Anglo-Celtic Connections

Digging Through the Past

I thought I’d try my family tree,
A harmless hobby, just for me.
A bit of digging, what’s the harm?
I didn’t expect the old-world charm.

Out came the charts, the records, the maps,
Late nights poring over digital apps.
On FamilySearch, I clicked away,
And found more cousins than I can say.

Then DNA, what a clever thing,
Unveiled a family fit for a king.
Or so I thought, till the test revealed,
My roots were more “farm” than battlefield.

I asked AI, “Where do I begin?”
It hummed and whirred, and took it all in.
“Your great-great-gran,” it said with flair,
“Was known for her pies and questionable hair.”

I found a thief, a sailor, a bard,
A tanner who smelled of leather and lard.
A sheep wrangler, and—this made me blush—
A blacksmith known for his temper (and mush).

Each story a gem, a quirky delight,
From dodgy scandals to tales of might.
The truth is odd, the facts askew,
But oh, the laughs as the picture grew!

So grab your pen, your magnifying glass,
And dive headfirst into the past.
It’s messy, funny, and full of glee—
A glorious tangle of family!

Translating, Transcribing and Summarizing Documents Using AI
Don’t miss Thomas MacEntee’s webinar for OGS today, Thursday 2 January, at 7 pm. It’s free. All are welcome. Register here.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac for December
This December, the mean temperature in Ottawa was -5.6C, right on the money for the OFA prediction of -6.0C
SUCCESS

The total precipitation at Ottawa was 78.8 mm, just above the long-term average of 75.2 mm. The OFA predicted 60 mm underestimates the actual by 18.8 mm and on the opposite side of the mean to the actual. It is within one standard deviation.
FAIR SUCCESS

The Bones of Catharine Reid Mason: Lessons Learned and Reflections on the Genealogy of Black Londoners
At 10 am on Saturday, 4 January, OGS London and Middlesex Branch invite you to a presentation by Hilary Bates Neary. All are welcome. Register here.

WDYTYA Magazine – January 2025
The issue is now available with lead articles on 50 Websites to Watch, the Great Plague and other articles of Welsh interest.

MyHeritage Closes Service to Russia
MyHeritage will exit the Russian market and delete Russian user data from its servers after February 1, 2025. MyHeritage was previously fined for refusing to store Russian user data on servers inside Russia. Source.

 

Co-hosts Mark Thompson and Steve Little give three top recommendations for AI tools worth paying for in 2025. They also discuss which AI tools aren’t worth paying for in 2025. More.

https://blubrry.com/3738800/140389870/ep20-top-ai-tools-worth-paying-for-in-2025-ai-tools-not-worth-paying-for-12-days-of-openai-begins-use-ai-hallucinations-to-your-advantage/

To end the year, an acknowledgement and thanks to the organizations that supported the blog by providing complimentary access to their services during the year. In alphabetical order:

Ancestry for access to full Ancestry.ca, newspapers.com and Fold3 subscriptions.

FamilyTreeWebinars for full access to familytreewebinars.com

Findmypast for full access to findmypast.com.

MyHeritage for full access to MyHeritage.com.

I salivated when I saw the lineup of 172 Legacy Family Tree Webinars for 2025. It convinced me once again that it’s the best deal in commercial genealogy—the best in genealogy if you don’t count FamilySearch.

See them all listed, and register for those of interest here.

Canadians on the list are Mark Thompson, Christine Woodcock, Janice Nickerson, Kathryn Lake Hogan, Dave Obee, Wayne Shepheard, Ken McKinlay, Johanne Gervais, and Art Taylor.

Two of those are giving “Members Only” webinars. Also Members Only is a series Artificial Intelligence for Genealogists. The others are free live and for a limited time after the presentation.

 

A Pam Ayres classic, now dated.

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

The Great State of Canada? Time for a Rethink

New battery revealed in Canada that gives EVs over 5 million miles
Expect electric car prices to drop below the ICE(fossil fuel) in the next two years.

RootsTech 2025 Preview
Among the long list of presentations, there’s one Canadian-themed, “French-Canadian Sources for Family History,” by David Ouimette. Without fanfare (yet), information on 172 Legacy Family Tree Webinars for 2025 is posted.

 

 

The Library and Archives Canada Annual Departmental Results Report for 2023-2024 is available here.

There are four mentions of genealog* (the same as the previous year), five for census (8), and none for newspaper (1). As in previous years, there is no mention of artificial intelligence.

For the core responsibility of providing access to documentary heritage, the report shows that while seven result indicators were met in 2022-2023, that fell to four of eight in 2023-2024.

The number of images from LAC collections digitized was 5.7 million, up from 5.5 million images the previous year but still lagging behind the historical achievement shown below. That contrasts with the stated ambition to make LAC resources more available nationwide.

LAC is focusing its digitization on priorities. In a renewed effort to clear the backlog, 2.4 million images were digitized for ATIP in 2023-24. LAC closed 14,653 ATIP requests, 3,492 more than in 2022-23.

Another digitization emphasis was Indigenous records for which LAC can draw on earmarked funds.

The number of unique visitors to LAC’s website and online applications fell to 1.8 million, down from 2.2 million the previous year and well short of the 3 million target. However, that does not include direct access to Collection Search —approximately 3 million queries per month. 

Less than 2/3 of facilities met environmental standards for the preservation of the analog collection.

LAC reports having 15.344 Petabytes of digitized data. Making that available online using cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure would cost $300,000 to $400,000 monthly, depending on the level of service. Although not stated, some substantial parts of the holdings are likely offline storage, such as magnetic tape.

The word cloud is based on “providing access to the documentary heritage” section of the report.

 

Prominent Montreal Jewish genealogist Stanley Diamond passed on 18 December. Please see a guest post at EOGN here.

In word association, England and Avalanche are an unlikely pairing. Back in late December 1836 they came together in Sussex. The Brighton Patriot of 27 December reported on a Terrific Snow Storm.

“Scarcely have the recollections of the late hurricane died away, when we have been again visited by one of the most severe snow storms remembered by the oldest men in Brighton; and which, we regret to state, has been attended with the loss of human life, together with others of a serious kind.
The snow began to fall on Saturday, but the day at intervals was brightened by the sun, and there was not much wind. The snow continued to fall nearly all Saturday night and the whole of Sunday (Christmas Day); and at night the wind being N. E., blew a complete hurricane, whirling masses of snow about with terrific fury. ‘The policemen and others who were out during the night speak of its violence as indescribable and the cold as intense.”

The article reports on two, possibly three, lives lost in Brighton and others in outlying areas.

The accumulation of snow on the steep Cliffe Hill overlooking the East Sussex community of East Malling gave way at 10.15 am on the morning of 27 December. The avalanche swallowed the Boulder Row cottages, killing eight. Another six people survived being buried. The victims are in an unmarked communal grave at South Malling parish churchyard, where a plaque records the tragedy.