Month: August 2024

Ancestry recently updated databases related to death and burial records across various countries.

The “England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2023” is updated to 7,433,702 records from 7,166,817 records in January. The “Scotland and Northern Ireland, Death Index, 1989-2023” now has 934,558 records, up from 916,681. Both use data compiled from funeral directors’ records and obituaries.

The “Find a Grave® Index” databases have been updated from July. Canada now has 10,570,369, up from 10,499,793.  Other updates are for Brazil, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Ireland, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.

Finally, the “UK, Royal Mail Pension and Gratuity Records, 1860-1970” now has 278,726 records, updated from 147,020 when the collection first appeared in January.

 ‘Money begets money’ is an old adage, as valid today as ever. A new study published in PLOS One, Slaveholder ancestry and current net worth of members of the United States Congress, shows the correlation.

After adjustment for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and education, legislators whose ancestors enslaved 16 or more individuals had a $3.93 million (95% confidence interval 2.39–5.46) higher net worth than legislators whose ancestors were not slave owners.

It should go without saying that members of Congress do not bear personal responsibility for the actions of their ancestors,

Global Genealogy has been very quiet of late. Rick and Sandra were missed at the OGS conference in Toronto and have made no recent (re)publication announcements. That’s until Wednesday.

Global has reissued the four-volume set of A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to Canada Before Confederation. Originally published between 1986 and 2005, it contains extensive data on thousands of individuals and families who migrated to Canada before 1867.

For the first time, Global Genealogy makes it available for download in a searchable PDF format.

The original publications may be found in the reference collections of many libraries, including four branches of the Ottawa Public Library.

There are currently 3,979 items in Collection Search identified as Co-Lab-only contributions, a jump from 3,893 last month! Owing to a change in format an overall completion figure is not available for some challenges.

Games of the XXI Olympiad, Montréal 1976 is 79.5% complete.

Treaty 9, with 27 images, remains 3.7% complete.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary remains 48% complete.

Expo67 remains 7% complete.

Summiting Mount Logan in 1925: Fred Lambart’s personal account of the treacherous climb and descent of the highest peak in Canada remains 13% complete.

Women in the War remains 1% complete.

Arthur Lismer’s Children’s Art Classes remains <1% complete.

John Freemont Smith is now 88% complete.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association is substantially complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 95% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 99% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 0% complete.

Correspondence regarding First Nations veterans returning after the First World War remains 99% complete.

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 95% complete.

Legendary Train Robber and Prison Escapee Bill Miner remains 99% complete.

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War remains 3% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters is substantially competitive.

Projects that remain 100% complete are no longer reported here.

If so, organize the tiles on this Scrambled City map of the City of London. It’s surprising how challenging it is  — education through gamification.

Not into London? Then, make your own puzzle.

From MyHeritage DNA — Our Super DNA Sale is on, and this isn’t any old DNA sale — it’s a rare opportunity to stock up on MyHeritage DNA kits for the lowest price this year and even get a headstart on your holiday shopping!

https://www.myheritage.com/dna

So far this month, five new digital microfilms have been added to the Heritage collection.

The Halifax passenger list, film T-14814, for March and April 1928 arrivals, is only 660 images. It includes voyages from Antwerp, Belfast, Bordeaux, Bremen, Copenhagen, Cherbourg, Danzig, Hamburg, Liverpool, and Southampton.

Ancestry’s Canada , Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 collection, which is name indexed, appears to cover the same arrivals.

It likely flew under your radar, but there’s a change at Findmypast.

Most recently, as of Friday, there is a revamped FMP Friday Live session renamed to The Family History Show with Findmypast.

The format will now alternate — one week, a happy chat on what’s happening in the wider family history world, as seen from the UK with hosts Ellie and Liam.  The alternate week has Jen or Rose as host in a “deep dive into records.”

You’ve likely noticed that FMP releases fewer new records than previously. This past week, it was 24,453 records; before that, it was “over 28,000” and 19,990. Ancestry and MyHeritage British updates typically contain many more new records.

The change in Friday format may reflect the struggle to scrape together enough records to discuss. To be fair, there are more substantial newspaper additions each week, but see the comment below.

Another sign of trouble is that each weekly announcement provides less detail on the additions. Not so long ago, when an addition was made to BMD records, the updated parish appeared with a NEW tag in the county parish list. No longer.

Although adding newspapers to the British Newspaper Archive and FMP is healthy, much of the material is from issues that are likely born digital, so it is less costly to add.

I speculate this reflects the financial issues of the parent company, D. C. Thomson. The latest information I could find, its 31 March 2023 financial report, showed losses from publication activities. Assets are being sold, and some publications are discontinued.

Revenue from genealogy operations was flat following a bounce from COVID and the release of the 1921 census of England and Wales.  Is less being invested in acquiring new records? There appear to be no plans to add major new collections. 

Findmypast is still a major asset for the genealogical community, but it is less so than previously. I wonder whether D. C. Thomson might be ready to spin off or sell FMP. MyHeritage?

Today marks the 82nd anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, a tragic event in which 946 Allied soldiers lost their lives, 839 of whom were Canadian. Of those, 531 are buried at the Hautot-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery.

Among the 181 soldiers with no known grave, commemorated at the Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, is Signalman Keith Lloyd Marsh, the son of Frank and Ellen Susan Marsh of Ottawa. He is also memorialized on his parents’ gravestone at Beechwood Cemetery.

His entries in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) and the Canadian Virtual War Memorial note that he was an “Exhibitor, Canadian National Exhibition, Ottawa.” This intriguing detail is further illuminated by newspaper records, which highlight his talent in building bird nesting boxes, a skill recognized at the Annual Hobby Show, part of the 1936 Exhibition.

Keith Marsh graduated from Ottawa Technical School in December 1937 and enlisted the following year.

Two others with Ottawa addresses who died in the Dieppe Raid were Thomas Dean, the son of Thomas Malcolm and Rachel Manson Dean, born in Ottawa, and Antonio Gariepy, the son of Edward U. and Marie Louise Gariepy, born in Quebec.

Don’t miss some engaging articles in the September issue of BBC History.

The Spy Who Hoodwinked Hitler
Dummy tanks at El Alamein. Bogus generals in Algiers. Sham armies on D-Day. All were ruses masterminded by Dudley Clarke. Robert Hutton tells the story of the British soldier who made an art form of duping the Nazis.

The King They Couldn’t Kill
Want to know why Henry VII is remembered as an intensely suspicious king, wracked by paranoia? The answer, writes Nathen Amin, lies in his death-defying rise to power.

The Genius in the Shadows
Athelstan is one of the greatest of all Anglo-Saxon monarchs. So why, asks Michael Wood, does the first king of the English remain so fiendishly elusive?

From China Cups to Letter Bombs
The suffragettes crafted a brilliant PR campaign, driven by everything from branded marmalade to marching bands. But did their quest for publicity eventually backfire? Ellie Cawthorne investigates) an Edwardian battle for hearts and minds.

Eastern Promises
Lured by rich trading prospects, from the 17th to the 19th centuries, Britain attempted to cultivate relations with China—sometimes successfully but often disastrously. Kerry Brown explores the troubled but ultimately vital links between these two ambitious realms.

Medieval England’s political miracle
From the Magna Carta to parliament, taxation to the law courts, Caroline Burt and Richard Partington examine the 13th and 14th centuries, which laid the foundations for the modern British state.

Quebec City in five places
From a French trading post to the capital of British North America, Quebec City has a storied past. David Mendel suggests five unmissable sights.

I want to thank Gail B., whose email question prompted me to look at the issue through the OPL online subscription.