Top Blog Posts for April

Here is a list of the five most popular posts on Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections for the last month. Is there anything you missed?

1. Why Are Your DNA Ethnicity Results Unexpected: Recombination
2. Ancestry adds Dorset, England, Poor Law Settlement and Removal Records, 1682-1862
3. CEF Service Files Digitization: April Update
4. Speaker Handouts from WDYTYA? Live 2017 from the Society of Genealogists
5. Advance Notice: Secret Lives – Hidden Voices of our Ancestors

May Backup Nag

Have you done your start of the month backup yet?

Cut Knife Battlefield Panorama

The Battle of Cut Knife, on 2 May 1885, was an engagement during the North West Rebellion (Resistance) between volunteer militia answering the call of their country and Cree and Assiniboine warriors of Poundmaker's Reserve at Cut Knife, Saskatchewan, protecting their traditional way of life.
Government forces under Col. William Otter, advancing from North Battleford in what he described as a reconnaissance in strength, included a detachment of the Ottawa Company of Sharpshooters. Otter took the exposed high ground where there was no cover from the aboriginal warriors who took advantage of the trees lower down to fire on Otter's forces and move position unseen.
Two young men of the Ottawa Sharpshooters, Privates William B. Osgoode and John Rogers, were among those killed.
After several hours Otter withdrew his troops to Battleford seeing no prospect of advancing. Under orders from Chief Poundmaker Otter's troops were not pursued; it may also be ammunition was virtually exhausted.
I visited the site, which is on the Poundmaker Reserve and commemorated by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, on 24 April 2017 and made this video panorama.
The thumbnail image is from the collection of Library and Archives Canada.

FamilySearch adds England Parish Registers

On Friday a bumper crops of more than three million indexed English parish records, some linked to images of the originals viewable at authorised locations such as Family History Centres, became available at FamilySearch.

England, Warwickshire, Parish Registers, 1535-1984, 1,394,384 records
England, Norfolk, Parish Registers (County Record Office), 1510-1997, 188,222 records
England, Manchester, Parish Registers, 1603-1910, 1,744,620 records

Also placed online, viewable at authorised locations, a collection of browse images

England, Essex, Bishop's Transcripts, 1779-1892
England, Northumberland, Non-conformist Records, 1708-1982
England, Northumberland, Parish Registers, 1538-1950

Home Children, the Lucky Ones

An article in the recent History Extra, Life in 19th-century slums: Victorian London’s homes from hell paints a sobering picture. Major cities like Birmingham and Liverpool where displaced workers flocked to seek employment were no different.

Home children had drawn the short straw when it came to living conditions in which they were raised, and the ability (or willingness) of their parents to support them.

Canada was a new opportunity.

Many were young adults expected to be in the workforce. Less than half were younger than age 14, the school leaving age, not the bedraggled kids so often shown. As farm hands they had to work hard; so did the farmer's own children. And remember conditions in Canada were not what they are today. Charlotte Gray describes in The Promise of Canada that at the time of Confederation, just 2 years before the first home child landed on our shores, Canadians were living "narrow, hardscrabble and often illiterate lives, four out of five of them settled on isolated farms and in villages."

While some young immigrants did draw the short straw again, sadly finding themselves exploited and in abusive situations, were the majority worse off than they likely would have been in Britain? For those who believe they were ask them to describe what the children's prospects would have been left without help in the UK and without the assistance of the philanthropic organizations that operated immigration programs.

Ancestry adds London, England, City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Registers, 1841-1966

At last.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery, 33 acres, mainly served London's East End. Many were pauper burials lacking a monument. One of London's Magnificent Seven cemeteries, Tower Hamlets cemetery records have been available at the London Metropolitan Archives for years but only a limited range of years had been transcribed. Now they're at Ancestry.

Ancestry's Tower Hamlets collection brings together the daybooks and registers of burials, and the register of private graves. There are 764,378 indexed entries which includes the same person in different documents.

A typical entry has name, abode, when buried, age and by whom the ceremony was performed.

While free is good in the long run you get what you pay for. Ancestry's arrangement with the LMA, which has brought many London records online, shows the power of money again in bringing indexed records linked to images of the original burial records online.

The site. closed to burials since 1966, is now a cemetery park and nature reserve with multiple uses. See a YouTube video on the present (2016) situation at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUd_IPqSt24.

Deceased Online includes four of the Magnificent Seven in it's inventory of 65 London Cemeteries, Brompton, Highgate, Kensal Green, and Nunhead. Transcripts for Abney Park are free with registration online at www.devsys.co.uk/ap/. That leaves West Norwood without comprehensive online access to burial records.

To inspire searching London cemetery records Coldplay has some appropriate music.

British Newspaper Archive additions for April

The British Newspaper Archive now has 19,300,046 pages (18,909,558 pages last month) from 756 (750) titles online.
 Major additions are highlighted.

TITLE	DATE RANGE
John Bull	1822-1825, 1834-1842, 1845-1857, 1862-1892
Boston Guardian	1929, 1937
Northern Whig	1872-1873, 1876-1882, 1889
Nottingham Journal	1879, 1887, 1890-1891, 1898-1902, 1905-1909, 1913-1925, 1931-1950
Galway Vindicator, and Connaught Advertiser	1873-1899
Ballymena Weekly Telegraph	1904, 1906-1916, 1921-1929, 1931-1957
Belfast News-Letter	1927
Yarmouth Independent	1862-1863, 1868, 1871, 1876-1877, 1879, 1882, 1885, 1889-1893, 1901, 1903, 1906-1910, 1913-1914, 1916-1927, 1932-1937
Todmorden & District News	1871-1895, 1898-1932
Rugby Advertiser	1853-1854, 1856-1871, 1874-1889, 1915-1931, 1934-1957
Southern Echo	1901-1908
West London Observer	1894-1915
Motherwell Times	1955-1957
The People	1914-1917
Shields Daily News	1898
Western Daily Mercury	1912
North London News	1871-1892, 1894-1895
John o' Groat Journal	1887-1888
East Anglian Daily Times	1890-1893, 1895, 1901, 1903-1904, 1906, 1908-1909
Bradford Observer	1882
Surrey Comet	1881-1887, 1890-1891, 1893-1896, 1898, 1900-1910
Greenock Telegraph and Clyde Shipping Gazette	1880-1881, 1894-1898
Shipping and Mercantile Gazette	1870, 1873, 1875-1879
Gloucester Citizen	1958

TheGenealogist releases over 100,000 Parish Records and thousands of voter records

TheGenealogist continues to expand its Parish Record collections with the addition of 100,000 new individuals for the County of Worcestershire and additionally the Registers of the Parish Church of Rochdale in Lancashire that covers the period between 1642 and 1700. The Worcestershire Parish Records were added through a partnership with Malvern FHS.

Also added are records covering 35 different registers of people who were entitled to vote in Wakefield, West Yorkshire and other constituencies situated in Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and New Westminster in Canada. These have been added to the Poll and Electoral Roll collection covering millions of records.

To search these and many other records on TheGenealogist, go to: www.thegenealogist.co.uk

Findmypast adds Kent transcript parish records

Looking for ancestors in the Kent parishes of Bapchild, Brompton, Chatham, Kildown, New Gillingham, Tenterden, Wingham, and Wittersham?

Look for help in this week's transcript additions to Findmypast.

- over 18,000 baptisms
- 3,000 banns
- 312,000 marriages
- 18,000 burials

Also in North West Kent there are transcript additions of 23,000 baptisms, making more than 50,000 baptismal records for Bexley, Chelsfield, Crayford, North Cray, Westerham, Stone, Darenth, Longfield, Meopham, Southfleet and Greenwich; and an addition of 15,000 burials at St Mary in Bexley, St Martin of Tours in Chelsfield, St Margaret in Lee and St John the Baptist in Meopham.

Advance Notice: Voices from the Dust 2017

BCGS Conference: 9-11 June 2017

The British Columbia Genealogical Society's Canada 150 Seminar is June 9-11, 2017 in Coquitlam, BC, Canada.

The theme: Celebrating Our Canadian Ancestors.

Speakers include Dave Obee, Claire Smith-Burns, Mary Read, Xenia Stanford and Susanne Sulzberger.

Central, accessible location: Best Western Plus Coquitlam Inn Convention Centre, 319 North Road, Coquitlam, BC V3K 3V8

Tickets available on-line or by e-mail, phone or mail.

See the BC Genealogical Society website for details. http://www.bcgs.ca/?page_id=2511

Thanks to Diane M. Rogers for the information.

Prepare for OGS Conference add-ons

It surprised me, but probably shouldn't have, that several people I spoke to at the Alberta Genealogical Society conference last weekend were planning to attend the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Ottawa in June. Many people in Alberta have ancestors who came from Ontario, or stayed there a while before heading west.
If you're coming from away don't stop with the conference.

Important for any Canadian researcher, genealogical or historical, is Library and Archives Canada.
A flood of researchers is expected at LAC. If you plan on being part of it preparation is essential.

Some hints.

1. You will need a reader card which can be ordered using an online form, see the procedure at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services-public/Pages/Registration-Intro.aspx/.

2. Get advice before your trip from an LAC expert. see http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services-public/ask-question/Pages/ways-ask-question.aspx/.

3. Material not available on open shelves needs to be brought to the building from another location. That can take a day or even a week so ordering in advance is essential.

4. Public transit is a good option for getting to and from the LAC building at 395 Wellington Street which is at the north end of Bay Street from the Algonquin College conference site. Take advantage of the travel planner at http://www.octranspo.com/travelplanner/travelplanner or on Google maps.

5. There is no restaurant or cafe in the LAC building. On the ground floor there are food and drink vending machines near the lockers and a few places to sit.

6. Check out the amazing collection of city directories on open shelves on the 2nd floor, through the doors to the left as you exit the elevators. Also on the 2nd floor is the reader registration area and consultation for non-genealogical queries..

7. On the 3rd floor, to the right off the elevators, is the genealogy consultation area; to the left is the document consultation area.

Finally, don't overlook Using Ancestry Day being held at the Algonquin College site on the Monday after the conference with well known Ancestry expert speaker Crista Cowan and Ancestry’s DNA product manager Anna Swayne.

BTW. If you've not made plans yet, and don't have family or a friend to stay with, I'm told accommodation is still available at the residence at the Algonquin College conference site.

Many Findmypast records free this weekend

It's a long weekend in the UK and Findmypast have made all of their birth, marriage, death and census records free with registration until 1 May. If you're not a subscriber don't miss the opportunity to search records exclusive online to Findmypast.

Ancestry's World Archives Project Update

Ancestry has published an update on its volunteer-powered indexing World Archives Project covering the last year.
In 2016 405,134 image sets were indexed for a total of 15,234,403 records
So far in 2017 80,180 image sets have been indexed for a total of 3,882,024 records.

Find a list of completed projects at http://www.ancestry.com/wiki/index.php?title=World_Archives_Project,_Live_Projects

Selected active indexing projects, all considered to be of average difficulty and of likely interest to readers of this blog, are:

Bedfordshire, England, Workhouse and Poor Law Records
Belfast, Northern Ireland, The Belfast Newsletter (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1738-1925 (Part 3)
Ontario, Canada, The Ottawa Journal (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1885-1980
UK, Absent Voters Lists (Part 1).

There's also a UK, Historical Photographs project assessed as easy.

Timely death statistics

Every month I get a press release from the Office for National Statistics in the UK  like this one received on 25 April. 

The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in March 2017 was 48,615; this represents an increase of 889 deaths in comparison with the previous month and a decrease of 25 deaths in comparison with the same month in 2016.

Weekly statistics are issued. This week it's

The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 14 April 2017 (week 15) was 8,493; this represents a decrease of 1,446 deaths registered in comparison with the previous week (week 14).
The average number of deaths for the corresponding week over the previous 5 years was 10,624.The decrease in the deaths registered in the week ending 14 April 2017 is likely to be due to the closure of register offices over the Easter period. This pattern is similar to previous years.

Timely issue of death statistics goes back to bills of mortality, weekly mortality statistics in London, designed to monitor burials from 1592 to 1595 and then continuously from 1603.

I was curious as to why we don't get similar statistics in Canada.

Recognizing health is a provincial jurisdiction I enquired of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care with the specific query "Does your ministry keep track of current (weekly or monthly) death statistics?" 

The initial reply gave contact information on various other government organizations but did not answer the specific question. A follow-up asking for a specific answer was rewarded by the reply that "The MOHLTC does not keep track of death statistics."

Apparently not only do we not get current mortality information but the Ontario ministry responsible for health has no idea as to the current status. In an information age we are less informed than they were in London in the 16th century!

Advance Notice: Secret Lives – Hidden Voices of our Ancestors

There's a major conference planned for late summer 2018 in England which you may want to plan on attending..
Four major genealogical organisations, the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA), The Guild of One Name Studies, the Halsted Trust and the Society of Genealogists are cooperating to host a major family history conference to be held from Friday 31st August to Sunday 2nd September 2018 in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

The theme is Secret Lives – Hidden Voices of our Ancestors. Some potential topics are:

Bigamy, Divorce, Marriage breakdown from 18th-20th centuries; LGBTQIA Lives, social history, records and current research; Criminal under class; Bagnios and Bawdy Houses. Prostitution in18th Century London; Fallen Women -Victorian Prostitution and Reform; Victorian Detectives, Police and Crime; Transportation; Social deprivation in London and other urban areas; Social deprivation and life in rural areas; Researching Women ancestors; Ecclesiastical or Bawdy Courts cases; Litigation and civil and equity court  records case studies; Migrant communities – Jewish Manchester, Irish Liverpool 

Workhouses and other institutions inmates; School and institutions for poor children; A poor person’s death- Funeral Clubs and Friendly Societies;

There a call out for presentation proposals at secretlives.org.uk/ 

Historical Society of Ottawa: April meeting

Friday 28 April 2017: 1 pm
Routhier Community Centre
172 Guigues Street

Thomas Ahearn - The Electrification of Ottawa, presented by Kelly Ray

Abstract: Thomas Ahearn, born in Lebreton Flats to Irish immigrant parents, was an early adapter of new technology. He brought innovation to Ottawa by introducing electricity to the city. He provided lighting, powered his streetcars, and developed a number of electrical devices such as irons, stoves and heaters. He was the first person to prepare a meal on an electric stove, among other things. Hear about his technological and political achievements that helped shape the city of Ottawa and see documents and artifacts from this Canadian inventor and businessman.

Profile: Kelly Ray works in public affairs for the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Holding degrees in anthropology and public relations, it is quite fitting that as a great, great grand niece of Thomas Ahearn, she makes a career of sharing stories of innovation and Canadian technology. She has worked for over a decade in the cultural and tourism sectors at the Calgary Zoo as well as multiple museums here in Ottawa.

A Footnote in Canadian Military History

Harry B. Little's grave is the only one with a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone in the Lutheran Cemetery at Czar, Alberta. 

Little died 10 days after the start of the First World War, the first man serving with the Canadian Expeditionary Force to die. While the circumstances were not militarily glorious, he died of a heart attack in the train heading east having left Edmonton just a few hours earlier, he gets the same dignified recognition as all other casualties.

Both his father and grandfather had seen service in Canada with the British Army.

The headstone is set apart, about 20 yards north of the hilltop entrance to the cemetery, no longer the main entrance as stated in the CWGC report.

Little was one of the many British immigrants who joined up early with the CEF. Born in Stroud, on the edge of the scenic Cotswolds, his grave site has a certain Prairie charm.

Alberta Genealogical Society Conference: Day 2

It was a shock to open the bedroom curtains in the hotel in Edmonton to this sight on Sunday. This doesn't happen in Ottawa on St George's Day which is also Shakespeare's birthday. I obviously could not start my first presentation with the quote "Now is our winter of discontent made glorious summer ..."

With three presentations to give my perspective on the conference was limited. I enjoyed giving all the presentations on London Burials, British WW2 Child Evacuees to Canada and British Newspapers.

I did manage to attend the opening plenary by Kyle Betit on his experience with WDYTYA, the US TV program. ProGenealogists, the part of Ancestry in which he is involved, spends an average of 600 hours researching each episode, starting with building a family tree back 4 generations. These days the celebrities (or their agents) come of WDYTYA to be involved whereas for the first few series they had to be solicited.

Along the way Kyle mentioned that AncestryDNA now has 4 million tests completed, up from 3 million in January.

Thank's to the Alberta Genealogical Society for allowing me to be part of their event.

BIFHSGO Conference 2017 Speakers

With an enjoyable Alberta Genealogical Society conference just ended, and the Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Ottawa in June somehow the BIFHSGO conference seems a long way away. Registration doesn't even open until 1 May.
There was a deliberate decision made this year not to program any of the OGS conference speakers which meant declining some proposals that would certainly be accepted otherwise.
Keynote speaker Celia Heritage has never spoken here before. Celia is a regular at WDYTYA? Live. Paul Milner got rave reviews last time he spoke to BIFHSGO so was invited back. Rounding out the out-of-town contingent is James F. S. Thomson, one of my personal favourites.
BIFHSGO is fortunate to have local people to profile, all of whom have spoken before, adding to the diversity and strength of the program.
Find out more about BIFHSGO Conference 2017 at https://bifhsgo.ca/aem.php?eid=8