Canada 1921 Census on LAC Website

Nearly four years after the 1921 census became available on Ancestry.ca, and available free (with registration) from locations across Canada, the census is now online, free and unrestricted at the Library and Archives Canada website - www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1921/Pages/introduction.aspx/.

Also find a good deal of supplementary information, such as pdf street indexes for Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, London, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg.

Unfortunately only the population census survives.

Update on End of FamilySearch Physical Microfilm Delivery Service

FamilySearch have granted a few more days to order delivery of physical microfilms, now until 7 September. Full details on the transition and new arrangements are at FamilySearch Newsroom.

The summary version is:

• Patrons can still order microfilms online until Thursday, September 7, 2017.
• After film ordering ends, if customers need access to a particular film yet to be digitized, they can express interest to have it added to the priority digitization list by contacting FamilySearch Support (Toll Free: 1-866-406-1830). 
• All of the microfilm rented by patrons in the past 5 years have now been digitized by FamilySearch—over 1.5 million microfilms (ca. 1.5 billion images).
• The remaining microfilms are being digitally scanned at a rate of 1,000 films per day and are projected to be complete by 2020.
• New digital images are available as they are scanned in the FamilySearch.org Catalog.
• Films currently on loan in family history centers and affiliate libraries are automatically granted extended loan status.
• Affiliate libraries now have access to nearly all of the restricted image collections as family history centers.
• Visitors to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will still be able to order needed microfilms to use during their research visits.

Viewing many, perhaps most of the newly digitized films will still require a visit to a local Family History Centre or Affiliated Library, but there will be no charge at LDS facilities and no delay due to mailing a film.

A reminder that those of us in Ottawa are fortunate to have the Ottawa Family History Center at 1017 Prince of Wales Drive with regular hours: Tuesday-Thursday 9:30am-3:30pm; Friday 6:30pm-9:30pm; 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month 9:30am-12:30pm. There are two other locations in the Ottawa area although with much more limited hours.

Find locations and hours worldwide from the map at https://www.familysearch.org/locations/# 

British Newspaper Archive additions for August

The British Newspaper Archive now has 21,284,568 (20,773,926 pages last month). The 55 (44) papers with new pages online are tabulated below with the major additions highlighted.

TITLE	DATE RANGE
Daily Telegraph & Courier (London)	1873-1888
The Sportsman	1888-1889, 1910
Woolwich Gazette	1901
Clitheroe Advertiser and Times	1900, 1908, 1917-1918
Morecambe Guardian	1922, 1924, 1927-1929
Bucks Advertiser & Aylesbury News	1860, 1872, 1874, 1890, 1912
Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail	1892, 1898, 1904, 1921-1923
Exmouth Journal	1869-1910
Eastbourne Herald	1939-1951
Portadown Times	1922-1941, 1954-1956
Woolwich Gazette and Greenwich and Deptford Chronicle	1873, 1875-1888, 1891-1892, 1895-1900, 1902-1903
Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser	1950
Salisbury and Winchester Journal	1873-1876, 1878-1888, 1890-1896, 1898
Croydon Guardian and Surrey County Gazette	1879-1896, 1898-1909
Annandale Observer and Advertiser	1887-1888
Eastern Daily Press	1870-1876, 1878-1890, 1896, 1899, 1901-1909
Colchester Gazette	1877, 1879-1880, 1889
Lowestoft Journal	1874-1896, 1898-1910
Northern Constitution	1900-1907
Newbury Weekly News and General Advertiser	1870-1872
Yarmouth Mercury	1884, 1889
Shields Daily News	1864-1868, 1874, 1877, 1944-1945, 1951, 1953
Kentish Independent	1871-1910
East London Observer	1880-1928
Saffron Walden Weekly News	1891, 1896-1897
West London Observer	1916-1952
Volunteer Service Gazette and Military Dispatch	1864-1869, 1871-1877, 1879-1880, 1882-1903
South London Chronicle	1879-1890, 1892, 1895-1907
Poor Law Unions' Gazette	1868-1887, 1889-1900, 1902-1903
Belfast News-Letter	1930
Leitrim Advertiser	1886, 1890-1899, 1901-1916
Illustrated War News	1914-1918, 1939
Leinster Independent	1871
Globe	1830-1833
Y Genedl Gymreig	1901-1909
Newry Reporter	1872-1910
North Wales Times	1895-1896, 1901-1910
South Wales Daily Post	1897
Pontypool Free Press	1870-1871, 1879, 1894-1896, 1898-1903, 1905-1909
Carmarthen Weekly Reporter	1886-1891, 1894
Y Goleuad	1888, 1890, 1892, 1895
Rhyl Record and Advertiser	1887, 1901-1902
Wrexham Guardian and Denbighshire and Flintshire Advertiser	1869-1874
Penarth Chronicle and Cogan Echo	1893
Potter's Electric News	1858
Dudley Herald	1900
Shipping and Mercantile Gazette	1882-1884
Ripley and Heanor News and Ilkeston Division Free Press	1890-1897, 1899-1957
Abergavenny Chronicle	1890, 1892, 1894, 1900-1901
Alcester Chronicle	1864-1888, 1890-1910
Milngavie and Bearsden Herald	1930-1934
Brechin Herald	1890-1892
Tenby Observer	1888
Nelson Leader	1920-1922, 1938-1939, 1950
Eastern Evening News	1910

What's available online for British Military Genealogy?

With so many British military databases available online it's a challenge to know where to go to find the one you want.
The table below includes the databases from Ancestry, FamilySearch (FS), Findmypast (FMP) and The (UK) National Archives (TNA). They're ordered by the year of the first date available. Some are at more than one site although the title may be different.

Database	Company	Service
British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records Browse, 1704-1919	FMP	Navy
British Royal Navy & Royal Marines Service and Pension Records, 1704-1919	FMP	Navy
British Army, List Of Half-Pay Officers 1714	FMP	Army
UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admissions and Discharges, 1715-1925	Ancestry	Army
British Army, Royal Artillery Officers 1716-1899	FMP	Army
British Royal Navy, Ships' Musters	FMP	Navy
British India Office Army & Navy Pensions	FMP	Army & Navy
Royal Navy officers' service records 1756-1931	TNA	Navy
Web: UK, Royal Naval Officers' Service Records Index, 1756-1931	Ancestry	Navy
UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Records, 1760-1920	Ancestry	Army
UK, Chelsea Pensioners' Service Records, 1760-1913	FS	Army
UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea: Discharge Documents of Pensioners 1760-1887	FS	Army
Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935	FS	Army
Cornwall, England, Militia and Sea Fencibles Index, 1780 - 1831	Ancestry	All
British Army Pensioners - Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Ireland, 1783-1822	FMP	Army
Army List 1787	FMP	Army
British Mariners, Trinity House Calendars 1787-1854	FMP	Marines
British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations 1795-1852	FMP	Navy
Army List 1798	FMP	Army
Household Cavalry soldiers' service records 1799-1920	TNA	Army
British Army Officer Promotions 1800-1815	FMP	Army
UK, British Army Lists, 1882-1962	Ancestry	Army
British Army Schoolchildren and Schoolmasters 1803-1932	FMP	Army
London, Watermen In Royal Navy, 1803-1809	FMP	Navy
UK, Militia Service Records, 1806-1915	FS	Army
UK, Naval and Military Courts Martial Registers, 1806-1930	Ancestry	Navy
British Army Muster Rolls, 84th Foot 1808-1818	FMP	Army
Peninsular War, British Army Officers, 1808-1814	FMP	Army
UK, Military Deserters, 1812-1927	Ancestry	Army
UK, British Army Muster Books and Pay Lists, 1812-1817	Ancestry	Army
British Army, War Of 1812 Casualties	FMP	Army
British Royal Marines, Marriage Registers 1813-1920	FMP	Marines
Army Deserters 1828-1840	FMP	Army
British Royal Navy Personnel 1831	FMP	Navy
UK, Merchant Navy Seamen Records, 1835-1941	FS	Navy
Harts Army List 1840	FMP	Army
Royal Navy officers' service record cards and files c.1840-c.1920	TNA	Navy
British Army, Worldwide Index 1841	FMP	Army
Royal Marines' service records 1842-1925	TNA	Marines
UK, Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1848-1939	Ancestry	Navy
British Army, Royal Artillery Officer Deaths 1850-2011	FMP	Army
British Army, Worldwide Index 1851	FMP	Army
England & Wales Merchant Navy Crew Lists 1861-1913	FMP	Navy
Royal Navy ratings' service records 1853-1923	TNA	Navy
Web: UK, Royal Naval Seamen Index, 1853 -1872	Ancestry	Navy
British Army Discharges, 60th Foot 1854-1880	FMP	Army
East India Register & Army List 1855	FMP	Army
Victoria Cross registers 1856-1944	TNA	Army
Royal Naval Reserve service records 1860-1955	TNA	Navy
British Army, Worldwide Index 1861	FMP	Army
British Army, Worldwide Index 1871	FMP	Army
Indian Army & Civil Service List 1873	FMP	Army
Army List August 1878	FMP	Army
British Army Muster Rolls, 60th Foot 1879-1882	FMP	Army
British Army, Northumberland Fusiliers 1881-1920	FMP	Army
Harts Army List 1888	FMP	Army
Royal Marines 1899-1919	FMP	Marines
British Royal Navy Seamen 1899-1924	FMP	Navy
Royal Navy Officers 1899-1919	FMP	Navy
UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929	Ancestry	Army
Volunteer Reserve service records 1903-1922	TNA	Navy
British Army Service Records Image Browse	FMP	Army
Royal Naval Air Service officers' service records 1906-1918	TNA	Navy
British Army, Honourable Artillery Company	FMP	Army
British Royal Air Force, Airmen's Service Records 1912-1939	FMP	Air Force
British Royal Air Force, Officers' Service Records 1912-1920	FMP	Air Force
UK, Royal Air Force Muster Roll, 1918	Ancestry	Air Force
UK, British Jewry Roll of Honour, 1914-1918	Ancestry	All
Bexley, Kent, England, WWI Registration Cards, 1914-1919	Ancestry	All
Prisoner of war interview reports 1914-1918	TNA	Army
British Army medal index cards 1914-1920	TNA	Army
British Army nurses' service records 1914-1918	TNA	Army
British Army war diaries 1914-1922	TNA	Army
Soldiers' service records	TNA	Army
Soldiers' pension records	TNA	Army
UK, British Army Recipients of the Military Medal, 1914-1920	Ancestry	Army
Surrey, England, Regimental Rolls, 1914-1947	Ancestry	Army
UK, WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli and Dardanelles), 1914-1916	Ancestry	Army
UK, WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium and Germany), 1914-1920	Ancestry	Army
UK, WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920	Ancestry	Army
British Army Service Records	FMP	Army
British Army, Bond Of Sacrifice: Officers Died In The Great War 1914-1916	FMP	Army
British Army, De Ruvigny's Roll Of Honour 1914-1918	FMP	Army
British Army, Deserters and Absentees In Police Gazette 1914-1919	FMP	Army
British Army, Lloyds Of London Memorial Roll 1914-1919	FMP	Army
British Army, Royal Artillery War Commemoration Book, 1914-1918	FMP	Army
UK, World War I Service Records, 1914-1920	FS	Army
Merchant seamen's campaign medal records 1914-1918	TNA	Merchant Navy
UK, Shipping and Seamen WWI and WWII Rolls of Honour, 1914-1945	Ancestry	Merchant Navy
Royal Naval Division service records 1914-1919	TNA	Navy
British Royal Navy & Royal Marines, Battle Of Jutland 1916 Servicemen	FMP	Navy
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps service records 1917-1920	TNA	Army
British Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 1917-1920	FMP	Army
UK, World War I Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Records, 1917-1920	FS	Army
Women's Royal Naval service records 1917-1919	TNA	Navy
Royal Air Force officers' service records 1918-1919	TNA	Air Force
Women's Royal Air Force service records 1918-1920	TNA	Air Force
UK, Royal Air Force Airmen Records, 1918-1940	Ancestry	Air Force
Web: UK, Women's Royal Air Force Index, 1918-1920	Ancestry	Air Force
British Women's Royal Air Force Service Records 1918-1920	FMP	Air Force
Royal Air Force Muster Roll 1918	FMPt	Air Force
British Army, Plovdiv Military Cemetery Burials	FMP	Army
UK, Military Discharge Indexes, 1920-1971	Ancestry	Army
UK, Electrical Engineer WWI and WWII Rolls of Honour, 1924, 1949	Ancestry	All
Army Roll Of Honour 1939-1945	FMP	Army
British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945	FMP	Army
British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 Image Browse	FMP	Army
British Army, Royal Artillery, 80th Field Regiment, WW2	FMP	Army
UK, WWII Civil Defence Gallantry Awards, 1940-1949	Ancestry	Civilian

There are no British military records at MyHeritage. While The Genealogist has several, including many years of Army Lists, the catalogue information is sparse. Check it out at
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/coverage/military-records/?type=diamond#includes

The Science of Admixture Percentages

The BIFHSGO DNA Special Interest Group meets on Saturday, 2 September, 2017, 9:30 am to 12:00 pm in Room 115, City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa, Ontario

There will be a group viewing and discussion of “The Science of Admixture Percentages” (Garrett Hellenthal presenting at the WDYTYA 2017 Conference in Birmingham, UK) followed as time allows, by a Round Table.

Last Days of FTDNA Friends & Family Summer Sale!

This sale ends at the end of the month so don't miss out if you can use their DNA tests. The price on the BigY test is particularly attractive.
The FTDNA website continues to operate as usual despite the flooding situation in Houston where FTDNA is situated. Expect service to be slower than normal, something I experienced when Hurricane Katrina disputed their operation.
The FTDNA facilities are on the upper levels of a multistory building so there should be no issue from flooding damage. However, the building is adjacent to a bayou so access could be a problem.
Best wishes to staff as they deal with these extreme circumstances which are likely exacerbated by climate change.

Back to Genealogy School

It's that time of year again. Kids looking forward to another year of learning. Parents joyfully forking out for supplies and extras. Drivers eagerly anticipating practical lessons in patience around school buses.

If you're inspired to improve your genealogy game consider online courses from The National Institute for Genealogical Studies or Pharos Tutors.

Pharos lists five courses starting in September:

Course	Instructor	Start Date
Organizing Your Genealogy	Barbara H. Baker	04 Sep 2017
Nonconformity: it's records and history	Alec Tritton	07 Sep 2017
Scottish Research Online	Chris Paton	11 Sep 2017
The National Archives Website and Catalogue: Finding People	Guy Grannum	15 Sep 2017
Victorian Crime and Punishment: Courts, Police and Prisons	Antony Marr	19 Sep 2017

The National Institute for Genealogical Studies has many courses, all starting on 4 September.

Analysis and Skills Mentoring Program-Part 3	ADVANCED
Australian: Education Records	ADVANCED
Canadian: Geography and Maps	ADVANCED
Canadian: Immigration Records	ADVANCED
Canadian: Local History and Special Collections	ADVANCED
Canadian: Migration Patterns	ADVANCED
English: Court Records-Criminal, Civil & Ecclesiastical	ADVANCED
English: Land and Property Records Including Manorial Documents and Maps	ADVANCED
Genealogy and Copyright Guidelines	ADVANCED
Genetics & Medical Family History	ADVANCED
German: Germans Outside of Germany***NEW***	ADVANCED
Irish: Electoral and Taxation Records	ADVANCED
Irish: Estate, Plantation and Settlement Records	ADVANCED
Librarianship: Developing a Genealogy Website	ADVANCED
Methodology - Part 6: Professional Preparation and Practice	ADVANCED
Palaeography: Reading & Understanding Historical Documents	ADVANCED
US: Institutional Records	ADVANCED
US: Military Records	ADVANCED
Analysis and Skills Mentoring Program-Part 2	INTERMEDIATE
Australian: Church Records	INTERMEDIATE
Canadian: Land Records-Part 2	INTERMEDIATE
Canadian: Vital Statistics Records-Part 2	INTERMEDIATE
Connecting Family: Online and Virtually	INTERMEDIATE
Creating Genealogy Programs for Adults & the Younger Generation	INTERMEDIATE
Electronic Resources: Organize & Publish a Family Tree	INTERMEDIATE
English: Occupations - Professions and Trades	INTERMEDIATE
English: Understanding Names in Genealogy	INTERMEDIATE
German: Civil Registration Records	INTERMEDIATE
German: Reading the Records	INTERMEDIATE
Google for the Wise Genealogist	INTERMEDIATE
Heraldry for the Family Historian	INTERMEDIATE
Irish: Civil Registration	INTERMEDIATE
Irish: Major Printed Sources	INTERMEDIATE
Irish: Monumental Gravestone) Inscriptions	INTERMEDIATE
Lecturing Skills Including Preparation	INTERMEDIATE
Librarianship: Handouts, Brochures and Online/Multi-Media Reference Tools	INTERMEDIATE
Librarianship: Programming and Marketing Your Services	INTERMEDIATE
Methodology - Part 3: More Strategies	INTERMEDIATE
Methodology - Part 4: Effective Searching and Recording	INTERMEDIATE
Methodology - Part 5: How To Prove It	INTERMEDIATE
Personal Historian: Telling the Stories	INTERMEDIATE
Personal Historian: Video Techniques	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Alberta Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: British India Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: German Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Manitoba Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: New Brunswick Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Ontario Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Quebec Non-Francophone Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Scandinavian Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: South Africa Ancestors Including Military Records	INTERMEDIATE
Research: U.S. Midwestern States Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Research: Ukrainian Ancestors	INTERMEDIATE
Skill-Building: Nuts & Bolts of Reporting Research	INTERMEDIATE
Social Media Tools for the Wise Genealogist	INTERMEDIATE
US: Cemetery and Mortuary Records	INTERMEDIATE
US: Migration Patterns	INTERMEDIATE
US: Religious Records-Part 2	INTERMEDIATE
Writing for Genealogy: Articles, Blogs, Research Reports and so much more	INTERMEDIATE
Writing the Genealogist's Memoir	INTERMEDIATE
Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche-Part 1	BASIC
Business Skills: Career Development: Choosing a Niche-Part 2	BASIC
Business Skills: Creating a Business	BASIC
Business Skills: Establishing & Promoting Your Website	BASIC
DNA: Introduction to Genetic Genealogy	BASIC
Eastern European: Introduction to Research for North Americans	BASIC
Italian: Civil Registration Records-Part 1	BASIC
Italian: Introduction to Research Outside of Italy	BASIC
Italian: Language and Location	BASIC
Personal Historian: Beginning Genealogy	BASIC
Scottish: Census Records	BASIC
Skill-Building: Breaking Down Brick Walls	BASIC
Skills: Transcribing, Abstracting & Extracting	BASIC
Business Skills: Business Administration	BASIC

In addition don't overlook educational opportunities locally such as those offered by the Toronto Branch of OGS - see the flyer here (pdf).

National Gallery of Canada: Brownell

I kept a particular look out for works with an Ottawa connection on a recent visit to view the exhibition Canadian and Indigenous Art: From Time Immemorial to 1967 at the National Gallery of Canada. You have to focus or be overwhelmed by the variety.
Franklin Brownell, actually Peleg Franklin Brownell, moved to Ottawa in 1886 to become principal of the Ottawa Art School, and later principal of the Women’s Art Association in Ottawa which became the Art Association of Ottawa.

The National Gallery of Canada collection includes 31 works by Brownell, including Weigh Scales, Byward Market, Ottawa reproduced above.

Brownell died in Ottawa on 13 March 1946 and is interred in a prominent place in section 24 of Beechwood Cemetery, near the graves of the two Ottawa Sharpshooters killed at the Battle of Cut Knife in 1885. There is no Beechwood plaque. Ancestry has a submitted file (pdf) with images of many of Brownall's paintings.

Great Canadian Genealogy Summit

Early bird pricing for the Great Canadian Genealogy Summit ends 31 August.

The conference, being held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 13-15 October, 2017 at The Lord Nelson Hotel features all Canadian speakers on:

Immigration Resources,
Loyalist/Black Loyalist research,
Acadian/Cajun genealogy,
British Home Children in Canada
Early Scottish Settlers
DNA
Methodology.

To register and save: https://cangensummit.ca/

Shared cM Project Update

Once again the genetic genealogy community is indebted to Blaine Bettinger​ who has updated and compiled yet more detailed statistics on total shared cM data, now more than 25,000 known relationships for autosomal DNA matches.  The study is detailed in the pdf at The Shared cM Project – Version 3.0 (August 2017).
The article includes a step by step guide to establish what a relationship might most likely be based on a particular cM match. Distribution histograms indicate the range and likelihood of various relationships for a given cM match.

The combined statistics are dominated by AncestryDNA tests, especially for the more distant relationships.

Blaine's statistics also show the effect of endogamy. For example for 3rd cousins in non-endogamous situations the median shared is 63cM whereas for endogamous situations it is 101cM.

Generally AncestryDNA shows fewer cM matching for a given relationship than the other companies. That could be owing to the company Timber algorithm which down-rates matching in pile up regions. FTDNA show more cM shared than the other companies for 2nd cousin and more distant relationships. That could be the company including more small segment matches, or than their clients have more endogamous relationships.

Something New for BIFHSGO

At the September BIFHSGO meeting members have the opportunity to vote for the 2016-2017 Best Great Moment presentation from the December 2016 and June 2017 meetings.

The BIFHSGO website invites you to print out the ballot, vote for one presentation, and submit to the Secretary immediately after the September 9 meeting.

If like me you can't be at the September meeting you can email the ballot to Secretary Gillian Leitch at the address in the Email Directory under the Contact Us tab of the BIFHSGO website.

You can still order microfilms to be delivered to your local Family History Centre ...

... but only until the end of this month (August 2017). After that FamilySearch will no longer offer the service. Eventually all microfilms will become digital microfilms available online. You may not be able to access them except by going to a FHC and for a while not all will be available.

Findmypast adds Canadian and British records

The headline of this week's update for Findmypast is the 1851 Canadian census with more than 2.9 million records. They've long been available for free at sites from LAC and FamilySearch, so FMP is playing catch up.
Additions for England are over 870,000 Middlesex Protestation Returns 1641-42, and also for London 5,700 records in a Bunhill Fields Non-Conformist Burials 1713-1826 browse file.
The National Burial Index for England & Wales is updated with 173,801 new records for Wiltshire (1530 – 1839) bringing the NBI total to 12,300,167.
There are also 98,994 additions to the Wiltshire Baptisms Index 1530-1917 covering 153 parishes and bringing the total to 2,893,898.

NCC International Pavilion

What do William James Topley, Emily Murphy, John Labatt, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Edward Whelan, Timothy Eaton and Nellie McClung have in common?

According to an exhibit mounted by the NCC in Ottawa, coming to a close on Sunday, they were all Canadians with Irish ancestry. The Irish Embassy is a partner.

The exhibit, in connection with the 150th anniversary of Confederation, is a series of display panels on two levels of a building at 7 Clarence Street.  The space, which used to be an ice cream store, is just off Sussex Street and part of a NCC renovation project.

If you want to catch it this fine weekend the hours are 10 am to 6 pm.

Other exhibits are being rotated through in the space. Next up starting on 2 September is Belgium. See more at http://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/our-projects/canada-150/confederation-pavilions/international-pavilion-at-7-clarence-street

Free Access to Ancestry UK Records

It's a long weekend in the UK so Ancestry.co.uk. is giving free access, with registration, to all their UK records. Don't miss out. 

I'm not sure how this works if you have an account like Ancestry.ca with Canadian only access. Experiment.

FreeBMD August Update

This is catching up on the FreeBMD Database which was updated on Friday 4 August 2017 to contain 262,812,210 distinct records (262,363,308 previous update).

Years with major updates (more than 5,000 entries) are: for births: 1964, 1966, 1977-81; for marriages: 1965-66, 1977, 1979-83; for deaths 1976, 1979-81.

Ontario East British Home Child Family Events

The Ontario East British Home Child Family is hosting events leading up to 28 September, which is proclaimed as British Home Child Day in Ontario.

This year the British Home Child Museum located at Aultsville Station is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on August 26, 27, September 2,3,4, September 9,10 and September 16,17.
Located at 13480 County Road 2 in South Dundas, the museum features artifacts and displays which help to explain the story of these children, orphaned, neglected or abused in the UK sent to Canada by charitable organizations between the 1860’s and 1940’s. many of whom worked on Canadian farms and in households.
This year the museum features a pre-1940 vehicle display (weather permitting) on Sunday August 27 and again on September 10, an opportunity to view the 2010 Year of the British Home Child in Canada Memorial Quilt (created in Ontario by Gail Collins). BHC author Lynn Clark who wrote the book “The Home Child” will be at the museum for an author reading and book signing at 12 p.m. and 2p.m. on Sunday September 9 and on Saturday September 16 the 2010 Year of the British Home Child in Canada Memorial Quilt (created by Hazel Perrier of Alberta) will be on display.
Find the location on this Google map.

Ancestry adds further Bedfordshire Records

You need Ancestry access, no need to go up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire, to access these new records online.

Bedfordshire, England, Land Tax Records, 1797-1832, 534,240 records,
Bedfordshire, England, Petty Sessions, 1854-1915, 118,272  records,
Bedfordshire, England, Valuation Records, 1838-1929, 451,819 records.

Each is indexed with links to original records images and there's also a browse facility by jurisdiction.. Some records occupy more than one page.

The records are from the Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service which has a Guides to collections from the Archives and Records office useful for further information on these and other collections.

Don't forget the massive collection of Bedfordshire electoral registers that Ancestry made available online in April.

War Cake

A century ago, 24 August 1917, the Kingston Daily British Whig  published the following recipe for War Cake.

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons lard
1 package seedless raisins (or less)
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon soda
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Boil all the ingredients except the flour, raisins and soda together for five minutes. When cold add the soda sifted in one-half the flour and the raisins mixed with the rest of the flour.

Bake in loaves 45 minutes in slow oven, or
Bake in a sheet 30 minutes in a slow oven

Yield: two loaves (8 inches by 2 inches)
Two sheets (9 inches by 1 inch)

Cost of recipe: 32 cents, using one package of raisins.

I've had the opportunity to try War Cake at an event at Pinhey's Point and found it delicious.

Internet Genealogy: Aug/Sept 2017

At a recent trip to the Ottawa Public Library at Centrepointe I found the most recent issue of the bimonthly magazine Internet Genealogy from Moorshead Magazines with the following contents.

Through the Night Gates: Portals to the Past 
Sue Lisk looks at six ways to open doors to successful research

Review: Telling Your Family Story with Pass It Down
Tony Bandy looks at a solution to the challenge of preserving treasured family stories

A New Look at Old Yearbooks
David A. Norris takes us on a voyage back in time to reveal the benefits of researching vintage yearbooks

Researching Irish Newspaper Archives
Joe Grandinetti looks at how black and white newsprint adds color to genealogy

Family History Comes to Life
Lynn Cassity shares a 1933 family journal using Personal Historian 2

State Encyclopedias
David A. Norris sheds light on a broad spectrum of online resources to assist in adding valuable context to your family history

Whatever Happened to Uncle Willie?
Robbie Gorr presents a Canadian case study of long distance research using online resources

NetNotes 
Diane L. Richard looks at websites and related news that are sure to be of interest

Demystifying the Freemasons 
Melody Amsel-Arieli looks at online sources to help you research your Freemason ancestors

More Websites Worth Surfing 
David A. Norris looks at additional websites that you might find useful in your genealogy research

The Back Page 
Dave Obee says look beyond the jargon of DNA to see the real results. In his opinion DNA testing is crowdsourcing at its finest.

On my visit I noticed again partnership in action at the Centrepointe library branch. Brochures from various family history organizations are neatly on display. A book on Leeds family history purchased for the OPL by BIFHSGO was on the display stand at the entrance to the second floor along with other books of interest for the history enthusiast.

Good job OPL Centrepointe.