Anglo-Celtic Connections

Here are the newspapers.com papers that are newly available or have had updates in the past month.

United Kingdom

New and Updated Newspapers

Western Telegraph (Haverfordwest, Dyfed, Wales)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 26,225

The Westmorland Gazette (Kendal, Cumbria, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 25,640

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard (North Wiltshire ed.) (Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 1,701

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard (Cotswold ed.) (Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 21,496

Thurrock Gazette (Grays, Essex, England)
Years: 2016–2019
Pages: 12,343

Stroud News and Journal (Stroud, Gloucestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 18,978

Stourbridge News (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 23,628

St. Helens Star (Saint Helens, Merseyside, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 22,998

County Gazette (Taunton, Somerset, England)
Years: 2015–2019
Pages: 23,626

Somerset County Gazette (Taunton, Somerset, England)
Years: 2015–2015
Pages: 3,502

Rhyl, Prestatyn and Abergele Journal (Rhyl and Prestatyn ed.) (Prestatyn, Clwyd, Wales)
Years: 2017–2019
Pages: 7,328

Oswestry and Border Counties Advertizer (Oswestry, Shropshire, England)
Years: 2017–2019
Pages: 9,015

Ledbury Reporter (Ledbury, Herefordshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 2,335

Keighley News (Keighley, West Yorkshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 16,957

Wharfedale and Aireborough Observer (Otley, West Yorkshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 1,408

Ilkley Gazette (Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 17,150

Malvern Gazette (Malvern, Worcestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 21,980

Hereford Times (Hereford, Herefordshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 40,724

South Wales Guardian (Ammanford, Dyfed, Wales)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 10,671

Cotswold Journal (Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 2,379

Evesham Journal (Evesham, Worcestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 26,371

Craven Herald and Pioneer (Skipton, North Yorkshire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 18,235

Droitwich Spa Advertiser (Droitwich, Worcestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 1,722

Bromsgrove Advertiser (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 25,563

Berrow’s Worcester Journal (Worcester, Worcestershire, England)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 19,284

Barry and District News (Barry, South Glamorgan, Wales)
Years: 2014–2019
Pages: 9,401

Updated Newspapers

Daily Record (Scotland)
Years: 1895–1999
Pages: 1,040,547

The Isle of Wight County Press and South of England Reporter (England)
Years: 1884–1955
Pages: 34,261

The Guardian (England)
Years: 1821–2024
Pages: 1,161,238

Canada

New and Updated Newspapers

The Scarborough Mirror (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1980–1980
Pages: 1,249

The Weston-Downsview Mirror (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1998–1999
Pages: 664

The North York Mirror (Willowdale, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1984–1999
Pages: 3,430

The Mirror (Scarborough ed.) (Scarborough, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1972–1972
Pages: 340

The Mirror (Downsview Weston ed.) (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1971–1972
Pages: 908

The Mirror/Enterprise (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1971–1971
Pages: 460

The Mirror (Don Mills ed.) (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1971–1978
Pages: 14,391

Guelph Mercury (Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 2001–2016
Pages: 284,641

The Guelph Evening Mercury (Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1916–1916
Pages: 903

Updated Newspapers

The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Years: 1894–2024
Pages: 2,370,310

The Toronto Star (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1900–2024
Pages: 3,885,837

The Windsor Star (Windsor, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1893–2024
Pages: 1,608,853

National Post (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1907–2024
Pages: 860,744

The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada)
Years: 1883–2024
Pages: 1,368,752

The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
Years: 1857–2024
Pages: 2,184,730

Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)
Years: 1903–2024
Pages: 2,096,869

Calgary Herald (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Years: 1888–2024
Pages: 2,541,016

The Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1852–2024
Pages: 2,245,956

Waterloo Region Record (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)
Years: 1893–2024
Pages: 1,363,927

As usual, this issue is packed full of helpful information and resources.

Best Free Websites is a surefire winner for the lead article in a genealogy magazine!
Jonathan Scott’s article for WDYTYA covers sites like FamilySearch and the CWGC, which are known to most genealogists. He also reveals “the online hidden gems that can help you grow your family tree for free.” 

Most sites are British. A few are international and throw in a sprinkling from Australia, Ireland, Israel and the US. Canada doesn’t rate!

The other lead articles are about visiting Dublin and the Olympics. Did you know there’s a website with event results and medalists from every Olympic Games since 1896?

I always look for something relevant to my home town. This time, it’s from the Norfolk Record Office blog
norfolkrecordofficeblog.org/ snapshots-from-the-archives
with entries on “fascinating documents in its archives, from the medieval Great Yarmouth Borough court rolls to the diary of an elderly local woman during the Second World War, as well as useful advice on family history research and ‘Behind the Scenes’ posts revealing how the record office is run.”

 

The Board of Directors of The Ontario Genealogical Society is pleased to announce that Christine Woodcock has been appointed as its President, effective from July 9, 2024 through June 2026.

The announcement mentions three areas she wants to persue for helping the Society mover forward,:

1. Membership Review – to explore ways to simplify and new ideas to grow our membership
2. Fundraising – to generate new ideas to raise funds
3. OGS Structure – to explore ways to simplify the structure while still offering benefits to members.

   I extent best wishes to Christine for success as she takes up the appointment.

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. 

Ancestry offers FREE access to all Immigration and Travel records until 22 July. That’s unlimited searches of over one billion records.

Collections included are:

Canada, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1865‑1935
Canada, Border Crossings from U.S. to Canada, 1908-1935
New York, U.S, Arriving Passenger & Crew Lists, 1820-1957
UK. &Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960
U.S, Passenger and Crew Lists for U.S. Bound Vessels Arriving in Canada, 1912-1939 & 1953-1962
Canada, Seafarers of the Atlantic Provinces, 1789-1935
Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1826‑1940
England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538‑1975

The Map Room at Southwick House, Hampshire, still houses the original map used to plan the assault on D-Day (otherwise known as Operation Neptune).

Explore the map at https://dday.nmrn.org.uk/  (UPDATE: This seems to be having problems, sorry) and other resources of the National Royal Navy Museum at https://collections.nmrn.org.uk/search/simple

DNA expert Donna Rutherford posted on YouTube about her experience with Ancestry ProTools for DNA. She gives an overall evaluation and a case study from her own family tree.

The main benefit is finding out by how much your DNA matches match each other. You also get information on matches smaller than 20 cm, but Donna cautions about the likelihood of false matching.

She also mentions that MyHeritage DNA already provides those capabilities as part of the regular membership, although their DNA database is much smaller than Ancestry’s

To subscribe to ProTools, you need an Ancestry subscription and an AncestryDNA test to benefit from the DNA tools. As ProTools is a monthly subscription, about $10 US, if interested, you might want to try it for a month.

In collaboration with Barnsley Archives & Local Studies, Ancestry now offers access to 112,414 records for Non-Conformist Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials in the area from 1788 to 1999.

This collection includes member lists and records from 23 Barnsley Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist chapels. It includes outlying communities such as Ardsley, Cudworth, Darfield, Hoyland, Staincross, and Wombwell. Indexes link to the original record images. 

Barnsley, the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire, is situated midway between Sheffield and Leeds. Formerly a leading producer of linen in England and a central location in the Yorkshire coalfield, it now has a diversified light industry.

 

 

 

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The Gothic horror of Alice Munro: A reckoning with the darkness behind a feminist icon

Smoking – What’s Old is News

Generative AI in a Nutshell – how to survive and thrive in the age of AI

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Allen Grant, Anonymous, Brenda Turner, Christine Jackson, gail benjafield, Gail Roger, Teresa, Unknown

Lancashire, England, Catholic Registers of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1762-1913 comprises 2,993,285 entries, with images from the following Lancashire communities:

Accrington; Ashton in Makerfield; Ashton under Lyne; Aspull; Aughton; Bamber Bridge; Barton; Barton-upon-Irwell; Billington; Birchley; Blackburn; Blackpool; Blackrod; Bolton; Brierfield; Brindle; Bryn; Burnley; Burscough; Bury; Castleton; Chorley; Claughton; Clayton Green; Clayton-le-Moors; Clitheroe; Cottam; Croft; Crosby; Croston; Culcheth; Darwen; Euxton; Failsworth; Farnworth; Formby; Garstang; Goosnargh; Great Eccleston; Haslingden; Hindley; Ince Blundell; Ince in Makerfield; Kirkham; Lancaster; Lea; Leigh; Leyland; Littleborough; Lydiate; Lytham; Manchester; Mawdesley; Middleton; Oldham; Orrell; Osbaldeston; Oswaldtwistle; Platt Bridge; Pleasington; Poulton-le-Fylde; Prescot; Preston; Rawtenstall; Ribchester; Rochdale; Royton; Salford; Samlesbury; Scarisbrick; Scorton; Southport; St Helens; Standish; Swinton; Thornley cum Wheatley; Thurnham; Walton le Dale; Warrington; Wesham; Westby; Westhoughton; Whalley Range; Whittle le Woods; Widnes; Wigan; Woolston; Wrightington; Yealand

Entries in the registers are typically organized chronologically and are handwritten. Records that are 110 years old or newer have been redacted for privacy. The collection will be updated annually.

Original data, as documented in this parish list, is from Roman Catholic Parish Registers. Preston, England: Lancashire Archives. Some registers remain in their respective parishes.

 

Information provided on the FMP additions this week is extremely sparse in detail.

Surrey Baptisms
These 12,190 additions from 1785 to 1865 now total 1,789,155 entries.

Middlesex Baptisms
Over 12,000 baptisms from Middlesex, covering 122 years, now totalling 552,735 entries.

Greater London Marriage Index
This week, 2,494 transcriptions (1785 to 1815) were added, now totalling 487,241 entries.

Over 320,000 pages of newspapers were added, including two new titles: the Warwick Courier (1992-1995, 1998) and the Bicester Review (1988-1992, 1996-1998).

 

With AI, like ChatGPT and similar facilities the talk of the town, it’s to be expected that the leaders of genealogical and family history societies would wonder how it could help them. If you believe AI can, wouldn’t it make sense to ask AI? So I asked Claude 3.5 Sonnet, “How can AI help with the operation of a family history society?”

The response.

AI could indeed assist leaders of genealogical and family history societies in several operational aspects:

Membership management: AI can help automate member registration, renewals, and communication.

Event planning: AI could assist in scheduling events, predicting attendance, and optimizing resources.

Content curation: AI can help select and organize relevant content for newsletters, websites, or social media.

Q&A systems: AI chatbots could answer common questions from members about society operations, events, or resources.

Data analysis: AI can analyze membership trends, event participation, and resource usage to inform strategic decisions.

Personalized recommendations: AI could suggest relevant society activities or resources to members based on their interests.

Document organization: AI can help categorize and tag society documents for easier retrieval.

Financial management: AI could assist in budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting for the society.

Volunteer management: AI could help match volunteers with suitable tasks based on their skills and availability.

Meeting summaries: AI could generate summaries of society meetings or transcribe audio recordings.

Would you like me to expand on any of these points or discuss potential implementation challenges?

I asked for more detail on content curation. The response.

Content curation using AI can help society leaders more efficiently manage and distribute relevant information to their members through various channels. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

1. Topic identification: AI can analyze trends in genealogy and family history, identifying hot topics or emerging areas of interest. This could help societies stay current and provide valuable content to their members.
2. Personalized content selection: By analyzing member profiles, interests, and engagement history, AI can help select content that’s most likely to be relevant to specific segments of the society’s membership.
3. Source aggregation: AI can scan multiple sources (websites, databases, academic journals) to compile relevant articles, research papers, or news items related to genealogy and family history.
4. Content summarization: For longer articles or research papers, AI can generate concise summaries, making it easier for society leaders to quickly assess relevance and for members to decide if they want to read the full piece.
5. Keyword and metadata tagging: AI can automatically tag content with relevant keywords and metadata, making it easier to organize and search for specific topics later.
6. Content scheduling: AI can suggest optimal times to post content on social media or send newsletters based on member engagement patterns.
7. Translation services: For societies with international members, AI can assist in translating content into different languages.
8. Content repurposing: AI can suggest ways to repurpose existing content into different formats (e.g., turning a long article into a series of social media posts or an infographic).
9. Engagement prediction: AI can predict which pieces of content are likely to generate the most engagement among members, helping prioritize what to share.
10. Compliance checking: AI can help ensure that curated content adheres to copyright laws and society guidelines.

Implementation of such a system would require careful consideration of data privacy, the need for human oversight, and the importance of maintaining the society’s unique voice and expertise. The AI would be a tool to assist human curators, not replace them entirely.

Would you like me to elaborate on any specific aspect of AI-assisted content curation for genealogical societies?

What do you think? Are these AI responses helpful?