TV Genealogy

Saturday evening's History TV Canada schedule included two programs of genealogical interest.

Ancestors in the Attic: Icelandic Horsemen
The episode followed the journey of Icelanders retracing the footsteps of relatives who left the island in the 1870s, forced out by a harsh climate that couldn't sustain the population. Having specialized in atmospheric science for many years I'm always interested to find examples of direct links between a climate fluctuation and a large migration.

The quest was for descendants of emigrant relatives who settled in the inter-lake region of Manitoba, around Gimli. Of genealogical interest was mention of a research centre in Iceland with a large database of emigrants of the period.

Likely owing to the topic I didn't find the episode of personal interest. It did illustrate again that this production team is capable of telling a story without recourse to antics.

Bloodlines: Famous Last Words
This one hour program centered around the Battle of Queenston Heights. Specifically the secondary title refers to an attempt to determine whether Sir Isaac Brock would likely have survived long enough after he was mortally wounded to utter words attributed to him. Contemporary sources, from soldiers names Jarvis and Ridout, told different stories.

Woven into the program was the story of researching the origins of Samuel Thomas who served with a black company at the battle -- entirely separate from the question of Brock's last words.

I enjoyed the program although the interweaving of the Jarvis/Ridout and Thomas story lines seemed forced.

A couple of aspects of the program were quite puzzling. At one point descendants of Jarvis and Ridout are shown walking alongside Ottawa's Rideau Canal, which otherwise played no role in the story. I thought perhaps it would link to information found from Library and Archives Canada, but no such link was made.

Also the descendant of Thomas took a mitochondrial DNA test on the basis of which they announced an origin in Africa, Angola if I recall correctly. However, as males don't pass their mt-DNA to their children the origin was of no direct relevance to Samuel Thomas.

The credibility of the genealogical content was enhanced by the appearance of mensch-like Brian Gilchrist, well known Ontario genealogist. He found land records at the Ontario Archives and the birth place of Samuel Thomas recorded on the Ontario death registration of his son, but was unable to crack the tough nut of his origins in Virginnia (sic).

In the final analysis the investigation of whether Brock died instantly, or would have had time to make a dying statement, was not convincing. Millimetres in the location of a bullet can make a major difference, recall that Ronald Regan survived by just such a margin. Given the inevitable errors in forensic reconstruction the experts conclusion appeared too definitive.

Bloodlines: The Battle of Queenston Heights

A new TV show "Bloodlines" starts on History Television Canada this (Saturday) evening at 8 pm. Tonight's episode looks at the 1812 Battle of Queenston Heights, when US invaders were repelled, through the eyes of a descendant of a soldier who was there. Apparently well known Ontario genealogist Brian Gilchrist appears. Find a little more information at: www.history.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=103240

Thanks to Mike Brede and the Quinte Branch of OGS for the tip.

WDYTYA - Shaun Majumder

When I learned that the first subject for the Canadian version of Who Do You Think You Are was to be Shaun Majumder, a comedian, I wondered if we were to be subjected to a vehicle for comedy. I need not have been concerned. The program showed Shaun on a thoughtful exploration of his roots, and the larger context of his ancestral journey.

His mother's roots for many generations in Newfoundland led him to the impact of a shipwreck on his family, so much a part of the province's history. He also traced one line back to an early settler from Dorset in England. The fact that many of the original settlers were from that county is little appreciated outside the province.

On his father's side the immigrant ancestor was his father whose origins were East Indian. The program showed Shaun travelling back to India, meeting an extended family and learning about the trauma of the partition of India and Pakistan.

One of the challenges of this type of program is avoiding the aspects of genealogy that make for poor television, the detailed work which is part of any research, not just in family history. The challenge is enhanced as the program only runs for 30 minutes, less commercials, compared to 60 minutes for the British series which has no commercials. The CBC tackles this through the program web site by providing a comprehensive extended story for the episode, and also a short how to video under the title Digging Back, presumably the first of a series. These both were worthwhile supplements to the program.

This was an encouraging start to the series.

Who speaks for Canadian genealogists?

Success! Library and Archives Canada is creating a Services Advisory Board composed of representatives of key user communities across the country dealing with the services aspect of LAC's mandate. The draft terms of reference are posted here.

The President of the Canadian Historical Association has been invited to become a member. That makes eminent sense. CHA has a national membership and mandate. "It serves professional historians but membership is open to anyone with an interest in history. The CHA represents the interests of historians and the heritage community to government, archives, granting and other agencies; organizes conferences; publishes the best of Canadian historical scholarship; and awards a range of prizes to historians who have produced exceptional work."

It isn't clear who else, or what other organizations, will be invited to become Advisory Board members. As the single largest user group of LAC facilities, including online, it would be a travesty if genealogists were not represented. Unfortunately there is presently no nationwide organization representing Canada's genealogical interests in the same way that CHA represents historians.

The closest thing is the Canada Census Committee, a grassroots organization. It has done a remarkable job in securing access to historic censuses and continues to work to ensure access for the future. This effort is largely that of Gordon Watts. Gordon continues to keep the community informed through his "Gordon Watts Reports" hosted by Global Genealogy.

Interestingly in his latest issue Gordon reports on meetings he participated in, and thanks the Canadian Historical Association for providing the funding to allow him to travel to Ottawa to do so.

CHA hosts affiliated committees that represent historians involved in specialized areas of historical inquiry. Perhaps they would like to host a Canadian Committee on Genealogy. If I understand the CHA web site correctly, for $50 annually genealogical societies could join CHA as affiliates, much as many of them already belong to the umbrella groups such as the FFHS (Canadian members listed here), FGS and like minded organizations in their own province. If enough did, and put in place a consultation mechanism, it could become the recognized body representing the interests of genealogists and the genealogical community to government at the federal level.

TV Genealogy

The CBS investigative program 60 minutes aired an item on genetic genealogy on Sunday. Through a Y-DNA test they demonstrated a common paternal line ancestor for two people named West, one black, one white. Nothing surprising in that if you've followed the field, apparently one third of black Americans have a Caucasian direct male line ancestor. The finding could be quite a surprise for people new to the field, as it was to the Wests.

As an investigative program 60 Minutes needed to dig up some dirt. By testing DNA samples from the same person with different companies they attempted to show the companies were being deceptive in informing people about their geographic origins. In part this was because of the large number of ancestors, doubling each generation back. The program did a good job of explaining many of these ancestors will likely have different regions of origin.

60 Minutes tried to make a case that DNA science for geographic origin is oversold. Different companies use different DNA databases and can differ in there opinions as to the origin. I suspect there was also a bit of deception on CBS's part, maybe inadvertent. CBS appeared to claim the test used was only of mitochondrial DNA, which everyone inherits from their mother, whereas some of the companies mentioned analyze markers from the autosomal DNA to which many ancestors contribute.

On Saturday evening History Television Canada's Ancestors in the Attic aired an episode, the main story being about locating a descendant of a WWII Canadian soldier from a bracelet he lost on a European battlefield. The shorter segment, involving the panel of genealogists, was more interesting genealogy involving finding ancestors who fought in the Napoleonic War. The episode is to be shown again twice on Wednesday, and early on Thursday morning.

LAC Establishes Service Advisory Board

The following announcement, dated on Friday, appears on the LAC web site.
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Library and Archives Canada to Establish Public Consultation Process Regarding Service Delivery

(OTTAWA, October 5, 2007) - Today, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announced that it is establishing a new and continuing process of public consultation on the delivery of its public services. This new process is in response to the legitimate desire of LAC's users to provide LAC with advice on how best to deliver its services and access to the LAC Collection.

This new public consultation process has two components. First, LAC is creating the LAC Services Advisory Board composed of representatives of user communities across the country. Its mandate will be to consider issues directly related to the services aspect of LAC's mandate. Chaired by Doug Rimmer, the Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs and Services, the committee will meet 3-4 times a year. The first topic for discussion will be hours of service. Further details on the LAC Services Advisory Board are contained in the attached Backgrounder.

In addition, LAC will conduct regular public consultations on a continuing basis on a variety of topics. Feedback will be collected in person, through the Internet, by mail and on the phone. All Canadians, wherever they are located and whatever their interest in the LAC Collection, will have the opportunity to provide their views on how LAC can best deliver the service portion of its mandate.

Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, said today, "Over the past thirty years, the environment in which LAC provides public services has changed considerably, both as a result of the technology and information revolutions, and also because of the sharp increase in interest in the history of Canada and in its social, cultural and political development. Our increasingly diverse client base includes, among others, high school students, genealogists, academia, the artistic community, and people who have a new, more general interest in the LAC Collection. As a result, the scope and complexity of the needs of LAC's users have increased. Not surprisingly, demand for access to the LAC Collection has risen and the nature of these services is changing.

Serving the changing needs of our users means balancing many differing demands. We recognize that it is important to listen carefully to our clients. The new consultation process announced today is a demonstration of our commitment to do so."
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The Backgrounder mentioned could not be immediately found on the site.

The announcement should be welcome news for all LAC users: genealogists, historians, and researchers of all kinds who use LAC facilities, whether physically in the National Capital Region, at regional outlets, through inter-institutional loan or online.

CGC web site updated

The updated Canadian Genealogy Centre web site is now online. Here are the old and new pages together. At last the old Mission/Vision/Policy content, so beloved of policy wonks, is off the front page in favour of content useful to genealogists. That's something I've advocated for months -- I'll have to find something else to "suggest." The motivation must be the imminent CBC TV series, Who Do You Think You Are? that features prominently in the left hand column. Whatever the reason, its an improvement to have lost all that verbiage, and to have it replaced with links.

You will notice a few changes in the blue banner at the top, designed to make the content more apparent to the average citizen. For the most part the content beyond the link will be familiar to previous users.

The title "Databases" is gone, replaced by "Search for Ancestors." The link leads to a federated (meaning combined) search of 18 LAC databases. The search only works on names. If you want a more nuanced search scroll down the page where the familiar individual databases are arrayed.

More Canadian newspaper digitization please

In the US, UK and New Zealand, governments are making progress in digitizing their national newspaper archives.

The latest example is from the National Library of New Zealand where Papers Past consists of "1,119,407 newspaper pages, comprising 207,668 issues: 49,983 newspaper issues with searchable text (comprising 367,720 pages and 3,860,541 articles); 157,685 newspaper issues without searchable text (comprising 751,687 pages)." They are all freely available.

With a population barely one-eighth that of Canada the New Zealand stats are impressive. Finding a hit for a Canadian, one of the Ottawa Company of Sharpshooters who served during the 1885 North West Rebellion, brought it home to me. I'd known William Henry Pardey went to New Zealand for the Massey company, and it was confirmed in this ad.

I mentioned another example back in March. Chronicling America allows you to search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 for papers from California, District of Columbia, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Utah, and Virginia. Each state had a target of 100,000 pages. These are the results of projects which started in May 2005, part of an initiative sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.

I learned this week that Sandra Burrows, the newspaper specialist at Library and Archives Canada, has retired. She was very knowledgeable and will be missed. I wish Sandy well. Apparently the position is vacant. I hope that's very temporary.

Happy Thanksgiving.

And yet more media coverage of LAC cuts

CBC Radio coverage. The page has a link to an item that ran on the local Ottawa CBC radio mornng show.

More press coverage of LAC cuts

The Ottawa Sun printed a short item on October 3 -- here.

LAC funding decreases underlie service cuts

An open letter from Craig Heron, President of the Canadian Historical Association to Ian Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, was posted as a comment on this site last week. Folks remain upset about Library and Archives Canada's reduction in service hours imposed at the beginning of September. The issue made Saturday's Globe and Mail.

The article points out further budget cuts LAC is anticipating. "Meanwhile LAC's total spending on managing Canada's documentary heritage, currently estimated at $119-million (2007-08), is projected to drop by $20-million to $99-million by 2010, according to Treasury Board estimates."

Government funding is declining, but those figures are misleading. Check them out for yourself in Table 1 here. There's a one time spending blip in 2007-08. When I asked about it a couple of weeks ago I was informed the extra money is earmarked for the National Portrait Gallery.

Reports are that the Gallery, in the former US Embassy across from Parliament, may never happen. Another hit on our history. Instead the building is being eyed as an elite diplomatic reception hall, Stephen Harper's "Great Hall of the People."

Ignoring the 2007-08 blip, LAC's expenditures for "Making the documentary heritage known and accessible for use" were $29-million in 2006-07 and are forecast to decline to $28-million in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Inflation continues to erode the spending power of the declining allocation. It's no wonder service is declining.

One last thing, since the cut in hours LAC security staff have been facing irate clients, especially from out of town, finding the facilities closed. Frustration at the change is understandable, but that shouldn't be taken out on the security or other client service staff, many of whom are as unhappy with the reduced service as the clients.

What a month!

This blog had a record number of page loads, unique visitors and returning visitors in September, all up a factor four since the start of the year. Each month this year has seen a new high in all three categories, except for an unavoidable hiatus in August.

Interaction has been increasing too. Comments have been at record levels. I enjoyed chatting with readers at the BIFHSGO conference earlier in the month, itself a record breaker for the Society. There were a lot of new visitors who share a frustration with the reduction in hours and other service problems at LAC.

October promises to be quite a month. October 11 sees the start of CBC's "Who do you think you are?" series. LAC have promised a fresh look for the Canadian Genealogy Centre web site to go along with what they anticipate being a rush of WDYTYA-stimulated hits.

Perhaps October's new session of Parliament, and the speech from the throne, will have something to offer heritage in Canada too.

Ancestors in the Attic - Lincoln's Assassin

In this episode "A man from Niagara Falls searches for the truth about his ancestor’s involvement in the capture of John Wilkes Booth; exploring the Latter Day Saint’s Family History Library, the world’s largest collection of genealogical records."

Not mentioned is the rather weak story around which the Family History Library item was constructed.

There was a plug for family search indexing which I mentioned a few days ago. Unfortunately, as I write this the link has yet to be placed on the program web site as advertised.

The episode was very US oriented and looked like a demo to market the concept to a US cable channel. But, overall the substance was better than their average, the second best I can recall in the series. I'll be charitable and not mention the style.

The program has two additional showings on Wednesday. Worth considering watching.

Family Search Indexing Revitalized

Back in March I blogged about Family Search Indexing, an initiative from the LDS Church (Family Search). Just as with FreeBMD and Automated Genealogy, volunteers can extract family history information from digital images of historical documents over the internet. During the summer only US 1900 census images were available. Now we again have Canadian records to index.

Family Search have scanned the 1871 Canadian census and serve images to you for indexing. According to Library and Archives Canada, which holds the copyright, Family Search does not yet have copyright clearance. That means they will be able to makes the transcripts generally available, but NOT display or link them to images of the originals.

If you use the Scottish census on ancestry.co.uk you will have run into the result when a copyright agreement cannot be worked out. Apparently LAC and Family Search are in negotiation to develop an agreement which would make the 1871 census images freely available with links to the Family Search index.

So far the indexing project is in the early stages. I've had images from Ontario's Kent and Lambton counties to index. A head of household index for Ontario records in this census is available at the Canadian Genealogy Centre website to give you a second opinion if you have difficulty reading those names.

With fall now officially arrived, and the dark evenings getting longer, consider helping out with this project. The software is easy to master, you work at your own pace, and will be able to share in the satisfaction of knowing you contributed when another indexed Canadian census becomes freely available.

Update on genealogy databases

Its time to catch up on news about online resources of British and Canadian interest which I've been neglecting.

LAC Home Child Databases
Library and Archives Canada have substantially augmented and updated their information on home children.

The index database is now complete, or as complete as possible, for children found on ships passenger lists from 1869 to 1922. Years previously missing, 1872, 1895, 1911 and 1915 have been added. Source and reference information has been added. If you find an entry for a specific child there is now a convenient link near the bottom of the page, so you can view the complete list of children in the party.

A separate database, an index to children found in the Board of Guardians Inspection Register on microfilm reel T-537, is now available online for the first time. It contains 10,678 names of children, approximately half of the Workhouse children sent to Canada between 1869 and 1935. I recommend reading the online help section for advice on interpreting the information.

LAC work on home children is cooperative with BIFHSGO. John Sayers leads this project for the Society.

Findmypast.com
The company continues to grow its online service, now there are over 500 million records on the site.

If you have roots in London the addition of burial records from 75 more parishes to the City of London Burials Index will be of interest. This database now contains 350,000 records of burials within the Square Mile of London. The majority cover the period 1788 to 1855.

Two more counties have also been added to the 1871 census - Yorkshire and Suffolk. There are now 13 complete counties on the website's 1871 census - Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorset, Glamorganshire, London, Middlesex, Norfolk, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Wiltshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire. I have heard knowledgeable people claim that findmypast.com census indexes are better than those of ancestry.co.uk; true or not its always good to have a second option.

In addition, a new decade - 1930 to 1939 - has been added to the outbound passenger lists digitized from TNA's BT27 holdings. The digitized records now cover 1890 to 1939 and contain details of passengers travelling on outbound voyages from all British ports to long-distance destinations.

Finally, Findmypast and the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) have announced an agreement for hosting of the FFHS’ pay per view data service. Read the full announcement here. No date for implementation is given. Thanks to Sherry Irvine for bringing this to my attention.

S&N Genealogy Supplies - Non-conformist records
Another result of TNA's partnership initiative saw realization in mid-September when S&N Genealogy Supplies made available online indexed images of non-parochial and nonconformist registers 1567-1840 held in RG 4 and RG 5. TNA holds 5,000 registers of a huge variety of nonconformist congregations, including Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Protestant Dissenters (known as 'Dr Williams Library') and Independents. There are also registers from a small number of Roman Catholic communities. Basic searching is free of charge, but there is a fee for advanced searching and to download images. If you've searched the LDS British Isles Vital Records Index you may already have some of the data from Dr Williams Library. Now you can access the full record as originally written.

The Irish Times
A fully searchable online archive of The Irish Times , from the newspaper's first edition almost 150 years ago up to the present day, has been launched. Birth notices, obituaries, social notices, court reports and inquests will be of particular interest to genealogists. Reports also reflect the social and historical background of daily life.

The archive contains over 1,100 reels of 35mm microfilm with about 700 individual page images per reel and was digitized in cooperation with Olive Software, noted for the quality of their work.

The site is accessible through http://www.ireland.com/search/ and pricing starts at €10 for a 24-hour pass.

New York Times
As of mid-September articles from the NYT from 1851 to 1921 became available in full text searchable form, and FREE. Go to www.nytimes.com and select NYT Archive 1851-1980 from the drop down box below the masthead. There is a charge to view articles published after 1921. I already found a marriage of one of the English strays in my tree.

Reflections on Wednesday's meeting at LAC

I posted what I hope was a fairly objective summary of Wednesday's meeting. Now I'll add opinion.

Meeting participants appreciated the opportunity to express their views, and did so freely. With a couple of exceptions, one a person of whom I would have thought better, the comments were free of rants. Some people were surprised when things that concerned them, but they had never expressed, were raised by others. LAC reps listened and were respectful of clients views. Judging by the record number of hits on this blog today, more than 200 with many from the LAC domain, they continue to listen.

Could LAC be more open about their operation? Clients want to be heard; and know their concerns are being addressed. They can be quite tolerant when things don't get done yesterday. But they need to know they're not talking into a black hole. It would be great to see a list of action items, like "add additional power outlets in the reading room", "move finding aids to areas open outside the hours of 10am - 4pm", posted in the building with target dates and notification when they are complete. We also need to see action on a user group. Treated well clients will be the organization's biggest supporters.

I applaud LAC's ambitions to put more of their most used material on the web where it will be broadly accessible. Online self-service should free up resources.

The ambition would be even more welcome if matched by achievement. The most used LAC record set for genealogy is the census. LAC provides images of 1911, 1906, 1901 and 1851 indexed by location. Thanks to volunteer and commercial endeavours there are nominal indexes available for all four, made possible by the availability of the images on the LAC site.

Missing are original images for pre-1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses. The acid test of LAC's claimed ambitions, and that reallocation is occurring, will be rapid progress on making these images available online. This will harnesses the effort of volunteers and companies to produce nominal indexes. What's holding this up? Lack of funding? Were funds ever asked for from outside government? Is it lack of internal digitizing capability? What?

Unfortunately, and along with lack of a sound system this was the biggest failure on LAC's part at the meeting, the financial impact of reducing hours was not revealed. The savings from seem minuscule compared to the impact. How much would it cost of open for full service, or at least ordering, at 9am rather then 10am? What would it cost to close the reading room at 9 pm rather than 8pm?

Summary of informal discussion at LAC - 19 September 2007

The meeting started at 2:30pm as scheduled with about 50 clients in attendance.

LAC Acting Director General for Programs and Services, Hana Hruska, opened the meeting by explaining that a quick budget cut was necessary when the section received its budget in mid-summer. Another longer-term factor is a desire to shift priority, and resources, to fund digitization projects so that datasets will be widely available via the internet.

In the previous year the section overspent its budget, which Hana explained is not possible this year. LAC regretted that consultation on the reduced hours had not been possible. CHA and one other unnamed organization were informed prior to the general announcement. About 50 organizations and individuals wrote to protest or otherwise comment on the reduced hours prior to them coming into force. None of the comments had any impact on the hours of operation. One LAC staff member acknowledged that not consulting more widely was a mistake.

LAC staff were not prepared to state what savings are being realized. We were told there have been no staff cuts so staff are able to reallocate efforts to duties other than in-building public consultation during the extra closed hours. Information from various clients suggested 40 hours of security staff time are being saved each week, at about $20/hr including overhead. That's about $800 per week, or $41,600 annually.

Perhaps the greatest impacts of the reduced hours is that people visiting from out of the Ottawa area, especially graduate students and other researchers who need access to unique materials never likely to be digitized, are unable to make efficient use of their time by working extended hours. When archival material has to be retrieved from the Gatineau Preservation Centre it is no longer possible to consult it on the day it is ordered owing to the 4 pm deadline for receiving retrievals. Delays to retrieving materials in the building, and getting access clearance, were cited as other ways in which the reduced hours eat away disproportionately into available research time.

Comments from attendees addressed a wide range of concerns at LAC, not just the hours. They reflect a lack of client-orientation in the LAC operation:

- staff attempting to eject patrons well before the advertised closing time;
- poorly maintained equipment, such as microfilm readers and printers;
- a tendency to place out of order notices on machines rather than fix them;
- microfilm printers which are awkward to use, inaccessible to the handicapped, and poorly set up for routine maintenance;
- notices on copy machines, and copyright stamps placed on copies, that are unduly restrictive given Canada's copyright regime;
- finding aids not located where they can be consulted outside the 10am-4pm weekday hours;
- unclear signage on computers to indicate whether they are for ordering library materials, or for accessing databases;
- materials left on the dumb waiter stretching 30 minute retrievals to 90 minutes;
- a general concern at reductions in professional consultation service available.

Clients attending generally agreed that the overall quality of service is declining. One former archivist mentioned that they used to boast of the first class service offered at the National Archives, now nobody does. It's more like third class. One client living in the US commented that the facilities were declining to the state of those she encountered in a third-world archives.

By a show of hands a substantial majority of the clients present indicated they favoured establishment of a user group to meet quarterly for information exchange and feedback between LAC and its clients. Hana Hruska stated that LAC was considering this.

To end on a positive note:
-an LAC staff member stated that it would likely be possible to order archival material by computer in the building at 395 Wellington starting next Spring, and over the internet sometime next year;
-Access to Information queries are now being handled in a timely manner.

Others who attended are encouraged to add comments.

Reminder - LAC informal discussion today

The session is today. Wednesday, September 19th from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in room "A" in 395 Wellington St., Ottawa. All welcome.

Ottawa Branch OGS September Meeting

The Ottawa Branch of Ontario Genealogical Society is meeting this evening, Tuesday, September 18, at Library and Archives Canada, Room 156, at 7:30pm. Michel Prévost, University of Ottawa Chief Archivist, author and frequent media guest, will speak on the founding of the largest bilingual university 160 years ago and its archival collection.

More on LAC informal discussion session

Fortunately I didn't have to join one of the increasingly long lines to see a consultant while at LAC doing some research recently. A warning for those visiting LAC -- be prepared for a wait in a line-up if you arrive when consultation hours open at 10 am.

The informal discussion session I blogged about previously is causing some buzz. LAC staff mentioned the item on the CASLIS blog. CASLIS is the Canadian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services, a division of the Canadian Library Association. Beware of riled librarians!

Also mentioned was the graduate students petition found at the following link: http://www.petitiononline.com/history8/petition.html.

At the Friday evening session of the BIFHSGO conference LAC Assistant Deputy Minister for Programs and Services acknowledged that the organization had received much adverse reaction to the cut in hours, and regretted that client consultation had not been possible owing to the need to shift resources quickly. It was ironic that the guest speaker that evening, while explaining the deliberate destruction of Irish census records, those not destroyed by fire in 1922, used the term "bureaucratic arrogance."

A reminder that the informal discussion session will be on Wednesday, September 19th from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in room "A" in 395 Wellington St., Ottawa.

Popularity of Family History

The folks at the Canadian Genealogy Centre (CGC), part of Library and Archives Canada, are gearing-up, a bit nervously, for a rush of queries as a result of CBC's forthcoming series, Who Do You Think You Are?

Although CBC haven't been doing much advance publicity CGC looks at viewer statistics from the UK and get concerned. Here are recent statistics from MediaGuardian.

In summary:
BBC1's genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? this past Wednesday drew an average audience of 5.6 million viewers and a 26% share over the 9pm hour according to the unofficial overnights. That was down 900,000 viewers and four share points on the previous week's which pulled in 6.5 million viewers at 30%.

These are very good figures, comparable with the most popular programs. ITV1's soap Emmerdale pulled in 6.5 million viewers and a 35% share over the hour from 7pm. The BBC's EastEnders running in the same timeslot got 5.9 million viewers.

If the CBC version proves as popular CGC could have a bit of work on their hands. Let's hope the folks running the web site are prepared for a genealogical tsunami.

Informal discussion session for LAC clients

Genealogists, and other Library and Archives Canada clients, have an opportunity to attend an "informal discussion session" next Wednesday (not Monday, as previously stated) afternoon. This is welcome. LAC management got failing grades for implementing a drastic cut in service hours without any consultation, and only the briefest of opportunity to comment.

Please attend the session if you can. A large turnout for this meeting would show LAC management that users are concerned. I hope LAC offers to implement a regular system for client consultation, perhaps through a user group representing a cross section of clients, including genealogists.

BIFHSGO Conference - 14-16 September

Coming up is a big genealogy weekend in Ottawa, the annual BIFHSGO conference at Library and Archives Canada. There's a pdf of the full program here.

Many folks have pre-registered -- it looks like to the biggest BIFHSGO conference ever. The theme of Ireland and prominent speakers coming from Ireland are major attractions. There's a strong non-Irish component to the program too for those whose interests are elsewhere in the British Isles. Other attractions start with a pre-conference seminar for beginners, and another on Family Tree Maker, beginning at 9:30am on Friday. You'll want to stay to the closing sessions for an opportunity to win some great door-prizes. You could win one year database subscriptions from either ancestry.ca/world deluxe, or a one year Explorer package for FindMyPast.com, or a subscription to the Plus edition of Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, and other prizes.

The folks at the marketplace would be pleased to have you come and browse and buy, even if you don't register. I expect to be around most of the time in sessions, the marketplace or the computer room which will have free access to ancestry.ca. Please stop by and say hello.

There's still time to register on site starting at 9am on Friday.

Ancestors in the Attic II - episode 3

This episode first sullied the TV universe on History TV Canada last Saturday, and, like acid reflux, made an unwelcome return on Wednesday. It was awful. Was the producer aiming to beat some Guinness world record for camp TV?

Supposedly the episode explored how to investigate the history of a property. That's research many genealogists eventually stray into. The resources used, city directories, land and assessment records, and photograph collections are a bit different from the sources used in most genealogical research. There's scope for some good TV programming, scope which remains unimpaired after this episode.

The first segment was about Hat Creek ranch in BC, supposedly haunted. What were we treated to? The host acting as if staggering under the weight of a trunk thrown from the top of a stagecoach, which didn't have the benefit of horses. A mock séance. A supposed overnight stay in a haunted room. All accompanied by overblown theatrics. Worse, there were people identified as associated with the history of the house on the flimsiest of evidence. The worst segment in the whole series to date.

The second segment was almost as bad. The researcher was shown outside an old Toronto building, supposedly thinking he was speaking to the owner. He leaves to research the house, and returns to report to the same person still in the same place, as if rooted to the spot, who turns out not to be the owner. Totally incredible.

History TV seems to be stuck with this inferior production. Perhaps they could unload it on Kid TV where the juvenile antics would find a more appropriate audience. Even so I'd recommend the 2 am time slot.

BIFHSGO Meeting on Saturday 8 September

The first monthly meeting of the new season starts at 10:00 a.m. this Saturday at Library & Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Jane L. Down will speak on her experience with the APG Ontario essay competition in a presentation titled "Genealogy Competitions and the Biography of Robert Down." Everyone welcome.

Temple genealogy

Some of the most interesting genealogy I've been involved with happens when given a sketch family tree and asked if its true. In my experience such trees usually include elements of truth, generous measures of wishful thinking leavened with half-remembered facts.

Recently I've been working on just such a situation, a friend from Newfoundland with a Temple family tree. Copied a century or more ago, its title, An Abstract of Temple Lineage, suggests that not everything is included, confirmed by occurrences of "from whom descended" and "one son."

Branches of the tree lead to British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, and the National Trust property of Stowe Landscape Gardens, called "One of the first and foremost of the great English landscape gardens." The tree links my friend's family to James Temple, one of the people who signed the death warrant for Charles I.

I followed the first golden rule of genealogy and worked the family back in time. There is good documentation that the family arrived in Newfoundland from Norfolk, confirmed by letters written back to England. A family Bible has entries that take the Temple line back to about 1800. Unfortunately records for the area of North Norfolk from which they came are not well represented in the IGI. What there is seems to agree with the information in the tree. Original parish records will need to be consulted in Norwich or through the Family History Library.

Information on regicide James Temple's descendants is lacking although five generations of his ancestors are well documented. There are records for the births of several of his children, so there's scope for a link. It looks like there are two generations missing, as yet, and no evidence of a move to Norfolk. On the other hand, if someone wanted to invent a connection why would they choose to make the link to a not very prominent regicide?

Quite a bit of information can easily be found by Googling Temple in various combinations with geographical and first names. One of the gems Google found were transcribed wills for two members of the family, found at TNA's Your Archives website, which is a beta version.

I was rather disappointed in Google Books which found rather little information, and what there was was mostly limited extracts or snippets, even though the material was long out of copyright. Searching in Live Search Books was more productive and I found several digitized books with further elements of this prestigious family's genealogy.

The hunt continues.

LAC reduced service hours in effect

A reminder that the reductions in service hours previously announced came into effect at the start of the month. Hours of full service are now 10am - 4pm, weekdays. The response to the reduction of service from genealogists and other users was apparently sufficiently muted that LAC management had no problem with implementing them. If users are not prepared to speak out against service reductions they can be expected to continue.

I was pleased to see that not all users are not so passive. A review in today's (Sunday, 2 September) Ottawa Citizen of "An Unlikely Hero", Phil Jenkins' new book on George Dawson, sees him taking aim at LAC:

"I am obliged to say, on behalf of my fellow researchers present and future, that despite the staff's best efforts, the systemic and logistical obstacles at the National Archives, though under assault, remain frustrating."

In the interview, Jenkins moaned about 48-hour delays in retrieving documents, 24-hour delays in getting photocopies and other inconveniences that complicated his research.

"Logistically, I am walking into every sharp corner you've got in the building," Jenkins said he told the archives staff one day. "From the moment you walk in, there's some grumpy vet who looks at you as if you're there to steal everything they've got. I hate it. I go down to other archives, the McGill archives, and they're like, 'What do you need?'"

Jenkins blames the problems on inadequate funding. "The past is a minor deity in the Canadian coffers."

Would there were more users prepared to speak out in this way.

Ancestors in the Attic II - episode 2

The content for the second episode of the second series was mixed. There was a segment which involved researching forward in time to locate an obscure 70s era musician in Toronto. The searcher was seeking to get copyright clearance to reissue some album tracks. This wasn't searching for "ancestors" and the success was apparently reported by the program, with reenactments to suggest the host was involved, rather than being the result of their efforts.

The second segment, finding an ancestor who fought with British forces in the Napoleonic War, and subsequently came to Canada, was presented as if it wasn't much of a challenge.

In the best segment the panel made a reappearance with the task of tracking down a Canadian counterfeiter in the US in the early 20th century. Again, it was more family history than genealogy, but showed good use of a diversity of unconventional sources.

After having shown a more adult approach in the first episode of the new series the host reverted a bit. Pity.

Monmouthshire wills index

When borders move it's always a source of confusion. Do you look for the county of Monmouthshire in England or Wales? I recall when the first microfiche of the 1881 census came out I was surprised to find the county in England. Since 1974 the confusion has been resolved in favor of Wales.

There is a nice index to wills for Monmouthshire from 1572 to 1858 with over 16,500 names. The site also has information on how to view or purchase a copy from the National Library of Wales.

This item courtesy of Hugh Watkins blog.

New Gazettes Online in beta

If you're looking for official announcements in England you go to the London Gazette, one of the country's oldest continuing publications. It's best known as the place to find legal notices on bankruptcy, calls for claims on the estates of recently deceased people, notices of military promotions and medals awarded; and an often overlooked genealogy source.

Although an OCRd version of the London Gazette has been freely available to search online for some while its been difficult to use. Results have been shown as pdf pages and required a slow process of opening each one to review the content. Now there's a beta version that shows a preview snippet of each item, a substantial improvement. To see the full item you still have to open the pdf.

It would be nice to see the search term highlighted on the page, and also the search capability more advanced to allow exclusions (-Middlesex) and proximity (within 5) type searches.

Ancestors in the Attic II

History Television Canada started showing a new series of Ancestors in the Attic on Saturday evening. It devoted the full episode to the story of a Toronto woman seeking information on her birth parents in Scotland. Through the adoption file she finds the name of her mother, now deceased, and eventually locates a half-brother and his family. Through an old family friend she discovers that her father was a free-French serviceman. The story nicely illustrated the research interaction between public records, in this instance at the GRO Scotland, and family information sources.

The program retained the same host, visual style and introductory music as previous. A noticeable slowing of the pace compared to the previous series was apparant with fewer quick cuts. And, most welcome, no belittling or flip comments from the host.


The schedule for upcoming presentations is here.

Elvis; the lost roots

Appropriate to the day, here are links to articles on the Scottish roots of the Presley family from The Times (London) and The Sunday Herald (Scotland).

Service reductions at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada has announced major reductions in hours of service at it's main building at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa as of 1 September. The announcement came as a surprise; as far as I can determine there was no client consultation and the change is announced at a time when many regular patrons are away with their attentions elsewhere.

30% reduction
According to a post on the LAC web site, weekday full service hours will be 10 am to 4 pm, that's 30 hours a week. These are the hours during which LAC professional staff can be consulted and materials ordered. At present these services are provided from 8:30 am to 5 pm on weekdays, that's 42.5 hours a week. The reduction in service hours is nearly 30%.

23% reduction
Hours when pre-ordered and self-service materials can be examined are also being reduced. On weekdays the building will be opening at 8:30 am and closing at 8 pm. At present the weekday hours for much of this material is 8 am to 11 pm. The reduction in hours is 23%.

60% reduction
The cuts are even more drastic on weekends. The present availability of pre-ordered and self-service materials from 8 am to 11 pm is being reduced to noon to 6pm, a 60% reduction.

Rationale
The announcement gives the following rationale:

Library and Archives Canada is committed to providing quality services to all Canadians, wherever they live. To honour this commitment, we are adjusting our hours of operation, in keeping with the anticipated needs of clients and evolving information technologies. We are steadily adding documentary heritage material to our website, thereby increasing access to the collection for Canadians both in the National Capital Region and across the country.

I shall be writing directly to Antonio Lachasseur, Director, Client Services Division, with the following comments:

1. The changes were announced without opportunity for meaningful client consultation. A widely advertised consultation session should be conducted at 395 Wellington early in September, with any change in hours deferred until client's feedback can be taken into consideration.

2. The 30% reduction in full service hours, to 30 hours per week, is an appalling standard of service for an organization like LAC. It puts LAC right at the bottom of the league table, and trailing badly, when benchmarking against comparable organizations. The weekly core service hours at the (US) National Archives in Washington are 40; the UK National Archives (Kew) 48.5; the Archives of Ontario 44; Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec in Montreal 54.

3. The reduction in weekday full-service hours in the mornings, and elimination of all weekend morning service, will be keenly felt.

4. No reductions should be implemented in the time available to access the already frustratingly cumbersome and delay-ridden process for ordering and obtaining delivery of materials.

5. The reduced hours will be a particular inconvenience to those from outside Ottawa visiting LAC on research trips who expect to work long hours and over weekends to justify the trip expenses.

6. It is paradoxical that LAC having recently gone to considerable expense to create a physical Canadian Genealogy Centre these reductions now make the facility less accessible.

7. There are still major records not online, most notably census images from 1861 to 1891. While technology has evolved to the point where this can be done LAC has not yet chosen to make such key records available online. Until such common records are online it is premature to make major reductions in physical access.

The LAC announcement includes "Should you have comments or questions, you may wish to contact Antonio Lechasseur, Director, Client Services Division at web@lac-bac.gc.ca or 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll-free in Canada and the United States); TTY: 613-992-6969 or 1-866-299-1699 (toll-free in Canada)."

I encourage all to express their views to Mr Lachasseur.

Time out

I'll not be posting here for a couple of weeks, maybe longer, while I take some down time and deal with software issues.

If you need a genealogy blog fix, check out those in the links box to the right.

This and that

ONS Early Closure Announcement
The Office of National Statistics have announced that in October they will start to remove the large books of BMD indexes from their present location at Myddleton St. in London. Copies of the corresponding microfiche will be available on the upper floor until the building closes next year. It was previously announced that services will in future be available from TNA in Kew. The Society of Genealogists has a longer news item.
Some folks are upset about the withdrawal of service several months earlier than previously announced. Although this is unfortunate it's not something a Canada-based genealogist can get worked up about. We've been long accustomed to using microform and online sources for the BMD indexes.

British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920
Ancestry.co.uk announces the availability of this database of non-commissioned officers and other ranks who were discharged from the Army and claimed disability pensions for service in WWI. These were also men who did not re-enlist in the Army prior to World War II. The information includes: name of solider, age, birthplace, occupation, marital status, and regiment number.

Overseas BMDs 1995-2002
FindMyPast.com has introduced an index of civil registration of events for British residents outside the UK. Further information. About 10% of marriages in the period are estimated to have occurred overseas. British registration may not have been made as it is not required.

BIFHSGO DNA Group

A reminder of the DNA interest group meeting on Saturday, 28 July at Library and Archives Canada. Share information on new findings, and ask questions of more experienced members. The meeting starts at 9:30 am. All welcome.

A police officer ancestor?

The Norfolk Constabulary has an online index to records of police who served with the service between 1854 and 1955, not including records for the formerly independent forces of Norwich, King's Lynn and Great Yarmouth.

If you see a name you recognise and require additional information write to: Force Historians, c/o Facilities, Norfolk Constabulary Operations and Communications Centre, Falconers Chase, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR19 0WW quoting the book number and page number as shown in the listings where it is available.

Checking a few other counties, not a complete survey, I found no comparable online index. Many counties do have material on the organization history, best found by googling policy, history and the county name. It may lead to sources of information on individuals. Here are a few examples.

Hampshire indicate records are at the Hampshire Record Office, except for Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Go here and scroll down to FRONTLINE.

The (London) Metropolitan Police have information here.

Cheshire has a Museum of Policing with a query form.

For general information on police ancestors try Martin Rigby's blog posting.

If you are fortunate enough to have access to a digitized local newspaper, and the officers name was not too common, try a search for the name. Police were often in the public eye.

25 genealogy web sites we can't live without

It must be the season, there seems to a spate of best web site lists. Time.com has a list of the 50 best web sites, and 25 web sites we can't live without. I found the second list interesting:

Amazon.com; BBC.co.uk; CitySearch.com; Craiglist.org; Del.icio.us; Digg.com; EBay.com; ESPN.com; Facebook.com; FactCheck.org; Flickr.com; Google.com; HowStuffWorks.com; The Internet Movie Database; YouTube.com; Kayak.com; NationalGeographic.com; NetFlix.com; Technorati.com; TMZ.com; USA.gov; TelevisionWithoutPity.com; WebMD.com; Wikipedia.org; Yahoo.com

More than half I'd never visited. Having now checked them out I don't feel my life was previously notably impoverished.

Family Tree Magazine (the US one) has just put out its list of 101 Best Web Sites. Again, many are US-oriented, although there is an international section.

Not wanting to swim against the current, here is my genealogy-oriented list of 25 web sites I can't live without, reflecting my own Anglo-Celtic Canadian bias.

amazon.ca; ancestry.com; archive.org; automatedgenealogy.com; collectionscanada.ca; cwgc.org; cyndislist.com; eogn.com; familyrecords.gov.uk; familysearch.org; familytreedna.com; familyhistoryonline.net; freebmd.org.uk; genuki.org.uk; google.com; loc.gov; nas.gov.uk; nationalarchives.gov.uk; nationalarchives.ie; ourroots.ca; rootsweb.com; sog.org.uk; scotlandspeople.gov.uk; ukbmd.org.uk; + your local library; + your local family history society

UPDATE

Randy Seaver posted his corresponding list of 25 US-oriented web sites here.

Thank you LDS

July 24 marks the 160th anniversary of the day Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah, celebrated as Pioneers Day in the State. In common with many genealogists who are not members I am grateful to the LDS Church for the genealogical resources they make available free or at cost.

The Salt Lake Tribune recently ran an article under the headline "Don't sanitize history, Mormons say" which reflects on the Church's uneven attitude toward its own history, and revealing the results of a survey of 2,000 LDS Church members involved in genealogy online. Those surveyed are "... looking for the whole story, accounts of real people and a wider scope of history than early 19th-century (Mormon) pioneers" and for it to be easily available online.

The survey doesn't contain much of interest to non-members of the Church, but the call for information to be easily available online is one genealogist users of LDS web services would echo. I'm looking forward to helping that along with something more applicable to my interests and background than the 1900 US census, currently the only data-set offered for indexing on the Family Searching Indexing web site.

The Great Irish Famine was in process at the same time as the Mormon pioneers were in migration. It be timely to move ahead with making available the promised Irish civil registration indexes for online indexing.

Top 10 ways DNA technology will change your life

From the HealthNex blog:"The genome revolution is upon us. New reports of gene-disease associations pepper the news each day. DNA technology is advancing so fast there are rumors that sequencing a person's entire DNA sequence will eventually cost no more than $1,000. Are you ready to take advantage of all that DNA can offer? Here are top 10 ways DNA technology will change your life." ... more

I was unaware of Quebec's CARTaGENE Project, a databank and biobank containing information and samples from around 20,000 randomly selected people aged 40-69 years based on records kept by the provincial health insurance board. It appears the data won't be available for genealogy owing to privacy restrictions, but other DNA sources for genealogy will likely open up as testing costs fall.

The genes that build America

A well written article in the 15 July issue of The Observer

"From the discovery that presidential hopeful Barack Obama is descended from white slave owners to the realisation that the majority of black Americans have European ancestors, a boom in 'recreational genetics' is forcing America to redefine its roots. Paul Harris pieces together the DNA jigsaw of what it really means to be born in the USA" ... read the full article

As others see us

Canada and Australia have some obvious historical and geographical similarities. William Lion McKenzie King's "If some countries have too much history, we have too much geography" applies equally.

The similarities mean that scholarship and public administration benefit from Australia-Canada exchanges and visits. Often the perceptions gained from such visits fly under the radar, certainly for clients. It was refreshing to read a long blog entry by the Curator of Manuscripts at the National Library of Australia who visited Library and Archives Canada in June. Looking though her eyes makes it easier to appreciate some of LAC's strengths, and the issues with different approaches.

I was especially taken with her view of online exhibits which allow LAC to tap funds outside their budget, but need to be managed with care to ensure the organization isn't diverted from its own mission. Would genealogy benefit more if the temptations of such external funding were resisted and less internal effort divert from digitizing major record groups, notably the 1861 to 1891 censuses?

Read the LAC entry from the "Love Archives, will travel" blog here. There is also a posting on the Association of Canadian Archivists conference in Kingston, Ontario earlier in June.

Summer museum getaways

What was life like for your ancestors? It's easy to slot those folks and their BMD data into our ancestral database without thinking about the life they had. Things have changed so much it sometimes seems as if my childhood in England is what's found today in a museum. That's even more true for previous generations.

Take the time to get away from the computer and visit a museum or two. I've added yellow markers to show Ottawa area museums on my Family History in Ottawa map . Or just Google your community name and the word museum.

The photo, taken at the Billings Estate Museum by Mariae Boreális, is found at Flickr.com

Free Family History Videos

If you have access to high-speed internet you might want to check out four short videos by Robert Ragan who "has been actively involved with computers and genealogy since the 1980s and is a former director of a Family History Center in Jacksonville, Florida."

He has three videos with the series title Online Genealogy Information Gathering Method. Find them here: Part1, Part 2, Part 3. In parts 1 and 2 he shows step-by-step how to assemble and search a word processor file using the results of a Google search for a name and place combination. It will ensure you preserve the information found, even if the website disappears. I haven't done this on a consistent basis, as he recommends, but do use the technique from time to time when compiling information for an article. Part three shows how to do this using Google Docs and Spreadsheets rather than a stand-alone word processor.

A fourth video shows the use of the Google toolbar, not something I personally use.

You might want to check out Ragan's other free genealogy resources and commercial home study course.

Linkpendium

Having written about Rootsweb statistics yesterday I though to go back and look at the more recent genealogy initiative of its founders, Karen Isaacson and Brian Leverich. Linkpendium is styled "the definitive directory" and contains 5,869,376 genealogy links; also 8,346 outdoor activity links.

The genealogy section is in two parts. Localities: USA is a state-by-state directory with 678,746 links.

Surnames: Worldwide, with 5,190,630 links, is what interests me. It's an alphabetical directory where you can drill down to a specific name, well worth exploring, especially for the less common names in your family tree. Here's an example of the link page for surname Northwood. Try it out here. It will save you hunts at or for other free sites. Worth the detour.

Rootsweb seasonal trends

Longtime readers may recall an earlier posting analyzing long-term trends in postings to Rootsweb newsgroups. Postings peaked in 2002, in January. The decline since has continued; every month in 2007 has fewer postings than the same month since 2000.

I wondered if folks spend as much time online with their genealogy in winter as in summer. Sorry southern hemisphere folks but this will assume the other hemisphere dominates the statistics. Over the course of a year December has fewest daily postings. January has the most. There's a gentle drop to May, then the daily average stays about the same until the December drop. There are more genealogists online in winter.

As the months with the lowest and highest number of posts are adjacent I was interested in the transition. Here are the trends around the holiday period in more detail.

The figure to the left shows daily Rootsweb postings from December 20 to January 10 for three different periods. The years are remarkably similar. There's a drop starting a few days before Christmas day, and a major increase on 1 January. Apparently genealogists get over their new year celebration hangovers quite quickly, or new year resolutions take effect. It takes until 10 January to see the end of the holiday slowdown; then activity climbs above the pre-Christmas average for the winter peak.

Citations for Canadians

One of BIFHSGO's most prominent members, and friend, Alison Hare, CG, spent considerable time earlier this year reviewing chapters of a new book, Evidence Explained - Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG. In June Alison gave a talk at the OGS Annual Seminar, and provided a helpful four page handout Citations for Canadians giving examples. These are divided into Basic citations from the original or a microform copy, Archival citations from Library and Archives Canada and Archives of Ontario sources, and Internet source citations.

There's too much content to delve far into it, but let's look at an Internet source citation, an Ontario death registration with information found from ancestry.ca. It's for the death of John James O'Brien in December 1925. Ancestry's sourcing reads:

Source Citation: Roll: MS935_323.
Source Information:

Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada Deaths, 1869-1932 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005. Original data: Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Deaths - 1869-1932. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Archives of Ontario. MS935, 455 reels.
To this you need to add the year and registration number from the image.

The citation in the format Alison recommends is:

John James O'Brien, Ontario death registration 010717 (22 December 1925); digital image, Ancestry.ca (http://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 12 July 2007), citing microfilm MS935 reel 323, Archives of Ontario, Toronto.

I've highlighted in red the information that would apply to all Ontario civil death registrations, you might consider that the master source. Note that the information specific to this particular registration, and my access of it, is found in four different places in the citation.

If you've tried using the source capability in FTM or Legacy Family Tree software you will appreciate that producing a citation in this recommended format, with non-master source information in four different locations, is more than a challenge. I find it very frustrating. Alison comments that "genealogists creating their citations in genealogy software will likely want to order the elements differently ..... The key is to be consistent from one citation to another within any given work."

It's almost as if software companies and the creators of these citation formats were conspiring to make life difficult for the genealogist.

I've previously mentioned the site BibMe which creates citations for books, websites, magazine, newspaper and journal articles. You get a choice of MLA, APA and Chicago formatting. For many books you can go online, enter the title, and it will find the rest and fill in the blanks. Often a blank form is presented which at least does away with the burden of formatting. Wouldn't it be nice to find a similar handy web utility to help with at least the most common genealogical citations, for civil registration and census sources? Is there anyone reading this with sufficient computer skills to do this?

If you're interested in the new book Evidence Explained you might want to take advantage of the opportunity to win a copy as mention on Randy's Musings blog.

Merseyside genealogy

Rigby is very much a Merseyside name as you can tell from the surname distribution map. The Beatles sang about Eleanor Rigby.

For genealogists with a Merseyside link Martin Rigby's Genealogy Blog is worth a visit. The first postings were in February and started with beginner information. The archive of the site also includes several postings in a "My ancestor was a ...." series for various occupations, including policeman, mill worker, railway worker, seaman and servant.

Martin Rigby writes for the Liverpool Echo where you can find some of his material on their web site.

Passchendaele

On July 12th the Queen, King Albert II of Belgium, and several other heads of state will attend the opening ceremony for the events at Tyne Cot Cemetery, shown at the left, commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele. Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, it lasted from July - September, 1917. Canadians tend to think of the Battle of Vimy Ridge when WW1 is mentioned. For Europeans it is the horrific Battle of Passchendaele, with its nearly one million deaths, that most symbolizes the War.

Two years ago I had the opportunity to visit Ypres and the many battlefields in the vicinity. My great uncle, Edward Cohen, was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele, 31 July 1917. It was moving to visit the scene and find his name engraved on the Menin Gate at Ypres.

Have you checked out people with your name who died in at the Battle Use the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site for British Commonwealth folks. You can't restrict the results by battle, but can limit the results by specifying year of death. The CWGC also have a new online exhibit about the battles around the Ypres Salient.

Family Tree Maker Beta

You can test out a beta version of the new Family Tree Maker 2008 by downloading from http://beta.familytreemaker.com. It's a big file and took 25 minutes to download on my broadband connection. Then you have to download Microsoft .NET -- I think that's to get the maps to work.

In a previous posting I suggested three needed improvements, mapping, sources and DNA. Here are some first thoughts after only a few minutes exploring the capabilities.

Mapping is vastly improved over the lame effort in previous versions. It uses Microsoft Virtual Earth. The program will attempt to find the locations in your file, and you can list events that occurred at a given location. The list of locations seemed limited, it couldn't find Tottenham, Middlesex, England, for example.

The recording of sources also seems to be improved, but I need to do more evaluation.

There is still no specific provision for recording DNA information.

Being FTM it seemed to do a good job of importing earlier FTM files, and claims to import Legacy Family Tree and the Master Genealogist files, as well as GEDCOM.

Although this is only a beta, and didn't always perform as smoothly as one would hope, I'm encouraged by what I saw. I'll try and do a further review later. Do post a comment if you try it.

We have until August 24th until the beta stops working. You are warned not to save any new data you want to recover afterwards as the data formats are not backward compatible with earlier FTM versions.

Hope for orphan publications

There's progress that could lead to easier access to so-called “orphan works,” publications in copyright whose owner cannot be identified and located by someone who wishes to make use of the work in a manner that requires the rights owner’s permission. Estimates are that these account for a large fraction, possibly even a majority of all publications. Easier access, perhaps through Google Books or Live Search Books, could help your genealogy search. It's often books from smaller publishers and individually published works, including family histories, that become orphans.

A Joint Steering Group established by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions IFLA) and the International Publishers Association (IPA) agreed on five principles to be followed by users of orphaned works:

• A reasonably diligent search should be undertaken to find the copyright owner.
• The user of an orphan work must provide a clear and adequate attribution to the copyright owner.
• If the copyright owner reappears, the owner should be reasonably remunerated or appropriate restitution should be made.
• If injunctive relief is available against the use of a previously orphaned work, the injunctive relief should take into account the creative efforts and investment made in good faith by the user of the work.
• The use of orphan works in non-exclusive.

No doubt this will be more grist for the legal mill as different jurisdictions ponder their response. I'm not anticipating quick action, but the agreement is encouraging.

Read the joint press release here.

07/07/07 to 07/07/07

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a 100th birthday event for prominent local genealogist Elizabeth Stevens Stuart.

Elizabeth's afternoon arrival at the community hall in Vernon, in a vintage car, was heralded by a piper befitting her Scottish paternal origins. The hall was filled with family, including from the eastern US, friends and well wishers.

Before retiring Elizabeth was a teacher. Many of her former students were there to remember her contributions in days gone by. She has retained a passion for learning, and put this into practice in her own life when she started using a computer, a Mac, when in her early 90s.

Elizabeth was and remains a driving force in the Osgoode Township Historical Society and Museum. Eight of her genealogical publications are listed in the catalogue at Library and Archives Canada. A visit to the Museum in Vernon, to the Elizabeth Stuart Room, will reveal a host of research materials for Osgoode Township including a complete nominal card catalogue of all the surviving censuses for the Township. Many other resources, including local family histories, can be found under Our Holdings at the Society web site.

At the event we learned that her genealogy didn't start well as her birth was not registered. She does appear in the 1911 census. Best wishes to Elizabeth for a continuing full life.

6 July 1957: the day John met Paul

No genealogy today, but perhaps family history ... if the Beatles music has been an important part of your life. This BBC programme re-creates the moment when John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time at a Quarrymen gig at a sunny garden fete in Woolton, Liverpool on 6 July 1957, 50 years ago.

Is DNA testing over-hyped?

A couple of days ago I blogged on prominent genealogist Michael John Neill's skepticism on DNA and genealogy. He now has a follow-up posting.

He gives an example where, in trying to establish a relationship between two people several generations back, using descendants of those two as surrogates to provide "their" DNA, one has to be aware that there could be a non-paternity event in an intervening generation.

The problem here is not with the DNA test, which shows the lack of a relationship between the two people tested, but rather the assignment of those people as surrogates for another supposed ancestor.

There's a lot of scope for hidden hanky-panky in comparing distant cousins. Suppose the chance of a non-paternity event is 5% for any given child. Then the chance of at least one such event in 10 generations, five up from one person tested to the common ancestor and five down to the second person tested, is 1- (0.95^10) = about 40%. In this case conventional paper records would also be leading one of the two astray in following their ancestry back.

In ending the posting Michael John Neill makes the statement "The problem I have with DNA for genealogy is that it tends to be hyped more than necessary and pitched as a cure-all."

How much hype is necessary? Everyone is entitled to their view and it depends on the definition, "advertising or promotional ploy," "something deliberately misleading; a deception" or something in between. I'd point to genealogical examples where the hype is much greater than that for DNA. Geni.com and Footnote.com are examples, for different reasons.

As for DNA being pitched as a cure all, I don't recall any examples by companies involved in genetic genealogy. Perhaps Michael John Neill would oblige with some cases.

Legacy Family Tree

About a month ago I blogged about talking to Geoff Rasmussen, a representative for Millenia Corp, and undertook to take a serious look at Legacy Family Tree when the next major release arrives. In the meantime I now have a copy of the full version of Legacy version 6.0 DeLuxe. That's thanks to my namesake, or rather his wife who is not a genealogist but who won a copy at the Quebec Family History Society Roots 2007 conference banquet. John already uses Legacy so I benefited from their prize.

Here are some first impressions of Legacy from a long-time Family Tree Maker user.

Installing the program was painless. I transferred my family files from FTM using a GEDCOM, the only option. The textual data transferred well, but images and multimedia files were not carried over. This remains a MAJOR problem in moving to another database program.

One of the things I really like in FTM, it comes close to being a killer app, is the ability to search ancestry.com for an ancestor directly from the program. Legacy appeared to offer this, plus searches on other databases too. When I tried it an error message was returned. Millenia quickly responded to my email with a work around. I was impressed with the speed and friendliness of the response.

Less impressive was the capability of the search. FTM's ancestry search takes into account not only the person's name but also date and place of birth, husband's name if a women, and seemingly other data. FTM does a fuzzy search and seems remarkably good at guessing the best matches. By contrast Legacy searched only on the name. As my family history is almost all in the UK it was frustrating to find Legacy suggesting mainly US matches. On this one FTM wins hands down.

It will take more to to evaluate Legacy fully, but so far I've found no compelling reason to switch.

DNA Skeptic

I've never had the pleasure of meeting Michael John Neill. He writes for Ancestry's Weekly Journal, which gives him a measure of credibility in genealogy circles. It was a bit of a surprise to see a posting at rootdig.com attributed to him, Is DNA that big of a deal?

He writes about DNA hype, "in the vast majority of cases DNA does not provide the type of relationship precision we need" and "I do not give one iota about where my ancestors were 100,000 years ago."

Neill is obviously not one, but I do find many genealogists who are interested in the distant origins of their family. They like to get some insight into their ancestors part in the great world migrations to ancestral homelands thousands of years ago. It's a pursuit every bit as valid as conventional paper-based genealogical research.

I was interested in mine, but didn't get especially excited. As only the strictly paternal (Y-DNA) and the strictly maternal (mitrochrondial DNA) lines are traced by normal genealogical DNA tests, you get information on only two of your two to the power N ancestors that lived N generations back. By the time you get to a couple of thousand years back that means practically all of us share many common ancestors. What's so special about those two lines?

What Neill fails to acknowledge is the great benefit DNA can be in the genealogical timeframe.

This may come as a shock, but not everything written on paper or parchment, no matter how musty, is the truth. People lie, especially about paternity. Is there any great genealogical virtue in following a paper trail back when the paternity described is a fabrication?

Neill may have forgotten the situation described by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak where DNA was able to show that two Smolenyak lines from a small village were in fact distinct, there was no common ancestor. That saved much fruitless effort in record offices to try and unite the lines.

Neill argues that less effort should be expended on DNA research, and more in digitizing local records. It isn't an either or proposition. There's room in the this world for the benefits of both.

FindMyPast adds 1920s passenger lists

Findmypast.com has added another decade of records to the UK Outbound Passenger Lists currently available. Records now include 15,749,960 names within 97,614 passenger lists spanning 1890 to 1929.
Some of the origins in the 1920s are typewritten, many give an age. Some also give an address although often it's that of the travel company.