Anglo-Celtic Connections

Another date for your diary as the summer lull comes to an end.

On Saturday 7 September 2024, Scottish Indexes Conference XXV will be available on Zoom and Facebook.

The following presentations have been announced so far:

‘Searching for ancestors in The Royal Mail Archive’ by Susannah Coster, archivist at The Postal Museum in London

‘Parochial Matters: parishes, districts and counties’ by Robert Urquhart of abbotshall.net

‘An introduction to the Forfeited Estates papers in the National Records of Scotland’ by Tessa Spencer, Head of Outreach and Learning at the National Records of Scotland

‘Scottish Burghs and Trade Incorporations’ by Chris Paton, genealogist and author of The Scottish GENES Blog.

‘Criminal Ancestors: piecing together their story from a variety of sources’ by Emma Maxwell, genealogist at Scottish Indexes

Scottish Genealogy Q&A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.

Find out more at https://www.scottishindexes.com/conference.aspx

Did my comment last Sunday have any influence?

I was delighted with the announcement on Wednesday that Air Canada will launch non-stop international flights from Ottawa to London’s Heathrow on March 31, 2025. That’s a step toward easier on-site researching for those who need to visit British archives, and places our ancestors lived.

Flights will initially be operated four times weekly with Air Canada’s Dreamliner fleet.

As shown by the banner on the cover, this issue celebrates the 20th anniversary of the WDYTYA programme on BBC TV.

Bringing Family History to Life
The new series producer for Who Do You Think You Are?
reveals what to expect from the latest episodes. Looks like much the same!

20 Favourite Moments
From Danny Dyer to Dame Judi Dench, we look back at the greatest moments. They’re compiled on YouTube.

They Went Through Hell
Having provided the research for actor Vicky McClure’s
WDYTYA episode, Michael Hurst tells the full story of the Allied prisoners’ experiences in Taiwan’s POW camps.

The Irish Famine
WDYTYA? genealogist Nicola Morris explains the causes and effects of the Famine, and the resources available to research ancestors who were affected.

The Pupil Pioneers
In a short article, Ruth A Symes explains the gradual introduction of compulsory education, and what schools were really like for pupils in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Recommended.

Best Websites & Around Britain
Jonathan Scott chooses the essential free online
resources to research forebears in the Royal Navy. In a second article, he covers the latest news on the resources | for family historians with roots in Bedfordshire

Record Masterclass’ RAF WW2 Combat Reports
Simon Fowler explains how to read digitized accounts of
RAF pilots’ dogfights during the Second World War. Available records are in TNA series AIR 50 reporting on Hurricanes and Spitfires fighting with the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitt fighters and Heinkel bombers during the Battle of Britain.

Tech Tips
Nick Peers describes step by step how to locate a relation’s home on old maps available online through the National Library of Scotland.

Around Britain
Jonathan Scott reveals the latest news on the resources |
for family historians with roots in Bedfordshire.

Book Notice
A recent Pen and Sword book, Who Were The Real Oliver Twists? Childhood Poverty in Victorian London, by Lynn Hamilton graphically depicts the reality of life for many Victorian children and the hardships that they were
forced to endure.

Canada’s History posted its 2024 Summer Reading Guide, an advertising section with “engaging history titles along with other new and recent books from Canadian publishers.” They are:

1. **Dream Car: Malcolm Bricklin’s Fantastic SV1 and the End of Industrial Modernity** – by Dimitry Anastakis
2. **The Honourable John Norquay: Indigenous Premier, Canadian Statesman** – by Gerald Friesen
3. **An Accidental History of Canada** – edited by Megan J. Davies and Geoffrey L. Hudson
4. **The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII** – by Nahlah Ayed
5. **The HBC Brigades: Culture, Conflict and Perilous Journeys of the Fur Trade** – by Nancy Marguerite Anderson
6. **Mr. Good-Evening: A Mystery** – by John MacLachlan Gray
7. **Tours Inside the Snow Globe: Ottawa Monuments and National Belonging** – by Tonya K. Davidson
8. **The Good Walk: Creating New Paths on Traditional Prairie Trails** – by Matthew R. Anderson
9. **Friends and Enemies: Essays in Canada’s Foreign Relations** – by J.L. Granatstein
10. **Becoming Green Gables: The Diary of Myrtle Webb and Her Famous Farmhouse** – by Alan MacEachern
11. **Crosses in the Sky: Jean de Brébeuf and the Destruction of Huronia** – by Mark Bourrie
12. **The Roosting Box: Rebuilding the Body After the First World War** – by Kristen den Hartog
13. **Canada and the Korean War: Histories and Legacies of a Cold War Conflict** – edited by Andrew Burtch and Tim Cook
14. **The Riel Problem: Canada, the Métis, and a Resistant Hero** – by Albert Braz
15. **A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War** – by Alan Bowker
16. **Wheeling Through Toronto: A History of the Bicycle and Its Riders** – by Albert Koehl
17. **Fashioning Acadians: Clothing in the Atlantic World, 1650–1750** – by Hilary Doda
18. **The City of Rainbows: A Colourful History of Prince Rupert** – by Blair Mirau
19. **Remembering Our Relations: Dënesųłıné Oral Histories of Wood Buffalo National Park** – Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation with Sabina Trimble and Peter Fortna
20. **Unjust Transition: The Future for Fossil Fuel Workers** – edited by Emily Eaton, Andrew Stevens, and Sean Tucker
21. **Cape Breton in the Long Twentieth Century: Formations and Legacies of Industrial Capitalism** – edited by Lachlan MacKinnon and Andrew Parnaby
22. **Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy** – by Yves Engler and Owen Schalk, with poems by Rob Rolfe
23. **Montreal’s Square Mile: The Making and Transformation of a Colonial Metropole** – edited by Dimitry Anastakis, Elizabeth Kirkland, and Don Nerbas
24. **History Has Made Us Friends: Reassessing the Special Relationship between Canada and the United States** – edited by Donals E. Abelson and Stephen Brooks
25. **Paris ’44: The Shame and the Glory** – by Patrick Bishop
26. **Canada and Colonialism: An Unfinished History** – by Jim Reynolds
27. **Canada’s Great War Album: Our Memories of the First World War** – edited by Mark Collin Reid
28. **The Last Logging Show: A Forestry Family at the End of an Era** – by Aaron Williams
29. **Friendless or Forsaken? Child Emigration from Britain to Canada, 1860–1935** – by Ruth Lamont, Eloise Moss, and Charlotte Wildman (the one I recommended for purchase by OPL)
30. **Frontier Science: Northern Canada, Military Research, and the Cold War, 1945–1970** – by Matthew S. Wiseman
31. **Ring Around the Maple: A Sociocultural History of Children and Childhoods in Canada, 19th and 20th Centuries** – by Cynthia R. Comacchio and Neil Sutherland
32. **Challenge to Civilization: Indigenous Wisdom and the Future** – by Blair Stonechild
33. **Untold Tales of Old British Columbia** – by Daniel Marshall
34. **The Beaches: Creation of a Toronto Neighbourhood** – by Richard White
35. **Déploiements canadiens-français et métis en Amérique du Nord (18e-20e siècle)** – edited by Yves Frenette, Marc St-Hilaire, and Marie-Ève Harton
36. **To Make a Killing: Arthur Cutten, the Man Who Ruled the Markets** – by Robert Stephens
37. **The Cause of Art: Professionalizing the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador** – by Jeff Webb

Until 15 August, Legacy Family Tree Webinars makes five short TechZone videos by Thomas MacEntee available for free.

AI and Genealogy: Using AI to Get Genealogy Research Help
AI and Genealogy: Using AI to Summarize Genealogy Records
AI and Genealogy: Using AI for Social History
AI and Genealogy: Using AI to Translate Genealogy Records
AI and Genealogy: Using AI to Transcribe Genealogy Records

I recommend viewing the one that is most interesting to you. Then, if you want to view others, you’re probably good to eliminate the duplication and skip to the worked examples.

Choose from selected free online events in the next five days. All times are ET except as noted. Assume registration in advance is required; check so you’re not disappointed. Find out about many more, mainly US events at Conference Keeper.

Tuesday, 13 August

2 pm: Using MyHeritage DNA to Determine Immigrant Origins, by Melanie McComb for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/using-myheritage-dna-to-determine-immigrant-origins/

2:30 pm: Introduction to Asian American Genealogy, by Grant Din for the Genealogy Center at Allen County Public Library.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11180006

Wednesday, 14 August

8 pm: Genealogy of East and West Prussia by Ute Brandenburg for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/genealogy-of-east-and-west-prussia/

Thursday, 15 August

6:30 pm: Using US Military Service Records to Research Your Family, by Geoff Gentilini for the Genealogy Center at Allen County Public Library.
https://acpl.libnet.info/event/11152595

Friday, 16 August

2 pm: Six MORE free websites for Ontario genealogists, by Janice Nickerson for Legacy Family Tree Webinars.
https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/six-more-free-websites-for-ontario-genealogists/

Saturday, 17 August

Editor Helen Tovey highlights three noteworthy articles in the September issue:

• Chris Paton offers expert advice on tracing the history of your home.
• Janet Barrie provides a comprehensive guide to starting your own one-place study, allowing you to delve deeply into the history of a specific locality.
• Stuart Raymond shares valuable tips on utilizing the Victoria County Histories to gain a broader understanding of the past.

One article Helen doesn’t mention is Gaynor Haliday’s insightful piece on the establishment of schools following the 1870 Elementary Education Act, passed by William Gladstone’s Liberal government. This act had a significant impact, with national literacy rates soaring over the next 20 years—from 80% to 94% among men, and from 73% to 93% among women.

Additionally, I found Julie Johnson’s article on the history of pauper burial grounds particularly compelling. Even when individuals were buried without a gravestone, paper records often remain, preserving their final chapter. The article lists sources.

You can view free curated posts on the week’s genealogical and related news. If you are not getting them you’re missing out.

eWeekly Update newsletter is distributed by email to all members of Ontario Ancestors (The Ontario Genealogical Society), and to others upon request. The newsletter includes information about the Society, its activities, updates on genealogical initiatives, event and meeting notices, resource opportunities, and heritage information from across the province and worldwide. Subscribe at https://ogs.on.ca/#

On Saturday, Gail Dever usually publishes Crème de la crème. on her Genealogy à la carte blog. Read the latest at  https://genealogyalacarte.ca/?p=43673
Subscribe from the form in the right-hand column of the blog or use one of the various social media links Gail provides.

I promised three.

Not for everyone,  more for professional archivists and librarians, is Documentary Heritage News. Published since 2010, it’s a weekly review of the documentary heritage and archives news at https://documentary-heritage-news.com/. Although produced in Canada, the coverage is international.

I’m always looking for additional resources. If you know of other weekly review-type sources, please post them as comments, and accept my thanks in advance.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Your microwave oven has its own microbiome
It’s not a pathogenic reservoir to be feared … clean your kitchen microwave as often as you would scrub your kitchen surfaces.

From Vikings to Beethoven: what your DNA says about your ancient relatives

Queuing systems and crowd engineering

What your nails can tell you about your health

Ottawa to London Direct
Air Canada asleep again! The Ottawa Aviation Facebook group is reporting rumours of British Airways direct flight to London, from Ottawa, are getting stronger. It is thought that the route will start with a 787-8, the smallest version of the Dreamliner, and perhaps be upgraded if demand warrants.
Did you know Porter is now the leading carrier in Ottawa with more destinations than Air Canada.

Update
Charis Paton posts that a new ScotlandsPeople website will be launched in early September.

The following is posted by request from MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars is welcoming webinar submissions for its 2025 webinar series. Visit https://familytreewebinars.com/call-for-presentations-2025 for all the details, and to submit. The submission deadline is Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Submissions are for classes presentations that are 1) 60 minutes plus Q/A, or 2) 20-minutes-or-under “Webinar Shorts” or 3) 10- minutes-or-under TechZone videos. Please indicate which type in your proposal. All speakers are welcome to submit.

The following topics are especially encouraged, but all topics are welcome:
Artificial intelligence: Demonstrate hands-on tools and step-by-steps of, and their interplay with genealogy (especially, but not limited to “how AI helped me solve a research problem” topics)
Curated Top 10s of Places: Spotlight hidden gems or new tools, as showcased in titles like “Top 10 Little Known Websites for Virginia Genealogy” or “Five New Tools for Finding Your German Ancestors”
Genealogical methodologies, strategies, FAN Club and case studies
DNA (especially “how-I-found-these-parents-using-DNA case studies”)
Historical records and events
Software and Technology: Doesn’t even have to be related to genealogy
Places and Ethnicities: Africa, African-American, Europe, Jewish, counties in the United Kingdom, Asia, U.S. states, Down Under, South America, Canada, and Mexico
MyHeritage: Since we also host the MyHeritage Webinar Series, any submissions relating to MyHeritage.com are also welcome
Beginners
Organization: We usually do one or two of these each year – share how you organize your papers or digital files
Numbered titles, such as “Top 5 Strategies to Researching in ____…” prove to attract large audiences.

Peruse the library at https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar-library to familiarize yourself with past topics, ensuring your proposal stands out with fresh ideas (although we are happy with fresh perspectives and new angles on existing topics). Speakers receive remuneration of $200 per webinar (for 60 minute webinars) or $50-$100 for Webinar Shorts and TechZone videos, along with monthly royalties based on viewership.

How to submit
Proposals can be submitted at https://familytreewebinars.com/submit-a-speaking-proposal. If you’ve previously shared a topic that’s awaiting its moment, rest assured it’s already in our records – no resubmission needed.

Submission Deadline
Please submit by Sunday, September 1, 2024.

Find 30,410 records in this index collection of probate court proceedings in Somerset, England between 1300 and 2001.

Here’s an example of an index entry.

Name: Valentine Littlejohn
Occupation: Yeoman
Will Date: 1640
Will Parish: Langford Budville
Will Place: Somerset, England
Reference Title: Littlejohn Family Will, 9 June 1640
Reference Number: DD/SAS/C795/HV/46
Reference Date: 9 June 1640

Ancestry gives the following context.

Many probate records in the Somerset region were lost during World War II. Therefore, the records in this collection were created by South West Heritage Trust: Somerset Archive Catalogue for the purpose of preserving the history of the region and providing a searchable digital index of existing probate records. The records are just an index of an actual primary source that are housed by the South West Heritage Trust: Somerset Archive Catalogue.