Anglo-Celtic Connections

Choose from free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Those in red are Canadian, bolded if local to Ottawa or recommended

Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed.

Tuesday 1 Mar. 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library.
https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/

Tuesday 1 Mar. 2:30 pm: Fireside Chat: Researching Your Female Ancestors by Librarians of the Allen Country Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6235152

Tuesday 1 Mar. 8 pm: Exploring the new 1921 UK Census, by Paul Milner for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/exploring-the-new-1921-uk-census/

Wednesday 2 Mar. 2 pm: Using WikiTree’s DNA Features in Your Family History Research by Mags Gaulden for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/using-wikitrees-dna-features-in-your-family-history-research/

Wednesday 2 Mar. 7:30 pm: Early Military History in Canada and Huron Involvement, by Glenn Wright for Huron Branch OGS.
https://huron.ogs.on.ca/events/huron-branch-early-military-history-in-canada-and-huron-involvement-glenn-wright/

Thursday 3 Mar. 8 am: Life in a Revolutionary Decade in Britain (1649-1660), by Anna Keay for Gresham College.
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/revolutionary-decade

Thursday 3 Mar. 6:30 pm: Working with Autosomal DNA Matches for Beginners, by Sara Allen for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/6235155

Thursday 3 Mar. 7 pm: An Irish War Widow in Upper Canada, by Janice Nickerson for the Ontario Genealogical Society.
https://ogs.on.ca/zoom-meetings/janice-nickerson-an-irish-war-widow-in-upper-canada/

Saturday 5 Mar. 10 am: Brick Street Cemetery (1816-2022): Rediscovering the Past using Traditional and Modern Techniques, by David Long for London -Middlesex Branch OGS.
https://londonmiddlesex.ogs.on.ca/events/london-middlesex-branch-friends-of-brick-street-cemetery/

Saturday 5 Mar. 2 pm: The History of Collingwood, by Carole Stuart for Simcoe Branch OGS.
https://simcoe.ogs.on.ca/events/simcoe-county-branch-the-history-of-collingwood-by-carole-stuart/

Today, Tuesday 1 March 2022 is Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday. For kids it was, and could still be, more important than Valentine’s Day which could occur before or after depending on the date of Easter.

History Extra has an article The history of Shrove Tuesday: why do we eat pancakes?  It includes a recipe for Swedish Semla buns— no mention of the calorie content!

1 March is also St David’s Day. Those with Welsh ancestry may want to add a side of Leeks.

In a notice posted on Monday LAC announced that as of 1 March research, by reservation only, will restart. Use the online booking system to schedule your next visit.

“When consulting our website, you will notice that our Ottawa service offerings have been enhanced. They now include greater access to the Special Collections Room (third floor) and the Reference Room (second floor). This is part of our previously announced plan to gradually increase our service offerings.

You can contact us by using our Ask Us a Question or Ask Us a Genealogy Question forms, or by calling 1-866-578-7777 (option 8; toll-free in Canada and the United States).

Note that the temporary closure of our services to the public in Ottawa as of Friday, January 28, was the result of circumstances beyond our control.”

LAC has already been allowing people with reservations cancelled owing to the occupation (euphemistically “circumstances beyond our control”) to rebook.

One million plus! An amazing month for the British Newspaper Archive, now with a total of 48,548,902 pages online (47,533,433 last month).

This month 186 papers had pages added (136 in the previous month). There were 75 (17) new titles. Dates range from 1808 to 1999.

The project continues to process more recent newspaper editions. Of the 72 single-year additions 48 were for 1960 and later as were 39 of the multi-year additions. Content predating 1900 was added for 71 newspapers.

The 32 journals with more than 10,000 pages added are:

TODAY: 28 February 2022
Who am I? Where did I come from?
Susan Moyer

Susan shares the very personal story of her journey to find and put together the missing pieces of her own family history puzzle. It all began when she learned as a teenager that she was adopted, with only the date and place of her birth to go on.

Find out more and register in advance here.

The free Zoom presentation starts at 7:30 pm.

Also, John Webb, a longtime Toronto resident with London, Cornwall and Yorkshire roots will give a mini-presentation on the Toronto Cornish Association, Then and Now.  John recently gave a fascinating presentation to the BIFHSGO London SIG.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Young Genealogists at the Helm
News and opinion from FHF President Janet Few

The US 1940 1950 census
NARA will release this census online on 1 April (no kidding). While Ancestry and FamilySearch are cooperating in producing a full transcription, based on handwriting recognition technology (HRT), NARA will release a transcription of only the names using HRT.

LAC must have had a great travel agent!
A report of Government travel expenses

Weir, Leslie $749.36
Librarian and Archivist of Canada March 27, 2020
Destination: Egypt
Organization: Library and Archives Canada
Reference number:T2019-P12-0029

Weir, Leslie $984.67
Librarian and Archivist of Canada From Apr 30, 2020 to May 16, 2020
Destination: Australia
Organization: Library and Archives Canada
Reference number:T2019-P12-0030

In 2021 LAC has had “Nothing to report for this period.”

AncestryDNA has updated communities to now include 87 in Italy, 9 in Croatia and Slovenia, 10 in Czechia, 61 in Poland, 15 in Slovakia & Hungary, 8 in Ukraine, 1 in Latvia & Estonia, 4 in Lithuania, 4 Russian communities, and 1 in the Transdanubia region.

Thanks to this week’s contributors. Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Georgia Roberts, jon ackroyd, Lynne Willoughby, Margaret Anne Sterling, Nancy Frey, Sheila Hewett, Teresa, Terry Mulcahy, Unknown.

Unprovoked actions by Russian forces are a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.  We react emotionally to such aggression, as we would if our territory were violated.

In this fluid situation, with much information and misinformation circulating — the fog of war — it’s not easy to know the true situation.

The Red Cross Canada has a Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal and the Government of Canada will match all eligible tax deductable donations—not exceeding $100,000—made by individual Canadians  between February 24, 2022 and March 18, 2022, up to a maximum of $10 million.

On to genealogy.

I was pulled up short by Saturday morning’s OGS eWeekly stating that “Canada is home to the third-largest Ukrainian population in the world, largely responsible for early settlement of our Prairie provinces.”

I knew many Ukrainians settled on the Prairies. Were they”largely responsible for early settlement”?

A little Googling found an article Explainer: Why the Ukrainian diaspora settled in the Canadian Prairies in Pique news magazine out of Whistler, BC. It includes the “facts”

• In 2016, there were 1.36 million people in Canada that said they had Ukrainian ancestry (verified at StatsCan), about four percent of the population.
• Of those, almost 700,000 live in the three Prairie provinces (verified at StatsCan), where they make up around 11 percent of the population. (More than half are in Alberta)
• According to official sources, the first Ukrainian settlers to come to Canada were Ivan Pylypiw and Wasyl Eleniak in 1891.

That first Ukranian arrival was in the fall of 1891. The 1891 census showed a population of 67,000 in The Territories (the Prairies);48,000 Canadian-born; 12,000 UK and Ireland-born.

The Explainer states 150,000 immigrants came from the area of present-day Ukraine pre WW1. Data from the 1921 census show the majority came in the early 20th century just before the Great War.

So it’s stretching the truth a bit to claim Ukrainians were responsible for early settlement of our Prairie provinces.

Another 70,000 arrived post WW1; 34,000 between 1947 and 1954; 40,015 from 2001 to 2016.  Those stats give a total Ukranian immigration to Canada of nearly 300,000.

The 1,36 million in 2016 is probably an underestimate. People who only have one quarter or one-eighth Ukranian ancestry. particularly those living away from Ukrainian settlement areas, may well not report it as an ethnicity.

Time to check Ancestry for elusive Essex ancestors

Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1921,
4,072,316 records.

Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1937,
2,003,102 records.

Essex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1996,
730,465 records.

Findmypast also has a substantial Essex BMD collection.

100% Virtual, 100% Free.
3–5 March 2022.
more than 1,500 sessions on 185 topics in over 30 languages.

A huge event makes it easy to get lost. What is there of interest to your family history?

There are nine keynote presentations and 20 speakers who will present live. The diversity is evident in that I only recognize two of those names. Those presentations go on almost around the clock reflecting the needs of a global audience.

Most presentations are recorded and they’re not the conventional 50 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions. Instead, 20 minutes is more typical, some less.

The presenters I recognize from the UK and Ireland include Dave Annal, Else Churchill, Myko Clelland, Gerald Corcoran, Jackie Depelle, Brian Donovan, Beryl Evans, Janet Few, Stephen Gill, Caroline Gurney, Gillian Hunt, Debbie Kennett, Michelle Leonard, Paul Nixon, Aoife O Connor, Alison Spring, and Penny Walters. I checked a few and they were already available to play. Go to www.familysearch.org/rootstech/home, click on the menu at the top right, select speakers and scroll or search for the speaker of interest.

There’s more than presentations. Details will come on the website. Expect announcements from the major sponsors so you’ll need to attend live to catch the latest, and perhaps find out about specials.

This week FMP adds 96,820 memorial inscriptions from 255 places to the burgeoning Norfolk coverage. Dates range from 1680 to 2012.

I didn’t have any luck finding the unusually named February Backlog, or any of the Backlog family, as their parish of Shipdham is not included. For perspective, 98,820 entries are less than the total number of deaths in Norfolk in the 1850s.

The National Burial Index on FMP, with 143,845 entries for Norfolk, includes 17 for Backlog, most in Shipdham.

Ancestry’s collection Global, Gravestone Photograph Index, 1265-2014 has one entry for a Backlog in Norfolk. Ancestry also has England, Norfolk Monumental Inscriptions, 1600-1900’s with 31 pages of unindexed MI transcripts with no Backlogs recorded.

FamilySearch and TheGenealogist have no MIs for Shipdham.

This week also sees US Census 1860, Slave Schedule Browse added to FMP, and an incredible 89 new and updated newspapers.

On Saturday at 1 pm ET Penny Allen will talk about researching in The National Archives, the London Metropolitan Archives, The Society of Genealogists, and some lesser-known London archives.

It’s a Zoom presentation organized by Ottawa Branch OGS.

Penny, a Canadian and a genealogist, has been researching off and on for more than 30 years, with kids, family, uni and work taking up time in between. She currently lives and works in the UK. Find out more at her blog UK to Canada Genealogy.

Register in advance for this meeting at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcof-2opzovHNDjuYkJRu0L3k_Wh5GgDgTS

Tuesday afternoon is prime time for online genealogy events. There were three conflicts this week, not counting AncestryHour.

I choose a presentation by Curt Witcher from the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center on finding articles for a geographic area on the Periodical Source Index. The presentation should come to the ACPL Genealogy Center YouTube channel soon. In the meantime, the handout is available at https://acpl.libnet.info/frontend-images/pdfs/acpl/Genealogy/PERSI_Finding_Articles_Geographic_Area_2022.pdf