Last Day for RootsTech London Admission Draw

Tomorrow, Monday, I'll be conducting the draw for the complimentary RootsTech London 2019 3-day pass (a £149 value) including the following:

• Over 150 presentations
• Keynote / General sessions
• Expo Hall
• Evening entertainment event

A reminder that if you already purchased a RootsTech London pass you can still enter and will receive a refund if you're the winner.

Here's how to enter.

Send an email to john.d.reid@gmail.com with title RootsTech London. Include your name, email address and the full title of the presentation by Dave Annal that starts with "My Ancestors ..." scheduled for RootsTech London on Saturday.

One entry per person.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

LAC holdings on D-Day and the Normandy Campaign, June 6 to August 30, 1944
Part 2 of a blog post series by LAC Military Archivist Alex Comber.

British Jews trace Iberian heritage to retain EU citizenship
From The Economist. "Who might help Remainers keep EU passports? Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition."

Parenting practices around the world are diverse and not all about attachment
Parenting is diverse and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model. Child-rearing values are a reflection of culture and are vulnerable to generational changes. Higher maternal death rates increase the importance of having many caregivers to look after children:

Most 20th Century Books Unavailable to Internet Users – We Can Fix That
Brewster Kahle from the Internet Archive penned this blog post showing the gap in the availability of 20th-century books online. While most are no longer in print many are in a library - often far from a potential patron. A 21st-century version of interlibrary loan, controlled digital lending through digitization, could again make them available to library patrons.

Beyond LAC Artist in Residence
Although the deadline for applications for this particular initiative Artist in Residence initiative is past the "in residence" idea is one that could be beneficial in other areas. How about "digital historian in residence"?

Experience Stonehenge
Skyscape invites visitors to enjoy the changing Stonehenge sky merely through a website, including the sunrise and sunset, and experience the virtual journey of the stars and the moon from within the stone circle.”  https://www.stonehengeskyscape.co.uk/.

How to move from Chrome to another browser
The Chrome browser is the most popular but not the most secure.

Should we ban bicycles in major urban areas?
Undoubtedly those who insist on dedicated "bike" lanes without paying a dime in road tax would object.

FreeBMD July Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Friday 5 July 2019 to contain 270,691,539  unique records (270,304,784 at previous update).

Years with major additions at this update, greater than 5,000 records, are: for births 1964, 1978, 1982, 1984-87; for marriages 1965, 1980, 1984-86; for deaths 1984-86.

Since the start of the year, 2,506,136 net entries have been recorded comprising 1,143,098 births, 969,392 marriages, and 393,646 deaths. Net entries account for records deleted as errors are corrected, notably a decrease of 6,472 births for 1854.

www.freebmd.org.uk/

Ancestry updates Nova Scotia, Canada, Land Petitions, 1765-1800

This updated database contains an index of details extracted from petitions made for grants of land in Nova Scotia. It's unclear how much is updated. 

The original records include licenses of occupation, warrants to survey, grants, surveyors' reports and certificates, petitions for land grants, boundaries and descriptions of land and lots, receipts, protests against petitions, and similar documents related to land grants. Petitions sometimes asked for other items to assist in settlement as well: tools, ammunition, clothes, and building materials.

The following details have been extracted from the petitions for this database:
name
place of land record
record year
details
names on land record

Records for New Brunswick, which was part of Nova Scotia until 1784, are included.

Images of the petitions are available on the Nova Scotia Archives website.

TheGenealogist adds Norfolk BMB Records - plus

I love Norfolk records 👍

Here's a press release from TheGenealogist.

TheGenealogist has released over half a million new parish records for Norfolk into their Parish Records collection. In addition to containing the uniquely transcribed records of Baptism, Marriages and Burials with images for over 250 parishes, these records also include some fascinating Bastardy bonds, Examinations, Warrants and Orders. With this release family historians will be able to find the details of ancestors baptised, married and buried as well as those that had children born out of wedlock in this East Anglian county. 

The new data will allow the family history researcher to discover:

● Over half a million individuals in records
● Names of parents of illegitimate children 
● Images also reveal the names of people standing guarantor for the father
● The baptism, marriages and burials of ancestors in Norfolk

These fully searchable records are transcribed from the original records and linked to the images from the Norfolk Record Office. This release covers the parishes of:
Acle, Alby, Antingham, Ashby with Oby, Ashby With Oby and Thurne, Ashill, Ashwellthorpe, Ashwicken, Aslacton, Babingley, Bacton, Banham, Barton Bendish All Saints & St Mary, Barton Bendish St Andrew, Bawsey, Beechamwell, Beighton, Billingford, Billingford with Thorpe Parva, Billockby, Bixley, Blickling, Booton, Boughton, Bracon Ash, Bradfield, Brancaster, Braydeston, Breccles, Bressingham, Brinton, Brundall, Buckenham, Bunwell, Burgh next Aylsham, Burgh St Peter, Burlingham St Edmund, Burnham Deepdale, Burnham Thorpe, Burnham Westgate, Caister St Edmunds & Trinity, Caistor St Edmunds, Calthorpe, Carleton Rode, Castle Rising, Caston, Catton, Chedgrave, Cawston, Chedgrave, Clippesby, Colney, Congham St Andrew, Corpusty, Croxton, Denton, Dersingham, Diss, Dunston, Earlham, East Bradenham, East Carleton, East Dereham, East Harling, East Lexham, East Tuddenham, East Walton, East Winch, Eccles, Edgefield, Edingthorpe, Elsing, Erpingham, Felthorpe, Fersfield, Flitcham, Flordon, Fordham, Forncett St Peter, Foulsham, Framingham Earl, Framingham Pigot, Fundenhall, Gayton, Gayton Thorpe, Gaywood, Gimingham With Trunch, Gissing, Glanford, Great Bircham with Bircham Newton and Bircham Tofts, Great Dunham, Great Fransham, Great Poringland, Great Snoring, Great Witchingham, Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmouth St Nicholas, Grimston, Griston, Guestwick, Haddiscoe, Hales, Hapton, Hardley, Hardwick, Hassingham, Heacham, Heckingham, Heigham, Hellington, Hethersett, Hilgay, Hingham, Hockering, Hoe, Holkham, Honingham, Horning, Horsford, Horsham St Faith, Howe with Little Poringland, Hunstanton, Ingoldisthorpe, Ingworth, Itteringham, Kempston, Kenninghall, Ketteringham, Kilverstone, Kirby Bedon, Knapton, Lammas with Little Hautbois, Langley, Limpenhoe, Lingwood, Little Barningham, Little Walsingham, Little Witchingham, Loddon, Ludham, Marham, Marlingford, Mattishall, Merton, Metton, Mintlyn, Morton on the Hill, Moulton, Moulton All Saints & St Michael, Moulton St Mary, Mulbarton, Mundesley, Narborough, Needham, New Buckenham, Newton Flotman, North Creake, North Elmham, North Lopham, North Pickenham, North Tuddenham, Northwold, Norton Subcourse, Norwich Lakenham, Norwich Pockthorpe St James, Norwich St John de Sepulchre, Norwich St Margaret and St Swithin, Norwich St Mary in the Marsh, Norwich St Peter Parmentergate, Old Buckenham, Oulton, Pakefield, Paston, Postwick, Pulham St Mary the Virgin, Quidenham, Redenhall with Harleston & Wortwell, Ringland, Ringstead St Andrew, Rockland St Mary with Hellington, Runcton Holme, Runton, Saham Toney, Salhouse, Sandringham, Saxthorpe, Sedgeford, Sharrington, Shelfanger, Shelton with Hardwick, Shingham, Shipdham, Sidestrand, Skeyton, Snetterton, Snettisham, Somerleyton (Suffolk), Southrepps, Southwood, Sparham, Sporle With Palgrave, Starston, Stiffkey, Stoke Holy Cross, Stow Bardolph, Stow Bedon, Stradsett, Stratton Strawless, Strumpshaw, Swaffham, Swannington, Swanton Abbot, Swanton Morley with Worthing, Swanton Novers, Swardeston, Tacolneston, Tasburgh, Tharston, Thetford St Cuthbert, Thetford St Mary, Thetford St Peter, Thompson, Thorpe By Haddiscoe, Thorpe Episcopi, Thorpe Market, Thurlton, Thwaite, Tibenham, Titchwell, Toft Monks, Toftrees, Tottenhill, Tottington, Trowse, Trunch, Tuttington, Upper Sheringham, Wacton, Warham, Watlington, Watton, Weeting St Mary With All Saints, Wereham, West Newton, Westacre, West Tofts, Wheatacre All Saints, Wickmere, Wighton, Winfarthing, Witton, Wolferton, Wolterton, Wood Norton, Wood Rising, Woodbastwick, Wormegay, Worstead, Worthing, Wreningham and Wretton.

Note that this is not a comprehensive list of Norfolk parishes. More to come?

Quick Photo Tips - How to Remove Glue From Your Old Photos

Advice from The Ancestor Hunt. This is one I hesitate to post as there's a BIFHSGO member, sometimes reader of Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections, who knows more about adhesives than I ever will.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Additions to Findmypast this week

British Officers Serving In Early America, 1614-1787
Six 19th-century publications that record names, rank, regiment and other details of British Army Officers serving in America prior to and during the Revolutionary War. Each record is in a PDF format.

Pennsylvania Immigrants, 1727-1776
Explore this 1856 publication 'A Collection of Upwards Of Thirty Thousand Names Of German, Swiss, Dutch, French And Other Immigrants In Pennsylvania From 1727 To 1776: With A Statement Of The Names Of Ships, Whence They Sailed, And The Date Of Their Arrival At Philadelphia, Chronology.'

Pennsylvania, Oath of Allegiance
This records hold the names of thousands of male immigrants who arrived in Pennsylvania between 1727 and 1775 or between 1786 to 1808 and who were required to take an oath of allegiance to the British Crown and the Province of Pennsylvania as well as immigration lists between 1786 and 1808. Within these pages you will find name, the ship they arrived on, there and arrival ports, and arrival date. Names are organised by vessel.The lists of arrivals after 1786 includes the names of wives and children. An index to surnames begins on image number 675.

British Army Records & Regimental Histories
The CIV and the War - Illustrated Souvenir of the City of London Imperial Volunteers, deals with service in South Africa.

International records update – Austria
Three indexes of Austrian births, baptisms, marriages and burials with more than 165,000 names and covering nearly three centuries of the country's history between 1651 and 1940.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Book Review: Tracing Your Female Ancestors

After reading the long list of errors identified in Peter Calver's Lost Cousins review of this book I put my review on the back burner. However, having now taken it off the review pile my impression is much more positive —Peter did it an injustice in tone if not detail.
To be fair, Peter did add toward the end of his review "Although I've given the author quite a hard time in this review, you mustn't think that it's a bad book - it isn't, and there are lots of useful tips, some of which were new to me." With that, I can wholeheartedly agree.
Within its six chapters: birth, marriage and death; education; crime and punishment; daily life; a hard day's work; and emancipation Adéle Emm uncovers numerous sources new to me that made me set the book aside to explore them further, many as applicable to the male of the species as the female.
One such was capitalpunishmentuk.org/ which, despite the UK in the web address includes a list of those executed in Canada.
Find out about theatres and the music hall, libraries, medicine and hospitals, housing, schools, the time value of money, maps, and so much more.
The final chapter, on emancipation, gives a detailed history of challenges and advances in the movement toward equality made from the beginning of the 19th century.
Not quite every page has a web address for additional resources and each chapter a bibliography and list of further reading. An 11-page timeline and 5-page index round out the book.

Anyone with British ancestry is sure to find material of interest and relevance.

I notice the Ottawa Public Library has the book on order and there are already 21 holds on it.

Title: Tracing Your Female Ancestors: a guide for family historians
Series: Tracing Your Ancestors
Author: Adéle Emm
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Pen and Sword Family History (22 May 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1526730138
ISBN-13: 978-1526730138
Product Dimensions: 6 x 9.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds

This review is based on a copy provided by Pen and Sword.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away

Sources in the Basement

Looking to clear out surplus possessions that have languished in my basement for more than 30 years I came across a suitcase, one that had come across the Atlantic with me when I emigrated in 1966. Battered after moves between Ottawa, Toronto, Trenton, Halifax, Toronto (again), Winnipeg, Fort Collins (Colorado), Toronto (yet again) and finally back to Ottawa but still usable if sufficiently desperate, it had this ripped sticker with the name of the ship, which I remembered, the departure date, which I was vague about, and even the cabin number.

Now, with the aid of a diagram of each level of the ship I found at the Museum of Science and Technology, I'll be able to find out where I spent days in my bunk attempting not to be seasick.

How do you cite a suitcase, one you're about to throw out?

Happy Fourth

All the very best to my US friends celebrating today. Liberty and justice for all.

Ancestry 50% Discount for New and Returning Subscribers

Can you take advantage of this offer? From Ancestry for the 4th of July -- very limited time -- the offer ends on Thursday. Prices are US dollar and not good for existing subscribers.

https://www.ancestry.com/cs/4thofjulysale

Wait for it: Ireland's Registry of Deeds going online

Ireland's Registry of Deeds holds over 5 million memorial records in 17,000 bound volumes; a source of property transactions in Ireland from 1708 to present day. It's arguably the biggest substantially untapped resource for genealogists in all of Ireland.
Now The Property Registration Authority has a long term vision to make these historical records of the available and discoverable online for research and the enjoyment of all.
Read about it in this Property Registry Authority news release, and in Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News blog.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Tameside Borough Burial and Cremation Registers

Tameside, a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester incorporates the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge plus Longdendale.View Larger Map

The borough has placed online a database of the Boroughs Burial and Cremation Registers with over 300,000 records from Dukinfield Crematorium and Cemetery (opened 1866) and the cemeteries of Ashton (opened 1891), Audenshaw (opened 1905), Denton (opened 1895), Droyslden (opened 1894), Hyde (opened 1894), Mossley (opened 1877) and Mottram (opened 1861). The opening dates are from Tameside Local and Family History.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Edward Lloyd: the father of English tabloid journalism

If you enjoyed Nigel Lloyd's talk A Dark Chapter in a Successful Life at the BIFHSGO Great Moments session in June you may want to follow up with this article from The Conversation.

If you missed that meeting BIFHSGO members can catch it in replay through a link in the Members Only section of the Society website. You'll also find the other Great Moments presentations A Poor Racine by Michael Jaques; Finding Frances by Gillian Leitch and Family Fiction, Facts Found by Bobby Kay. And a massive collection of recordings and handouts from monthly meeting and conference presentations back to 2011.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Ancestry moves ThruLines, MyTreeTags and New & Improved DNA Matches out of beta

The BETA icon has disappeared from these recently added or improved Ancestry products. The company now considers them stable.
For ThruLines this goes along with the retirement of DNA Circles.
Find information about these products.

Backup Nag

Even if you don't have a habit of backing up your key files from your hard drive on a monthly basis how about semi-annually?

Now we're into the second half of the year is there's anything you've done so far you'd hate to lose?

With technology prices continuing to drop backing up your family history files on a USB drive and storing them away from your computer is really simple and cheap insurance.

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

Scent from the Past

Smells trigger strong emotions and memories.

On Sunday, reading In The Lavender Fields Of Surrey on the Spitalfields Life blog, I was stopped in my tracks by this image of a can of Yardley's talc powder.

It immediately brought to mind my beloved grandmother, my mother's mother. Buying a gift for her was always easy — she used copious quantities of Yardley's talc and always appreciated more.

Except I knew immediately that although the can was similar it wasn't the Lavender scent she used. Aromas are so redolent that I soon came up with the right one — April Violets. Yardley's is still selling that talc so I have another nostalgia item on my list to buy while I'm in England in October for RootsTech London.

What about the aromas from your past?

Don't miss the RootsTech London 3-day admission give-away.

RootsTech London 3-Day Admission Give Away

Enter now to win a complimentary RootsTech London 2019 3-day pass (a £149 value) including the following:


• Over 150 presentations
• Keynote / General sessions
• Expo Hall
• Evening entertainment event

If you already purchased a RootsTech London pass you can still enter and will receive a refund if you're the winner.

Here's how to enter.

Send an email to john.d.reid@gmail.com with title RootsTech London. Include your name, email address and the full title of the presentation by Dave Annal that starts with "My Ancestors ..." scheduled for RootsTech London on Saturday.

One entry per person.

The opportunity will be open until the end of the day (EDT) on 7 July to accommodate those who may be away on and around Canada Day.

Your Genealogy Today: July - August 2019

Ghost Town Genealogy
David A. Norris looks at how to find records for ancestors who may have lived in towns or villages that no longer exist.

Compiling a Cemetery Guide
Karen Dustman details how small groups can leave a legacy for their communities by creating guidebooks for local cemeteries.

Taking a Vacation? Discover Your Ancestors
Gail Clifford finds a rainbow and discovers an ancestor on a trip to Dublin, Ireland. The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin inspires learning about a grandfather's job as a cooper. 

Passive vs. Active Genealogy
John M. Hoenig advocates using both of these basic strategies and gives examples from his own research which include a contact made because he published an article in a magazine.

The Lady Nurses of Armory Square Hospital
Constance R. Cherba looks at sources that can be used to trace the lives of a dedicated team of Civil War nurses with examples Amanda Akin Stearns  – 1827-1911; Emma Dexter Southwick Brinton – 1834-1922; Anna Lawrence Platt  – 1820-1898; Helen M. Griggs  – 1830-1913; Dr. Nancy Maria Hill  – 1833-1919; Susan Ellen Marsh  – 1838-after 1911; Harriet Hayden Ripley  – 1822-1917; Mary Sullivan Felton  – 1839-1896; Sarah Low  – 1830-1913; Anna Lowell Woodbury  – 1833-1906; Abby Bradford Francis  – 1827-1886.

Hassle Free Heritage Travel
Lisa A. Alzo shares tips on how to plan the ultimate ancestral journey — the emphasis is on planning. Don't overlook the time it takes to get a passport and a visa if required.

Everyday Rural Life Saved with a Kodak
Lynn Cassity looks back at the success of the Kodak Brownie camera and how it helped to record history - and family history.

Preserving Old Family Letters
Melissa Barker offers tips on how to organize and store those treasured family letters. Before doing so ask if it's worthwhile. Will they be viewed as treasures by the next generation? Would it be better to give them to a museum or archive, perhaps retaining a digital copy?

Book Review: From the Emerald Isle to the Cream City
Joe Grandinetti tells us why we should read Carl Baehr's history of the Irish in Milwaukee.

Family History Writing: The Power of Pianissimo
Sue Lisk offers a few suggestions as to how you might approach writing about your ancestors; select details that are meaningful to you — poignant, funny or sad they become meaningful as part of a human story of relationships; avoid using a slew of adjectives; appeal to the senses and the imagination.

Measuring Your Success as a Genealogy Speaker
Lisa A. Alzo discusses how to assess your speaking "Return on Investment"

The Back Page
Dave Obee looks at genealogy, music, and movies and how it all ties together.

Your Genealogy Today

Happy Canada Day