Today is the 80th anniversary of the death of Leading Aircraftman Harry William Long of the Royal Australian Air Force. He was training at No.2 Service Flying Training School, at CFB Uplands, Ottawa.

The circumstances are given in the RAAFA Aviation Heritage Museum.

“On 15 August 1941, Harvard 2689 flown by Leading Aircraftman Long was detailed to carry out a solo night training flight. At about 0230 hours, the Instructor in charge of night flying noticed lights of an aircraft that appeared to be flying against the circuit, gliding along at a height of about 100 feet some two miles away. It disappeared and instructions were given for all aircraft flying at that time to be grounded. It was then found that Harvard 2689 with Long as Pilot was missing and searches were commenced. The wreck of the aircraft was found 5 km from the aerodrome. The pilot was seriously injured and subsequently died.”

Harry William Long was the son of Arthur Henry and Brenda Mary Long, of Balgowlah, New South Wales, Australia. By a bizarre coincidence, he was engaged to Jean Frances Lord— the only other Australian airman killed flying out of that Flying Training School had last name Lord.

He is interred at Beechwood Cemetery in Section 29, Lot 1, Grave 111.

There’s a YouTube video on the history of CFB Uplands at https://youtu.be/gIEeJc4qia4

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Neo-Luddism
… data must be reclaimed from corporate gatekeepers and managed as a collective good by public institutions.
When I read this I recalled the massive amount of personal data held by Google, Facebook and others, far more than collected in traditional BMD and census resources of the government. Why is that data not being archived and, eventually, released for historical and family history research?

Tales from the Parish Chest: bastardy in early modern north-Essex

Sir Walter Scott
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott, one of Scotland’s most famous authors. Read the blog post from the National Library of Scotland.

How the Argyll papers can support your family history research

Plagues and classical history – what the humanities will tell us about COVID in years to come

Why eye-catching graphics are vital for getting to grips with climate change

Tortured phrases’ give away fabricated research papers

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous,
Dena Palamedes, Nick Thorne, Unknown.

TNA’s online events tend to fill up fast. On Tuesday 24 Aug 2021 at 9 am ET Tracing your criminal ancestors will give an overview of the criminal records The National Archives holds and how to search them.

“From trial and conviction to imprisonment and pardon, in just 30 minutes we’ll show how 19th and early 20th century criminal records can be used to build a fuller picture of your ancestor’s life.

This webinar will be presented by Chris Day, Head of Modern Domestic Records.”

Register from https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/top-level-tips-tracing-your-criminal-ancestors-tickets-161774555049?aff=em

BIFHSGO members have received an email “Changes to BIFHSGO membership  fees.” Like most organizations, commercial or community, BIFHSGO doesn’t like to say outright that fees are increasing. The way around it is to use the word change instead. Or in this case, maybe not — depending on your choices. Let’s unravel the knot!

The way it’s explained to me if you opt to receive the society quarterly chronicle Anglo-Celtic Roots electronically your individual membership fee for 2022 will remain $50 — no change (or increase.)

If you want a paper copy mailed the annual individual fee for 2022 will increase from $50 to $60.

The increase will not totally cover the cost of printing and mailing.

There are also changes to the cost of BIFHSGO family memberships.

How does that compare? A basic OGS membership is $63 plus fees for any branches or special interest groups, with no mailed journal.

Here’s a rundown of 2021 society membership fees across Canada

Global Genealogy has reprinted two Ottawa Branch publications that have been long out of print.

The Casselman Cemeteries, Cambridge Township, Russell County, Ontario, Canada
Originally published by Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1996, this book includes complete information transcribed from the memorial stones located in three cemeteries, plus the Casselman Family Memorial Stone and the Casselman War Memorial monument in Casselman, Cambridge Township, Russell County, Ontario. The Ste. Euphemie Roman Catholic Cemetery has the most recorded burials by far. This book includes transcriptions of memorial stones for burials earlier than 1997. Transcriptions were completed in 1995 and 1996.

St. Jacques Roman Catholic Cemetery, Embrun, Russell Township, Russell County, Ontario
Originally published by Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, 1982, the St. Jacques Roman Catholic Cemetery is located on Concession 8, Lot 8 in Russell Township, Russell County, Ontario. It is 0.5 miles east of the centre of Embrun Village on County Road No.3, which runs east and west dividing the cemetery into the North portion and the South portion. The north and south sections of the cemetery are recorded in this book separately, with two separate indexes that are located at the end of each section.

Rick Roberts informs that about half of the Ottawa Branch’s nearly 300 publications have been republished. They tend to reprint on demand.

This week sees over 43,000 baptism and burial transcription records from several Essex churches added at Findmypast. They are all on the east side of the River Lea, now in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and obtained from the Waltham Forest Family History Society.

Baptism records from:

Leytonstone, Holy Trinity, 1825-1907
Waltham Abbey, Waltham Abbey & Leyton Wesleyan Circuit, 1803-1837
Walthamstow, Marsh Street Congregational Church, 1787-1837
Walthamstow, St Peter-in-the-Forest, 1844-1916

Burial records from:

Chingford, St Peter & St Paul, 1813-1963
High Beach, Holy Innocents, 1884-1985
Leyton, St Mary the Virgin, 1813-1984
Leytonstone, St John the Baptist, 1834-1979
Waltham Abbey, Paradise Row Baptist Churchyard, 1825-1857
Waltham Abbey, Waltham Holy Cross, 1813-1878
Walthamstow, St Mary, 1813-1979
Walthamstow, St Peter-in-the-Forest, 1845-1949

Here are the feature articles in the September issue of BBC History magazine. It’s available through PressReader.

Hellish workhouses?
Peter Higginbotham asks if these residences for the poor merit the nightmarish reputations. (Spoiler: He explodes some myths)

Romans and fascists
Catherine Harloe explores the far right’s enduring fascination with ancient Greece and Rome.

The Man in the Iron Mask
What was the real-life identity of this celebrated prisoner? Josephine Wilkinson puts forward her theory.

Supersized Georgians
Freya Gowrley lifts the lid on satarists’ obsession with the issue of fatness in the 18th century.

Middle East Holocaust
Greshom Groenberg chronicles the little-known brutalization of Jewish people from Morocco to Iraq in the Second World War.

The Salem Witch Trials
Why did two girls’ accusations of dark magic send 19 people to the gallows in 1692? Ellie Cawthorne investigates.

Walter Scott’s genius
Annika Bautz argues that Scotland’s International image has been partly shaped by the brilliance of this nineteenth-century novelist.

Our next-door neighbours when I was a teen later moved to Australia to be with their daughter. They were following in the footsteps of many other Norfolk-born and bred, except their “10-pound pom” move was voluntary.

Between 1787 and 1868 approximately 4,000 Norfolk citizens were transported to Australia. This recent blog post from the Norfolk Record Office recounts their typical experience.

Ancestry is adding later records — now over 55 million Church of England London parish records in its collection. Each is linked to an image of the original.

	Title		Records
London	Church of England Births and Baptisms	1813-1920	22,100,365
London	Church of England Deaths and Burials	1813-2003	2,733,952
London	Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials	1538-1812	17,102,883
London	Church of England Marriages and Banns	1754-1936	13,526,095

Again, there’s lots of good reading in the latest Internet Genealogy issue. Something for everyone, beginner to specialist interest.

Here are my top three odd-ball picks from this issue

Stranger Than Fiction: Bathing Machines, by Sue Lisk
None of today’s skimpy bikinis. In the eighteenth, nineteenth
and early years of the twentieth-century sea bathing demanded modesty. The bathing machine allowed seaside bathers, particularly women, to change in and out of their swimming attire inside the vans pulled by horses in and out of the water.  The article gives websites to consult to learn about these strange contraptions your ancestors might have used.

Divining for the Dead, by Robbie Gorr
Explores a debatable method of locating unrecorded, unmarked or forgotten graves of our ancestors. Divining, more often used to find water, is a less expensive and more accessible alternative to using ground-penetrating radar, the method chosen to find residential school graves. I’m highly skeptical, the article explains the technique and gives links to YouTube videos.

AI, Genealogy and You: A Perfect Match? by Tony Bandy
Looks at the integration of artificial intelligence in family history. Tony points to uses in websites commonly used for family history that you may not have thought of as AI.

There’s much more, including Dave Obee’s Back Page column: If My Memory Serves Me Correctly…

See the contents, with links to the first page of underlined articles, at https://www.internet-genealogy.com/issue_contents.htm

On this date in 1966, 55 years ago Ottawa’s most deadly construction accident occurred. The Heron Road Bridge, properly the Heron Road Workers Memorial Bridge, under construction collapsed owing to inadequate bracing.

Leonard Baird, 55, of 1203 Meadowlands Drive, came to Ottawa a year previous from Toronto and was a resident engineer at the project. The Bairds had no children.

Clarence Beattie, 31, of Cornwall, was the father of five children aged 3 to 9. A foreman. he had worked on the bridge since the start of construction.

Jean Paul Guerin, 35, of Hawkesbury, had recently started working on the bridge. He had six children, aged one to 11.

Omar Lamadeleine, 51, of Embrun, had 12 children, one of whom, a daughter, was to marry the following Saturday. He had been in construction work most of his life. He is interred at Saint Jacques Roman Catholic Cemetery in Embrun.

Edmund Newton, 50, of Almonte. was a part-time farmer and experienced high-rigger. A labourer, he had six children.

Dominic Romano, 36, worked in construction after coming to Canada in 1958. He had two children, aged nine months and two years. His body was returned to Italy.

Raymond Tremblay, 22. a laborer, came to Ottawa two months previous from Jonquierc, Que. and lived in Orleans. He planned to be married in the fall.

Joao Vicgas, 32, of 79 Sweetland Ave., was a Portuguese immigrant whose wife was in Portugal. His body was returned to Portugal.

If you like to know more there’s a recent article by James Powell for the Historical Society of Ottawa.

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 or recommended. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Coming

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