Genealogy News Episode 111

Genealogy News

Welcome to the Genealogy News from Geneatopia

I’m Patty Roy, also known as Dinah Larkham in Second Life.

Today is Thursday December 7, 2017 and this is Episode 111.

AncestryDNA Record Sales

Ancestry has announced record sales for AncestryDNA kits sold during the Thanksgiving weekend. The had a huge sale during that weekend.

They more than tripled the number of kits sold during the same period in 2016, the prior record sales period. That means they sold 1.7 million kits during the holiday weekend this year.

The AncestryDNA database has over six million results. Now the total number of AncestryDNA kits sold in a single year has exceeded the total number of subscribers to the company’s family history services.

AncestryDNA Breaks Holiday Sales Record for Black Friday to Cyber Monday; More Than Triples Kits Sold Versus 2016

23andMe Has Three Million Users

23andMe now has three million people in its database. This is an increase of one million since last April.

They are doing more advertising to get more customers. The goal is to reach 10 million customers.

23andMe passes three million milestone

23andMe New Ancestry Composition

As a result of all the new customers at 23andMe, they have developed a new ancestry composition. These new customers enabled 23andMe to “retrain” the machine learning algorithm and improve the accuracy of ethnicities they report. So if you were listed as European, you may now be listed as French or German. This only applies to those who have recently tested using the latest genotyping chip.

In the coming months, additional reference populations will be added to improve results for all customers.

23andMe revs up Ancestry Composition feature

New Records at FamilySearch

More new records at FamilySearch

These collections are new indexed records and images collections
British Newspaper Archive, Family Notices
Denmark Censuses for 1835, 1845, 1850,1855, and 1930
Illinois Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880

New indexed record collection
Denmark Censuses for 1834 and 1840
England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997
Netherlands, Archival Indexes, Public Records
Uruguay, Civil Registration, 1900-1937

Next these collections have indexed records added to an existing collection.
Argentina, Entre Ríos, Catholic Church Records, 1764-1983
Argentina, Santa Fe, Catholic Church Records, 1634-1975
Brazil, Piauí, Civil Registration, 1875-2014
British Columbia, Victoria Times Birth, Marriage and Death Notices, 1901-1939
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922
Croatia, Delnice Deanery Catholic Church Books, 1725-1926
Czech Republic Church Books, 1552-1963
Denmark Church Records, 1484-1941
Denmark, Copenhagen City, Civil Marriages, 1739-1964, Index 1877-1964
Ecuador, Catholic Church Records, 1565-2011
England, Cambridgeshire Bishop’s Transcripts, 1599-1860
England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918
England, Manchester, Parish Registers, 1603-1910
France, Saône-et-Loire, Census, 1876
Georgia, Fulton County Records from the Atlanta History Center, 1827-1955
Germany, Baden, Church Book Duplicates, 1800-1870
Great Britain, War Office Registers, 1772-1935
Honduras, Civil Registration, 1841-1968
Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1994
Iowa, Armed Forces Grave Registrations, ca. 1835-1998
Italy, Benevento, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1810-1942
Italy, Chieti, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1809-1930
Italy, Padova, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1621-1914
Kentucky Death Records, 1911-1963
Missouri, Reports of Separation Notices, 1941-1946
Namibia, Dutch Reformed Church Records, 1904-1984
New Jersey State Census, 1895
Ohio Soldier Home Records, 1888-1919
Peru, Cusco, Civil Registration, 1889-1997
Peru, Puno, Civil Registration, 1890-2005
Poland, Lublin Roman Catholic Church Books, 1784-1964
Poland, Radom Roman Catholic Church Books, 1587-1966
Portugal, Coimbra, Civil Registration, 1893-1980
Slovakia Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1910
South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Records (Stellenbosch Archive), 1690-2011
Sweden, Kronoberg Church Records, 1589-1921; index 1612-1860
Sweden, Stockholm City Archives, Index to Church Records, 1546-1927
United States Mexican War Index and Service Records, 1846-1848
United States Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783
Washington, Soldier Home Records, 1891-1945

These collections had images added to an existing collection.
Denmark Censuses for 1840 and 1925
England, Hampshire Bishop’s Transcripts 1680-1892
Italy, Padova, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1621-1936

The next collection has had indexed records and images added to an existing collection
BillionGraves Index
England, Hampshire Bishop’s Transcripts 1680-1892

New Historic Records on FamilySearch: October 23 to November 13, 2017

New Historic Records on FamilySearch: Week of November 20, 2017

New Historic Records on FamilySearch: Week of December 4, 2017

Login to FamilySearch to View Records

Starting in December FamilySearch will require you to login to view records at FamilySearch.org. You can signup for a free account.

This requirement to sign in will assure FamilySearch partners that the content is offered in a safe and secure online environment and it will satisfy the ongoing need for user authentication. By logging in FamilySearch can deliver personalize discoveries, collaboration, and help experiences.

In the past, you have needed to sign-in to view certain record collections. Also, by signing in you can save records to your Source Box so you can easily retrieve them again later.

You can still access the wiki, the learning center, the catalog, digitized books, and genealogies without signing in.

FamilySearch Free Sign-in Offers Greater Subscriber Experiences and Benefits

FamilySearch to Digitize Paris Civil Registrations

If you have ancestors from France you will be glad to know that FamilySearch will be digitizing the microfilm of parish and civil registrations of pre-1960 Paris.

The Paris Archives were burned in 1871. Records dating back to the 16th century were destroyed. After the fire, some researchers copied parish and religious records to try to recreate the records that were lost. This went on for 25 years. These are the records that FamilySearch will be digitizing.

Exciting News About Parisian Genealogy

Ancestry Announces We Remember

Ancestry has announced something called We Remember. We Remember lets you create a free public memorial page for a loved one. This page will showcase memories about your loved one. It’s meant to celebrate their life with stories from those who knew them best.

The We Remember page has three main sections:

• Tribute – has the name, photo and an obituary

• Guestbook – lets others sign the page and shows how they are connected to the person

• Memories – shows all the memories people have added.

Currently you can add photos and text. Eventually you will be able to add audio and video.

We Remember does not require an app. Just go the website WeRemember.com and click on the page that has been shared with you. You will need to know the URL that a registered user has created in order to add your own memories for someone. Or you can create an account to add someone to We Remember.

Introducing We Remember – Free Online Memorials

New Records at Ancestry

Ancestry has added some parish records for Suffolk, England and electoral registers for Berkshire, England. They’ve added UK, absent voter lists for the years 1918 – 1925, and 1939.

UK electoral and medical records added to Ancestry

Ancestry Adds 16 New Record Collections for Canada

Ancestry has added lots of Canadian records. 16 new collections.

For Alberta they added birth, marriage, and death indexes from the Provincial Archives of Alberta. They’ve added vital records for Prince Edward Island from a variety of sources.

Ancestry already has vital records for Nova Scotia from its Provincial Archives. They have added Nova Scotia, Canada, Antigonish Catholic Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1823-1905.

For Newfoundland they’ve added censuses for the years 1945, 1935, and 1921. As well as church records from 1793 – 1899, and birth, marriage, and death records.

And for New Brunswick they’ve added birth, marriage, and death records. These records came from FamilySearch.

Ancestry’s Canadian Bonanza: Alberta

Ancestry’s Canadian Bonanza: Prince Edward Island

Ancestry’s Canadian Bonanza: Nova Scotia

Ancestry’s Canadian Bonanza: Newfoundland

Ancestry’s Canadian Bonanza: New Brunswick

Transcripts of Catholic Records from NEHGS to be Available on Ancestry.com

Ancestry will be joining the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) Historic Catholic Records Online Project. This project is digitizing Massachusetts Catholic records from the late 1700s to the early 1900s.

This project is the first time that a significant amount of Catholic records will be made available online in a digital format.

The collaboration between Ancestry and NEHGS will make these records available to a large number of family historians. Images of the records will be available to those who have a membership to NEHGS which includes access to its website AmericanAncestors.org. The transcripts of these records will be available to Ancestry.com members.

Ancestry and New England Historic Genealogical Society Collaborate to Make Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston Records Available on Ancestry.com

New England Historical Genealogical Society Creates Website Dedicated to Mayflower Passengers

The New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has launched an online gallery of Mayflower passenger descendants at mayflower.americanancestors.org. This is an interactive website and Mayflower descendants are encouraged to add their name to the online gallery and become part of a worldwide virtual community for those who share Mayflower ancestry. It is estimated that there are 30 million living descendants of the original Mayflower passengers.

At the website, there is a biography of each Mayflower passenger. All of this is free.

The new website is in preparation for the commemoration in 2020 of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing in Massachusetts. This will become a portal for all 2020-related announcements and events.

World’s First Online Gallery of Pilgrim Descendants Created by New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS)

Mayflower Society Applications Increase for 400th Anniversary

As the 400th anniversary gets closer, more people are applying to belong to a Mayflower Society. They want someone else to verify that their research is correct and that they are actual Mayflower descendants.

You need to have vital records – birth, marriage, and death for each ancestor or you can prove your ancestry using Bible records or gravestone photos.

To join a society, you only need to document going back to the ancestors listed in the silver books. These books document the first five generations of those who came over on the Mayflower.

Mayflower Society applications jump as 400th anniversary nears

New England Historical Genealogical Society Adds Suffolk County Probate Files

The New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has added to its website a new database for probate records from Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The images and indexes came from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.

The probate cases were filed between 1630 and 1800. Probate records include wills, guardianships, administrations, and various other records.

The Suffolk probate collection will eventually cover cases up to the year 1893 and it will take until the year 2020 to get everything digitized.

You will need to have subscription to NEHGS to view the records.

Good News for Suffolk County, Massachusetts Researchers

War of 1812 Pension Records

The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) has announced new pension records from the War of 1812 that are freely available on Fold3. This is an update to the ongoing project to digitize all the pension files from the War of 1812.

FGS had done document conservation of the pension files covering the surnames from M (Moore) – Q and those files are now available. Ancestry is refining its digitization process to comply with NARA protocols and once that happens more images will become available.

NEW PENSION IMAGES HAVE ARRIVED

MyHeritage Adds New York Newspapers and New York Marriage Licenses to SuperSearch

MyHeritage has added some New York records to SuperSearch. SuperSearch is MyHeritage’s technology that matches records to your ancestors. It searches all the records at MyHeritage and all the family trees that are on the site and automatically lets you know about the matches.

Now SuperSearch searches the New York Newspapers collection for the years 1806 – 2007. It will also search the New York City Marriage License Index for the years 1908 – 1928. These records were obtained by Reclaim the Records. You can find the New City Marriage license images as well as other images obtained by Reclaim the Records at the Internet Archive.

Now Online: New York Newspapers and New York Marriage License Records

New Records at Findmypast

Findmypast has added over 2 million military records mostly for the British Army.

They’ve added Hampshire, Portsmouth Military Tribunals 1916 – 1919 and Military Historical Society Bulletins from 1950 through 2017.

There are photographs of students from Middlesex, Harrow School 1869 – 1925 that have been added to Findmypast and a browsable collection of Wales Probate Abstracts 1544 – 1858.

Records have been added to Yorkshire burials and Yorkshire memorial inscriptions collections.

Lots of England Roman Catholic Parish records have been added. That would be for baptisms, marriages, and burials as well as congregational records. The congregational records contain things such as anniversary books, confirmation lists, congregational lists, lists of benefactors and converts and parish diaries.

For the United States, Findmypast has added many browsable collections for Texas. They are

• Texas, Bexar County, San Antonio Cemetery Records, 1893-2007

• Texas, Comanche County Records 1858-1955

• Texas, Eastland County Records 1868-1949

• Texas, Naturalization Records 1906-1989

• Texas, Nolan County Civil Court Minutes and Case Files 1881-1938

They’ve added some records for Massachusetts. There are death records for the years 1969 – 2010 and Boston Crew Lists 1917 – 1943.

They continue to add to the United States Marriage collection. More marriages from the states of Kentucky, Maryland and South Carolina have been added.

There are over 6 million United States obituaries have been added from the tributes.com website.

Over 2 Million New Military Records Available to Search this Findmypast Friday November 10, 2017

Findmypast Friday November 17th

New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday, 24 November 2017

Findmypast Friday December 1st

Findmypast to Digitize Newspapers from Trinity Mirror

Findmypast has begun to digitize newspapers from Trinity Mirror which is the largest national and regional news publisher in the UK.

The publications will be available online at Findmypast and the British Newspaper Archive. Once the newspapers are digitized it will nearly double the total newspaper holdings in the Findmypast collection.

Digitization has already begun with publications covering Birmingham and the Midlands as well as additional issues of The Daily Herald already available online.

Plans Announced to Publish Trinity Mirror Newspaper Archive

Findmypast Adds Catholic Church Records

Findmypast will be publishing almost 5 million Sacramental Registers in partnership with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and FamilySearch. These records span the years 1800 to 1953 and will be made available at Findmypast sometime in 2018. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati covers the southwest region of Ohio which includes greater Cincinnati and Dayton metropolitan areas.

Findmypast will also be adding almost 2 million Chicago Sacramental Registers. These records will cover Chicago’s history from 1864 to 1989.

Adding these records are part of Findmypast’s Catholic Heritage Archive. This was announced last year at RootsTech.

Findmypast Announces Plans to Publish Cincinnati & Chicago Sacramental Registers Online for the First Time

Findmypast New Subscription Packages for UK

Findmypast has three new subscriptions packages for all future subscribers in the UK to choose from. There are three options – Starter, Plus, and Pro.

The Starter package gives you access to English, Welsh and Irish civil registration indexes and the British and Irish censuses. It costs £72 a year or £8.95 monthly.

The Plus package contains all the collections in the Starter package plus British and Irish parish records, British wills and probate, British and Irish electoral registers and directories, British and Irish education and employment records, Specialist Irish records, British and Irish migration and travel records, and Military, Armed Forces and conflict records. It costs £120 a year or £12.95 monthly.

The Pro package contains all the collections in the Plus package plus US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand collections, access to PERSI and newspapers. It costs £156 a year or £15.95 monthly.

The 1939 Register is now part of monthly subscriptions for Plus and Pro.

If you already have a Findmypast subscription you can renew under the existing plan or switch to one of the new packages.

FindMyPast UK introduces new subscription packages

New Version of Reunion

The software program Reunion has released a new version. Reunion is a Mac program for keeping track of your ancestors.

The new version, version 12, has lots of new features. It will now check as you add new people if it’s possible this person already exists in your tree. It not only looks at the names but it also looks at dates and the events of connected people. This is called duplicate checking.

Reunion makes it easy to globally sort events. So birth will show up at the top and burial is the last event.

The new citations list is a tool for reviewing, searching, and managing citations. You can view citations by a person, a family, or a group.

Fan charts have been improved. The fan is now spread out from 150 degrees to a full circle. You can now exclude empty cells and change colors of the cells.

The book feature has many new highlights. There are two new kinds of books. The first is a new relative book that contains chapters for each relationship. The other new book is an hourglass book. It begins with a person and moves in both directions, forward and backward in time.

The book project page has clickable links making it easier to navigate the book before creating a pdf of the book. There are many new features for books that you can find on the website for Reunion.

In the Find panel, there are three new ways to search for citations and citation details. This lets you find things like facts with no citations or everywhere a citation was used. There are many different ways to search citations.

The new color tags features let you set up visual clues. You can color all those individuals that meet a certain criteria.

Any web pages you generate from Reunion will be responsive. This means the pages will resize depending on the device being used to view the page such as a desktop computer or a smart phone.

I’ll have a link in the show notes where you can find all the new features. There are 80 new features.

New Features in Reunion 12

DPLA Adds Oklahoma and Florida

The Digital Public Library of America has added hubs for Oklahoma and Florida. There are over 100,000 records for Oklahoma and over 74,000 records for Florida.

The Oklahoma collections come from The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, with extensive resources from Oklahoma Historical Society and Oklahoma Department of Libraries.

There are many images of the Oklahoma frontier that capture everyday life including images of Native Americans. There are many oral histories from Indians.

There is a postcard collection that shows scenes from an early Oklahoma. A collection about the men and women of Oklahoma who served in World War I is available as well as a collection of pension applications for Confederate veterans.

The material for Florida came from Florida State University, University of Miami, and Florida International University. Many new materials represent Cuban and Latin American culture. There is popular music from Cuba and Latin America from the early twentieth century.

There are oral histories from some fist generation Cuban immigrants.

There is an extensive collection about Emmett Till, an African American who was murdered by two white men for flirting with a white woman. The two white men were acquitted of the murder. The collection contains photographs, government records and newspaper clippings from across the country.

Sunshine State Digital Network Brings Florida’s Collections to DPLA

Oklahoma Hub Collections Now Discoverable in DPLA

New Museum Dedicate to Slavery to Open in Montgomery, Alabama

A new museum will be opening in Montgomery, Alabama. The museum is dedicated to slavery and its legacy and it’s called The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration. The site for the museum is where enslaved people were once warehoused.

The new museum will offer interactive content that will take visitors on a journey through this nation’s difficult past. There will be sculpture, fine art, and multi-media presentations.

The museum is scheduled to open in April 2018. Also opening on that day is a National Memorial for Peace and Justice dedicated to the victims of lynchings. The memorial will contain 6-foot tall steel monuments, sculptures from African and American artists that explore slavery, segregation, and issues of racial inequality. The memorial will be in Montgomery’s oldest community that overlooks downtown.

Nation’s first national memorial to lynching to open in Alabama this spring

Illinois Archives Digitized World War I Maps

The Illinois State Archives has repaired and digitized 57 maps that the Illinois National Guard used during World War I. The maps feature the guard’s 33rd division, which was the only Illinois division that saw active service during the war in France.

The maps are freely available online.

Illinois Archives repairs, digitizes World War I maps

Scotland’s Court of Session Documents to be Digitized

The University of Virginia School of Law is building a digital archive of legal documents from Scotland’s Court of Session that they had previously acquired. The Court of Session is Scotland’s highest civil court. The cases deal with divorce, real estate, bankruptcy, intellectual property, debt, and other civil matters.

The Law Library purchased the documents that contain about 2,500 cases heard before the court between 1757 and 1834. The documents are not handwritten but done in print. This will make it easier to digitize.

The Law Library says it will be releasing its first batch of documents soon. They will be free for everyone to use.

Law Library Uncovers Hidden Legal Histories with Scottish Court of Session Digital Archive

Flagpole Magazine Added to Georgia Historic Newspaper Archive

The Georgia Historic Newspaper Archive has added Flagpole Magazine. This was a popular alternative newsweekly from Athens, Georgia. Athens is a small college town with local music acts that gained traction on mainstream pop radio and MTV in the 1980s.

Flagpole Magazine was created to cover the news related to the city’s independent music scene. The publication contains the history of the Athens music community through interviews, record reviews, concert listings, and advertisements.

The Georgia Historic Newspaper Archive has issues of the magazine from its beginning in 1987 until 2012. For the new issues, you can find them at the magazine’s website at flagpole.com

Unique view of Athens arts and music scene from 1987-2012 in Flagpole Magazine

Colorado University Newspaper Added to Online Collection

The Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection has added the student newspaper from the Colorado State University to its website. The university newspaper the Rocky Mountain Collegian for the years 1891 – 1901 has been added. These were the first 10 years of the newspaper.

In the next few months the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection will be adding more student newspapers from Colorado College and Colorado School of Mines. These newspapers will add stories of the people that shaped Colorado.

CHNC News! School is in Session

State Archives of North Carolina Places Brimley Collection Online

The State Archives of North Carolina has placed the entire Brimley collection online. This collection contains photographs that document life between the late 19th and mid-20th century. There are photos of people, cities and towns, rural landscapes and farms, agricultural activities and other places in North Carolina.

The Brimley Collection is named after the first leader of The North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Herbert Hutchinson Brimley. He traveled the state and took pictures for exhibits at various national and International expositions.

Brimley Collection Online

Additions to DigitalNC

DigitalNC is the online library for institutions across North Carolina. They have partnered with Wake Forest University to add 19 new newspapers to DigitalNC.

These newspapers date from 1857 to 1925. The newspapers were written from Christian communities and most are affiliated with the Baptist denomination. Some were published for specific churches and others were published for a wider audience by regional, state, or national organizations.

Two more decades of the newspaper The Carolina Indian Voice have been added. The new years are from 1977 to 1996. The Carolina Indian Voice is one of North Carolina’s oldest American Indian newspapers. It served members of the Lumbee Tribe living in Robeson County.

Here are some other additions:

• Photographs from Central Carolina Community College, Edgecombe County in the 1930s and 1940s, and photographs of Randolph County

• Yearbooks from Millbrook High School, from various high schools in Johnston County and Granville County,

• Campus catalogs from South Piedmont Community College and scrapbooks

• Images and vertical files from the Forest History Society located in Durham, North Carolina

• More scrapbooks from the Granville County Public Library

• More material from The Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina

• Materials that document the creation and installations for the North Carolina Veterans Park located in downtown Fayetteville.

Partner Wake Forest University contributes 19 new newspaper titles

New Scrapbooks, Letters, Minute Books, and More from Grand Lodge of North Carolina

Materials from our new partner, the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, document the North Carolina Veterans Park

Even More Scrapbooks from the Francis B. Hays Collection Now Online

New Photographs and Documents from Randolph County Now Online

New Campus Publications from South Piedmont Community College Now Online

Two More Decades of The Carolina Indian Voice Now Available

New Yearbooks from Granville County Public Library Now Online

Images and Vertical Files from our Newest Partner, the Forest History Society

New Yearbooks from Johnston County Heritage Center Now Online

50 more photographs from the M.S. Brown collection now available

Millbrook High School yearbooks from Olivia Raney Local History Library now online

Over 100 New Photographs from Central Carolina Community College Now Online

New scrapbooks add to the history of Central Piedmont Community College

LAC Monthly Report on the Canadian Expeditionary Force Personnel Service Files

The Library and Archives Canada has released their monthly report about the digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Personnel Service Files. They are now up to the name Sharp – S H A R P.

These service files are for soldiers of the First World War. They are digitizing the files basically in alphabetical order.

They are now 81% complete. They want to be completed by November 2018. At the current rate of digitization they will have this collection completed by July 2018.

Digitization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Personnel Service Files – Update of November 2017

Ontario Genealogical Society Acquires Website A Living Past

Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) has acquired the genealogical website A Living Past. The website was created by two people who wanted the help to expand their own genealogy database. They began adding births, marriages, and deaths from Port Hope and Hope Township, Ontario as well as newspaper articles.

OGS will maintain the free website. They recently acquired CanadianHeadstones.com to ensure the continuation of this free website. OGS is interested in acquiring websites that may be shutdown because the owners no longer want to maintain them.

OGS acquires website about historical Port Hope, Ontario

Driftscape App for Toronto History

There’s a new app about Toronto’s history. As you walk around you’ll get a notification if you are near an historical place. You may get a fun fact about the place or an audio history all about the place. The app is called Driftscape. It’s available now for iOS and an Android version will be coming soon.

There are about 700 places listed in the app. You can specify what types of things you are interested in so you will only get notifications for what you would like to see.

It took two years to develop the app and the result is just the first phase. They want to keep adding more places and facts.

Like local history? This homegrown app brings Toronto facts to your fingertips

Peterborough, Ontario, World War I Website

The Trent University Archives in Peterborough, Ontario, has launched a new online museum called Peterborough and the First World War. The online museum is being created by students enrolled in a history class at the university.

There are many biographies of those who were in the service, information about different companies in Peterborough that were involved in the War, and information about Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire.

The project is part of a partnership with the Royal Canadian Legion and Trent University, and in association with the Trent University Archives, the Peterborough Museum and Archives, and the Trent Valley Archives.

Online exhibit about Peterborough, Ontario and WWI

Geographical Names of Manitoba Book Now Online

A book called the Geographical Names of Manitoba has become available online. It’s available at the website for Manitoba Conservation. The book contains more than 4000 place names in Manitoba.

Each place has an historical geographical description. There are settlements, ghost towns, and trails within the province and the book attempts to trace the origins of their names. The descriptions come from years of correspondence with the Geographical Names Board of Canada, railway officials, surveyors, settlers, postal officials, and local historians.

The history behind more than 12,000 geographical names of Manitoba

The Drouin Institute Acquires Planète Genealogy

The Drouin Institute has acquired Planète Genealogy. Planète Genealogy is a subscription website containing parish registers, GEDCOM files, tombstones, death maps, telephone directories, death notices and many other things. The main focus of the website is Québec but also contains other parts of Canada and the United States.

The transition of Planète Genealogy website to the Drouin Institute website GenealogyQuébec.com will be gradual. Subscribers to Planète Genealogy will continue their subscriptions with the site closing in about a year so that all subscriptions will be fulfilled. After a year all the information found at Planète Genealogy will be at the Drouin Institute website.

Acquisition of Planète Genealogy by the Drouin Institute, New Content About Genealogy Québec!

BAnQ Releases Interactive Timeline for the History of Québec

The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) is free site for those who live in Québec and you can access by subscription from outside Québec. Free to everyone is a new interactive timeline about the history of Québec. Each entry includes information about the event and a list of sources for more information.

Unfortunately, the site is in French and it does not work with Google Translate.

BAnQ Numérique La Ligne du temps du Québec

BAnQ Has More Newspapers and Magazines Online

BAnQ has digitized almost three million pages from 319 newspapers and magazines. All of the publications can be browsed by date and most can be searched.

BAnQ digitizes almost 3 million newspapers and magazine pages

New Editions at TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist, subscription site in the UK, has added to their War Memorial collection. The latest editions are from Worcestershire and South Yorkshire with some from Australia, Canada, London and various other British counties.

The memorials are searchable by name and you can read the transcription and see an image of the memorial.

TheGenealogist has also added the 1910 Lloyd George Domesday records with annotated maps. These maps allow you to locate your ancestors house in 1910 in London. Many of the cities and towns were damaged by bombs during World War II and it becomes difficult to find where people lived before that time so this collection will let you see how things looked before World War II.

There is information about the owner, occupier, description, valuation and size of the property on the map. These maps are a work in progress currently available are maps of the City of London in Paddington.

TheGenealogist has also added some outbound passenger lists for those who sailed out of the United Kingdom ports in the years between 1930 and 1939.

TheGenealogist adds 15,000 names form 53 new War Memorials

24 Nov 2017 – New Genealogy Record Releases and Updates

TheGenealogist adds 1930s UK outbound passenger lists

Deceased Online Adds Cremation Records from West Norwood and Lambeth

Deceased Online is a website dedicated to burial and cremation registers in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland. Payment to view the records is done by a voucher system but searching is free.

Deceased Online has added cremation records from West Norwood and Lambeth in South London. The records from Lambeth Crematorium start from 1958. The West Norwood Crematorium was opened in 1915, two years into the Great War.

Deceased Online is delighted to be adding 90,000 records to its database this week with the collection of cremation records from West Norwood and Lambeth Crematoria in south London.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Launches New Online Archive

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has launched a new online archive. There are more than 600 items available online to the public. There are digitized copies of commission meeting minutes from 1917 to 1986 and annual reports for 1919 to 2015. They’ve also digitized their catalog that contains listings of all items which are available for viewing at their office.

Lots more digitized content will be coming online over the next 12 months. Items include staff records, photographs, and architectural drawings and plans.

CWGC LAUNCHES NEW ONLINE ARCHIVE

National Library of Ireland Receives Funding to Digitize Personal Papers

The National Library of Ireland will receive funds to digitize some of the personal papers from those involved in the Civil War. The papers will be digitized and made available online sometime between 2018 and 2023. They shed insight into the political context of the period.

NLI secures funding for ‘Towards a Republic’ project

Oral History Project at MilitaryArchives.ie

MilitrayArchives.ie recently redesigned their website and now they have placed on their website some oral histories. The oral history project began a couple of years ago. They have been collecting stories from men and women who worked for Ireland’s Defense Forces. Some of these oral histories are available now. They are filed under three subject headings – joining the defense forces, the emergency (WW2), and overseas.

MilitaryArchives.ie launches Oral History Project

Corrections to the 1901 and 1911 Irish Censuses

Almost 16,000 corrections have been recorded for the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses. They can be found at census.nationalarchives.ie.

These corrections were submitted by users and entered by well-known Irish genealogist John Grenham. He evaluated the corrections before they were entered and then once the corrections were complete, the indexes for the censuses were rebuilt.

Corrections should occur each month from now one. The last batch of corrections were submitted over the past year.

Census-correcting

Petition to Release 1926 Census of Ireland

The Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO), has launched an online petition asking that the government release the 1926 Census of Ireland. The previous government had committed to release the 1926 census early. The date for release is set for January 2027, 100 years after it was taken.

If there are privacy concerns about people listed in the census who are still alive, those individuals can be redacted. This is what was done for the release of the 1939 National Register for England and Wales.

The 1926 census will need to be cataloged and some conservation work will need to be done before it can be digitized. Since there is a lot of work that needs to be done, the CIGO is asking that the 1926 census be released in 2022. The year 2022 will mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the State.

Online petition calls for early release of 1926 Census

Swedish Death Index Preview Version

The seventh edition of the Swedish Death Index in now available in a preview version. This means that the database is 99% complete. It will be 100% complete sometime in 2018.

This collection is a digital database containing information about deceased people in Sweden and it now covers the years from 1860 – 2016. The actual years covered are 1860 – 1970 with some records added from the Social Insurance Agency database for 2014 – 2016.

Each record contains the name, address, occupation, death date, place of death, place of birth, and marital status. You search using many different fields to find the person you are interested in.

The previous version covered the years 1901 – 2013 and it was published in 2014.

Sveriges dødbokbok 7 (preview version)

RootsTech Photo and Story Competition

RootsTech will be held at the end of February in Salt Lake City, Utah. There will be a photo and story competition that you can apply for now.

There are four different categories in which to compete – connect, belong, family, and heritage. You submit a photo and story of you or a family member to one of the categories. It can be past or present. You can submit once in each category.

A selection committee will choose the entries from each category that will be shown at RootsTech.

Judging will occur during RootsTech. Prizes will be awarded from Cannon and Dell.

This competition complements the keynote speaker, photographer Brandon Stanton who photographs everyday people and their stories.

You have until December 31st to submit your photo and story.

RootsTech 2018 Photo + Story Competition

Ontario Genealogical Society Conference Program Announced

The Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) has announced the program for their upcoming conference to be held in June at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Registration is not open yet but you can make your hotel reservations.

Ontario Genealogical Society announces 2018 conference program

OGS Conference 2018

National Genealogical Society Announces 2018 Conference Program

The National Genealogical Society (NGS) 2018 conference will be held in Grand Rapids, Michigan May 2 – 5, 2018. They have announced that the conference program is now available.

There are more than 175 lectures. There are many tracks including DNA, African American, occupations, organizations, and many more.

Registration opened on December 1 for this conference.

National Genealogical Society 2018 Family History Conference Program Now Available

Genetic Genealogy Ireland to be Held in Belfast

Genetic Genealogy Ireland is a series of lectures that have been held since 2013 in Dublin. The lectures are recorded and can be found on YouTube. Presentations from 2017 should be loaded up to YouTube soon.

The next Genetic Genealogy Ireland event will be held in Belfast from February 16 – 17. The lecture schedule is available.

Genetic Genealogy Ireland will again be held in Dublin in the Fall of 2018.

GGI Belfast – our first event for 2018 (Feb 16-17)

The DNA Lecture Schedule for GGI2018 Belfast

Call for Papers for Ohio Genealogical Society 2019 Conference

The Ohio Genealogical Society has issued a call for papers for its 2019 conference. The conference will be held May 1 – 4, 2019, at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio. Of course, they a looking for topics about Ohio but they are also interested in many other topics. Deadline to submit proposals is May 31, 2018.

OGS issues call for papers for 2019 Annual Conference

Call for Papers for 2018 BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy

The BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy has put out a call for papers for its 2018 conference. This conference will be held Tuesday, July 31 through Friday, August 3, at the BYU Conference Center in Provo, Utah. They are looking for proposals that allow participants to gain new skills and receive helpful information in many areas of family history.

Deadline to submit proposals is Friday, January 5, 2018. You will need to create a BYU Net ID to submit your proposal through the BYU recruiting system.

Call for Papers: 2018 BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy

Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy Fourth Edition

I don’t normally mention new books that come out because there are so many and I don’t want to favor one over the other but this new book is a classic that has come out in a new addition. Over many years many people have recommended the older obsolete 3rd edition of the book as something every genealogist should read. It has just come out in a fourth edition. The book is Val Greenwood’s Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.

The book provides sound genealogical advice to newbies and advanced researchers.

It’s available from Genealogical Publishing or Amazon for $49.95.

4th edition of the Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy is now Available

A. J. Jacobs Book It’s All Relative

The new book from A. J. Jacobs is out. You may remember hearing about him when the Global Family Reunion was held in 2015. It was organized by A. J. Jacobs as part of his research for this book.

Somehow we are all connected and makes us all family. The book is about eccentric family members, celebrity cousins, DNA, Adam and Eve, the world family tree, and lots more.

New from A.J. Jacobs~ “It’s All Relative” — plus a gift!

Television Show Reunited

There’s another genealogy related television program coming to NBC. It’s called Reunited. It’s a drama based on an investigative genealogist who tracks down long-lost loved ones and reunites broken families. It is currently in development

NBC Buys ‘Reunited’ Genealogy Drama From Matt Lopez, Pam Slaton & Darryl Taja

Webinars Coming in 2018

Some societies have released their 2018 webinar schedules. The Florida State Genealogical Society will be having what they call poolside chats using GotTo Webinar on the third Thursday of each month at 8PM Eastern. The Ontario Genealogical Society will have monthly webinars the first Thursday of each month at 7PM Eastern.

The Illinois State Genealogical Society webinar will be the second Tuesday of every month at 9PM Eastern. The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society will have webinars on the third Tuesday of each month at 8PM Eastern.

The New England Historical Genealogical Society (NEHGS) will be having webinars the third Thursday of each month at 3PM Eastern thru May. They haven’t released the topics or presenters yet. They tend to do that about a month or two before the scheduled webinar.

The Georgia Genealogical Society has announced some of their webinars for 2018. They will be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 8PM Eastern.

BlackProGen Live will be back for 2018 with two or three Google Hangouts each month starting at 9PM Eastern mostly on Tuesday.

And of course Dear Myrtle will be continuing with Google Hangouts for the coming year. She just reached the milestone of 800 hangouts over the last five years.

You can find all these webinars and events on the Geneatopia calendar. As more societies and Legacy Family Tree announce their webinar line up for 2018 they will be entered into the calendar. Also FamilySearch announces their webinars a couple of months in advance. Right now the webinars for January have been announced.

And that’s it for this episode.

You can send email to [e-mail]

You can find links to things mentioned in this show in the show notes at Geneatopia.com as well as a transcript. The transcript can also be found in the Geneatopia Flipboard magazine and you can find the recording on YouTube.

This is episode 111.

Thanks for listening.