LAC employee recognized

LAC staffer Kevin Joynt was honoured at a ceremony on July 19 with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Kevin Joynt has been 23 years at Library and Archives Canada recently working on a special project, the World War II Killed in Action Digitization Project.  He regularly works outside of business hours to help Canadians discover their own personal family histories through genealogical searches.  http://www.gordonoconnor.ca/media_/news/minister-o-connor-presents-several-deserving-individuals-queen-s-diamond-jubilee-medals

His publications include Worthy investments : Canadians decorated by the King, 1915-1919; Soldiers of The Crown : The Canadian Diamond Jubilee Contingent 1897 and ; Subchaser M.L.Q 072

Thanks to Ian White for the tip.

RIP: Christopher T. Watts FSG

via the Rootsweb GENBRIT newsgroup and Else Churchill comes sad news of the death overnight Monday-Tuesday of widely respected British genealogist Chris Watts. Chris was a former chair of the Society of Genealogists, former employee of The National Archives and subsequently volunteer with their Friends organization. He was also author with his brother Michael of several monographs on genealogical topics.

Chris enjoyed genealogical travel. In June he was in Canada speaking at the OGS conference in Kingston, a city where his army ancestor had stayed briefly early in the 19th century, and spoke at BIFHSGO's 2008 annual conference.

He was also my DNA cousin. It is a bad week for death in my life.

BIFHSGO conference interview with Susan Davis

With the early bird BIFHSGO conference deadline this Friday, perhaps we can tempt you to register for the pre-conference session "Digital Descendents: where to find them and how to connect" by listening to my interview with the presenter, Susan Davis.

Essex Record Office blog

Gail Dever, the Quebec Family History Society webmaster, sent an email mentioning the Essex Record Office blog at http://www.essexrecordofficeblog.co.uk/

Gail writes "The blog posts are diverse and informative and always focused on Essex County and the activities of the record office’s archives. Recent posts feature photos, maps, and an Olympic connection. I thought their idea of linking a British medal-winning cyclist with their collection of old photos of bicycles was timely and brilliant. (Yes, I am trying to think of what we could do at QFHS that would be as interesting.) Some of my ancestors came from Essex and I am trying to learn as much as I can about the social history of the county where they lived. This blog is helping me do so. It also makes me aware of what their archives contain."

Take a look and you'll agree; the blog brings the ERO to life.

You can follow the blog postings on Facebook. Simply search for “The Essex Record Office.” http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Essex-Record-Office/102727403170725

Poem: Genealogical Research

Thoughts after a visit to St. Peter's Church, Ellastone, Staffordshire on the 11th of September 1996.

We found one of the treasures
  of which we came to search
Half buried in the wild grass
  of this ancient country church.

The old gravestones, though weathered
  by sun and wind and rain,
retained for o'er two hundred years
  a deep-etched family name .....

My five-times great grandparents
  lay deep 'neath tangled weed;
I pondered what was left of them
  who'd blessed me with their seed.

Those roots of me compounded
   within the living sod .....
Those souls in some dimension
   in union with God .....

And what did I inherit
  of my values and beliefs
From the union of that man and wife
  with all their joys and griefs?

How many distant kinsfolk
  stem from every family line?
Perchance some friend or neighbour
  carried genes the same as mine.
           .................................

But aren't we all inherent
  in this living universe
Which cast the seed of all of us
  the instant of its birth?

Written by Dorothy Reid who passed away peacefully on 6 August 2012.

Pharos Fall courses

Helen Osborn of Pharos Teaching and Tutoring sent a list of the courses being offered online for the three months starting in September. Pharos works in partnerships with the Society of Genealogists, the Guild of One-Name Studies, the (US) National Genealogical Society and the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives, so has some "street cred."

The courses starting in September are:

Organizing Your GenealogyResearching Your Welsh Ancestors
The National Archives Catalogue - Finding People
Introduction to One-Name Studies
Scottish Research Online

 Find the full information on these and other courses offered at http://pharostutors.com/

 "If you think education is costly, try ignorance"

Survivors' Tales of Famous Crimes

Eyes are aching through watching too much Olympic coverage, or too many Olympic commercials?
If so consider listening to Survivors' Tales of Famous Crimes an anthology, published in London in 1916, of some of the most sensational crimes and scandals of late 19th and early 20th century Britain. The editor Walter Wood interviews those who were touched by the crimes recounted.
I came across Librivox recordings of the chapters in this book as one relates to my home town. Another had as a victim a baby with one of the less common surnames I research.
The complete list of chapters is: The Moat Farm Murder; Henry Wainrights Crime; The Sham Baronet; The Penge Mystery; Kate Webster's Revenge; The Master Criminal; The Brighton Railway Murder; Palmer's Poisonings; The Southend Murder; The Reading Baby-Farmer; The Mystery of Yarmouth Beach; The Ardlamont Riddle; The Newcastle Train Murder; The Lamson Case; Crippens Callous Crime; Seddon's Greed of Gold; The Hooded Man; The Vauxhall Train Tragedy; The Tottenham Outrage.

Find them on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/survivors-tales-famous-crimes/id417819484

Librivox has a huge catalogue to its recording of books in the public domain.
I found one with a particular connection to Ottawa Popular History of Ireland by Thomas D’Arcy McGee. http://librivox.org/popular-history-of-ireland-book-01-by-thomas-darcy-mcgee/

BIFHSGO conference early bird registration deadline looms

A reminder that Friday, 10 August, the deadline for early bird registration for the BIFHSGO 2012 conference, is fast approaching. You save $10 on an individual registration if you beat the deadline, either with an online registration or one mailed in with a postmark on or before the 10th.

LAC Flickr sets

Responses have been received from 44 people to the poll question "Considering all activities Library and Archives Canada should undertake, what priority would you assign to posting sets of 10-100 themed images on Flickr?"

75% responded low or lowest priority. Another 20% answered average priority. LAC claims many things can't be done for lack of resources. Here's a basis on which to repriorize.

Celebrate Colonel By Day

Monday August 6th is the Ontario Civic Holiday, named for Colonel By in Ottawa to honour the man who founded Bytown and oversaw the construction of the Rideau Canal for the British Military.

Colonel By Day is a free, outdoor, one-day heritage-themed festival, presented by CHOO/COPO in partnership with the Bytown Museum. This family-oriented event runs from 11:00am to 4:00pm on the grounds around the Bytown Museum, close to the Entrance Locks of the Rideau Canal between Parliament Hill and the Chateau Laurier.

Local family history and heritage societies are well represented. It's a good opportunity to renew acquaintances and find out what's going on in the local community.

Quebec Family History Society on Facebook

On Friday in conversation with Susan Davis, BIFHSGO Director of Communications, recording an interview about her pre-conference session on Facebook, she mentioned how active the Quebec Family History Society is on Facebook.  Most of that part of the conversation didn't survive the editing process, but if you want to see what she was talking about go to http://www.facebook.com/groups/148789676376/
It's a closed group so while anyone can view the posts only QFHS registered members can post.
Congratulations to Gail Dever, QFHS webmaster and driving force behind the group.

Genealogy podcasts

As with people, more genealogy and family history podcasts have come and gone than are alive today. Some only lasted a few episodes.

What is a podcast and what's the difference between a podcast and a webinar?

There isn't a lot. They're both multimedia presentations in the form of a series. Webinars are live online events, usually with the type of visual aid you find in a conference presentation. They provide for real-time audience input and feedback. Some podcasts also have a live feed although none of the family history ones. Webinars are often also available after the live event, although usually for a limited time whereas podcasts are usually archived and available indefinitely. Podcasts, at least the better ones, provide show notes which are like a presentation handout giving more detail, with links to online resources and other references.

The Genealogy Gems Podcast, produced by Lisa Louise Cook, started in March 2007 and appears roughly monthly. Lisa has found a happy niche in the podcast universe; many people have been helped and even inspired by her advice. While iTunes doesn't publish statistics on popularity Genealogy Gems is listed first when you search on iTunes for genealogy, likely meaning it's currently the most popular.
As well as the free podcast Lisa has a premium podcast. The cost is about $30 per year. Genealogy Gems serves to promote the premium one, and also advertises Lisa's many speaking engagements, books and instructional CDs.

There are 137 episodes in the series as of the one posted on July 22nd which was headlined Food and Family History and NetVibes update. On food Lisa spoke with Gina Philibert Ortega about her new book From The Family Kitchen: discover your food heritage and preserve favorite recipes. The item on NetVibes was advertising an enhancement to her premium podcast which provides a greater archive of episodes than previously available.

iTunes puts Genealogy Gems in the category of Kids and Family.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast is found in iTunes' Society and Culture category. Hosted by George Morgan and Drew Smith, it started in September 2005 and promotes George's initiative, Aha! seminars, as well as other sponsors and their conference appearances and books. George Morgan is the author of How to Do Everything Genealogy, which has received mostly five star reviews on Amazon. Drew Smith is author of Social Networking for Genealogists published in 2009.

Most episodes consist of news of the genealogy community, mainly US,  and e-mail segments where George and Drew respond to questions from listeners and provide advice. Episode 238 appeared on July 8th. What was, and still is, advertised as weekly is now appearing roughly monthly. The previous episodes were on May 26th, April 29th, and April 8th. Three episodes with a different format appeared between February 29th and March 24th were interviews recorded at Rootstech.

Both these podcasts are produced with largely a US audience in mind. While I listen to many of the episodes from both podcasts I usually wait until a long flight has to be endured and download unheard episodes to my iPhone.

Family Tree Magazine podcast is from the publishers of the US magazine by that name. It promises that "each month you'll hear from the editor for a sneak peek at what's coming up, news from the blogosphere, top tips from the current issue, the best of Family Tree Magazine and much more." The host is Lisa Louise Cook.

There are now 50 episodes online, typically 45 minutes each. Episode 49, the most recent  posted as I write, also includes a segment with Gina Philibert Ortega  on her book From The Family Kitchen.

Just as you'll probably hear the same news on the various TV networks so the same genealogy news tends to crop up on the various podcasts. Be selective.

If there are no similar podcasts covering a range of family history topics in Canada and the UK, unless I've overlooked them.

Library and Archives Canada has a podcast series, your history, your documentary heritage  (scroll down), which aims to "show custom treasures from our vaults, guide you through our many services and introduce you to the people who acquire, safeguard and make known Canada's documentary heritage."

The series started this February and so far there are just three episodes the most recent being "The Shamrock and the Fleur-de-Lys". The show notes are comprehensive including a transcript. Because they are specialized not all episodes will likely be of equal interest.

The UK National Archives offer podcasts which are mostly recordings of presentations given to an audience at Kew. Starting in September 2008 there are now 263 episodes covering a huge range of British historical and archival interest, many of which relate to family history. A typical episode might be 45 min.

The presentations are by highly knowledgeable people, but unfortunately the visual aids used are rarely available and the show notes are skimpy. Many of the episodes suffer from audio problems with speakers moving back and forth from the microphone. This doesn't seem so pronounced more recently. I rarely miss an episode that looks at all promising and make a habit of attending the presentations in person when at TNA.

Please add information in a comment if I've missed your favorite podcast or not done justice to one of those mentioned.

Ancestry complete US 1940 census index?

Ancestry announce completion of their index to the 1940 US census. With 18 states completed on August 2nd all 50 states and the territories are now available.

According to the information at http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2442 " (The census) tallied the population of the country at 131,669,000 for the continental U.S. (this excludes both Hawaii and Alaska) and 150,621,231 for the U.S. and all territories and possessions except the Philippines.

Today's announcement at http://goo.gl/N7RJO is that "Our indexing came up with 134,395,545 people counted. Most reports on the 1940 census give the U.S. population as 132 million and change, so you may be wondering where the extra 2 million people came from. Two words: Puerto Rico. OK, and Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Panama Canal Zone. They were all included in the 1940 U.S. census and add another 2.1 million or so records to the final count."

I'm wondering about the difference between 150,621,231 and 134,395,545!

Some evaluation studies find the Ancestry indexing is not as accurate as that produced by the group headed by FamilySearch. While one swallow doesn't make a summer I successfully found my only known US relative, in New York, using the Ancestry index with the correct line nicely highlighted on the image of the original.

Family history tops Parkinson's disease risk factors

Did mom or dad have Parkinson's? According to a medical meta-analysis having a family history of PD is the most significant single risk indicator.

"People with a first-degree relative with PD had a more than threefold higher odds for developing PD themselves, compared with those without an affected first-degree relative, based on a meta-analysis of data from 26 case-control studies, and people with any relative with PD had a 4.5-fold greater odds, according to data collected in 19 case-control studies."

While 4.5-fold odds sounds like a lot on average only 1.6 out of 100
men of European ethnicity will develop Parkinson's Disease between the ages of 30 and 79. So if you have a family history of PD, indicative of a genetic factor, that's 7.2%, still significantly less than the average risk of developing prostate cancer, and about on a par with the average risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.

The study also found that a family history of tremour boosted the odds for development of PD 2.7-fold.

Many environmentally-related factors are identified in the report, including that current smokers had 56% lower odds of PD, compared with never-smokers. Coffee drinking was linked to a 33% drop in odds. Caffeine may also help reduce the severity of PD.

Alternatives to Microsoft Office

On my newest laptop I resisted the urge to purchase the Microsoft Office suite. Instead I've installed the free LibreOffice suite. So far on the few occasions I've needed it LibreOffice has done the job.

I still use the previous laptop, my workhorse computer with Office installed. for most of my business type work.

LibreOffice isn't the only option. There's a useful review of alternatives at 9 Of The Best Free & Low-Cost Alternatives To Microsoft Office.

Ontario Name Index (TONI) progress report

According to the Ontario Genealogical Society Ottawa Branch blog a record 65,417 entries were added to Ontario Name Index in July due to an increase in volunteers.
TONI now has 611,773 entries with the major addition in July of all of the cemetery transcripts for Prince Edward County.
Read more (More) at http://www.ogsottawa.blogspot.ca/2012/08/this-is-recent-report-from-toni-team-we.html

CWGC: August newsletter

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is an example of an organization that knows how to maintain public support. Anyone who visits the cemeteries and monuments they maintain can see for themselves the dedication to doing the job.

The August issue of the CWGC newsletter, an example of the exemplary communication effort, augments the credibility by being open about recent problems caused by bad weather in France.

The Family History Show: Heraldry

The Family History Show is a series of videos presenting, in a highly digestible form, aspects of British family history. Some of the earlier episodes, especially episode four, could well be used in this month's Getting Started in Family History series. Others cover material which is rather more specialized.

Episode nine of the show, hosted by Nick Barrett and Laura Berry, has just been posted and comes from the College of Arms in London. The episode gives an introduction to heraldry and the genealogical resources of the College of Arms which go back hundreds of years.

The herald being interviewed used the term "prove" in relation to pedigrees, something they have been doing for centuries without benefit of the comparatively very recent genealogical proof standard.

http://www.familyhistoryshow.net/episode-9-full-show

Getting started in family history: Cyndi's List

I was speaking to a neighbour the other day who knows I'm into family history, he even knows about this blog, but finds it too advanced. So this month the blog will include a few short posts on some of the resources old-timers take for granted. They are oldies but goodies -- resources we sometimes overlook as we get enchanted by the next new thing.

Cyndi's List, http://www.cyndislist.com/,with the tag line "Your genealogy starting point for more than 15 years!" is where to go when you find yourself researching an area or topic with which you're unfamiliar. With 189 categories, from Acadians to Writing Your Family History, and 319,675 links, if you can't find something to meet your needs it is indeed your unlucky day.

Cyndi's List also offers a way to keep up with new developments via daily lists of new and updated links at http://www.cyndislist.com/whatsnew/.

If you've just opened up a new family history website register it with Cyndi's List
to let the genealogical world know about it.

Benchmarks update for July

Here are some benchmarks for genealogy sites as of 31 July 2012. Comparable figures a month ago are shown in brackets. The higher the Alexa ranking the more popular the site.

Most sites have fallen in Alexa rank this month, the exceptions being findmypast.co.uk, british newspaperarchive.co.uk, and canadianheadstones.com.


Familysearch.org has 1,225 (1,211) record collections: census & lists 114 (111); birth, marriage, & death 775 (767); probate & court  96 (94); military 96 (96); migration & naturalization 57 (57); other  87 (86). It has Alexa rank 4.234 (4,227).


Ancestry.com has Alexa rank of 654 (616); ancestry.co.uk ranks 8,745 (7,955) and ancestry.ca ranks 28,428 (26,839). There are 30,753 (30,722) datasets in the collections including 1,932 (1,927) for Canada, 1,234 (1,228) for the UK and, 24,962 (24,944) for the USA.

Findmypast.co.uk has an Alexa rank of 25,228 (25,611). Findmypast.com ranks 203,920.

Family Tree DNA has 385,070 (380,972) records in its database. It ranks 37,563 (37,044) on Alexa.

Mocavo.com has rank 53,966 (49,121); GenealogyinTime.com ranks 32,493 (30,597).


Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk claims 5,467,345 (5,303,054) pages digitized. Alexa rank 134,871 (149,240).


Cyndislist.com claims 319.675 (318,866) total links in 189 (189) categories, with 3,294 (3,796) uncategorized. Alexa rank  92,450 (87,033).

FreeBMD has 218,542,758 (217,346,629) distinct records, Alexa rank 85,462 (78,361).

UKBMD provides 2,309 (2,243) links to web sites that offer on-line transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths and censuses. Alexa rank 259,611 (248,180).

CanadianHeadstones.com has over 446,000 (430,000) gravestone photo records from across Canada. It scores 464,817 (475,979) in Alexa traffic rank.


bifhsgo.ca ranks 954,738 (937,013), qfhs.ca ranks 3,720,520 (1,901,718), and ogs.on.ca ranks 269,311 (247,580).


And in case you're curious: Anglo-Celtic Connections has 3,789 (3,704) posts and continues to tumble in Alexa rank to 242,052 (204,179).

Did I miss something significant? If so please post a comment with statistics.