Month: April 2024

This week, Findmypast.com continues last week’s focus on Coventry in Warwickshire.

1. Coventry Bomb Damage Schedules 1940-1941 and Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941: This update includes 74,615 new and updated records that detail the bomb damage suffered by Coventry, a major industrial base of war-related production, during the German Air Raids of 1940 and 1941. The new set, Warwickshire, Coventry, Bomb Damage Schedules, comprises 73,811 images and transcriptions from 1940 and 1941. Additionally, 804 new transcriptions and images have been added to the existing Warwickshire, Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941 record set.
2. Coventry Workhouse Admission and Discharge Registers, 1853-1946: If your ancestor was in one of Coventry’s workhouses between 1853 and 1946, you might find their name in this new collection. There are 70,437 new workhouse records available for discovery. Read more about Coventry workhouses from Peter Higginbotham’s Workhouses.org/
3. Warwickshire Burials, 1847-1896: This week also saw the addition of 37,963 burial records from Coventry’s London Road Cemetery, covering the years 1847 to 1896. More background information on the cemetery is available from the Historic Coventry Trust.

Also added this week are digitized pages of the Coventry Graphic newspaper from 1912 to 1921.

Join in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin) in Geneva Hall, or online by registering here

Back to Basics: Church Records / 9 a.m. EDT

Presenter: Ken McKinlay

Prior to the establishment of civil birth, marriage, and death registrations, there were parish registers. This Back to Basics session will be looking at various registers and where to find those sometimes elusive records.

Ken McKinlay is a genealogy researcher with over 20 years of trial and error experience in researching his own family’s history in Canada, United States of America, England, Scotland and Ireland.

A member of British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (AKA BIFHSGO), and former Board member, and the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Ancestors (AKA Ontario Genealogical Society),  his speciality is methodologies for researching family history and also how to use technology to assist with doing the research.

Vimy: Exploring the Battle and the Legend / 10 a.m. EDT

Presenter: Dr. Tim Cook

Vimy is more than a battle from the First World War. It is common to hear that Vimy marks the “birth of a nation,” a claim repeated in school textbooks, by politicians, and in the news. Yet what is meant by this phrase? Do Canadians actually believe that Canada was born at Vimy, 50 years after Confederation? How did the four-day battle of Vimy in April 1917 transform into an origin story?

This was no militarist plot. While not all Canadians believed in Vimy’s importance, enough did, and the idea of Vimy was invigorated with the building of Walter Allward’s monument on the ridge. The monument’s unveiling in 1936 by King Edward VIII was attended by more than 6,000 Canadian veterans who crossed the Atlantic. Since then, Vimy has been incorporated into Canadian history, although its meaning has changed with each generation.

Based on his award-winning book, Vimy: The Battle and the Legend, Dr. Tim Cook will explore the emergence of the Vimy idea, its changing meaning, and its endurance as a symbol of Canadian service and sacrifice.

Tim Cook is the Chief Historian and Director of Research at the Canadian War Museum. He was the curator for the First World War permanent gallery at the CWM, and has curated additional temporary, travelling, and digital exhibitions. He is the author of sixteen books and over a hundred academic articles and book chapters. In 2012, he was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his contributions to Canadian history and in 2013 he received the Governor General’s History Award. He is a Director of Canada’s History Society, a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a member of the Order of Canada.

Sadly, the resources at the online community cultural heritage website Our Digital World continue to be unavailable owing to a ransomware attack. Since 25 February, the City of Hamilton network, which serves ODW, has been out of service.

These are the resources unavailable.

As of 3 April a timeline for recovery is not yet known

 

It’s time for the 5th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon. Catch it at FamilyTreeWebinars.com. Free live attendance for each session is limited to 3,000. Myko Clelland on What’s New & Exciting in MyHeritage’s Historical Records is at 3 am! If that’s not for you, all recordings will be available free afterwards for a week. 

Time (EDT)	Full Title	Speaker
Thu, Apr 11, 5:00 PM	Silent Storytellers: A Genealogist’s Guide to Cemetery Photography	Judy G. Russell
Thu, Apr 11, 6:00 PM	Clustering with MyHeritage Labels	Michelle Leonard
Thu, Apr 11, 7:00 PM	Tracing Your Royal Navy Ancestors and the Ships on which they served	Paul Milner
Thu, Apr 11, 8:00 PM	A primer on Austro-Hungarian geography	Dave Obee
Thu, Apr 11, 9:00 PM	Artificial Intelligence & Family History: An introduction	Andrew Redfern
Thu, Apr 11, 10:00 PM	The Picture Bride Era: The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 between U.S. and Japan	Linda Harms Okazaki
Thu, Apr 11, 11:00 PM	Searching for Your Family in NYC? Resources and Techniques at MyHeritage and Beyond	Mike Mansfield
Fri, Apr 12, 12:00 AM	Why can’t I find it? Locating surnames in online databases	Carol Baxter
Fri, Apr 12, 1:00 AM	Exciting Discoveries – Organising Your Family History	Fiona Brooker
Fri, Apr 12, 2:00 AM	Common Challenges in Greek Genealogy Research	Gregory Kontos
Fri, Apr 12, 3:00 AM	What’s New & Exciting in MyHeritage’s Historical Records	Myko Clelland
Fri, Apr 12, 4:00 AM	My Top 5 Websites for Victorian research in Australia	Shauna Hicks
Fri, Apr 12, 5:00 AM	The Wilson Collection for New Zealand Researchers	Michelle Patient
Fri, Apr 12, 6:00 AM	How to successfully research at a German archive	Andrea Bentschneider
Fri, Apr 12, 7:00 AM	Scottish Genealogy – Are we a Clan or a Family? And can we have a Chief?	Bruce Durie
Fri, Apr 12, 8:00 AM	Moving, moving, moving! Migration Patterns within Germany	Ursula C. Krause
Fri, Apr 12, 9:00 AM	Can’t Find the Family Bible? 10 Places You May Not Have Looked	Lisa Lisson
Fri, Apr 12, 10:00 AM	Beginning Your Genealogy Journey: 8 Steps to Getting Started	Cheri Hudson Passey
Fri, Apr 12, 11:00 AM	Unlocking Birth Records: Exploring Birth Dates and Alternate Sources	Lisa Lisson
Fri, Apr 12, 12:00 PM	6 Tips to Build a Family Tree for Busy People	Tara Shymanski
Fri, Apr 12, 1:00 PM	African American Research 101 – Reconstruction Era (Part 2 of 3)	Ari Wilkins
Fri, Apr 12, 2:00 PM	10 Ways AI Can Help You Find Your Elusive Ancestors	Lisa A. Alzo
Fri, Apr 12, 3:00 PM	Using U.S. Church Records as a Brick Wall Strategy: Case Studies	Sunny Morton
Fri, Apr 12, 4:00 PM	What’s Your DNA Problem? Too Few Matches? Too Many?	Diahan Southard

According to The Top 200 names in England and Wales in 1840, the top ten for girls were Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, Ann, Jane, Eliza, Emma, Hannah, Margaret, and Ellen.

For the second given name, the top five are Ann(e), Jane, Elizabeth, Mary and Ellen.

For combinations, the top five are:

Mary Ann (16,820)
Sarah Ann (5,806)
Mary Jane (2,322)
Elizabeth Ann (1,734)
Sarah Jane ( 1,136).

With the top male name birth registered in 1840 being William Henry, I wondered how many Mary Ann and William Henry marriages were registered.

From 1840 to 1880 there were 7,024 found. However, FreeBMD gives a warning that “You may have missed some entries because you are searching for more than one first name (in at least some quarters) when there was only one first name plus initials” 

 

Here’s a quirky collection from Ancestry.

While most records are for blacksmiths, you will also find

Anchorsmiths
Boilermakers
Cartwrights and coachwrights
Convicts
Coopers
Coppersmiths and brass finishers
Coopers
Cutlers
Engine smiths
Farriers
Gunsmiths
Harness and saddle makers
Horologists
Locksmiths
Makers of agricultural implements
Makers of scientific, surgical, or musical instruments
Makers of bolts, nuts, nails, files, and other specialty hardware
Metalsmiths
Paupers, asylum, and workhouse dwellers
Plumbers and glaziers
Shipwrights
Wheelwrights.

Records are primarily from the United Kingdom, also from the Commonwealth and the United States, compiled by Ann Spiro at https://blacksmiths.mygenwebs.com/index.php

Beware. What Ancestry records as the birth date is likely the date of the record, often a census. You’re better off at Ann Spiro’s site.

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about many more mainly US events at Conference Keeper at https://conferencekeeper.org

Tuesday, 9 April

2 pm: RootsTech Recap, by Daniel Horowitz for MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/rootstech-recap-2/

2:30 pm: Providing a Sense of Place: Enhancing Your Family History with the National Monuments Record of Wales, by Adam Coward for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9988962

6:30 pm: Adding Social History to your Tree Story, by Penny Walters for OGS Lambton County Branch.
https://lambton.ogs.on.ca/

7 pm:  Genealogical Research Using Religious Repositories,on Zoom, by Dez Nacario for OGS Essex County & Kent County Branches.
https://essex.ogs.on.ca/

Wednesday, 10 April

2:30 pm: An Introduction to Irish Family History Research, by Natalie Bodle for the Guild of One-Name Studies.
https://one-name.org/introirelandfh/

7 pm: Paupers, Peddlers, Purveyors & Parishioners, by David C. Martin for the Historical Society of Ottawa.
https://www.historicalsocietyottawa.ca/activities/events/eventdetail/128/16,17,19,21/paupers-peddlers-purveyors-parishioners

Thursday, 11 April

5 pm: The Start of the 24 hours Genealogy Webinar Marathon from Legacy Family Tree Weninars
https://familytreewebinars.com/24-marathon/

6:30 pm: Growing Little Leaves: Children and Genealogy, by Emily Kowalski Schroeder for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/9988981

Friday, 12 April

Saturday, 13 April

9 am: Back to Basics: Church Records, by Ken McKinlay for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
10 am: Vimy: Exploring the Battle and the Legend, byTim Cook for the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa.
https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

If you’re part of a family history society executive, you might want to glance at these results from a survey conducted for the Ottawa Public Library. Library users were asked which social media platforms they used, and they are likely to include family historians.

Does your society waste resources on Mastodeon, Twitch, Threads and Snapchat? I hope not. Does it focus its social media efforts on YouTube and Facebook?  Does it post regularly, daily or weekly?

Tuesday, 9 April is the anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The latest issue of the Gloucester Historical Society newsletter contains the first installment of a series about the soldiers whose names are inscribed on a scroll previously at Ottawa’s Billings Bridge Orange Lodge.

My eye was attracted to this memorial plaque.

19 year old Robert John Hyndman, born in Fitzroy Harbour, was killed on 11 January 1917, That’s several months before the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Canadian troops had been stationed, and were dying, in the vicinity of the ridge well before the battle.

A reminder that Saturday’s BIFHSGO monthly meeting will be addressed by leading Canadian military historian Tim Cook.  Catch him on Vimy: Exploring the Battle and the Legend. Attend in person if you can, or online via the link at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events

722,357 index records of students from various schools in Cheshire, England, between the years 1796 and 1909. Records typically include the name of the individual, date of birth, residence, attendance years and place of school, and the names of the parents.
The unattributed collection appears to be via the FamilySearch collection,  Cheshire, School Records, 1796-1950, sourced from the Record Office, Chester.

It will be touch and go as to how good the weather conditions will be for eclipse viewing on Monday afternoon.

QUICK UPDATE: As of Sunday morning, forecasts are less optimistic for eclipse viewing. 

As of Saturday evening the Environment Canada forecast for Monday is: Niagara Falls – sun and clouds; Toronto and Belleville – cloudy; Kingston, Brockville, Cornwall, and Ottawa – a mix of sun and clouds; and Montreal – sunny.

The Weather Network is less optimistic.
“across eastern Ontario, with mostly cloudy skies with occasional sunny breaks. It’s not an ideal location to take in the eclipse if you’re looking for an unobstructed view of totality, but it’s still possible a break could emerge during that time.”

The US Weather Bureau forecast for Ogdensburg is mainly sunny.

Looking at the various forecast models the predictions are mixed. We’re looking at a warm front approaching heralded by a shield of cirrus cloud. Eclipse viewing will depend on how quickly the cloud arrives, Even if it’s cloudy expect the darkening to be impressive.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

From 2007, with a well respected Ontario genealogist. Lots of ads!

Industrial Revolution began in 17th not 18th century

Ancestry updated Hampshire, England, Wills and Probates, 1398-1858 to hold 95,240 records

OCR PDFs and Images Directly in your Browser
http://tools.simonwillison.net/ocr

On Kahneman and Complexity: Reality is complicated. Our thinking should reflect that, by Dan Gardner

Thanks to this week’s contributors:  Anonymous,  Barbara May Di Mambro, Bonnie, Brenda Turner, Bryan Cook, Friday’s Family History Finds, gail benjafield, Irene, Ken McKinlay, M.C. Moran, Teresa, Unknown.