GRONI adds Irish BMDs

BMD records from the General Register Office of Northern Ireland are now available to search online. Information is at https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/

A free search is available without registration which will return the number of matches in each registration type.

Before you conduct a regular search the records you need to register for an account and buy at least one credit. You use credits when you request enhanced or full searches of the records. A credit costs £0.40. The basic search returns limited information.

Searches can only be performed for up to five year date ranges.

Time periods available are:

• birth records from 1864 and over 100 years old
• marriage records from 1845 and over 75 years old
• death records from 1864 (including World War II death records) and over 50 years old

I've not had a chance to try this. If you do please post a comment on your experience.

via Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News blog

Survey: Who are the serious genealogists?

A blog post from Helen Osborn of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring asks "Who are the serious genealogists?" Stimulated by an article "How Popular is Genealogy?" in Genealogy in Time magazine Pharos proposes a series of characteristics that might help define a ‘serious’ genealogist?  How do you measure up? Any comments on the characteristics? Respond at http://app.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/jdr/a-serious-genealogist/

Norfolk Sources

Interested in probate records for Norfolk from 1800 to 1857? That's one of the free resources indexed and with original document images viewable at Norfolk Sources from the Norfolk Record Office and the Norfolk Heritage Centre. There's more information on this probate collection here.

Other items in the collection are:

• Broadsides - Broadsides were used soon after the beginning of printing for royal proclamations and official notices. Later, broadsides were used for political agitation, advertisements, poems, ballads etc 
• Benjamin Mackerell's Histories of Norwich and King's Lynn
• Charles Palmer's 'The Perlustration of Great Yarmouth' 
• Bryant's Norfolk Churches
• Trade Directories of Norfolk, Derham, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Thetford, various dates between 1842 and 1932

Barbara Wilson R. I. P.

WILSON, Barbara Mary

Passed away peacefully, March 21, 2014, in her 83rd year. Daughter of the late William B. and Olive Wilson, of Ottawa. ... She had a long distinguished career at the Public/National Archives of Canada.

 

Extracts from appreciations posted by colleagues.

 

• Barbara was a terrific archivist and a good colleague.
• We have lost a passionate historian and a charismatically pungent personality! Never to be forgotten.
• Barbara was a great archivist and a great colleague. She was very helpful when I started at the Public Archives in 1968. Also as my knowledge of the language of Shakespeare was minimal,she taught me how to pronounce English names properly with of course her sense of humour.
• Barbara leaves a living legacy at Library and Archives Canada through her fabulous archival work and finding aids to military materials. She created these in much earlier technological times and deserves our deep appreciation. I remember her as a pleasant and thorough mentor.
• Barbara was a model archivist - deeply knowledgeable, strongly committed to the records under her custody and to sharing her knowledge with researchers. I'm not convinced that there is anything about Canada's military history that she did not know.
• As an early mentor of mine, Barbara steered me in the right direction on all matters archival. Her knowledge of our military history and the records of that history was simply amazing and over several decades, she made a significant contribution to our understanding of the past - through her own publications and in assisting others, so many others, with their research and writing. I always found her helpful and while our paths took different directions in recent years, I will always recognize and remember Barbara as the one who encouraged my interest in the Great War.
• Barbara was one of the leading figures in the field of Canadian military history, a master of the records, a well-respected colleague, who will be missed

Comment from Glenn Wright:

Amongst other achievements, Barbara researched and compiled LAC's "Guide to Records Relating to the Canadian Expeditionary Force", initially done by hand before computers (she never would use a computer anyway!).. Less well known is the fact that she co-authored with Charles Stacey (one of Canada's finest military historians,The Half Million, a book that examines the impact of the Canadian Army on the people of the UK during the Second World War -- very informative and still a good read.

Richard III and the Leicester car park

BBC History Magazine's HistoryExtra profiles the debate about the identification of the the skeleton found under a car park in Leicester and identified by scientists from the university as Richard III.

The University of Leicester responded here.

 

It's an example of debate that could benefit from a quantitative probabilistic approach. That way one could discuss the likelihood that each element of the evidence presented, and objections raised, and how they change the overall conclusion.

 

The HistoryExtra site has a poll going, asking if people think the skeleton is of Richard III. When I voted 85% favoured it being the King.

 

MAPCO is back!

At the beginning of February I reported that the Australian site MAPCO which "aims to provide genealogists, students and historians with free access to high quality scans of rare and beautiful antique maps and views" was out of service.
Good news. On March 7 the site returned with all the previous content, much of it of London and vicinity, and news that:

"Access to the MAPCO website has been sporadic during January and February 2014, due to bandwidth issues resulting from the increased visitor traffic load over the past year. MAPCO has essentially become a victim of its own success.
This problem has recently been resolved, and it is not anticipated that there will be further access problems for the site.
MAPCO wishes to thank all visitors and supporters for your continuing interest in the site. It is greatly appreciated! Thank you."

Although MAPCO is not in a position at present to recommence scanning they do plan on adding items from a large backlog of scanned items that have never made it to the top of the list for display.

mtDNA sale at FTDNA

FamilyTree DNA is advertising $139US for a full mitochondrial sequence, $60 off the regular price, until 1 April.
If you're curious it's a good opportunity. If you have an uncertainty that can be resolved this test, which follows the maternal line, is a great opportunity. But, be aware that mtDNA tests received a 5:1 favourable to unfavourable rating in my recent survey, substantially less favourable than other DNA tests.

Tracing your family history through wills in Ontario

Ottawa media were scooped by North Country Public Radio, from far upstate New York, when it came to reporting on the Gene-O-Rama event last weekend. Jane MacNamara was interviewed about the use of wills. Read and/or listen at

 

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/24454/20140327/gene-o-rama-tracking-your-family-history-through-wills

At the end of the interview Jane comments that "some inheritance records are now coming on line, and so on. Ontario isn't, at this point - at least not that I know of."

I detect a certain wishfulness in that comment. At present using Ontario Estate Files is a cumbersome multi-step task. It's reminiscent of the way things used to be with Ontario Civil Registration records before Ancestry stepped in digitizing and indexing the whole lot. What will it take for the Archives of Ontario to move ahead, perhaps in a partnership, to digitize and index the province's Estate Files?

British Newspaper Archive corrects update

On Monday I wrote that the British Newspaper Archive appeared to have slowed down in posting new material. On Thursday I received a note from Amy that there has been an error, now corrected, in posting. Updates for the most recent 30 days are:

Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette 1801, 1804 - 1806, 1810, 1812, 1816, 1818 - 1819, 1889
Belfast Morning News 1858
Birmingham Daily Mail, The 1881 - 1883, 1887, 1891, 1906, 1915
Cheltenham Chronicle 1873, 1889 - 1890, 1892, 1894 - 1895
Coventry Herald 1916
Derby Daily Telegraph 1889
Dover Express 1894 - 1896, 1899
Dublin Evening Mail 1827 - 1828
Edinburgh Evening News 1905 - 1906
Evening Telegraph 1882, 1884, 1886, 1890 - 1892
Gloucester Citizen 1934, 1937, 1941
Kendal Mercury 1870
Liverpool Daily Post 1875 - 1876, 1906
Newcastle Journal 1875, 1893
Nottingham Evening Post 1904, 1906 - 1908, 1911 - 1912, 1915, 1917, 1919, 1922, 1938 - 1939
Reading Mercury 1873
Salisbury and Winchester Journal 1789
Sports Argus, The 1917 - 1918
Stamford Mercury 1827, 1832, 1846
Sussex Agricultural Express, The 1954
Western Gazette 1907, 1909
Yorkshire Evening Post 1915, 1929 - 1930, 1936 - 1937, 1939
Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, The 1870, 1891, 1896, 1901, 1905, 1907 - 1908, 1916 - 1918, 1924, 1928 - 1930, 1937.

Thanks to Amy for the update - more East Anglia please.

Findmypast to digitize 1939 register of England and Wales

A major announcement from DC Thomson Family History.

NEW PROJECT TO PUT 40 MILLION WARTIME BRITISH RECORDS ONLINE

British-owned online family history world leader DC Thomson Family History (who own findmypast) and The National Archives have today announced a joint project to make records of 40 million civilians held in the 1939 register available online. Once digitised, it is estimated that the collection will comprise almost 1.2 million scanned full-colour images of documents covering the entire civilian population of England & Wales at the outbreak of WWII.

The 1939 register was taken on 29 September 1939 by the British Government and recorded personal details of individuals in order to issue identity cards and ration books. It later formed the basis of the National Health Service’s records. When complete, the 1939 register will be fully searchable online for the first time, opening up the past to a new generation of family and social historians, just as the 1911 census did on its release in 2009.

The records contain the address, full name, date of birth, sex, marital status and occupation of individuals, as well as changes of name. Although the Register is literally within living memory for many people, information about living individuals will be kept closed for 100 years from their year of birth, or until proof of death has been authenticated.

From today, anybody interested in being kept informed about the project can register at www.1939register.co.uk.

Annelies Van Den Belt, CEO of DC Thomson Family History said: “This announcement is great news not just for British family historians and those with British relatives, but for anyone with an interest in history itself; providing a fascinating snapshot of the country as it stood on the edge of the most widespread conflict in human history.

“This significant project will bring these records to a global audience for the first time, and combined with the 1.8 billion records already available on our websites will make it easier than ever to begin your family history journey and uncover the powerful stories that lie within and that make us who we are.”

Mary Gledhill, Commercial Director, at The National Archives, added: “The National Archives is delighted to be working with DC Thomson Family History to open up this unique record collection to the world, allowing history enthusiasts to discover more about the people at the outbreak of the Second World War. In the absence of a 1931 and 1941 census, this collection is all the more valuable to family historians trying to trace their ancestors.”

The 1939 register project is the latest contract to be awarded to DC Thomson Family History by The National Archives. Record sets previously digitised by the company in association with The National Archives include Crime, Prisons and Punishment; outbound passenger lists; British Army Service records; Merchant Navy Seamen’s records; Maritime Birth, Marriage and Death indexes and the 1911 census.

Hamilton Public Library history video

Local History & Archives department of the Hamilton Public Library has produced the first in a planned series of videos highlighting the history of the City. Running for just over 10 minutes it profiles the history of James Street North.
Burns style panning across still photos, creative commons licence music and primitive sound effects shows what can be done to bring the city history to live even when budgets are limited.
To view the video start here.

Additions to "England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1844-1952" at FamilySearch

FamilySearch have updated the database England, Norfolk Register of Electors, 1844-1952 last mentioned here last December.  The 4,490,808 entries at that time are now increased to 4,557,906.

40% off Ancestry World until 28 March!

You may want to investigate an offer I received for 40% off a World Deluxe Membership at Ancestry.ca before March 28. The fine print mentioned it being available to non-subscribers only, and I am a subscriber so I don't know why I received it. The offer may be useful to you. Call 1-800-958-9073, Monday to Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET.

W5: Seeking the origins of the Maple Leaf flag, finding the soul of our nation

The CTV current affairs and documentary program W5 recently broadcast a feature leading up to the 50th anniversary of the adoption of Canada's Maple Leaf flag next year. The three segments are online at http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/w5-seeking-the-origins-of-the-maple-leaf-flag-finding-the-soul-of-our-nation-1.1738784
Briefly in the first part, and at greater length in second, BIFHSGO President Glenn Wright tells the story of the way in which the flag came to be adopted.

Fighting for the record

In her History Matters column in Canada's History Magazine Deborah Morrison, President and CEO of Canada's History reflects on attending last January's gathering of Canadian archivists at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.

One of the key paragraphs in the article is "It was generally agreed that the greater priority was not digitizing the records we already have but, rather, developing a strategy for collecting and storing the massive amount of new records being created today."

I don't entirely share that perspective.  If its true that we create as much information in two days now as we did from the dawn of man through 2003 (ref) how much material of lasting value is in it? Is it important to seek to archive the mass of mostly ephemeral electronic text material produced today?

In my view such material is more akin to oral interaction, of which only a minuscule fraction has ever been archived, than the hardcopy documentary material traditionally archived. Even in the olden days of hardcopy only a fraction of the material produced has ever been captured in archives; an important part of the work of an archivist has been deciding what's worth preserving.

Thanks to Chris McPhail for drawing this article in Canada's History Magazine to my attention.

FamilySearch adds Saskatchewan, Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931

There are 41,261 records in Saskatchewan, Probate Estate Files, 1887-1931

"The estate records contain loose papers relating to the settlement of estates including such matters as provision for heirs including minor children as well as distribution of funds, land and property. This project was indexed in partnership with the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society."

A couple of files I examined had just over 30 images each. One related to a deceased WW1 soldier who had left only a military will and mentioned a grand-father, cousin and the legal description of land owned. The other was for a wife who died intestate.

Highlights of Gene-O-Rama

This almost-annual OGS Ottawa Branch event was held on Friday and Saturday last. Friday evening saw featured speaker Jane MacNamara presenting the Pat Horan Memorial Lecture "Inheritance Interrupted: WWI reflected in Ontario Estate Files."

Notwithstanding snow and greasy road conditions on Saturday morning there was a good attendance to hear each of the two parallel presentations in four sessions. Several BIFHSGO members were speakers. The society also supported the event with a table/display, here seen staffed by Barbara Tose, placed at the back of one of the presentation rooms which made a convenient location for listening to talks.
Although some exhibitors didn't make it through the snow the major ones were there. I was interested to see a series of eight publications with an early Ottawa connection from Global Genealogy, "Genealogical Abstracts from the Perth Courier and Bathurst Courier Newspapers 1834-1929" by Louise Hope. The Perth Courier, the second oldest weekly newspaper in Canada, at various times, published as The Bathurst Courier and Ottawa Gazette and The Bathurst Courier and Ottawa General Advertiser.
The event ended with a banquet at Algonquin College where the Honorary Patron of The
OGS, the Honorable Peter Milliken, PC, UE, BA, MA, LLB, LLD spoke of his experiences as Speaker of the House of Commons.
Congratulations to Doug Grey and Heather Oakley who took the lead in organizing the event.

LAC's new code of conduct

A degree of common sense has returned to Library and Archives Canada. A revised code of conduct has replaced the obnoxious code put in place under former Librarian and Archivist Caron. In the new version employees are once again allowed to participate in reasonable non-conflicting professional activities and there is no restriction on participation in personal activities in accordance with general government policy.
Read the full text of the LAC code at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/Pages/code-conduct-value-ethics.aspx

FamilySearch adds Canada Census, 1916

A transcription of the Canada Census, 1916, for the three prairie provinces Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta is now available to search at FamilySearch. There are 522,339 records.

Durham Records Online

If you research Durham be aware of the small, Alexa rank 3,024,372, commercial site www.durhamrecordsonline.com

The site claims 4,059,404 searchable Durham & Northumberland parish & census records comprising:

- transcriptions of baptisms, marriages, and burials from many parish registers in County Durham and nearby parishes in Northumberland & Yorkshire
- transcriptions of all Anglican (Church of England) marriages in County Durham from 1 Jan 1813 to 1 July 1837
- 1841 census transcriptions for all of County Durham
- 1851 through 1891 census transcriptions for many County Durham communities, plus 1901 for Easington district

There's a powerful free search and reasonable rates.

Don't miss the lists of 50 Years of the Top 50 Occupations in County Durham (1841 - 1891); and Unique Occupations in County Durham for the same years including Border Wizard, Nail Straightener, Phrenologist Author and, Wailing Woman,