Findmypast additions: Middlesex, Cambridgshire, Jamaica

Middlesex Baptisms
Records are added from four parishes transcribed by Findmypast from holdings at The National Archives (RG7 Series) and the College of Arms. A few include an image. The parishes are:

Hampton (1554 to 1876) 11,541 records
Hayes (1557 to 1875) 9,816 records
Hornsey (1653 to 1876) 7,017 records
Stanwell (1631 to 1919) 12,140 records.

Cambridgeshire Burials
Findmypast has added to burial records for Mt Pleasant Cemetery, Wisbech. There are now 3,726 transcript burial records for Wisbeach.

Jamaica, Civil Death Registrations
Find 1,945,098 entries from the late 1870s to 1995 in this collection. Each has a linked image of the original record. It's sad to see so many infant registrations with no first name.
FMP has also added the Royal Gazette of Jamaica to the newspaper collection.

Gail Collins RIP

With the death of Gail Diane Collins on Monday 16 March 2020 Canada has lost a prominent contributor to improved understanding of British home children

After retiring from the Lincoln County School Board where she worked as a secretary for many years. Gail extracted information from a variety of documents on the children brought to Canada by movement pioneer Maria Rye. She, along with British colleague Chris Sanham, compiled an index of the Rye children, 1869-1879 which is included in Library and Archives Canada's Home Children Records database. It has information about the sources consulted and notes about the ships on which the children arrived.

Gail was always ready to help people researching their home child ancestor, in-person and online, and was involved in the making of a commemorative quilt to educate the public about the British Home Children.

Gail was also an advocate for support to ex-servicemen who did not receive their pensions
because they had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals.

How Many Canadian Second World War Veteran Survivors?

According to the Veterans Affairs Canada Departmental Plan 2020–2021, as of 31 March 2020, it is estimated that there are 631,300 Veterans in Canada. This includes 599,400 Canadian Armed Forces Veterans and 31,900 War Service Veterans (WSV).

Estimates of WSV survivors from a year previous, March 2019, are for the Second World War, 33,200 of average age 94; for the Korean War, 6,500 of average age 87. Of the total estimated WSV survivor population of 39,700, 83.6% were from the Second World War.

Those WSV population estimates are based on the 1971 Statistics Canada Census and the 1988 Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey updated annually using survival rates from Statistics Canada life tables. That's a considerable extrapolation.

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) would be expected to have better figures on the number of WSV's being served which, according to Table 1.3 as of 31 March 2019 was 15,644, an estimated 39% of the total WSVs.

The bar chart shows the recent history of WSVs served by VAC and projected to be served through 2024. An exponential fit to the data shows about 79% of those alive at the start of the year surviving until the new year.

Applying 79% survival to the 33,200 estimated by VAC for March 2019 there are 31,300 Canadian Second World War Veteran survivors as of March 2020.

Because the basis of the 2019 figure is the 1971 Statistics Canada Census and the 1988 Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey updated with general population data from Statistics Canada life tables I'd expect a substantial error in that estimate.

Welcome Spring

Thursday, March 19, 2020, at 11:50 pm (EDT) marks the Vernal (Spring) Equinox, the earliest it has occurred in 124 years. A reason for joy.

War Bride Bibliography

BIFHSGO has started a project on Canadian War Brides with an emphasis on those from the UK. Much has been written by and about them. The 32 books below are a start on compiling a list which is restricted to non-fiction. If you find errors or omissions please let me know.

War Bride Abbreviated Bibliography

Bardwell, Iris Dorothy. Different Times, Different Places: the Story of Iris Dorothy Bardwell, Nee Abraham: an English/Canadian War Bride. William T. Overy Writing Services, 2011.
Barrett, Barbara B., and Eileen Dicks. We Came from over the Sea: British War Brides in Newfoundland. British War Brides Association of Newfoundland and Labrador in Co-Operation with ESPress, 1996.
Bodrog, Jay. The War Brides of Perth County: a Brief History of the War Brides of the Second World War Who Emigrated from England and Holland, with Personal Recollections and Anecdotes. Perth County Historical Foundation, 2009.
Buick, Alan J. The Little Coat: the Bob and Sue Elliott Story. BookBaby, 2012.
Campbell, Olive Fisher. Shattered Dreams. General Store Pub. House, 2005.
Ellinor-Lyster, Eswyn. Most Excellent Citizens: Canada's War Brides of World War II: a History. Trafford Pub., 2009.
Faryon, Cynthia J. A War Bride's Story: Risking It All for Love after World War II. CNIB, 2007.
Galloway, Orpha E. Women of the War Years: Stories of Determination and Indomitable Courage. O.E. Galloway, 2000.
Grainger, Joan. The Toad in the Shoe: a War Bride's Memories. Joan Grainger, 2006.
Granfield, Linda. Brass Buttons and Silver Horseshoes: Stories from Canada's British War Brides. CNIB, 2003.
Jarratt, Melynda. Captured Hearts: New Brunswick's War Brides. Goose Lane Editions and the New Brunswick Military Heritage Project, 2008.
Jarratt, Melynda. War Brides: the Stories of the Women Who Left Everything Behind to Follow the Men They Loved. Dundurn, 2009.
Kasaboski, Tracy, and Kristen Den Hartog. The Occupied Garden: Recovering the Story of a Family in the War-Torn Netherlands. McClelland & Stewart, 2008.
Kozar, Judy. Canada's War Grooms and the Girls Who Stole Their Hearts. General Store Pub. House, 2007.
Ladouceur, Barbara, and Phyllis Spence. Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories. Ronsdale Press, 2000.
Lambert, Barbara Ann. War Brides & Rosies: Powell River and Stillwater, B.C. Trafford Publishing, 2012.
Macaulay, Margaret, and Horace R. Macaulay. Surrey Girl: "Not Just Another War Bride". HRM Pub., 2006.
MacDonald, Eileen. Promise in the Void. Rebekah Allen, 2017.
McHardy Aimée. An Airman's Wife: a True Story of Lovers Separated by War. Grub Street, 2007.
O'Hara, Peggy. From Romance to Reality. CNIB, 2002.
Oliphant, Betty. Miss O: My Life in Dance. Turnstone Press, 1996.
Olson, Joan. Prairie Initiation: a War Bride Story. Benchmark Press, 2014.
Paterson, Doris J. Confessions of a War Bride. Trafford On Demand Pub, 2011.
Phibbs, Lilian Harper, and Murray Kenneth Phibbs. Memory Lane: a Love Story. Lilian Harper Phibbs, 2019.
Pringle, Sherry. Extraordinary Women, Extraordinary Times: Canadian Women of World War II. Borealis Press, 2015.
Rains, Olga. We Became Canadians. The Author, "Overnight" Copy Service, 1984 (Peterborough, Ont.
Ramshaw, Betty. Oh Canada. B. Ramshaw, 2014.
Shewchuck, Helen Hall. If Kisses Were Roses: a 50th Anniversary Tribute to War Brides: Canada Remembers. Helen (Hall) Shewchuck, 1996.
Smith, Taylor. Deadly Grace. Mira, 2014.
Tosh, Beverley, and Laura Brandon. War Brides: One-Way Passage. Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery, 2008.
Wicks, Ben. Promise You'll Take Care of My Daughter: the Remarkable War Brides of World War II. Stoddart, 1992.

Another important source is online material from Pier21 — https://pier21.ca/category/war-brides.

COVID-18 Cancellation News

Perhaps you got this message from Dianna Fulton, Chair of OGS/Ontario Ancestors Conference 2020

We continue to monitor the rapidly evolving COVID-19 outbreak and the challenges it poses to events like the Ontario Ancestors Conference. As of today, March 18, we plan to move forward with the Conference, June 5-7, 2020. A formal re-evaluation will take place in mid-April regarding the viability of holding the conference. We will provide you with updates to keep you informed.

This means:

We recognize the uncertainty that these difficult times mean for all of us. Accordingly, in order to allow you to continue to make plans, while reserving the right to change your plans without cost, our registration refund period has been extended to May 5. That's right, you can register now, and be assured that you can cancel your plans at any time up to, and including May 5, and obtain a 100% refund of your registration fees. We hope that this extension will allow you to register for Conference and to continue with your planning, while providing you assurance that you will be entitled to a full refund if circumstances change for you, and you wish to cancel your registration for any reason. We hope you will join us in planning to attend Conference 2020.

Conference Early Bird registration will continue until April 30. After April 30 fees will increase by $35. If there is an ultimate decision to cancel the conference, all registrants will receive a full refund.

Click here to Register

We know how much Ontario Ancestors Conference means to our community. While we hope that we won’t have to cancel, we recognize that it is a possibility. We are striving to balance making an informed decision by giving our members, sponsors, and all attendees enough time to plan.

COMMENT
Dianna and the conference committee likely have as much information as I do. I'd be surprised if the conference goes ahead.

Cancellations
Due to the current health implications concerning the Covid-19 pandemic Family Tree Live is cancelled. The organizers thank their partners, sponsors, lecturers and workshop tutors, as well as everyone who purchased tickets. Details on refunds or alternative options forthcoming.

The 31st Scottish Association of Family History Societies Annual Conference scheduled in Musselburgh, East Lothian, on Saturday 18 April 2020 has been cancelled.

Guild of One-Name Studies
The Guild 41st Anniversary Conference and AGM 2020 “Sources and Resources” is scheduled for 24-26 April at Jurys Inn Oxford. The latest advice from the Guild dated 10 March retained the event. It appears it was not cancelled as doing so without the government banning such meetings would incur the Guild paying the full cost. Expect another announcement on Thursday at https://one-name.org/guild-conference-agm/.  UPDATE:  The cancellation was announced with the Guild able to arrange it without loss of their deposit by committing to the same location in 2021.

The Last Post Ceremony, the daily act of remembrance at the Menin Gate Memorial, will go ahead each evening but the public are asked not to attend due to the unprecedented spread of the coronavirus.

LAC CoLab Update for March

Here's the monthly update on Co-Lab challenges projects as of 17 March showing some good progress.


PROGRESS

Women Lightkeepers: heroes by the sea is 96% complete (new this month).

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin is 5% complete (new this momth).

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities is 2% complete (0% last month).

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War is 42% complete (new this month).

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is 63% complete (61% last month).

The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters is 93% complete (88% last month)

Rosemary Gilliat (Eaton)’s Arctic diary and photographs is 69% complete (43% last month)

New France and First Nations Relations is 39% complete (33% last month).

NO CHANGE OR REVISED

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner is 99% complete

War Diaries of the First World War: 1st Canadian Division is 94% complete

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War is 64% complete

Letters from Wilfrid Laurier to Zoé Lafontaine/Laurier is 98% complete.

COMPLETED

The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918–1919.

Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes.

COMMENT
One of the indicators for the LAC Three-year plan 2019-2022 is the number of records enhanced by user contributions in the Co-Lab crowdsourcing tool. The indicator is to be released quarterly as is the indicator number of images digitized via DigiLab.

Anglo-Celtic Roots: Spring 2020

By far the best article in the Spring 2020 issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots is by Patricia Roberts-Pichette and Christine Jackson. Celebrating an “Invaluable Resource”― the Middlemore Project tells the story of the continuing Middlemore project and particularly Patricia's visit to the launch of The Lost Children Exhibition in Birmingham. It focused on the work of Middlemore and the children who passed into and out of the organization's care.

Patricia and the BIFHSGO volunteers who assisted her must feel gratified over the recognition this work received.

Also in this issue are entries from the Society 25th Anniversary writing competition. Second place winner  Lynda Gibson describes the journey her great-great-grandparents made from Scotland to Canada and explores what the experience was like for those who lived it.

Dianne Brydon, the second of three honourable mentions in the competition, delves into the asylums of Ontario from 1877 to 1910 with her well researched but sad story of Mary Brydon.

Sheila Dohoo Faure pens an article in the series on the No. 1 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station research project, this one on Corporal Launcelot Gange Spooner.

There's also my Cream of the Crop column with resources from recent blog posts and the minutes of last year's AGM.

The Roberts-Pichette / Jackson article shows an admirable contribution to service, beyond the exposition of an individual's story; the type of article I'd choose as a competition winner, with the prize that goes along with it.

The Antidote

... for boredom that is ...

Mike More posted on Facebook.

If you start getting bored at home, we are always looking for people to index the Family Histories in the OGS Provincial Library. And my Anti-Virus is up to date, so no chance of getting infected by one of our files. 

What I really need now is people to "proof" the books that include indexes. I run the index through Adobe Acrobat Pro to produce a MS Excel file. I will do a quick clean-up of the Excel file and hopefully, eliminate a lot of junk. However the Excel file still needs to be proofed:

1. Ensure names are in the correct columns

2. Ensure names are spelled correctly

3. Remove any superfluous data not already eliminated above.

Proofing indexes is time consuming, so we don't put page numbers on each entry. Researchers can look in the book's index.

If you are willing to help, contact me at toni@ogs.on.ca.

Closed Until Further Notice

That's the message in the present pandemic situation for all Galleries, Museums, Archives and Libraries. It applies to genealogical and family history societies, family history centres and the like.

Some may give a date they'd hope to reopen but given what we don't know about how the spread will respond to evolving countermeasures that's just speculation. Warmer weather may help.

Many/Most institutions still have web access and may be able to respond to enquiries online or by phone. "May be" are the operative words ... with kids out of school and daycare and people self-isolating staffing levels will be affected, depending on work-at-home arrangements.

In this time of stress on institutions accept that deadlines will slip.

David Rajotte, an archivist at LAC, has compiled a list of online courses, videos and podcasts related to archives. They are mainly for the professional archivist but some may be of interest to you. Find the list at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZVUfmCdVEsTbA93kdlQBxi7LGyjLKiG2swAVpICa5ew/edit?usp=sharing.

Findmypast St Patrick's Day Discount

Happy St Patrick's Day

While St. Patrick’s Day events are curtailed Findmypast has come through with a St Patrick offer of 40% off any 12-month subscription, available before 22 March 2020.

The small print is that the discount can only be used once per user and can only be redeemed using a valid credit/debit card. After the initial discounted period, your subscription will automatically renew at full price unless you switch off auto-renew on the 'My subscription' page when logged into the site.

Try this link address to claim the discount

Sometimes those don't work in which case contact Findmypast at +1 (855) 246-8234 between 7am and 5pm (ET) Monday to Friday.

Genealogy Events Status: UK and Quebec

November's RootsTech London event 2020
is already cancelled. What about others?

The Family Tree Live event scheduled for Alexandra Palace, London, 17 - 18 April 2020 has posted the following statement.

Coronavirus update: Family Tree Live
"Please be assured we have been working extensively with Alexandra Palace to review our protocols and processes ahead of the upcoming show.

We continue to closely monitor government guidelines and should they advise event cancellations we will organize transfers or refunds for both traders & visitors.

In the meantime, we look forward to welcoming you."

The Scottish Association of Family History Societies has no news about a possible cancellation of an event scheduled for Musselburgh 18 April 2020

THE Genealogy Show is scheduled 26 - 27 June 2020 at The National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The word from Kirsty Gray is that a statement will be issued by the end of the week.

The Family History Show, sponsored by TheGenealogist is planned for the York Racecourse on 20 June and, in London on 26 September, at Kempton Park Racecourse. So far no information on whether they will continue.

In Quebec, the Quebec Family History Society Discover Your British Isles Roots Conference
Saturday, 28 March is postponed indefinitely. Decisions on postponements of later events, including the Ancestry Day on 9 May are pending.

FreeBMD March Update

The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 12 March 2020 to contain 273,825,854 unique records (273,498,540 at previous update).

Years with major additions, greater than 5,000 records are: for births 1843 (decrease), 1982, 1984-89; for marriages 1964, 1984-87; for deaths 1984-88.

www.freebmd.org.uk/

Early Trade and Residential Directories from TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist has released a collection of 24 Early Trade and Residential Directories that cover the years 1816-1839.

Over half are for London, the rest for England except one for Glasgow.

These early directories, now searchable by name for the period, mainly listed names of tradespeople and prominent citizens. Perhaps somewhat less than 10% of the population are included — by no means complete but an important resource pre-dating nominal censuses. In the release are:

Derby 1829 History, Gazetteer and Directory;
Devonshire 1830 Pigot's Directory;
Durham 1828 White's Directory;
Essex 1832-1833 Pigot's Directory;
Glasgow 1831-1832 Post Office Directory;
Lincolnshire 1826/7 Directory;
Liverpool 1816 Gore's Directory;

London 1816 Post Office Directory;
London 1819 Robson's Directory;
London 1822 Post Office Directory;
London and Provincial 1823-1824 New Commercial Pigot Directory;
London 1824 Post Office Directory;
London 1826 Post Office Directory;
London 1828 Robson's Commercial Directory;
London 1829 Robson's Trades Directory;
London 1831 Post Office Directory;
London 1833 Robson's Directory;
London 1836 Post Office Directory;
London 1837 Post Office Directory;
London 1839 Post Office Directory;

Norfolk 1830 Pigot's Directory;
Northumberland 1828 White's Directory;
Nottinghamshire 1832 White’s Directory;
Suffolk 1830 Pigot's Directory.

Backsliding Evident in LAC Departmental Plan 2020–2021

Scanning this word cloud based on the section Providing access to documentary heritage of the LAC Departmental Plan 2020–2021 you might get the impression digital is an important thrust for LAC's activities in the coming fiscal year.

Various forms of digit* are found, three times in the Minister's preface, and eight in the Librarian and Archivist's.

The document acknowledges that "Most Canadians want access to content online; digitization is essential to expanding digital access to LAC’s collection from coast to coast to coast. In 2020–21, digitization efforts will focus on Indigenous documentary heritage and reference materials."

How assiduously will LAC proceed? The "result indicator" for "Amount of LAC holdings digitized for access" shows a target of 3.5 million images. Compare that to the achievement of 4.8 million images in 2018-19  (the last year reported),10.2 million images in 2017-18 and 9.3 million images in 2016-17. The target for 2019-20 was 10 million.

IF DIGITIZATION IS ESSENTIAL WHY IS LESS BEING TARGETED?

And why are all targets for providing access less ambitious than in previous years?

In the whole plan, there is not one mention of newspapers or directories which are prime candidates for digitization. There's no mention of finding aids. Those resources are of interest to a broad range of Canadians, and especially LAC's largest client group — genealogists. Again this year the plan makes no mention of genealogy.

Overall from a public client perspective, this is a disappointing plan.

I'd hoped to ask Librarian and Archivist Leslie Weir about this departmental plan, in particular plans for the digitization of  LAC s collection of 2,300 Canadian newspaper titles, one of LAC'S three most used, after her presentation to the Archives Association of Ontario East. It was scheduled for next Thursday. but sadly that presentation is another casualty of the pandemic.

Deceased Online Adds Three Further East Cheshire Cemeteries

Completing Deceased Online's East Cheshire collection, which now comprises 245,800 burials, are indexed scans of the original burial registers and details of those buried in the same grave for Alderley Edge, Knutsford, and Wilmslow Cemeteries. These are smaller cemeteries.

Alderley Edge Cemetery, a rural area of four acres, has 3,000 records from 1907 to 1997. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists 9 burials from WW1 and 6 from WW2.

Knutsford Cemetery, five acres of rural land, has 6,500 records from 1902 to 1997. There are 23 CWGC burials from WW1 and 9 from WW2.

Wilmslow Cemetery, with 4.5 acres of land, has 5,800 records from 1907 to 1997. There are 10 CWGC burials from WW1 and 13 from WW2.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

This past week Ancestry had some problems adding items to its catalogue. It's now fixed (apparently) surfacing a database of 27,370 items added on 5 March — London, England, Royal Holloway and Bedford College Student Registers, 1849-1931. Among the first places in Britain where women could access higher education were Bedford College opened in 1849 and Royal Holloway College in 1886. In 1900, the colleges became part of the University of London merging to form Royal Holloway in 1985. Find a searchable index and images of the originals. You may find some unusual names, as I did searching for last name Reid, almost as if the handwritten documents had been machine transcribed and not reviewed.

Ancestry also updated the database Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1637-1935 (in French) to 6,529,462 records.

COVID-19
With the situation expected over the next few weeks cancellations have been escalating. All Family History Centres are closed as are all Ottawa Public Library Branches, which means Historical Society of Ottawa events cancelled. No OGS events up to an including Gene-O-Rama. RootsTech London has been cancelled for 2020, which seems quite surprising considering it was not scheduled until November.

For perspective, compare total deaths from the Johns Hopkins University Database (5,819 as of Saturday evening) with those from the influenza pandemic of 1918–19 which killed between 20 and 100 million people, including about 30,000–50,000 Canadians. And remember, the world population was 1.8 billion in 1918 compared to 7.8 billion today.

What to do instead 
With the withdrawal of services, and especially if you're self-isolating, why not consider this as a case of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  You probably have a mental list of things you've been procrastinating over. I do. This is the chance to pick one or more items and get going. As a start try some online education. For instance, there are new items in the MyHeritage Knowledge Base.

Webinars
Introduction to DNA Testing in Genealogy and Family History
How to Use the Smart Matches & Record Matches MyHeritage Technologies
Suggested Relationship Paths: An Inside Look at the Theory of Family Relativity
Get the Most from the MyHeritage Search Engine for Historical Records
Following Your Family’s Immigration Trail on MyHeritage
MyHeritage: New Advanced Features and Technologies
Tune Up Your Family Tree with the MyHeritage Consistency Checker
Visualizing Ancestral Lines with DNA AutoClusters

Articles
What Smart Matches™ Are and How to Make the Most of Them
How to Get the Most Out of Your Family Site
Fun with Family Statistics
How to Start Building Your Family Tree on MyHeritage
How to Keep Track of Family Events with MyHeritage
What’s Considered a Strong DNA Match?
Managing Your Privacy on MyHeritage
Displaying Family Names on MyHeritage

If you're interested in Ireland and DNA and can spare 40 minutes try The Irish DNA Atlas – Revealing Irish History through Genetics from Edmund Gilbert.

The Yale Problem Begins In High School
On victimhood culture.

Just saying.
Did anyone notice that most of the senior government people (not politicians) speaking in COVID-19 are women?

Thanks to this week's contributors
Ann Burns, Bill Clayton, Bryan Douglas Cook, BT, Daniel Horowitz, Diana Thomson, Gail Dever, Jenna Bruno, Linda Stufflebean, Richard McGregor.

Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections 14th Anniversary: Black Sheep

Today, 14 March 2020, is the 14th anniversary of the start of this blog.


On day one, the first post was on Library Elf which is still going strong.

The other that day, Black Sheep was on ancestors who might have held a political office. I wondered if, after 14 years, the links still work.

For the US, House Document No. 108-222, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress 1774 - 2005 is no longer available for download at the address given then, www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/hd108-222/index.html, but is still accessible through the amazing Internet Archive.

The link for basic information on members of Canada's Parliament, both houses, since 1867 is no longer active. It appears to have been migrated to the Parliamentarians link at https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/.

Fourteen years ago information on early members of the British Parliament was in a costly series of publications entitled "The History of Parliament." Now the information from 1386 to 1832 is online at www.historyofparliamentonline.org/research/members. For current MPs and Lords information is at https://members.parliament.uk/. I was unable to find a consolidated source for British ex-MPs after 1832. You could try a search -- many are in Wikipedia and would be in Who's Who or Who Was Who.

OGS COVID-19 Response

Steve Fulton, OGS/Ontario Ancestors President, announces "All Society public-facing events, volunteer work and research groups will be suspended until April 5th, starting tomorrow."

This time period includes the March monthly meeting of the Ottawa Branch of OGS and Gene-O-Rama.

Further Irish Records on Ancestry

Beyond the new titles mentioned last Sunday Ancestry now includes two additional databases well worth exploring for Irish ancestors:

Ireland, Encumbered Estates, 1850-1885
The Encumbered Estates' Court was established to facilitate the sale of Irish estates whose owners were unable to meet their obligations because of the Great Famine, regardless of whether the land was entailed. Included in these 494,616  records from The National Archives of Ireland are the names of the sellers, tenants names of "three lives" people establishing the term of a lease, even previous tenants of the land providing an invaluable resource, particularly as tenant farmers were often among the poorest in Irish society. This may be one of the rare record sets that include their details.

Ireland, Dog Licence Registrations, 1810-1926
This collection includes 7,358,408 records of dog licenses granted to owners across Ireland from 1810-1926. Within the records, you can find information about the residence of the owner, the court at which the license was issued and you can also find details of the breed, colour and sex of the dogs on the images.
This collection goes one up on the 7,358,407 records available on Findmypast.

New Records for Galway and Waterford from Findmypast

Findmypast continues to bring us new Irish records, courtesy of St Patrick!

Waterford Poor Law Union Board Of Guardians Minute Books
The addition of over 163,000 records from the Dungarvan and Lismore Unions to those already online from the Waterford Union brings the collection to almost 400,000 entries. They are from the 1840s to the early 1920s.
Available are transcripts of the vital details and images of the original minute book. You might find a family member who was on the staff, a guardian, supplier, received outdoor relief for work such as breaking stones, paid or collected the poor rates, made a request for assistance with emigration, married while an inmate, was an orphan or deserted child or other special circumstances.

Galway Poor Law Union Records
A collection of the board of guardian minute books, indoor relief registers, medical registers and poor rate collection lists spanning 1849 to 1921. They are for 7 of Galway’s 10 poor law unions:  Ballinasloe, Clifden, Glenamaddy, Gort, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. People in a variety of roles, as above for Waterford, may appear. There are 188,119 entries.

Galway County Burials
There are 3,485 entries from Tuam, dating from 1880 to 1920, or which 2,130 are Roman Catholic. Be sure to check the linked original record image for additional information.

Galway, St George Mansergh Estate Records
A small collection, just 285 results, maps and rent lists for the land of the Richard St George Mansergh Estate in Headford, County Galway. The records dating from 1775 to 1832 are from Galway County Council.

Family History Centres Closed Until Further Notice

As a consequence of notice by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all Family History Centres are closed.

Beginning immediately, all public gatherings of Church members are being temporarily suspended worldwide until further notice. This includes:

Stake conferences, leadership conferences and other large gatherings.All public worship services, including sacrament meetings.Branch, ward and stake activities.

Thanks to Linda Reid, a volunteer at the Toronto Family History Centre, for passing along this information.

Update: Anglican and Roman Catholic Church services in Ottawa will continue with changes to normal practice in line with social distancing. Check the church website where you'll find detailed COVID-19 information prominent for more detailed information on these measures, and for other denominations.

Advance Notice: Ancestry Military History Day

Among the events listed at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa for the rest of the year is a
Ancestry Military History Day Seminar on Sunday 3 May.

Leading up to the 75th Anniversary of the Liberation of Holland (4 May) and Victory in Europe (8 May),  Beechwood, Ancestry.ca and BIFHSGO are (intending to?) offer an introductory genealogy workshop that teaches participants how to research ancestors (and others) through military records and how to create a family tree.

Covered will be how to access service files and consult various digitized resources such as war diaries and burial records to learn about the context of an individual's service.

Beechwood will be leading a historical military walking tour to get up and walking around before lunch. 

Registration opening soon. The registration fee covers the cost of the catered lunch.

Let's Be Optimistic

At the end of a blog post, Thank you, Belfast! reviewing the GGI2020 Belfast (14-15 February) conference (where you'll find information about viewing the presentations) Maurice Gleeson notes the following dates for major genealogy conferences/events.

Genetic Genealogy Ireland (GGI) event: Dublin 17-18 October (Saturday & Sunday, not Friday).
ISOGG Day Out: Dublin Monday 19 October
MyHeritage annual conference: Tel Aviv 25-26 October,
RootsTech: London 5-7 November. (cancelled 13 March 2020)
FTDNA Annual Conference: Houston 13-15 November.

Let's be optimistic that they and the other conference scheduled later this year will be able to go ahead. I'd like to go to the MyHeritage and RootsTech conferences but will refrain from making any bookings just yet.

BIFHSGO MEETING CANCELLED

Director Mary Lou Simac has posted that BIFHSGO has cancelled Saturday's meeting  -- out of an abundance of caution.

Good decision.

BIFHSGO March Monthly Meeting

MEETING CANCELLED

This Saturday, 14 March at The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

SHOULD I ATTEND?
"At this time, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has assessed the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low for the general population in Canada but this could change rapidly. There is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for Canadians:
- aged 65 and over
- with compromised immune systems
- with underlying medical conditions.

As regards meetings, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) advises there is an increased risk associated with COVID-19 at international conferences and other large gatherings in enclosed spaces. Otherwise "the public health risk associated with COVID-19 is low for the general population in Canada but this could change rapidly. There is an increased risk of more severe outcomes for Canadians:

- aged 65 and over
- with compromised immune systems
- with underlying medical conditions

The source of that information is www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/prevention-risks.html#p as of 10:15 pm on Wednesday 11 March.

Advice from Ottawa Public Health as of 11 March makes no mention of meetings.

If in doubt err on the side of caution.

Here's Saturday's BIFHSGO program.

9:00 am to 9:30 am
Resources for Family History Research in Wales

Pre-Internet it was essential to travel to Wales, which David Jeanes did many times visiting record offices, libraries, churches and cemeteries throughout South Wales as well as the National Library at Aberystwyth. Welsh birth, marriage and death records were included with the English records in London. Welsh genealogy research has become much easier with so much online information, including a huge searchable collection of Welsh newspapers. Many useful "how to" genealogy books are now available. However, the biggest challenge is still the prevalence of very common first and last names, particularly derived from the patronymic system.

About the speaker

David Jeanes, whose father was born in Wales, became interested in genealogy through his grandmother's writings and pictures about her early life (downstairs) at a mansion near Cardiff. David has been a member of BIFHSGO since its inception and has spoken at meetings, Great Moments, and the conferences. He is a retired telecommunications engineer with long-standing interests in historic architecture and railway history, as well as genealogy. He is a member of the executive of the Ottawa Welsh Society, was president of Heritage Ottawa for four years, and before that was president of Transport Action Canada for twelve years.

10:00 am to 11:30 am
Maud Lampman: First Woman to Work on Parliament Hill  

As a descendant of one of Toronto’s earliest settlers, Emma Maud (Playter) Lampman came from a privileged background, and she married young.  By the age of 32 she had suffered the loss of a baby and her husband, and she was forced to find employment to support her remaining two children.  The daughter of a prominent doctor, and the widow of a “Confederation Poet”, her story is a textbook example of an educated, genteel woman who entered the Canadian Civil Service around the turn of the 20th century, mirroring the experience of women in Britain and the US.

About the speaker

Maud Lampman was one of the faceless women captured in Dianne Brydon’s M.A. Thesis “Claiming the Rights of Men and the Privileges of Their Sex as Well”: Women in the Canadian Civil Service 1895-1907.  Little did Dianne know that she, herself, would one day work for the Library of Parliament, nor that she would be asked to tell Maud’s story 110 years after her historic appointment.  Dianne’s talk will highlight the rich information that can be found in the Civil Service List, which annually published personal information about Canadian civil servants from 1872 to 1918.

If you are not able to attend the meeting in person the BIFHSGO members-only area will add the meeting videos and any handouts pages.

LAC Scholar Awards Recipients

The recipients of the 2020 Library and Archives Canada Scholar Awards are:

Margaret Atwood, poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist
Roch Carrier, novelist and author
Charlotte Gray, historian, author and biographer
Serge Joyal, former senator, art collector and philanthropist
Terry O’Reilly, broadcast producer and radio personality

Good to see a historian in this list of very notable Canadian "scholars."

See the news release:  Library and Archives Canada and LAC Foundation Announce 2020 LAC Scholar Awards Recipients.

More Bristol Records on Ancestry

Ancestry has added another title to it's Bristol Birth, Marriage & Death records.

New are 409,374 records, with images, in the title Bristol, England, Non-Conformist Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1644-1981. These include Baptist, Bible Christian, Congregational, Free Methodist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Primative Methodist, Quaker, Roman Catholic, Swedenborgian, Unitarian, United Methodist, United Methodist Free Church, Wesleyan and Wesleyan Methodist congregations.

Updated are:
Bristol, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1994, 368,513 records
Bristol, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935, 1,194,984 records
Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1918, 2,264,265 records
Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, 2,376,703 records.

These are all made available in association with Bristol Archives.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine, April 2020

Before getting to the main content, each issue of WDYTYA? magazine includes a Star Letter. This time it's from Ottawa, from Deborah Vining, about her grandmother and grand-aunt who were born in Germany, moved to England and then to Canada under the auspices of Louisa Burt's Liverpool Sheltering Home. She writes "luckily she was taken in by a family who treated her as one of their own" — nor unusual — those who were maltreated were rather the exception than the rule?

FEATURES
In Money-Saving Tips Chris Paton reveals how you can research your family history on a budget, and picks the best free resources. Many are well known to the experienced British and Irish genealogist, a few are not. Chris' Top Tip is to subscribe to Peter Calver's Lost Cousins newsletter (Google it!)

Pre-WWI Photos has Catherine Troiano,  curator of the National Trust’s photography collections, sharing advice on dating early photographs.

It's tax season, as if I had to tell you, so Georgian Taxation explains how our forebears coped with, and avoided, taxes which became harsh in the aftermath of the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic period.

There's lots more in the regular sections like research advice, news and lists of events and guides forthcoming (UK) TV programmes (which we can't receive) and new books (which we can order).

It's all free through Press Reader, which you're probably tired of me mentioning, through online subscriptions via many Canadian public libraries.

Jeanette Arthurs RIP

With sorrow, I record the passing of BIFHSGO member Jeanette Arthurs.

Until recent years Jeanette was an active member of the Society. She was profiled by Saxon Harding as a volunteer in the Winter 2004 issue of Anglo Celtic Roots.

Jeanette Arthurs credits her husband Bill with getting her started in genealogy but she claims sole responsibility for the decision to respond to a request to handle BIFHSGO's mail. The Mail Ma’m has been collecting, opening, sorting and processing it faithfully since 1995, when she joined the Society.

What makes it easy, she says, is the pleasure she gets from calling up members with good news—that and the interesting stamps she finds on the envelopes.

Jeanette recounts how a visit to her birthplace in Dunnville, near Lake Erie, for a wedding was the starting point for research into her ancestors. The discovery of the grave of her grandmother, Martha Jane Darragh, in a local cemetery was thrilling but, as BIFHSGO members know only too well, just a
deceptively easy beginning. She now knows that the Darraghs came from Ireland about 1803. Another
ancestor on her mother’s side was a Palatine who came to America in 1709. His descendants subsequently moved north to Canada, as part as part of the Loyalist migration. Her father's family, Riggs and Deardens, came from Haslington in Lancashire. The growth of her genealogical knowledge has allowed her to share her information with an extended family she would otherwise never have known. 

Jeanette was educated in Toronto and taught English and History in Cardinal and Kenora before teaching for Department of National Defence Schools overseas and, subsequently, meeting Bill at an Air Force Base in France. The Arthurs moved to Ottawa in 1969. 

In 2010 Jeanette stimulated a BIFHSGO research project by producing an old indenture she had saved in the 1970s from being junked. It was a mystery how and why the document had found it's way to a church basement in Iberville, Quebec. Although the mystery was not solved BIFHGO members were able to return it to a local archive in Cheshire, England, and found a connection to a World War Two child evacuee to Canada at the time living in Ontario.

Condolences to Bill and family.

FREE Scots and Irish Magazines at PressReader

I've enthused about PressReader available for free through the Ottawa Public Library and many Southern Ontario public library systems at home online. I mentioned the British genealogy magazine Why Do You Think You Are? and BBC History Magazine.

Also available is Ireland of the Welcomes. While the magazine is not specifically for family history the latest issue has an article on Dr Barnardo, whose organization brought 10s of thousands of children and young adults to Canada. There's also an interesting article on the
Kerry Camino - a three-day hike going across the Dingle peninsula.

The Scots Magazine has articles on Scotland's National Library, the Battle of Dunbar and, again for the energetic, suggests for out of the way places which could be the most memorable of your Scottish family history trip.

If you'd like yo know more the OPL is running a drop-in session on How to Access Online Magazines and Newspapers at the Hunt Club Riverside Park Community Centre, 3320 Paul Anka Drive, 2:30 to 3:30 on Monday, 30 March.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

This week join 100s, likely well over 1000 fellow genealogists in meetings with absolutely no risk from COVID-19.

On Tuesday at 2 pm ET Janice M. Sellers will present Mining the Newspaper Databases on MyHeritage for Your Family History at the beginner level.
"Newspapers can provide information about births, deaths, marriages, moves, business, naturalizations, court cases, and more. MyHeritage provides access to several newspaper databases. This class provides an overview of what is available and techniques to help improve your chances of finding information about your relatives."

On Wednesday at 8 pm ET don't miss the intermediate to advanced level  presentation LucidChart and Other Tools for Genetic Genealogy by Blaine Bettinger
"In addition to company tools and traditional third-party tools, genetic genealogists find themselves adapting tools to help achieve their research goals. For example, LucidChart is a charting tool that allows genealogists to create dynamic family tree diagrams. We will examine this and other tools genetic genealogists can use in their daily research."

Thursday 12 March at 5 pm ET is the start of the 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon. There's plenty to choose from. If you don't find something of direct interest you're probably not a real genealogist.
The star presenters are: Andrea Bentschneider, Cari Taplin, CG, Craig R. Scott, MA, CG, FUGA, Cyndi Ingle, Daniel Horowitz, Dear MYRTLE, Devin Ashby, Diahan Southard, Dr. Bruce Durie, Helen V. Smith, John Boeren, Kathy Meade, Kelvin L. Meyers, Kirsty Gray, Marie Cappart, Mary Kircher Roddy, CG, Mike Mansfield, Ran Snir, Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL, Russ Worthington, Shahar Bitton, Thomas MacEntee.

Find information and register for these at https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1436

Irish Records new on Ancestry

Ireland, Petty Session Court Registers, 1818-1926, 23,437,916 records
If an Irish ancestor was drunk or in a brawl in public he (or she) may turn up in this large collection from the National Archives of Ireland, in Dublin.

Details for each individual may include (where available): Name, Role in the case, Date of the hearing, Location of the court, Occupation, Offence. There are transcripts and images of the original.
The chart shows the annual number of cases climbed after the famine, despite the smaller population.




Ireland, Prison Registers, 1790-1924, 3,127,594 records
From the National Archives of Ireland, Dublin, these are records for establishments for pre and post-trial detention as well as for the imprisonment of those who could not afford to pay their debts. Gradual changes to the prison system in Ireland resulted in larger institutions, including four national convict prisons, 38 county prisons and 98 local jails. From 1850s, sentences of transportation were replaced with penal sentences and an emphasis was placed on reform.
Details for each individual in this collection may include (where available): Name, Residence, Place of birth, Occupation. Age, Offence, Sentence or discharge, or date and place of committal. There is further information in the linked images.
366 of the entries are for people who claimed birth in Canada.

Web: Belfast, Northern Ireland, Burial Indexes, 1869-2011, 356,475 records

This data is from the Belfast City Council. As a Web collection, it's available free on Ancestry- no subscription required.








Irish Emigrants in North America,1775-1825, 5,024 records
Taken from a consolidated reprint of two pamphlets by Mr. David Dobson that shed light on more than 1,100 Irish men and women and their families who emigrated to North America between roughly 1775 and 1825.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The Five
Appropriate for International Women's Day, Gail Benjafield alerted me to this book, "a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London—the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper."

UK - Secret doorway in Parliament leads to historical treasure trove

Wow!


Would you ditch your car if public transport was free?
When fares are removed, only a small number of people who previously travelled by car make the switch. Increasing the cost of parking, congestion charging, or increasing fuel taxes could all be combined with free fares to lower car demand.

A home that will keep you warm and cool the planet
We need to build high density, mixed-use developments with affordable housing and excellent green spaces … Provide basic services within walking distance, create safe spaces for people to walk and provide public transit that uses clean energy.

The most annoying app ... that could save your life
https://donottouchyourface.com/.

Snagit Free Trial
A utility I use practically every day.

The 5 Best Open-Source VPNs for Linux and Windows

Thanks to this week's contributors
Barbara, BT, E Gail Benjafield

Findmypast adds British Military Records

On the eve of International Women's Day Findmypast releases two never before digitized British titles from The ( UK)  National Archives.

British Army, Women's Army Auxiliary Corps 1917-1920
Comprises 9,433 records including a transcript — many have images of official forms, medical examinations, telegrams, letters and various other documents.
Those listed associated with Canada are:

Dorothy Jean Gorst (Kingstown, Ontario)
Henrietta Bess Harding (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Sarah Ellen Hart (Golbourne, Ontario)
Mary Macgregor (Victoria, British Columbia)
Ethel Sangster (St Catherines, Ontario)
Bella Shirran (Dundalk, Ontario)

As with the CEF, some of these women were born in the UK.

British Armed Forces, First World War Disability & Retirement Payments For Officers & Nurses
A total of 36,239 records, mostly men. The records give details of payments of temporary retired pay and gratuities awarded to invalided officers of the three Services, and to nurses in respect of the disabilities for which they were invalided.

Approximately the first 400 have no name indicated although that of a parent, spouse or next of kin may be given.

England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019
Findmypast now includes these 9.3 million records dating as far back as 1858. This is the same database as available free at https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills except search is unified across the 1996 division.

MyHeritage open Irish collection until 22 March

MyHeritage is first out of the gate with a special offer for the extended St Patrick's Day period.

All 110 of their Irish collections with a total of 13,994,724 records are free to view, 8.7 million of which are from the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

Find the complete list of Irish collections available (www.myheritage.com/research/catalog?location=Ireland&s=392108361).

A little bird tells me to expect something special for Ireland from Ancestry too.

Gene-O-Rama is coming

The keynote speaker for Gene-O-Rama, 3-4 April, is Thomas MacEntee.

He will give the Pat Horan Memorial Lecture "Privacy, DNA, and Genealogy: Handling the Double-Edged Sword" on Friday evening. On Saturday his presentations are:

How Do I Know What I Don’t Know—Fast Tracking Your Genealogy Education
What’s Been Done: Using Someone Else’s Genealogy Research
You Use WHAT for Genealogy? Wonderful Uses for Unusual Tools
Thomas MacEntee.

Thomas is a popular speaker, I'm grateful my presentation with Glenn Wright is scheduled with no conflict so I won't miss any of his.

An off the cuff remark by Gilad Japhet at RootsTech led me to experiment with a photo of Thomas taken there. He commented that the new colourizing facility at MyHeritage might not recreate unusual colours and that could be tested by converting a colour photo to monochrome and then colourizing it.

Find the original more colourful image here.

Will COVID-19 derail any genealogy meetings or conferences?

Twitter just told all its 5,000 workers to work from home because of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Microsoft and Facebook have cancelled major technology events.

The London and Paris Book Fairs are cancelled.

The Japan Cherry Blossom Festival is cancelled (did anyone tell the trees?)

So far I've heard of no genealogy events cancelled, but organizers are no doubt concerned to ensure they act appropriately. What will appropriately be?

The situation can change rapidly. Here's the history from the 1918 influenza pandemic in Ottawa.

A 25 September article in the Ottawa Journal reported on deaths in Niagara and Quebec and asked "Will Ottawa escape."  On the 30th at least three deaths from pneumonia which started as influenza where reported and Ottawa Mayor Fisher advised that active cases should be isolated. By 5 October the Ottawa Board of Health and Mayor were advising cancelling church services and meetings.

MyHeritage Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet at RootsTech 2020

Unlike most other CEOs in the field MyHeritage's Gilad Japnet is a passionate genealogist as well as a smart leader of the company he founded. It's why they keep making genealogy news, like the colourization capability introduced and explained as part of this video.

BIFHSGO DNA Special Interest Group

This Saturday, 7 March the meeting will start at 9:30 am with a short technical presentation on Pedigree Thief and a mention of Family Tree Maker.

Then Brian Laurie-Beaumont will tell a fascinating tale and share his great research journey into "the Blumenfeld-Goudsmit DNA Saga." Brian started out searching for his unknown maternal grandfather and ended up finding a relationship to an entirely new cultural identity other than the one he knew.

The meeting is in Room 115, City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

Thanks to Susan Courage and her advisory group for organizing these meetings 

Hamilton City Directories

The OGS/LAC/FamilySearch project to digitize Vernon's Ontario City Directories is making good progress with 658 volumes now listed.

32 directories for Hamilton for years between 1901 and 2010 are now online, all full searchable. The LAC collection of Hamilton directories is impressive occupying more shelf space than Vernon directories for any other community.

https://ogs.on.ca/vernons-directories/

LAC 2018-19 Departmental Results Report

Finally, after much delay, the government got around to tabling the annual results reports in the Commons last week. They are normally tabled in the fall, but the election and Christmas/New Year recess meant an exceptional delay. It did not seem as if accountability was a priority even though the reports must have been prepared on the normal timetable.


Providing access to documentary heritage
As in previous years, the focus of this post is the section of the report on the service it supplies to users.

The word cloud shows a big focus on indigenous and digital.

LAC met or exceeded four out of five departmental result indicator targets.

However, the one where it fell behind Amount of Library and Archives Canada holdings digitized for access it did so by a big margin. The target was 10 million images, the achievement was 4.8 million. A footnote explains that — "With the completion of the CEF files digitization project in August 2018, digitization activities have slowed down. The digitization of Indigenous content requires much more extensive research, preservation, description and consultation."

Given the importance of making LAC materials more widely available across our vast country though digitization this must be counted as a significant failure. It's not as if there's a lack of material to digitize. Many newspapers in the LAC collection are unique. Having completed the WW1 service files project LAC has/ or had, equipment, expertize and staff that could have been deployed. Sadly LAC management appears unwilling to allocate the resources necessary.

Ancestry adds Canada, Immigrants Approved in Orders in Council, 1929-1960

This new database is of 71,733 people who at the time didn't qualify as becoming Canadian by virtue of their birth, race or other affiliation with the British Empire. The records contain the following details:

Last Names and Given Names of the immigrant

Residence Age

Immigration Year

Employment Date

Citizenship

Included are 70 people with last name Smith, over half were residents of the West Indies.

The collection is from an indexing project by Ottawa-resident Johanna Crandall — Immigrants to Canada, 1930-1960. Ontario, Canada. www.orderincouncillists.com.

Henry Taylor, killed by a coffin?

The following was tweeted on Saturday.

𝕮𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖞 𝕮𝖑𝖚𝖇 (@CemeteryClub) tweeted at 6:39 a.m. on Sat., Feb. 29, 2020:
A memorable funeral...! Henry Taylor, pallbearer, killed by a coffin in 1872. He tripped over a stone, the other pallbearers let go & one tonne of wood, lead and body descended upon him in Kensal Green Cemetery. The widow of the man inside it was understandably distraught! https://t.co/odq28SyVU1

The Illustrated Police News of Saturday 02 November 1872 gives his age as 60.
This sourcc gives his age as 36.
The Morning Advertiser, reporting the inquest on 28 October gave his age as 66.

How old was he when he had the unfortunate accident?

The GRO death index has the following record
TAYLOR, HENRY    66 
GRO Reference: 1872  D Quarter in PANCRAS  Volume 01B  Page 18

The Morning Advertiser was the closest date to the event, consistent with putting more reliance on the most contemporary report. It also attributed the death to "bronchitis after the injuries" and not being crushed to death as some sources reported.

Ancestry adds UK, Imperial Yeomanry Records, 1899-1902

This collection of 56,578 records comprises attestation and discharge documents from the War Office of men who enrolled in the Imperial Yeomanry during the South African (Boer) War. The Imperial Yeomanry was a mounted volunteer force of the British army.

The documents, sourced from WO 128 at The National Archives, Kew, contain details of each man's place of birth, age and occupation and a full record of his service.

The following 34 people in the collection were born in Canada:

George Hood Adie
Charles Anderson
John Charles Bithell
John Walling Chambers
William Sylvester Clewell
Arthur Henry Davern
George Frederick John Davern
Frank Douglas
R H Edminson
John Johnson Edwards
George Moore Foster
Albert Gilman
William Thomas Hamm
Percy Houghton Hawksley
William Hobart Hawleg
John Lawrence Hornibrook
Paul Howard
Alex Ingram
James Kennedy
James George Neely
Charles Newton
John O'Neil
Frank Peck
Henry Pottier
Richard Drayton Ross
Louis Rowan
John Scollard
Rex Stovell
Arthur Stringer
William Vaughan
Abe Robert Walters
James Wildbore
Walter Marion Williams

Your Genealogy Today: March/April 2020

How We Started Our Family History Journey
George G. Morgan looks at some of the ways you can begin the search for your family history

The Power of People: Voices via Petitions, Part I
Diane L. Richard explores the resources for seeking out those documents that gave our ancestors a voice

Beyond Deeds and Land Grants
David A. Norris looks at non-deed property records that might help you turn up “new” bits of family history

What We Wish For: Coming to Terms with Our Ancestors
Sue Lisk paves the way for you to research your “difficult” ancestors

Fun and Games: Our Ancestors at Play
Sue Lisk shows how to find what your ancestors did for fun when they were young. Childhood memories tend to be strong. And play, regardless of the form it takes, usually encompasses joy. Explore these memories with relatives, and celebrate them. The stories that emerge may be among your favorites.

I’m Not the Person I Thought I Was
Louise Butler discovers a family history almost lost

Don’t Forget the Four-Footed Family!
Robbie Gorr looks at the importance of pets in our ancestors’ lives. Gathering and recording information you will enrich the family history narrative to include the live you and your ancestors shared with their pets.

Jeremiah Crabb: Black Soldier At Fort George Wright
Donna Potter Phillips studies the puzzling life and death of Jeremiah E. Crabb

DNA & Genealogy
Diahan Southard looks at what to do when matches don’t initially reveal much information — a simple three-step process to learn more about a mystery match.

Missionaries in Our Past
Ed Storey looks at records for researching English missionaries in 19th century India

The Back Page
Dave Obee suggests visiting more than the cemetery when traveling to the places where your ancestors lived — tread in their footsteps.

Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

MyHeritage adds further US City Directories
At RootsTech MyHeritage announced the addition of a huge collection — 25,000 public U.S. city directories published between 1860 and 1960. It comprises 545 million aggregated records that have been automatically consolidated from 1.3 billion records.

Canada’s Scottish Refugees
In this podcast from The Champlain Society, Patrice Dutil discusses the impact of Scottish migration to Canada in the nineteenth century with Ken McGoogan, the author of Flight of the Highlanders: The Making of Canada (HarperCollins).

The University of Manitoba’s archive of the paranormal just became a little more extraordinary

Contagion Themes


Thanks to this week's contributors
Anonymous, BT, Gil, Teresa, Unknown.