The GROS is out with the league table of most popular first names registered in Scotland in 2010.
For the sixth year, Sophie is the most popular girls’ name for new babies. Olivia climbs to second changing places with Ava.
For boys the order remains as last year, Jack in top place, Lewis second and James third. Between them, Jack and Lewis have been the top two boys’ names for the past twelve consecutive years.
For Beatles fans, John is 49th, falling 6 places, George ties for 100th, Paul and Ringo are also rans.
The top 50 boys’ names accounted for 46 per cent of all boys’ names registered and the top 50 girls' names accounted for 42 per cent of the registrations.
The most rapidly rising names are Alicia for girls, and Olie for boys.
Around 3,000 different boys’ names and 4,000 different girls’ names were registered.
21 December 2010
Scotland babies' first names popularity - 2010
TNA Podcast: Naval medical officers' journals and the history of medicine
TNA staff member Daniel Gilfoyle illustrates and discusses the use of navel medical officer's journals in series ADM 101, especially as they relate to tropical diseases and the changing understanding of the causes of disease.
These journals, over 1,000 of them dating from the late 18th century, have been the subject of a cataloging project starting in 2007. Although not illustrated during the presentation the journals often include sick lists and case medical notes which may be of interest for family history.
Further information and a link to the podcast is at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/naval-medical-officers-journals.htm
Yuletide R&R - 4
A rather more modern classic of British comedy. This one is entirely too silly, but has more than 2 million views on YouTube
20 December 2010
Yuletide R&R - 3
Another selection from my favourite YouTube items, classics of British comedy.
Benny Hill specialized in cheeky items, like this.
Book Launch: British Home Children: Their Stories
Saturday evening saw more than 100 people joined in Room A at Library and Archives Canada to celebrate the release of the latest book from the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
British Home Children: Their Stories is a compilation of 30 articles, mostly by descendants of a home child, published on the occasion of the conclusion of the Year of the British Home Child. BIFHSGO has been working to bring the home child story out of the shadows almost since its founding.
The project was under the direction of Brian Glenn, Director Research and Projects, seen here at the back while one of the many authors present, Bryan Cook, leaves with his presentation copy. BIFHSGO President Glenn Wright noted the contributions of BIFHSGO members John Sayers who collected most of the stories, Chris MacPhail who assembled and edited them, Jean Kitchen who did the copy editing, and Carol-Anne Blore who developed the book's layout, in seeing the project to fruition..
The book is published for BIFHSGO by Global Heritage Press. Rick and Sandra Roberts were thanked for extraordinary efforts to provide enough copies in time for the launch. Many copies were sold, including multiple copies to home child descendants as gifts.
OGS Families editor Elizabeth Lapointe and spouse/photographer Mario Lapointe, found something of note in my direction.
The book may be purchased online from Global Genealogy at: http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/home-children/resources/101189.htm
19 December 2010
So long Bloglines, and Delicious?
For several years I've subscribed to blogs through RSS and the Bloglines reader. In the fall the termination of the Bloglines service was announced, and later amended with the news the service was being sold with effect in December.
The date has come and gone, I logged into Bloglines, got a notice that I needed to transfer my files to the new service, and that some of the feeds might not transfer. The transfer went haywire. None of my individual feeds showed up in the new interface and while some of them were identified as not transferred others just disappeared. There was no way to try the transfer again.
Fortunately when the closure was originally announced I'd duplicated the feeds at Google Reader. That was an easy transfer. I'd been using Google Reader as backup anyway.
Problems with the Bloglines transfer seem to be common, see http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/12/16/bloglines-fail-fail/#comments.
So long Bloglines, I've switched to Google Reader.
Will a similar problem occur with the Delicious bookmark service recently announced to be closed? Fortunately I don't have any of my own creation to deal with but do use other's links. Make a backup before those too disappear.
Warning: DNA testing
Beware! A Toronto-based genealogist friend of mine (I won't reveal the name to maintain privacy) recently received in the mail an unsolicited offer for a DNA test. It seems pretty obvious that this is a scam, and while it may unrelated to that person's interest in genealogy it could be.
Take this as a warning. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it probably is a duck. That goes for scams.
The letterhead on the material this person received has a company name DNA Technologies with a mailing address in Surrey BC.
The mailing includes a cheek swab to take the sample, a card and plastic bag to return the sample. The covering letter starts.
"DNA Blueprinting:
The New Mode for Maximizing Health & Attaining Extraordinary Personal Success and Major Life Achievement
Discover How Your Genetic Blueprint - your very own DNA - may unlock the key to sweeping PROSPERITY, RICHES, Splendorous REWARDS and PERSONAL BREAKTHROUGHS for you!"
The letter continues in the same style. For example:
"Most important is what your exclusive DNA Blueprint will reveal to our scientists -- and upon analyzation, moreover, how your life may be launched to exhilarating new thresholds of success and achievement. Empowering you with a built-in "edge" to prosper and excel in ways you never dreamed possible. And revealing to you unprecedented information and answers relating to health, diet, intellect, compatibility, issues, mood, personality, disease prevention -- even youth extension."
"Your only obligation is a one time processing charge of $39.99 which includes analysis, reporting and personalized report sent to you by sealed, discreet mail."
Also included is a "Confidential Questionnaire" asking a large number of questions such as gender (which a DNA test should reveal), height, weight, date of birth, whether smoker, occupation, state of health, physical or mental ailments, area of interest in knowing how DNA impacts life, greatest worry or desire. And, or course, credit card information.
What are the signs this is a scam?
1. The return address is for a UPS Store.
2. The mailing gives no website or telephone number for contact
3. The information promised from the analysis is unsupported by science and is "too good to be true"
4. The mailing was unsolicited and asks for credit card information
5. The DNA sample is mailed back on a card which is rubbed against the swab which is not an industry standard. I asked someone in the field about this procedure and the response was "absolute scam"
6. There is no indication the DNA analysis is done according to recognized standards
7. There is no indication the raw data from the DNA analysis, which would give evidence it had been done, is provided in the report
8. The questionnaire (optional) seeks information which alone could be used to provide a plausible report.
9. In the absence of the provision of raw DNA data the product, a "personalized report," could be nothing more than a generic report with name and other information supplied added
10. The price is substantially less than for any known commercial DNA analysis.
Genealogist or not, you would be well advised to ignore any such solicitation.
18 December 2010
Read this blog on your mobile phone
Would you like to read this blog on your mobile phone? Blogger now have a simplified (reformatted) version that "works well on an iPhone, Android phone and probably other phones that use a browser based on WebKit."
On your mobile phone bookmark the following: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/?m=1.
Yuletide R&R - 2
Continuing with selections from my favourite YouTube items, classics of British comedy.
Yes Minister, and Yes Prime Minister, required viewing for anyone in government, still show on Canadian cable TV during the summer.
Tips on writing family history: the reluctant interviewee
A little while back I blogged about Ian Kath's podcasts under the title Create Your Life Story. Apparently several people went to the site after reading my post as Ian was kind enough to mention Anglo-Celtic Connections in his next podcast.
Listening to some of the interviews available on Ian's yourstorypodcast site made me appreciate that his real strength is in drawing out stories from people. It's a real talent, one which many of us could benefit from as we try to get a relative to open up about some of their experiences, or aspects of your common family history.
So I was pleased to find Ian had produced a podcast episode titled You Can't Make Someone Tell Their Story on just this skill. Ian points out that while that's very true there is much you can do to develop an atmosphere during an interview that will increase the chances of getting someone to open up. He goes into the main skill, being an empathatic listener, in some depth.
If getting someone to open up is an issue for you listening to the podcast would be 42 minutes well spent. If time is critical a second best option would be to go to the site and read the podcast notes.
17 December 2010
Trends in use of genealogy-related terms revealed
What are long-term trends in genealogy? While you could mean several things by the question, what about the word, and related words?
You may have seen reference to a new facility in Google Labs. Google Books Ngram Viewer "displays a graph showing how phrases have occurred in a corpus of books over the selected years. There's a more detailed explanation here.
Let's look at "genealogy", "family history" and "ancestry" from 1800 to 2000 in the English language set with a three year smoothing. "Genealogy" is the most frequently used until the second half of the 19th century when it is overtaken by "ancestry." "Genealogy" declines to about 1920 before making a slow recovery. "Ancestry" continues to become more popular until around 1920, declines but remains the most popular. "Family history" hardly shows at the start of the period, catches up with "genealogy" in the 1910s and continues to move with it. All three terms see an increase in the 1990s.
The British English corpus, a sub-set of the English set, shows a similar trend except that the use of "family history" skyrockets at the end of the period.
A second example is for the words, birth, marriage and death. There are many more occurrences of these words. "Death" has a sharp decline from 1850 to 1950 with still more than twice as many occurrences as "marriage: and "birth" which remain relatively steady through the two century period. Does this reflect a declining death rate and increasing longevity?
Finally, the words, "DNA", "database" and "Internet" found in modern genealogy all show the expected late 20th century increase.
Give it a try with words of your choice at http://ngrams.googlelabs.com
Ottawa City Archives and Genealogy Libraries News
The City of Ottawa have issued the following news release regarding the move of the City Archives. What it doesn't say is that there will be no access to any of the archives partner libraries, including the BIFHSGO and OGS Ottawa Branch Libraries, until service resumes at the new location, which may not be until April.
While its dissappointing that the original schedule for partial reopening in February is not being met that had always seemed optimistic. Given the obvious delays in construction an April target date for becoming fully operational seems more realistic.
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Ottawa - In preparation of its move to a new location, the City of Ottawa Archives will be suspending its walk-in service as of December 31 until further notice. This will affect about 20 per cent of the 9,000 inquiries it handles each year. Reference staff will continue to respond to enquiries by phone or e-mail throughout the move,
As caretakers of Ottawa’s documentary history, the City’s impressive collection of archival records would stretch 20 km if the 92,000 containers were placed end to end. Stored in climate-controlled vaults, the irreplaceable repository includes more than two million photographs and is accessed by researchers, historians and the general public.
City Archivist Paul Henry expects little disruption of service to the public. “We should be moved and fully operational by early April. And in the meanwhile, we will continue to provide service by phone and e-mail. Our new home will provide much more reference and consultation space for researchers as well as access to modern research tools.”
The new $38.6 million state-of-the-art facility (supported by $20 million of provincial funding) is a dual-purpose building. While it will predominantly house the City’s new Archives, about 25 per cent of the building will be home to a new materials centre for the Ottawa Public Library. The new facility will be located at the corner of Woodroffe Avenue and Tallwood Drive.
To contact the City Archives’ reference desk, the public can phone 613-580-2857 or e-mail archives@ottawa.ca.
16 December 2010
LAC adds microfilm images of the Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916, to its website
The following is a news release from Library and Archives Canada.
Note that there is no name index. That is available at Ancestry.ca
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Launch of "Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916"
Ottawa, December 16, 2010 — Library and Archives Canada is pleased to make the 1916 census of the Prairie provinces available online.
In order to track the high rates of population growth in western Canada during the early years of the 20th century, the Canadian government called for a special census of the Prairie provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta). The first census was conducted in 1906, followed by another in 1916.
Access to the digitized images of the 1916 census is available online in two different ways:
Through a database that is searchable by Province, District Name, District Number, and Sub-district Number. The database is available at:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1916/index-e.html
Through the research tool "microform digitization," you can browse the microfilm reels page by page. The tool is available at:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html
Changes at FamilySearch.org
FamilySearch has issued a press release announcing changes to its family history website.
www.familysearch.org now takes you to what was previously the beta site, if you've been using that the new main site will look very familiar.
If you stuck with the old site you'll be wondering what happened to old friend resources like the IGI. As with any change there's a learning curve with the new site, as comments on a blog posting testify.
For a while the old site can be accessed at http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp. There are also direct links to thee IGI (International Genealogical Index) and Ancestral File
I had hoped the new site would come accompanied by lots of new resources, and it does, but the December updates so far are mainly for the US. There are some 80,000 death registrations for New Brunswick (1815 - 1938) in this update.
Having had a foretaste with many county of Norfolk parish record images for some months I'd hoped we might see the promised Warwarkshire parish record images.
Yuletide R&R - I
In the run up to the festive season folks are busy with preparations. It shows in a decline in the number of visitors to the blog, and in my lengthy to do list. It's also an opportunity. Over the next week or so I'll share a few links to some of my favourite YouTube items, classics of British comedy with some nostalgia items thrown in, that you, your British parents or even grandparents may have enjoyed. I hope you're able to find a few minutes to enjoy.
This first one is from British comedy duo "The Two Ronnies"
15 December 2010
The ROM contributes to Internet Archive Texts
Annals, North British Society, Halifax, Nova Scotia : with portraits and biographical notes, 1768-1903 is one of the latest genealogically interesting titles now available on the Internet Archive. I attempt to keep track of new Canadian material (re)published there although only the occasional item is worth mentioning for genealogy.
A journal of voyages and travels in the interior of North America : between the 47th and 58th degrees of N. lat., extending from Montreal nearly to the Pacific, a distance of about 5,000 miles : including an account of the principal occurrences during a residence of nineteen years in different parts of the country
and
Where the fishers go : the story of Labrador
are examples of texts of historical interest that may be of value as background reading. Both are recent additions from the collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.
Previous users of the Internet Archive Texts will notice there is now a new eBook reader online with improved capabilities. Read about it here.
OGS Conference 2012
A reminder that the due date for presentation proposals for the 2012 OGS Conference, to be held in Kingston, is in one month - 15 January 2011.
14 December 2010
WDYTYA US: second season lineup
NBC has announced the personalities who will be featured in the upcoming season of Who Do You Think You Are?, in the US. As I don't follow US entertainers many of these people I wouldn't know from Adam. No doubt their stories are interesting and they will attract the right demographic to watch.
Below are links to Wikipedia articles.
Tim McGraw, American country music singer and actor, married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw.
Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter and record producer.
Ashley Judd, American actress
Steve Buscemi, American actor, writer and film director.
Vanessa Williams, American pop/R&B recording artist, songwriter, and actress.
Rosie O'Donnell, American stand-up comedienne and media personality.
Kim Cattrall, English actress, partly raised in Courtenay, British Columbia.
Finding and keeping genealogy volunteers
All family history societies rely on volunteeers. Most have a constant struggle to find and keep them so there should be value in a just released Volunteeer Canada report on what Canadians want in their volunteer experiences, their issues in finding satisfying volunteer roles, and what organizations can do to enhance their volunteer base, achieve their missions and ultimately build stronger communities.
It aims to provide practical information for use by volunteer organizations to attract and retain skilled, dedicated volunteers among four specific demographic groups including baby boomers, the group most pertinent for family history societies.
In general the research finds the optimal formula to build organizational capacity and strategically engage volunteers is one that strikes a balance between:
- Designing specific, set roles and being open to volunteers initiating/defining the scope of what they can offer;
- Being well organized but not too bureaucratic; and
- Matching skills to the needs of the organization but not assuming that everyone wants to use the skills related to their profession, trade, or education.
Boomer Volunteer Interests
- Activities that reinforce their strong sense of social commitment
- Organizations that allow boomer volunteers to work independently and have a sense of ownership over the project
- Projects where boomers can clearly see the impact they are making
- Activities that offer a chance to act outside their skill/knowledge base (boomers perceived activities different from their daily work to be refreshing)
- Casual or short-term opportunities where boomers can see what the organization is like before making along-term commitment
- Smaller organizations that need volunteers to do ‘everything’ and don’t match boomers’ skills with tasks
- The perception that larger organizations are downloading the responsibility of unwanted tasks from staff to volunteers
- Not being recognized as a person with a wide skill set, but simply ‘a volunteer body’
Ottawa Branch OGS December Meeting
Tuesday 14 December 2010 at 7:00 p.m.
Room 156, Library and Archives Canada
Branch members share their genealogical discoveries and inherited family treasures in a Show & Tell
13 December 2010
I blush
You can vote until December 20th at www.surveymonkey.com/s/ft40-2011voting. As the saying goes, vote early and vote often - as many times as you want. It's worth visiting just to discover blogs that may be relevant and new to you.
The Greatest Great Moment
On Saturday morning well over 200 family historians, a record for a monthly meeting, crowded into the Auditorium at Library and Archives Canada for BIFHSGO's traditional December Great Moments presentations. Family history is thriving in Ottawa.
Program Director Jane Down had selected five presentations for the program which President Glenn Wright augmented with a sixth very short item arising from a recent visit to Newmarket, Ontario.
Each presentation was instructive, entertaining, often both. There wasn't a dud amongst them. The one I enjoyed most was "He Wore His Buttons Well: Discovering the Details of an Epic Rescue at Sea" by Barbara Tose
Barbara's great-uncle, Harry Tose, was the Captain of the Antinoe traversing the Atlantic carrying grain from New York in January 1926. A storm hit that allowed water to penetrate to the grain storage causing it to swell and shift. The Antinoe radioed for assistance, a call answered by the SS President Roosevelt.
Barbara recounted the saga of the four day rescue during which all the Antinoe crew were saved, but two crew members of the Roosevelt lost their lives, and mentioned the resources she found to fill out the story.
One was an epic poem, "The Roosevelt and the Antinoe" by Newfoundland born poet E J Pratt, from which the talk's title was derived. Another information from Captain Harry Tose's grandson, discovered through the BIFHSGO meeting notice posted on the Internet, who she was able to meet during a recent trip to England. I'll leave the others for an article I hope Barbara will write for BIFHSGO's quarterly chronicle, Anglo-Celtic Roots.
Barbara also screened a brief silent newsreel showing the survivors and rescuers on arrival in Britain at the end of the month. A preview version is at http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=24606
Thinking about a DNA test for genealogy?
At Saturday`s BIFHSGO meeting I was asked a question that deserves a FAQ, which DNA test to take. I usually respond with the Socratic: why do you want to take it? Often the response is that it's to satiate a personal interest rather than resolving a specific question. For these folks I'm now recommending an autosomal DNA test, either through Family Tree DNA or 23andMe. They are each superior in different ways.
If you want to do a test soon now would be an excellent time to purchase as both companies have seasonal specials.
If you're in no hurry prices are continuing a long-term decline. A company which has recently gone public, Complete Genomics, is now offering a complete human genome analysis for $10,000, with substantial discounts for bulk orders. There's an interesting article on the company and its services here.
Although Complete Genomics focus is as a service bureau for medical research I doubt we'll be waiting another 10 years for the price to drop below $1,000 including a value added service for genealogy.
As such tests become more affordable and common the Orthodox Church of Genealogy, which already acknowledges that "there is only one way to prove kinships beyond reasonable doubt — DNA testing," and then goes on to add that "as a genealogical standard, that is hardly practical," is going to have to revise it's thinking.
In 1998 the rationale was that "exhuming the bodies of all known John Smiths until an ancestral match is made is impractical, to say the least." When those words were written, the last time the BCG had anything to say on DNA according to their web site, those words might have been true. They predate the first commercial DNA testing service for genealogy establish in 2000. Since then many people have made breakthroughs in family history through DNA. It must be a rare person who has not heard or read of a case. Success stories are common, look here and here.
12 December 2010
Proactive Disclosure Questions
Why is it when senior public servants decide to meet over lunch, when not in travel status, taxpayers pick up the tab? Wouldn't they be eating a lunch anyway? Why aren't such lunches a taxable benefit? Here's an example from LAC.
Hospitality Expenses - 2010
Beechwood Cemetery Christmas Candlelight Service
11 December 2010
TNA Podcast: Madame Rachel of Bond Street
Since at least the time of Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships, many women have been obsessed with beauty. Charlatans of all kinds, and genders, have been happy to pander to their obsession.
Author Helen Rappaport, in a fascinating TNA presentation recorded last October, discusses one of the most extreme operators, the subject of her newest book, Beautiful For Ever. Starting life as Sally Russell, a fish-fryer from London's Clare Market, she became Madame Rachel, proprietor of an exclusive beauty salon dispensing creams and potions promising eternal beauty. Her lies, treachery and blackmail of London high society landed her in jail (or gaol), twice, where she died in 1880.
The presentation throws the spotlight on an aspect of life in Victorian times which many of us will not have thought much about.
Rappaport comments on how much easier it was to do the research behind this book with the array of online genealogical and newspaper resources that exist not compared to when she first researched her family history.
Her book, Beautiful For Ever, does not yet appear to be for sale or in public libraries in Canada. No eBook version could be found.
Library and Archives Canada services information teleconference
I attended an LAC teleconference held on Thursday, December 9, 2010. This was billed as an information session for former Service Advisory Board members. Most participating were from the genealogical community. Jean-Stéphen Piché opened the meeting and introduced the new assistant deputy minister for LAC's Resource Discovery Sector, Cecilia Muir.
One of the more substantive topics was on initiatives the organization is developing on resource discovery. LAC is looking to increase the way it works with like-minded Canadian memory institutions, as demonstrated with the co-production of the "Lest We Forget" initiative; to improve and streamline online resource description, including working with other Canadian institutions on federated search, and; to optimize service channels through a tiered approach based on the level of expertize needed to address the issue - from simple (such as clarification on filling out a form) to complex (such as consultation with a topic expert.)
Cecilia Muir reported on LAC's thinking regarding further consultation. There will be a services advisory board, but composed of perhaps a dozen members as the present 30+ is considered unwieldy. The board grew as attempts were made to be more "inclusive." LAC also plans to convene advisory groups on other aspects of its programs within the coming year.
None of the managers present answered when asked why there have been no consultation meetings for users of 395 Wellington. Similar organizations, such as NARA (the report on their latest meeting is here, and TNA (report here) find such meetings helpful in keeping communication channels open.
Some members of the board expressed concern that meeting agendas had not given members the opportunity to express their views, and have discussion on, items not proposed by LAC. There was also concern with the limited feedback given and to what extent the advice provided actually had any impact.
10 December 2010
Library and Archives Goes Digital: LAC Announce Suite of Digital Services for Canadians by 2017
The following is a press release from Library and Archives Canada:
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- 12/09/10 -- Within the next seven years, Library and Archives Canada will put most of its services online, transforming the country's leading memory institution into a fully engaged digital organization, just in time to celebrate Confederation's 150th anniversary in 2017.
"Taking advantage of new digital information technologies will change not only the way we acquire and preserve our collection but also how we make it accessible to Canadians." explained Dr. Daniel J. Caron, Librarian and Archivist of Canada. "The digital environment is also providing us with opportunities to enhance our services to other documentary heritage institutions. This makes sense from both the client service and business practice perspectives - to stay relevant, we must move forward."
As part of an overall strategy designed to provide more online public access, LAC will take a multi-faceted approach: adapting services and transforming business processes to make access easier, and increasing online content by switching to digital formats.
Easier access:
-- Digital copies - LAC sends out about 750,000 photocopies each year in
response to client requests. Clients are now requesting digital copies.
To better respond to these changing client needs and to contribute to
the preservation of our country's documentary heritage, clients will now
be able to order digital copies of documents found in LAC's collection.
Paper copies will be phased out by April 2011. Digitized documents will
be made available through LAC's web site for repeat requests. By 2012,
LAC will start responding to Access to Information requests by producing
digitized records for clients.
-- Canadian libraries' bibliographic information - The National Union
Catalogue provides Canadians with digital access to a vast store of
information about items in library catalogues from across Canada. In
order to make this information easier to access and share, LAC is
working with contributing libraries to identify common digital search
tools. By 2011, Canadians will be able to access the entire contents of
the National Union Catalogue, representing more than 30 million entries,
using popular on-line search engines.
-- Electronic theses and dissertations submission program - Electronic
theses and dissertations offer unprecedented access to academic
research, contributing to Canada's economic growth and research
potential. The Theses Canada Portal at LAC offers one stop shopping for
this area of LAC's collection, but many universities still provide their
documents in paper form. By 2014, LAC will only accept theses and
dissertations from Canadian universities in electronic form, saving
money in the operation of the program and offering more comprehensive
access.
Increased online content: -- Digitized content - Over the next year, LAC will double the volume of
its on-line content, mounting millions of genealogy images on its
website in partnership with Ancestry.ca. For example, by 2011, Canadians
will be able to access digitized images of original census documents
from 1861 and 1871, which contain the name, age, country or province of
birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canadians at the time.
LAC is also exploring ways to reuse images requested by clients in order
to provide a broad range of digital content from the collection online.
New business processes: -- Government e-records - Governments around the world are moving
consistently towards sharing more information with the public in readily
accessible formats. By 2017, LAC will acquire and preserve all borne
digital federal archival records electronically, making them easier to
find and use.
-- Trusted digital repository - By 2017, LAC will preserve digital material
through a trusted digital repository that meets international standards.
This will safeguard Canada's digital heritage and ensure that it remains
accessible to Canadians in the long term, even after the technology
which created it has changed.
LAC will introduce these and other changes gradually and at no additional cost by working collaboratively with other memory institutions, government departments, universities, researchers and the publishing community. More information on these and additional initiatives will be posted to www.collectionscanada.gc.ca as it becomes available.Library and Archives Canada
The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations, and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. In addition, Library and Archives Canada facilitates cooperation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the government of Canada and its institutions.
Comment:
The announcement says "most of its services," presumably meaning more than 50%. What is that figure now? How is it being measured?
Already at The National Archives in the UK 221 documents are provided virtually, online through the Documents Online service, for every one produced physically. I understand that does not include information provided through partners such as Ancestry.co.uk.
09 December 2010
LAC adds "Medals, Honours and Awards" database
The following is an announcement from Library and Archives Canada:
Ottawa, December 9, 2010 — Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, "Medals, Honours and Awards".
Through this online database, researchers can access more than 113,000 references to medal registers, citation cards and records of various military awards. In addition to archival references, this research tool includes digitized images of some medal registers.
The database is available at:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/medals/index-e.html
Canadian Illustrated News digitized
From the first issue, on October 30 1869 to the final one on December 29, 1883 the weekly Canadian Illustrated News is well known for the window it gives on the times in word and image.
An essential resource, the illustrations only have been available online through Library and Archives Canada for some while, here. Quite a few libraries have original bound volumes, including the Ottawa Public Library.
You can now review a selection of issues through Google's news archive. There is good coverage for the early years, from 1869 to 1872, and scatterred issues thereafter. Browse from here.
BIFHSGO December meeting: Great Moments
Till Debt Us Do Part: A Fleeting Moment
by Tara Grant
Debt is not a modern problem. Our ancestors often spent more than they made - with dire consequences. This talk will take a brief look at one of the speaker’s ancestor's incarceration for debt in the infamous Fleet Prison.
The Serendipitous Fall of My Brick Wall
by Don Mutch
In 2002, Don knew the name of his maternal great great grandfather, John Miller, and that he had lived in Richibucto sometime before 1871. With this scanty information, Don set out to find out all he could about him. Through census records, two family letters dated 1858, online searching, visits to the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick and the towns of Richibucto and Rexton in New Brunswick (June 2005), Don learned more about John Miller, but his great moment came in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, September 2009.
He Wore His Buttons Well: Discovering the Details of an Epic Rescue at Sea
by Barbara Tose
In January 1926, a storm hit the North Atlantic that wreaked havoc on the ships in its path. Many ships were lost with all hands. However, the crew of the merchant ship, the Antinoe, were luckier than most. In a rescue that held the western world enthralled for 4 days, the Captain and crew of the passenger ship, the President Roosevelt, worked tirelessly to save all the men aboard the Antinoe. Barbara’s great-uncle, Harry Tose, was the grateful Captain of the Antinoe. Her father’s knowledge of the event was limited to Canadian poet, E.J. Pratt’s mention of Captain Tose in a poem he wrote about the rescue. Barbara’s talk will outline the resources she discovered that revealed the details of this epic tale.
Homeward Bound From Bannockburn
by Bill Arthurs
This talk will describe a major breakthrough in Bill Arthurs' genealogy, when a 36 of 37 marker DNA correlation was posted by an Arthurs in Ireland which has ended years of research frustration and which places his family place of origin in the town of Donaghmore, County Tyrone, Ireland.
A Visit to an 18th Century Family Farm in Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire
By Hugh Reekie
After many attempts, Hugh finally managed to visit and explore Nether Glengenny Farm, north of Thornhill Dumfriesshire in 2009. He was able to trace the changes in the farm buildings from the early 1600s to the early 1900s, when the present farmhouse was built. Evidence remains of how his forebears lived in the late 1700s.
www.bifhsgo.ca
08 December 2010
1911 census summary books for England and Wales now on Ancestry
The form, as in this sample, gives address, type of building, occupier, whether unoccupied/occupied or building, whether being used as a dwelling, and number of males, females and total people in the building.
These are available for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
You may find the system buggy - after getting some data as above I kept getting a "please search again" message.
Book Review: Publish Your Family History
As stated on its back cover, this book in the Genealogist's Reference Shelf series aims to "tell you all of the fundamentals of book production, together with the important details that distinguish a home published book from a homemade one. You'll learn:
- how to get your manuscript ready for production;
- design ideas for the pages and the cover;
- methods of making pages with all without computer and printing those pages quickly and inexpensively; and
- ideas on bindings that last and look great.
That quote demonstrates implementation of the text's advice about the back cover as a book's selling proposition, albeit in rather more words than recommended. It's the solid advice in this book, and the demonstration of its implementation in the appearance of the volume, that makes it a keeper. Even a cursory flip through the book, and comparison with other volumes in the Genealogist's Reference Shelf series, makes this one stand out for the variety of visual experience in the presentation.
This 2010 version is a reprint of the thoroughly rewritten 2005 version published by OGS, with corrections, based on the original published in 1999. That helps explain some incongruenties in the content. For example, there is advice on designing a cover and what should go on it. Yet the cover of this edition, aside from the colour scheme, is exactly the same design as the others in the series. Also a purchase order, supposedly for this book, indicates a delivery date of March 12, 2005.
These days many of us are self-publishing our family histories with online services like that at lulu.com. That's a business line that has developed substantially since 2005, yet gets hardly a mention in this book.
Nevertheless, for its fundamental good advice this book will find a place on my bookshelf.
Publish your Family History, preserving your heritage in a book, by Susan Yates and Greg Ioannou, is a 152 page paperback, published for the Ontario Genealogical Society by Dundurn Press (2010), ISBN 978-1-55488-727-9, is widely available at online bookstores.
More than 100 new genealogy stories
The 100th edition of Jasia's Carnival of Genealogy is posted with more than 100 stories on the theme "There's One in Every Family." Find the complete list, posted in four sections, at
http://creativegene.blogspot.com/2010/12/carnival-of-genealogy-100th-edition_6808.html
07 December 2010
LAC fails on consultation
On November 30 Librarian and Archivist of Canada Daniel J Caron testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages. The text of his opening remarks was posted at the LAC website here.
His statement points out that "LAC received perfect scores for the provision of its services in both official languages in person or by phone. Concerning the active offer of service by telephone, LAC was one of only three institutions to receive this perfect score."
LAC seems unlikely to post anything about the question period that followed. You can watch an archived video of the session here. A transcript should be posted soon.
Mauril Bélanger, MP for Ottawa-Vanier, noted that the Commissioner of Official Languages gave LAC a grade of D overall for its official languages performance. Caron explained this on the basis that the Commissioner placed a great emphasis on consultation with communities, which has not been an LAC strength. He later added that it was also the result of a misunderstanding that LAC regional facilities do not provide direct service to the public.
Asked by Bélanger whether LAC plans to hold consultations with the community, not just the provinces, Caron appeared not to understand the question. The fact is, and its far more pervasive than just for official languages, that when it comes to consultation LAC management simply appears not to get it.
Asked by Bélanger whether LAC would be considering digitization of the Ottawa newspaper Le Droit as it comes up to its 100th anniversary, Caron responded "we're not into digitization." When pressed he clarified that "if it's the will of the community it could become a project."
LAC's Services Advisory Board, which has not been officially active for a year now, repeatedly during its existence rated newspaper digitization as a high priority. LAC chose not to listen to the will of that community.
Not everything about the session was negative. Richard Nadeau, MP for Gatineau, was quite complimentary about the service he has received from front-line staff while visiting LAC.
Access to Archives of Ontario
Coming out of a meeting between Toronto researchers Katharine Orr, Michael Ball, and Jane MacNamara, and Angela Forest, Acting Provincial Archivist, an announcement on extended hours at the Archives of Ontario is expected on January 14, 2011.
Tentatively, and subject to change, the Archives reading room will open until 8:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday. There will be an archivist on duty during the extended hours, and original (un-microfilmed) material will be available during the extended hours, if ordered and received in advance.
06 December 2010
JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry updated at Ancestry
The JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) is a database of names and other identifying information from cemeteries and burial records worldwide, from the earliest records to the present. The database on Ancestry has now been updated with a free index.
It has two linked components: burial records, and information about each particular cemetery.
I was delighted to see that the London burial record for my great-great grandfather, which has been missing the name of the cemetery, is now available.
Dave Obee reviews "How the Scots Invented Canada"
From his seat at the Victoria Times Colonist prominent West Coast genealogist Dave Obee reviewed Ken McGoogan's new book "How the Scots Invented Canada." Worth a look at www.timescolonist.com/Scots+vital+role+Canadian+history/3930626/story.html
On Their Own: Britain's Child Migrants
We are nearing the end of the Year of the British Home Child in Canada, and the launch of BIFHSGO's book "BRITISH HOME CHILDREN: THEIR STORIES" on 18 December.
A new website, covers all British child migrant destinations, contains videos, interviews with some of the migrant children, and images of very illustrative mementos. See it at http://www.britainschildmigrants.com/
via: The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies newsletter
Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire parish records at FamilySearch
FamilySearch.org continues to add new material to its beta site at https://beta.familysearch.org.
For England the latest addition is 157,240 images of births/christenings, deaths/burials, marriages and mixed church records. while there is no name indexing the original record images are presented as groups of years divided more finely than on a typical microfilm.
Lancashire, with 92 parishes available, constitutes the bulk of this release. There are three parishes for Cheshire and five for Yorkshire, mostly for parishes bordering Lancashire.
TNA Podcast: Cabinet Papers 1915-1979
05 December 2010
Looking ahead to Gene-O-Rama 2011
Gene-O-Rama, OGS Ottawa Branch's annual conference, stimulates thoughts of spring for Ottawa genealogists. We look forward to warmer days, more daylight and gathering to renew acquaintances, listen, learn, and be entertained. Before that there will be the fury of winter storms to endure, but with the topic and speakers for the Gene-O-Rama program now announced we can anticipate pleasures four months hence, on April 1-2, 2011.
The topic is "Ancestors on the Move"
For the Pat Horan Lecture the presenter will be perennial favourite Fawne Stratford-Devai. The banquet is speaker Lesley Anderson. Both will be making other presentaions, along with Doug Hoddinott, Gillian Magnan, Shirley-Ann Pyefinch, Sylvie Tremblay, Kyla Ubbink, and Glenn Wright.
Major London cemetery now online
The following is an announcement from Deceasedonline.com
Over ½m burial and cremation records for north and central London
Burial and cremation records dating from 1854 for the boroughs of Islington and Camden in central north London are now on Deceased Online. Two conjoined cemeteries, St Pancras and Islington, form the largest single cemetery in London and, in burial numbers, the largest in the UK.
Of the 800,000 burial records, approximately 70% of these are available immediately with the remainder to be uploaded within the next 3 to 4 months. The 575,000 records currently available comprise nearly 362,000 for the Islington section between 1854 and 1945 and the remaining 213,000 for the St Pancras section are for 1854 to 1898, and 1905 to 1911. Also available now are 46,500 records from Islington Crematorium which date back to 1937. The 8,500 most recent cremation records will be added in the next few months, together with the remaining cemetery records.
The cemeteries and crematorium serve a large catchment area across Central and North London and will therefore be a major research resource. The burial records are in the form of scans of registers; grave details indicating all occupants are available immediately for St Pancras Cemetery, and for Islington Cemetery will follow in the near future. The cremation records include scans of registers.
Notable burials include Henry Croft, the original Pearly King; violinist and conductor Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens, John Hickey (survivor of the charge of the Light Brigade complete with a memorial erected by, among others, Jerome K Jerome); MP and industrialist Alfred Mond, interred in a stunning mausoleum; recipients of the Victoria Cross and hundreds of other war graves; Ford Maddox Brown, the Pre-Raphaelite painter; and Cora Crippen (aka Belle Elmore), alleged victim of Dr Harvey Crippen.
Over the next few months, maps of areas in the cemetery indicating grave locations will be uploaded together with photographs of many notable memorials and headstones.
The Deceased Online database for London is now over 1.1 million including the Borough areas of Islington, Camden, Havering and Merton. Many more records for other areas in London will be added in the near future.
Comment: This is a major addition to the deceasedonline website, and delivered as promised months ago (although the cemtery was kept confidential). St Pancras and Islington cemeteries are prominent in the workhouse and infirmary records for the area.
04 December 2010
Let's flush it out, please
I like to think of myself as not overly fussy about pronunciation, spelling, grammar and terminology. Moving from one country to another you are challenged to adapt to all kinds of variations.
When I first came to Canada I recall being amazed when hearing someone refer with affection to their ant Ethel. How could an insect merit such devotion? It took me a while to figure out they meant aunt not ant.
In the over three years I lived in the US I adapted more, even saying zee rather than zed. Now I happily use store for shop, and truck for lorry, much to the chagrin of my UK relatives.
But there's one thing, as Churchill said "up with which I will not put."
Family historians speak of "putting flesh on the bones" of our genealogy to develop a picture of an ancestor as a person rather than a collection of statistics.
We put flesh on the bones by "fleshing it out."
We get rid of something by "flushing it out."
But how many times have I heard people say the one when they mean the other?
A Google search for < genealogy "flush it out" - flesh > yielded 1,910 results, whereas
A Google search will also find several posts by people just as aggravated by this misuse as I am.
You don't have to use either. There are plenty of other hackneyed, phrases such as "Paint a picture", "bring them to life", "breathe life into them", "make them come alive." Perhaps you could even be creative.
Createyourlifestory.com
Anglo-Celtic Connections is a magnet. Every day I have to deal with a certain amount of spam, despite the efficient filtering from Google. The compensation is the happy serendipity, an e-mail that draws my attention to a family history resource of which I was unaware.
Recently I received one such from Australian Ian Kath who, amongst other things, runs a website at http://createyourlifestory.
It shows people how to record, edit and publish a Life Story of either themselves or someone they know before it's too late. He offers a 26 episode (so far) podcast series and free 26 page e-Book, all full of good advice and motivation to get you going.
He mentions that he came to this project via his experience with a podcast, Your Story started in 2007 to "capture and share the lives of some of the wonderful people that I meet."
Ian has a real talent in drawing out people's stories and personality through conversation. The latest podcast in that series is with Australian author John Birmingham, and I have to say it, despite distracting whistled sibilants.
If createyourlifestory.com can teach and motivate us to be half as good as Ian in bringing personal and family stories to life, half because we don't all have his chatty (his word) personality, we'll be leaving an amazing audio legacy.
FreeBMD December Update
The FreeBMD Database was updated on Fri 3 Dec 2010 and currently contains 194,153,764 distinct records (247,268,145 total records). Major additions this update are from 1937 to 1951.
With very minor gaps births are complete to the end of 1932, and for 1934, 1936, 1941 and 1947. The most recent entries are from 1952.
Marriages are virtually complete from 1837 to 1919, 1921-1937, 1939, 1942-1947. There are scattered entries as late as 1952.
There are minor gaps in death records (less than 5%) up to 1936. 1938-1941 are complete as is 1944. There is a smattering of entries into the 1960s.
03 December 2010
LAC: ordering documents for online delivery
Last month Library and Archives Canada (LAC) was "pleased to announce that it is modernizing its textual reprography services in order to meet growing client demand for digital copies. Therefore, as of November 15, 2010, LAC will now offer copies of various textual records in digital format."
Living in Ottawa with convenient access to LAC I don't need to order a copy of most archival documents. I can go online to order the document to be produced, jump on a bus when it's available, and view the original at 395 Wellington. If I take my digital camera I can make copies at no cost.
As I wanted to look again at my great uncle's CEF service file it was an opportunity to try the new service, especially as "LAC will add digitized images generated by client requests to its website, whenever permissible, thereby making a broader range of LAC holdings available to Canadians." If I pay to make my great uncle`s file available online it should be is accessible to everyone for evermore.
After finding the archival reference in the LAC's Soldiers of the First World War - CEF database, I selected the Copies and Reproductions link from near the top of the LAC homepage. The next page has a link to Online Order Form for Photocopies and Reproductions, and also a link to Price List and Service Standards from which I found that as a Senior I`d be charged 30c per page rather than 40c for standard service, order processed within 30 (calendar or working?) days of receipt.
On the order form I had to respond to three bureaucratic items, then moved on to specify the material I wanted copied.
Asked to specify the reproduction format desired I found out through a phone call you don't ask for`a |"digital copy" which would seem to be the obvious choice, but a "photo copy or PDF." Then, on the following page where you enter the archival reference for the material needed, you specify "PDF - URL (an URL address will be provided to you once the order is completed)." There appears to be no specification of the resolution (dpi) of the pdf images supplied.
Under "prices and service standards/special instructions," I noted I qualified for the Seniors price, and confirmed that was the way to do it in a phone call. Apparently I will be asked to provide an image of a drivers license or other suitable document showing my age in order to qualify, something I should only have to do once.
The next step was to enter credit card information, which I noticed was on the secure (https://) website. I was slightly hesitant to do this as there is no indication of how much it will cost. The helpful person on the phone inform me that the typical WW1 service file is 40 - 75 pages, so upward of $13.50, plus tax at the Senior rate.
I received a prompt automated confirmation of receipt of the order on December 2nd. I'll be interested to see whether the holiday period helps clarify whether it's 30 calendar or working days.
With the exception of the items noted above the ordering process went smoothly. Although the cost is higher than I would pay if I went to LAC taking into account the time it would take just for travel, at minimum wage, means I'm coming out ahead - as long as the need is not time critical.
For those outside Ottawa the benefit is clearly greater. The service is tangible progress toward the LAC goal of making their service more equitably available across Canada. I hope others use it, and provide feedback to LAC.
LAC management should evaluate the cost of this service after they have some experience with it. The per page cost of digital copying is perhaps a couple of cents. There is no toner or paper cost as with hard copy. Retrieving the material, and the administrative overhead, don't depend on the number of pages copied so it would seem fairer to charge a set-up fee plus a low per image fee.
LAC launches Canadian Families database
The following is an announcement from Library and Archives Canada.
Ottawa, December 2, 2010 - Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, Canadian Families.
Through this online database, researchers can access references to baptisms, marriages and burials inscribed in church records held at Library and Archives Canada. This database will expand slowly over the next few years as more references are added.
The database is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/families/index-e.html
----------------
A quick review of search results indicates that the database is populated with information from three sources:
The Kipling collection comprising 19th century baptisms, marriages and burials from St.John's Anglican Church, Winnipeg, Manitoba, St.Andrew's Anglican Church, Lockport, Manitoba, and a few from St.Boniface Roman Catholic Church, St.Boniface, Manitoba.
The W J (Bill) Miller collection from Leeds County, Ontario
The St. Andrew's Church, Williamstown. Ontario, records from the first two decades of the 19th century.
02 December 2010
Upper Canada Land Board (1765-1804)
The following is an announcement from Library and Archives Canada.
| Ottawa, December 2, 2010 - Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, "Upper Canada Land Board (1765-1804)." Through this online database, researchers can access more than 16,000 references to documents of the Upper Canada Land Board between 1765 and 1804. The Land Boards were created in 1789 to oversee land matters and facilitate settlement in the districts of Hesse, Luneburg, Mecklenburg and Nassau. This territory is now part of the province of Ontario. The database can be accessed at the following address: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/uclandboard/index-e.html ----------------  Here is a sample of the information in the database. |
What every genealogist doesn't need this Christmas
You're accustomed to seeing lists of gift suggestions at this time of year. Technology and books are always high on my list (hint). Turning things around, here's a warning about something you don't want, and how to avoid being a victim, courtesy of an email from Pierce Reid in Toronto.
"A couple of days ago, a local volunteer's email was compromised.
An email was sent out apparently from her user id saying she was overseas, had got into some sort of difficulty, and needed money to get back home. Recipients of the email were asked reply to her to get further information. NOTE: The "Reply to:" address was at live.com, not her regular ISP.
This was a variation of a standard scam, but it got some of her friends concerned for her 'situation'. I think it would be useful remind your readers not to send money or financial or other private information based simply on an email, even if the email pointed them to an apparently legitimate web site.
Another point to note, for users to protect their own ID: take care when using shared computers, or even their own laptops (which could fall into the wrong hands). When using a browser to access email, be sure that you don't ask the computer to remember you on that computer, and remember to fully sign out of your email (not just close the browser) before leaving the computer. (I only access my email from my laptop using a browser interface, and not a mail client like Outlook/Windows Mail or Thunderbird. If I lose my laptop, the finder can't get access to my email.)"
Along the same lines, Dick Eastman has a helping of always timely advice" ... all hard drives WILL crash someday. The only question is "when?" Make your backups today."
Ancestry month end database additions
Ancestry often add a slew of new databases, in this cases a mixed assortment, to their collection at the end of the month. Here is their list of additions for England, and a couple of others, posted on November 30th
01 December 2010
New Ottawa City Archives Update: 29 November 2010
The access road from Tallwoods behind the new building has now been installed and street lamps are in place. Some of the exterior finish is yet to be installed.
There is good progress since my last visit on the entrance plaza with the walkway up to the main entrance from the east now installed. Again, work is still underway on the exterior finish of the building
Looking from the south-west there does not appear to have been much progress on windows and the exterior finish in the past two weeks.
Given likely unfavourable weather and vacation time in December will the building will be ready for the archives to move in at the start of January 2011 as planned? I'm no expert. It looks doubtful. The lease for the present archives location at 111 Sussex Drive expires at the end of December. How will material required to be kept in archival storage be housed in the interim?
23andMe extends holiday sale
DNA testing company 23andMe is moving aggressively in the face of competition to maintain leadership. The price reduction in place for the Black Friday weekend is extended, as announced on their blog at
http://spittoon.23andme.com/2010/11/30/holiday-sale-extended-through-christmas/
A 23andMe press release, here, explains a new chip with enhanced capabilities including testing more than one million SNPs. I was delighted to find that the sample I just returned will be processed with the new chip but will not require the monthly fee they have introduced - the best of both worlds. Sometimes procrastination pays.
Findmypast.co.uk adds fully name searchable marriage indexes for England and Wales fully indexed GRO marriage
Findmypast.co.uk announce the ability to search the England and Wales marriage indexes between 1837–2005 in a single search. The Findmypast search is now of a full nominal index database. It extends the range of dates available through FreeBMD, and means you don't have to search in two segments, pre and post 1915, as with Ancestry.
To the extent the information supplied and the original data permit, the search finds both partners to the marriage with a single search, a facility the company calls MarriageMatchTM
The marriage record indexes are the second phase of FMP's project to fully name index GRO birth, marriage and death records. Fully indexed birth and marriage indexes are now available, fully indexed death records are expected to be online in early 2011.
