More UK searchable genealogy & history websites - from Rick Roberts

Rick Roberts of Global Genealogy recently added a posting More UK Searchable Genealogy & History Websites to his Global Gazette. It includes seventeen searchable online databases with information including maps, military records, deaths, Wills, newspapers and more. Searches are free on all sites listed. Some charge a fee for accessing the supporting digital documents, others do not.

Rick is one of those people who helps make doing family history in Canada a pleasure. Visit Global's stand at a genealogy conference and you'll find him keen to listen, to understand your needs and recommend a solution.

Rick and Sandra have been bringing a wide range of books and materials to the marketplace of the BIFHSGO annual conference since the start. As is often the case he will be giving a pre-conference seminar, this year on the new version of Legacy Family Tree.

Thanks to you, Cyndi and Randy

As of noon on Monday, 28 April this blog passed the monthly record for total hits, unique visitors and return visitors. Although I don't aim to break records it does indicate people find something of value in my ramblings. Thank you for visiting

Thanks also go to Cyndi Howells and cyndislist where I placed an announcement about the blog. It would be nice if Cyndi would include Anglo-Celtic Connections in her category Blogs for Genealogy. Pretty please.

Randy Seaver mentioned the posting on LAC recommended web sites in his most recent Best of the Genea-Blogs on his Genea-Musings site. Much appreciated Randy.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens.
- Benjamin Disraeli

Red hair amongst the Goughs?

Friend, and highly respected Toronto genealogist, Brenda Dougall Merriman has a posting on her experience as a redhead on her blog.

Several surnames are supposedly derived from the founder(s) having red hair or a ruddy complexion. Reid and its variants are amongst them. Other surnames are Gough, Rogan and Rufus.

Statistics are that the frequency of red hair in Britain is only about 4%. There don't appear to be any statistics for ruddy complexion, defined as "inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life." It doesn't take much sun exposure for me to fall into that category.

I did a quick survey of soldiers with last name Gough with attestation papers at Library and Archives Canada. There are 127 of them. Only 110 have information on complexion and hair colour.

Three soldiers were described as having red (actually reddish or auburn) hair. All three also had blue eyes and two of the three a ruddy complexion. Three of 110 is less than 4%, so there is no evidence of excessive red hair in this sample of Goughs.

In total seven Goughs had a ruddy complexion. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ruddy as "Of the face, complexion, etc.: Naturally suffused with a fresh or healthy redness" so it would seem reasonable to count in with ruddy at least some of the nine Goughs described as having a "fresh" complexion. In one case there were two attestation papers on file for the same person -- in one his complexion was described as fresh and in the other ruddy.

Certainly a ruddy or fresh complexion is several times more common amongst the Goughs than red hair.

More on LAC and USB flash drives

It was a pleasure to be at an event at Library and Archives Canada on Friday evening to mark the acquisition and donation of archival materials from the descendants of former Governor General Lord Elgin. Ian Wilson managed the ceremonies with grace. Congratulations to those who organized the event so well.

I took the opportunity of a brief conversation with Ian to mention the question of LAC walking his talk regarding the use of USB flash drives at LAC. He seemed unaware that clients are not allowed to use them in LAC equipment.

By coincidence on Saturday Dick Eastman posted an item on these drives in his online genealogy newsletter. I took the opportunity to post a comment to which Dick responded:

JDR ---> Some local archives and libraries prohibit the use of flash drives on their computers citing the risk of virus transmission. How real is the threat?

Dick Eastman: It is real. However, it can easily be managed. The process isn't complex, any Windows system administrator should be able to handle it.

Two things pop to mind: (1.) the threat is no greater for jump drives than it is for floppy disks or CD-ROM disks. These threats have been around for years and properly installed and frequently-updated anti-virus programs have proven to delete 99.9% of them. (2.) Properly-installed public access computers in libraries, Internet cafes and elsewhere usually are configured to have the hard drives wiped clean and reloaded every day or so. Even if a virus infection occurs, it doesn't last long.

Proper anti-virus software installed in your own computer minimizes the risk of a problem being introduced to your system.

JDR ---> What can be done about it to permit the use of these devices?

Dick Eastman: Probably not much. We are the guests in the establishment and are at the mercy of the owners, whether we agree with their policies or not.

At this time of year, with income taxes due in a few days, being "at the mercy" of the administrators of a publicly funded institution does not sit well. As pointed out on Friday, Lord Elgin instituted "responsible" government in Canada rejecting the prior practice of domestic government decisions being taken in Britain. Could we find another Lord Elgin to institute the same kind of "responsible" administration at LAC?

Having mentioned Dick Eastman it would be irresponsible not to point out that he is a speaker at the OGS Conference coming up in London, Ontario.

Ottawa Digging Up Your Roots Fair - May 10th

Recognize any of these names? Michel Béland, Olivier Bilodeau, Terry Findley, Hariett Fried, Ana Ghia-Pereira, Diana Hall, Shirley-Ann Pyefinch, Kyla Ubbink, Glenn Wright, and someone named John D Reid.

Talks by these local speakers are some of the attractions at the Ottawa Stake Family History Centre of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 3rd Annual Family History "Digging Up Your Roots" Fair.

Mark the afternoon of Saturday May 10th, 1 -5 pm, on your calendar and plan on coming to this free event at 1017 Prince of Wales Drive.

BIFHSGO has a good meeting with a speaker from Britain that morning too.

An invitation - Subject or Citizen?

I have been asked, and am pleased, to publicize the following

Mr. Ian E Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, and Mr. Allen Weinstein, Archivist to the United States, cordially invite you to the opening of the exhibition

1783
Subject or Citizen?
The Treaty of Paris

in the presence of his Excellency Mr. David H. Wilkins,
United States Ambassador to Canada.

Tuesday May 6 at 5:30 pm
395 Wellington Street, Ottawa

RSVP by May 1st, 2008
613 992-2618
rsvp@lac-bac.gc.ca
Reception/Cash Bar

Note: Unfortunately the nice graphic version of the invitation failed to appear on many browsers, although it does with Firefox -- yet another reason to switch.

Voters Lists Online

The May issue of Ancestors Magazine has an article "Reading the Rolls" by Tony Abrahams on British voters lists. It deals particularly with the lists at the Midland Historical Data Archive for which Abrahams is responsible.

British voters lists from 2002 onward are available digitally at www.192.com. Searching earlier lists is a real chore, unless you have a full address, as they are not organized alphabetically by name.

Even finding the lists takes a bit of searching. You can find post 1947 and a few earlier voters lists at the British Library. More complete collections are often held locally and may be identified by searching www.familia.org.uk for the location of interest.

You would think voters lists would be a prime target for the large commercial genealogy database companies such as ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.com. This would be true especially for the years after 1928 when all adults where enfranchised and other sources are lacking.

As is often the case a local initiative shows the way, in this instance indexed Birmingham Electoral Rolls for 1912, 1918 (Absent voters), 1920,1925,1930 & 1935 at www.midlandshistoricaldata.org. They can all be searched by name, by address or both, and viewed by pay per view or subscription. Prices are here.

Canadian voters lists are also difficult to work with. Library and Archives Canada holds federal voters lists of the Office of the Electoral Officer for Canada (RG 113) from 1935 to 1983. As in the UK they are arranged by the name of the electoral district. Within the electoral districts the lists are further arranged by polling station.

LAC has the voters lists on microfilm. Find the film number on the list here.

LAC suggested online genealogy databases

Here is a list of online genealogy databases suggested by Library and Archives Canada in a paper handout dated October 2007 found at CGC yesterday.

LAC, Canadian Genealogy Centre: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/
Automated Genealogy: automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.html
Family Search: www.familysearch.org
Newfoundland's Grand Banks Genealogy Site: ngb.chebucto.org
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick: www.gnb.ca/Archives
Prince Edward Island Baptismal Index: www.gov.pe.ca/cca/baptismal/
Nova Scotia Archives: www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/databases
Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics: www.novascotiagenealogy.com/
Bibliothéque et Archives nationales du Québec: www.banq.qc.ca/portal/dt/genealogie/?bnq_langue=en
PRDH: Quebec French-Canadian genealogy before 1800: www.genealogie.umontreal.ca/en/main.htm
Ontario Wesleyan Methodist baptisms: freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/%7Ewjmartin/wm-index.htm
Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid: www.islandnet.com/~jveinot/
Northern Ontario Canada Gravemarker Gallery: freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~murrayp/
Toronto 1901 Census Street Finder: www.ontarioroots.com
Métis National Council Historical Online Database: metisnationdatabase.ualberta.ca/MNC/
Manitoba Vital Statistics: web2.gov.mb.ca/cca/vital/Query.php
Saskatchewan: Genealogy Index Searches: vsgs.health.gov.sk.ca/vsgs_srch.aspx
British Columbia Cemetery Finding Aid: www.islandnet.com/bccfa/
British Columbia Archives: Vital Events: www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca
Yukon Gold Rush: www.yukongenealogy.com/content/database_search.htm
Canadian Virtual War Memorial: www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: www.cwgc.org
Legion Magazine's Last Post Database: www.legionmagazine.com/lastpost/
Air Force Honours and Awards: www.airforce.ca/index2.php3?page=honours
Ingeneas: www.ingeneas.com
The ShipsList: www.theshipslist.com
Nanaimo Family History Society Passenger List Indexing Project: members.shaw.ca/nanaimo.fhs/
Ancestors on Board: www.ancestorsonboard.com
Ellis Island (New York 1892 - 1924): www.ellisislandrecords.com
Castle Garden (New York 1830 - 1892): www.castlegarden.org/about.html
Our Roots: www.ourroots.ca
Obituary Daily Times: www.rootsweb.com/~obituary/

For those surprised I didn't blog about April 23rd being St George's Day, England's national day, I'm celebrating in the traditional Canadian way, by ignoring it.

Those who want to mark the occasion may wish to enjoy this old Song of Patriotic Prejudice:

14,028,877 Canadian names

If you think Séguin, Tremblay, and Potvin when you think Quebec you're not wrong, but neither are you seeing the full picture. Plenty of Irish, English and Scots; O'Briens, Wrights and Macdonalds settled in the Province too, and many are to be found in a newly indexed Ancestry.ca collection Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967.

The 14,028,877 number comes from the Complete Ancestry Title Listings. It's on the first page listed by decreasing number of names in the title. This is the 35th largest database in the whole Ancestry collection, and second largest Canadian title after Canadian Phone and Address Directories, 1995-2002

I'm unsure how to reconcile the 14+ million number with the note above the search form for the collection "Please note: 29 million names are now searchable via the new index. Searching may produce records that have not yet been indexed. Please continue to enjoy access to all historical images. With cooperation from University of Montreal, the remaining 8 million names will be available later this year."

However many names are actually available and indexed, this is a large enough database that you won't want to miss out trying it with some of the names in your genealogy. Even if you have no known Quebec connection its worth trying to see if any co-lateral lines, or family strays, happen to turn up. You'll need a subscription or to go to a public library or other institution that has an Ancestry Library subscription.

Old Bailey database enhanced

Simon Fowler, editor of Ancestors magazine, posts on the magazine blog about an update to the free Old Bailey database. There is a new website address, www.oldbaileyonline.org and you can now search an extended range of dates by key word as well as by person.

The sentence that particularly caught my attention in the blog posting was "Historians have suggested that the cocaine habit only really arrived (in London) with Canadian troops during the First World War." Go to the blog to see Fowler's comments based on searching cocaine in the Old Bailey trial proceedings.

Book Review: New Lives for Old

The story of children from charities, workhouses and city streets migrated to Canada, and other former British colonies, through programmes of various philanthropic organizations is seemingly little known in Britain. New Lives for Old, a January 2008 publication from The (UK) National Archives, brings the story, warts and all, before the British public.

Starting with the experiences of two women, Maria Rye (1829-1903) and Annie Macpherson (1825-1904), who pioneered child migration to Canada, the first chapter moves on to deal with the 1875 report by Andrew Doyle (1809-1888) who was especially critical of Rye, the way children were assigned to hosts, and lack of inspections.

Chapter three treats some of the other agencies associated with names like Rudolf (Waifs and Strays), Quarrier, Fegan and Middlemore, and illustrates the children's experiences with anecdotes. It tells of the history of the Allen Line that transported many of the children, and outlines the typical child's migration experience to the time they found a placement.

Responsible for more child migrants to Canada than any other was the agency founded by Thomas John Barnado (1845-1905.) Chapter three is devoted to Barnardo and Dr Barnardo's Homes; chapter four to Catholic child emigration. The farm school movement, most associated with Kingsley Fairbridge (1885-1924) is the subject of chapter five.

It is surprising in a book otherwise dealing with child emigrants to find a chapter devoted to WW2 British child refugees. Unlike the home children they knew they were returning to Britain at the end of the war, and authorities went to considerable lengths to maintain family ties. That certainly applies to those children who came under the government Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) programme. It is the experiences of these children that are dealt with in chapter six, despite the fact that more than twice as many children were evacuated to Canada in 1940 outside the CORB scheme through schools, businesses and fraternal organizations.

The final chapter treats the last years of child emigration with an emphasis on Australia. There are notes for each chapter collected at the back, a compilation of sources for tracing records of child migrants; useful addresses; websites; a bibliography and index.

The book is likely all the casual reader will need. For those wanting more depth Marj Kohli's book The Golden Bridge is recommended, and cited frequently in this book. For a more detailed treatment of CORB I recommend Michael Fethney's The Absurd and the Brave.

The situation and prospects for most if not all of these children in Britain were poor, if not bad. If Britain had in place a more humanitarian approach to dealing with its destitute children, and the social conditions that were the root cause, this might not have been the case.

Musings on weather and genealogy

As the last snow looks set to disappear from my front lawn today (a forecast), and I read about the death of Edward N Lorenz, it set me thinking about similarities between weather and family history.

Ed Lorenz, the founder of Chaos Theory, was arguably the greatest atmospheric scientist, or mathematician-meteorologist, of his generation. He started his career as a weather forecaster during WW2, a background he shared with Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow. Lorenz fully deserved a Nobel Prize for his insight that "slightly differing initial states can evolve into considerably different states." This was expressed more imaginatively that the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil can cause a tornado in Texas. It showed why there are limits on the predictability of weather.

In family history, how might a small difference have changed the whole course of your (if there was a you) family history? A man just misses a bus, or walks out of the building a minute earlier, and so doesn't meet the woman who would otherwise become his wife. Life is full of such critical points so we don't expect to be able to predict our future family history.

Primrose Day and an unusual census entry

April 19 was for many years unofficially commemorated as Primrose Day in Britain. Lord Beaconsfield, (Benjamin Disraeli,) died that day in 1881. Primroses, his favourite flowers, were placed on his grave, at his statue in Parliament Square, and worn by admirers.

His name was coupled with that of Sir John A Macdonald, both were considered outstanding Conservative leaders. Although Disraeli was not yet Prime Minister when the British North America Act which founded Canada was approved by the British Parliament, he was the leader of the government in the Commons and so must surely have had a substantial role.

Disraeli appears in the 1881 census, taken not long before his death, listed by his title, The Earl of Beaconsfield, with occupation ex-Prime Minister. Someone in the census office was obviously an admirer. When in genealogy class they tell you the 1881 census didn't recorded deaths show them this curiosity - a snippet from the census document with a R.I.P. scrawled beside the entry.

I wonder, are there any special rules for citing marginalia?

LAC Service Advisory Board Deliberations

LAC have now posted documentation on three presentations, the draft record of decisions and a list of suggestions developed by board members at the March 7, 2008 LAC Services Advisory Board Meeting

• Agenda
• New Hours of Service Presentation
• Service Improvements Presentation
• Finding Aid Digitization Presentation
• Record of Decisions
• Services Advisory Board Suggestions

You can take advantage of the comment form to send your reaction or input to LAC management. LAC hasn't caught up with Web 2.0 yet and the comments aren't posted publicly. You can always post comments here too.

Genealogy and Influenza

Could genealogy save your life? Perhaps if your family research has uncovered a relative who died from influenza, maybe in the 1918 pandemic.

That's the implication I draw from research reported in "Evidence for heritable predisposition to death due to influenza" in J Infect Dis 2007; 197:18–24 by Albright FS, Orlando P, Pavia AT, Jackson GG, Cannon Albright LA.

These statistical findings are described in a short podcast and while the paper itself isn't freely available an online editorial comment is, which includes a summary.

Knowing you are at higher risk from influenza due to a predisposing genetic determinant might help motivate taking precautions, like an annual flu shot, to protect yourself.

"Introduction to Records Collection" available through Ancestry.com

I have been accused of making, some months ago, an overly cryptic comment in this blog about Louise St Denis of the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.

Part of the story is now public with the publication of the following article from the Ancestry Weekly Journal.

Online Course: Introduction to Records Collection

This course is provided jointly by Ancestry.com and The National Institute for Genealogical Studies. The National Institute of Genealogical Studies is an international organization that provides educational opportunities for those who value professionalism in all aspects of genealogy. The University of Toronto, Canada's largest university, is pleased to partner with the National Institute for Genealogical Studies to offer this course. This six-module course will introduce the following five record groups to the amateur genealogist:

• Census Records
• Vital Records
• Military Records
• Newspaper & Publication Records
• Immigration Records

In each module, you will learn what information the record group contains, how to search for the records, explain, and how to record the information you find. The sixth module will consist of a case study following one family through the various record groups. Online live chat sessions enable you to ask questions of your instructor, Beverly Rice, CG, during the course.

Beverly Rice is a teacher and lecturer in historical and genealogical topics with a special interest in Western Migration, Women's Experiences in the West, and research methodology or "helping others break down those brick walls by getting the most from each record." She has taught genealogy classes since 1981. Beverly is an associate of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She is the past treasurer for the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) and a trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She is the Director of American Studies for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and has been a volunteer librarian at the Coos Bay Family History Center since 1989.

Register today in the Ancestry store.

Ottawa 1887 snowfall impacts

With this winter's near record snowfall the City section of the 15 April Ottawa Citizen publishes my letter on Ottawa's snowfall. Records for the winter of 1886-87 show 463.3 cm of snow fell, nearly 20 cm more than the official record of 444.1 cm for 1970-71 being quoted. Environment Canada's official record book uses data from the airport weather station which only started operation in November 1938.

In the letter I relate the weather to the federal election going on. There's a lot more in the newspapers of the time that didn't get in the letter.

Newspapers of 19th century paid scant attention to the weather. Not that it wasn't important, but the amount of snowfall was quantified more by its impacts, especially how much trains were delayed, than the amount.

A Montreal to Ottawa train 80 hours late at the end of February was the measure of a record snowfall. Environment Canada's web site shows that 30.5 cm fell on 27 February 1887, 25.4 cm the previous day. That was on top of more than a metre of snow that had been reported since the 11th.

The snow could stop a train, but not a bullet despite the belief of one of the local militia officers. This from the Ottawa Journal.

" Some days ago it was announced that Major Anderson of the 43rd had expressed confidence in the theory that a bank of snow would offer sufficient resistance to stop any bullet. This theory was put to the test on Saturday afternoon. The officers present were Major Todd and Lieuts. Cote, Grey and Winter of the G.G.F.G. and Capt. Evans and Lieut. Rogers of the 43rd. A large mound of snow had been constructed ten feet thick at the base.

The test was first made at a range of 200 yards. The firing was done by Lieuts. Grey and Winter while Major Todd and Capt. Evans kept watch at the mound. Those fired at 200 yards were heard to strike the fence 200 yards in the rear of the mound. The bullets fired from 500 yards likewise penetrated the mound at the thickest part."

Update on Ancestry.ca

Lesley Anderson is busy, and seemingly inexhaustible. An Ottawa area genealogy instructor and researcher, she volunteers at the Ottawa Family History Centre, is associate director (Education) for BIFHSGO, and consults with Ancestry.ca on Canadian resources.

On Tuesday, 15 April, Lesley is speaker at the OGS Ottawa Branch monthly meeting giving an Ancestry.ca update. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm in room 156 at Library and Archives Canada.

Other opportunities to hear Lesley coming up are at the OGS Conference, Wired Genealogy, in London, Ontario and the BIFHSGO Conference in September.

Free Access to Gale Databases during National Library Week

April 13-19 is National Library Week (presumably in the US) but we can all benefit from FREE access to the many databases in AccessMyLibrary.

You may already have tried the 19th Century British Library Newspaper Collection which is available as part of the trial together with the 17-18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers. These are all fully searchable. You can view entire pages or individual articles; save, bookmark, e-mail and print results.

Other databases that may be of interest as background for genealogy are: Academic OneFile, Biography Resource Centre and History Resource Centre:World.

Select the database of interest and click on Skip Registration.

Vision of Britain

If you're seeking basic information about locations in your British family history this may be the website you need.

A Vision of Britain Through Time presents the history of Great Britain, graphically and cartographically, through places.

Searching is as easy as entering a place name in the search box, or clicking on a region on the map, which will lead to a well ordered information collection.

Find census derived information, historical mapping including information about boundary changes, and transcriptions of travellers tales.

You will soon find yourself lost in names for administrative regions that change over time. Lost in a Cantref, Rape, Lathe, Franchise, Wapentake, Lordship, Cinque Port, Commote, Liberty, Borough, Hundred, Soke, Barony, County of Itself or Palatine Seat? This site will help you find your way out of the maze ... here.