SCGS FREE webinars

The Southern California Genealogical Society has issued a list of free webinars scheduled for 2016, two a month. Many are applicable to wherever your genealogical interest, others are US-specific.

Jill Morelli - The 'Push' and 'Pull' Decision-making of the 19th Century Emigrant.
Saturday, January 2, 10:00 AM PST.

Diahan Southard -Making YDNA and mtDNA Part of your Family History.
Wednesday, January 20, 6:00 PM PST

Tom Underhill - Scanning and Photo Retouching for Beginners.
Saturday, February 6, 10:00 AM PST

Nicka J. Smith - The Family Historian's Publishing Primer.
Wednesday, February 17, 6:00 PM PDT

Julie Goucher- Origins & Evolution of a OneName Study or Surname Research.
Saturday, March 5, 10:00 AM PST

Thomas Jones- Inferential Genealogy: Deducing Ancestors’ Identities Indirectly .
Wednesday, March 16, 6:00 PM PDT

Michael L. Stauss - Researching Your Civil War Ancestor: A Comprehensive Study.
Saturday, April 2, 10:00 AM PDT

James Baker - The Peripatetic Germans: Emigration and Immigrations (1693-1914).
Wednesday, April 20, 6:00 PM PDT

Gena Philibert-Ortega- Once Upon a Time at an Antique Store: Telling the Story of Mrs. E.G. Stetson.
Saturday, May 7, 10:00 AM PDT

Jean Wilcox Hibben, PhD, CG - Translating Latin Records of German (and other)
Catholic Churches .
Wednesday, May 18, 6:00 PM PDT

James Beidler- Finding a German Home Village Online.
Wednesday, June 15, 6:00 PM PDT

Drew Smith - Organizing Your Genealogical Research Process.
Wednesday, July 20, 6:00 PM PDT

George G. Morgan - Five Reasons the Records Aren't in the Courthouse.
Saturday, August 6, 10:00 AM PDT

Teresa "Tessa" Keough - What’s In a Name? Every Surname Tells a Story.
Wednesday, August 17, 6:00 PM PDT

J. H. Fonkert - Discover Family History in Historical Newspapers Online and Off.
Saturday, September 3, 10:00 AM PST

Elissa Scalise Powell - How Did My Pennsylvania Ancestor Get There?: Migration Trails West. Wednesday, September 21, 6:00 PM PDT

Mary K. Roddy- Trails West.
Saturday, October 1, 10:00 AM PDT

Pam Vestal- Genealogical Pits I've Fallen Into and How to Avoid Them!.
Wednesday, October 19, 6:00 PM PDT

Cyndi Ingle- The Case of the Broken Link: Decoding the URL.
Saturday, November 5, 10:00 AM PST

Tammy Hepps- The Ancestor Deep-Dive: How You Can Find Out Everything There Possibly is to Know About Your Ancestor.
Wednesday, November 16, 6:00 PM PST

Barbara Randall- Weaving the Research Quilt.
Saturday, December 3, 10:00 AM PST

Dr. Michael Lacopo- Using Tax Records for Genealogical Problem Solving.
Wednesday, December 21, 6:00 PM PST

There's a pdf with details on this series at www.scgsgenealogy.com/webinar/media/2016webinar-handout.pdf

English and Irish additions at Findmypast

This week's additions from Findmypast.co.uk are:

Suffolk Baptisms
Transcriptions of 351 Suffolk parishes with 742,992 records are in this index from the Suffolk Family History Society.  Depending on date information available will include name, baptism date, baptism place, the names of their parents, father's occupation and any additional notes.
If you're wondering if a parish of interest is included check out the list with start and end years at www.findmypast.com/articles/suffolk-baptism-index-place-list. I notice the north Suffolk parishes of Ashby, Bradwell, Belton, Burgh Castle, Fritton and Lound are omitted; Gorleston and Hopton are included.

Suffolk, Lambert's Family Almanac 1857-1917
Fifty-nine editions, wanting 1860, over 3,000 pages, recording local events in the medieval market town of Framlingham. It contains "general and interesting information, including the rising and setting of the sun and moon, a copious calendar, law and university terms, eclipses, etc. with plenty of fire-side reading'. For a family historian, it contains so much more: births, marriages, obituaries, descriptions of the town and noteworthy events, trade directories and lists of officials."

Dublin Registers & Records
Search or browse eight publications of parish records from the Church of Ireland in over 2,500 pdf images. Find baptism, marriage, and burial dates, names of their parents and spouse from dating from the early 1600s to 1800.

Updating the 1939 National Register of England and Wales

When Find My Past released the 1939 National Register on 2 November I was disappointed that records for my mother and her brother were redacted.
My mother died in 2012 but apparently there was no way for TNA and Find My Past to know that. However, as the 100th anniversary of her birth was just a few days later I decided to wait and see if it automatically became available. It did, some days after the 100th anniversary of her birth.
Her brother died in 1942 serving with the RAF and is recorded in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database. I was surprised that wasn't adequate evidence for the redaction to be lifted automatically. He died in the crash of a Coastal Command Sunderland flying boat and is buried in Oban, Scotland. Somewhat to my surprise Scotland`s People had a record for his death which I sent on requesting opening the National Register record. The immediate reply indicated it might take two weeks to consider the case. About 10 days later I received an email informing it had been opened despite his first name Edward being transcribed Gilbert.
The process of opening redacted records appears to be working reasonably well. Does anyone else have any similar or contrary experience?

Lump of Coal Awards: nominations

Do you know of organizations that deserve a lump of coal in their stocking this Christmas?  Here are my nominations.

1. Ancestry.com: for abandoning Family Tree Maker clients without ensuring the availability of an assured path forward.

2. Findmypast: for releasing the 1939 National Registration for England and Wales on a pay per view basis rather than as part of the subscription package.

3. The General Records Office (England and Wales): for a long-standing record of gouging for birth. marriage and death records, and continuing to do so despite findings that a restrictive policy is unnecessary.

4. The Ottawa Public Library: for neglect of the Ottawa Room and failing to give it a meaningful virtual presence.

5. Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections: for inability to proof-read, spell and grammar check.

Your nominations are welcome.

20,000 pages being added to Almonte Gazette online

A little over a couple of years ago I posted about a project of the Almonte Public Library and the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM): The Almonte Gazette - Online with a follow up written by Matthew Moxley Almonte Gazette Searchable Database Project Summary and Some “Tips and Hints” to Search Effectively

Earlier this week the MVTM was awarded $23,019 from the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) for "Digitizing the Almonte Gazette and Creating a Documentary on Former Workers."

Matthew, who returns to the museum for this project, informs me the funding will primarily cover the digitization of the final years of the Almonte Gazette that could not be competed the first time around. This would include years 1990 to 2007 (when the Almonte Gazette closed). The newspapers will again be converted into searchable PDF files. This will make an additional 20,000 pages available for online research.

The MVTM Board of Directors has made it a 2016 goal to improve the website overall and the Almonte Gazette resource will be a part of that. Improvements to the existing database will be explored and, funding and other priorities permitting, updating the Almonte Gazette facility to take advantage of developments since the project was initiated.

OPL Presentation: Exploring Your Family Roots Using DNA

What are you doing on Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 10:00am?  Come join me and Elizabeth Kipp for a two hour genetic genealogy session hosted by the Nepean Centrepointe Branch of the Ottawa Public Library.

Exploring Your Family Roots Using DNA
The DNA you inherit from your biological parents can give insight into your origins before recorded history, resolve uncertainties in your recorded family history (break down those brick walls!) and help in a search to unravel mysteries hidden by adoption. Learn how in this introduction to genetic genealogy. 

The session is free but you need to register to attend. Log with your OPL account and register at https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/exploring-your-family-roots-using-dna.

What's to be achieved with Documentary Heritage Communities Program Funding?

Here are descriptions of the objectives of two of the 65 DHCP projects funded across Canada.

Online Digital Expansion of the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives:  $63,655

The Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives (AMBA) is expanding their online capabilities of making their holdings accessible.  As its first phase, this project will update, improve, and modernize the current search portion of the website, as well as migrating the existing website contents to a new site. As part of this project, a select number of documents will be added to the search function. The new software will allow searching across both the documents and the descriptions of our holdings, as well as having them easily found on online search engines and viewable on the various platforms. Online analytics and statistics to monitor the traffic to the site will be started.  As well, the software will reduce the manual workload by automating the upload of the in-house description holdings and resizing and watermarking images.
At the end of this project, the AMBA will be positioned for the future with a robust, modern, online platform. Subsequent phases will see AMBA digitizing their valuable newspaper collection and other documents and making them searchable and available to the public.

British Columbia Genealogical Society Pedigree Chart Project: $4,609

Since our beginnings in 1971, British Columbia Genealogical Society members and others have contributed their family history research to the Society to ensure both its preservation and access to all interested researchers.
The oldest parts of this unique collection, known as the BCGS Pedigree Chart collection, consists of pedigree charts, trees and family information sheets which are held in the BCGS Library. Many of the documents were handwritten in pen or pencil; various sizes and types of paper were used; some are now fading or otherwise deteriorating. Interestingly, the worst are often those printed on early computer printers.
These charts have never been copied, although volunteers have indexed all the family names on the documents.
With this DHCP grant to the BC Genealogical Society these documents are being scanned professionally. The original documents then will be stored for preservation purposes, and the scans will be available to researchers at the BCGS Library and on the BCGS website.

Thanks for this information to:

• Laurie Dougherty, Archivist at the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives 
• M. Diane Rogers of the BCGS who mentions the society has more projects ready to go while hoping other genealogical societies will also apply. Find out about the program criteria and how to apply at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/documentary-heritage-communities-program/Pages/documentary-heritage-communities-program.aspx

OGS Ottawa Branch December Meeting

I'm unsure if it's too late to participate in Saturday 19 December's OGS Ottawa Branch meeting.

"The December meeting will be a little different! It will be late-lunch potluck and everyone will be encouraged to share their favourite book or resource they have used in their personal genealogy research.  In order to eliminate the possibility of everyone bringing something similar, please contact Heather Oakley at ottawavolunteer1@ogs.on.ca with your food contribution. We'll all share food, information and some Christmas cheer!"

Also scheduled at 10:30 am is a Genealogy Back to Basics session with Mike More on "7 Common Genealogy Research Mistakes to Avoid"  and the regular computer group meeting at 3:15 pm (+/-) following the main event.

More at ogsottawa.on.ca/

John Grenham lauds irishgenealogynews.com

"If you’re interested in new online record releases, public talks, new publications, special offers from subscription sites, changes to repository opening time – in fact anything at all that connects to Irish genealogy anywhere in the world – Claire’s site is indispensable."

That's how John Grenham's latest Irish Roots column characterizes Claire Santry's Irish genealogy news site. Claire gives her reaction here. I need add nothing else  – irishgenealogynews.com.

LAC Service Files Digitization: December Update

As of 15 December 2015, 231,540 (217,062 last month) of 640,000 files are available online via Library and Archives Canada's Soldiers of the First World War: 1914–1918 database.
The latest box digitized is #3789 (#3121) and the surname Greenaway (Fitzpatrick).
At the recent accelerated rate digitization would be complete in 2 years and 4 months -- April 1918.

If you missed it read my reflections on visiting the digitization team at "Impressed by LAC's scanning of CEF Service Files."

Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP) Funding Announcement

Monday saw the announcement of the results of the first funding cycle of the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP). It provides $1.5 million in funding to 65 projects led by archives, libraries and heritage institutions across Canada.

In making the announcement at 395 Wellington the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Mélanie Joly commented on the importance of digitization in making Canada's documentary heritage available across the country. Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Dr. Guy Berthiaume, mentioned that the initial $1.5-million funding cycle is only the beginning, the call for proposals for the second round is already underway.

It is noteworthy that this is not "new" money but a reallocation from within LAC resources.

Projects were funded in every province and territory, except PEI. The largest grant was to the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation which received $100,000 for Inuit Film and Video Archives – Archiving Activities. The least amount awarded, $3,125  is for a Copyright for Archives Workshop to the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives

Two awards went to genealogical organizations: $4,609 to the British Columbia Genealogical Society for a pedigree chart project; $8,943 for Preserving Your Roots Through Digital Storytelling to the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society Inc.

Here are the projects receiving more than $40,000.

Canadian Research Knowledge Network
Canadian National Heritage Digitization Index
$71,683

Dr. James Naismith Basketball Foundation
The Brothers of the Wind Documentary Heritage Project
$69,946

Arnprior and McNab Braeside Archives
Online Digital Expansion of the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives
$63,655

Nunavut Bilingual Education Society
Iqqaumajuakkuvik Project: Digital Audio Archive of Inuit Oral History
$56,750

Qalipu Mi'kmaq First Nation Band
ATK/TUS Database Creation
$46,608

La Société historique de Saint-Boniface
Digitization of 28 architectural projects by Étienne Gaboury
$44,192

Eastern Townships Resource Centre
Creation of a Regional Online Database for the Eastern Townships
$43,828

Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists
SCAA – "Lives and Letters" Short Video Episode
 $40,800

Les Amis des Jardins de Métis
Digitization, Classification and Indexing of the Jardins de Métis Archives
 $40,017

Quite a few of the projects will be helpful for the family historian.

Review the complete list at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/documentary-heritage-communities-program/Pages/funding-history-2015-2016.aspx

After the announcement the Minister took questions and proved adept at avoiding giving any new information regarding the fate of the Victims of Communism monument, a possible new symbol for the Canada 2017 celebrations and a new try for a National Portrait Gallery.

(Sorry about the quality of the image, the subjects are both a lot sharper than in the photo.)

A Green Christmas?

These days stores are concerned about a Green Christmas and that people aren't in the Christmas spirit to go out and buy. In times past that's not something our Ottawa ancestors worried about.

Google Ngram shows an increase in use of the term "Green Christmas" starting in about 1940, dwarfed by use of "White Christmas" -- Bing Crosby first crooned the song at that time.

The bar chart from the Ottawa Journal shows that although "green Christmas" was used from the early days of the paper, it was in sentences like "green Christmas wreath".
Use increased from the 1940s onward. On 24 December 1942 there was mention of it being the greenest Christmas in Ottawa's recent history. In 1949 the paper reported "it's going to be a Green Christmas" on the 24th, the previous year on the 23rd "it sure looks like a Green Christmas for Ottawa", a previous item that year had looked back to the Green Christmas of 1923. The term was not found in that year although the warmth was remarked on. The Journal reported that 1964 was the first green Christmas in 20 years.

Since 1961 records of the depth of snow on the ground day by day have been kept in Ottawa. The average snow depth has been 14 cm on 25 December. The graph shows that generally the more snow on the 15th, the more on the 25th. In that 54 year period there have been 7 years (13%) with a trace or no snow on the ground on the 25th (2006, 2003, 1999, 1996, 1979, 1967 and 1964) and 12 years (22%) with a trace or less of snow on the ground on the 15th. Four of those 7 Green Christmases had snow on the ground on the 15th.

What about the prospects for 2015? Present long-range forecasts predict light snow, or perhaps freezing rain, early next week which will likely be washed away by rain before Christmas Day. That's despite there presently being a strong El Nino ongoing. Three years in the period of record had strong or very strong El Ninos. Surprisingly none of them were Green Christmases in Ottawa.

OGS Conference 2016 Program Announced

Registration won’t be open until January, but you can now browse the program for OGS Conference 2016.

From the pre-conference activities on Thursday 2 June, through workshop sessions on Friday and a first class lineup of presentations on Saturday and |Sunday with lots of choice, I'm glad I already decided to go. Check out the program starting here.

Secrets of the Irish Landscape

Available online from TVO, presenter Derek Mooney embarks on a journey around Ireland and Europe piecing together the jigsaw of clues to tell the story of the Irish landscape and how it came to be, since the last Ice Age.
Learn more and view the three episodes online at http://tvo.org/programs/secrets-of-the-irish-landscape

Thanks to Jim Lumsden for the tip.

Photo credit: M. Bertulat via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-ND

Anglo-Celtic Roots: Winter 2015

The winter issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots (ACR) arrived in time for me to collect it on my way to Saturday's BIFHSGO meeting. It has two major articles documenting member's discovery experiences.
Part two of Jane Down's description of how she discovered the Devon roots of her Down family includes the story of exploring Shop Farm and family homestead, also the subject of a memorable presentation Jane gave to BIFHSGO many years ago. Although now submerged beneath a reservoir Jane describes how being inaccessible has propelled her to know Shop Farm more intimately than if she'd been able to drive by.
My Ancestors Were Ag Labs — or Were They? sees Christine Jackson exploring the origins of he maternal grandmother's Durrant/Dudman family by attacking her Sussex 17th century brick wall from both sides. If the connection across the brickwall is correct it means she has a 16 generation line back to her original immigrant to England.
As usual with the winter issue of ACR there's a photo-rich article about last September's conference as well as the regular columns. The deadline for the Cream of the Crop column came in time for inclusion of information on the 1939 National Registration for England and Wales which had just been released. It was too late for me to remove the description of the additional exploration of the dataset possible with the advanced search using the TNA reference — deleted from the information provided free a few days after release.

Fire Insurance Plans

LAC has placed online on Flickr 23 high quality Goad fire insurance maps for: Brandon, 1910; Winnipeg, 1906; Calgary, 1911; Lethbridge, 1910; Wakefield, 1897; Vancouver, 1897; Ottawa, 1895; Guelph, 1897; Montreal, 1881; Halifax, 1889; Winchester, 1900.

The British Library has a portal with thousands of historic maps in their collection, including fire insurance maps. georeferenced as indicated by the red dots to a modern map through a crowdsourcing project. Explore at http://www.bl.uk/maps/georeferencingmap.html

Findmypast adds Devon, Plymouth Plague Rate 1626-1629

Even if there are only 659 entries in this index collection of Devon, Plymouth Plague Rate 1626-1629 such early records are gold for the right person. Included are names and wards of those who were taxed to help with the cost of relief of the plague-stricken. The records show additional information about residents such as if they refused to pay, left the area or were deceased.

The index was created from original records across three wards of Plymouth: Looe Street, Venners and Vintry held by the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office.

Findmypast adds Portsmouth Electoral Registers 1835-1873

Transcriptions of electoral registers containing 198,271 entries of those who were eligible to vote in local and parliamentary elections.from six parishes of Portsmouth: All Saints, St George, St John, St Mary, St Paul and St Thomas are now at Findmypast.co.uk.

The map image is via Wikipedia.

Findmypast adds North Leicestershire parish record transcripts

The following transcript additions have been made by Findmypast.co.uk.

Leicestershire Baptisms containing over 2,000 transcripts of original parish baptism registers. The records cover four parishes; Breedon on the Hill (1752-1758); Long Whatton (1743-1769); Sileby (1683-1727); Walton on the Wolds (1752-1768); Wymeswold (1752-1802).

Leicestershire Burials containing over 3,000 transcripts for seven Leicestershire parishes; Breedon on the Hill (1752-1763); Cossington (1752-1837); Long Whatton (1752-1818); Prestwold (1752-1835); Quorndon (1752-1756); Walton on the Wolds (1752-1816); Wymeswold (1724-1806).

Mission Accomplished LAC

Congratulations to the team at Library and Archives Canada.

The 2014 Fall Report of the Auditor General of Canada examined whether Library and Archives Canada has fulfilled its responsibilities for acquiring and preserving government documentary heritage from federal institutions, and for facilitating access to these records for current and future generations. LAC agreed there was a deficiency and accepted the Auditor General’s recommendations. In the fall of 2014, LAC approved a plan to eliminate a backlog of 98,000 containers of Government of Canada documentary heritage by December 2015.

According to a tweet from Guy Berthiaume "the contents of the 98,000 boxes mentioned have now been fully registered."

It's not clear what's meant by "fully registered". Are materials now listed in the LAC Archives Search? There were surely surprises and gems found while clearing the backlog which would be a good topic for a post on the LAC blog.