Anglo-Celtic Connections

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!

https://leedsandgrenville.ogs.on.ca/events/leeds-grenville-branch-december-2024-genealogy-december-event-show-and-share/

 

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.

This week has 8,161 records added for Middlesex, Greater London and Scotland.

Also added are 122,203 newspaper pages from the 19th and 20th centuries in two updated titles.

Greater London Burial Index
This week’s most significant update consists of 5,941 records for St Katherine’s Coleman Church in the parish of Aldgate East added to the Greater London burial records.

Scotland, Episcopalian Church Members
There are 1,834 new record transcriptions of the names of Scottish Episcopalian Church members between 1661 and 1861.

London and Middlesex baptisms, marriages and burials
From the Russian Orthodox Church, three different record sets covering from 1811 to 1921.

Over 100,000 new newspaper pages
This week pages were added for two existing newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries. They are the Alnwick Guardian and County Advertiser, 1892-1894, and Daily Record, 1983.

The Family Histories Podcast (UK), free from wherever you get your podcasts, “aims to be a positive, conversational, fun show about family history and our family historians – the often un-sung heroes tirelessly breathing life back into our collective social history.”

Each episode features an interview by Andrew Martin with a genealogy-addicted guest, finding out about how they got hooked on family history, how they research, and their challenges and thoughts on the genealogy industry. The guest then shares a life story of one of the most fascinating relatives they’ve uncovered in their research before facing the dreaded brick wall – where they plea to listeners for help.

In the 8th series from November, there are four episodes available to view now:

‘The Marchioness’ with Bob Sorrentino
When a Marchioness takes charge and enriches the arts, and access to education for women.
Series Eight, Episode One. Released: 5th November 2024.

‘The Twin’ with Sylvia Valentine
When a twin’s traits echo throughout their siblings and their descendants.

‘The Collier’ with Adam Simpson-York
When a man goes from the danger of the mines to the horrors of the Death Railway.

‘The Nightingale’ with Danielle and Dr. Galeet Dardashti
When a man becomes a singing sensation during a power cut.

Three more episodes are coming in the series, and many more are in the archive.