Choose from online events in the next six days. All times at ET.
Tuesday 23 June, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.
Tuesday, 23 June, 2pm ET: Working with SuperSearch™ to Find the Correct Historical Records, by Daniel Horowitz, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Register here.
Tuesday, 23 June, 7pm: Epidemics in Quebec Parish Records, by Marielle Cote Gendreau, Quebec Family History Society. Information here.
Wednesday 24 June, 11am ET: Occupational History, by Jen Baldwin (FMP)
Wednesday, 24 June, 2pm ET: Utilizing the HathiTrust Digital Library for Family History... by Colleen Robledo Greene, Register here
Thursday, 25 June. Nothing Live! Check out CeCe Moore's keynote from I4GG earlier this month here.
Friday 26 June, 11 am: Friday's Live, with Alex Cox (FMP)
Saturday 27 June, 1 pm ET: Dr. Henry P. Wright and the Mystery of His Family Photographs; or The Royal Navy, Napoleon and the Improvement of Health Care in Late 19th Century Ottawa, by Glenn Wright, from OGS Ottawa Branch, Register here.
23 June 2020
The Week's Online Genealogy Events
22 June 2020
Deserving Poor — British Women to BC
You've heard of Filles du Roi. Did you know of the much later somewhat parallel immigration to the West Coast?
Voyages of Hope: The Saga of the Bride-Ships by Peter Johnson tells the story of the ships Marcella, Tynemouth, Robert Lowe and Alpha which in total from 1861 to 1870 brought 116 "eligible" women to the colonies now part of British Columbia.
Read a summary in Haphazard History: The bride ships of Europe by Barry Sale
O/T: LRT Live
An array of lights, one for each tube and DLR station, uses open data from Transport for London to show the approximate positions of the full fleet of trains running along the various lines. As trains enter stations, the corresponding LED will light up. So, at a glance, you can see if the Piccadilly Line is down again.
Not to be outdone, here's the array for Ottawa's LRT on Sunday.
Don't wait for the lights for too long. The system is shut down again!
21 June 2020
Sunday Sundries
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
The Canadian Statistics Hall of Shame
Shame on you Ontario, New Brunswick and the Yukon.
Statistics Canada has started publishing weekly death counts, by age group and sex. The most recent data, published on Friday, is for the week of 2 May, which itself is tardy. There's no data for Ontario, New Brunswick and the Yukon.
Theses Canada
An update from the last information on updating and opening this Library and Archives Canada facility. Staff have continued to harvesting theses working from home, 14 universities are now harvested. There are still a few technical issues to iron out with the catalogue vendor before these will be available online.
A lovely animated two-minute film from Mercury Filmworks. To view it go to https://blog.toonboom.com/this-animation-shows-canada-coast-to-coast-in-2-minutes? and scroll down.
If You Want to Go Far, Go Together (doing more with more)
An article by retired Librarian and Archivist of Canada Guy Berthiaume. “If You Want to Go Far, Go Together: The Collaboration among the GLAM Community in Canada (2016–2019).” Research Library Issues, no. 300 (2020): 6–17. https://doi.org/10.29242/rli.300.2.
Colors from RadioLab
To what extent is colour a physical thing in the physical world, and to what extent is it created in our minds? https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/episodes/211119-colors
Ancestry's title Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812 is updated with records for the parish of Babcary from 1648 to 1812.
Paul Milner Book Review: Tracing Your Georgian Ancestors 1714-1837: A Guide for Family Historians by John Wintrip
Recovery podcast part three — The slow recovery after the combined shock of Spanish flu and the first world war –https://theconversation.com/the-slow-recovery-after-the-combined-shock-of-spanish-flu-and-the-first-world-war-recovery-podcast-part-three-140877
Thanks to this week's contributors: Anonymous, Arlene, BT, Cliff, Gail B, Susan, Unknown.
20 June 2020
The Reopening in Ottawa - NOT
A special meeting of the Ottawa Public Library Board next Tuesday will consider a proposed OPL COVID-19 RECOVERY PRIORITY 2-5 PLAN — https://app05.ottawa.ca/sirepub/cache/2/1jmsuyzro4mmdy2uurqww1su/64364406202020081341826.PDF.
Here's an extract
Many of the agencies and organizations that partner with OPL are currently planning virtual programs only for both the summer and early fall and have not yet committed to a start date for in-person programs. At present, Hamilton Public Library and Vaughan Public Library have cancelled all in-branch programs until 2021, and other public libraries have suspended in-branch programs until further notice.I don't read that as encouraging for organizations such as Heritage Ottawa and the Historical Society of Ottawa that use OPL meeting facilities for their popular events. It seems likely meeting facilities at other city buildings will be similarly affected.
Since the pandemic, OPL has pivoted to providing virtual programs, including partnered author events such as the Tech Café, weekly storytimes and babytimes, and all programs tied to our Aging Well at the Library initiative funded by the City of Ottawa`s Older Adult Plan. These programs have been well attended, and staff are currently planning virtual programs for the summer and into the fall. OPL will continue to review the need for their meeting room spaces and requirements for physical distancing, and will bring back in-branch programming when permitted under the provincial re-opening plans, when space is available, when it is safe to do so for both employees and customers, and when staff have the ability to plan and promote accordingly.
Toronto Branch OGS June Meeting
The Toronto Branch meeting on Monday, June 22 at 8:00 p.m. will follow the members’ only Annual General Meeting.
Popular speakers Carol Ufford and Dawn Kelly will be back with Murder and Mayhem / Settlers and Sinners / Colonists and Criminals—More Thrilling Stories from New France.
Learn about unusual deaths, illegitimate children, and a little witchcraft — and the resources they used to piece together details and flesh out the characters involved.
Find out more and register in advance at https://torontofamilyhistory.org/.
Findmypast weekly update
Britain, Royal and Imperial Calendars 1767-1973
Over 1.2 million records are added to this unique collection of records of persons employed in various posts in Britain's public sphere from The National Archives. The Royal and Imperial Calendars: contents include:
Names
Jobs
Residence
Regiment and rank if served in the military
Pay
From the 1809 Calendar, it contains "accurate lists of all the official departments of state, and branches of public service; the law; the church; national or commercial companies and institutions; and many additional articles of public utility."
The later calendars from the 20th century evolved to include the Civil Service List and additional departments such as Home Office and Treasury.
One person in my family tree is listed through his civil service career with last name, initials, department and section in which he worked and grade. His address is also given for a short while when he was Hon. Sec. of a Society.
British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records
Over 2,000 new records added to this unique collection, a representative selection saved from the full collection of medical records created during the war. Along with details on where wounded and how long they were held at a medical facility for treatment, the records can reveal:
Names and birth years
Rank and corps
Number of years spent in service
Admission and transfer dates
The name of the hospital where treated
A description of the disease or wound
This collection comprises The National Archives’ series, MH106, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen.
England BillionGraves Cemetery Index
More than 106,000 records have been added to the cemetery index for England.
Nicaragua Civil Registration 1809-2011
Over 287,000 new civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths from Nicaragua.
19 June 2020
UK to Canada Genealogy
Penny Allen, a Canadian librarian living in London, has been helping me with some information for a presentation I'm scheduled to give in Canada Day. She found that about three-quarters of most;y UK genealogists who responded to a survey knew of people from their family tree who came to Canada. A few additional percent had stories they hadn't confirmed.
I'm returning the compliment by highlighting Penny's blog https://ukcdngenealogy.blogspot.com/ and in particular a post from a while back on
Phone Books for Canadian Prairies Genealogy
For more there's an Index to Articles at https://ukcdngenealogy.blogspot.com/p/provincial-index.html?m=1
How are genealogy companies addressing racism?
- reviewing how we can make our historical records and newspapers work harder to educate about the history and context of slavery, racism, and the struggle for equality.
- step-up our search for opportunities to digitize or publish such archives and make them accessible. In partnership with The National Archives, we have digitized thousands of passenger lists and records from the Royal African Company 1694-1743. The Royal African Company played a large role in the transatlantic slave trade.
- listen to the perspectives of our employees, customers, and the genealogy community. We will continue to review our recruiting and hiring practices. We will improve our reporting on diversity.
- measure our progress. We will report back to our community by the end of the year on how we are doing.
- assessing all of our core human resource processes and working to ensure that Inclusion & Diversity best practices are woven into every step — from the way we hire, develop, promote, and pay our employees.
- created an intercultural advisory council of experts internally and externally to review every new product, marketing campaign and program to ensure that what we do is as culturally sensitive as possible.
- hold ourselves accountable and ask that our valued members do so as well.
18 June 2020
LAC Co-Lab Update for June
Here's the monthly update on Co-Lab challenges projects as of 18 June.
PROGRESS
None!
NO CHANGE OR REVISED
Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 is 71% complete
Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War is 96% complete
Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin is 16% complete
Women Lightkeepers: heroes by the sea is 96% complete.
George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities is 2% complete.
Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner is 98% complete
New France and First Nations Relations is 78% complete
War Diaries of the First World War: 1st Canadian Division is 94% complete
Japanese-Canadians: Second World War is 61% complete (64% last month)
The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters is 97% complete
COMPLETED
The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918–1919
Correspondence between Sir Robert Borden and Sir Sam Hughes
Letters from Wilfrid Laurier to Zoé Lafontaine/Laurier
Rosemary Gilliat (Eaton)’s Arctic diary and photographs
The Reopening
The first few physical facilities used by genealogical researchers have started to reopen.
Claire Santry reports the GRO Research Room in Dublin reopens with restrictions, appointments only.
Library and National Archives of Quebec (BAnQ) announced the reopening of its 12 buildings across Quebec in the coming weeks including La Grande Bibliothèque in Montreal on 2 July.
The Manitoba Genealogical Society is reopening on 7 July, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on an appointment basis for 4 appointments each day.
Facilities in Ottawa and Toronto remain shuttered, and the BC Archives has announced it won't open until sometime in 2021.
If you have additional information please post a comment.
Personally, I'm in no hurry to see these facilities reopen until management is confident that procedures are in place for the safety of staff and clients. This Twitter stream shows the kind of problems than can be encountered if not handled properly.
I also hope the closure will provide additional motivation for management to enhance digitization. For Library and Archives Canada is that message being conveyed by members of the Services Consultation Group, even though it does not appear to have met in over a year, https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/about-us/Pages/services-consultation-group.aspx.
17 June 2020
Celtic Connections Virtual Conference 31 July - 31 August 2020
Some online conferences which charge are not good value for money.
This is an exception if your genealogical interest is Celtic. Sponsored by The Irish Genealogical Society International (IGSI) & The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) $99US for 25 pre-recorded presentations $5.36 Cdn per presentation, by mostly name speakers, plus nine live chat sessions with the presenters is a bargain. Go to an in-person conference and you'll likely be paying $8-10 per presentation you can actually attend as there are parallel sessions. Here you can view than all over the course of a month.
More from The Derbyshire Record Office
Since I posted Not in Hibernation about additions to the Derbyshire Record Office blog on 3 June the following articles about common genealogical sources have been added
Census Returns
Derbyshire Probate
Newspapers
Tithe Maps
Those already mentioned were:
Electoral Registers
Bishops' Transcripts
Adoption
Building History _Next Steps
Civil Registration
Derbyshire Burials
Historic Maps
That's in addition to new feature articles like The Monocled Mutineer’s early career at Blackwell Colliery.
https://recordoffice.wordpress.com/
16 June 2020
The Week's Online Genealogy Events
Choose from online events in the next six days. All times at ET.
Tuesday 16 June, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from OGS Ottawa Branch and The Ottawa Public Library. Join here.
Tuesday, 16 June, 8pm ET: Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives, by David Ouimette: CG, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Register here.
Wednesday 17 June, 11am ET: Welsh Records and Research, by Ellie Overthrow-Jones (FMP)
Wednesday, 17 June, 2pm ET: Bridging the Gap: Finding Ancestors in the United States between 1780 and 1840, by D. Joshua Taylor, Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Register here.
Wednesday, 17 June, 7:30pm ET: Research, DNA and Serendipity: How I discovered who my ancestors really were, by Debbie Dee, Quebec Genealogical Society, Register here.
Wednesday 17 June, 7 pm ET: BIFHSGO British Colonial America Group, Register to join the group at the address given at https://bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=21
Thursday 18 June, 11am ET: Dating Photographs, by Myko Clelland and Kirsty Hassard (FMP)
Friday 19 June, 11 am: Friday's Live, with Ellie Overthrow-Jones (FMP)
Friday - Sunday, 19-21 June: Free Webinar Weekend: Great Britain Track. Find out more here.
Saturday 20 June, 10 am ET: The Rideau Canal Workers, by Susan Warren, from OGS Kingston Branch, Register here.
Ireland Out of England?
A long article by John Wilson Foster, 8,598 words, from the Dublin Review of Books.
"By 1830, Irish soldiers “were estimated to represent 42.2 per cent of the regular British Army . . . By 1878 a fifth of all British Army officers were Irish. More than 200,000 Irishmen fought in the First World War and were volunteers rather than conscripts . . . at least 60,000 Southern Irish citizens served [in the Second World War] . . . Joining the British Army was a family tradition for many, and was not seen by them as either pro-British or anti-Irish.” That became “an inconvenient truth”, says Ferriter with some understatement. In the twentieth century, he tells us, “1.6 million Irish left for Britain, more than twice as many as went to North America”. Roy Foster reminds us in Paddy and Mr Punch (1993) that the Irish-born population in Britain in 1861 was 805,000; the combined first-generation and their immigrant parents would have boosted the figure to several million. By 2001, the Irish-born population was 850,000; after all, by the late 1950s, nearly 60,000 Irish were arriving in Great Britain annually."There's lots more for this with Irish interest at The Dublin Review of Books
15 June 2020
Personality From Photos
When you look at a photo of an ancestor, one you never knew, do you get an impression of their personality?
A recent article Assessing the Big Five personality traits using real-life static facial images reports findings of a study in Russia.
The "Big Five" personality traits are agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness.
The study finds "associations were strongest for conscientiousness and weakest for openness. Extraversion and neuroticism were significantly better predicted for women than for men."
While it's far too early to have much confidence in extrapolation from the Russian sample at present it is one to watch. Maybe MyHeritage with its recent interest in photo enhancement might be interested in pursuing this further.
Today Only: MyHeritage Newspaper Records FREE
MyHeritage makes its newspaper records free, 345 newspapers, for just one day.
Here are just some of the newspapers available?
More than 30 Montreal titles including 24,895 issues of The Montreal Gazette, Jan 1, 1878 - Nov 20, 2006.
The Ottawa Citizen, over 18,000 issues to Nov 2, 1990
The Toronto Daily Mail, 3,052 issues for May 23, 1851 - Sep 15, 1898
The Toronto World, 2,884 issues for Jun 4, 1813 - Apr 10, 1921
The Saskatoon Phoenix and Star-Phoenix, 12,693 issues to May 31, 1967.
The Victoria Advocate, 30,974 issues for Jul 2, 1824 - Aug 31, 2009
LAC Annual Report 2019-2020 on its 2019-2022 Three-Year Plan:
Now online by Library and Archives Canada, the 1st year annual report of cumulative results for its 2019-2022 Three-Year Plan. Performance indicators are grouped under the headings
1. Engaged citizens. Accessible holdingsOverall of the 22 indicators:
2. Adaptable organization. Sustainable collection
3. Collaborative efforts. Magnified results
2 were exceeded by a substantial margin,
6 were exceeded
2 were met
2 were not met
For the remained there was a description of the activity undertaken but there was no quantitative benchmark against which to assess progress.
The group Engaged citizens. Accessible holdings is of most interest to public clients.
- Number of user contributions in the Co-Lab crowdsourcing tool had a target of 1,500 which was exceeded - 1,796.
- Number of images digitized via DigiLab had a target of 30,000. 28,175 was achieved with some of the minor shortfall attributed to closure of 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa because of the COVID 19 pandemic.
- Number of transactions at LAC’s service points in Ottawa, Halifax, Winnipeg and Vancouver, through all service channels had a target of 80,000. By completing 84,418 transactions the target was exceeded despite the COVID 19 shutdown. The total for 2018–2019 of 81,399 transactions was surpassed.
- Number of visitors to the LAC website had a target of 2,000,000 and was substantially exceeded - 2,778,682 unique visitors. Genealogical research was the main interest of those who visited LAC’s website, with a strong preference for censuses and First World War personnel records.
- Number of images digitized from LAC’s collection had a target of 3,500,000 which was exceeded. 3,506,854 images were digitized from LAC’s collection, 60% in response to client requests. The balance of the digitized content focused on Indigenous, military and government documentary heritage.
14 June 2020
New Owner at Pharos Tutors
Karen Cummings is the new owner and Managing Director at Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, having purchased the company from previous owner and co-founder, Helen Osborn.
More information about the change in ownership can be found at https://wp.me/p4qxpa-4b.
Sunday Sundries
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Ancestry Updates
In the past week, Ancestry updated the collection UK, Officer Service Records, 1764-1932 with over 2,500 new images and 3,200 new indexes for a total of 132,421 records; also UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923 adding Officers Survived and Officers' Widows for a total 4,288,702 records.
Dataplotter - Boom & Bust: A History of Oil Prices and Consumption
Online at 10 am on Monday, Chris Taylor, President of the Ottawa PC Users' Group and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional, will show you the simple steps you need to take to keep your computer from being hacked.https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/tech-caf%C3%A9-protecting-your-computer
Podcast: Reinventing Canada after 1945
https://bit.ly/WTYrei
The US: Underpoliced and Overprisoned, revisited?
While I'm not entirely convinced this is an opinion worth an airing.
PULSE: high-resolution images from a corresponding low-resolution input
From Duke University, PULSE attempts to match the downsampled version of an image, and the output(s) will likely not resemble the higher resolution input image. I tried it on the William Northwood photo from the post Another Innovation from MyHeritage. I could be persuaded one of the output images was him as a younger man.
Don't miss out tomorrow
MyHeritage makes its newspaper records free, 345 newspapers, for just one day.
UPDATE: Looks like "tomorrow" has already started!
Forecasting the US elections
Updated daily from The Economist.
13 June 2020
LAC Curates Resources for Staying at Home
Compiled by Library and Archives Canada, a collection of resources offering a variety of ways to actively learn, stay curious and contribute to our collective memory during an otherwise isolating time.
Findmypast Focus on Scotland
Updates this week, to be served with haggis, neeps and tatties - optional whisky sauce.
Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
Almost 69,000 additional records to this collection, with images, covering:
Dunbartonshire
Dumbarton, St Patrick; Duntocher, St Mary; Glasgow, Bridgeton, Sacred Heart; Helensburgh,St Paul of the Cross; Renton, St Martin.
Haddingtonshire (East Lothian)
Dunbar, Our Lady of the Waves
Lanarkshire
Glasgow parishes of St Joseph; St Mark; Good Shepherd; St Aloysius; St Agnes; St Michael.
Expect to find: names, birth and baptism dates, parents’ names, where baptized. In the linked images find: names of godparents or sponsors; legitimate or not; and additional remarks.
The collection total is now 923,358 records.
Scotland Roman Catholic Marriages
Over 27,000 new marriage records.
Dunbartonshire
Dumbarton, St Patrick; Glasgow, Bridgeton, Sacred Heart; Renton, St Martin.
Lanarkshire
Glasgow parishes of St Joseph, St Mark, St Aloysius, St Ninian, St Agnes, St Michael.
Linlithgowshire (West Lothian)
Winchburgh, St Philomena
Expect to find: names, ages and birth years, spouses' names, where and when married, fathers' names and additional detail in images.
The collection total is now 432,059 records.
Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Burials
Nearly 9,000 burial records providing details on the final resting place including: names, birth, death and burial dates, age when died, occupations, where buried. Parishes added are:
Dunbartonshire
Glasgow, Bridgeton Sacred Heart
Lanarkshire
Croy, Holy Cross; Glasgow, Carntyne, St Mark; Glasgow, Dalbeth, Good Shepherd; Glasgow, Garrethill St Aloysius; Glasgow, Knightswood, St Ninian; Glasgow, Parkhead, St Michael; Glasgow, Riddrie, St Thomas.
The collection total is now 324,571 records.
Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records
Congregational records include registers of confirmations and communion recipients, as well as parish lists, seat rentals, and lists of people who converted to Catholicism. Parishes added are:
Dunbartonshire
Dumbarton, St Patrick; Glasgow, Bridgeton, Sacred Heart; Helensburgh, St Joseph.
Lanarkshire
The digitized image of the record will usually provide facts such as the names of confirmation sponsors or the location of seat rental.
The collection total is now 511,708 records.
Findmypast's list of all the parishes in the Scotland Roman Catholic collection includes detail on county, place, parish, diocese, start year, end year, and record count. There's more to come in this collection.
Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers 1864-1931
Published as searchable PDF documents, over a million names are added to this collection in partnership with the British Library. Compiled annually, expect to find:
Names and addressesScotland BillionGraves Cemetery Index
A description of the property
Their occupations or ages (sometimes)
The names and addresses of their landlords.
More than 59,000 Scottish records added from BillionGraves, now with 354,742 Scottish entries.
12 June 2020
Another Innovation from MyHeritage
Following hot on the heels of MyHeritage In Color™ there's another innovation coming from the company — MyHeritage Photo Enhancer! "Using deep learning technology, Photo Enhancer takes blurry low-resolution or low-quality photos and brings them into sharp focus."
I put it to a real test with a fuzzy photo of an Ottawa worthy, William Northwood, from a newspaper. What do you think?
You can try the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer here.
You can also colorize the resulting image.
Genealogists' Magazine June 2020
Initiatives for the improvement of parish registers during the first half of the 18th century, by John Wintrip
Examines changes in the dioceses of York and Chester, the Archdeaconry of Bedford, and possibly the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon, from 1715 onwards. They may have been precipitated by a draft Canon relating to marriages by licence produced by the Convocation of the Church of England in 1714. It looks at the churchmen behind these changes.
Croydon Worthies.
Information on 118 "worthies", men and women from Croydon selected from and 1882 publication Croydon of the Past, by the Croydon Advertiser
Events that changed thousands of children’s lives, by Len Street.
Second World War child evacuations. No mention of overseas evacuations.
Sir Arthur Wheeler’s Investment Company - an early mailshot survives by accident, by Sherry l Abrahart.
Raising funds in Leicester in 1920.
Unusual times and a timely reminder of the 1918/19 pandemic, by Helen Dawkins.
Mostly about her photo restoration business.
WW2 Returm from Europe
After the Second World War, there were lots of people who needed to travel from Europe (mainly England) to Canada. Was one, or maybe more in your family?
While many were servicemen and servicewomen there were also those who had never been in Canada, most war brides, to those who had only recently made the voyage from west to east, such as those who chaperoned returning POWs from Canada. The return was a major logistical operation run by the Department of National Defence Directorate of Movements.
Library and Archives Canada has extensive documentation on microfilm. Since January this year following block review, anyone will be able to view them — when the physical facilities reopen. They are on microfilm reels C-5623 to C-5655 and C-5714 to C-5725. There may be others.
Some films are already accessible through canadiana.ca at http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_135140/. I've been able to identify these voyages with those carrying war brides noted. Again, there are certainly others.
| Ship | Date | Microfilm | WB |
|---|---|---|---|
| CAMERONIA | 1945/08/15 | C-5636 | |
| NIEUW AMSTERDAM | 1945/09/09 | C-5636, C-5637 | |
| CAVINA | 1946/02/08 | C-5649 | |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/02/23 | C-5649 | |
| SCYTHIA | 1946/03/02 | C-5649 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/03/03 | C-5649 | WB |
| MAURETANIA | 1946/03/07 | C-5649 | |
| LADY NELSON | 1946/03/23 | C-5649 | |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/03/24 | C-5649 | |
| LETITIA | 1946/03/04 | C-5650 | WB |
| JOHNS HOPKINS | 1946/03/09 | C-5650 | |
| ILE DE FRANCE | 1946/03/17 | C-5650 | |
| SMITER | 1946/03/18 | C-5650 | WB |
| HMS TRUMPETER | 1946/03/19 | C-5650 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/03/23 | C-5650 | WB |
| SCYTHIA | 1946/03/27 | C-5650 | |
| MAURETANIA | 1946/03/28 | C-5650 | WB |
| HMS PREMIER | 1946/04/01 | C-5650 | |
| MATAROA | 1946/04/04 | C-5650 | |
| EMPIRE MACCALLUM | 1946/02/21 | C-5651 | |
| LETITIA | 1946/04/03 | C-5651 | |
| ILE DE FRANCE | 1946/04/05 | C-5651 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/04/10 | C-5651 | WB |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/04/20 | C-5651 | |
| LETITIA | 1946/04/26 | C-5651 | WB |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/05/01 | C-5652 | WB |
| LADY NELSON | 1946/05/08 | C-5652 | |
| QUEEN MARY | 1946/05/09 | C-5652 | WB |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/05/25 | C-5652 | |
| ILE DE FRANCE | 1946/04/23 | C-5652, C-5651 | |
| QUEEN MARY | 1946/06/15 | C-5654, C-5655 | WB |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/06/27 | C-5655 | WB |
| LETITIA | 1946/07/19 | C-5655 | WB |
| GEORGIC | 1946/07/15 | C-5720 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/07/27 | C-5720 | |
| QUEEN MARY | 1946/08/12 | C-5720, C-5721 | WB |
| LETITIA | 1946/08/13 | C-5721 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/08/16 | C-5721 | WB |
| LADY NELSON | 1946/08/19 | C-5721 | WB |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/09/10 | C-5721 | |
| MAURETANIA | 1946/08/24 | C-5721, C-5722 | WB |
| QUEEN MARY | 1946/08/31 | C-5722 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/09/04 | C-5722 | |
| LETITIA | 1946/09/11 | C-5722 | WB |
| LADY NELSON | 1946/10/10 | C-5724 | WB |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/10/13 | C-5724 | |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/10/17 | C-5724 | |
| SCYTHIA | 1946/10/31 | C-5724 | |
| EMPIRE BRENT | 1946/11/01-1946/11/30 | C-5724 | WB |
| LADY RODNEY | 1946/11/14 | C-5724 | WB |
| SAMARIA | 1946/11/19 | C-5724 | |
| SEA ROBIN | 1946/11/12 | C-5725 | |
| EMPIRE BRENT | 1946/12/12 | C-5725 | WB |
| SAMARIA | 1946/12/17 | C-5725 | |
| AQUITANIA | 1946/12/29 | C-5725 |
Judging by just one voyage, that of the Letitia with war brides on film C-5621, the detail is remarkable — husband's regimental number, rank, name, religious denomination, wife's name, denomination, if pregnant how far along, children name and age, the destination address, name of the person receiving them and their relationship. There's lots more detail on the voyage such as handling (and mishandling) of baggage.
While unindexed, so not easy to research, the records reward the diligent investigator with a lot of detail.
11 June 2020
LAC Collection Search Improvement
As you may have already noticed, our Collection Search results panel has changed, and the LAC collection’s digital material that you research now appears in a new and improved viewer.At Collection Search there's presently a warning:
You can now see the digital material at first glance—including videos and PDFs! You can view items in full-screen mode, and download many of them for off-line research.
Our team is currently adding new features to the Collection Search. In the meantime, you may notice some slowness or unexpected errors. We are working to resolve these issues and to bring you a better Collection Search experience.Progress ... one step forward, half-a-step back.
BIFHSGO June Meeting: Great Moments
10 June 2020
FamilySearch British and Canadian Updates
Since I last reported on updates to English records at FamilySearch the following updates for the UK have been posted.
| Title | Records | Last Update |
|---|---|---|
| England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988 | 148,880 | Jun 9, 2020 |
| England, Northumberland Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1920 | 200,017 | Jun 9, 2020 |
| England, Yorkshire Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1613-1887 | 320,966 | Jun 9, 2020 |
| England, Gloucestershire Non-Conformist Church Records, 1642-1996 | 63,570 | Jun 8, 2020 |
| England, Cambridge Parish Registers, 1538-1983 | 470,491 | Jun 3, 2020 |
| England, Hampshire Parish Registers, 1538-1980 | 1,856,794 | Jun 3, 2020 |
| Wales, Monmouthshire (Gwent), Electoral Registers 1839-1889 | 455,348 | Jun 3, 2020 |
| England, Dorset, Parish Registers, 1538-2001 | 1,498,417 | Jun 2, 2020 |
| England and Wales Census, 1861 | 19,591,543 | Jun 2, 2020 |
| England, Essex Non-Conformist Church Records, 1613-1971 | 35,383 | May 30, 2020 |
| England, Devon and Cornwall Marriages, 1660-1912 | 93,242 | May 28, 2020 |
| Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935 | 797,279 | May 27, 2020 |
| England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918 | 2,975,530 | May 15, 2020 |
| England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997 | 2,746,297 | May 13, 2020 |
| England, Devon, Plymouth Prison Records, 1821-1919 | 13,495 | May 11, 2020 |
The following updates for Canada were also made:
| Title | Records | Last Update |
|---|---|---|
| Nova Scotia Deaths, 1864-1877 | 44,259 | Jun 9, 2020 |
| Canada, New Brunswick, County Register of Births, 1801-1920 | 33,092 | Jun 9, 2020 |
| Manitoba Church Records, 1800-1959 | 10,585 | May 29, 2020 |
| Canada Census, 1851 | 1,560,069 | May 6, 2020 |
FamilySearch does not reveal whether the updates are major or minor.
Film: Your Atlantic Holiday to Canada - 1933
The National Library of Scotland makes available a 1933 silent promotional film by Anchor-Donaldson Line, "inviting you on a luxury cruise from Glasgow to Quebec via Belfast." It shows scenes of life on the transAtlantic voyage on the Letitia, of Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls.
The promotional material makes reference to singer Sir Harry Lauder. The outgoing passenger list shows he travelled on the Letitia from Glasgow in September 1932. His was not just a pleasure trip, he performed in major centres from Quebec City to Victoria. The Ottawa Journal reported a performance in Ottawa on 10 October that year at the Glebe Collegiate Assembly Hall.
09 June 2020
Blogger Issues
Several comments have come in since I switched to a new version of the Blogger software used to prepare posts. The major concern is broken links. Sorry about that, I know it's annoying. I've switched back to the old version. If the problem continues let me know and I'll include the web address text as well as the link. Please bear with me.
This Week's Online Genealogy Events
O/T: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone
They removed a statue of Gandhi in Ghana, spray painted 'was racist' below wartime leader's Churchill's name on a London statue, and want to deny such public recognition of Macdonald. Look into the eugenics history of Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung and Tommy Douglas.
International Archives Week
FreeBMD June Update
08 June 2020
MyHeritage Exclusive Titles Free for a Day
MyHeritage has some huge databases opened up for free access in the next few days. It includes five exclusive databases with the highlight for Canada being the Canadian Newspapers, 1752-2007 next Monday. There are also lots of Canadians in the Ellis Island and Other New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. Don't miss out.
Library and Archives Canada can help reduce GHG emissions
Here is the text of an email I sent to Minister of Canadian Heritage Stephen Guilbeault.
Survey Results: How useful are these INTERNATIONAL family history databases for your research?
There were 92 responses to this survey posted on the blog on Thursday 4 June.
07 June 2020
Sunday Sundries
Family historians should expect a 'much different service' when archives reopen later this year
Those are the words of John Chambers, CEO of the UK Archives and Records Association (ARA) speaking to WDYTYA? Magazine.
06 June 2020
Findmypast adds to British and Canadian Collections
Artists on Deceased Online
05 June 2020
British History Online
LAC 2019-2022 Three-Year Plan: Mid-Year Report 2019-2020
One-quarter of the way into the 2020-2021 fiscal year Library and Archives Canada has posted a report for mid-year 2019-2020 on its 2019-2022 Three-Year Plan.
WDYTYA Magazine July 2020
04 June 2020
BIFHSGO June Meeting Online: Great Moments
OGS Annual Report 2019
03 June 2020
Not in Hibernation
While many organizations give the appearance of having gone dormant during the pandemic that's not the case with at least one. In the past month there have been 22 posts on the Derbyshire Record Office Blog.
Death of Societies
A family history organization you probably never heard of, The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE), is no more.
"The board members and staff regretfully announce that, as of 15 April 2020, the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors no longer exists as an active society."
02 June 2020
Webinar: Mapping Enlightenment Edinburgh
Ontario Civil Registration Deaths Updated for 1948 Show Remarkable Longevity
You likely saw announcements that Ancestry added records for 1948 to its collection Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1948. There were 42,839 records for deaths in Ontario. A search by gender finds 23,731 were male, 19,130 female. Apparently, there were 22 that were both!
MyHeritage "Ask the Expert"
Webinar: Jonny Perl on WATO
When working with DNA for family history research, there are many scenarios where a "mystery match" will emerge. This person will share DNA with several people within a known tree, while their genealogical connection to the tree is not known. They could be someone with unknown or mistaken parentage, or simply an uncommunicative match. This webinar will show how "What are the Odds?" (WATO) can guide you towards answers to puzzles like these.
01 June 2020
City of Ottawa seeking donations of cloth masks for vulnerable residents
Internet Genealogy June/July 2020 Delayed
The following is posted on at www.internet-genealogy.com/IG_Special_Notice.htm
Due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the unprecedented measures taken over the recent months, we are on a revised schedule that will see the June/July 2020 issue of Internet Genealogy printing later than usual resulting in a delay in delivery of subscription copies until around the middle of June. We apologize for the inconvenience. With respect to our newsstand customers who have supported us for many years, we regret that Internet Genealogy will not be available on newsstands for the foreseeable future. PDF edition copies (always available by subscription or single-copy), and a limited supply of print copies are available for purchase at our online store later in June.
