Liverpool BMB Records Updated on Ancestry

Ancestry has updated the collections for Liverpool, England, Church of England:

Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1659-1812 — 453,278 records.
Baptisms, 1813-1917 — 2,329,013 records.
Confirmations, 1887-1921— 5,355 records.
Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 — 1,451,910 records.
Burials, 1813-1975 — 462,236 records.

Irish Diaspora Histories Network

Irish interest? Check out this site billed as "An online community for scholars of Irish diaspora histories"
A new post is about the book A Land of Dreams: Ethnicity, Nationalism, and the Irish in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia & Maine by Newfoundland author Patrick Mannion.

FreeBMD August Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Friday 3 August 2018 to contain 268,902,575 distinct records (268,527,035 at the previous update on 3 July).

Years with updates of more than 5,000 records are for births 1963-64, 1978, 1980-83; for marriages 1965-66, 1980, 1982; for deaths 1981-83.

New on Findmypast for Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire and Devon

The Findmypast additions this week below are publications, some of which are available without charge online at the Internet Archive as indicated.

Cheshire Registers & Records
Explore registers and records from the English county of Cheshire. This collection currently comprises five titles.
Cheshire Funeral Certificates, 1600-1678 – This title was published in 1882 and is the sixth volume published by The Record Society. This volume was edited by John Paul Rylands, fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. (Internet Archive)
Gawsworth Church and Parish – This title was published in 1924 and written by Reverend H E Polehampton, rector of the parish. The preface was written by the Lord Bishop of Chester, Henry Luke. The book includes chapters on the church's exterior and interior, churchwardens and parish clerks, and church life. Gawsworth is a village and civil parish.
History of the Parish of Eastham, 1871-1920 – This title was written for the Parish Magazine, 1874-76, by Isabel Tobin. Included are notices of the church restoration by Reverend H J Storrs. This edition was published in 1920, with the permission of the author.
Notes on the Parish of Burton in Wirral – This title was published in 1908 and authored by F C Beazley. Illustrated by Graham Johnston, the book includes seven plates and numerous coats of arms. The village of Burton is located on the Wirral Peninsula. (Internet Archive)
Parish Registers of Holy Trinity, Chester, 1532-1837 – This volume was transcribed, indexed, and edited by L M Farrall. Biographical and genealogical notes are included in the indexes on this title.

Cumberland Registers & Records
Explore registers and records from the English county of Cumberland. This collection currently comprises one title: Monumental Inscriptions in the Graveyards of Brigham & Bridekirk, 1666-1876.
Published in 1878, the title consists of 111 pages. The preface notes that 'the whole of these inscriptions were copied with great care, and the same care has been extended to the printing of them; it is therefore hoped that no errors of an important character will appear in any portion of the work'. Brigham is a village dating back to Neolithic times, and Bridekirk is a parish and township. (Internet Archive)

Derbyshire Registers & Records
This collection currently comprises one title: The Brave Men of Eyam, 1665-1666 – Or A Tale of the Great Plague Year, by Edward N Hoare, rector of Acrise, consists of 265 pages. Eyam is a civil parish and village in the Derbyshire Dales district. The village is particularly known for the 1665 outbreak of bubonic plague and the villagers' response to it: isolating themselves to prevent further spreading of the plague. The preface of this title attempts to explain the extent to which this work is factual and fictional. It is stated that the statistics regarding deaths, dates, and some leading incidents are historical, and 'the object of the book is to tell, in a popular form, the tale of a "mighty woe"'.

Devon Registers & Records
Explore registers and records from the English county of Devon. This collection currently comprises
Parish Registers of Hemyock, 1635-1837 was published in 1923. Included in this title are 282 pages of baptisms, marriages, and burials, as well as bishop's transcripts from 1602, 1606, 1609-11, 1617, 1625, 1626, 1633, and 1636. Additionally, a list of the parish's rectors and chaplain priests is included. Hemyock is a civil parish and village. The production of wool was the village's main source of wealth from the 1500s to the 1800s. It is said that the Cadbury family originated in Hemyock.

Ancestry adds birth indexes for New York State

The New York State, Birth Index, 1881-1942 new on Ancestry will be of particular interest if your ancestors or relatives found a home in areas adjacent to Ontario and Western Quebec.

The indexes may include:
Name
Birth Date
Birth Place
Gender
State Certificate Number.

If name, date and place of birth is insufficient the certificate number can be used to purchase a copy of the original certificate from the New York Department of Health website.

Not included are birth registrations for the five (5) boroughs of New York City (Manhattan, Kings, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island).

Toronto History Lecture

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is pleased to announce that the eighth annual Toronto History Lecture will take place at the City of Toronto Archives, 255 Spadina Road, on the evening of Wednesday 8 August.

In his presentation, Battle of the Humber: Canadian Cyclists and Basic Training in Toronto, 1914-1916, author and professor Ted Glenn will share the little known story of Canadian Cyclists and how they prepared for their unique role in the Great War. Drawing on personal diaries, memoirs, newspaper accounts, and a fabulous collection of photographs, Professor Glenn will speak about the Cyclists' early training in and around Toronto.

The 2018 Toronto History Lecture is dedicated to the memory of Bill Britnell, an early member of the Ontario Genealogical Society and Toronto Branch, and, in recent years, the resident volunteer genealogist with the St. James' Cemetery.

This event is free to attend but space is limited (UPDATE: Now fully booked).Visit the Branch website for details and to reserve your spot.

Obituary Daily Times

This resource news from BIFHSGO friend Ken McKinlay could be music to your ears!

Obituary Daily Times index is back online at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~obituary/index.html after being away for way too long due to the security issues on Rootweb. Now you can find out what publication the obituary is in that is referenced by the "Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-2012" collection on Ancestry. For whatever reason, that Ancestry index omitted the key detail of where the obituary may be found.

Thanks for the tip Ken.

Family Tree DNA Summer Sale

Until the end of August, Family Tree DNA is discounting its tests by 20% and more.

The FamilyFinder test is $59 US (about $77 Cdn)

The Big Y SNP test is reduced by $150 US to $499 US.

Go to www.familytreedna.com for more information and to order.

TheGenealogist adds North London 1910 Lloyd George Domesday Records

Anyone with North London interest in the early 20th century will want to look at the new addition to
TheGenealogist's Lloyd George Domesday Survey. Coverage is the area around Barnet, Edgware, Finchley, Friern Barnet, Hendon and Totteridge.

● TheGenealogist’s new release links individual properties to extremely detailed ordnance survey maps used in 1910
● Shows the original Field book often giving a detailed description of the property
● Locate an address found in a census or street directory down to a specific house on the map
● Fully searchable by name, parish and street.
● The detailed hand annotated maps will zoom down to show the individual properties as they existed in 1910.

Like the previous release covering the City of London and Paddington it is sourced from The (UK) National Archives and digitised by TheGenealogist. Coming soon are other London Boroughs and the county of Buckinghamshire.

Find out more at: TheGenealogist.co.uk/1910Survey/ .

August Backup Nag

If you didn't do so yesterday it's time for the start of the month backup.

While backup in the cloud is a good idea restoring can be a pain. Consider keeping an occasional copy offsite, at a friend's or bank, to protect against a disaster at home.

Book: The Family Tree Historical Newspapers Guide

This 2018 publication by James Beidler, who has a background in journalism and nearly twenty years experience as a genealogy columnist, is subtitled "how to find your ancestors in archived newspapers".
The content is organized into three parts plus three appendices.

Part One: Learning the Basics
In five chapters, 66 pages, it covers first the history of newspapers, from the colonial period through the golden age of newspapers prior to competition from electronic media, and thereafter. The second chapter discuss the type of content found and the two subsequent chapters focus in on content for births, marriages and especially deaths. The final chapter covers the various formats in which newspaper content may be found, from the original hard-copy in newspaper morgues, to microfilm, to digitzed and OCRd content, clippings, photo collections, published extracts and indexes. While the original newspaper may not survive, or be inaccessible, important information may be preserved. (BTW: FamilySearch updated its United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014 collection on 1 August.)

Part Two: Accessing Digitized Newspapers
Who doesn't like free? That's the topic for the first of the five chapters, 68 pages, of part two. The US is fortunate in having a variety of such free initiatives such as the huge government Chronicling America, the large if imperfect Google News Archive, and the individual Old Fulton New York Postcards project. There are also aggregators. Newspaper.com and GenealogyBank warrant their own chapters, followed by information on other subscription sites, including those only available through academic subscriptions, and other ways to access newspapers.

Part Three: Diving Deeper into Newspapers
Ethnic and international newspapers are covered in the first two chapters of the four in this 46 page section. Beidler covers African-American papers as well as those of his German origin. Canada rates less than a page, not counting a one-page story from Stephen C. Young; Britain and Ireland a little over a page (British Newspaper Archive and Findmypast), while Australia's Trove gets a mention and half-page illustration. Contents of the Preserving, Collecting and Citing Newspapers chapter are self explanatory while the final chapter Putting It All Together gives case studies.

If you like to follow a roadmap the flow chart in Appendix A will appeal. The 34 page second appendix lists resources state by state. The book ends with an appendix on creating a newspaper chronology, index and miscellaneous back material.

While the methodology content in the book has broad application the focus on the United States of America means it can be recommended for readers with that interest.

The Ottawa Public Library has 5 copies in its collection, the Toronto Public Library 2 copies. Both have a short waiting list.

Authors:Beidler, James M. (James Michael), 1960-

Title:The Family tree historical newspapers guide 
how to find your ancestors in archived newspapers 

Publisher:Cincinnati, Ohio : Family Tree Books, [2018]

Edition:First edition.

Characteristics:239 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Military records from the London Gazette

Fold3, the Ancestry property with mainly military records, is advertising the addition of several British collections.

British WWII Commando Gallantry Awards.
British WWII Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations.
WWII Distinguished Flying Medals for British Soldiers.
British Companions of the DSO Awards, 1923-2010.
British Recipients of the Military Cross.

Before paying money to Fold3 be aware that you'll likely get the same information for free by searching the London Gazette.

Korean War addition to Canadian Headstones

On Sunday walking to see the 10 am changing of the guard ceremony on Parliament Hill I noticed a small plaque near the corner of Lisgar and Elgin by City Hall. We have just marked the 65th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the active fighting in the Korean War so it was a timely find as it contains more than 20 names of those from the National Capital Region who gave their lives their between 1950 and 1953.
The plaque only gives initials, I've added forenames found at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

R. V. ARNOTT  (Robert Victor)
D. W. BANTON (Douglas Wakelin)
T. H. COLBOURNE (Thomas Henry)
A. R. COLLINS (Arthur Roy)
S. F. COWAN (Stuart Franklin)
L. A. EMERSON (Lorne Ashley)
B. P.  J. FAIRFIELD (Bernard Paul Joseph)
A. L. GRAY (Alexander Louis)
C. A. HAYES (Curtis Archie)
U. J. LÉVESQUE (Urbain Joseph)
H. T. MACDONELL (Herbert Thomas)
J. P. MAISONNEUVE (Jean-Pierre)
D. P. MAURER (Derrick Peter)
K. D. O’BRIEN (Kenneth Dominic)
T. E. PERRY (Thomas Edward)
J. H. B. POIRIER (Joseph Herni Bernard)
W.L. PRESLEY (Wycliffe Lesley)
A. A. RÉGIMBALD (André Adélard)
B. G. D. RICE (Bernard George David)
J. E. H. SANSCARTIER (Joseph Emile Hector)
D. M. WELLINGTON (Daniel Melvin)

The image sent to Cliff Seibel who was quick off the mark in adding it to Canadian Headstones within a day.

Internet Genealogy, August/September 2018

Here's the line-up in the latest issue of Internet Genealogy from Moorshead Magazines.
Inside Jokes: perusing cartoons of the past
Sue Lisk rarely disappoints. This article of her's is no exception—for those with US interest. It points to five sources for cartoons that likely made US ancestors chuckle, or ponder. Today the context may be obscure, the past is a foreign country, especially for those of us where the topics are of a foreign country.

Flesh on the Bones: the value of newspapers in adding detail to a family tree
Robbie Gorr illustrates their use to find surprising details, sometimes in places you'd never have searched without digitized issues.

Home Delivery from Newspapers.com

Fighting for Freedom: service records for African-American Soldiers in the Civil War

Introducing the Virtual Genealogical Society Association
Christine Woodcock writes on this initiative in which she is heavily involved, and which I covered along with three other online initiatives here. The name is now changed from Society to Association.

Weather Report: online sources for unusual weather events of the past
Sue Lisk lives up to the promise of the title with little known sources for unusual weather. If it wasn't one in which your ancestor was involved you're out of luck.

Patterns, Plans and Your Ancestors' Projects

Germans from Russia Heritage Collection

Net Notes
Four net sources, three for the US plus British and Irish Furniture Makers online which I covered last October here.

The Quebec Genealogical eSociety
Another one I covered in the same blog post as the VGS VGA

When Did They Start Saying That...?
A source for when words came into use in print, from Old English to the blockchain era.

Create Personalized Content with Padlet
Another virtual bulletin board app, free

Upcoming Genealogical Society Events

Back Page: Local Societies are the Lifeblood of What We Do
An appreciation of the work that goes into organizing an event for a local genealogical society.

Canada’s Newspaper Heritage at LAC

Without responding directly to criticism LAC has a new blog post on newspapers.

The best news is near the end ... "LAC also is developing an updated strategy to address our newspaper collection." Will it be done internally or seek advice from external, including international sources?

Genetic Genealogy Ireland: BTOP & GGI return to Belfast

An announcement from Maurice Gleeson.

Genetic Genealogy Ireland: BTOP & GGI return to Belfast: The dates for Back to Our Past and Genetic Genealogy Ireland have been announced for next year in Belfast. Once again, this will be a 2-d...

FamilySearch updates 1881 census of England and Wales: looking back

Once upon a time, many years ago, an index to the 1881 census of England and Wales was made available, the first such census to be fully indexed. That distant era was 1996 which saw the end of an eight-year project involving more than 13,000 volunteers transcribing and checking nearly one and a quarter million pages of the census. It was a cooperative project of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Federation of Family History Societies and UK Public Record Office (forerunner of TNA). The initial release was on microfiche as counties became available. Later it was made available on CD, then online.

Fast forward to 30 July 2018 and FamilySearch announces an update to its version of the England and Wales Census 1881 to contain 26,124,851 records stating "The images and index is provided by FindMyPast.com." Good to see how far that pioneering work of volunteers has taken us, and the stimulus it provided to private enterprise to the extent that instant access to indexed censuses and other major official records are now taken for granted.

Information on the indexing history was taken from Massive British Census Project Over, an article in Anglo-Celtic Roots, Vol 2, No 3 (1996) by Wayne Walker.

British Newspaper Archive additions for July

The British Newspaper Archive now has a total of 26,868,088 pages (26,297,490 last month).

The 12 papers (34 last month) with new pages online this month include 3 (16) new to the collection.

The focus has been on adding multiple years for a newspaper rather than one or two for many titles.

Five of the seven papers with more than 10,000 pages added are Irish:

Irish Independent
92442 pages added
1912-1913, 1915, 1989-1990, 1993-1997, 1999-2000

Oxfordshire Weekly News
22102 pages added
1869-1895, 1898-1926

Belfast Telegraph
12700 pages added
1913-1916, 1918-1920

Evening Herald (Dublin)
189316 pages added
1897, 1899, 1901, 1907, 1925, 1951, 1986-1987, 1990, 1994-1996, 1998, 2001-2002

Liverpool Echo
144696 pages added
1968, 1971-1973, 1975-1984, 1986-1988

Freeman's Journal
34854 pages added
1912-1924

Sligo Champion
12566 pages added
1983, 1988-1995

I'd love to be able to report of newspapers digitized by Library and Archives Canada during the month.

OGS August Webinar: Debra Dudek

Thursday, August 2, 2018 – 7:00 p.m. ET
Presentation: Crime, Prison, and Punishment: Researching UK Criminal and Prisoner Records Online
Presenter: Debra Dudek

Whether by choice or circumstance, some of your ancestors may have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. The vast array of criminal and prison records available online and at the National Archives in Kew can offer researchers a great deal of information for their ancestors in a pre-census world. Webinar descriptions and links to register are on the OGS website.

Showing Library and Archives Canada the way

I let out a cheer on reading toward the end of the article Expanded Colonist archive offers 1960s history at your fingertips from the Victoria Times Colonist.

It quotes Dave Obee, editor and publisher of the Times Colonist, that digitally preserving its archives and making them freely available is not the only thing that makes this online record unique.

“This thing has really changed the way B.C. history is being researched,” said Obee.
“More and more information is available now because of this project,” he said. “It has really made a difference.”
Obee said one remarkable moment was when the T’exelcemc People, the Williams Lake First Nation, successfully sued for compensation over the theft of their village site, using a letter from the newspaper as part of their case.
A piece of the T’exelcemc evidence was a letter, published on Nov. 7, 1879, in the Daily British Colonist, from Chief William of the Williams Lake First Nation, who detailed the lands from which his people had been pushed.
“I wouldn’t have expected to see that kind of result,” Obee said. “That [Chief William’s letter] only came to light because the Colonist had been digitized.”
“With something like this at hand you can almost rewrite the whole way history is even done,” he said.

Exceptional community leadership made this happen in Victoria.
Not all places are so fortunate.
Help in fulfilling the promise of Truth and Reconciliation does not just come from digitizing a few indigenous publications as Library and Archives Canada did, and then only because of special funding.
Library and Archives Canada has no champion librarian for newspapers on staff and has deliberately abrogated it's leadership role under the Federal-Provincial Decentralized Program for Canadian Newspapers.
When will it take that responsibility seriously?