Anglo-Celtic Connections

Ancestry calls it their biggest update ever. There are 68 new and updated European regions. My results continue to be in remarkable alignment with my paper trail genealogy. 

It’s doing a nice job of separating my two sides, no overlap. The West Midlands ancestry (22%)  is from the paternal, and the East Midlands from the maternal side (14%).

My Celtic & Gaelic component is all on the paternal side, with Munster, Connacht, Donegal and the Isle of Man named. Only Munster has an uncertainty range which excludes zero percent.

The DNA shows my Jewish ancestry includes a substantial Ashkenazi component and a much smaller, non-zero contribution from Sephardic Jews in North Africa.

I continue to wonder if Ancestry uses the family tree I’ve posted to calibrate their DNA results?

Are there any surprises in your updated results?

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Things British Kids Did to SURVIVE Winters Before Central Heating

YouTube: Has seen a surge in adoption, making it a close second to Facebook for overall reach, and remains a top platform for news consumption.
Instagram: Has experienced one of the biggest increases in adoption and monthly engagement since 2022.
TikTok: Continues to grow, but its daily use has slowed, suggesting a move from explosive growth to a more consolidated user base.
X (Twitter): Is the only major platform showing a sustained decline in account ownership.
LinkedIn: Has seen a significant resurgence in adoption and active use after the pandemic.
Reddit: The community on Reddit has doubled since 2020, with the sharpest gains seen among the 45-54 age group, according to Librarianship.ca. 

A pro-democracy Venezuelan politician wins this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Is it a rebuke to Trump?

Cataloguing Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service records from the Second World War

¿Ascendencia española?
Starting October 14, MyHeritage is offerring a new series of live genealogy webinars entirely in Spanish, alongside 30 Spanish-language sessions available on demand.

How much do we love our pets?
According to a Globe and Mail article by Mariya Postelnyak, Consumer Affairs reporter, “costs of owning a dog in 2025 ranged from $1,418 to $4,480 a year, depending on the size and breed of the dog, adding up to as much as $17,343 to $53,935 over the course of a pet’s lifetime. During a cat’s lifetime, the range … is between $13,095 and $73,585.”

Thanks to the following individuals for their comments and tips: Anonymous, Daniel Horowitz, Dawn Kelly, Gail, Ken McKinlay, Nick Mcdonald, Teresa, and Unknown.

This week’s additions include monumental inscriptions for Czechia related to the Second World War, for Germany spanning 150 years, and an aid to help dive deeper into the 1921 Census.

For Czechia, 459 records for the Prague War Cemetery were taken from the Commonwealth War Graves and Monumental Inscriptions. Each includes a transcript and the option to view the original image. Expect to find: name, date of death, age at death, military rank, military regiment, and service number.

For Germany, there are 163 monumental inscriptions for burials in Berlin, dating back to as early as 1826. Some may be military, many are not.

The 1921 Census of England & Wales Maps of Registration Divisions Browse comprises 635 items from The National Archives RG 18 series. They trace the landscapes, the parishes, fields, and roads that shaped daily life. The divisions did not necessarily respect county boundaries.

There are no newspaper additions this week as The British Newspaper Archives works on digitizing Jackie, “the go-to magazine for teenage girls for four decades,” which is due for release on Tuesday. Isn’t that exciting!

These newly transcribed records, sourced from Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI,  offer researchers an opportunity to explore their Irish roots and uncover family connections in one of Ireland’s most historically significant counties.

Some prominent people associated with Canada with Waterford roots are John Palliser (The Pallisrer Triangle), the Kent dynasty (Newfoundland), Thomas Meagher, and Justin Trudeau (through his mother).

These records are now available to Diamond subscribers of TheGenealogist. For a limited time, you can subscribe to TheGenealogist for £119.95 – a discount of over £85 and qualify for a £50 lifetime discount. Claim the offer at: https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/MGBPRS1025

The next BIFHSGO meeting takes place on Saturday, 11 October 2025, with both in-person and online options. Attend at Knox Presbyterian Church (120 Lisgar St. at Elgin) or register online through the society website’s Events section.

9:00-10:00 am EDT: A Cautionary Tale Part II Barbara Tose continues her DNA discovery story. After learning her grandfather wasn’t who she believed, Barbara spent years mastering DNA genealogy basics and connecting with experienced researchers. Her breakthrough came when she searched the right database, leading to an unexpected solution and another surprising revelation.

10:00-11:30 am EDT: Navigating the New Library and Archives Canada Website Ken McKinlay guides us through LAC’s redesigned website. (The site has changed significantly in recent years, creating challenges for longtime users.) Ken will demonstrate the updated census search system and highlight other available resources to help you make the most of this essential research tool.

Think Outside the Box
Chloe O’Shea make seven stratagies to try. It’s easy to get blinkered in searching for missing relatives. Widen your search to name variants, the FAN club, and places rather than names.

The Inheritance of Trauma
Intergenerational trauma is the theory that the effects of a traumatic event can be passed down the generations. The interplay between biological predispositions, environmental factors, individual resilience  through genetics, or epigenetics, are all factors.

Asylum Records
Michael Higgins explores finding an ancestor in Victorian or Edwardian mental hospital records.

Best Websites
In the latest in a continuing series Jonathan Scott switches attention to records of cime and punishment.

Nelson’s navy
In Hero’s of Trafalger Felicity Day looks at the conditions endured by the forgotten sailors of the Battle of Trafalgar.

Also
Paul Blake looks at Protestation Records.
Jonathan Scott extends his Around Britain series to Cumbria and the digital developments with the country archive service’s new website.
More…

The remarkable story of William Henry Tapp told on YouTube. He arrived on the Empress of Britain on 19 July 1912, giving Ottawa as his intended destination.

UPDATE: That’s Diaries, not Dairies, whatever they are!

Choose from these selected free online events. All times are Eastern Time, unless otherwise noted. Registration may be required in advance—please check the links to avoid disappointment. For many more events, mainly in the U.S., visit conferencekeeper.org.

Saturday 11 October

9 am: A Cautionary Tale Part II: The Importance of Fishing in the Biggest Pond, by Barbara Tose
and
Navigating the New Library and Archives Canada Website, by Ken McKinlay
www.bifhsgo.ca

MyHeritage continues to update its family trees and add to the index entries to Old News. They are, with the number of newspaper records, for Spain (16,877,378), the US (97,700,104), the UK (12,692,543), France (2,623,162), Poland (7,112,029), Germany (20,930,073), Australia (1,502,081), and Ireland (233,906).
Also for Ireland, there are Catholic Parish Marriages, 1742-1912 (3,300,194), and Catholic Parish Deaths and Burials, 1795-1881 (235,063).

The FreeBMD database was updated on 23 September to contain 294,106,424 unique records. Yers with more than 10,000 additions or changes are: for births 1993-96, for marriages 1994-96, for deaths 1996-97.

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Patricia Routledge RIP
Theatres across the West End and throughout the UK will dim their lights on October 7th in memory of Dame Patricia Routledge, who has sadly died aged 96.

AI Family History Show: Episode 34
Another good episode. Contents include 2025 Mid-Year AI Review, FamilySearch Full-Text Goes Live, Nano Banana Photo Restoration Tips, AI’s Environmental Impact.

European Death Zones Map
In most of the continent, more people are now dying than are being born.

Canada’s most popular baby names in 2024

Thanks to the following for comments and tips: Ann, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Gail, Linda Shufflebean, Nick Mcdonald, Sylvia Smith, Teresa, and Unknown.

 

Here’s what I saw recently while browsing the True Crime section at Waterstones in Basingstoke, England.

There, displayed face out, was The Bermondsey Murders, a book by Dr Angela Buckley. I’d offered to introduce her at BIFHSGO’s online conference, so naturally I had to purchase. I’m glad I did, as it took me only about a day to finish it – every chapter. That’s unusual; with most books, I rarely read beyond the first two chapters. That’s why I love the public library.

Angela will be presenting Family Felons: Uncovering the Criminal Past. Crime, even murder, touched the lives of ordinary people who struggled to survive in a harsh and challenging landscape, whether as victims, witnesses, perhaps in the huge crowd at a hanging, or even wrongdoers. Using a mix of case studies, archival sources, and practical research advice, she will examine the lives and social conditions of our criminal ancestors, the range of offences they may have committed, and how the criminal justice system evolved over time.

Her talk is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, just before the Expert Connect session, followed by popular author Nathan Dylan Goodwin’s presentation on Finding Henry.

You won’t want to miss those. Check out the other presentations on Saturday, 18 October, particularly Peter Higginbotham on The History of the Workhouse, and Sunday morning at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/program-and-schedule where you’ll find a link to register.

Before everything else, let me mention that the weather cooperated throughout the two weeks I was in England. On a couple of days, there were brief periods of very light rain, more like drizzle. I was lucky; there was plenty of water flowing downstream for these folks working up a sweat at Henley-on-Thames.

My first research stop was a day-trip to London’s Hackney Archives. Most people think of the London Archives (formerly the LMA) when researching London ancestors. There are genealogical treasures to be found at London’s borough archives, too.

To get there, I travelled from Waterloo Station via the Jubilee Line, changing at Canada Water to the Windrush Overground. Then it was eight stops with familiar East End names to Dalston Junction station, which is steps from the combined library and archives building.  After I completed the brief formalities and paid (no cash accepted) for unlimited use of my cellphone camera, I was set up at a table where my preordered material, copies of The Review, the unofficial magazine of Hackney Downs School, was waiting for me. The facility was well used, with a continual buzz of activity. It took only a couple of hours to complete my research, enough time for a late sandwich lunch in a nearby park and to walk over to a cemetery where two ancestors are buried.

Birmingham Library and Archives was an overnight trip, although it turned out  I could have completed the research in a day. New Street Station and my hotel were within comfortable walking distance of the archives. It’s in a new facility since the last time I was there, when you had to climb a dizzying spiral staircase to get to some of the holdings. Once again, my pre-ordered materials, including annual reports and meeting minutes for Saltley (Teacher Training) College, were waiting for me at a table with a comfortable chair and plenty of indirect natural light. I found I needed material from earlier than I’d ordered. Staff were able to retrieve those within 10 minutes – not the days it can take at Library and Archives Canada.

My final research stop was Great Yarmouth Library, which had relocated to a former department store since my last visit. Once again, although I’d not ordered in advance, they were able to retrieve the street directories I wanted within 10 minutes. With the directory information, I was able to pinpoint precisely where I was on 4 December 1950.

Overall, I was happy with the archival research facilities. The only negative aspect was the payment required for using your camera at both Hackney and Birmingham. For one day, it was acceptable, but it would be different if your research were ongoing. I did find everything expensive, but my frame of reference for what things should cost in the UK is a bit dated!