Anglo-Celtic Connections

Tune in on Saturday 22 May for the Scottish Indexes Conference. Find registration instructions for Facebook and Zoom at the link.
The schedule, calibrated to the Eastern Time Zone, is at https://www.scottishindexes.com/2021prog10EDT.pdf  There’s a wee hours option for night owls with the program repeated starting at 10 am for the rest of us.

The eight presentations, plus a Q/A Session include “Genealogy Without Borders” by Chris Paton and “Scots in Canada” by BC genealogist Diane Rogers.

Registration is free with an option for donations to help offset costs.

Here’s a report on progress with Library and Archives Canada’s Co-Lab Challenges since last month. Two challenges report progress.

John Freemont Smith is 89% complete, 72% last month.

War Diaries of the First World War: No. 2 Construction Battalion is 100% complete, 79% last month.

Canadian National Land Settlement Association remains 94% complete.

Molly Lamb Bobak remains 88% complete.

Diary of François-Hyacinthe Séguin remains 98% complete.

George Mully: moments in Indigenous communities remains 2% complete.

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

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 remains 96% complete.

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

Japanese-Canadians: Second World War, remains 61% complete.

The Call to Duty: Canada’s Nursing Sisters remains 93% complete.

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

Extracted from New Free Historical Records on FamilySearch: Week of 17 May 2021,  here are the updates and total indexed records for England.

There were no new indexed records for elsewhere in the UK or Canada.

A major addition was Australia, Victoria, Wills, Probate and Administration Files, 1841-1926 with 3,998,555 digital images available, just 2,167 of them indexed.

From Moorshead Magazines, new and updated from two previous publications, a special on Google resources.

Google keeps adding and deleting capabilities to its suite of products. You may feel like you’re running just to keep up.  Perhaps like me, you only use a fraction of the capabilities. Could you benefit from finding out what’s new or what you overlooked?

In  17 articles, about 55 pages, author Lisa Alzo coaches on the latest products and updates.

Here’s the table of contents with my comments.

PhotoScan …… Google solution for scanning family photographs. Comment — one that was new to me. 
Google Photos and Images ………. Google’s free photographic tools for working with images. Comment — more than organizing and view, useful basic editing although no rival to Photoshop or the free Photopea. 
What’s New in Google ……..Important changes to Google products.
Google Gurus……….Three power users share their thoughts on using Google for genealogy research.
More Google Tools …………. We look at some popular and some lesser-known products for your research toolkit.
Google Drive ………….Google Drive—your one-stop virtual space for your genealogy research.  Comment — if you make heavy use of Google you may well find yourself bumping against the 15MB free space available. For $28 Cdn annual subscription you can expand that to 100MB , but try using the hints on managing storage first which could save the cost of this publication in a few months.

A couple of hints about changes since the articles were written.

1. If an account is inactive for 2 years (24 months) in Gmail, Drive or Photos — perhaps it’s an account of a deceased person that has information you would like to keep — be aware that Google may delete the content in the inactive product(s).
2. As of 1 June, pictures you upload to Google Photos will count against your storage. Upload them before 1 June and they’ll be stored for free remaining accessible on Google’s servers (until Google changes its policy!)

Continuing the review.

Google Sheets ……….Keep track of genealogy research tasks. Comment — I use Google Sheets almost daily.
Google Docs ………We show you how to document your family history with Google Docs.  Comment — another product I use several times a week although mostly not to document family history.
Google Slides. ……How to create an online family history photo album.
Google Forms ………..Fun ways to use Google Forms for family history.
Google Chrome Extensions …….Fun and practical Google Chrome “helpers” to use for genealogy.
Google Calendar …………..Three ways to track your genealogy activities with Google’s popular scheduling tool.
Google Books …………Tips for using Google Books for genealogy.
Google Maps/Earth ………… Four ways to use Google Earth and Maps for genealogy.
Google Jamboard ………..Jamboard is a tool for brainstorming research problems and more.
New Improved Google Translate ……How to up your translation game with Google.
Google Cheat Sheet ….Create a Google cheat sheet to fast-track you to your favourite Google services. Comment — a two-page listing reminding of all the capabilities we’re overlooking!

Did you notice anything missing? Surprisingly, while Gmail mentioned there no coverage of recent additions like the ability to scheduled posts.

Genealogy Research Using Google – is $8.50 for PDF & $9.95 for Print Edition.

This post is based on a review copy provided by Moorshead Magazines.

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

Tuesday 18 May, 2 pm:  Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.

Tuesday 18 May, 2:30 pm: Are There “Black Sheep” in Your Family? by Cynthia Theusch for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5086521

Tuesday 18 May, 8 pm: The Paternal Ten: Searching for Missing Heirs, by Claire Ammon for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1589

Wednesday 19 May, 10 am:  Maps for Family and Local History. from the National Library of Scotland. https://maps.nls.uk/communities/local-history/

Wednesday 19 May, 2 pm: Notion for Genealogists, by Lisa Alzo for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.  https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1628

Thursday 6:30 pm: Researching Your Civil War Ancestors, by Amy Johnson Crow for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5097842

Friday 21 May 2 pm: Researching Canadian Nurses, Pilots and Sailors in the First World War, by Kathryn Lake Hogan for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1665

Saturday 22 May 1 pm: Building on Success: A Review of Recent Projects at the Arnprior & McNab/Braeside Archives, by Irene Robillard for Ottawa Branch OGS. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/arnprior-mcnab-braeside-archives-update-ottawa-branch/

Saturday 22 May, Scottish Indexes Conference. www.scottishindexes.com/

Saturday 22 May. Free UK Genealogy 2021 Conference. http://familytr.ee/geneconf

LOOKING AHEAD

4 — 6 June 2021: OGS Conference. conference.ogs.on.ca 

19 – 26 September 2021: BIFHSGO Conference. Irish Lines and Female Finds: Exploring Irish records, female ancestors and genetic genealogy. www.bifhsgo2021.ca/.

Just slightly late in covering a recent release byTheGenealogist of fully searchable RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs) on the anniversary of the famous No 617 Squadron Dambusters raid on the Ruhr Valley dams on 16-17 May 1943. 

According to the press release from TheGenealogist,  the latest release of 1,550,018 records brings the total to 6,748,021 of these new diary-like RAF documents,  They are uniquely fully searchable by:-
● Forename and Surname
● Squadron
● Date Range
Using keywords users can also search for Service Number, Rank, and Duty, Aircraft type and location where the fields appear in the record. This makes it possible to easily find Royal Air Force personnel and discover more about their wartime activities on the base and in the air. giving an insight into their lives

Highlights of the June issue available free online through many Canadian public libraries.
Baby Boomers: now it’s up to us
Keith Gregson issues a rallying cry: it’s time to tell your stories and add to your chapter to the Family History annals

Rationed Fashion
Dress historian Jayne Shrimpton looks at clothes rationing introduced in Britain 80 years ago this June and its impacts. An annual ration of 66 coupons per year, reduced in later years, didn’t go far. See the allocation here. 

Ships Doctors and Their Patients
From surgery on the high seas, to births and simple old seasickness, Simon Wills looks at maritime maladies and the role of the ship’s doctor, both military and merchant, in treating them. 

Shipwrecked in WW1
5,000 vessels were sunk by U-boats alone. In a two-page article Simon Wills details how to research the ships sunk and, sometimes, the crew.

He served with the Canadian Army and died on 3 November 1945. His headstone at Beechwood Cemetery is in the military section but not a CWGC stone. The date of death is within the range where Second World War servicemen were entitled to a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone and to be included in the CWGC database. 

No CWGC headstone! Is this an oversight?

The results are in.  After an ad was inserted in the BIFHSGO monthly meeting presentation earlier this month I asked about the acceptability.
Nearly half the votes recorded found it acceptable.  Surprising to me was that another two in ten would accept a broader range of ads.
I’m told the ad was successful in recruiting a couple of volunteers for BIFHSGO. Information is there is no intention of continuing ads on a regular basis.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Short and Cute Poems

Colonel Blood and the Theft of the Crown Jewels

Findmypast says “timelines will be met” on England and Wales 1921 census despite covid impact

Ottawa Public Library Annual Report
Despite a reduction in revenue from the city of $4million, a saving owing to the pandemic, mainly salary and benefits, meant there was a considerable surplus for the year. $5million of the surplus was allocated in 2021 to help fund the new LAC-OPL building. Read the report and believe nobody ever had anything negative to say about OPL services!

Poland, Gravestones, 1800-2020. MyHeritage made available for free over 4 million cemetery records from gravestones throughout Poland. Records may include the full name of the deceased, date of birth, date of death, place of burial, and more.

The wealth of unattached men and women aged 50 and older.
From 1999 to 2016, unattached women aged 50 and older saw their median wealth holdings grow almost twice as fast as those of unattached men aged 50 and older. The median wealth of couples with no children headed by a man aged 50 or older amounted to $801,500 in 2016, four times the median wealth of $195,000 observed for unattached men aged 50 and older.

The Streets of London
Let’s count our blessings.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Barbara, Celia Lewis, Judith H, Roberta, Ken Hanson, Unknown.