Prince Edward Island Death Card Index, 1721-1905 is the most recent addition to the FamilySearch collection for Canada's smallest province.
"I think there were six attendees, MAX, who could have been close to my age, including two presenters, two hosts of a display table and one bored kid on his laptop in the lobby. This is not a new experience for me as far as Canadian/Ontarian genealogy events go. I'm usually the youngest in a sea coloured shades of grey."Those of us who form that "sea coloured shades of grey" are frequently heard talking about getting younger people involved. How about walking the talk. Check out LDC's Zombie Genealogist site (check out the About), Facebook page which is more active, and follow her on Twitter?
At BIFHSGO Conference 2015 I found myself talking to people who were interested in genealogy as a business. That prompted me to sit down with Chicago-based Rockstar genealogist Thomas MacEntee for an interview on his experience in the business of genealogy.
Thomas, a speaker and author, came to a genealogy career from an information technology background and is very active on the web with sites including High Definition Genealogy, Hack Genealogy and Geneabloggers.
Over three days I'll post transcripts, starting with the question "How did you come to recognize there was a good niche market within genealogy that you were particularly qualified to fill?"
TM: The timing was perfect, but also I was watching genealogy and I could see that social media was increasing in usage, especially among what I call the baby boomer set. I'm on the tail end. I was born in '62, the baby boomers end in '64. Also I was following trends. With the great recession in 2008 more people were retiring early and they came out of the corporate world with a skill set - with computer skills. It's different from what we've traditionally seen in genealogy where people had to learn computers. A lot of times they wanted to go beyond just the genealogy hobby. I tell people you're not going to be making a killing in genealogy, you'll make a living. That's my mantra. (For me) it was luck, it really was - and timing. You've got to follow trends, you've got to keep an eye on things, and that's how you find a niche. I call it exploiting a niche. It's an opportunity and that's what I did. I looked at it and it's been a blessing.
JDR: How did you get started and build the business?
TM: I did not have any business background at all. I have a liberal arts background. If you'd have asked me if I had that entrepreneurial bug and started my own business I'd have said no. So I had to learn and it was more bootstrapping and what I call duct-tape learning.There's a great site called Duct Tape Marketing that I really recommend. It's a blog, free. I use Seth Godin whose great for following trends. I got every free book on Amazon Kindle that I could on marketing. The downside is you have to sort through them. Look for the ones with good ratings and wait until they're free. And I'd just take notes -- it's something I built slowly. I also went and got some street cred, some credentials. I went to the Boston University Program online in 2010. It really helped me understand more about how genealogy has changed since I started in the late '70s. I also joined ProGen, Pro Genealogists. I highly recommend it. It's an 18 month program at a nominal fee, I think it's $50 or $100 US right now and you do peer reviewed projects with colleagues. And that's how I got started. I developed a business plan, and that's it.
Part II will be posted on Wednesday.
Every year Ontario sets aside a day to recognize the contributions of British Home Children. This year an event, organized by the Leeds and Grenville Genealogical Society and the Ontario East British Home Child Family, will be held on Saturday, September 26th at the Brockville Museum.
There are precious few genealogists more respected than Judy Russell and Thomas W Jones. Both are certified by the (US) Board for Certification of Genealogists and have played leading roles in that organization. Both attract large audiences wherever they speak - you don't ever want to be speaking at a conference in the same time slot.
Last Friday Tom Jones speaking to, what else, a standing-room-only crowd of genealogists in Syracuse, New York, urged DNA testing of family members as broadly and as deeply as pocketbooks will bear as one of the essential first steps any genealogist should take.
That's from an item Judy posted on her Legal Genealogist blog, an essential read for all serious genealogists -- DNA: coming on strong.
Although genetic genealogy was not a theme at the BIFHSGO conference this year there was a rep from FTDNA in the marketplace - the stand was always busy. There's a demand for more only partially satiated by the BIFHSGO DNA Interest Group.
Next year's OGS conference in Toronto will have as featured speakers both Judy Russell and CeCe Moore, both Rockstar genetic genealogists. Be sure to set aside June 3-5 2016.
Here's a shout-out for the Annual Phillips Memorial Heritage Forum, Saturday September 26, 2015.
This year the event, described as "an informative, one-day event of presentations, walking tours and practical information focusing on Ottawa's Rich Rural and Suburban Heritage" is taking place at St. John's Anglican Church, South March, located at 325 Sandhill Road in Kanata.
Keynote speaker is Bruce Elliott, Professor of History at Carleton University, who will speak on South March as an exemplar of the successes and failures of rural heritage conservation.
There's more on the opportunities in this program and registration information at http://heritageottawa.org/annual-heritage-forum
Thanks to Bruce for the tip.
Having given the reality check in this photo Janet had numerous suggestions of ways to interest and involve the young. For the youngest she suggested special people cards - photos of family members with their names. Activities involving movement are effective such as getting children to put post-it notes on items that might have been found in their home before a certain date, and getting them to physically step backward, year by year, through history telling them about things in their and their family history that happened each year. Have them research names of a war memorial which, through prior research you know have special significance for them, such as then living in the same house -- that's prior research just as the celebrities in WDYTYA experience.
Deceased Online has added the first set of burial and cremation records for the London Borough of Lewisham and all records will be available at www.deceasedonline.com by mid-October.
Immediately available are the records for Grove Park Cemetery and Hither Green (aka 'Lewisham') Crematorium
When complete and online, the full Lewisham collection will comprise approximately 1 million records (nearly 400,000 names) and will include Brockley, Hither Green and Ladywell Cemeteries (in addition to Grove Park and the crematorium) dating back to 1858.
The new collection comprises:
digital scans of original burial and cremation registers
details of all grave occupants in each cemetery
maps indicating the section in each cemetery for all graves
Lewisham is located in south east London and is the 14th London council to add its records to the Deceased Online website. When complete (and with some remaining records for Southwark to be added soon), there will be 60+ cemeteries and crematoria with approximately 4 million names and 8 million+ records for London on Deceased Online.
The following is information provided on this Friday's release from Findmypast
Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Parish Registers Browse, 1538-1913
Findmypast’s existing collection of Canterbury Archdeaconry parish registers is now available to browse. The registers have been released in association with the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and consist of baptisms, marriages, banns and burials.
All parishes located within the Archdeaconry of Canterbury that gave consent for online publication are included within these records. Please note that four parishes withheld consent for publishing images of their records: Cheriton St Martin, Harbledown St Michael, Ramsgate St Luke, and Shepherdswell (also known as Sibertswold) St Andrew. Original records for each of these four parishes can be consulted on microfilm at Canterbury Cathedral Archives.
Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Baptisms 1538-1912
Over 15,000 Baptism records from the parishes of Hythe, St Leonard & Canterbury and Holy Cross have been added to our collection of Canterbury Archdeaconry baptisms. These records constitute a valuable resource for researching ancestry in Kent and have been provided in association with Canterbury Cathedral Archives. Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry baptisms 1538-1912 is included in the Canterbury Collection.
Each record consists of a transcript and scanned image of the original document. Baptism records can reveal your ancestor’s full name, parent’s names, birth date and place of baptism. Images can include additional details such as parent’s residence, parent’s occupations and any additional remarks.
Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Banns 1754-1928
Over 8,000 records from the parishes of Hythe, St Leonard & Canterbury and Holy Cross have been added to our collection of Canterbury Archdeaconry Banns. Banns of marriage are an ancient legal tradition, where a couple’s intention to marry would be publically announced at their parish church. The reading of the banns provided an opportunity for anybody to put forward a legal or religious objection to the marriage taking place. Banns had to be read on three Sundays in the three months before the wedding, unless the couple were to be married by licence.
It is important to note that banns only state an intention to marry; the posting of the banns doesn’t necessarily mean the marriage took place. Each record includes a transcript and image of the original document that will usually list the full names of the bride and groom, their places of residence, the date of banns and their date of marriage.
Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Marriages 1538-1928
Over 9,000 records from the parishes of Hythe, St Leonard & Canterbury and Holy Cross have been added to our collection of Canterbury Archdeaconry Marriages. The new additions were provided by the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and come from Canterbury’s historic archdeaconry. Before 1841, Canterbury was the only archdeaconry in the diocese of Canterbury. From 1841 until 2011, the diocese of Canterbury was divided into two archdeaconries: Canterbury in the east and Maidstone in the west.
Each record contains a transcript and a scanned colour image of the original document. Records can reveal when and where your ancestors were married, where they lived, their occupations, the year they were born, the names of their fathers’ and their fathers’ occupations. Images may also reveal the names of any witnesses and the name of the officiating minister.
Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Burials 1538-1988
Over 11,000 records have been added to our collection of Canterbury Archdeaconry parish burial registers. The new additions cover the parishes of Hythe, St Leonard & Canterbury and Holy Cross and consist of transcripts and images of original registers held by the Canterbury Cathedral Archives. Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry burials 1538-1988 is part of the Canterbury Collection.
The amount of information contained within each record may vary, though most records will include a combination of your ancestors name, birth year, death year, age at death, burial date and place.
Also released is the NYG&B Digital Library, a collection from the New York Genealogical & Biological Society comprising "a variety of rich and varied sources including census fragments unpublished elsewhere, marriage & death abstracts, baptism registers and fascinating historical diaries. The collection also includes rich periodicals and society publications, the most important of which is the entire run of the NYG&B Record."
Friday is the start of the BIFHSGO conference so today, Thursday 17 September, is B - 1 and almost there.
It's a relief to conference organizers to hear that speakers from a distance have arrived. Janet Few arrived in Canada on Wednesday, Maureen Taylor arrives today, Thomas MacEntee flies in from Chicago tomorrow morning. There are a fair number of local speakers where travel disruption isn't a concern.
Christine Woodcock posted on her blog Top Ten Canadian Genealogists Are .....Well.... NOT CANADIAN. As it refers to the Rockstar Genealogist poll how can I resist the mention.
Christine, who isn't reticent to express an opinion, has kind words to say about the nationality of speakers at the BIFHSGO conference compared to the recent OGS conference in Barrie. I don't exactly share Christine's views; she does an injustice to OGS, that from someone who quit the Society when it became too expensive. But I like that Christine is prepared to express her views and look forward to introducing her Friday morning seminar In Search of Your Scottish Ancestors: Search Your Roots, Discover Your Heritage.
It's too late to register to attend the conference online but walk-in registrants are welcome.
