The DNA Craze

The first part of a two part program from Al Jazeera gets into discussion on the reliability of autosomal DNA tests for biogeographical ancestry.

Strategic Vision for the Archives Sector in England

The UK National Archives has just released a paper Consultation on a new Strategic Vision for the
Archives Sector. The vision has three themes:
Theme 1: Archives ensure people can have confidence in
information and data
 Archivists are skilled and trusted custodians of records, data and information
 Archive users are able to access relevant data and information
 Archives have a reputation for transparency and accountability and enjoy the
confidence of users and wider society
Theme 2: Archives encourage innovation and creativity
 The potential of archival material is realised by a wide range of users
including businesses, the creative sector and researchers
 People are clear about how they can use archival material in creative ways
 Archives empower communities to be more informed and involved
Theme 3: Archives enable collective memories to be kept alive for
future generations
 Archives are able to preserve and present digital records
 Archives are financially sustainable, working in partnership to maximise
commercial opportunities
 The archive profession and its collections reflect the diversity of all human
activity, including communities and organisations.

An appendix to the document Reference Group membership and stakeholder interviewees shows there has been no involvement of the family history client community, strange given the large fraction of archives clients that are genealogists.

An aim under theme 3 "to maximise commercial opportunities" seems perverse for a public sector organization. Most of us would be in favour of maximising public access, and accept that often for budget reasons that can only be accomplished by using commercial partners. But it should not become a means to restrict open online access for a period beyond that which the commercial partner needs to make back costs and a reasonable profit.

Hopefully the genealogical community in England will step forward to become involved in the further deliberations.

Shannon Lecture: Friday, 14 October, 2016

“Escaping Judgement/Embracing Judgement: Disability, Protection and Liberty in Twentieth Century Ontario”
Dr. Melanie Panitch
School of Disability Studies, Ryerson University
Discovery Centre, Room 482 Library
Co-sponsored by the Disability Studies Program, Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies
Special Reception Event: During the reception of the October 14th lecture, Carleton University’s Disability Research Group will launch Envisioning Technologies, an accessible exhibit dedicated to the history of educational technologies for people who are blind or partially sighted in Canada from 1820-present.

Adoption mystery solved with DNA

If you didn't hear Toronto genealogist Elizabeth Kaegi's adoption story at the OGS conference 2016 this short YouTube video summarizes her experience and lessons learned. It has over 2,300 views in one month.

Provincial Archivist John Roberts in Ottawa; 13 October

Provincial Archivist, John Roberts will make a presentation on the Archives of Ontario's role in the Archives Association of Ontario's Provincial Acquisition Strategy and the current direction of the Archives of Ontario. Learn what direction he is taking the Archives of Ontario!

Organize by the Archives Association Ontario East/Est Chapter, the presentation will be followed by  a town hall session on the Provincial Acquisition Strategy.  What value will it have for small and mid-size archival institutions?  What will the impact be?

Start Time: 6:30pm
Date: Thursday, 13 October, 2016
Location: City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive (corner of Tallwood and Woodroffe)

RSVP aaoeast@gmail.com

The Great Canadian Genealogy Summit

You've no doubt heard about this first initiative to highlight Canadian genealogists being held 21 - 23 October, 2016 at the Courtyard Marriott in Brampton, Ontario. It's not too late to register if you've previously been unsure of your schedule. Check out the details at www.cangensummit.ca/

The Promise of Canada: 150 Years--People and Ideas That Have Shaped Our Country

The latest book by Charlotte Gray will be launched on Monday 17 October 2016 at Library and Archives Canada during the Writers Festival. Details of the book and the launch are here.

Ancestry: New and Updated British records

New on Ancestry is Dorset, England, Poor Law Apprenticeship Records, 1623-1898, which has just 2,739 records sourced from the Dorset History Centre. Image originals are linked to the index.

Collections updated at the end of the week were:
Warwickshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1910, 760,552 records
Warwickshire, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1910, 277,236 records
Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1910, 1,515,334 records
Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812 , 2,562,810 records
Radnorshire, Wales, Marriages, 1813-1838, 8,226  records

Using DNA to identify soldiers of the Western Front

One of the best presentations at the recent BIFHSGO conference is now available to all thanks to Maurice Gleeson having rerecorded it for YouTube.

Over 330,000 WWI soldiers are still missing-in-action, many of them on the Western Front. Every year the remains of 30-60 soldiers are found during routine farm work. This presentation explores the process for identifying these soldiers and how the role of DNA testing will continue to grow in importance over the next few years.

The presentation is also on the schedule for Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2016.

Google Alerts for Genealogy

There's nothing secret about Google Alerts, but many people aren't alert (sorry about that!) to the capabilities.
Set up an alert to inform you about new internet material Google finds during indexing the web. For genealogy search for terms for an organization, like "British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa", for a place in your family history, like "Rokeby" or a name, like "Smith". "Smith" isn't recommended without an additional search term or terms.
You get to choose how often you want to receive notifications. I have several alerts active many of which only deliver a hit very occasionally; those are things I'd probably miss otherwise.

There's a good short explanation in the video below from Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers where there are lots of other good tips applicable to genealogy.

Kyla Ubbink presentation for OPL:12 October

The Ottawa Public Library continues it's series of genealogy-related presentation with popular local speaker Kyla Ubbink of UBBINK Book and Paper Conservation speaking on Not Fade Away: Digitizing and Preserving Family Photos.

"Keeping and digitizing family photographs can be a monumental challenge. From long term care to digitization, this talk will focus on storage solutions, as well as digitization techniques and maintaining digital files."

This 90 minute session is on Wednesday, 12 October, 2016 starting at 7:00 pm. Registration required at https://goo.gl/MdxZC2

Ancestry.co.uk free access weekend

An email from Ancestry announces a free access weekend, search more than 1 billion UK and Ireland records — until midnight (BST) on Sunday. As usual, with free registration,

Findmypast adds Britain, Registers of Licences to pass beyond the seas 1573-1677

This collection of early records is comprised of over 27,000 fully searchable transcripts and scanned colour images of original documents from series PRO 57/4548 entitled Registers of licences to pass beyond the seas, 1573-1677, E 157. There are two main register types in this collection:

Statutory oath of allegiance taken under the Act of 1609 by soldiers before leaving to serve in the ‘Low Countries’ (1613-1633)
Licences for individuals travelling to Europe (1573-1677).

Entries relating to the American colonies have been transcribed in J C Hotten, Lists of persons emigrating to America, 1600-1660 (London, 1874) - internet archive link. See also P W Coldham, The complete book of emigrants, 1607-1660 (1987) and P W Filby, Passenger and immigration lists index (1981)

Findmypast adds Monmouthshire records

Wales, Monmouthshire workhouse registers 1837-1929
The collection contains admissions, medical notices, religious creed registers, and school admission records. 138,000 in total from the Abergavenny workhouse in in Hatherleigh Place, Abergavenny. Monmouthshire. Each record includes both a transcript and an image of the original record from the Gwent archives.

Wales, Monmouthshire Electoral Registers 1839-1889
The collecction contain over 10,000 records that allow you to discover where your Welsh ancestors lived, whether they were eligible to vote and the details of any property they owned or rented. The electoral registers are presented as a portable device format (PDF). The format of each register can vary depending on the constituency or the year of the register. You can search and browse the images.

Wales, Monmouthshire marriage notices 1859-1877
Over 4,000 records that allow you to discover whether your ancestor submitted a marriage notice with the district superintendent registrar of Abergavenny. Each record includes a transcript of the notice that will list your ancestor's birth year, marital status and residence, as well as the name, age and status of their intended spouse.

Although Findmypast places Monmouthshire in Wales legally it has been considered part of England or Wales at various times. Since 1974 the territory has been in the Welsh administrative county of Gwent.

The History of the Workhouse

Learn about the workhouse system which touched many of our British ancestor's lives. Peter Higginbotham, THE expert in the field, presents the topic in a webinar sponsored by Findmypast. Recommended, at https://blog.findmypast.co.uk/the-history-of-the-workhouse-with-peter-higginbotham-2028962505.html
His website www.workhouses.org.uk/is the standard online reference.

BIFHSGO October meeting

The main 10 am event for the first regular monthly meeting of the 2016-17 BIFHSGO season on Saturday, 8 October is Did Lucy and Isaac Actually Marry? And the Importance of Dying in the Right Sequence, presented by Brian Laurie-Beaumont. He will tell the story of Henry Wimburn Sudell Sweetapple Horlock's fascinating collection of family portraits and how they were identified.

The before-BIFHSGO educational presentation, starting at 9 am, is Online Family Trees presented by Lesley Anderson.

It's all happening at the usual location, The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.
Find full details at http://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127

Ancestry adds UK Medical Directories

Several years ago browsing in the Wellcome Library in London I came across a hoard of medical directories  Ever since I've wondered when they'll be online. Now Ancestry has digitized them and placed them in the Schools, Directories & Church Histories category. The collections, which have a few year gaps in coverage and can be searched or browsed, are:

UK & Ireland, Medical Directories, 1845-1942, 738,852 records
UK, The Midwives Roll, 1904-1959, 398,334 records
UK, Physiotherapy and Masseuse Registers, 1895 -1980, 128,037 records
UK, Dentist Registers, 1879-1942 Schools, 124,647 records
UK, Medical and Dental Students Registers, 1882-1937, 92,436 records
UK, Roll of the Indian Medical Service, 1615 -1930, 8,443 records

You can search by name and also by place, which includes locations outside the UK.
The records usually include names, address, date first registered, and qualifications (postnominals).

These directories are a great resource for those pursuing a one-name study.

Ancestry adds Quebec, Canada, Notarial Records, 1626-1935

They're a treasure for the genealogist with roots back to or through Quebec and now accessible through an index on Ancestry.ca.  As described by Ancestry:

"Notarial records are private agreements (contracts), written by official notaries. This collection consists of notarial records for Quebec from the years 1626 to 1935. Each notary was assigned to a district, and kept three sets or types of records for that district. The following types of notarial records are included in this collection.
Actes notariés (Notarial Acts)
Répertoires de notaires (Notarial Repertoires)
Indexes de notaires (Notarial Indices)"

Only the notarial repertoires have been indexed, searchable by name, date and record type, and by notary and notarial act number if needed. You can click to view a linked image from the repertoire.

Images of the notarial acts and notarial indexes may also be browsed by district and notary name and year range. But, in many cases to view original documents, not just the index entry, you need to contact the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec centre closest to where the notary was in business.

The image above is from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Many Families, Issue No. 2

My only purchase at the recent BIFHSGO conference was a copy of Tad and Terry Findley's annual family history magazine Many Families.
Why buy a magazine for someone else's family? Especially when in this case the surnames investigated are Llanos and Cuenca - hardly Anglo-Celtic!

The articles are a model of research and writing;
The thrill of discovery is shared;
The layout is superb, an inspiration;
The content is more than just about the families.

One of the longer articles "From Oilfield to Battlefield" recounting the experiences of Clarence Llanos (1894 - 1970) during the First World War contains information on his experiences which were far from unique. That FWW story is supplemented with shorter articles "What's a Royal Field Artillery Driver?", "The Royal Field Artillery in the First World War: A Primer", "What's a Royal Field Artillery Fitter", "Great Discovery: Military Service Record", "Gas!", "What's Shrapnel?", "The Burnt Documents".

By chance I even found background information to add to the story of a first cousin once removed who worked as a teacher for Texaco in Trinidad.
If you need more information, or to order a copy, email manyfamilies (at) rogers.com

Documentary Heritage Communities Program: Call Letter

A call letter for the third round of applications for project funding for Library and Archives Canada's Documentary Heritage Communities Program was issued on 3 October.
Detailed guidelines for applicants are found at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/documentary-heritage-communities-program/Pages/guidelines.aspx
Note that the deadline for submitting proposals for the 2017–2018 funding cycle is 27 January, 2017 at 11:59 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time).

Although there was no funding granted to directly genealogy-related projects in the second round, the first round made grants to two genealogical projects. Genealogical organizations/societies are specifically mentioned as eligible for this third round.