Anglo-Celtic Connections

Lucille H. Campey is well known for her series of books on British and Irish immigration to Canada. Her latest, “Quebec and Acadia’s French Pioneers: The Best of France to New France,” switches gears with the story of individuals who transformed the Canadian landscape in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Published on 15 November, I’ve not yet had a chance to read it. I look forward to that. The book looks at how these settlers in the St. Lawrence Valley and Atlantic Canada overcame obstacles that must, at times, have seemed insurmountable to create new lives in a wilderness far from their origins.

The book is available from Amazon in paperback (202 pages) at $25 and in Kindle for $9.

Find out more at https://www.amazon.ca/Quebec-Acadias-French-Pioneers-France/dp/B0DNB232DJ/

From MyHeritage, the United States Civil War Draft Registration, 1863-1865 collection contains records of men eligible for the Union Army draft during the U.S. Civil War. Records typically include names, age, marital status, place of birth, residence and registration details.

The records are based on the 1863 Enrollment Act, also called the Civil War Military Draft Act. Under this act, U.S. male citizens and immigrants who had applied for citizenship between ages 20 and 45 were to enroll, with exemptions. Would those include heel bone spurs?

Here are stats for the birthplace.

Germany -307,545
Ireland – 283,124
England – 79,080
Canada – 35,103
Scotland -17,453
Wales – 8,364
France – 14,831
Norway- 9,495
Switzerland -5,459
Netherlands – 4,787
Sweden – 4,412
Italy- 1,641
Belgium – 1,423
Denmark – 1,370
Austria – 709
Portugal – 522
Spain -351
Mexico – 207

There are currently 4,092 items in LAC’s Collection Search identified as Co-Lab-only contributions, up from 3,989 in September!

Here is the progress on the challenges since September. Two challenges show progress.

Games of the XXI Olympiad, Montréal 1976 is 80.8% complete, up from 79.5% complete.

Treaty 9, with 27 images, remains 3.7% complete.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary is 50% complete, up from 47%.

Expo67 remains 6.7% complete.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 13.4% complete.

Women in the War remains 1.4% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes remains <1% complete.

John Freemont Smith, RG10, Volume number: 4079 remains 88.5% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 94.7% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 99% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 98.5% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 94.7% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 2.8% complete.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.

The new UK and Ireland, The Royal National Lifeboat Institution Records, 1824-1989, with 58,227 records, is one I wasted no time checking out — and I mean that in a positive sense — https://quoteinvestigator.com/2012/12/28/lose-no-time/.

A search returns Name, Record Type, Residence Date, Station, Occupation, and Description. There are links to the original record image from RNLI Records. Poole, Dorset, England.

Here’s the story of how I found the collection useful.

Until age 9, I grew up near the RNLI lifeboat station in Gorleston, Norfolk. Our neighbours were the Harris family. I knew Ellery Harris was a lifeboat crew member, although I recall nothing else about him. FreeBMD has only 70 Ellery birth records for that memorable name.

I found Ellery Harris in the RNLI database with entries in 1909 and 1922. It was a surprise the years were so early. I’d always thought he must be the same generation as my parents, but 1909 was before they were born!

A FreeBMD and Ancestry search showed only one Ellery Harris, born in 1871 and dying in 1930. Who was the Ellery next door? I’m now into the latest rabbit hole.

Ellery Harris married Priscilla Benns in the December quarter of 1895. In the census of 1901, there was a daughter, Ellen, age 4, and a son, Edward. In 1911, there was a son, Ellery, age 6. He didn’t appear in my FreeBMD search, as Ellery was his middle name. He was born Albert Ellery, it’s the right person as a GRO search shows the mother’s maiden name as Benns. He, too, appears in the RNLI records.

Using a middle name is always liable to lead to a rabbit hole. Thanks to the online records we now have, scrambling out of this one was relatively straightforward. Without them, I likely wouldn’t have bothered to explore this puzzle and forever have remained (mildly) ignorant!

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.

Tuesday, 19 November

2 pm: Dear Me: Writing Research Reports to Yourself, by Yvette Hoitink for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/dear-me-writing-research-reports-to-yourself/

2:30 pm: Pathways to the Past: Making the Most of The Genealogy Center’s Resources, by Kate McKenzie for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/12284968

Wednesday, 20 November

1 pm: Saints and Liars: The Untold Stories of Americans Who Saved Endangered People from the Nazis, by Debórah Dwork for Gresham College.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/whats-on/saints-and-liars-untold-stories-americans-who-saved-endangered-people-nazis

2 pm: Top Ten AI Genealogy Breakthroughs of 2024. by Steve Little for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/top-ten-ai-genealogy-breakthroughs-of-2024/

2:30 pm: Family history from military records, by Chris Baker for Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire FHS
https://www.chfhs.org.uk/family-history-from-military-records-with-chris-baker-455

7 pm: Debt, Drunk & Disordely, Vagrancy, Prostitution, Theft, Assault, Insanity: Are You Sure Your Ancestors Were Never In Jail? by Janice Nickerson for Thunder Bay District Branch.
https://thunderbay.ogs.on.ca/events/thunder-bay-debt-drunk-disordely-vagrancy-prostitution-theft-assault-insanity-are-you-sure-your-ancestors-were-never-in-jail/

Thursday, 21 November

6:30 pm: Practical Use of DNA in Genealogy – Using DNA to answer the question of what happened to William Palmer Gore? by Julie Tonseth Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/12019193

7 pm: The Wedge Family’s Truth and Lore, by Beth Adams for OGS Hamilton Branch.
https://hamilton.ogs.on.ca/events/hamilton-branch-the-wedge-familys-truth-and-lore-beth-adams/

Friday, 22 November

Saturday 23 November

9:15 am: Hertfordshire Sources – The Obvious and the Unexpected, by Felicity Brimblecombe for Hertfordshire FHS
https://hertfordshirefamilyhistorysociety.eventbrite.com

It’s not just DNA tests.

30% off at Newspapers.com. Ends 25 Nov 2024. Terms apply.

Save up to 50% on Personal Historian 3, Family Atlas, and NEW RootsMagic 10 – from https://rootsmagic.com/Friday/.

30% off the Findmypast most popular subscriptions until 21 November (new subscribers). BTW – annual subscribers get a 15% loyalty discount on renewal each year.

Two presentations from OGS branches will be given today, Monday, 18 November, at 7 p.m.

Sudbury District Branch is hosting Ken McKinlay, who is presenting World War II.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tdOyvrjoqHta5RnLfLzuwLnh9xvaGbRdE

Oxford County Branch hosts Grant Maltman presenting Sir Frederick Banting: The Man You Thought You Knew.
https://oxford.ogs.on.ca/events/sir-frederick-banting-the-man-you-thought-you-knew/

I like to keep track of what’s new in the Canadiana collections. CRKN makes that easy with a listing here. Just don’t rush to check it out, as nothing new is in the Canadiana (publications) collection and two items in Héritage (archives).

Land submissions to the Executive Council : Upper Canada Land Petitions “S” Bundle, otherwise Land submissions to the Executive Council, is from LAC microfilm C-2823. It’s one of eight microfilms on the subject. Find out more at Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865 from LAC.

Western Land Grants is from LAC microfilm C-6599. Find out more at the LAC guide Land Grants of Western Canada, 1870-1930

I received emails from both MyHeritage and Ancestry promoting sales of their DNA tests. Both are bargains, so I wouldn’t want you to miss out —  if you have the need.

The MyHeritage DNA Black Friday deal is $48 Canadian, plus shipping, available at https://www.myheritage.com/dna/. MyHeritage boasts detailed ethnicity results covering 2,114 regions. They connect testers with relatives worldwide through advanced DNA matching and “the most comprehensive set of genetic genealogy tools available.”

Ancestry DNA‘s offer is $79 Canadian plus taxes and shipping. It ends 24 November 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Some DNA features may require an Ancestry® subscription. 

Which one to choose?

MyHeritage provides ethnicity estimates for more regions than Ancestry

Ancestry has a more extensive client database than MyHeritage. My impression, I don’t have a source to back that up, please let us know if you do, is that Ancestry focuses more on North American clients and perhaps the UK, while MyHeritage, which promotes its multilingual service, is more international.

The November issue of Families, the quarterly publication of the Ontario Genealogical Society, has just been released.

Contents include
Once Upon a Time in Genealogy: Common Family History Myths (or Misbeliefs), by Robbie Gorr (who was a regular contributor to the late lamented Moorshead Magazines),
Certificates and Service Records of soldiers in WWI,
Our Ontario’s newspaper collection, by Drew von Hasselbach,
Tremaine’s Map Company and County Maps as Genealogical Evidence by Graham Segger,
Northbound to Canada: Thomas Best Howells
by Henry Coggeshall Howells IV.

There are also various regular columns.

Drew von Hasselbach’s article quotes from Art Rhyno, chair of Our Digital World, the parent organization to Our Ontario,
which local archives and libraries can hire to digitize
their newspaper and local history collections. He explains that local Ontario newspaper digitization is happening piecemeal because Canada has had no funding for large-scale newspaper digitization efforts. Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) — I’m looking at you. That’s unlike the U.S., where the National Endowment for the Humanities provided leadership. 

Advancing technologies, such as AI, should result in cost reductions. As written in the article, “Digitizing Ontario’s local newspapers is worthwhile and necessary. Newspapers are a global conduit of history.”

It’s late, but not too late. OGS could help by taking up the cause through its often-neglected advocacy mandate.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Cats, Dogs and Health

The Qualicum Beach Family History Society
Sadly, the Society will be dissolved at the end of 2024. In the final advertised event, on Wednesday, November 20, at 10 p.m. ET, Dave Obee will present on Destination Canada. The next nearest FHSs are Nanaimo, which hosts an online presentation by Glenn Wright on 18 November, and the Comox Valley Genealogy Group.

Ireland: Historic Maps and Data

Wolford Chapel
Despite its location in the English countryside, this chapel is the property of Ontario.

OGS Weekly Update
Just after 6 a.m. each Saturday, I look forward to receiving an email with the week’s news about OGS and other Ontario news. It’s an entirely free subscription here, and you can also access an archive of past issues.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Barbara Lavoie, Barbara Tose, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Glenn Wright, Gloria Tubman, Lois Logan, Paul Cripwell, Teresa, Unknown.

Following up on the post What was scraping trees in 1835? the 15 April 1865 issue of the New England Farmer offers an opinion, probably more than you care to know!

Scraping Trees. Yes, apple trees ; and what is it done for? We have asked the question many times of orchardists, and the reply uniformly is,  “Oh, it destroys the insects that shelter themselves under the bark, and hatch out their young there.”

“What other advantage is there in scraping fruit trees?”

“Well, it makes them smoother and look better.”

“These are the only reasons we have ever heard given for scraping apple trees. As to the first reason, the insects, we have now continued our pleasant labor over many trees, and although working with eyes wide open, have not seen a dozen insects, or their larvae, under the bark.

There is no doubt but insects of various kinds avail themselves of the shelter afforded by the, rough bark, both for their own comfort and as a place in which to produce their young, and if they had not this, would proceed to the moss on a stone wall or the bark on a rail fence, and reproduce themselves there, within a convenient distance of the orchard, if they chose to prey upon it. We do not, therefore, think much of this as a reason for scraping apple trees.
The other two are sound reasons; it does make them smoother and look better. We improve upon Nature by grafting, getting a fairer and more symmetrical tree, to say nothing of the fruit. Nature leaves the stem of the grafted tree in a very rough condition as it advances in age. Is this roughness the result of a mechanical operation, or is it especially designed as a protection to the tree, or is it both? Do the expanding forces of the tree gradually break the outer bark, causing it to scale off as it becomes dry, or is it a special provision of nature to protect the tree from atmospheric changes, heat and cold ?

As a fruit-bearer, is the tree in any way improved by scraping it? Does it grow either faster or more firmly for scraping, or will it produce a single apple more for such treatment? We cannot see that it will. But scraping greatly improves the appearance of the tree, giving the orchard a neat and finished condition that commends itself at once to all. This would not apply to forest and shade trees, as they are in a natural condition and cannot be improved by any art of man. After apple trees have been carefully scraped, if they are washed with common soft soap, diluted with rain water to the consistency of thin cream, they will assume a greenish hue that is pleasant to the eye and gives them much of the appearance they had when ten or a dozen years old. The scraping renders this operation easy, and the washing is decidedly beneficial to the tree. What is spilled upon the ground in washing is just what the tree likes, perhaps needs, and we are inclined to think that the foliage of a tree washed two or three times a year with soap and water, extending the wash well up the larger branches, will show a foliage larger, of a darker green and more vigorous growth than the same kind of trees that are not washed. What do you think, Orchardists? tell us, will you ?

On the same page, this:

WASH FOR TREES.

We have no great faith in the efficacy of either washing or scraping trees—but as some persons have, a few words on the subject may not be useless.

If washing is determined upon, the best material in our knowledge is common soft soap mixed with water until it is of the consistency of cream. It may be applied with a brush, or a swab. If applied in the month of July, it will have a tendency to destroy the eggs of insects which are then deposited on the bark, and about the roots of trees.

This wash will also be found effectual in removing moss and other parasitical productions. A sufficient amount of potash is contained in the soap to accomplish these ends, and yet not enough to injure the bark of the tree, and as it is of vegetable origin, it is more congenial to the tree than lime, and is always to be preferred. It does not close the pores of the bark, as lime wash does, but leaves them unobstructed and open to atmospheric influences, and in a state of vigorous and perfect health. It has long been used by orchardists and gardeners, and has never been known to injure any fruit tree, when made and applied as above directed.

A weak solution of potash might secure similar results, but its highly caustic nature makes its use quite dangerous.

These days, dormant oil spray, fungicides and insecticides are proposed. https://indianapolisorchard.com/home-apple-tree-care-spray-guide/. We’d likely be healthier if old-fashioned soft soap were used.