MyHeritage updates Theory of Family Relativity matches

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com), news of an increase of 64% in Theory of Family Relativity matches:

We’re happy to announce that we’ve just refreshed the data for the Theory of Family Relativity™ for the third time since releasing this game-changing feature in February 2019. This revolutionary technology may offer astounding new information on your family connections.

The Theory of Family Relativity™ helps you make the most of your DNA Matches by incorporating genealogical information from all our collections of 12.5 billion historical records and 4 billion family tree profiles, to offer theories on how you and your DNA Matches might be related.

Users who have taken a MyHeritage DNA test or who have uploaded a DNA kit from another service since the last update may now receive answers and new insights about their relationships to their DNA Matches. This update will also provide users who have previously taken a MyHeritage DNA test or uploaded their DNA data with new theories to further their research, thanks to MyHeritage’s ever-growing database of family trees and historical records.

The full story is available at https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/09/update-to-theory-of-family-relativity-3/.

COMMENT: I recently uploaded DNA profiles for my wife, a parent and an uncle, and with this release I now finally have some Theory of Family Relativity matches for all of us. 

It is interesting to note the difference in the quality of the proposed matches between those on my family's side, and those of my wife. Much of my lot are from Northern Ireland and Scotland, and are considerably well documented, whereas my wife's family are from a tight community in the county border area between Kilkenny and Tipperaray in the Republic of Ireland, and are considerably less well documented. This means that many overseas descendants have put two and two together when looking for records and have come up with five, on documents concerning folk with fairly common names such as Gorman and Murray, reflected in the trees they have uploaded which MyHeritage is attempting to posit links (something I have noted replicated in the number of suggested DNA matches on Ancestry via ThruLines). 

The suggested theories do involve genetic matches, but I suspect there will be a bit more work involved there to separate the wheat from the chaff in terms of what is accurate and what is not.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Heading into a second wave

It's not looking particularly great just now with Scotland, the UK, and much of Europe well and truly heading into a second wave of coronavirus infections. Today in Scotland it's been announced that we can no longer visit other households (similar to restrictions also just put in place in Northern Ireland), and it looks like we may have some further measures due soon.

In Dublin, the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland and other institutions are also now restricting access again (see Claire Santry's post at https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2020/09/major-irish-genealogy-repositories-back.html). It's not all doom and gloom though - for example, the NLS has re-opened its Glasgow facility today (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/09/national-library-of-scotlands-kelvin.html)

The National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, PRONI and TNA are still currently operating on a restricted access basis, but there is access. And the National Records of Scotland... well no-one really knows what its plans to re-open are just now, but it has been heavily involved in gathering Covid statistics in the last few months, so clearly has a lot on its plate. 

Things may or may not start to close down again, but if they do, hopefully things will improve soon. I'll try to announce any developments as they happen, but if you're in a family history society wanting a plug for some news or events, feel free to drop me a note at chrismpaton@outlook.com.

Don't forget that if you are struggling on any fronts during this pandemic, I have a page with some handy lines that may help, at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/crisis-lines.html.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

National Library of Scotland's Kelvin Hall facility re-opens

The National Library of Scotland (www.nls.uk) has just re-opened its Kelvin Hall facility today in Glasgow, which includes the Moving Image Archive:

We have reopened the National Library at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow.

You can now visit between 10.00-16.00, Tuesdays to Saturdays, to consult digital resources and part of the Moving Image Archive collection.

We have health and safety measures in place, including social distancing, and you must wear a face covering unless you are exempt under Scottish Government guidelines.

For further details visit https://www.nls.uk/using-the-library/kelvin-hall

(Source: https://www.nls.uk/service-disruption)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Cavan Day 2020

From RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie):

Cavan Day 2020

The first-ever Cavan Day Saturday, 26th September is fast approaching and already messages are flooding in from all over the globe, with Cavan people and friends of the county from all corners of the globe sending well wishes to the worldwide Cavan family.

'Cavan Day' is an online celebration of Cavan, its people, its heritage, its friends and its global cultural imprint. Taking place in lieu of the planned 'Cavan Calling' festival, which will now take place in 2021, Cavan Day will see Cavan people, their descendants, and those with a fondness for the county, celebrate their connection to Cavan, maybe you can wear the Cavan colours of blue and white, fly the flag, make a short video and take to the world wide web to share messages, photos or treasured memories of what Cavan means to you. To learn more about this exciting day, please click here.

Yours Sincerely
rootsireland.ie 

(With thanks to RootsIreland via email)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FIBIS offers paperless membership option

From the Families in British India Society (www.fibis.org):

Paperless membership – £12 per year no matter where you live
by Valmay

Here at FIBIS, we understand that many of our members don’t necessarily want hard copies of the FIBIS Journal, so we now offer a paperless option for only £12. You will receive all the same benefits of membership as the regular UK, Europe, and Overseas membership options, but you will not receive hard copies of anything by post. When the FIBIS Journal is published you will download your copy as a PDF from the member’s area of the website. Notification that the Journal is ready for download will be posted on the FIBIS blog and our social media pages.

Find out more and join online (https://www.fibis.org/store/fibis-membership/fibis-membership/)

PLEASE NOTE: Existing members wishing to switch to the paperless membership will need to wait until their current subscription is due for renewal and cancel it before being able to purchase a paperless subscription. 

(With thanks to Valmay Young)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Ancestry rewrites Ireland's history

I don't normally read the region histories in the DNA section of Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk), but for some reason I decided to do so today.

Most of us from Ireland know that identity is definitely an issue that many struggle with in some form or another, and certainly the recent DNA ethnicity (admixture) changes have kept a few of us talking!

But lads - honestly, we might need to talk. You can't just go rewriting the history of Ireland for the craic, you're only going to go and upset someone!

According to Ancestry, this is how Ireland was planted with settlers from Britain - sorry, England:

I'm not going to give the history lesson here. Suffice to say, Ancestry, you might wish to take another look.

And whilst you're at it, it might be worth taking a look at the Scotland bit also. I'm fairly sure we make and drink whisky here - whiskey is very much Ireland's take on it! 

UPDATE: And I've just been alerted to the fact that Merthyr Tydfil in Wales apparently became a Welsh city between 1850 and 1875....! 

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

FindmyPast enhances collection search options

FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk) has enchanced its tool for locating collections of interest:

Finding the record collection you want is now easier than ever. With our new and improved list of all record sets, you can search by topic and filter by location and date range.

You can access this handy feature by selecting 'All record sets' on the Search menu when logged into the site.

For further details, and latest releases, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/migration-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Irish 2021 census postponed until 2022

In mid-July the National Records of Scotland announced that the 2021 Scottish census was to be postponed until 2022, due to the current coronavirus pandemic (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/07/coronavirus-moves-scotlands-next-census.html). Now the Republic of Ireland's Central Statistics Office has announced the same move - the Republic's 2021 census is to move to April 2022.

Here's the full announcement from the CSO:

Statement on the postponement of Census 2021

On the advice of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Government has today decided to postpone the 2021 Census to 03 April 2022.

Explaining the decision, Pádraig Dalton, Director General of the CSO said: “The Census of Population is a unique count of everyone present in Ireland on Census night and provides essential information for planning and decision making. It is vital that the Census enables everyone in Ireland to participate so that the information gathered reflects all of our needs and can be used to make decisions that benefit us all.

The decision to postpone the Census scheduled for 18 April 2021 until 03 April 2022 was not taken lightly and was based on a number of factors. Foremost in the decision making, was the need to ensure the safety of the general public and CSO field staff, coupled with the need to deliver a Census that achieves the highest possible response rate, across all facets of Irish society.

Furthermore, the Census of Population is a major logistical operation and COVID-19 restrictions have prevented or delayed many key planning activities from taking place over recent months.”

On consideration of these challenges the Government has decided to postpone the 2021 Census until April 2022 to enable the CSO to undertake a comprehensive, inclusive and safe Census in 2022 which will provide valuable and accurate data for our country in the years ahead.

As things stand, the censuses for Northern Ireland, England and Wales are still scheduled to be undertaken in 2021, but coronaviris may well yet derail that.

(Source: https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/pressreleases/2020pressreleases/pressstatementpostponementofcensus2021/)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Virtual British Institute - October 12th-14th 2020

I've been hard at work over the last three weeks preparing my talks for the forthcoming Virtual British Institute (https://www.isbgfh.com/Virtual-British-Institute), which will take place from October 12th-14th online. Here's the short description of what to expect:

Due to Covid-19 the 2020 British Institute will be virtual. Each presenter will introduce topics they will cover in 2021, so you can begin your research while at home. Basic through intermediate levels of instruction will be offered in four 'live' presentations with 'live' question and answer time. From the comfort of your home access a full syllabus highlighting relevant record groups. Courses will run consecutively, so take one or all three from Oct. 12 - 14.

We are offering the following courses:

Tracing Your Irish Family History on 12 Oct 2020
Chris Paton

English Research: Fundamentals and Beyond on 13 Oct 2020
Paul Milner (further details at https://www.isbgfh.com/page-18079)

Hidden Treasures in Welsh Family History on 14 Oct 2020
Darris Williams (further details at https://www.isbgfh.com/page-18078)

As can be seen, I'll be kicking off on the Monday with four Irish themed sessions, each at 90 minutes in length, and broken down as follows:

TRACING YOUR IRISH ANCESTORS

CHRIS PATON

Monday, October 12th

1. Church and State: Ireland's vital records
This session will explore how to locate ancestors in Ireland using the civil registration records of births, marriages and deaths from 1845 and 1864 onwards, both online and in Ireland itself, as held at both the GROI in Roscommon and the GRONI in Belfast. It will also examine how to understand and utilize the records, and to appreciate their strengths and limitations.

Chris will then look at the various church denominations in Ireland, how they were structured, and the types of records they kept. He will explore how to locate surviving material, to equally identify what has not survived (and why), and to understand where Protestant and Catholic Ireland occasionally overlapped, with the role of the Church of Ireland as the state church.

Where gaps in such records exist, Chris will further discuss how other sources may be able to provide alternative information to plug those gaps, including resources in Britain.

2. Irish land records
In this session Chris will provide an understanding of the administrative boundaries within which various records were created and gathered in Ireland, look at how to locate places mentioned in records in Ireland, and to understand what those place names might mean.

He will also provide an introductory overview of the key land records available for ancestral research - the surviving censuses and census substitutes, the records of land valuation and taxation (including 19th century tithe applotment book and Griffith's Valuation), the Registry of Deeds, the value of estate records – and of course, how to find them, both online and in the island's many archives.

3. Daily life in Ireland
As well as the basic resources to establish the genealogy of our families, additional record sets exist that document their role and status in society, and often their fate.

In this session Chris will look at additional resources that can place our families in context, including, for example, freeholders lists and absent voters lists, the administration of the poor law and the role of the poorhouse in Ireland, and education records.

He will also look at surviving judicial records and the records of law enforcement, and provide a flavour of what might be out there, by exploring a case study of a 19th century murder which unblocked a genealogical brick wall, and pushed a family narrative back a hundred years to the mid 18th century.

4. The Decade of Centenaries
From 1912-1923 a dramatic transformation occurred in Ireland, culminating with the Partition of the island into the two constitutional territories in existence today. In this session Chris will explore the dramatic events of the period, which are today being commemorated north and south of the island as the 'Decade of Centenaries'.

These include the struggle for Home Rule and the defiance of the Ulster Covenant, workers' rights and the Dublin Lockout of 1913, the Suffragette campaign for the enfranchisement of women, the pause on all fronts created by the First World War, and the subsequent sacrifices made in the British Empire's name. During the turmoil, Ireland experienced its Easter Rising, which led towards a constitutional turning point, with the Conscription crisis, the subsequent War of Independence against British rule, the Partition of Ireland into two administrative territories, and the resultant tragedy of the Irish Civil War.

So yeah, I'm a little busy just now pulling it all together (three down, one to go!), but it should be a lot of fun!

There are still spaces available - for further details, and to sign up, please visit https://www.isbgfh.com/Virtual-British-Institute - and I'll hopefully see you there!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

The Family History Show Online - 26th September 2020

News of an online event coming soon down south:

The Family History Show, Online returns 26th September 2020

The Family History Show, Online, run by Discover Your Ancestors, returns on Saturday 26th September 2020 in place of the London Family History Show for this year. Building on the huge success of the first online Family History Show in June, where over a thousand attendees enjoyed a great day, the next one is on track to be even better!

Online access means that we are all able to safely enjoy many of the usual features of the physical show from wherever we are in the world, as well as making it possible for those that have disabilities to easily attend.

The Family History Show, Online will, mirroring the format of the very successful live shows, feature an online lecture theatre, the popular ‘Ask the expert’ area – where you can put questions forward to their specialists – as well as over 100 stalls where you can ask for advice as well as buy genealogical products.

Q&A Expert Session

Attendees are invited to submit questions via the website and a selection will be put forward to the panel in a multiuser Zoom session that is streamed on a linked video channel for the show.

Visit stalls and chat

To make this online experience as useful to family historians as attending the physical show would have been, you can “visit” a stall in the virtual exhibition hall. With over 100 present there will be a wide variety of societies and companies.

Built into the website is the ability to talk to some of the stallholders by text, audio or video from the comfort of your own home. With this facility, you can ask them for advice regarding their family history society or discuss their organisation and also purchase from their online stall various downloadable and physical products to help you with your research.

Lectures

In the virtual lecture theatre there will be the chance to watch new talks from the same expert lecturers who would have been at the physical event and are on the ‘Ask the Expert’ panel. These presentations will cover a wide variety of family history topics from DNA to how to find family information in military records. All of these videos are subtitled.

Feedback from the last Family History Show, Online:

“The Exhibitor Hall, with the video chat and Question Feed, and details and links to their products, etc. Your show is a very close, and in some ways better, reproduction of the live event, and I’m looking forward to attending next year’s event.” Scott Barker

“I know the actual shows are great, but for us not able to get there, these online days are ideal. I put aside time to listen and it felt like a 'day away' from the usual routine. Well done and thank you.” Ruth Owen

“I understand there must have been a lot of planning for the event under such tricky circumstances and it was absolutely superb in the end. Thank you very much for a really good day, your experts were helpful and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing their advice and information.” Sue Farley

Thank you so much for a great show. Learnt a lot and the experts were very interesting to listen to. Special thanks to Amelia Bennett. Looking forward to September. Keep safe” Irene Baldock

Tickets to attend the next online Family History Show on 26th September 2020 are available now for just £6.00 each (£8.00 on the day). All ticket holders will also receive a digital Goody Bag worth over £10 on the day.

To find out more about The Family History Show, Online and buy your ticket visit https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online/

(Via email)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.