Anglo-Celtic Connections

Saturday, 12 October 2024

9 am: How can the Ottawa Branch OGS Library help my research? – Presenter: Grace Lewis
Grace Lewis has been the Volunteer Librarian for the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society since 2010. She has shepherded the collection through an extensive expansion program, welcoming donations from individuals and organizations alike. In 2016, BIFHSGO closed its library and transferred ownership of the 2,500-item collection to the Ottawa Branch OGS Library, which currently contains over 13,000 items. Grace’s presentation will review what is available for BIFHSGO researchers at the library she has helped develop.

10 am: Travels With My Aunt: Adventures in Europe, 1914 – Presenter: Barbara Tose
Another favourite talk in the BIFHSGOs 30th anniversary From the Vault series, originally presented in February 2014.
Barbara will reprise her story of the adventures her great-grand-aunt Nellie had in Britain and Europe during the summer of 1914. Barbara weaves the stories from Nellie’s 30-page letter to her brother with the momentous events of that summer leading to the start of WW I.

Find out more and register for online attendance at https://www.bifhsgo.ca/events/.

If you attend in person at Knox Presbyterian Church (Lisgar & Elgin), why not join a group for a pub lunch afterwards?

 

Have you taken an AncestryDNA test? If so, read about AncestryDNA’s largest-ever update, enhancing precision, granularity and customer experience.

https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/blog/ancestrydna-delivers-largest-ever-update–enhancing-precision–g

A few new terms are adopted,

Ancestral regions: the percentages outlined in what was formerly known as your “Ethnicity Estimate” will now be called “ancestral regions.” These features show places your ancestors likely lived roughly 1,000 years ago.

Ancestral journeys: customers will now see “ancestral journeys”—formerly known as “Communities”—in their results. This feature shows where your relatives likely lived and moved in the past 300 years.

Subregions: subregions provide added granularity to users’ results with smaller, more specific areas within a region. We’re proud to announce 54 new subregions in Europe as part of this year’s update.

Ethnic groups: “ethnic groups” reflect communities of people who share common cultural characteristics, such as language, religion, customs, traditions, and often national origin.

My results are in remarkable alignment with my paper trail genealogy. It makes me wonder if Ancestry uses the family tree I’ve posted to Ancestry to calibrate the DNA results.

On Tuesday, I missed mentioning all but the first of five 2024 Reisinger Lectures being given online on Friday.  Sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (US), they are available for free through the Legacy Family Tree Webinars platform.

Friday, 11 October 2024:

11:30 am: Rubik’s Cube Genealogy: A New Twist on Your Old Data, by Elissa Scalise Powell,

12:45 pm: Probate Power: Parents for Charles, a Father for Phoebe, by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin

3:30 pm: Evidence Mining & Context: Powerful Tools to Dig Deep, by Rebecca Whitman Koford

4:45 pm: Strategies for Resolving Conflicting Evidence, by Angela Packer McGhie.

6:00 pm: Applying the Genealogical Proof Standard to Researching Enslaved Families, by Michael G. Hait.

Find out more and register at https://familytreewebinars.com/upcoming-webinars/

The OurDigitalWorld Autumn 2024 Newsletter announces the addition of the following newspapers.

Stratford-Perth Archives Digital Newspapers

Recently launched for public and in-house access, the Stratford-Perth Archives has a new digitized newspaper database. Browse and keyword search over 8,000 issues from 17 different newspapers from the Stratford area and Perth County 1860-1946.

Penetanguishene Citizen from Sports Hall of Fame

Inspired by the sports coverage in the local newspaper, the Penetanguishene Sports Hall of Fame has digitized the Penetaguishene Citizen 1975-1988 to showcase the stories of resilience and triumph from the sports legends whose passion shape the town’s history.

Oshawa Times

Oshawa Public library is helping grow the body of newspapers by recently including the 1958-1961 Oshawa Times. It’s included in the Durham Region Newspapers.

Terrace Bay Schreiber News

Scanning in-house, the Terrace Bay Public Library is expanding their online collection of the Terrace Bay Schreiber News, recently adding new issues from 1983-1992. The weekly paper from the northwestern region of Ontario adds fresh coverage and new resources for thematic and family history research in the area. These titles are also included in the Gateway to Northwestern Ontario.
An unusual holding in this collection is Geological Survey of Canada Annual Reports from the 1880s to 1930s.

Russell Review (1975-1977) and Castor Review (1977-1982)
Through the Digital Prescott Russell site in collaboration with the Township of Russell Library.
https://images.ourontario.ca/Russell/search

The Haileyburian (1912-1957) & Cobalt Weekly News (1957-1961)
https://vitacollections.ca/hhmcollection/search

Provincial Freeman and Voice of the Fugitive
Not yet available, OurDigitalWorld is collaborating with Pennsylvania State University and University of Windsor to rescanned the original paper copies of two titles, the Provincial Freeman and Voice of the Fugitive, for inclusion in the Canadiana site.

 

The November issue has three feature articles.

Get the Scoop
Chloe O’Shea explains how you can make the most of
online newspaper archives and uncover fascinating
details about your ancestors’ lives. In addition to mentioning the British Newspaper Archives, newspapers.com, thegazette.co.uk and the Times Digital Archive, there’s mention of “Overseas Newspapers” including canadiana.ca/collection-serials with more than 300 newspapers

Transcription Tuesday
Rosemary Collins reveals the two online projects that are the subject of this volunteer project on 5 November. They are Irish Catholic Parish Registers at FamilySearch and the Welsh Women’s Peace Petition from the National Library and Wales.

Danger in the Darkness
Felicity Day writes that although blackouts helped to protect the home front, they made life during the Second World War. “Crossing the road was more like Russian roulette.” “By January 1940, it was estimated that one in five people had suffered some sort of injury as a direct result of the blackout.”

Jonathan Scott’s Best Websites article is on researching followers of Methodism, while his Around Britain column is on the latest resources for East Sussex researchers.

Tech Tips
Nick Peers shows how to use upscayl.org, free software that can enlarge photos with the power of Al and intelligently fill in the gaps and keep photos looking their best even when blown up.

As usual, I only mention a selection of the content I read using the Ottawa Public Library PressReader subscription.

New as of 7 October, 11,804 index records of information taken from various sources through the Monmouth Castle Museum and produced by the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers between 1852 and 1927.

Records in this collection may include the following information: Name, Birth year, county, and parish, Age, Occupation, Height, Enlistment date and place, Address at enlistment time, Rank, Regimental number, Reading and writing ability.

Original images are available on Fold3.com or ForcesWar Records.com (may require an additional subscription).

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.

The following is an update from MyHeritage DNA.

For a few more days, until Sunday 13 October 2024 at 11:59 pm, you can upload your DNA data to MyHeritage and get full access to all DNA features for free, forever! Uploads from Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA (Family Finder) and 23andMe are supported.

You’ll receive free access to all advanced DNA features including the Ethnicity Estimate and Genetic Groups, DNA Matches, and all tools to analyze your relationship to your matches, saving you the usual $29 unlock fee per file.

https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload

 

The following is a news release from the Department of National Defence.

Oct. 2, 2024 – Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have confirmed that the grave of a previously unknown soldier is that of Corporal William Benjamin Cunningham, a Canadian soldier of the First World War. Corporal Cunningham was buried as an unknown soldier in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, in 1920. The identity was confirmed through historical research conducted using numerous archival sources including war diaries, service records, casualty registers, and grave exhumation and concentration reports.
… more

A curious follow-on Facebook post from the Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919 laments lack of credit given to Norm Christie in his book Sacred Places Volume I in 2011.

In the past week, as of 6 October and since 29 September, 64,333,829 additional records, that’s 20%, have been added. They are all for the USA.

Steve Little and Mark Thompson explore AI developments.

This week’s episode includes, at 23:26, FamilySearch Full-Text Search Adds a Million Canadian Probate and Homestead Records. It’s good to have a section in the podcast specific to family history alongside developments useful for family history like any other undertaking.
It’s not only Canadian Probate and Homestead Records. The most recent inventory top five are:
United States of America (316,083,898)
Canada (22,499,169)
Australia & New Zealand (12,515,981)
United Kingdom and Ireland (6,038,961)
Mexico (1,885,093). 

Other podcast content includes some impressive illustrations of ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode.

https://blubrry.com/3738800/136852759/ep15-talking-with-your-chatbot-is-now-a-reality-familysearch-adds-canadian-records-to-full-text-search-new-responsible-ai-use-series-begins/

 

Miscellaneous items I found of interest during the week.

All About That Place 2024
Short videos on the Society of Genealogists YouTube Channel. Here’s one that spoke to my family history interest.

“Why do people who “don’t play games” play Wordle? 

Ancestry Find a Grave indexes were updated in early October.

BIFHSGO Virtual Annual Conference
Teaghlach Gaelach: A Celebration of Irish Family History
26-27 October 2024
Registration is open!

The S&P500 Knows Who’s Going To Win The Election | Better Than Election Polls
So far this year the S&P 500 has gained +1,008.24 (21.26%).

Thanks to this week’s contributors: Anonymous, gail benjafield, Judy Humphries, Teresa, Unknown.