Horizons —looking at ways of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data collected in the process of one-name or one-place studies, family history or local population analysis.  The data is based mainly on UK records, but records from other countries are cited where appropriate.

I've viewed two of the six listed at https://one-name.org/widening-horizons-webinar-series/. 

Mortality and Morbidity: a study of National Registration death certificates for two families 1837 to 2009, presented by veteran researcher Elizabeth E Green (don't be put off by a few technical glitches in the first half)

Identifying business proprietors from the census; and using the online Atlas on entrepreneurship by Professor Bob Bennett (University of Cambridge)

I'm looking forward to viewing 

Looking at single trees and whole orchards: how genealogists and demographers can work together, presented by Dr Eilidh Garrett

At present, the archived presentations appear to be available to view by non-members.

Ancestry adds Canada, Newspapers.com Obits Index, 1800s-current

This database consists of facts extracted from obituaries found in 87 Canadian newspapers on Newspapers.com™. 

The major papers are:

Victoria Times (-Colonist), 1885–2014
Vancouver Province, 1894–2020
Calgary Herald, 1888–2020
Edmonton Journal, 1903–2020
Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 1902 - 2020
Regina Leader-Post, 1883–2020
Windsor Star, 1893 - 2020
Ottawa Citizen, 1846 - 2020
Ottawa Journal, 1885 - 1980
Montreal Gazette, 1857–2020

The 30,877,928 records count the deceased and those mentioned in the obit separately.

As shown by the bar chart for the number of entries in the decennial years, the database is particularly valuable toward the end of the 20th century when official records are not usually available.

Remembrance Day Services in Ottawa

At the National War Memorial, 100 invited guests will attend the ceremony this year. There will be no parade.

TV and radio will have coverage starting at about 10:45 a.m. The Royal Canadian Legion will stream the service at
https://www.legion.ca/remembrance/remembrance-day/the-national-ceremony

The Canadian War Museum will live stream a view of the light shining through Memorial Hall starting at 10:40 a.m. https://www.warmuseum.ca/remember/

The National Military Cemetery (Beechwood) Remembrance Day Ceremony will be streamed live at, facebook.com/NMCBeechwood, also starting at 10:45 a.m.

Workhouses

 

Seven stories about people on British workhouses from The Workhouse Network.

https://artsandculture.google.com/search/exhibit?p=the-workhouse-network

For BIFHSGO members of the London SIG, the topic for the meeting next Wednesday evening is poverty and the workhouse in London. Short presentations, 10 minutes, on the story of your workhouse ancestor(s) welcome.

FamilySearch Updates

Additions to FamilySearch this week include a start on three new Canadian collections.

Collection	New Indexed Records	Total Records
Alberta, Catholic Church Parish Registers, 1865-1916	692	692
Nova Scotia, Church and Civil Records, 1727-1884	870	870
Nova Scotia, Church and Civil Records, 1727-1884	870	870
Canada, New Brunswick, County Register of Births, 1801-1920	10,620	466,989
Manitoba Church Records, 1800-1959	324	11,216
Nova Scotia Church Records, 1720-2001	8,221	125,967
Ontario, Immigration Records, 1862-1897	8,888	8,533
England, Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971	1,070	78,070
England, Herefordshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1583-1898	4,584	1,138,270
England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988	16,427	1,331,970

Further afield, 81 collections have a total of over 15 million records added, more than 12 million for the USA. The largest additions, with well over 3 million each, are United States City and Business Directories, ca. 1749 - ca. 1990 and, United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975.

This week's online genealogy events

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Registration in advance may be required. Check so you're not disappointed.

Tuesday 10 November, 9 am: Using Discovery. Learn top tips for using TNA's catalogue. Register at
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/top-level-tips-using-discovery-tickets-119875523919?aff=wowp

🇨🇦Tuesday 10 November, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.

Tuesday 10 November, 2 pm: Why I Love — and How to Use — the Newspaper Collections at MyHeritage, presented by Sunny Morton for MyHeritage Webinars. 
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1313

Remembrance Day, Wednesday 11 November, 11 am: Remembrance Day Broadcast, with Alex Cox, Paul Nixon and guests from the Imperial War Museum and Commonwealth War Graves Commission for Findmypast.
www.facebook.com/findmypast

Remembrance Day, Wednesday 11 November: 1:30 pm: Live broadcast from Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites across Great Britain.
https://www.facebook.com/commonwealthwargravescommission?mc_cid=fc807364a2&mc_eid=f2aa1b92a1

🇨🇦 Remembrance Day, Wednesday 11 November: 7 pm:  Sacrifice: Researching Canada's War, 1914-194, presented by Glenn Wright for York Branch OGS.  Register at  
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMud-ypqjMiHdLtk9aYxJjpe1Dmco4f4z-l

Wednesday 11 November, 8 pm: Deeds Not Words: Finding Your (US) Merchant Marine Ancestors, presented by Michael L. Strauss for Legacy Family Tree Webinars, Register at:
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1240

Thursday 12 November: 2pm: Newspapers Bring Ancestors Alive", presented by Arlene Courtney for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. 
http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/lecturing

🇨🇦  Thursday 12 November: 7 pm, Second World War-Researching the Canadian Fallen, presented by Ken McKinlay for Lambton Branch OGS. Register at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdeChpzgrEtYhvdoSv4BLy8w74-qHUIKl

Friday, 13 November:  11 am. Fridays Live, with Ellie Overthrow-Jones for Findmypast
www.facebook.com/findmypast

🇨🇦 Saturday 14 November, 10:00 am  Going Down of the Sun, presented by Philip G. Winkelaar for BIFHSGO.  Register at 
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvdeyopz0oGdPqpeGYPLP2EsD7q7WVi0uw

Looking ahead

🇨🇦 Monday 16 November, 7 pm:  Fighting the Phoney War, presented by AI McGregor for OGS Oxford County. 

Register here

BIFHSGO adds 20 soldier biographies to CCCS database

BIFHSGO volunteers continue to make progress in researching and writing biographies of 879 soldiers treated at No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station (CCCS) during the First World War. who died from their wounds.  

Biographies for about two-thirds of the soldiers have been completed. They include British, Australian, New Zealand as well as Canadian and Newfoundland soldiers. I even spotted a French serviceman.  

Biographies are added this veterans week for:

Graham, Private William Henry
Dunnicliff, Private George William
Apps, Private Thomas William
Bower, Private John Frederick
Gamble, Private John
McGee, Private Edward Parker
Panther, Private Sidney Edward
Cowan Company Sergeant, Major John James
Dempster, Private Charles Grinling
Feathers, Sapper James
Ferris, Lance Corporal Dalton Edgar
Fisher, Sapper Herbert Oliver
Gray, Private William John
Goddard, Private Walter John
Hourie, Private John Robert
Jackson Sergeant James Henry
Light, Private William Arthur
Maracle, Private Peter William
Thomas, Private William Wilfred
Williams, Driver Christmas

Find the database and explanatory material at https://bifhsgo.ca/cstm_cdnCasClrStn.php

A tip of the hat to the current BIFHSGO volunteers for the project:

Heather Carmody                                   Marcia Clements
Sheila Dohoo Faure (team leader)         Lynda Gibson
Jean Kitchen (editor)                              Nigel Lloyd
Lynne Willoughby

TNA Webinars for November

From the UK National Archives, all times given are UK time, ET is five hours earlier.

Records of railway workers
17 November | 14:00 to 14:30

Do you have an ancestor who worked on the railways? Would you like to find out more about their work and how to trace their employment records? Chris Heather guides you through everything you need to know to begin your research. 

Meet the Author: Rebecca Gowers: The Scoundrel Harry Larkyns
18 November | 19:30 to 20:30

Rebecca Gowers talks about the fascinating story she uncovered within her family tree – that of Harry Larkyns, an attractive cad who fell in love with the wife of noted photographer, Eadweard Muybridge. Our Collections Expert, Katherine Howells, will join Rebecca to showcase some of Muybridge’s pictures.

The Victorian (re)invention of Christmas 
20 November | 14:00 to 15:00

Cards, crackers and carols are just some of the treasured Christmas traditions that the Victorians invented. Find out how different levels of society celebrated Christmas, in our first festive talk by Katherine Howells.

Meet the Author: Roger Dalrymple: Crippen
23 November | 19:30 to 20:30

110 years to the day after the execution of Dr Crippen, Roger Dalrymple will talk about how the murder caused a sensation at the time that still resonates today. Roger will draw on official records to examine the case itself and the public’s fascination with the brutal crime.

Charles Dickens at Christmas
27 November | 14:00 to 15:00

Join Frankie Kubicki (Charles Dickens Museum) for this ultimate festive feel-good event, which tells the story of a lost turkey and the amazing circumstances under which Dickens’ most famous book, A Christmas Carol, was written.

BIFHSGO Members Give Online Presentations this Veterans Week

A special shout out this week for three military-themed presentations.

Remembrance Day, 11 November at 7 pm BIFHSGO past president and former military archivist Glenn Wright will present Sacrifice: Researching Canada's War, 1914-1945. This presentation to OGS York Branch will identify and explore the major resources, online and otherwise, for researching Canada's war dead. Documenting those of our ancestors who have paid the ultimate sacrifice is more than family history or genealogy, it is an act of remembrance and commemoration. 

Register at
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMud-ypqjMiHdLtk9aYxJjpe1Dmco4f4z-l

The following day, 12 November, also at 7 pm, Ken McKinlay presents Second World War-Researching the Canadian Fallen. "Researching relatives and ancestors who fought for Canada in the Second World War can be a challenge, especially since many of the records are not yet available online. In this talk we will be looking at the various resources to help you in researching those that ultimately gave their life in the service of Canada in the Second World War. We will also touch upon additional resources to help you in your research of those that survived that conflict.”

To register click
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErdeChpzgrEtYhvdoSv4BLy8w74-qHUIKl

On Saturday 14 November, 10:00 am  Philip G. Winkelaar will present Going Down of the Sun for BIFHSGO. He searched school records, memoirs, official histories, church and military records to document the lives of those remembered on brass plaques at Knox Presbyterian Church, Ottawa. He will talk about his research and how he brought to life those who are generally unremarked but who are remembered every Remembrance Sunday. These stories allow us to solemnly declare: “At the Going Down of the Sun, and In the Morning, We Will Remember Them.”

To register, click   https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvdeyopz0oGdPqpeGYPLP2EsD7q7WVi0uw

Suffolk’s top 10 most common surnames

From the East Anglian Daily Times, an article caught my attention with the mention of Last, a surname in my family tree going back to Mark Last who married in Stradishall, Suffolk, in 1577.

According to the article "you’re 43 times more likely to meet a Last here in Suffolk than anywhere else. There are several possible origins for the name, including it being an occupational name, going from ‘Laster’ to ‘Last’, and in Dutch (in this area, many of our ancestors crossed the sea), it can be a nickname for an awkward character."

https://www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/suffolk-s-top-10-most-common-surnames-1-6917210

Ancestry UK Updates

Updates on 4 November 

England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936, now 5,768,013 records.

UK, World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923, now 6,519,330 records.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Something completely different (video)

Euston’s lost burial ground - stories behind the now lost St James’s Gardens graveyard and the bodies it held.

Canadians and the military occupation of Iceland (1940–1941): from squalls to the “black death” - LAC blog post by Marcelle Cinq-Mars. 

B.C. woman recounts work on top-secret Second World War project

A graveyard walk counts for a fun family activity these days, right?

141 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena

Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, Ann Burns, BT,  Unknown

Findmypast Weekly Update: wartime photos

Findmypast Photo Collection

Rummage through over 5,600 new snapshots from the Blitz, World War 2 front lines and the Findmypast Community. The Findmypast Photo Collection features thousands of old photos, many online for the first time. You can discover vintage military photos, shots from World War 2's Home Front and evacuations, family photos from christenings, weddings and funerals, and much more.

As a premium collection, the Findmypast Photo Collection is excluded from the current FMP free military records promotion.

World War Two Canadian Photograph Collection

Now available in their own distinct record set, these incredible photos bring Canada’s World War 2 experiences to life. Featuring captivating images from Prisoner of War camps, Naval vessels, battlefields, training exercises, and more, you can explore this amazing collection completely FREE from November 5-12.

Note that these are sourced from Library and Archives Canada where they are free. In an embedded video Jen Baldwin explains how to use the collection which is excellent if you can get past her pronunciation of Regina.

United States, Veterans Oral History Index

Dig deeper into US ancestors’ war stories with records from The Veteran’s History Project. Discover indexes to interviews, recordings, photos, and more. This unique collection is also included in our free access promotion. Search and view it free of charge until November 12.

TheGenealogist adds Lambeth Lloyd George Domesday records

The following is a release from TheGenealogist.

TheGenealogist has released the records of 83,498 individuals for the Lambeth area into its Lloyd George Domesday Survey property ownership and occupancy record set. This unique online resource includes maps and field books and gives family historians the chance to discover where an ancestor lived in the period just before and as the First World War began. This is a great tool to use with the 1911 Census giving lots of additional information about your ancestor's home, land, outbuildings and property. 

By making use of TheGenealogist’s powerful Map Explorer™ the researcher can see how the landscape where their ancestor lived or worked changed as the years have passed.

The maps are linked to field books containing descriptions of the property, as well as revealing owners and occupiers, all of which have been sourced from The National Archives and are being digitised by TheGenealogist. With this release it is possible to precisely locate where an ancestor lived on a number of large scale, hand annotated maps for this part of London. These plans include plots for the exact properties at the time of the survey and are layered over various georeferenced historical maps and modern base maps on the Map Explorer™. This resource enables the researcher to thoroughly investigate the area in which an ancestor lived even if the streets were bombed out of existence in the Blitz and the modern redevelopment does not follow the same lines as the previous roads had.

Lambeth records cover the civil parishes of Bishop’s, Brixton, Brixton North, Clapham North, Clapham South, Lower Norwood, Marsh North, Marsh South, Norwood, Prince’s, Stockwell North, Stockwell South, Streatham and Vauxhall.