Month: April 2021

While some organizations have relapsed to stasis during the pandemic others have grabbed the opportunity.

North East Wales Archives, like many organizations, has been taking to social media recounting stories arising from the collections. However, it’s the work to make the major content of the collection accessible that’s of greater value.

For instance, staff in Ruthin, part of the new NEWA, have added a further 14,000 records previously only available in hard copy to their online catalogue since March last year.

Maps are a significant part of online content including Denbighshire Enclosure Maps and Awards, and Ordnance Survey Maps and tithe maps.

NEWA is also a partner in the Deep Mapping Estate Archives, from the Institute for the Study of Welsh Estates at Bangor University — an innovative project.

Have you ever been ready to tear your hair out when you find geographical errors on FamilySearch.  There’s plenty of room for confusion for the uninitiated — Prince Edward Island and Prince Edward County!

Now FamilySearch is giving you a new volunteer opportunity to help
fix, or rather standardize, place-names.

You can select a country and will be served information like this (without the map!)

Add the standard place that is most similar to what the user entered. What you add will not overwrite or delete the user-entered place. Skip to the next person if you are unsure.

This could prove an interesting task for a rainy (snowy!) day. You’d likely even learn some geography.

Give it a try at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/improve-place-names/

One of the smaller “grab bag” of announcements in yesterday’s budget was $14.9 million over four years to support the preservation of indigenous heritage.
The LAC website has an Indigenous Heritage section.

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Tuesday 20 April, 2 pm:  Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.

Tuesday 20 April, 8 pm: Turning Raw Information into Evidence: Tips for Drawing and Explaining Conclusions, by J. H. (Jay) Fonkert for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1587

Wednesday 21 April, 11 am: The British Army Militia and Special Reserve, by Paul Nixon for Findmypast. www.facebook.com/findmypast.

Wednesday 21 April, 2 pm: 3 Ways to Advance Your Research with Correlation, by Shannon Green for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1624

Wednesday 21 April, 7 pm: LAC Scholars Awards.  Broadcast on LAC YouTube channel.

Thursday 22 April, 6:30 pm: Finding Your Ancestors in Company Employee Magazines and Trade Magazines, by Dennis Northcott for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5010509

Friday 23 April, 2 pm: USA/Canada/UK – The GOONS Friday Virtual Pub Crawl. https://one-name.org/events/?cid=mc-37da6d457a7c396d85e433268da95c14&month=4&yr=2021

Saturday 24 April, 1pm: The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada (RHSC) – yesterday, today and tomorrow, by Vicken Koundakjian for Ottawa Branch OGS. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/topic-tbd-ottawa-branch/

LOOKING AHEAD

4 — 6 June 2021: OGS Conference. conference.ogs.on.ca/.

19 – 26 September 2021: BIFHSGO Conference. Irish Lines and Female Finds: Exploring Irish records, female ancestors and genetic genealogy. www.bifhsgo2021.ca/.

There are discount opportunities for the range of tests offered by Family Tree DNA until 26 April. Prices are US dollars and shipping is extra.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars membership for just $25 — a  50% discount for new members only, expiring on 25 April 2021 at 11:59 PM.

Here’s the information

You’ll get one full year of anytime access to all 1,500+ classes and 5,000+ syllabus pages. Viewers call Legacy Family Tree Webinars the “best resource for knowledge on genealogy and DNA anywhere!” I agree.

Hundreds of topics are covered, including help on how to organize your genealogy data, how to interpret your DNA results, how to find your immigrant ancestors, and how to use the Genealogy Proof Standard – all from genealogy’s best educators.

Plus you’ll get to enjoy the 100+ videos in the TechZone. And you’ll have access to all the new webinars that will be released in the coming year. Take advantage of the big discount and get your membership now.

Feature content this month.

The Peasants Revolt
A new research project has revealed who the insurgents of 1381 really were.

Prime Ministers
Sir Anthony Seldon on how the office has changed over the past 300 years, in the face of rivalries, scandals and war.

The Great Pretender
Nathan Amin explores the threats Henry VII faced from those who tried to capture his throne.

Napoleon in Objects
Emma Butcher and Nicole Cochrane examined 10 objects that show a different side of the French emperor.

Festival of Britain
Harriet Atkinson highlights the international roots of the post-war celebration of Britishness.

John of Gaunt
Helen Carr charts his hard and obsession with seizing the throne of Castile.

Slimming Clubs
Katherine Moseley shines a light onto the social history of weight-loss groups.

Also, there’s news, anniversaries, book reviews and answers to questions like, why strange sea creatures on old maps, who stole George Washington’s wallet, and why are money boxes shaped like pigs?

Check it out free from your public library on PressReader.

Here’s a report on progress with Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges since last month.

John Freemont Smith is 72% complete, 2% complete last month

War Diaries of the First World War: No. 2 Construction Battalion is 79% complete, 38% last month.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 94% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak is 88% complete, 86% complete last month.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 98% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 2% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 96% complete.

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

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War, remains 61% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 93% complete.

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

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

TNA Podcast: Trials: Ordeal and combat
The first instalment of a three-part series examining the history of trials by ordeal and combat. This episode has witch trials, defamation lawsuits from accused witches, myth-busting, strong-men for hire, Irish landowners fighting to the death in a castle, and some facts about duels.

UK House History Show

MyHeritage announces free availability of birth records, 115 collections containing a total of 1,144,541,613 individual records from all over the world. Some of the collections contain indexes that help you find out where the birth record is located, while others contain the actual image of the record.

If you need it this is an opportunity to explore MyHeritage’s strength — its international collection.

Last Wednesday the BIFHSGO London SIG heard how advice from a retired police officer helped a genealogist solve a knotty ancestry problem.

There’s a switch about.  According to OGS Newsleaf the Toronto Police have contacted OGS President Heather McTavish Taylor to “ascertain if there are any interested genealogists amongst our ranks, that would be interested in applying to be part of a pool that would be drawn upon, to help clear this backlog of cases. They are looking for 10-50 people to potentially work 20 hours per week in a paid capacity. They have warned that this is not for everyone. Some of these cases are gruesome.”

Heather is collecting a list of names of interested parties for submission by Wednesday, April 21st, 2021 at noon.

If you feel that you have an interest, a skill set or a desire to use your genealogy passion to fight crimes, then please email Heather to indicate your intention to apply at Heather.McTavish.Taylor@ogs.on.ca/.

Global Genealogy has recently reprinted two publications of early Ottawa BMDs
Birth, Marriage and Death Abstracts – Bytown Gazette 1836-1845 Bytown Independent 1836.

This book, originally published in 1979 by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, is a facsimile edition of the original 1979 book.

Birth, marriage and death announcements of apparent Canadian relevance are cited as well as news reports of accidental deaths. The abstracts are not literal transcripts but information of genealogical interest has been retained including names of employers, ministers and priests to aid in identification.

Find out more, with a list of surnames included, at http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/eastern-ontario/resources/otw-7907.htm

Index to Birth, Marriage & Death Notices – Bytown Packet 1846-1849
This is a facsimile edition of the original 1974 book originally published in 1974 by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. It is more than just a nominal index. Much important information is included with each entry.

Find out more at http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/eastern-ontario/resources/otw-7402.htm