Month: October 2022

This bar chart shows the annual daily average Wikipedia page views for Genealogy since 2016. There was a gradual increase from 2016 to 2019, then a hit in 2020 and 2021, with a rebound in 2022 (so far).

I’ve more questions than answers! Was the initial increase due to more resources coming online, with genealogy a COVID-19 victim? 

In 2019 there were two days with more than 1,000-page counts, 16-17 October 2019. The only other days since 2017 with more than 1,000 visits were 15 February and 19 October 2017. What accounts for the peaks?

Rootstech in London, the best genealogy show I ever attended, came shortly after the October peak. Is there a link? Online genealogy resources were enhanced during the pandemic, with free access to Ancestry through many public libraries, and relaxation of other price barriers. In-person meetings could not be held. Could that lack of in-person events account for the dip, and the recovery, or some of it?

These statistics were produced using Search Gizmos by the amazing Tara Calishain of Research Buzz, one of my daily go to resources.

There are now 34,223,183 records in this updated collection from the Institut Généalogique Drouin via Ancestry. That’s up from 29,376,363 in July, when over 6 million were added.
Although the collection is largely for Catholic parishes, a large number of other denominations, even Jewish records, are included. Sadly there’s no mention of what has been added in this latest update.

Choose from selected 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. Many additional events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual/

Mardi 25 Octobre, 8 am: Confirmer les Smart Matches et Record Matches sur MyHeritage, par Elisabeth Zetland pour Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

Confirmer les Smart Matches et Record Matches sur MyHeritage

Tuesday 25 October, 2:30 pm: The Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692: History and Sources, by John Beatty for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7249198

Tuesday 25 October, 7 pm: Proudly She Served: Canadian Women at War, 1885-1945, by Glenn Wright for OGS Wellington County.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qd-qtrDMqEtU2IIZo92yHP7cV18dCXTvY

Tuesday 25 October, 7 pm: Performing Scottish Identity: the St Andrew’s Society of Montreal Ball, 1871-present, by Gillian Leach for the Ottawa Historical Association.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/performing-scottish-identity-the-st-andrews-society-of-montreal-ball-tickets-443870768417

Tuesday 25 October, 7 pm: How to Set Up a One-Name Study, by Fraser Dunford for OGS Kawartha Branch.
https://kawartha.ogs.on.ca/events1/dr-fraser-dunford-sources-of-free-english-and-welsh-genealogy-online-presentation-3/

Wednesday 26 October, 7 pm: Jimmy Carter: Chalk River and Beyond, by Arthur Milnes for the Historical Society of Ottawa.
https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/70/16,17,19,21/jimmy-carter-chalk-river-and-beyond 

Wednesday 26 October, 8 pm: Structuring a Family History – class 1 of 4, by Carol Baxter for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/structuring-a-family-history-class-1-of-4/

Thursday 27 October, 6:30 pm: What does that say? Deciphering Handwriting in Genealogical Documents, by Elizabeth Hodges for Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/7249200

Thursday 27 October, 7 pm: How do they do it? Military historians discuss the evolution of research for the Canadian War Museum.
https://www.warmuseum.ca/event/research-revelations-20-years-of-scholarship/

Friday 28 October, 2 pm: Older Than Us: The Elders of the Trask 250, by Nicka Smith for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/older-than-us-the-elders-of-the-trask-250/

Saturday 29 October, 9 am: Writing and Publishing: The October Free Webinar Conference, by Carol Baxter for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/conference/

 

 

Digital Books
Helen Osborn reveals the essential free online reference
books; It starts with the half-million books at FamilySearch. Then the Internet Archives, Google Books, HathiTrust, jstor.org/ Moving on to the British Records Society, British History Online, and more.
Birth Certificates
WDYTYA? Magazine editor Sarah Williams shares her expert tips for saving both time and money when researching births in England and Wales
Soccer Story
As England hosts the Rugby League World Cup from
15 October, James Hoare revisits the sport’s origins
Focus On
Family historians shouldn’t overlook records of the Militia, and many have been digitized and are now available online, as Phil Tomaselli explains.
Best Websites
Jonathan Scott recommends sites where you can search
vast collections of historic audio and video recordings
Record Masterclass
Legal historian Rebecca Probert shares the secrets of
the clandestine irregular marriages of the 18th century
TechTips
Nick Peers reveals how to search, view and download
Australian newspapers using the free website Trove
Around Britain
Jonathan Scott explores the resources available if your
ancestors lived in the historic county of Gloucestershire
Gem From The Archive
Mark Pitchforth, assistant archivist at the History of
Advertising Trust at hatads shares an album of advertisements from Victorian and Edwardian magazines.

As always, there’s lots more.

Finally, and news to me, is that Tony Robinson is hosting a new programme, “Museum of Us,” where an expert team helps groups of residents explore their own street’s history as they unearth surprising stories and hidden treasures. The first episode, which aired in the UK on Monday on More4,  is about Bristol and the residents of Hebron Road who discover links to the chocolate and tobacco industries.  Other episodes will be on Birmingham, Aberystwyth, and Norwich.

 

Glenn Wright will present Proudly She Served: Canadian Women at War, 1885-1945 for Wellington County Branch of OGS at 7 pm on Tuesday evening.

Many women assisted and then served with our military forces from the War of 1812 through the Second World War. Glenn will discuss who these women were as well as the roles they played and the contributions they made. Wellington County examples will be included along with some unique research sources.

This event will be held virtually. Go to https://wellington.ogs.on.ca/upcoming-events/ for further details and to register (free).

Are you planning a visit to the First World War battlefields in Belgium? The most memorable part of my visit was the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, with the names of 54,588  inscribed, and the 8 pm Last Post ceremony.

To avoid disappointment, be aware of the news from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that the memorial will be restored from early next year in a multi-year project. While the memorial will be inaccessible, the 8 pm ceremony will continue at a nearby location.

https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/cwgc-to-restore-iconic-ypres-menin-gate-memorial/

 

 

 

On Monday evening, the OGS Toronto Branch monthly meeting features a presentation from Ottawa by Emma Kent — a personal story.

“This lecture will explore the history of British Home Children through the memories of one particular child. Between 1869 and 1932, over 100,000 children were sent from Britain to Canada to be placed with rural families. These children were often used as a source of labour and rarely fit into their new families. Emma Kent’s grandfather Jack came to Canada in 1927 as a Home Child and, in 2006, he recorded those memories on tape.”

I hope the presentation recognizes that “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” At this time, the young people who came to Canada were required to be beyond school-leaving age in the UK and expected to enter the workforce. Although there were many hardship cases in Canada, there were also similar cases for those who remained in the UK without a parent. There were also many happy cases in Canada where the home child prospered; some went on to inherit the farm on which they were placed.

The evening will begin with a mini-presentation by Beth Adams: Sometimes “Home” is a Cottage Instead of a House.

If you are in Toronto, you can attend in person. To find out where and more, and to register for the virtual event, go to: https://torontofamilyhistory.org/event/grandpa-jack/?instance_id=1516

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

VCR tape conversion at the public library
In Ottawa, there’s a VHS conversion station: DVD recorder and VCR at the Cumberland branch. The machine will only accept regular VHS cassettes.

Mapping Museums
A research project to document and analyze how the sector changed between 1960 and 2020. It includes information on 3.244 UK museums, most still in operation.

The Good Country Index
Most component datasets are produced by the United Nations system and other international agencies, and a few by NGOs and other organizations.

15-minute walkable community?
Does where you live to have good access to community services? How does that compare to where your ancestors lived?

How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine The Fate Of Every Project, From Home Renovations To Space Exploration And Everything In Between.
This is the title of Dan Gardner’s next book as a co-author. In this blog post, he covers the non-fiction book writing process, the content of the next book (title above) which is due in February, and the book he is now working on.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Barbara Di Mambro, Brenda Turner, Gail B., Teresa, Unknown.

Caribbean Association Oath Rolls, 1696, has 963 individuals who swore oaths of loyalty to King William III.   Bermuda accounted for 629,  Antigua 93, Barbados 60, Montserrat 48, Nevis 58, and St Kitts 55. These transcripts, all for white men, give first and last name, and “organization” which could be tribe (district), assembly, or council.

Barbados Births & Baptisms 1637-1891, has 3,674 records for 1678-1679 added, making the collection total 421,747. Sourced from FamilySearch, these are transcripts linked to the original image.

Montserrat, Methodist Marriages 1820-1841
This collection has 202 transcript entries for marriages giving names of enslaved bride and groom, occupations, residences and date of marriage. The source is the Montserrat Registry Office.

There’s an online books link buried in the Methodist Heritage website that’s of interest if you have a person of family history interest involved with the various flavours of Methodism in the UK. In the periodicals, you’ll find multiple annual compilations that include biographies of men and women who were active as preachers and in other leadership roles.

Volumes from Wesleyan, Primitive, New Connexion, Bible Christian and other Methodist denominations are available from 1780 to the 1880s. The pdfs I reviewed, Primitive and New Connexion, were image scans, not searchable, although each had an index with the names of those included. Downloads can be slow.

The bios are heavy on the religious side of life, with no mention of how they earned a living. Birth date and place, and sometimes parents are named, many before the introduction of civil registration in England and Wales.

Historic England has added the Harold Wingham Collection of Aerial Photographs. The 1,983 items include Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and North Wiltshire, between 1951 and 1963.
The easiest way into the collection is via the map at https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/harold-wingham-collection/

Today is Trafalgar Day, the celebration of the victory won by the Royal Navy, commanded by Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the combined French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.
In London Trafalgar Square hosts crowds of humans, and lots of pigeons. Four huge “Landseer Lions” have graced the base of Nelson’s column since 1867.
A proposal to place a statue of Elizabeth II on the “Fourth Plinth” at Trafalgar Square appears to have been rejected. Good.  There should be no rush to decide on a suitable memorial. It was 37 years after the battle that Nelson’s column was finished. The memorial to Queen Victoria outside Buckingham Place took 10 years to the unveiling.