The FreeBMD Database was updated on Thursday 8 April 2021 to contain 279,663,246 unique records (279,220,849 at the previous update.) Years with major additions, greater than 5,000 records are: for births 1986-90; for marriages 1969, 1986-89; for deaths 1986, 1988-90.
The database now contains 117,156,058 unique births, 85,770,686 marriages and 76,736,502 deaths.
The decline in the number of births per marriage event is evident from four up to the late 19th century to around two after 1930.
Saturday, 10 April 2021
How to Tell a Compelling Family History Story (Education Talk, 9 a.m.)
Ruth Stewart Verger grew up in a storytelling family and weaves tales from family histories and from much time spent in archives and university libraries researching Canadian historical figures. A resident of Ottawa, Ruth is a member of Storytellers of Canada.
The War Brides 75 Years: 1946–2021 (Feature Talk, 10.30 a.m.)
Melynda Jarratt marks the 75th anniversary of “Operation Daddy” – the organized transport to Canada of nearly 45,000 war brides and their children following the end of the Second World War.
For more information, see Meetings & Activities. April 10
Index records that just appeared on Ancestry.
Glamorganshire, Wales, Glamorgan County Asylum Records, 1845-1920, 26,387 records
Original data: Cardiff, Wales: Glamorgan Archives: Archifau Morgannwg. Glamorgan Asylum Indexes to case notes pre-1920 Glamorgan Asylum Register of Burials 1866-1958 Vernon House Asylum Admission and Discharge Registers 1845-1897.
Cardiff, Wales, Index to Police Constabulary Registers, 1904-1920, 6,327 records
Original data: Cardiff Borough Police Force Fingerprint and Photographic Registers. Cardiff, Wales: Glamorgan Archives.
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 6 April, 2 pm: Virtual Genealogy Drop-In, from Ottawa Branch of OGS and The Ottawa Public Library. https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/.
Tuesday 6 April, 2:30 pm: French-Canadian Migrations Out of Quebec: Francophones in North America, by Judy Muhn for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Centre. https://acpl.libnet.info/event/5007720
Tuesday 6 April, 7:30 pm: Portable Genealogy – You Can Take It With You…, by Bob Dawes for Durham Region Branch OGS. https://durhambranch.ogs.on.ca/events/portable-genealogy-you-can-take-it-with-you/
Wednesday 7 April, 11 am: Beyond Family Announcements in Newspapers, by Mary McKee for Findmypast. www.facebook.com/findmypast.
Thursday & Friday 8-9 April: MyHeritage 24 hour genealogy webinar marathon. The stars come out!
https://familytreewebinars.com/intermediate_page.php?diply_nm=24
Saturday 10 April: Family History Federation Really Useful Family History Show ($). https://www.fhf-reallyuseful.com/
Saturday 10 April 9 am: How to Tell a Compelling Family History Story, by Ruth Stewart Verger for BIFHSGO. https://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127#er564
Saturday 10 April 10:30 am: The War Brides 75 Years: 1946–2021, by Melynda Jarratt for BIFHSGO. https://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127#er564
LOOKING AHEAD
4 — 6 June 2021: OGS Conference. conference.ogs.on.ca (registration opens 1 April)
19 – 26 September 2021: BIFHSGO Conference. Irish Lines and Female Finds: Exploring Irish records, female ancestors and genetic genealogy. www.bifhsgo2021.ca/.
As of the start of the month LAC had posted 20 items in the news section in the left-hand column of its home page this year. They can be roughly categorized into four groups: Operations, Policy, Acquisitions and Outputs. Here’s the list ordered by group then date.
| Date | Topic | Group |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Jan-2021 | Rare book from 1943 acquired by Library and Archives Canada—was one of first sources to sound global alarm about Holocaust in progress | Acq |
| 15-Mar-2021 | Library and Archives Canada Foundation funds purchase of unique centuries-old Canadian legal heritage documents | Acq |
| 5-Jan-2021 | Exhibition: Hiding in Plain Sight: Discovering the Métis Nation in the Archival Records of Library and Archives Canada | Ops |
| 8-Jan-2021 | Temporary suspension of digital copy services | Ops |
| 8-Feb-2021 | Ottawa Public Library-Library and Archives Canada joint facility: A landmark cultural infrastructure project pointing the way to a greener future | Ops |
| 11-Feb-2021 | Interruption of computing services on Saturday, February 13, 2021 | Ops |
| 16-Feb-2021 | February 22 – Resumption of copy services and on-site consultations in Ottawa | Ops |
| 16-Feb-2021 | Reopening – Winnipeg public service point now open by reservation | Ops |
| 26-Feb-2021 | OPL-LAC joint facility: Inviting Indigenous artists! | Ops |
| 2-Mar-2021 | Technical difficulties (update): Collection Search | Ops |
| 10-Mar-2021 | Reopening: Limited access to microform collection in Ottawa | Ops |
| 10-Mar-2021 | Interruption of computing services on March 13, 2021 | Ops |
| 1-Apr-2021 | LAC Ottawa: Public service point closed and temporary suspension of copy services | Ops |
| 9-Feb-2021 | Launch of third edition of Lingua Franca e-book | Out |
| 22-Feb-2021 | A new Google map to search for Indigenous-related collection items | Out |
| 2-Feb-2021 | LAC’s Vision 2030: We want your input | Pol |
| 3-Mar-2021 | Taking steps toward reconciliation at Library and Archives Canada | Pol |
| 9-Mar-2021 | The Francophone Name Authority Program: Progress for the Francophone Library Sector | Pol |
| 19-Mar-2021 | Policy on Maintaining the Canadian National Union Catalogue | Pol |
| 1-Apr-2021 | Update on Theses Canada for universities and students | Pol |
Margaret Atwood, poet, novelist, literary critic and essayistRoch Carrier, novelist and authorCharlotte Gray, historian, author and biographerSerge Joyal, former senator, art collector and philanthropistTerry O’Reilly, broadcast producer and radio personality.
You’ve likely tried the image enhancements tools MyHeritage has made available to subscribers, and on a trial basis to others.
The latest animate a still photo. Some love it. Some find it “spooky.” For those who love it five additional animations have been added. See those in action at https://youtu.be/WJ7Jn1Zp58o
Surveys over the years show that genealogists are the largest client group for Library and Archives Canada. Many I connect with are not happy with the service provided. What could be done better? Here are three things.
1. Improve on slow response or lack of response. That applies to the website and response to requests for documents.
Website response can be extraordinarily slow. It’s frustrating when you’re up against a deadline for preparing a presentation, demonstrating a search live during a presentation or helping someone. Slow response isn’t the case all the time but more so at the LAC site than at others.
For Access to Information requests, which cost $5 by law “a response is required within 30 calendar days of the date the request was received.” These days we just receive a notice that they’re backlogged. Then you wait weeks. Requests through the regular request for documents can take a year and more. What action is LAC management taking to meet legal obligations and provide timely responses to ordinary requests?
The last time I did receive a response it came on a CD, a format that is no longer supported by newer computers.
2. Improve access to online materials. LAC did a great job in digitizing a range of materials, notably Great War service files, something management has been dining out on for years. The pace is now much slower as much less effort is being applied to digitization.
I read in Chris Paton’s blog that the National Library of Scotland has a new agreement to extend access to licensed digital collections for everyone in Scotland. The library edition of FindmyPast is newly available giving access to many of the site’s UK holdings, as well as its digitized newspapers, at no cost for residents of Scotland. The NLS has existing licensed digital collections – access to the 19th-century newspaper collection, The Times, The Scotsman Digital Archive 1817-1950, JSTOR, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, SCRAN, Who’s Who & Who Was Who, the UK Parliamentary Papers site, and much more.
When will LAC offer a similar Canadian-focussed service? It would be a way to compensate for the lack of newspaper digitization at LAC. For instance, with its existing relationship with Ancestry why not negotiate national online access to the Canadian newspapers at newspapers.com which is an Ancestry service?
3. Provide access as a FamilySearch affiliate library. Those of us able to use the facilities at 395 Wellington wonder why it is not an affiliate library already which would give broader FamilySearch access. Again there is an existing relationship and many libraries, including all branches of the Toronto Public Library, have such a relationship for visitors to branches. As a national institution that should be possible notwithstanding any passé local objections.
Are there other things Library and Archives Canada could do, particularly things peer organizations already do, to better serve its largest client group?
Now online for free, an authoritative reference work of nearly 11,000 lives for scholars of Irish history, society and culture.
Although it’s unlikely you’ll find your relative there will almost certainly be somebody from a place of interest to be found using the full-text advanced search.
Check out locations in your family history. Bunclody where I stayed for a vacation has seven mentions, Kilkeel where I may have ancestry has 13. Look further afield too. There are 44 entries mentioning Ottawa.
News from ScotlandsPeople on long-awaited kirk session records.
Around 6,000 unindexed volumes have just been released. Others are promised. They’re free to view, cost 2 credits to download.
Thousands of volumes of historical records from the collections of National Records of Scotland (NRS) are now available online for the first time.
Images of more than a million pages from the kirk session and other court records of the Church of Scotland can now be viewed and downloaded on ScotlandsPeople. These records contain details of key events in communities across the country between 1559 and 1900 and are one of the most important sources for Scottish historical research.
The kirk session – the local court of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland – comprised the minister, the elders and a session clerk. The records they created offer remarkable insights into the everyday lives of ordinary Scots, capturing important moments such as births, marriages and deaths. The church court also adjudicated on the paternity of children, awarded relief to the poor and needy and provided basic education, as well as disciplining parishioners for what could be called anti-social behaviour – drunkenness, cursing and breaking the Sabbath. The most commonly known punishment was public repentance or penance.
The newly added records document how people dealt with exceptional historical events such as wars, epidemics, crop failures and extreme weather.
They are not simple to use. The best way in is via the Virtual Volumes portal at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes. Read the full announcement at https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-article-virtual-volumes-records-released and take advantage of the other extensive information on these records on the site.
