7.8 million records have been added as of 13 October and since 6 October. They are all for the USA. A few deletions were made for Canada, and for the UK and Ireland.
The Unicorn?
Military Monday
The following is from The National Archives (UK)
Royal Flying Corps and Successors: World War One Gallantry Award Medal Index Cards Released
The National Archives, in partnership with Forces War Records, the leading military family history website from Ancestry®, has launched a digital collection of Royal Flying Corps and successors: World War One Gallantry Award Medal Index Cards.
The collection contains almost 12,000 cards and are a mixture of handwritten and typed records, and include a rare ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ cards that consist of members of the armed forces who were mentioned in an official report by a superior officer and sent to the high command. This mention is considered a commendation for a noteworthy act or service of gallantry.
“This collection is such an important one for Forces War Records and our community” shared Ancestry’s Military Genealogist, Simon Pearce, “because it offers a fascinating insight into the bravery and dedication to duty of those who served with the aerial forces during WWI. The war accelerated huge advances in technology and aerial warfare, and our ancestors were at the forefront of these developments. Perhaps you’ll discover a family member who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross or the Military Medal for their actions, or maybe they gained an award from one of Britain’s allies.”
Sunday Sundries
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.
Clergy of the Church of England Index, 1540-1835
Ancestry has made available a version of the free database at https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/.
New York State Marriages, 1881-1952
On 8 October MyHeritage added 5,134,824 records for NYS marriages, with images. The index of this collection was produced by MyHeritage from scanned images of the original documents that were obtained through Reclaim the Records. This index does not contain lists of marriages from the separate jurisdiction of New York City.
15-minute city platform
See how 15-minute worldwide cities are! Click on a city to
open the map with the times of accessibility or check the rankings in the bar below.
Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP)
Documentary heritage organizations across the country can now apply for funding for the 2025–2026 cycle of Library and Archives Canada’s DHCP. Read the News release.
A History of Calendars for Genealogists
Jenny Joyce presented this in the Legacy Family Tree Webinars series on Wednesday. It’s good to know information, clearly presented. The webinar is free for a week.
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Nick Mcdonald, Teresa, Unknown.
Findmypast Weekly Update
Perhaps you can get excited about the new Jamaica transcript baptism, marriage, and burial records now on Findmypast. They are for 1664 to 1880: 404,465 baptisms, 89,180 marriages, and 196,146 burials.
The Daily Express (1900-1999) and the Sunday Express (1918-1999) are now available. As these were the papers that came into our house, I expect to dig into the pages for context on memorable events for my family, like this coverage of the 1953 North Sea Flood.
Oldham, England Burials and Cremations, 1857-2023
Ancestry has 428,599 index burial records for eight Oldham, Greater Manchester area, cemeteries.
| Name | Address | Opened | Size (Acres) |
| Chadderton | Middleton Road, Chadderton, Oldham, OL9 OJZ | 1857 | 31.4 |
| Crompton | Fraser Street, Shaw, Oldham, OL2 7SD | 1891 | 13.9 |
| Failsworth | Cemetery Road, Failsworth, Manchester, M35 ORS | 1887 | 8.99 |
| Greenacres | Greenacres Road, Greenacres, Oldham, OL4 3HT | 1857 | N/A |
| Hollinwood | Roman Road, Hollinwood, Oldham, OL8 3LU | 1889 | 27.6 |
| Lees | Thomas Street, Lees, Oldham, OL4 5BT | 1879 | 6.92 |
| Oldham Crematorium | Roman Road, Hollinwood, Oldham, OL8 3LU | 1953 | N/A |
| Royton | Cemetery Road, Royton, Oldham | 1879 | 7.99 |
Oldham Council has the same burial information: https://adt.oldham.gov.uk/BacasWeb/. That site has a clickable link to find others interred in the same plot.
BIFHSGO October Meeting
Saturday, 12 October 2024
9 am: How can the Ottawa Branch OGS Library help my research? – Presenter: Grace Lewis
Grace Lewis has been the Volunteer Librarian for the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society since 2010. She has shepherded the collection through an extensive expansion program, welcoming donations from individuals and organizations alike. In 2016, BIFHSGO closed its library and transferred ownership of the 2,500-item collection to the Ottawa Branch OGS Library, which currently contains over 13,000 items. Grace’s presentation will review what is available for BIFHSGO researchers at the library she has helped develop.
10 am: Travels With My Aunt: Adventures in Europe, 1914 – Presenter: Barbara Tose
Another favourite talk in the BIFHSGOs 30th anniversary From the Vault series, originally presented in February 2014.
Barbara will reprise her story of the adventures her great-grand-aunt Nellie had in Britain and Europe during the summer of 1914. Barbara weaves the stories from Nellie’s 30-page letter to her brother with the momentous events of that summer leading to the start of WW I.
Find out more and register for online attendance at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events/.
If you attend in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin), why not join a group for a pub lunch afterwards?
Major AncestryDNA Update
Have you taken an AncestryDNA test? If so, read about AncestryDNA’s largest-ever update, enhancing precision, granularity and customer experience.
A few new terms are adopted,
Ancestral regions: the percentages outlined in what was formerly known as your “Ethnicity Estimate” will now be called “ancestral regions.” These features show places your ancestors likely lived roughly 1,000 years ago.
Ancestral journeys: customers will now see “ancestral journeys”—formerly known as “Communities”—in their results. This feature shows where your relatives likely lived and moved in the past 300 years.
Subregions: subregions provide added granularity to users’ results with smaller, more specific areas within a region. We’re proud to announce 54 new subregions in Europe as part of this year’s update.
Ethnic groups: “ethnic groups” reflect communities of people who share common cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, customs, traditions, and often national origin.
My results are in remarkable alignment with my paper trail genealogy. It makes me wonder if Ancestry uses the family tree I’ve posted to Ancestry to calibrate the DNA results.
2024 Reisinger Lectures
On Tuesday, I missed mentioning all but the first of five 2024 Reisinger Lectures being given online on Friday. Sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (US), they are available for free through the Legacy Family Tree Webinars platform.
Friday, 11 October 2024:
11:30 am: Rubik’s Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data, by Elissa Scalise Powell,
12:45 pm: Probate Power: Parents for Charles, a Father for Phoebe, by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin
3:30 pm: Evidence Mining & Context: Powerful Tools to Dig Deep, by Rebecca Whitman Koford
4:45 pm: Strategies for Resolving Conflicting Evidence, by Angela Packer McGhie.
6:00 pm: Applying the Genealogical Proof Standard to Researching Enslaved Families, by Michael G. Hait.
Find out more and register at https://familytreewebinars.com/upcoming-webinars/
New Ontario Newspapers Online
The OurDigitalWorld Autumn 2024 Newsletter announces the addition of the following newspapers.
Stratford-Perth Archives Digital Newspapers
Recently launched for public and in-house access, the Stratford-Perth Archives has a new digitized newspaper database. Browse and keyword search over 8,000 issues from 17 different newspapers from the Stratford area and Perth County 1860-1946.
Penetanguishene Citizen from Sports Hall of Fame
Inspired by the sports coverage in the local newspaper, the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame has digitized the Penetaguishene Citizen 1975-1988 to showcase the stories of resilience and triumph from the sports legends whose passion shape the town’s history.
Oshawa Times
Oshawa Public library is helping grow the body of newspapers by recently including the 1958-1961 Oshawa Times. It’s included in the Durham Region Newspapers.
Terrace Bay Schreiber News
Scanning in-house, the Terrace Bay Public Library is expanding their online collection of the Terrace Bay Schreiber News, recently adding new issues from 1983-1992. The weekly paper from the northwestern region of Ontario adds fresh coverage and new resources for thematic and family history research in the area. These titles are also included in the Gateway to Northwestern Ontario.
An unusual holding in this collection is Geological Survey of Canada Annual Reports from the 1880s to 1930s.
Russell Review (1975-1977) and Castor Review (1977-1982)
Through the Digital Prescott Russell site in collaboration with the Township of Russell Library.
https://images.ourontario.ca/Russell/search
The Haileyburian (1912-1957) & Cobalt Weekly News (1957-1961)
https://vitacollections.ca/hhmcollection/search
Provincial Freeman and Voice of the Fugitive
Not yet available, OurDigitalWorld is collaborating with Pennsylvania State University and University of Windsor to rescanned the original paper copies of two titles, the Provincial Freeman and Voice of the Fugitive, for inclusion in the Canadiana site.
Who Do You Think You Are magazine: November 2024
The November issue has three feature articles.
Get the Scoop
Chloe O’Shea explains how you can make the most of
online newspaper archives and uncover fascinating
details about your ancestors’ lives. In addition to mentioning the British Newspaper Archives, newspapers.com, thegazette.co.uk and the Times Digital Archive, there’s mention of “Overseas Newspapers” including canadiana.ca/collection-serials with more than 300 newspapers
Transcription Tuesday
Rosemary Collins reveals the two online projects that are the subject of this volunteer project on 5 November. They are Irish Catholic Parish Registers at FamilySearch and the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition from the National Library and Wales.
Danger in the Darkness
Felicity Day writes that although blackouts helped to protect the home front, they made life during the Second World War. “Crossing the road was more like Russian roulette.” “By January 1940, it was estimated that one in five people had suffered some sort of injury as a direct result of the blackout.”
Jonathan Scott’s Best Websites article is on researching followers of Methodism, while his Around Britain column is on the latest resources for East Sussex researchers.
Tech Tips
Nick Peers shows how to use upscayl.org, free software that can enlarge photos with the power of Al and intelligently fill in the gaps and keep photos looking their best even when blown up.
As usual, I only mention a selection of the content I read using the Ottawa Public Library PressReader subscription.
Ancestry adds Monmouth Military Records
New as of 7 October, 11,804 index records of information taken from various sources through the Monmouth Castle Museum and produced by the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers between 1852 and 1927.
Records in this collection may include the following information: Name, Birth year, county, and parish, Age, Occupation, Height, Enlistment date and place, Address at enlistment time, Rank, Regimental number, Reading and writing ability.
Original images are available on Fold3.com or ForcesWar Records.com (may require an additional subscription).