The new Bytown Pamphlet Phyllis Turner Ross – Career Woman and Single Mother has a title it would be easy to gloss over until you twig to the fact that Turner refers to former Canadian prime minister John Turner.

The pamphlet is in two parts.

First, Paul Litt recounts the influence the extraordinary Phyllis Turner Ross had on the formative years of the future prime minister.

Then, Christine Jackson, recounts her search for records that challenge and augment what is commonly understood about Phyllis Turner’s pre-Ottawa years.

A mystery remains.

FAMILY HISTORY NEWS
Rachel Bellerby reports on the latest from the genealogy scene.

IMMIGRATION
Chris Paton looks at some of the motives for migration to the British Isles and provides useful leads to track down the records to trace our family histories.

DISCOVER THE SIX HATS METHOD FOR GENEALOGY
Do you feel as though you’re juggling many balls when doing your genealogy? If so, you’re not alone. However, introducing a sound methodology can dramatically improve your genealogical thinking, and enable you to more
effectively assess the historical records that you encounter time after time. To that end Dr Sophie Kay is here to help you master the Six Hats method!

94% EUROPEAN & 6% AFRICAN DNA
TRACING MY AFRICAN ANCESTOR
Many of us are aware that over the centuries, there have been inter-racial relationships between Africans and Europeans and recent advancements in consumer DNA testing further confirms this. Genealogist Yetunde Abiola
reflects on our shared history and the unique stories that we may come across in the course of researching our family’s history.

INVESTIGATING CLANDESTINE MARRAIGES
A case study by Dave Annal.

THE SOUNDTRACJ OF OUR LIVES
Charlotte Soares invites us to add some richness to our research by imagining the variety of music our ancestors would have experienced — from a sing-song around the piano to a performance in a concert hall.

‘RESEARCHING THE FATE OF THE SS BARON ERSKINE
In late 1941 crew member Thomas Parker White was bound for the UK, on the SS Baron Erskine. Separated from the relative safety of the convoy, the Baron Erskine’s future swiftly became vulnerable. Deborah Pugh relates the events that unfolded next.

THE LOST GARDENERS OF WORSLEY
Adele Emm uses census records and online research to chart the varying fortunes of eight young men who were photographed working in the gardens of Worsley Hall in the early 20th century.

WRITING A GENEALOGY ARTICLE
Simon Wills has over 30 years’ experience of writing for magazines, books and websites. Here, he shares some tips on the right approach to help get you published.

YOUR DNA WORKSHOP
This month, Karen Evans helps reader Mark use DNA techniques to delve into the mystery of who the father of his maternal great-grandmother was.

QUICK & DIRTY TREES TASK OF THE MONTH
You’ve found a promising DNA match, but they have no tree. What’s the next step? Learn how to create a ‘quick & dirty” tree — to help identify how you and your DNA matches may be related.

SPOTLIGHT ON… The Airedale & ‘Wharfedale Family History Society
Stanley Merridew introduces a society that marks its fifth anniversary this year, showing how the merging of two separate societies created a stronger group.

SAYING NO TO NOTIFICATIONS
This month, Diane Lindsay urges us to take a step back from those tempting online family history hints that seem to promise the world — or a new ancestor at the very least — and instead go back to basics with our older research.

And more …

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. Looking for more options? Additional mainly US events are listed at https://conferencekeeper.org/virtual.

Tuesday 13 June

2 pm: OGS Ottawa Branch Virtual Drop-in, with local experts Gloria Tubman, Ken McKinlay and Mike More.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/

2 pm: The Top 10 DNA Features on MyHeritage, by Richard Hill for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/the-top-10-dna-features-on-myheritage/

2:30 pm: Introducing American Ancestors, by Claire Vail for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8553409

7 pm: Genealogy with Google, by Dave Obee for OGS Lambton County Branch.
https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/

Wednesday 14 June

7 pm: The Wreck HMS Speedy-The Tragedy That Shook Upper Canada, by Dan Buchanan for OGS York Region Branch.
https://york.ogs.on.ca/meetings-events/

8 pm: Putting it All Together: Making Sense of All the Research You’ve Done, by Robyn Smith for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/putting-it-all-together-making-sense/

Thursday 15 June

6:30 pm: Introduction to Arab American Genealogy Research, by Reem Awad-Rashmawi for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/8592759

Friday 16 June

2 pm: Finding Your Ancestors in Canadian Land Records, by Tara Shymanski for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-your-ancestors-in-canadian-land-records/

Saturday 17 June

1 pm: Indigenous Enfranchisement Records 1880- 1970 in Canadian Orders in Council, by Joanna Crandell for OGS Ottawa Branch.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/indigenous-enfranchisement-records-1880-1970-in-canadian-orders-in-council-ottawa/

 

Want to know about the awards given at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa Annual General Meeting?

Barbara Tose
Past president and Anglo-Celtic Roots editor, among many other contributions, Barbara was inducted intio the Society Hall of Fame.
If you don’t quite recognize her in the photo, Barbara is now adapting to life with less need for glasses following cataract surgery.

Pam Cooper
BIFHSGO librarian, working in support of the Ottawa Branch Ottawa Genealogical Society, Pam was inducted into the Hall of Fame for that and her many other contributions to the Society. Pam couldn’t be at the meeting so no photo!

David Jeanes
Was presented a certificate of recognition, to add to the many others from his various volunteer roles, past and present, in the Ottawa community, for his excellent technical work at BIFHSGO monthly meetings and conferences.

Find the other awards and news from the AGM at  https://www.bifhsgo.ca/news

 

 

TheGenealogist folks know how to get my attention with the first item on this release list:

– A Calendar of the Freemen of Great Yarmouth 1429-1800
– The Aldermen of Cripplegate Ward 1276-1900
– Yorkshire, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, Volume I [1905]
– Yorkshire, History of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, Volume II [1906]
– London Worthies by William Kent [1939]
– Freemen of Lynn 1292-1836
– Record Of Unitarian Worthies
– Rules and Regulations Office-Bearers and Members Weavers' Society of
Anderston 1901
– Register of Freemen of the City of London
– Cornish Worthies, Vol. I, 1884
– Cornish Worthies, Vol. II, 1884
– A List of The Wardens Members of The Court of Assistants and Liverymen of The
Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths since 1688
– The Masonic Directory and Cyclopedia of History 1885
– Directory of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, 1908-1909.

The Great Yarmouth item is already available at FamilySearch. That’s ikely true for others at one or more of the various free sites such as Google books, Hathi Trust, and the Internet Archive.

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

I never thought I cared about my family history, and then I went to Ireland

A Brief History of Book Vending Machines
This is one of two vending-type machines the Ottawa Public Library provides at my local community centre, use is free, acknowledging the distance to a branch library. Here are other creative approaches to making books available — https://www.pinterest.ca/1000smiles/book-o-mat/

Library and Archives Canada acquires 100 environmental interviews

Freedom for Authors
Perhaps AI could at least free authors from the chore of formatting articles to journal specifications! How much of an issue is this for authors of genealogical journal articles?

ShadeMap: Direct Sunlight Chart
An interactive map which can calculate the number of hours of direct sunlight for any location on Earth accounting for shadows cast by buildings and terrain.

I woke up on Friday, 9 June to find the name-indexed census open on the Ancestry website. The digitized fields are Name, Gender, Marital Status, Age, Estimated Birth Year, Residence Date, Home in 1931, Relation to Head,
Enumeration District and Sub-District. You can add fields for others in the household to the search form.

Having exhaused a very very short list of my relatives that were easily found I turned to the survivors of those who served with the Ottawa Company of Sharpshooters in 1885 believed to be living in Canada. None of the commissioned officers were alive. Of seven surviving NCOs one was clearly identified in the census, one was identified despite an ambiguity in the handwriting, candidates for two others were found, and three are not yet located.

Ancestry has done an amazing job in getting the name indexing completed in 9 days. The indexing will continue to improve and expand. Based on my limited testing you have a good chance of finding a person through the search. Your research skills will still come into play in resolving issues like name changes and handwriting ambiguity.

Please share your experience in the comments.

UPDATE
In correspondance with Ancestry I received the following information.

“The handwriting recognition model is set to try to detect to as close as possible the “as it appears” value on the image. In the example you have noted, a non-closed ‘g’ may in fact be captured as a y. While statistically speaking ‘Rogers’ would likely be a more common surname than ‘Royers’, what we have found is that if we overemphasize a check against statistically common names in our current AI data set, we run into the opposite issue where the less common results may be over written to a higher degree. As we continue to expand the locations, languages, and time periods of material that we process, however, we feel the AI will continue to learn and recognize some of the linguistic nuances that come with processing a large data set such as found in a national census, and will be better at determining what may be “sloppy penmanship” vs a valid, but less common name.”

I added

Interestingly, while there are numerous examples of Rogers being interpreted at Royers, there are no cases of George appearing as Georye, either as first or last name.

In my own family history, today marks the centennial of the birth of Audrey, the only child of Maud and John Northwood in Rokeby, Saskatchewan. She is my fourth cousin twice removed and my earliest known Canadian-born relative.

In speaking with her years ago, I got the impression life on the family farm as an only child during the Dirty Thirties was not a favourite recollection.

She was happy to move to Ottawa during WW2. In the 1942 Ottawa City Directory she is listed as stenog Natl Def Naval Serv  r 294 Clarence. In 1943 as stenog Natl Def Stores Br r 496 Cooper. She was even happier to move back west, eventually to Vancouver Island, and fully invested in her subsequent life. Her obit.

On Saturday at 9 am, online and in person, British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa members are invited to the society’s Annual General Meeting.

For a second helping of AGMs, the Ontario Genealogical Society invites its members to participate onine starting at 11 am.

Everyone, in person or online, is invited to BIFHSGO’s popular Great Moments in Genealogy event starting at 10 am. The presentations are:

• Introducing the Cripwells, by Paul Cripwell.
• Message from the Grave: Desperately Seeking Charity Gerow, by Jane Simpson.
• A Family Mystery Solved through Research and DNA, by Susan Smart.
• Finding Archy Ban Egypt, by Carol Annett.

More detail at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

Just announced. No need to rush.

The deadline for the latest of what has become a BIFHSGO quinquennial tradition isn’t until 30 May 2024.

The Writing Competition is one-way BIFHSGO pursues “Encouraging research, publishing and sharing of British Isles/Canadian family and social history” — one of the objects of the society when founded (Article III, Letters Patent, Canada 16 Nov 1994).

You could win up to $300 first prize, $200 second prize, and guess what for third prize! That could be the motivation you need to complete the article you’ve been working on for “time immemorial.”

You have to be a member as of the submission deadline, so if you have what you think might be a winning entry but are not a member, join for 2024.

Find out the details at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/30th-anniversary-writing-competition