FMP adds St Mary's Rotherhithe and St Paul's Rotherhithe records

A small collection of transcriptions from the Surrey parishes of  St Mary's Rotherhithe and St Paul's Rotherhithe consisting of 5,284 baptisms between 1850 and 1900, and 490 marriages between 1870 and 1885.

Rotherhithe is now part of the London Borough of Southwark.

Quinte Branch OGS adds over 100,000 names to local index

Those with a family history research interest in the Belleville - Trenton - Prince Edward County area of Ontario may finding new information by searching the OGS Quinte Branch index with over 1.1 million entries. Last month an additional 105,000 entries were added from local histories, directories and genealogies.

"This growing database includes names from the hundreds of genealogies, family histories, pedigree charts, cemetery transcriptions, local newspaper indexes and many of the published works in the Quinte Genealogy Centre research library such as business and residential directories, local histories, parish register transcripts, surrogate court wills and funeral cards." 

Go to  www.snaphosting.ca/quinteogs/ for further help and to search.

Ancestry bonanza

After a bit of a famine over the Labour Day weekend Ancestry have posted a feast of new image resources. These are additions to their "rich collections of published resources that can add depth to your family history."

This is such a large addition that the space on their "new collections" page at http://www.ancestry.com/cs/reccol/default only goes down alphabetically to N. Who knows what treasures are lurking between O and Z?

1812 Bristol Poll Book
1818 Norwich Poll Book
1820 Westmorland Poll Book
1831 Edinburgh Almanac - Universal Scots and Imperial Register
1890 Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes
A Calendar of Wills Proved in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Gloucester Vol. 1 - 1541-1650
A Calendar of Wills Proved in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of Gloucester Vol. 2 - 1660-1800
A Calender to the Feet of Fines for London & Middlesex, Richard I- Elizabeth I
A Century of Birmingham Life, from 1741-1841 - J. A. Langford
A Collection of Curious and Interesting Epitaphs, Compendium Set - Cansick
905
A Rent Roll - Presteigne 1705
A Warwickshire Word-Book by G. F. Northall 1896
Abstracts of Wills 1620 - Soame
Abstracts of Wills 1630 - Scroope
Abstracts of Wills 1658 - Wootton
Acton, Middlesex
After Pretoria: The Guerilla War plus supplement to "With the Flag to Pretoria"
An Account of Exeter’s Merchant Adventurers in 16th century
An Introduction to Heraldry
Ancient Funeral Monuments - 1631
Annals of Ayr, 1560-1692
Annals of Bristol in the 19th Century
Annals of Glasgow 1816
Annals of Nottinghamshire Volumes 1-4
Annals of Rochdale 950-1898
Annual Register for England, Scotland, Ireland & America 1798
Biblioteca Gloucesenstris
Bibliotheca Cornubiensis
Bristol Poll Book 1830
Burke's Extinct Baronetcies 1841
Burke's Peerage Baronetage and Knightage - 1881
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk. 1803-1856
Bygone Days in Devonshire & Cornwall
Bygone Nottinghamshire, Stevenson 1893
Calendar of Wills Relating to Northamptonshire & Rutland 1510-1652
Cambria Triumphans 1661
Camden's Britannia 1722
Cheddar Rate Book 1865
Children's Employment Commission- Appendix to the Second Report of the Commissioners 1842
Clergy List 1897
County Genealogies - Pedigrees of the Families in the County of Hampshire
Court-Hand Restored - The Student's Assistant in Reading Old Deeds, Charters, Records Etc
Darwen and its People
Debrett's Peerage - Scotland & Ireland 1825
Decisions of the Court of Session 1781-1822
Devonshire Wills and Administrations 1540-1799
Dougal's Unclaimed Money Register 1910
Eastern Division of Kent – Poll for the Knights of the Shire 1832
Eastern Division of Kent – Poll for the Knights of the Shire 1837
Eastern Division of Kent - Polls for the Knights of the Shire 1832 & 1837
Eastern Division of Kent-The Poll for the Knights of the Shire 1857
English Surnames – Essays on Family Nomenclature
English Surnames - Their Sources and Significations 1875
Eton School Lists 1791-1850
Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of Aberdeen 1398-1570
Farm Day Book: Glos 1894-1950
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae
Fleet Street in Seven Centuries 1200-1912
Genealogy and Surnames
Hart's Annual Army List 1908
Historical Memorials of Canterbury (1857)
Historical Records of the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment 1755-1889
Index to Bristol Wills 1572-1792
Kelly's handbook to the titled, Landed and Official Classes 1892
Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1927
Lincolnshire 1818 Poll Book
Linlithgowshire - Claims for enrollment in the 1839 election
Local Records of Northumberland & Durham, Volumes 1- 4
Matriculation Roll of the University of St. Andrews 1747-1897
Memorials of Angus & the Mearns-Castles and Towns visited by Edward I & Fealtys to England 1291-6
Memorials of Bygone Manchester-1880
Memorials of Old Herefordshire
Memorials of Old Middlesex
Memorials of Old Shropshire
Memorials of Old Warwickshire
Memorials of Old Worcestershire
Memorials of Oxford, Ingram (3 vols)
Middlesex County Records - 1549 to 1603
Middlesex County Records - Calendar of the Sessions Books 1689 – 1709
Newcastle Polls 1777-1780
Newgate Calendar
Newport Pagnell Vaccination Register 1909-1927
Norfolk Poll Book 1768
North Nottinghamshire Register of Voters 1885
Nottingham & Derby - Pipe Rolls
Nottingham Corporation Chamber & Bridge Estates 1848
Nottingham Date Book - 1884
Nottingham Poll Books 1846, 1848/9, 1849/50 (3 Vols)

Brookwood Military Cemetery open days this weekend

While not too many blog readers will be able to attend I was interested to see, via an billboard at Woking station captured from my seat on the train by iPhone camera, that Brookwood Military Cemetery is having a "Day to Remember" when there are Open Days on Friday September 7th and Saturday September 8th, 2012.

From http://www.cwgc.org/news-events/events/brookwoodopenday.aspx:
Brookwood Military Cemetery is the largest Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in the UK. The Open Days will offer activities for all, including Tours and Practical Demonstrations; Commission Gardeners' Question Time; Renovation Work in progress; Free Admission and Refreshments.

Brookwood Military Cemetery, GU24 0BL. The main entrance to the cemetery is on the A324 from the village of Pirbright. There is a direct train service from London Waterloo to Brookwood Station which has an entrance to the cemetery.

How to use probability in genealogy - part 3

The third and final part in this series looks at the situation where the initial belief is high probability that Thomas Jefferson (TJ) was the father of the six children of Sally Hemings. Remember, the objective is to add a quantitative probabilistic overlay to the Genealogical Proof Standard so making it more transparent and convincing, beyond the textual reasoning presently employed.

This example draws on some of the evidence presented in the article "Sally Hemings's Children: A Genealogical Analysis of the Evidence" by Helen Leary published in the NGS Quarterly in September 2001.

Part 1 looked at the case where we started out believing it was unlikely TJ was the father. Part 2 was a middle probability case consistent with DNA findings. This part looks at the case were there is already a strong belief that TJ was the father of Sally Heming's children. The evidence for that might include the statement against Eston Hemings' entry on the 1870 census that "This is the son of Thomas Jefferson"

The prior probabilities ascribed to TJ is 95%, that of his relatives 3% and others 2%.

All the conditional probabilities from part 1 are retained.

In this case the posterior probability, after accounting for the striking similarity between TJ and Eston Hemings, is 99.37%, or extremely probable.

Adding in the coincidence between the times of Sally Heming's conceptions and  TJ residence at Montecello increases the probability of TJ being the father to 99.99%, still extremely probable but verging on virtually certain.

Even this 99.99% does not meet the Genealogical Proof Standard. To do so would require looking at each element of the evidence covered in Leary's article. That's quite viable, although assessing the conditional probabilities may lead to healthy debate. You may wish to continue the analysis on this third case adding on the relative's and supporter's opinions (recognizing these may have been expressed with the aim of protecting TJ's reputation) and DNA evidence used as the basis for prior probabilities in the first two parts as conditional probabilities. If you do so, you'll find the probability that TJ was the father decreases a few 100ths of a percentage point.

It takes some slam dunk evidence against TJ being the father to reverse the odds. There is little point in going to the effort to examine additional evidence that does not have the potential to do so, even if that would be necessary for the GPS.

Scots medieval history put online

The People of Medieval Scotland is a database of all known people of Scotland between 1093 and 1314 mentioned in over 8600 contemporary documents.

It is an outcome of two projects, The Paradox of Medieval Scotland (2007-2010) and The Breaking of Britain (2010-2013), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

More at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-19475461 or go directly to the site at www.poms.ac.uk./

How to use probability in genealogy - part 2

Continuing on how genealogical proof could be made more convincing, beyond the textual reasoning presently employed, by adopting a probabilistic approach.

This example draws on some of the evidence presented in the article "Sally Hemings's Children: A Genealogical Analysis of the Evidence" by Helen Leary published in the NGS Quarterly in September 2001 which documents why the evidence now strongly points to Thomas Jefferson (TJ) as being the father of six of the children.

Part 1 looked at the case where we started out believing it was unlikely TJ was the father. This part looks at the case were it is suspected it was either TJ or someone with a direct male line from his grandfather who was the father of Sally Heming's children. The prior probabilities ascribed to TJ and to his make relatives are considered equal at 49% each. The remaining 2% is attributed to some other person or persons.  These are the prior probabilities that would be ascribed based on DNA testing which found a good match between a descendant of one of Sally Hemings's children and a descendant to TJ's grandfather but not through TJ. His Y chromosome was of a fairly unusual type, one carried by about only 1% of the British-origin male population.

All the conditional probabilities from part 1 are retained.

In this case the posterior probability, after accounting for the striking similarity between TJ and Eston Hemings, is 83%, or probable.

Adding in the coincidence between the times of Sally Heming's conceptions and  TJ residence at Montecello increases the probability of TJ being the father to 99.8%, or extremely probable. This is a greater likelihood than the case for a father named on a birth certificate where the probability of that information being false is typically 1-4%.

If only information on the striking similarity was missing the probability that TJ was the father would be 98.8%. While that's not quite up to the 99% standard for extremely probable it is a significant jump from the prior probability of 49%.

The final part in this series will look at the case where the initial belief is high probability that TJ was the father of the six Hemings children.

Where was that UK historic county border?

You can access a file which shows the historic county boundaries of England, Scotland and Wales to be superimposed on Google Earth at http://www.county-borders.co.uk/. The borders shown are certainly pre-1974 and even pre-1900 in some cases.
Another good option for examining English county, and other borders is the FamilySearch English Jurisdictions 1851 map at http://maps.familysearch.org/

LAC cuts link to academic libraries

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries strives to enhance the capacity of member libraries to partner in research and higher education, seeking effective and sustainable scholarly communication and public policy encouraging of research and broad access to scholarly information.

Library and Archives Canada has been a member without participating in any CARL advocacy or lobbying decision-making or activities that seek to influence parliamentarians or public service officials on matters of national policy.

Now CARL has been notified this week that LAC is planning to withdraw from membership, apparently signalling that it no longer supports the organization's objectives.

Further information, with rationale, via University of Toronto Academic Librarians, is at http://utlibrarians.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/library-and-archives-canada-lac-to-withdraw-from-the-association-of-research-libraries-arl/

How to use probability in genealogy - part 1

I've blogged previously on how genealogical proof could be made more convincing, beyond the textual reasoning presently employed, by adopting a probabilistic approach. The example here, based on the non-genealogical example in this YouTube video, uses simple arithmetic with calculations done on a spreadsheet.

This genealogical example draws on some of the evidence presented in the article "Sally Hemings's Children: A Genealogical Analysis of the Evidence" by Helen Leary published in the NGS Quarterly in September 2001 which documents why the evidence now points to Thomas Jefferson (TJ) as being the father of six of the children.

This will be a three part post, the first being where the initial believe is that it's unlikely TJ was the father, a view now held by a minority. We'll assign a probability, known as the prior probability, of 1%, or 0.01 that TJ was the father. We'll accept the opinion that it was a relative of TJ descended for the same paternal grandfather who was the children's father. We'll assign a probability of 98%, 0.98. There's also a small probability it could be someone else which we'll give the probability 1%, 0.01, to make the probability total 100%, or 1.0.

Now consider the evidence that Sally's son Eston had a "striking similarity" to TJ.  We need to estimate the probability that there was a striking similarity to TJ because TJ was the father. It's called the conditional probability. I'll estimate that 5 in 10,000 sons bear a striking resemblance to their father, 1 in 10,000 a striking resemblance if descended through another male line from the same paternal grandfather, and 1 in 1,000,000 if descended from an unrelated person. These are my estimates. Yours may differ and what matters is the ratio between the conditional probabilities, not the absolute value.

The above values are entered into a spreadsheet in the second and fourth columns.

Now calculate the Joint Probability by multiplying the prior and conditional probabilities across the row. The final stage is to divide the joint probability in each row by the sum of the all the joint probabilities in the column to obtain the posterior probabilities after accounting for the striking similarity. In this case adding the information has increased the probability of TJ being the father from 0.01 to nearly 0.05, and using the Canon of Probabilities mentioned here this is a change from extremely improbable  to very improbable. That's because we started off not believing that TJ was the father and the striking similarly evidence fails to provide highly significant discrimination.

Now add additional evidence, in this case the coincidence between the dates Sally Hemings conceived her children and when TJ was present at Montecello where Hemings lived. Analysis by Neiman in "Coincidence or Causal Connection" in William and Mary Quarterly, January 2000, accepted unquestioningly by Leary, gives about 1.5% chance that TJ was not the father of the six children. This is the basis for the conditional probabilities.

The analysis proceeds as before with the posterior probabilities from the "striking similarity" calculation becoming the prior probabilities in this one.

Taking both items of evidence together the probability that TJ was the father has jumped to 83% or probable. The evidence of TJ visits to Montecello is strong but without the striking similarity evidence the probability that TJ was the father would have been 50%, even odds.

If you start out doubting that TJ was the father it takes a lot of evidence to change the probabilities. The same applies if you start out doubting that a probabilistic approach can be useful in genealogy.

In future posts we'll look at starting with other initial (prior) probabilities that TJ was the father.

Alison Hare re-elected

Ottawa professional genealogist, Alison Hare, has been re-elected as a Trustee of the (US) Board for Certification of Genealogists, the only Canadian Trustee. Although not a member of the Board's Executive Committee Alison spends a lot of time on BCG business, no doubt drawing on her skills as a writer and editor as well as her analytical/research abilities.

Congratulations to Alison.

The future of family history societies

Mike Southwick's British and Irish genealogy blog runs an article "Anyone for the Big [Family History] Society?" eluding to the "Big Society" movement promoted by the present British government.

"As a reader of this blog no doubt you have an interest in family history. But are you a member of a local family history society? Most likely the answer is ‘no’, nor would you consider joining one. This is a shame because family history societies (FHSs) have much to offer.
My own society, the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy and Heraldry (BMSGH), celebrates its 50th anniversary next year and I’m currently sorting through their archives for a short publication to mark the event. In doing so I have been reminded all too well about the strengths of FHSs, but also of how these once great institutions have been marginalised over recent years."

Read the complete article by Mike Sharpe here

His prescription for what ails FHSs is:

- build partnerships with commercial companies;

- partner with local archives and record offices;

- better web platforms, including social media;

- better business skills.

There's an important element missing in the list, the personal factor. Just as people will come out to see a live music performance, even when they can get the same content on a recorded version, so FHSs can attract participation through top rate presentations and face-to-face education.

The official website of BBC History Magazine

Whether or not you subscribe to BBC History magazine, which is available on the iPad as well as in a printed version (expensive outside the UK), a good stop is the free weekly online update at the magazine website. It includes a podcast which this week includes two interviews, on the Spanish Civil War and the Chatham ship HMS Namur.

www.historyextra.com/

Toronto Trust Cemeteries Indexing Project update

Jane MacNamara sent a note about progress on the Toronto Trust Cemeteries Indexing Project she has been leading for OGS Toronto Branch.

On August 29 another installment of the index to these cemeteries became live and searchable on FamilySearch.org. You can now search:

York General Burying Ground (Potter’s Field) 1826 to 1855
Toronto Necropolis 1877 to 1935 (1850 to 1877 were already available)
Mount Pleasant Cemetery 1876 to 1903

The more recent records include plot owners and next of kin names and full addresses. All indexed. You can also search by year or place of birth or death. A wiki entry is at http://goo.gl/Z7ykv

There are 37 people in the index who died in Ottawa including the mother of one of the Ottawa Sharpshooters. 8,276 are identified as born in England, 5,166 in Ireland, 4,677 in Scotland, 76 in Wales, and 24,341 in Toronto

There are more records in progress: Mount Pleasant Cemetery 1904 to 1935, and Prospect Cemetery 1890 to 1935. A lot of names. Your help would be welcome. Please contact Jane MacNamara at fsi@torontofamilyhistory.org if you’d like to participate.

Congratulations to Jane and her team who are now seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

British Newspaper Archive additions for August

The British Newspaper Archive publishes a list of additions in the past 30 days as well as a complete list of contents.  Here's the list of recent additions broken down by those of a decade and more, and less than a decade, adding an indication in brackets of the complete range available:

Coventry Evening Telegraph (1891 -) 1904 - 1917
Coventry Herald (1824 -) 1875 - 1892

Dover Express 1862 - 1874 (-1949)

Elgin Courant, and Morayshire Advertiser (1839 -) 1840 - 1862

Stamford Mercury 1717 - 1734 (-1895)

Other additions are:

Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald 1857 - 1859 (-1903)
Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette 1822 (-1890)
Dundee Advertiser (1861-) 1865 - 1866
Dundee Courier (1844-) 1901 - 1908
Gloucester Journal 1940 (-1849)
Hastings and St Leonards Observer 1867 - 1868 (-1910)
Morpeth Herald (1854-) 1947 - 1948
Police Gazette 1775 -1775
Sheffield Evening Telegraph (1887-) 1904
Shields Daily Gazette 1856 (-1904)
Staffordshire Advertiser 1800 (-1839)
Staffordshire Gazette and County Standard (1839-) 1842
Surrey Mirror (1891-) 1906 - 1914

4908 pages per day were added in August. At that rate it will take 13.6 years to reach the project target of 30 million pages.

Benchmarks update for August 2012

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

Most sites have climbed in Alexa rank this month.

Familysearch.org has 1.233 (1,225) record collections: census & lists 114 (114); birth, marriage, & death 779(775); probate & court  99 (96); military 96 (96); migration & naturalization 58 (57); other  87 (87). It has Alexa rank 3,993 (4,234).

Ancestry.com has Alexa rank of 642 (654); ancestry.co.uk ranks 7,972 (8,745) and ancestry.ca ranks 26,585 (28,428). There are 30,773 (30,753) datasets in the collections including 1,932 (1,932) for Canada, 1,236 (1,234) for the UK and, 24,980 (24,962) for the USA.

Findmypast.co.uk has an Alexa rank of 21,929 (25,228). Findmypast.com ranks 110,236 (203,920).

Family Tree DNA has 389,801 (385,070) records in its database. It ranks 36,112 (37,563) on Alexa.

Mocavo.com has rank 47,037 (53,966); GenealogyinTime.com ranks 29,042 (32,493).

Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk claims 5,614,605 (5,467,345) pages digitized. Alexa rank 127,752 (134,871).

Cyndislist.com claims 320,365 (319.675) total links in 190 (189) categories, with 2,931 (3,294) uncategorized. Alexa rank 82,137 (92,450) .

FreeBMD has219,464,977 (218,542,758) distinct records, Alexa rank 71,635 (85,462).

UKBMD provides 2,328 (2,309) links to web sites that offer on-line transcriptions of UK births, marriages, deaths and censuses. Alexa rank 217,982 (259,611).

CanadianHeadstones.com has over 464,000 (446,000) gravestone photo records from across Canada. It scores 336,363 (464,817) in Alexa traffic rank.

bifhsgo.ca ranks 721,198 (954,738), qfhs.ca ranks  3,750,908 (3,720,520), and ogs.on.ca ranks 214,174 (269,311).

And in case you're curious: Anglo-Celtic Connections has 3,868 (3,789) posts and has recovered a bit in Alexa rank to 203,779 (242,052).

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

Reopening of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Archives

Closed for nearly a year the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa Archives at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Ottawa will be reopening on Tuesday September 4 on a limited basis with regular opening on Mondays and Tuesdays only. The hours are 9:00am - noon; 1:00-4:00pm

There is a new entrance off the parking lot near Queen Street. Archivist Glenn Lockwood has consolidated everything from the former vault, now demolished, into the main shelving so space is at a premium. Retrievals may take a bit longer.  For the next two years researchers should note that the Archives will not be accessible to the physically challenged, nor will there be access to washrooms. Consider delaying your visit for a few weeks unless your need is urgent.

The archives website is at www.ottawa.anglican.ca/Archives.html

Thanks to Brian Glenn for conveying this information.

Anglo-Celtic Roots: Autumn 2012

The new issue, Vol 18, No 3, arrived in the mail brimming, as usual, with good reading content.

Feature Family History Research articles are:

Bound for Canada, by Andrew Frowd, is part 1 of a collection of letters sent by his grandmother Augusta (Gussie) Mary Oates recounting her experiences as an immigrant to Saskatchewan in 1912-14.

The Rowe Family Bible - a link to their Newfoundland history, by Robert P. Woodland, recounts the story surrounding a family bible with genealogical found hidden in a family home.

Searching for Uncle Percy`s Naval Records, by Betty Warburton, updates the story of Betty`s late husband`s uncle WW1 experiences first presented as a Great Moment.

A Mystery Solved in South Africa, by Helen Garson, finds the search can take you to distant lands.

Articles under Techniques and Resources are:
Discover the War of 1812: Websites, Archives and Books for the Discerning Researcher, by Glenn Wright
It`s Your Library: use It or Lose It!, by Dave Obee
plus regular columns from myself and Betty Warburton.

BIFHSGO News has items on the Evolution of Discovery by Brian Glenn, the Report on the BIFHSGO 2012 AGM by Anne Sterling, a membership update, and notice of a tour of Montreal`s Mount Royal and Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemeteries scheduled for 21 October.

It appears I was mislead in my comment in my column when I wrote that the 2012 annual update of civil registration records should be on the Archives of Ontario website by the time the column is published. It`s delayed.

OGS DNA poll update

Since I mentioned the OGS poll on DNA testing as an aid in building your family tree three days ago the number responding has more than doubled. A majority now answer they have taken a genetic genealogy test, found it very interesting and are glad they did.

FMP announce partnerships

Here's good news for US genealogists, more healthy competition for Ancestry.

Partnership makes records available to findmypast.com and creates a vital source of revenue for local societies

LOS ANGELES, August 30, 2012 –Findmypast.com, an international leader in online family history research, today announced a national partnership with Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) to preserve, digitize and provide access to local records from genealogical societies across the country.

The collaborative initiative will help preserve genealogical records and provide a vital revenue stream for the societies. Throughout the remainder of 2012, findmypast.com will release records from the following pilot partners:
New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the most authoritative source for research on New York families
Illinois State Genealogical Society
Williamson County (Texas) Genealogical Society

Via a post by Dick Eastman. Read the complete post here. Maybe one day FMP will find its way to Canada.