TheGenealogist has announced the release of the complete 1910 Lloyd George Domesday survey records for Kent. It covers over 1,400 square miles and documents nearly half a million individuals and organizations.
This release brings the total coverage of the Lloyd Geoge Domesday to 8,600 Square miles and over 3.7 Million individuals and organizations covering London, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Surrey, and Wiltshire.
On 4 December, I mentioned using the FamilySearch Experimental Full-Text Search to find a record of my two-time great-grandfather, William Henry Northwood. He took out US citizenship on 8 June 1887 in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Shortly afterwards, I found more about him thanks to a collection of names and stories on MyHeritage. AI extracted it from OldNews.com newspaper pages found in the Fort Griffin (Texas) Echo of 1 November 1879.
Now available, based on newspapers, are:
658 million records from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi,
998 million records from Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Nebraska,
1 billion records for Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania,
651 million records from North Carolina, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia.
More is coming. Expected to be published this month are 16 similar collections “covering the entire United States and several additional countries.”
It’s a good bet that Canadian newspapers will be included. MyHeritage already has a Canada Newspapers, 1752-2007 collection, originating from Google’s abandoned newspaper digitization initiative. That goes back to Ottawa-based Paper of Record. Stay tuned.
According to Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage “This AI is designed to extract not just names from the newspaper articles but also the relatives of every person mentioned, as well as additional fields such as occupations, residences, travel from one location to another, and more.”
Find out more in this MyHeritage blog post.
Southwark Rate Books
These 12,83,820 new Southwark rate book records list the names of occupiers and owners, value, and whether the property was rented or owned.
Southwark Poor Law Records
The collection includes examination books, removal orders, poor relief payments, and more — 82,455 Southwark records covering the 1630s to the 1860s. Images of the original record are available together with transcript information. Find a combination of: Name, Event date, Age, Birth year, Occupation, Marital Status, Residence, Parish remove to, Father’s name, Spouse’s name, Children’s name, Master’s name. With advancing technology, is Findmypast looking at how searchable transcriptions of the full text can be made available.
Greater London Marriage Index
25,980 marriage records have been added from Westminster, Bromley-by-Bow, and the East End to the existing collection. There are now 487,476 marriages in the collection from 123 places. Dates range from 1502 to 1871. Anglican, Non-conformists, and Quaker marriages are included.
The three feature articles for this special Christmas issue are:
No Laughing Matter: The Battle of Arnhem
The comedian, podcaster and historian Al Murray discusses his new book Arnhem: BlackTuesday: The Classic Battle Told As Never Before. The material was covered in a podcast and on YouTube at We Have Ways of Making You Talk.
Census Websites
Sarah Williams searches Ancestry, Findmypast and
TheGenealogist to find out which is best for the census. One edges out the other two.
A Childhood Christmas
Caroline Roope explores the origins of the much-loved Christmas traditions, from nativity plays, pantomimes, hanging up stockings, and much more.
The articles categorized as Reseatch Advice are:
Focus On
Dr Simon Wills reveals the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and how to search a free collection of records released online 200 years after its creation.
Best Websites
Jonathan Scott rounds up the online resources for audio and video that bring our forebears’ place and time to life. FirstSounds brings back to life some rare recordings on all but unplayable formats.
Record Masterclass
Nicola Morris explains how to find your Irish ancestors’ school records, many of which are available digitally
Tecn Tips
Nick Peers shares his expert advice for using the Findmypast mobile app to improve your online tree
There’s also a Canadian article, inspired by a 1888 Christmas letter from Harriet Bullock in Montreal, who was an early campaigner for women’s rights.
This collection features hundreds of thousands of index cards, 455,695 to be precise, created by the Society of Antiquaries. They link coats of arms to family names between 1150 and 1850.
Each card includes descriptions of coats of arms and associated genealogical details, such as names and dates(of birth?). According to the description, occupations, family connections, and other things may also be included. The small sample I viewed showed none of these.
This card collection was the basis for the Dictionary of British Arms, published in four volumes, which appear to be freely available through the Internet Archive.
A search for records from 1625 to 2024 has 710,339,386 results, up from 540,972,674 on 24 November.
Almost all are for the US, which accounts for 657,121,018, or 93% of the results.
Despite having very little US ancestry, the addition did fill a gap, providing a record of my two-times great-grandfather, William Henry Northwood, taking out US citizenship on 8 June 1887 in Leavenworth, Kansas.
UPDATE
In episode 19 of the Family History AI Show, just released, Mark Thompson and Steve Little rate the FamilySearch Full Test Search as the top AI breakthrough for genealogists in 2024.
Choose from selected free online events today. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about a few more, mainly US events, at Conference Keeper.
Tuesday, 3 December
8 pm: Finding Your British WWI Soldier – Dead or Alive, by Paul Milner for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/finding-your-british-wwi-soldier-dead-or-alive/
2:30 pm: Did Grandpa Work in the Tree Army? by Ronald L. Darrah for Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/12188917
Wednesday, 4 December
2 pm: DNA Case Study: Reconstructing A Family Tree Using DNA, by Michelle Leonard for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/dna-case-study-reconstructing-a-family-tree-using-dna/
2:30 pm: The British High Street at Christmas, by Annie Gray for The National Archives (UK).
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-british-high-street-at-christmas-tickets-998466248427?aff=oddtdtcreator
Thursday, 5 December
7 pm: Family Bibles And How To Locate Those Of Your |
Ancestors, by Greg Hilton for OGS.( Free to OGS members)
https://ogs.on.ca/
Friday, 6 December
2 pm: The Trifecta: Giving Light to the Lives of the Formerly Enslaved, by Nicka Smith for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/the-trifecta-giving-light-to-the-lives-of-the-formerly-enslaved/
Saturday 7 December
10 am: Delve into the Lives of your Middlesex County Ancestors through the ~~ 1931 Census, by Katherine Lake Hogan for OGS London and Middlesex Branch.
http://www.londonmiddlesex.ogs.on.ca/events
1:30 pm: The Rural Diary Archive: Transcribing Daily Life in Eastern Ontario, by Catharine Wilson for Lanark County Genealogical Society.
https://lanarkgenealogy.com/about-lcgs/meetings-special-events/upcoming-meetings/
Every year, Legacy Family Tree Webinars offers a 50% off membership on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. That’s a one-year membership for $24.98 USD, giving unlimited access to all the recorded webinars and more at www.FamilyTreeWebinars.com.
It’s the best deal in family history.
The price is valid for new memberships until Friday, 6 December 2024.
OGS Leeds & Grenville Branch invites us to usher in the Christmas season with some family history stories!
Plan on joining on Zoom on Monday, 2 December, at 7:00 pm for a Show and Share experience!
Coming in January for early-birds, four Saturday morning online presentations from The National Archives (UK). They start at 10:30 am GMT, which is 5:30 am ET.
Saturday, 4 January
Using Discovery, The National Archives’ online catalogue
Join this webinar to get to grips with our online catalogue. As a portal into history, our catalogue is an essential research tool, holding over 37 million descriptions of records that date back hundreds of years.
Saturday, 11 January
Researching your local history
Find out how to start researching your local history in this expert-led webinar. Discover the types of records held at The National Archives and beyond that can help you learn more about the past of your local area.
Saturday, 18 January
Researching your family history: wills
Explore the wonderful world of wills with our expert guidance. You’ll learn how to use wills to discover fascinating insights into the lives of your ancestors and how to find these wills in our collection.
Saturday, 25 January
Researching your family history: 20th century sources
Discover more about the lives of your ancestors by learning about the key 20th-century sources you can use to trace your family history, including the 1911 and 1921 censuses and the 1939 register.
Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week
Non-Europeans can now apply in advance for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) and will need one to travel to the UK from January 2025.
“Eligible visitors should apply for their ETA through the UK ETA app, which is quick and simple to use and enables most applicants to receive a decision in hours.”
“An ETA costs £10, permits multiple journeys, and lasts for two years or until the holder’s passport expires – whichever is sooner. Once granted, ETAs are digitally linked to a traveller’s passport and allow for stays of up to six months at a time – including both short trips and more extended stays. An ETA is not a visa, it is a digital permission to travel.”
Evaluating the Old Farmer’s Almanac’s Weather Forecasts
The Old Farmer’s Almanac states, “Our results are almost always very close to our traditional claim of 80 percent (accurate)”. As some studies have found, are the predictions no better than random chance?
For November for Southern Quebec, which includes Ottawa, the OFA predicted “Temp. 3C (2C above avg.); precip.100mm (15mm above avg.)”
The average employed is the 1981 to 2010 climate normal.
This November, the mean temperature was about 3.8C, compared to 1C average, right on the money for the OFA prediction – SUCCESS
The total precipitation was 52.1 mm, compared to 85 mm average, only half that predicted by the OFA – FAIL
The OFA gave November forecasts for six periods.
The prediction for 19-21 was “Rainy, quite warm”, and the 21st was the day with the most rain – 20.9 mm. SUCCESS.
The Young Canada Works 2025-2026 campaign has launched!
Kenneth Marks updated his listing of Ontario newspapers at The Ancestor Hunt in November.
Media Finally Reports that Many Canadians Oppose NATO
Thanks to this week’s contributors: Ann Burns, Anonymous, Barbara Tose, Brenda Turner, Chad, Lolly Fullerton, Penny Allen, Teresa, Unknown.
As usual, the issue offers several noteworthy articles for genealogists seeking to deepen their research. Three caught my attention.
Alan C. Smith’s Are We Related? Modelling Ancestry and Kinship explores ancestral connections with a scientific approach. Rich with charts and diagrams, the article presents a mathematical model to estimate the number of ancestors, factoring in pedigree collapse and population size. Smith bases his calculations on his own ancestry—an intriguing case study that raises the question: how representative are these figures for others?
Phil Isherwood’s Free Online Family History Books highlights valuable, accessible resources. The article features a table of 40 top family history sites, including links to Debrett’s/Burke’s Peerage, Poll Books, Electoral Registers, Gazetteers, Post Office Directories, Trade Directories, and Quarter Session Records—essential research tools.
Finally, David Annal from Family Tree Academy examines the vast but underutilized potential of Court of Chancery Records. He discusses the challenges genealogists face with these documents: access is limited to Kew reading rooms, the records are cumbersome, and navigating bundles can be daunting. Yet, the rewards for perseverant researchers could be significant.
