What to post on the blog during the festive period? In 2010 I began Yuletide R&R posts, sharing “a few links to some of my favourite YouTube items, classics of British comedy with some nostalgia items thrown in, that you, your British parents or even grandparents may have enjoyed. I hope you’re able to find a few minutes to enjoy.”

Since the first year and first item, still a favourite, the tradition (if one can call it that) continues while evolving.

I’m filling out the list and checking the Yuletide R&R list twice for this year. Do you have a favourite, old or new?

As of 1 October 2023, StatsCan estimates the country’s population as 40,528,396 and growing at a phenomenal rate. The quarterly increase of 430,635 people (+1.1%) was the highest population growth rate in any quarter since the second quarter of 1957.
Since forever, we’ve been thinking of Canada’s population as one-tenth that of the US — one Canadian for every ten in the US. Now it’s one for every 8.5.

No progress was reported on any of the Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges.

A shout-out for a presentation being given by Wayne Shepheard on Thursday, 21 December 2023, to the Family Tree Plus Gadgets Club meeting. It’s at 7- 8 pm UK time.

Wayne mentions it on his Discover Genealogy blog, adding, “You need to be a member of Family Tree Plus, either on a 7-day free trial, a one-month pass or a full member, which gets you access to all of their benefits in addition to the magazine subscription.”

https://discovergenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/12/tree-inconsistencies-presentation.html

Updates to newspapers.com for Canada in the past month, aside from present-year issues are:

The Twice A Week Standard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada 
3,919 pages
1896–1907

Niagara Falls Review
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
991,354 pages
1914–2009

The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
2,146,811 pages
1852–2017

Daily Record
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
7,727 pages
1908–1917

For England, a newly added paper is The Sutton and Cheam Advertiser, etc. Archive
Sutton, London, England
23,345 pages
1908–1960

Updated newspapers from England are:

The Standard
London, Greater London, England
151,492 pages
1827–1900

Daily Post (Merseyside ed.)
Liverpool, Merseyside, England
160,131 pages
1955–1999

The Gloucestershire Echo
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
282,392 pages
1884–1999

The Tamworth Herald, etc.
Tamworth, Staffordshire, England
97,746 pages
1870–1999

Atherstone Herald
Atherstone, Warwickshire, England
65,360 pages
1886–1999

For Scotland, one paper was updated

The Lennox Herald
Dumbarton, Strathclyde, Scotland
65,622 pages
1866–2002

There were no additions of updates for Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Australia or New Zealand..

Although the title of this talk given last Friday refers specifically to Jewish genealogy, don’t let that put you off if you don’t have Jewish ancestry. Many of the resources described are more widely applicable, just illustrated with Jewish examples.

https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/landscape-of-dreams-jewish-genealogy-in-canada/

It’s available without a FTW membership until Friday. I particularly appreciated presenter Kaye Prince-Hollenberg’s comments about the limitations in the availability of historical documents in Canada compared to other countries and the confusion over old and new LAC websites.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

All Ireland, Wills and Admons, 1515-1858 just added at Ancestry has 87,055 index records.  Information returned is name, will date, will place, occupation, description and “The Original Documents Referred to in This Index Do Not Exist. No Further Information, Other Than That Recorded Above, Has Survived.”

Legacy Half-off Offer Extended.

Genealogy Quebec Discount
25% off the yearly subscription available from 15 – 20 December.

Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Mammoth Book Sale
Saturday 16 December 2023

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Basil ADAM, Brenda Turner, Christine Jackson, C Orr, gail benjafield, Kim, Nick Mcdonald, Pat Wood, Teresa, Toni, Unknown. Wayne Shepheard

Sourced from a website of the Dudley Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands are index records for nearly 290,000 burials and cremations in ten cemeteries and crematoria. The earliest 156 burials are given the notional burial date of 1 January 1800. Interments grew substantially from the latter part of the 19th century.

If you keep your family tree database with Ancestry, you’ll appreciate that it lacks tools you expect to find in full-feature software like RootsMagic, Legacy or FamilyTreeMaker.

Now Ancestry has added a new facility, Pro Tools, with some missing capabilities. It’s an extra cost monthly subscription, and it’s not cheap!

Ancestry promotes it: “These advanced tools not only double-check your work in the background, but they also allow you to see your expansive family history in a different light.”

The tools are:
Tree Checker
Charts & Reports
Advanced Filters
Map Views

You’ll find the first two under the Trees tab toward the bottom, accompanied by a green locked padlock.

Aimee Cross, who was a beta tester, has posted New Features @ Ancestry but it’ll COST YOU on YouTube which I recommend for a deeper dive. 

Her bottom line is that at $9.99US  per month, it’s a bit rich,  maybe suitable for a month or two, after which you’ll probably have received most of the value.  Perhaps Ancestry anticipates that reaction. The small print includes “Your Pro Tools subscription will automatically renew at list price every month until you cancel or until your Ancestry family history membership ends. If you don’t want to renew, cancel at least two days before your renewal date by visiting your Account Settings or by contacting us.”

MyHeritage lists 417,794 births,  583,442 marriages, and 506,460 deaths in new database additions. All are freely available and are Crown copyright 2023, Province of Nova Scotia.

Compared to those available at https://archives.novascotia.ca/vital-statistics/, MyHeritage falls a bit short on births and is close to complete on marriages and deaths.

Direct access to available image originals saves the trouble of going to the separate Nova Scotia website.