Anglo-Celtic Connections

A unique interpretation.

If you’d like to know more

On Friday, 19 December 2025, as people were looking forward to a year-end break, LAC posted “Results from the LAC Service Improvement Survey: Final Report 2024–2025.” Announcements on Friday almost guarantee they will receive little attention, but not sufficient to dodge the attention of the OGS eWeekly.

The report on which it was based was delivered to LAC on 31 March 2025. What should one read into the nine-month delay?

As part of the ongoing response, there’s mention of “Launch of a project in collaboration with Internet Archive Canada to digitize 80,000 public domain publications, dating from 1322 to 1920.”

The Internet Archive Canada announced it on Canada Day 2024, stating, “Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting project, and join us in celebrating this significant milestone in the preservation of Canada’s documentary heritage.”That’s 18 months ago. Promises, promises. Where’s the product? Unless it’s buried, I couldn’t find anything among the many Canadian contributing organizations listed in the Internet Archive’s Top Collections.

Two hundred years, from a colonial perspective. On 16 August 1826, General George Ramsey, 9th Earl of Dalhousie and Governor General of British North America, wrote to Lieutenant-Colonel John By advising of his “purchase” of land for the Crown that contained the site of the head locks for the proposed Rideau Canal on the Ottawa River. <HSO Blog Post>

A good New Year’s Resolution for celebrating in 2026 would be to dip into one or more of these ten highly regarded books on Ottawa’s history. They range from modern, comprehensive histories to 19th-century primary accounts.  

Essential General Histories 

• “Ottawa: An Illustrated History” by John H. Taylor (1986)
  Considered one of the definitive modern histories of the city. It traces Ottawa’s evolution from a rough military outpost and timber town into a national capital, weaving together political, social, and geographical history with over 150 historical photographs.

• “Ottawa—Making a Capital” edited by Jeff Keshen and Nicole St-Onge (2001)
  An academic but accessible collection of 24 essays. It covers diverse topics, including Indigenous pre-contact history, the Voyageurs, the Great Fire of 1900, and the development of the civil service.

• “Ottawa Old and New” by Lucien Brault (1946)
  A classic reference work by a former professor and historian of the city. Although older, it provides detailed factual information on the city’s early development and infrastructure.

The Bytown Era & Early Settlement

• “Ottawa Stories: Trials and Triumphs in Bytown History” by Cliff Scott (2014)
  A more narrative-driven look at the “wild” days of Bytown. It features stories of characters like Big Joe Mufferaw, early political scandals, and the violent “Shiners’ War” between rival lumber factions.

• “Thomas Mackay: The Laird of Rideau Hall and the Founding of Ottawa” by Alastair Sweeny
  This biography focuses on one of Bytown’s most influential figures—the man who built the Rideau Canal locks and Rideau Hall. It offers a unique perspective on the city’s industrial and architectural origins.

• “Bytown at Your Fingertips” by Robert Serré (2011)
  A detailed guide to the early years of the settlement, focusing on the people and streets of the original Bytown community before it was renamed Ottawa in 1855.

Primary Accounts & Historical Perspectives

• “Recollections of Bytown and its Old Inhabitants” by William Pittman Lett (1874)
  Written by Ottawa’s first City Clerk and unofficial “bard,” this provides a firsthand, often poetic account of life in the town during its transition from Bytown to the capital.

• “Records of the Rise and Progress of the City of Ottawa” by Gertrude Van Cortlandt (1858)
  One of the earliest published histories of the city, written shortly after Ottawa was chosen as the capital.

Specialized Topics

•  Since Time Immemorial “Our Story” : the Story of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinàbeg by Stephen McGregor (2004)
  Indigenous perspective

• “The Mile of History” by Lucien Brault (1981)
  A focused look at Sussex Drive and the historical heart of the city’s market and parliamentary district.

An internet search will find many more, including fiction set in Ottawa. The Ottawa Historical Society has published a broad range of Ottawa history, including the Bytown Pamphlet series, now comprising 129 volumes.

Perhaps your favourite, maybe even your own publication, is missing.  Don’t hesitate to add to the list in the comments.

 

 

The Radetzky March: progress.

To end the year, an acknowledgement and thanks to the organizations that supported the blog by providing complimentary access to their services during the year. In alphabetical order:

Ancestry for access to full Ancestry.ca, newspapers.com and Fold3 subscriptions.

FamilyTreeWebinars for full access to familytreewebinars.com.

Findmypast for full access to findmypast.com.

MyHeritage for full access to MyHeritage.com.

TheGenealogist for full access to thegenealogist.co.uk.

The FreeBMD database was updated on 29 December to contain 294,843,900 unique entries. Years with more than 10,000 additions are: births (1993-96); marriages (1995-96); and deaths (1991, 1994, 1996-97).

Thanks to the nearly 2,000 volunteers who have contributed to FreeBMD over the past year for continuing to add entries. Find out who’s behind the scenes and more in the FAQ. Thanks also for the new website with improved capabilities at https://www.freebmd2.org.uk/

Between December 2024 and 2025, there were 2,744,631 unique additions in the mid-1990s. Continuing at that rate, the project would be completed to 1999, in a bit over 3 years.

AI, DNA, Canada, the UK, and more are scheduled as 2026 topics by Legacy Family Tree Webinars. They’re trying something new with Deep Dives. Register for the items that interest you and be reminded as the event approaches.

Upcoming Webinars

Thanks to Christine Jackson for the suggestion.

For the record, 24.7 million dead people were added to Find A Grave in the past two years, which is a rate of about 40% of total global deaths annually.

Location for Find a Grave® Index	Records	Records	Percent Change
	Dec 2025	Dec 2023	(Two years)
U.S.	184,339,956	175,802,716	4.9
UK and Ireland	23,818,332	19,341,965	23.1
Global, Burials at Sea & Select Locations	22,691,823	15,649,165	45.0
Australia and New Zealand	12,526,572	11,436,526	9.5
Canada,	11,905,737	10,080,603	18.1
Germany	4,491,626	3,017,935	48.8
Sweden	1,165,869	1,116,071	4.5
Italy	448,850	343,946	30.5
Norway	248,083	223,985	10.8
Brazil	210,032	189,211	11.0
Mexico,	93,256	69,789	33.6