This new 554,557-item collection is an index of information extracted from judicial rent lists filed in Ireland for the 20 years from 1882 to 1902. The index includes the names of individuals involved in court proceedings regarding fair rent practices, free sale of property, and permanent tenancy, as well as tenants and landlords.
There appears to be good coverage across Ireland.
Images of the original records are not included in the collection.
The FreeBMD Database was updated on Sunday, 23 November 2025, to contain 294,585,442 unique records, up from 294,344,983 in October.
Years with more than 10,000 additions are: births, 1993-96; marriages, 1995-96; deaths, 1991, 1996-97.
The Holiday Legacy Webinars sale is here. Get 50% off a full year’s webinar membership and unlock instant access to 2,500+ full-length genealogy classes.
That ‘s the best bargain in genealogy.
Sadly, it’s only for new memberships. The sale expires this Sunday, 30 November 2025 at 11:59pm MT.
Hint: If you take out a new membership early, it will expire next year, well before the end of the discount period. You will be able to take out a “new” membership at that time. Even if you miss that opportunity, you may get a better-than-full-price offer after your membership expires. Companies know that it costs less to get a lapsed member to resubscribe than to enroll a new subscriber.
Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time, unless otherwise noted. Registration may be required in advance—please check the links to avoid disappointment. For many more events, mainly in the U.S., visit conferencekeeper.org.
Tuesday 25 November
2 pm: Ottawa Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, for OGS Ottawa Branch.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/virtual-genealogy-drop-in-2-2025-11-25/
2:30 pm: Mayflower Genealogy, by John Beatty for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/14743092
7 pm: Piecing Together the Past: The Story of the Coombe Home and Uncovering the Stories of its Young Residents (+ Branch AGM), by Paul Langan for OGS Wellington Branch.
https://wellington.ogs.on.ca/events/wellington-branch-piecing-together-the-past-the-story-of-the-coombe-home-and-uncovering-the-stories-of-its-young-residents-branch-agm/
Wednesday 26 November
2 pm: Unlocking the X-Factor: Key Tips for Using X-DNA in Your Research, by Michelle Leonard for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/unlocking-the-x-factor-key-tips-for-using-x-dna-in-your-research/
Thursday 27 November
1 pm: End of the paper trail using DNA & Patience (repeat presentation), by Barb Roy for OGS Sudbury District Branch.
https://sudbury.ogs.on.ca/events/end-of-the-paper-trail-using-dna-patience/
7 pm: Finding the records for impossible genealogy, by Linda Yip for OGS Ottawa Branch.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/finding-the-records-for-impossible-genealogy-ottawa/
Friday 28 November
2 pm: 20th Century CWGC Burials, by Kathy Kirkpatrick for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/20th-century-cwgc-burials/
Saturday 29 November
The MyHeritage DNA test has helped millions explore their roots, connect with relatives worldwide, and uncover their ancestral origins across 79 ethnicities and 2,114 geographic regions. At $42 Canadian, it’s a Black Friday bargain.
You can add a 30-day free trial of the MyHeritage Complete plan, giving access to 36.9 billion historical records and features for building a family tree and interpreting DNA results — and if you do, you also get free shipping.
So why might you choose to test with MyHeritage DNA? After all, Ancestry DNA has a much larger database, 25+million, compared to 8 million.
Today, 24 November 2025, at 7:30 pm, OGS Toronto Branch invites everyone to its last meeting of 2025. Branch members will be sharing their Great Moments in Genealogy. Great Moments, mini-presentations that won’t put you to sleep, are GREAT.
Those announced so far:
All are welcome. Please register in advance:
https://torontofamilyhistory.
Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.
American Ancestors New Digital Access Membership
For only $49.95/year, less than the ‘regular’ membership, this new option includes digital access to their databases and records, partner databases including NewspaperArchive, 19th Century US Newspapers, The New York Times and more; standard access to their online family tree program; and quarterly digital delivery of their magazines and the Register. Details at https://hubs.americanancestors.org/explore-your-family-history-with-our-49.95-access
BIFHSGO Conference Recordings
Until the end of the month, if you registered or would like to, catch the presentations’ recordings while they’re still available.
This is What a Step Change Looks Like
Steve Little offers a simple way to produce a creative family tree.
Recently from Gresham College
The Later Years: Organisation, Independence and Peace of Mind
Why Do We Laugh?
How Women Made the Global Economy
AI Will Be Your Overlord: Faster, Brighter, Better Than You?
Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Anonymous, Gail, Glenn Wright, Joan, Teresa, Mike More, Tracey P. Lauriault, and Unknown.
This week, FMP’s railway, maritime, and military collections receive a boost with over 34,000 new records, plus more than 200,000 fresh newspaper pages.
New Collections
Wales, Barry Railway Company Accident Registers, 1889–1917
These 8,360 accident register transcripts, sourced from TNA, typically include the employee’s name, occupation, details of the accident, and its outcome—offering both personal stories and insights into Victorian and Edwardian workplace safety.
Wales, Barry Railway Company Staff Registers, 1888–1896
Sourced from TNA, these 1,968 transcript records capture brief details of railway employees during the company’s formative years, providing occupational context for family historians researching this industrial heartland.
Britain, Merchant Seamen Registry, 1939–1945
This index to 24,406 merchant seamen records joins similar FMP databases
Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1835-1857, 1,915,008 records
Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1918-1941 , 1,229,312 records
Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1835-1857 Browse, 245,772 records
British Rolls of Honour and Nominal Rolls
This update adds 293 records to the total, 304,328 records. That total includes over 1,000 who served with the South Down Battalions, Royal Sussex Regiment, 1914-1918, which give neither first nor last names!
Newspapers
This week’s additions include six new titles from Cornwall to Dublin, with 204,486 pages added in total. Years are 1773 to 2004.
| Title | Pages | Date Range |
| The World | 79866 | 1874-1913 |
| Chatham, Rochester and Brompton Observer | 30522 | new title; 1871-1913, 1921-1929, 1931-1945 |
| Glenrothes Gazette | 19680 | 1994-2004 |
| Motherwell Times | 16108 | 1995-2004 |
| Bolton Daily Chronicle | 12546 | 1874-1883, 1899, 1910 |
| Hastings and St. Leonards News | 10700 | 1848-1849, 1851-1853, 1855-1858, 1861-1862, 1865-1881, 1883, 1887-1888, 1890, 1893, 1895-1896, 1898-1900 |
| Iron Trade Circular (Rylands’) and Hardware Weekly Messenger | 8874 | new title; 1879-1881, 1883, 1886, 1888 |
| Wandsworth & Battersea District Times | 5414 | new title; 1870-1891 |
| Bradford Observer | 4998 | 1889, 1891 |
| Kentish Gazette | 3964 | 1891-1897 |
| East Cornwall Times and Western Counties Advertiser | 2530 | new title; 1859-1861, 1864-1870, 1872, 1874-1877 |
| Paisley & Renfrewshire Gazette | 2292 | 1870-1874, 1918 |
| Aberdeen Press and Journal | 2088 | 1773-1782 |
| Isle of Man Examiner | 1930 | 1889-1893 |
| Statesman and Dublin Christian Record | 1638 | 1835-1838 |
| Cambrian News | 1614 | 1869-1873 |
| Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper | 1576 | 1913 |
| Zigzag | 644 | new title; 1881-1882 |
| Illustrated Oldham Telegraph | 162 | new title; 1859 |
The Ontario Genealogical Society has announced that several branches and one SIG will wind up operations by the end of the year. They are:
Bruce and Grey
Elgin
Haldimand-Norfolk
Perth
and the Genetic Genealogy SIG
Other societies are facing difficulties.
Why?
The digital age has fundamentally changed how people research their family history. Websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch have digitized millions of the most useful records, allowing people to do research from home. This has reduced the need to visit local society libraries or attend in-person meetings.
Some societies are finding that an increasing proportion of their membership has ancestors from the area, but not where they presently live. Recruiting those remote members for leadership roles is a greater challenge.
Older generations founded many societies, which now struggle to recruit younger members and volunteers to take on leadership roles.
Some are slow to adopt technology, such as using social media, running webinars, and providing information on how technology can assist their research and help them tell family stories. This makes them less relevant to today’s genealogists.
Extended passive listening, as in the traditional 50-minute lecture, leads to mental fatigue, with people checking out, mentally drifting, or focusing on distractions. Studies show that maximum information retention usually occurs in the first 10 to 18 minutes of a lecture. This can be mitigated by incorporating breaks, Q&A opportunities, or scheduling several shorter presentations back-to-back.
With declining membership, societies find it harder to cover operating costs and maintain physical facilities.
The Ottawa Public Library has several genealogy research guides acquired in 2025.
Three books by Thomas MacEntee are on order:
At the end of August, LAC (Library and Archives Canada) shared its plan for evaluating its programs from 2025 to 2030.
In 2025-26, LAC will review how well it gives people access to historical documents. That hasn’t been done in 10 years. The review will look at 15% of LAC’s access services to assess whether they work well and meet their goals.
I was curious about how LAC compared to similar organizations around the world. That’s not something I’ve noticed LAC doing, so I asked Google Gemini to do a comparison. Gemini’s analysis (not mine) shows both strengths and weaknesses compared to similar organizations internationally.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
The full AI analysis is summarized below using a SWOT framework:
| Category | Finding | Contextual Comparison with Peers |
| Strengths | LAC’s relative advantages and internal capabilities | |
| Operational Efficiency (ATIP) |
Proven success in leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to reduce manual work in Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) processing, leading to an average 22% reduction in manual “touch time” for acting cases in the backlog.1 |
LAC has a measured, quantifiable success in implementing AI for statutory access efficiency, positioning it alongside NARA (USA), which is also prioritizing AI automation for its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) workflows.3 |
| Infrastructure Innovation |
Launch of the Ādisōke joint facility (with the Ottawa Public Library) as a transformational social infrastructure project.5 This maximizes centralized public access, community engagement, and partnership working.5 |
This is a highly unique model focused on centralized social infrastructure, contrasting with the purely logistical or digital repository focus of most peers (NARA, TNA).7 |
| Weaknesses | Areas where LAC lags behind international best practices | |
| Digital Discovery Functionality |
The Collection Search platform relies on basic search methods and standard Boolean options.8 |
Lags significantly behind NARA (USA), which uses OpenSearch and extracted text indexing for enhanced discoverability 9, and the National Library of Australia (NLA), which employs Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) to increase searchability across its digital collection and catalogue.10 |
| Indigenous Policy Maturity |
While LAC is committed to reconciliation 11, policy instruments require revision, notably lacking specific instruments and governance procedures to address Indigenous data sovereignty and consultation in acquisitions.12 |
Behind the rights-based frameworks implemented in Australia and New Zealand, where the National Archives of Australia (NAA) has formalized protocols that define Indigenous authority over records, and the Te Mana Raraunga network (NZ) insists on Māori governance of data.13 |
| Remote Access Logistics |
The strategic focus on the central Ādisōke site may mask the complex logistical challenge of managing the majority of the collection stored offsite.16 |
Contrasts with The National Archives (TNA) in the UK, which recognizes that archive services must manage 80–90% of their collection in secure, remote ‘split-site’ services, and provides extensive logistical guidance via the MAPLE network.16 |
| Opportunities | External trends and forces LAC can capitalize on | |
| Scaling AI for Workflow |
The established 22% efficiency gain from AI in ATIP processing can be aggressively scaled, with further investment, to tackle other resource-intensive administrative bottlenecks, such as the review of finding aids.18 |
The wider trend of AI adoption across the Government of Canada (GC) 19 and in NARA’s FOIA processing 3 provides clear pathways and capital justification for expanding these successful initial automation pilots. |
| International Benchmarking & Exchange |
LAC can leverage peer networks like the UK’s Major Archive Projects Learning Exchange (MAPLE) to acquire and implement best practices for capital development, logistics planning, and managing its split-site service risks.20 |
Allows LAC to mitigate the high operational risk of complex capital projects (like Ādisōke and Gatineau storage logistics) by adopting proven, internationally peer-reviewed methodologies.16 |
| Digital Capital Investment |
The high-profile, high-budget digital transformation targets set by peers (e.g., NARA aiming for 500 million digitized pages 9 and NLA’s HTR development 10) set a strong global precedent for requesting specific capital funding to close LAC’s existing digital discovery utility gap. |
This provides leverage to move beyond basic digitization to invest in sophisticated search architecture—the essential step needed to make LAC’s massive, growing digital collection intellectually accessible. |
| Threats | External risks and constraints that could jeopardize LAC’s mandate | |
| Indigenous Rights and Policy Lag |
Failure to rapidly implement the necessary rights-based Indigenous governance protocols risks reputational harm and legal challenges, as the global Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) movement advances, making LAC’s current policies structurally compromised by colonial concepts.12 |
The high policy maturity of Australia and New Zealand in this area 13 dictates that anything less than formal authority and co-governance protocols represents a high-risk policy deficit for LAC.22 |
| Digital Obsolescence |
The continuous evolution of peer discovery systems means LAC’s current search tools risk becoming functionally obsolete. This would make the national digital collection effectively inaccessible to modern researchers who rely on advanced, semantic search functionalities.9 |
The lack of investment in modern search architecture (a Weakness) is directly threatened by the pace of technological development among peers, accelerating the risk of intellectual isolation for LAC’s holdings. |
| Statutory Access Volume |
The volume of incoming government records—especially digital ones—continues to accelerate 23, posing a continuous threat to overwhelm LAC’s ATIP and processing capacity despite the use of AI.1 |
Requires continuous, massive, non-discretionary capital and human resource allocation simply to keep pace with the demand for records and manage the persistent backlog crisis, which is a global issue (e.g., Australia’s “slow and byzantine” FOI system).24 |
Remember, Gemini can make mistakes.
Can we look forward to reading LAC’s own evaluation soon after the end of this fiscal year?
This collection, sourced from the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service, includes 366,964 marriage records from the county.
Most records include images of the original documents, while some offer indexed information only. The documents consist of marriage registers (multiple marriages per page) and marriage licenses (for single marriages). They can confirm the date and place of an ancestor’s marriage, along with the names, and residence parishes. Licenses can contain handwritten details not abstracted with additional information, such as the name of a parent or guardian approving the marriage of an underage person.
If you have Worcestershire ancestors, visit the Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service website to explore its resources. You never know!
