Anglo-Celtic Connections

Woe is me. I omitted mentioning Ken McKinlay’s presentation to OGS Ottawa Branch next Saturday at 1 p.m. in Tuesday’s roundup.

In Exploring Library and Archives Canada Online (Ottawa) Ken will look at the new LAC site, touch upon using the new census search system, and explore other resources they have made available to us.

The meeting is online. Find out more at https://ottawa.ogs.on.ca/events/exploring-library-and-archives-canada-online-ottawa/

Vivid-Pix, and CEO Rick Voight, are big supporters of the Ontario Genealogical Society. They were exhibitors at the conference in Toronto (Mississauga) in June and donated a Memory Station, including a scanner and Memory Station software, to the Ontario heritage community valued at $2K CAD.

Memory Stations installed in libraries, archives, and senior living facilities allow visitors and residents to gather and share their stories. Is this an opportunity for an Ontario organization in your area?

OGS members may submit their ideas to OGS volunteer Paul Jones, who helped arrange the donation and has agreed to collect, collate, and forward ideas for Rick and his advisers’ consideration. Contact Paul at paul.jones@ogs.on.ca. Suggestions must be received by October 26, 2024.

Vicid-Pix demonstrated Memory Station at the OGS conference. If you missed it and are interested, take advantage of a free trial offer on Vivid-Pix Memory Station Software for Windows. Create 5 Stories with images already on your computer. Includes 10 Free RESTORE Fixes.

This is a new image-only collection containing 388 records of the “Freemen of the City” in Londonderry between 1675 and 1945.

It’s an opportunity for a shout-out for BIFHSGO’s 2024 Annual Conference, Teaghlach Gaelach: A Celebration of Irish Family History. 26-27 October 2024.

https://www.bifhsgo.ca/2024-conference

Research findings are presented in a four-part podcast by Mark Hailwood. Based substantially on witness statements in court cases, he addresses:

Episode 1: Hard, Cold, Short?
Episode 2: Working Life
Episode 3: Isolated and Insular?
Episode 4: Close-knit Communities?

It turned out life was more varied, and not as dull and monotonous, as respondents to a modern survey believed.

The History Association, the UK National Charity for History, makes an introduction to the series available here. It has a link to register with an email address to access them. They are free – you do not need to become a member of the HA.

Were you or an ancestor in Toronto 70 years ago?

Today marks the 70th anniversary of devastating Hurricane Hazel, which struck the Toronto area on 15-16 October 1954. It was Toronto’s worst natural disaster, leaving 81 dead, nearly 1900 families homeless, and causing between $25 and $100 million in damages.

During the storm, winds reached 124 km/h, and over 200 millimetres of rain fell in 24 hours. The heavily flooded areas were expropriated and barred from having homes, and most of the land was later converted into an extensive park system along Toronto’s rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia.

7.8 million records have been added as of 13 October and since 6 October. They are all for the USA. A few deletions were made for Canada, and for the UK and Ireland.

A new Royal Coat of Arms has been unveiled. It continues to feature a lion, representing England, and a unicorn. What’s the meaning of the unicorn?

See the news release here.  There’s a full colour version of the Royal Coat of Arms here.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

Clergy of the Church of England Index, 1540-1835
Ancestry has made available a version of the free database at https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/.

New York State Marriages, 1881-1952
On 8 October MyHeritage added 5,134,824 records for NYS marriages, with images. The index of this collection was produced by MyHeritage from scanned images of the original documents that were obtained through Reclaim the Records. This index does not contain lists of marriages from the separate jurisdiction of New York City.

15-minute city platform
See how 15-minute worldwide cities are! Click on a city to
open the map with the times of accessibility or check the rankings in the bar below.

Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP)
Documentary heritage organizations across the country can now apply for funding for the 2025–2026 cycle of Library and Archives Canada’s DHCP. Read the News release.

A History of Calendars for Genealogists
Jenny Joyce presented this in the Legacy Family Tree Webinars series on Wednesday. It’s good to know information, clearly presented. The webinar is free for a week.

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, Brenda Turner, gail benjafield, Nick Mcdonald, Teresa, Unknown.

Perhaps you can get excited about the new Jamaica transcript baptism, marriage, and burial records now on Findmypast. They are for 1664 to 1880:  404,465 baptisms, 89,180 marriages, and 196,146 burials.

The Daily Express (1900-1999) and the Sunday Express (1918-1999) are now available. As these were the papers that came into our house, I expect to dig into the pages for context on memorable events for my family, like this coverage of the 1953 North Sea Flood.

Ancestry has 428,599 index burial records for eight Oldham, Greater Manchester area, cemeteries.

Oldham Council has the same burial information: https://adt.oldham.gov.uk/BacasWeb/. That site has a clickable link to find others interred in the same plot.