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Findmypast Weekly Update

Timed around Trafalgar Day (21 October), this week’s Findmypast release features two Royal Navy collections from 1805 detailing the men who served and suffered at the Battle of Trafalgar, alongside additions to the British Newspaper Archive.

British Royal Navy, HMS Victory Medical Journal 1805

The medical journal of HMS Victory, with 294 entries, kept by naval surgeon William Beatty between 30 January and 22 October 1805, covers medicine, illness, and surgery aboard one of the Royal Navy’s most legendary warships during the Napoleonic Wars. Beatty, appointed surgeon to Victory in December 1804, was responsible for maintaining the health of the ship’s company, treating disease, and managing injuries sustained in naval service—records vital for naval administration and service pensions.
Searchable fields include name, rank, sick list dates, and injury. Vew the original record images for full clinical notes on medical treatments, dressings, amputations, and patient outcomes.

British Royal Navy, Battle Of Trafalgar 1805

Complementing the Victory medical journal, this wider fleet-level database, with 18,334 entries,  identifies the officers, seamen, and marines who fought in the British Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. It provides a direct starting point for locating an ancestor’s ship and personal origins. Details in these records include first and last name, ship name, rank, age, birth year, and place of birth.

Newspapers

The British Newspaper Archive / Findmypast newspaper collection has grown by 270,550 pages this week, comprising five new titles and updates to 23 existing publications.

New Titles

Title Years Added Pages Added
Capital (Calcutta) 1915–1918, 1929–1932 24,552
Midland Gazette 1846–1848 236
Pioneer Mail and Indian Weekly News 1874–1903 46,774
Sheffield Evening Star and Daily Times 1875, 1877 2,446
Worcestershire Sauce 1887 846

Updated Titles with More Than 10,000 Pages Added

Title Years Added Pages Added Total Years Covered
Nottingham Evening Post 2003–2005 96,142 1878–1895, 1899–1979, 1983–1999, 2002–2005
Nantwich Chronicle 2002, 2005 13,422 1945–1970, 1975–1984, 1986–1999, 2001–2003, 2005
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail 2005 13,296 1878–1954, 1956–2005
Fulham Chronicle 2000–2003, 2005 11,492 1888–2003, 2005
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Ancestry Updates Monmouthshire, Wales, Petty Session Registers

This updated collection, now with 346,269 entries, contains petty session records from Monmouthshire, Wales, dated between 1861 and 1932. The court records in this collection, from the Gwent Archives, include registers for criminal cases and business licenses. The collection also has court orders delivered to defendants by local constables and records of ejectment oaths whereby landlords swore they had delivered eviction notices to tenants delinquent in rent payments.

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Ancestry Updates UK Civil Service Appointments

UK Civil Service Appointments, Promotions and Transfers 1871-1942 covers 872,731 entries published in The London Gazette. You’ll likely find the entry for the person you seek in a linked list as published. I didn’t see any genealogical information, such dare of birth or parents’ names.

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Ottawa Antiquarian Book Fair

Next Saturday and Sunday at St Paul’s University, don’t miss the opportunity to “Enter the world of books and experience a Bibliophile’s best day out!”

Experience: 20+ Book Dealers, Book arts and binding demonstrations, 7+ Live Presentations on Collecting Books, and Tours of the Rare Book Room at Saint Paul University.

Free parking.

Find out more and purchase your $10 entrance at https://ottawabookfair.ca/

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Weir(d?) Times at Library and Archives Canada: Orders in Council

  • Orders in Council
    You might not think of these as a resource for researching family history. Think again. There are many examples of individuals identified by name in the OICs, lighthouse keepers, post office employees and in the 19th century, appointments/promotions in the civil service, military, Mounted Police, lists of individuals, with background information, admitted to Canada in the 1930s, etc. There’s information on every CEF pension granted before the creation of the Bureau of Pension Commissioners in 1917;  that pension information is not otherwise easily accessible. Find out more at LAC’s research guide Orders-in-Council, 1867 to 1940.
    What’s new?
    For many years nothing changed. LAC is now working to add post-1926 IOC information to Collection Search. But NOT the actual document. Instead, they selected Transkribus software to process titles from the OIC registers, indices created by the Privy Council Office to facilitate their access to the records. Obtuse abbreviations and acronyms were widely used.
    Combining the PCO index and Transcribus can produce a muddy bluddle.

Here are three examples:

1940
Agreement with the Government of New pundland se taking and transmitting of meterogrial
observations Min. T. 10-4-40

1939
Mease lights of pewart on Active service in Pritish A. Oilied forces to be Left free from real of
cancellation until Co. Le to be to Min M&R 6 Oct 1939|

1927
Distruction Int & Post Act. Amendment to Regulations re importation of peacher. Mursery stock
&c Min Agri 26 July 1927.

Such distortions are particularly troublesome for searching proper names and places. What could be done? I prompted Gemini with “You are an expert in finding errors in transcribed text. Examine these one line resignation notices from Canadian Orders in Council that were transcribed using Transcribus, suggest where there may be errors, suggest a better transcription or transcriptions, and give a confidence level for each. Format as a table.” Here are a few examples of the original (Transcribus) and Gemini suggested versions.

Transcription Version Transcription Text
Original Resignation of C. C. Dury as a member of the Canadian Farm roan Board acceptd 30
Suggested Resignation of E. C. Drury as a member of the Canadian Farm Loan Board accepted 30 [June 1930]
Original Resignation of Element H. Whitman as Reserve of Weeks for the District of Canse, N. S. Min. Marine 24 June 1930
Suggested Resignation of Clement H. Whitman as Receiver of Wrecks for the District of Canso, N.S. Min. Marine 24 June 1930
Original Resignation of Mr R. R C Hery Deputy Min R & C. and appt of Mr. Valenture Inving Sment as Dry Min. R & C P M 5 March 1930
Suggested Resignation of Mr. R. A. C. Henry Deputy Min. R. & C. and appt. of Mr. Valentine Irving Smart as Dpy. [or Dep.] Min. R. & C. P.M. 5 March 1930
Original Resignation of Mr W. H. Moose as Chairman of the Advisory Bd. on Tariff and Taration, as of June 171930 Acceptance of Min Fin 28 June 1930
Suggested Resignation of Mr. W. H. Moore as Chairman of the Advisory Bd. on Tariff and Taxation, as of June 17 1930 Acceptance of [or by] Min. Fin. 28 June 1930
Original Resignation of Mr. Gordon W. Scott as Chairman of the Board of Audit, from 9 Oct 1930 S. G. H Perly for Min Fin 13 Oct 1930
Suggested Resignation of Mr. Gordon W. Scott as Chairman of the Board of Audit, from 9 Oct 1930 Sir G. H. Perley for Min. Fin. 13 Oct 1930
Original Resignation of R. S. McLellan of Sydney N.S. as a Cont & investigate charges of partizanship in N. S. Min Fisheries 26 Dec 1930
Suggested Resignation of R. S. McLellan of Sydney N.S. as a Comr. to investigate charges of partisanship [or partizanship] in N.S. Min. Fisheries 26 Dec 1930
Original Resignation of Reve Fother P. Liclese as Roman Catholes Chaplain of Grosse Isle Quarantine St Min P & N. H. 23 Dec 1930
Suggested Resignation of Revd. Father P. Leclerc [or L’Ecuyer] as Roman Catholic Chaplain of Grosse Isle Quarantine Stn. Min. P. & N.H. 23 Dec 1930

It wouldn’t take a lot more effort to process the output of Transcribus through a Large Language Model and include the result where the change is suggested with high confidence?

Even better, given the state of technology, why not process the original OIC documents?

This post has benefited from the advice of two anonymous researchers with in-depth knowledge of OIC records.

  • What’s in Collection Search?
    As of 20 October, there are 7,954,478 (7,954,212 on 13 October) items in the Archives section of Collection Search, 8,227,688  (no change) in the Genealogy section,  4,442,785  (4,441,736) in Library.
    There was a huge increase, to 391,058 from 353,363 in Images last week. Browsing that collection sorted by Date (newest) makes me question the selection criteria. Why these three images?
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Ancestry Updates Ontario, Canada Births, 1856-1919

As of February this year, there were 7,586,650 records under this Ancestry title. Now there are  7,794,437 records.

A couple of things of note.

Births in 1919, 66,169 according to the Ancestry collection, are down from 70,699 in 1918, and from 69,751 in 1917. That’s likely an impact of the 1918 influenza pandemic.

The Ancestry database consistently contains more births than reported in the Annual Report of the Registrar-General (published in the Ontario Sessional Papers).  For 1919 the Ancestry database has 66,169 birth registrations; that’s compared to  62,774 by the Registrar-General.

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This Week’s Online Genealogy Events

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 the ConferenceKeeper Virtual Calendar.

Tuesday, 20 October

2:30 PM: Beyond the Census: Uncovering Ancestor Stories, by Regan Richardson for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/17011957

8:00 PM: ¡Eureka! Confirmación del Lineaje Ancestral: DNA and Documents Prove a Mexican Ancestral Line (a 2026 Reisinger Lecture), by Karen Stanbary for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/eureka-confirmacion-del-lineaje-ancestral-dna-and-documents-prove-a-mexican-ancestral-line-a-2026-reisinger-lecture

Wednesday, 21 October (Trafalgar Day)

Thursday, 22 October

6:30 PM: Investigative Genetic Genealogy: What Genealogists Need to Understand, by Suzanne Harmon for the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. t
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/17012088

7:00 PM: Remembering The Canadian Army and World War Two’s Fallen Canadian Soldiers in The Netherlands, by Peter Holt for OGS Ottawa Branch
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/faces-of-liberation-the-groesbeek-canadian-war-cemetery-ottawa/

Friday, 23 October

2:00 PM: Essential Skills for New Genealogists 5 of 12: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking—Local Directories of All Sorts, by Dave Mc Donald for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/essential-skills-for-new-genealogists-5-of-12-let-your-fingers-do-the-walking-local-directories-of-all-sorts

7:00 PM: History and Reconstruction of the Morningstar Mill, by Carla Mackie for OGS Niagara Peninsula Branch
https://niagara.ogs.on.ca/events/history-and-reconstruction-of-the-morningstar-mill-with-carla-mackie-niagara-peninsula-branch-webinar-series/

Saturday, 24  October

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Canadian Additions at Newspapers.com

New Ontario and New Brunswick titles are recently added to newspapers.com.

Leading the pack, with over 1.1 million pages, from 1913 to 2011 is Ottawa’s francophone Le Droit.

Another major addition is Maclean’s, the quintessanial Canadian weekly news magazine published in Toronto.  Added are 94,367 pages from 1944 to 1986. It became monthly in 2017.

Also from Toronto are 563,342 pages of the Sunday Sun from 1973 to 2015, and 166,224 pages from the Saturday Sun from 1986 to 2015.

For New Brunswick there are three 21st century publications.

Info Week-End, also known as Info Weekend, from Edmonston, NB has 15,169 pages from 2007 to 2026.
Journal La République, also from Edmundston has  1,808 pages from 2006–2010
L’Étoile, from  Caraquet,has 896 pages from 2024 to 2026
The Bargain Hunter,  St. Andrews, has just 389 pages for 2024 to 2025.

Updates, mainly for recent years, have been made for BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick newspapers.

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Cornwall Lloyd George Domesday

TheGenealogist has released the next in its continuing project to digitize and make available the Lloyd George Domesday Survey records for England and Wales. Dating from around 1910–1915, these records give details of Edwardian properties, their owners and occupiers. Pinpoint the exact location on a map. View an image of the original document.

For Cornwall, find 214,488 records, 214,488 historic land and property records, alongside historic maps covering over 1,300 square miles.

Access requires a Diamond subscription to The Genealogist.

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Findmypast Weekly Update

 

A second consecutive week of Leicestershire additions on Findmypast, sees two new collections covering poverty, parish life, and the commemoration of the dead — alongside a newspaper update with a Welsh flavour.

Leicestershire Poor Law Records, 1678–1921

This collection of 14,626 records is sourced from several distinct record types. The Order Books for Removals and Settlements (1678–1832) document Quarter Sessions cases where parishes disputed the removal of individuals — often revealing detailed information about where people came from and where they belonged.
The Leicester Division Bastardy Book (1844–1874) and Leicestershire Bastardy Order Books (1678–1832) together cover around 3,700 Petty Sessions cases, recording sentences imposed by the court.
The Leicester Union Emigrants Register (1905–1921) documents those whose passage to the colonies — mainly Canada — was funded by the Poor Law Union, recording names, ages, destinations, and sailing dates.

Records can include name, birth year and date, father’s and mother’s names, abode, appellant, respondent, date of order, decision, quarter session period, destination, and date sailed — making this a rich collection for understanding an ancestor’s circumstances in considerable depth.

Leicestershire Monumental Inscriptions, 1850–2022

Brought together by  the Nottinghamshire Family History Society, this collection covers burials in church graveyards, cemeteries, and war memorials across Leicestershire. Records include name, birth and death dates, age at death, place and cemetery of burial, memorial reference, and inscription details, with original images sometimes revealing additional family members buried together.

British Newspaper Archive: 259,548 New Pages

This week’s update adds 259,548 pages across five new titles and updates to 29 existing publications, with a notably Welsh flavour among the new additions.

New Titles

Title Date Range Pages
Yr Amserau 1843–1859 3,956
Musical & Dramatic World 1881–1883 1,192
Southampton Times 1893 434
Monmouthshire Gazette and Coleford and Forest of Dean Circular 1849–1850 120
Yorkshire Chronicle 1873 400

Updated Titles with Over 10,000 Pages Added

Title Date Range Pages
Birmingham Mail 2000–2002 45,820
Reading Evening Post 2004–2005 35,890
Nottingham Evening Post 2002 29,286
Times of Ceylon 1867–1950 27,972
Derby Daily Telegraph 2002 23,238
Hindoo Patriot 1892–1922 18,550
Formby Times 2001–2005 14,504
Scarborough Evening News 2005 12,298

 

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Sunday Sundries

Miscellaneous items I found interesting this week.

WDYTYA: Barry Humphries
Posted from the Australian TV series of Who Do You Think You Are? He’s best known as Dame Edna Everage.

Is your name still common? What Canadian baby names reveal about how we’ve changed

Ancestry has updated Web: Ireland, Census, 1911, now with 4,537,587 entries.

The British Beehive
Mentioned by Graeme Morton during his opening presentation at the BIFHSGO conference.

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Ann Burns, Anonymous,  Gail,  Helen Billing, Julia, Lolly Fullerton, Maria Laty, Teresa, Unknown.

 

 

https://childthemewp.com