The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) will be at the Canadian Tulip Festival at Commissioner’s Park at Dow’s Lake in Ottawa to talk about their work in commemorating war dead.
The CWGC will have a tent and information table in front of Dow’s Lake Pavilion.
Saturday, May 11 (10:00am-6:00pm)
Sunday, May 12 (10:00am-3:00pm)
Saturday, May 18 (10:00am-6:00pm)
Given the dates, I can almost guarantee that you won’t find anyone you can connect to in Ancestry’s new England, Medieval Soldier Database, 1368-1374. It’s before the systematic keeping of parish registers.
Ancestry lists the contents as 15,000 records taken from The Soldier in Later Medieval England. University of Southampton: Henley Business School. That source covers the period 1369 and 1453 derived from muster rolls.
In 20 generations or so from then until now there’s a good chance one or more of those named will be your ancestor, if your English heritage goes back that far.
This Saturday, 11 May 2024
9:00 am — 10:00 am EDT: Education Talk
Back to Basics: Immigration and Emigration Presenter: Ken McKinlay.
10:00 am – 11:30 am EDT: Feature Talk
My Farrell Brick Wall and New Cousins: From Inchigeelagh, Cork to Holytown, Scotland and St Andrew’s West, Ontario – Presenters: Helen O’Farrell Sloan and Dena Palamedes
This is a story of how patience, persistence and DNA can crumble a brick wall and reveal a new family.
Dena’s third great-grandfather, Thomas O’Farrell, was not to be found after 1851. His origins and ultimate outcome were unknown, a proverbial brick wall. Eight years after Dena’s family first started DNA testing, they found a match only an hour from home in Kemptville, Ontario, and the brick wall crumbled. This is the story of how two families reconnected and the search to find out more about Thomas’ two brothers.
Join in-person in Geneva Hall at Knox Presbyterian Church, 120 Lisgar St. on the corner of Elgin St, or online by registering here.
Not new, but good advice for those struggling to get back past the 1922 loss barrier in Ireland. https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irish-naming-conventions-and-baptism-traditions.
Here’s my TL/DR verson:
Irish Naming Patterns and Traditions
Before the Mid-1900s
Boys’ Names:
Girls’ Names (Less Strictly Followed):
Exceptions:
Middle Names:
Surnames as Middle Names:
Double-Barrelled Surnames:
Infant Deaths:
Church Records:
Pre-Famine vs. Post-Famine Marriages:
Godparents:
Tips:
Checking the most popular presentations on Legacy Family Tree Webinars this year I noticed these.
1. Artificial Intelligence and Genealogy: New Beginnings in 2024, by Steve Little has 4.1K views.
2. Beginning with DNA Painter, by Jonny Perl has 3.6K views.
7. What’s Your DNA Problem? Too Few Matches? Too Many? by Diahan Southard has 2.5K views.
All three are presenters in person at the Conference 2024 | An Interactive Experience! June 14-16, Toronto.
The others in the Legacy top ten are: Diana Elder, Elizabeth Shown Mills, Tal Erlichman, Judy G. Russell, Peggy Jude, Natalie Bodle and Andrew Redfern.
The National Archives (UK) posted How to research the history of a place with eight resources to get you started in exploring the places that play in your family history.
I’ve been exploring Liverpool, in particular Everton, in the 1860s so looked at the recommended resources through that lens.
There’s a lot of information in the Vision of Britain, that either pre- or postdates my period of interest.
Volumes III and IV of the Victoria County History of Lancashire, cover the West Derby Hundred and Liverpool. Volume III includes a section on Everton which mentions the historic manor and religious institutions for the period of my interest.
HistPop provides images of (mainly) census documents starting in 1801 covering the whole of England and Wales.
Unfortunately, the Society of One Place Studies has nothing of for my area of interest.
The National Library of Scotland Maps resource includes two Six-inch to the mile maps covering Everton, published in 1864 and 1894.
The British Newspaper Archive has most Everton coverage in the Liverpool Mercury and Liverpool Daily Post, with over 76,000 entries in the 1860s.
Also mentioned in the blog post are the National Library of Wales and TNA research guides.
To the list I’d certainly add a Google search for the community name and history. For Everton you’ll get a lot of hits for the football club.
Michael Nettleton has posted the latest Vlog with news from OGS Conference 2024 at https://youtu.be/zRm_xUJztHY
In the world of genealogical research, the costs of various databases and services can quickly add up. However, by strategically ‘churning’ your subscriptions, you can secure better deals and save money while furthering your research.
Churning refers to the practice of cancelling or allowing a subscription to lapse, with the intention of resubscribing later for a better deal. Genealogy database providers often offer promotions or special deals for new or returning subscribers. So much for being a loyal subscriber! By taking advantage of these offers, you can continue accessing valuable resources without paying the full price.
Take a look at the genealogy databases you currently subscribe to. Is one coming to the end of a term? You can probably find that on the site’s “Your Account” or similarly named page. Consider if you can temporarily discontinue it without disrupting your ongoing research. That may mean retaining access to the data you entered as a non-paying subscriber. You will likely still have access to some of the common databases available for free, through other subscriptions, or through your local public library.
Contact the database provider to cancel your subscription. In most cases, you can do this online or by calling their customer support. You may immediately be offerred a discount, often not as good a deal as you can get if you wait a bit.
Then wait for the right offer. Businesses know that it costs them less to get a prior client to resubscribe than to attract an entirely new one. The opportunity may come in the form of emails, newsletters, or even targeted advertisements. Once you find an offer that meets your needs, resubscribe using the promotion.
It is just possible you find you don’t really miss that site and can save 100% of the previous cost. If the renewal dates for your various subscriptions are staggered you may want to follow the same steps with other genealogical databases.
There’s nothing special about genealogy databases when it comes to the benefits of churning. Be careful to note the expiry date of your subscription in your calendar. Some sites will automatically resubscribe you at a higher rate at the end of the new subscriber period, so be proactive in cancelling your subscription before that happens.
This Week’s Online Genealogy Events
Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about many more mainly US events at Conference Keeper at https://conferencekeeper.org
Tuesday, 7 May
2:30 pm: Question Everything: Breaking Through the Brick Walls We’ve Built, by Eilene Lyon for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9991184
7:30 pm: Following the Trails of the Betts Bibles, by Beth Adams for OGS Durham County Branch.
https://ogs.on.ca/events/durhams-may-7th-hybrid-meeting-following-the-trails-of-the-betts-bibles-beth-adamsin-person/
8 pm: Finding the records for “impossible” genealogy – lessons learned from a Chinese genealogist, by Linda Yip for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-the-records-for-impossible-genealogy-lessons-learned-from-a-chinese-genealogist/
Wednesday, 8 May
11 am: Researching gender and sexuality. From the National Library of Scotland.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/researching-gender-sexuality-tickets-857069466847
Thursday, 9 May
6:30 pm: Using Catholic Parish Records and Archives, by W. Becket Soule for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9988883
Friday, 10 May
Saturday, 11 May
9 am: Back to Basics: Immigration and Emigration, by Ken McKinlay for BIFHSGO.
10 am: My Farrell Brick Wall and New Cousins: From Inchigeelagh, Cork to Holytown, Scotland and St Andrew’s West, Ontario, by Helen O’Farrell Sloan and Dena Palamedes for BIFHSGO.
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is organizing events at key sites in the UK and Normandy as part of the Lighting Their Legacy leading up to the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The light is a torch produced by students from McMaster University in Hamilton.
In this interview, Canadian Remembrance Torch founder Karen Hunter discusses her inspiration, how the Lighting Their Legacy torch was created, and the importance of remembrance.
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Some useful examples of using AI in genealogy are in this video. You may want to skip the first five minutes or so.
Open Access Databases
From the Open University (UK), a wide range of freely available information sources, including ebooks, full-text journals, images, reports, statistics and source material.
How to use Transkribus in combination with ChatGPT 3.5 to transcribe a handwritten historical document.
Writers & Company Digital Archive
Family Tree Webinars Offer Ends Today
As promised, here’s a final reminder about the half-off offer. This is your last chance, for new memberships only, to get access to all 2,100+ webinars for just $25 US.
https://familytreewebinars.com/. It’s the best deal in commercial genealogy.
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Allen Grant, Anonymous, Empty Branches on the Family Tree, Robert Halfyard, Teresa, Unknown.
How many Canadian-born people died in New York City?
Thanks to the advocacy of Reclaim the Records, MyHeritage has added birth, marriage and death information for New York City with linked images of the original. Others named in the record many be included separately in the count.
Births
MyHeritage lists 7,560,069 birth records between 1866 and 1909. The official birth certificate typically includes:
Full name of the child
Date and place of birth
Name, age, birthplace, and occupation of the parents
Parents’ marital status
Number of children previously born to the mother, including the number born alive and stillborn
Name and address of the attending physician or midwife
Signature of the person reporting the birth (usually a parent or the attending medical professional)
Over time, the information included on birth certificates expanded. For example, in the late 19th century, birth certificates often did not include the parents’ birthplaces or occupations. In the early 20th century, additional details such as the parents’ race, ethnicity, and religious affiliations were sometimes recorded.
I’d like to have reported on prental birthplace, but that field is not searchable.
Marriages
This collection contains 20,912,650 marriage records from New York City between the years 1866 and 1949. The official marriage certificate in New York City typically includes:
Full names of the bride and groom
Ages and birthplaces of the bride and groom
Marital status (single, widowed, or divorced) and occupations of the bride and groom
Names and birthplaces of the bride and groom’s parents
Date and place of the marriage ceremony
Name and title of the officiant who performed the ceremony
Signatures of the bride, groom, officiant, and witnesses
The format and information included on marriage records have remained relatively consistent over time, although more detailed information about the couple’s parents and occupations was sometimes recorded in earlier records.
Deaths
MyHeritage makes available New York City 8,893,688 death records from 1866 to 1948. The official death certificate in typically includes:
Full name of the deceased
Date and place of death
Cause of death
Age, birthplace, and occupation of the deceased
Marital status and spouse’s name (if applicable)
Names and birthplaces of the deceased’s parents
Place of burial or disposition of the remains
Name and address of the attending physician or other medical professional
Signature of the person reporting the death (often a family member or the attending medical professional)
Over time, additional details have been included on death certificates, such as the deceased’s race, ethnicity, and social security number. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, death certificates sometimes provided more detailed information about the cause of death and the circumstances surrounding the death.
Birthplace of the deceased is available and searchable. 54,235 Canadian-born persons, including 43 identified as born in Ottawa, died in NYC during the period.
