China Families website

One of the benefits of teaching courses is that students occasionally provide you with updates about sources you have previously used! I've just been alerted to a project that I have previously used in the past, which is now on a new site.

The China Families website might be of interest if your family worked in China between 1850 and 1940 - www.chinafamilies.net. This includes records of over 60,000 men and women, including Customs Service staff.

From the site:

Welcome to China Families. On this site you can find a growing body of information about men and women of many different nationalities, professions and ages, who lived and worked in China between the 1850s and 1940s.

These records have been drawn from government department lists, legal and diplomatic records, cemetery lists, and during research undertaken for a number of projects on the history of modern China and of the foreign relations of China.

The resources on it were previously hosted on the University of Bristol's Chinese Maritime Customs Project. Particularly useful are the annual directories at https://www.chinafamilies.net/directories/.

For the university's Chines Maritime Project, visit http://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/customs/.

And for Hong Kong connections, check out https://gwulo.com/hong-kong-cemeteries

(With thanks to MelanieH!)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

New look website for WDYTYA? magazine

Who Do You Think You Are? magazine has a new website, with the address remaining the same as the previous site at www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com.

Commenting on the new look, the magazine's editor Sarah Williams stated "We’re delighted to be moving to a new platform that will enable us to add even more content to help family historians across the globe. As well as our usual news stories and tutorials we will be adding some of our popular Q&As and inspirational real life stories. It will also remain the premier destination for anyone interested in the TV series."

A casualty of the new platform is the site's former discussion forum - but a replacement has been launched by readers at Who When Where Genealogy www.whowhenwheregenealogy.org.uk. (Amongst the new topic areas catered for, many posts from the last year of the magazine's forum have been archived, found via the Read This First section).

For more on the story, and to explore the new site, visit www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/who-do-you-think-you-are-magazine-launches-new-look-website/

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Availability on PharosTutors courses in July and August

In addition to my Scottish courses (see https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2020/06/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-old-parish.html), the following courses are also running on Pharos Tutors in July and August, and still have availability:

Before the Modern Census - Name-rich sources from 1690 to 1837 (381)
Tutor: Else Churchill
Course Length: 4 weeks
Start Date: 28 Jul 2020
Unassessed Cost: £45.99
Assessed Cost: £61.00

What do you do when the nominal census records that you have used so much are no longer there, when you cannot obtain names, ages, birthplaces and the household address of a family? And how do you supplement the deficiencies of parish registers?

Your attention should turn to a variety of lists which at least reveal where someone lived at a particular time. Though this seems scant information, such facts can be vitally important especially in those years when children were not born and christened.

Over four lessons you will learn about the introduction of newspapers, the earliest efforts at census taking, and what other records are considered to be useful census substitutes. Census substitutes are often quite local in scope and purpose. Many will be explained and advice will be given on how to search for local lists. You will come away with an understanding of how to make the most of census substitutes, some new online search skills, and an ability to assess and access these sources.

Lesson Headings:

Different world, different sources
The first enumerations, 1801 - 1831
Landowners, Traders and Freemen
Census substitutes and name-rich lists

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat session per week See How the Courses Work.

Relevant Countries: England & Wales


In Sickness and in Death - researching the ill-health and death of your ancestors (240)
Tutor: Janet Few
Course Length: 5 weeks
Start Date: 12 Aug 2020
Cost: £49.99

One thing that all but our most recent ancestors have in common is that they are dead. The health problems and deaths of our ancestors are an integral part of our family’s history. This five week course will help you to set your ancestors’ lives in context by looking at the illnesses, disabilities and diseases that brought about their deaths or had an effect on their well-being. We shall discover a variety of records that might provide information about ill-health or causes of death for specific ancestors, or about prevalent threats to health in the past. The causes, symptoms and treatment of various illnesses will be investigated and significant medical developments of the last 400 years will be explored.

Lesson Headings:

Lesson One - Records for finding causes of death and instances of ill-health
Lesson Two - Epidemics and Infectious Diseases
Lesson Three - Treatments and Cures
Lesson Four - Effects of Industrialisation and Working Conditions on Health
Lesson Five - Deaths by Other Means

Relevant Countries: England

Further details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=240

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Scottish Indexes conference to take place on July 11th

The next Scottish Indexes conference will take place online on Saturday July 11th. Here's the team's announcement:

Scottish Indexes Conference - 11 July 2020

Plans are well under way for the next Scottish Indexes conference, which will be held on Saturday 11 July 2020.

To register for this free genealogy conference simply join our to watch the live stream. If you are not on Facebook you can register on Zoom.

More presentations will be announced in the coming days, but here are a few highlights:

"Techniques for Solving Genealogy Problems" by Kirsty Wilkinson genealogist and author of 'Finding Your Scottish Ancestors: Techniques for Solving Genealogy Problems'

"Getting the best out of the NLS maps website" by Chris Fleet, Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland

"Uncovering the Collections of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh" by Daisy Cunynghame, Archivist at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

"Tips and Tricks for Getting the Best out of www.scottishindexes.com" by Emma Maxwell, Genealogist at Scottish Indexes

For further details, please visit www.scottishindexes.com

Looks a great gig!

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th

Although the Scottish Research Online course is currently half way through its second run this year, the next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course kicks off in a couple of weeks time on July 6th 2020 for a further five week run. If you're looking for a way to learn a little bit more each week about your favourite subject, why not sign up?!  

Here's the description:

This is an intermediate level course in Scottish family history for those who are going back beyond 1850. You should have some experience with research in the Old Parochial Registers (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland and in using major websites for Scottish research. This course discusses sources that fill the gap when the OPRs are uninformative or missing; for example, records of parish and town administration, occupations, land transfer and taxation. Using these records involves several different locations. You will learn how to check online finding aids and how to find the most effective way to obtain records that may be available online or offline. This is the second course on Scottish research. If you have not taken Scottish Research Online please check its description.

Lesson Headings:

* Kirk Sessions records and parish poor
* Burgh records and town poor
* Occupations, taxation and early lists
* Land transfer and the value of sasines
* Land, inheritance and estates

Each lesson includes exercises and activities; a minimum of 1 one-hour chat session per week. (See How the Courses Work at https://www.pharostutors.com/howcourseswork.php.)

STUDENTS SAID: "well structured chats with opportunities for questions as well"

Relevant Countries: Scotland
Course Length: 5 Weeks
Start Date: 4 May 2020
Cost: £49.99

The following video also gives a bit more of a flavour about what to expect:

(Available also at https://youtu.be/1vX6GZtwZJ0)

For further details, and to sign up, please visit https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302.

Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers has been designed as a follow on course from the Scottish Research Online course, although it can certainly be signed up for if you already have the same level of knowledge as given from the earlier course.

If you have missed the first two runs of Scottish Research Online this year, the next course will run from August 31st. You can find more about this course, and sign up for it, at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.

I'll hopefully see you online soon!

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

New chapter for Australia's Trove platform

From the National Library of Australia's Trove team (https://trove.nla.gov.au):

Trove unveils its next chapter
Media release - 26 June 2020

Trove, Australia’s online treasure chest of cultural and historical wonders, turned the page to its next chapter today.

‘Trove brings together voices and stories from every corner of the country and provides free access to those resources - to everyone, wherever they are. With a new design and improved search options the updated Trove provides easier access to knowledge for everyone,’ said Dr Marie-Louise Ayres, Director-General of the National Library of Australia.

‘The global COVID-19 pandemic has brought the way we access information into sharp focus. Trove has proven to be invaluable to its visitors now more than ever, providing trusted information and welcome diversion during a moment in history when it’s never been more important to have insights and discovery at your fingertips,’ said Dr Ayres.

‘We are delighted with the announcement by the Federal Government today that it will provide an additional $8 million in funding over the next two years to support the ongoing development of Trove,’ said Dr Ayres.

This new stage of Trove is the culmination of a four-year modernisation and digitisation project led by the National Library of Australia and supported with $16 million over four years by the Australian Government. Millions of pages of content have also been added to Trove as part of this project.

‘The Federal Government is proud to support Trove, which is a critical national resource preserving our culture for all to access and explore,’ said Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP.

‘The National Library and its partner network are to be commended on maintaining, building and contributing to an accessible and free online resource of such cultural and historical significance for all Australians,’ said Minister Fletcher.

Created in consultation with over 3,000 Australians, the new-look Trove is accessible and user-friendly, featuring a modern and intuitive design that makes it easier to explore, find and share stories about Australia. New measures have been taken to improve the cultural safety of Trove for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Whether people have a cultural curiosity, a passion for history or a special research project to delve into, the billions of treasures in Trove can be accessed for free, by anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Be part of Trove’s next chapter, today – search and explore collective wonder.

About Trove

Trove is Australia’s online culture and research portal. Bringing together content from the National Library of Australia, State and Territory libraries, and hundreds of other libraries, cultural and research institutions around Australia, it provides a single point of entry to a treasure trove of national voices and stories.

Offering free access to approximately 6.5 billion records from Australia’s recent and distant past, Trove welcomes over 68,000 users from across the nation and around the world each day. For example, Trove includes 1,514 digitised newspaper titles, digital copies of Banjo Paterson’s original manuscript of Waltzing Matilda, an architect's model of the Sydney Opera House, the voice of Lionel Rose, radio stories from the ABC chronicling the first mentions of that marvellous new invention wi-fi, and former Prime Minister John Howard’s wood-panelled 1998 website.

Trove is a useful resource for anyone with a hobby, passion, or research project; and is also a valuable source of information for the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) and Culturally & Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.

The new chapter of Trove makes the preservation, exploration and discovery of Australia’s history, news and culture even easier to explore.

Dive into Trove at https://trove.nla.gov.au

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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 adds further English Catholic records

The latest additions to FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
We’ve added over 213,000 exclusive records from the Archdiocese of Southwark to this collection.

England Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records
Once you’ve found your ancestors' baptism records, it’s time to find the next religious milestone in their life - their confirmation. To help, we’ve added over 126,000 Southwark confirmation records to this congregational collection.

England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages
We’ve added almost 52,000 exclusive marriage registers from the Archdiocese of Southwark.

England Roman Catholic Parish Burials
The new Southwark Catholic collection is rounded-off with burial records from 54 parishes, over 378,000 of them.

England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717
Adding to our Catholic releases this week, we've digitised these unique records from The National Archives in Kew. The collection comprises 211 pieces from the FEC 1 series covering the Forfeited Estates Commission, abstracts of estates of Popish recusants. Abstracts of estates usually incorporate alphabetical lists of convicted recusants registered in various counties and towns in England and Wales. The returns include those estates which were described in the register, but for which no valuation was given.

Catholic records Rebellion of 1715
Included is a large collection of deeds and other documents produced before the Commissioners of the Forfeited Estates and relating to estates attainted during the Rebellion of 1715.

Canada, Saskatchewan Vital Records Birth Index
Over 64,000 birth records from the province of Saskatchewan have been added to our Canadian record collection.

Canada, Saskatchewan Vital Records Death Index
This week's Canadian records update is completed with over 55,000 death records from Saskatchewan.

Newspapers
This week, we're bringing you two brand new newpaper titles, along with updates to two existing publications. Brand new to our newspaper collection are:

Beeston Gazette and Echo covering the years 1913-1938 and 1940
Maidenhead Advertiser covering the years 1870, 1872 and 1874-1912

While more pages have been added to:

Dundee Courier covering the years 1986, 1988 and 1990-1991
Derby Daily Telegraph from 1987

Further information and links at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/catholic-and-canadian-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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 Archives of Ireland to reopen on Monday 29th June

The National Archives of Ireland (www.nationalarchives.ie) has made the following announcement on its website:

The National Archives will re-open to the public on a limited, appointment-only basis from Monday June 29th.

Please check back to this website later in the week to book your appointment online.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

My latest book is now on sale by Gould Genealogy in Australia

My latest book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet is now available to buy in Australia, from Gould Genealogy in Adelaide. Here's the announcement:

Chris Paton's latest best-seller "Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet" has arrived!!

Jam packed with links to all the Scottish websites you're likely to need, this is a must have book for anyone who has Scottish ancestors.

Details on our website www.gould.com.au

The book, of course, also remains available to buy in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/17717

(With thanks to Alona Tester)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Libraries, museums and tourism provisionally set to re-open from July 15th

Our First Minister has given a statement today at the Scottish Parliament indicating the next steps of the process to come out of lockdown, including provisional dates, subject to further progress in suppressing the virus.

For the family historian, and associated disiplines, the following are some of the key measures as announced by Nicola Sturgeon in the updated routemap, in her words:

I can confirm that, on 3 July, it is our intention to lift the guidance advising people in Scotland to travel no more than 5 miles for leisure and recreation purposes.

And although the tourism sector will not open fully until the 15 July, we intend that self-contained holiday accommodation – for example holiday cottages and lodges, or caravans where there are no shared services - can open from 3 July.

We intend that from 10 July, households will be able to meet people from more households outdoors - with physical distancing. I will confirm the details of that in my 2 July update.

From 15 July, we intend that a household will be able to meet indoors with people from up to two other households, subject to physical distancing and strict hygiene measures .

As we have indicated, the tourism sector generally - and therefore all holiday accommodation - can re-open from 15 July. We intend that indoor locations such as museums, galleries, monuments, cinemas and libraries will also be able to reopen from that date, but with precautions in place - for example, tickets being secured in advance – and of course subject to physical distancing and strict hygiene.

The First Minister's full speech is available on the Government's website at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-update-first-ministers-speech-24-june-2020/.

COMMENT: It looks likely that libraries and museums will re-open on a restricted basis to begin with, perhaps with ticketed bookings and social distancing measures in place, and no mention was made of archives within the statement. I will obviously update as and when such announcements begin to appear.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

RootsIreland adds North Mayo records

RootsIreland (www.rootsireland.ie) has announced further records for North Mayo:

We are delighted to announce the addition of over 67,000 Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist burial registers and gravestone inscriptions, along with tithe applotment records to our database at www.rootsireland.ie/mayo

Roman Catholic Burial Registers

Ardagh: 1919-1970
Ballycastle: 1918-31
Crossmolina: 1918-70
Kilcommon Erris: 1922-32
Kilfian: 1918-70
Kilmoremoy/Ballina: 1907-21

Church of Ireland Burial Registers

Binghamstown: 1802-23
Ballysakeary: 1882-92
Crossmolina: 1769-1900
Killala: 1758-1920
Kilmoremoy: 1770-1920
Mullafarry: 1849-53

Tithe Applotment Books: 1810-38

Achill
Addergoole
Ardagh
Attymas
Ballynahaglish
Ballysakerry
Bohola
Burrishoole
Crossmolina
Doonfeeny
Kilbelfad
Kilbride
Kilcommon
Kilconduff
Kilfian
Kilgarvan
Killala
Killasser
Kilmore erris
Lackem
Meelick
Moygownagh
Rathreagh
Templemore
Templemurry
Toomore

In addition, the site has uploaded inscriptions from 98 graveyards in the region - for the full list, visit https://www.rootsireland.ie/2020/06/new-north-mayo-records/

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Statement from Glasgow Life on future services restoration

The following has just been tweeted from the Glasgow City Archives Twitter account at @GC_Archives:

"@ScotGov has said culture, sport & leisure services may re-open in #phase3. In line with this, our focus is on planning for the reopening of some venues to the public during this phase & we’ll share details in due course. For our latest updates, visit https://bit.ly/2U6usMg"

I have since had it clarified that the tweet was in fact made on behalf of Glasgow Life (www.glasgowlife.org.uk), the charitable body that delivers cultural, sporting and learning activities on behalf of Glasgow City Council, and which includes the management of the city's museums, libraries and archive provision, amongst them the Mitchell Library, home to Glasgow City Archives. The link given in the tweet leads to the following statement issued by Glasgow Life today:

Since lockdown began, Glasgow Life has received hundreds of enquiries about which of our venues and facilities will be reopening and when. This has only continued to increase in recent weeks as we move through the Scottish Government’s phased approach to easing lockdown restrictions.

This statement clarifies Glasgow Life’s current position and summarises the significant financial and other challenges we face in re-starting services.

Within its route-map, the government has outlined phase three as the period when culture, sport and leisure services may begin to re-open more fully. In line with this, our focus is on planning for the re-opening of some of our venues to the public during this phase.

As it has been from the outbreak of the pandemic, protecting our staff and customers remains our priority, and we’re continuing to be led by the government’s guidance to ensure safety is firmly at the heart of our plans. We will need significantly more staff than before to be on site at all of our venues to ensure government guidance on physical distancing is followed.

Glasgow Life is one of Scotland’s largest charities, and Covid-19 has had a considerable impact on our operations to the extent that the financial and staffing constraints we’re now facing are unprecedented.

We have nearly 1,000 staff on furlough and many more with shielding, underlying health or childcare issues; further reducing our staff availability. While the government’s Job Retention Scheme will hopefully provide some financial relief, it will not compensate fully for the significant losses we’re anticipating this financial year, which will run to tens of millions of pounds.

Glasgow City Council has agreed to support us financially to ensure our long-term sustainability and we’re doing all we can to mitigate these losses, including engaging fully in a number of national and local recovery forums to map a way forward.

However, the impact of Covid-19 means that we will have to review and prioritise which venues and services we can restart or reopen and when. We will be working in partnership with the council to do this over the weeks and months to come, but there are no easy solutions and it is very unlikely that Glasgow Life will be able to return to anything like its normal service provision in the near future.

We will continue to put the safety of the public and our staff at the forefront of any decisions we take and we will share more details about what we expect will be a phased approach to the reopening of some of our services and venues in due course.

Quite what the impact of this on the city's museums, libraries and archives sector will be remains to be seen, but hopefully we will learn more soon as we head towards Phase 3 of the programme to exit from the current lockdown.

(With thanks to Glasgow City Archives)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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 adds WW1 medical records and Royal and Imperial calendars

This week's releases on FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records
Over 2,000 new records have been added to this unique collection. This collection comprises The National Archives’ series, MH106, War Office: First World War Representative Medical Records of Servicemen. Only a sample of the original medical records was retained.

Britain, Royal and Imperial Calendars 1767-1973
We’ve added over 1.2 million records to this unique collection of records from The National Archives. These records provide a valuable resource for tracing the whereabouts and careers of persons employed in various posts in Britain's public sphere from the 1800s to 1973. As quoted in the 1809 Calendar, it contains; "accurate lists of all the official departments of state, and branches of public service; the law; the church; national or commercial companies and institutions; and many additional articles of public utility." The later calendars from the 20th century evolved to include the Civil Service List and additional departments such as Home Office and Treasury.


England BillionGraves Cemetery Index
More than 106,000 records have been added to our cemetery index for England.

Nicaragua Civil Registration 1809-2011
Discover your Central American roots with over 287,000 new civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths from Nicaragua. Brought to you in partnership with FamilySearch

Newspapers
This week, we've updated five titles in our newspaper collection as follow:

Cornish Guardian covering the years 1901-1906, 1908-1910, 1912-1949 and 1951-1971
Chester Courant covering the years 1747, 1755, 1757-1758, 1760-1761, 1763, 1767-1770, 1776, 1786-1793, 1831, 1833-1860, 1862-1866, 1868-1871, 1873-1876, 1878, 1880-1888, 1890-1895 and 1898-1899
Dundee Courier from 1991
Crewe Chronicle covering the years 1973-1974
Truth covering the years 1877 and 1879-1881
Manchester Evening News1906, 1909

For further details and links, visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/british-nicaraguan-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Scotland enters Phase 2 out of coronavirus lockdown

The Scottish Government (www.gov.scot) has today announced steps to help ease us further back towards normality, as the number of coronavirus cases continues to fall. The following are the key steps announced:

From Friday 19 June:
• Those advised to shield will be able to take part in non-contact activities such as golf, angling, kayaking, and meet members of another household outdoors, up to a suggested maximum of eight in the group. Most importantly in both instances, strict physical distancing of two meters must be followed at all times, and they should wash their hands for at least 20 seconds when they return home
• A household not shielding can meet two other households, outside, up to a suggested maximum of eight people in the group
• Those visiting another household in a private garden will be permitted to use the household toilet, with increased hygiene measures urged. This does not include a household of someone who is shielding
• Single person households, including single parents households with children under the age of 18, will be able to form an extended household with another
• People should continue to stay in their local area as much as possible and should not travel more than around five miles for leisure or recreation

From Monday 22 June
• Construction sector to implement remaining stages of their own phased return
• Dental practices open to see patients with urgent care needs
• Resumption of professional sport, following public health advice
• Places of worship open for individual prayer and contemplation
• Limited College and University staff return for essential preparations for re-opening in Phase 3
• Mandatory face coverings on public transport (please see Transport Scotland for more detail)
• Accommodation can be provided for workers whose workplaces are open in the relevant phase and who need to stay away from home for work

From Monday 29 June
• Indoor non-office workplaces (including factories, warehouses and labs) can resume once relevant guidance is implemented. This does not include non-essential office, call-centre, culture, leisure and hospitality premises
• Restrictions of house moves relaxed
• Public gardens and zoos can open but should remain limited to local access only in this phase
• Outdoor sports courts reopen
• Playgrounds can reopen
• Registration offices can open for priority tasks
• Marriages and civil partnerships allowed with minimal attendees outside
• Street-access retail can re-open once guidance is implemented. Interiors of shopping malls/centres remain closed for non-essential shops until Phase 3
• Reintroduction of some chronic disease management
• Phased resumption of some screening services
• Phased safe resumption of essential optometry and ophthalmology services
• Outdoor markets can reopen once guidance is implemented

Scaling up throughout Phase 2
• Public transport will increase services. Capacity will remain constrained due to physical distancing requirements – and active travel remains the preferred mode of travel.
• Increase in health care provisions for pent up demand, urgent referrals and triage of routine services
• Planning with COSLA and partners to support and, if needed, review social care and care home services
• Priority referrals to secondary care
• Public services will continue to resume and scale up, including services such as visiting support to Housing First Tenants and the resumption of area-based energy efficiency schemes

For further information on the Phase 2 Route Map, visit https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-framework-decision-making-scotlands-route-map-through-out-crisis-phase-2-update/.

Comment: From a family history point of view, family reunions are now going to be a little easier, and some life events such as marriages and civil partnerships will soon be performed, albeit with restrictions. It is envisaged that from July 15th the tourism sector will begin to re-open, and when we head into Phase 3, I suspect that we will see some limited reopening of facilities such as libraries and archives. I was briefed a couple of days ago about the reopening of my son's school from August 11th, and he will be attending for 2 days a week with home schooling providing the balance for the other three days.

From Monday 22nd June, face coverings will be compulsory on all public transport, and in two weeks, quite possibly within shops also (there is a consultation on that just now).

We're getting there Scotland, cautiously, and safely - although we can't be complacent.

Stay safe, protect others, save lives.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

Deceased Online buy one get one free offer this weekend

From DeceasedOnline (https://deceasedonline.com):

Buy One Get One Free on Deceased Online This Weekend

We're delighted to offer our newsletter subscribers Buy One Get One Free on voucher purchases at www.deceasedonline.com. The offer runs from now until midday on Monday 22nd June 2020.

To take advantage of the offer, add vouchers to your basket and click "add promotions code"

Enter the code JUN20BOGOF and click "add to basket"

Then complete your voucher purchase as normal and your free vouchers will be added to your account.

Upcoming Records

We're working hard on processing more than 4,000,000 burial and cremation records from authorities in London, the West and East Midlands, and the South East of England.
Watch out for our newsletters to discover when new records are released.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

TheGenealogist adds more headstone inscriptions from England

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

TheGenealogist adds nearly 53,000 new Headstone records

This week TheGenealogist has expanded its growing International Headstone Collection with some interesting new additions that allow researchers to see details that have been carved on stone about their ancestors and commemorated in various churches and cemeteries. The headstone records released cover 71 new cemeteries from the English and Welsh counties of Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Devon, Dorset, Essex, Flintshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Merionethshire, Merseyside, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

The International Headstone Collection is an ongoing project where every stone photographed or transcribed earns volunteers credits, which they can spend on subscriptions at TheGenealogist.co.uk or products from GenealogySupplies.com. If you would like to join, you can find out more about the scheme at: https://ukindexer.co.uk/headstone/

These new records are all available as part of the Diamond Subscription at TheGenealogist.

You can read TheGenealogist’s article: Headstone Collection reveals the family history of the owners and staff of one of the most famous house and gardens in England
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/headstone-collection-reveals-the-family-history-of-the-owners-and-staff-of-one-of-the-most-famous-house-and-gardens-in-england-1266/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

PRONI update, plus Unlocking Ulster's Archives event

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni) has issued a short news update on future plans:

PRONI & COVID-19

Due to COVID-19, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland remains closed to the public until further notice.

We have had to cancel all on site events but are working hard to create a package of virtual engagement activities which will take place over the coming months. The first is Unlocking Ulster’s Archives on 9 July, detailed below. Our other events will be included in future editions of the PRONI Express and online at www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni.

A range of digitised records, databases and other resources remain available online at www.nidirect.gov.uk/proni.

Unlocking Ulster’s Archives

A digital event hosted by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, in conjunction with Beyond 2022
9 July 2020, 2pm to 3.30pm

30 June 2022 marks the centenary of the explosion and fire at the Four Courts, Dublin, which destroyed the Public Record Office of Ireland (PROI) and, with it, centuries of Ireland’s collective memories.

Combining historical research, archival discovery and technical innovation, the Beyond 2022 project are collaborating with PRONI to offer a lasting and meaningful legacy, by illuminating seven centuries of Irish history.

Join PRONI online on 9 July to discover how a virtual reconstruction of the Record Treasury destroyed in 1922 will be of value to both local historians and genealogists. Those involved in the project will describe the extent of the loss of PROI materials in 1922, and will reveal what types of materials they have already rediscovered.

This digital event will be available online by invitation only. Details will be sent to you upon registering your interest.

To register, simply email PRONI at proni@communities-ni.gov.uk

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

NLS adds further estate maps and plans online

The National Library of Scotland has added further estate maps and plans to its online mapping platform at https://maps.nls.uk:

Manuscript estate maps of Scotland, 1730s-1920s

We have added 300 new estate plans of Scotland. These maps were hand-drawn or with manuscript annotations, and are primarily from the earlier era of estate mapping in Scotland in the 18th century. Most relate to particular landed estates, including Cadell of Grange in West Lothian, Gartmore in Stirlingshire, Johnston of Coubister in Orkney, Lynedoch in Perthshire, Minto in Roxburghshire, and Pitfirrane in Fife, with maps deposited as part of larger written collections held in our Manuscripts Department. These maps often show the detail of rural areas, and illustrate a variety of purposes: the division of common land, the planning of new roads, farming and woodland, coal mining, the creation of designed gardens and landscapes, planned villages, architectural reconstruction, and the reclamation of foreshore.

• View these maps with a graphic index of Scotland.
• Home page - estate plans of Scotland, 1730s-1950s
• View a table of specific map additions (ordered by county and parish)

New estate plans of Scotland, 1730s-1940s

We have added 145 new estate plans of Scotland online. Most of these maps were printed, and are from the later era of estate mapping in Scotland in the 19th century. These are often very detailed maps of rural areas which quantify land and resources. They show the acquisition and sale of land and estates, the feuing of land for building, legal cases settling disputes relating to fishing, mining, and roads, and various other planned rural developments. Many of these maps are folded, fragile or from special collections, that have only recently been possible to scan. We are working on earlier manuscript estate maps of Scotland, which will be added online soon.

• View these maps with a graphic index of Scotland.
• Home page - estate plans of Scotland, 1730s-1940s

For further releases this year visit https://maps.nls.uk/additions.html#87.

Chris

My next 5 week Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts July 6th - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302. My next 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.

JSTOR extends free access to articles

From JSTOR (http://jstor.org):

We've expanded our free online reading program until the end of 2020: You can read 100 articles for free online every month, without institutional affiliation.

Just create a JSTOR account and start exploring. http://jstor.org

NB: JSTOR provides access to over 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources from many academic disciplines - there is plenty in there to keep the family historian busy!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

Change in Ownership at Pharos Tutors

From Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd (www.pharostutors.com):

Press Release: Pharos Tutors under new ownership

Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd has been purchased by Dr Karen Cummings DipGen, with the change in ownership effective immediately.

Helen Osborn, co-founder and owner of the business since its inception in 2005, has sold the business to allow her to focus on other interests.

Karen Cummings, who has been the Course Director for Pharos since October last year, is an established genealogist, tutor and speaker. She is one of our longstanding tutors and has taught and written a number of Pharos courses over the last 6 years. Students who have been on Karen’s courses will testify to her enthusiasm about Pharos courses and the subjects she teaches.

Helen says “Pharos has been a large part of my life for 15 years and it now needs new vision and fresh enthusiasm to take it forwards. Karen shares my love of imparting the best genealogy tutoring and inspiration to all genealogists no matter where they are in their educational journey. She brings many skills to Pharos so I am really thrilled that she is stepping into my place. I know the company will not only be in safe hands, but will build on current successes and go from strength to strength.”

Karen says “When Helen told me she was thinking of selling Pharos I jumped at the opportunity to buy the company. I’ve been a student, a tutor and then the Course Director for Pharos and, as we were moving things forward, I was constantly reminded of that 1980s marketing campaign “I liked it so much I bought the company”. We have the most amazing group of Tutors here at Pharos, I am in exceptionally good company. Like the other tutors, I am passionate about delivering high quality courses to students, providing them with tools to become better genealogists, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions along the way. We have over forty different courses currently running and more in development, and I am very excited about taking Pharos forward into the future”.

This press release is also available in its entirety here: https://thepharosblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/pharos-tutors-under-new-ownership/

COMMENT: Helen has been very supportive at the helm ever since I started as a Pharos tutor back in 2009, and I'd like to take this opportunity to both thank her and to wish her well with future endeavours. Karen has already hit the ground running as course director, Pharos has a great future ahead of it!

And if you're interested - the next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers course starts on July 6th - details at https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=302 !

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

Father's Day discount offer from MyHistory

From MyHistory (www.my-history.co.uk):

20% off our Personalised products range.
Offer ends 4pm Thursday 18th June 2020.

Take advantage of this weeks offer for Father's day and get 20% off our Personalised products range from £9.56. The range includes personalised ceramic mugs, place mats, tote bags, framed family tree prints and springback binders. Please use code GIF620 at the cart.

Framed Family Charts https://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Family-Tree-Gifts.html
Personalised products https://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Gift-Tree.html

Please use code GIF620 at the cart to get the 20% discount.

Account customers - You will need to enter the discount code after you have logged in.

This offer will be replaced by a new offer at 4pm Thursday 18th June 2020

All the best with your continuing research.

Best Regards

Tony, Sharon, Stephen, Dave, Lucy, Louise, Sue and Ian

(With thanks to MyHistory)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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 adds Scottish Roman Catholic and electoral records

From FindmyPast (www.findmypast.co.uk):

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms
We’ve added almost 69,000 additional records to this collection, covering 11 parishes across Scotland.

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Congregational Records
We’ve added over 55,000 congregational records to our Scottish Roman Catholic collection. Congregational records include registers of confirmations and communion recipients, as well as parish lists, seat rentals, and lists of people who converted to Catholicism.

Scotland Roman Catholic Marriages
Over 27,000 new marriage records across 11 parishes.

Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Burials
The Scottish Roman Catholic collection is rounded off with brand new burial records from eight parishes, nearly 9,000 of them.

All of the latest additions to our Scottish Roman Catholic parish record collection have been provided by the Catholic National Endowment Trust Charity No. SCO 16650 (known as The Bishops' Conference of Scotland) and form part of our groundbreaking Catholic Heritage Archive.

Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers 1864-1931
We've added over a million names to this collection in partnership with the British Library. Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

Scotland BillionGraves Cemetery Index
More than 59,000 records have been added to our cemetery index for Scotland.

Newspapers
This week, we've added five brand new titles to our newspaper collection:

• Wakefield and West Riding Herald covering the years 1839, 1844, 1853-1871, 1873-1896 and 1898-1913
• South Yorkshire Times and Mexborough & Swinton Times covering the years 1877-1897, 1899-1942 and 1956-1959
• Link covering the years 1915-1921
• Wakefield Free Press covering the years 1860-1891 and 1894-1900
• Wakefield Advertiser & Gazettecovering the years 1906-1925

As well as those brand new editions, Cricket has been updated with pages from 1882-1913.

For further details and links visit https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/scottish-family-records

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

MyHeritage releases new photos enhancement tool

This looks to be another great innovation from MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

Introducing the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer
June 12, 2020 05:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time

TEL AVIV, Israel & LEHI, Utah--MyHeritage, the leading global service for discovering your past and empowering your future, announced today the release of the MyHeritage Photo Enhancer, a powerful new feature that brings blurry, low-resolution or low-quality photos into sharp focus. Photos are enhanced using specialized technology that produces outstanding, high-definition results.

The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer takes old or blurry photos and increases their resolution so that the faces that appear in them are crisp and well defined. The Photo Enhancer is powered by deep learning technology that was licensed by MyHeritage and seamlessly integrated into the company’s platform. It infers what the faces in the photos looked like with exceptional results. Enhancement is particularly useful for historical photos where the faces are often small and blurry, but works equally well on new color photos too. The feature works best on photos in which multiple people appear, and enhanced faces can be viewed one-by-one. The original photos remain intact and are not changed by the enhancement process, which creates separate versions alongside the originals.

“The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer joins a robust suite of technology-based features on MyHeritage that help people around the world connect with their family history in new and meaningful ways,” said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. “Following the recent success of our photo colorization feature, we saw photo enhancement as a natural next step, and are thrilled to integrate this technology into our family history platform. This addition makes MyHeritage the best platform for uploading, enhancing, and sharing historical photos, bar none. It also makes genealogy fun, as it should be.”

In February 2020, the company launched MyHeritage In Color™, an AI-based feature that colorizes black and white photos. The feature gained tremendous popularity, with 11.4 million photos colorized thus far and shared in abundance on social media. Enhancement and colorization complement one another, and users are invited to enhance photos that they’ve previously colorized, as well as other photos.

Integration with family trees

Millions of people around the world use the MyHeritage platform to explore their family history and digitally preserve their family photos. MyHeritage users have uploaded hundreds of millions of photos to the platform and enriched them with meta-data and tags, including the date, place, and individuals appearing in the photos. The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer provides users with a greater appreciation of their heritage through the scaled-up faces of their ancestors. Together with colorization, these innovative features delight users with new perspectives of their family history.

The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is available on the MyHeritage platform and on MyHeritage’s free mobile app for iOS and Android, which is the perfect tool for scanning and digitizing old photos in physical albums. Photos that are enhanced and/or colorized can easily be shared with family and friends on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other social media.

MyHeritage is committed to preserving the authenticity of historical documents, and therefore differentiates enhanced photos from the originals using a special embossed magic wand symbol in the bottom left corner of enhanced photos. In photos that were colorized, a similar palette symbol appears, and photos that were both enhanced and colorized feature both symbols side by side. This allows others to quickly determine if a photo has been modified. MyHeritage is strictly committed to the privacy of its users and ensures that photo enhancement and colorization take place exclusively on MyHeritage servers.

The MyHeritage Photo Enhancer is a freemium feature on MyHeritage. Ten photos may be enhanced for free, after which continued use of this feature requires a subscription.

Access the new tool at https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer

(With thanks to Daniel Horowitz)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

Scottish Indexes extends Dumbarton Sheriff Court paternity decree coverage

Scottish Indexes (http://scottishindexes.com) has added Dumbarton Sheriff Court 'paternity' decrees for the years 1896-1919.

For more on the records, and to see what else the team offer, visit https://www.scottishindexes.com/learningcourt.aspx.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

Online Family History Show on June 20th

From The Family History Show:

Visit the upcoming Online Family History Show

While, in these unprecedented times, we are not going to be able to meet as usual at York in England during this month for the customary Family History Show at the racecourse, the good news is that we are still going to be able to safely enjoy access to many of the usual features of the show. The Family History Show has announced that it will be coming to you as an online event on the 20th of June featuring a wide range of virtual stalls from family history societies to archives and genealogical suppliers.

The online event gives benefits other than safety, those from distant shores and those that have disabilities that make it difficult to attend, can now visit with relative ease.

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 a whole host of 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.

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 85 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/business and also purchase from their online stall various downloadable and physical products to help you with your research.

In the virtual lecture theatre, there will also be the chance to watch talks premiered on the show’s Youtube channel 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.

Tickets to attend the online Family History Show are available for just £5.50 each. 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/

(With thanks to Mark Bayley)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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 updates UK WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards collection

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has updated its UK, WWI Pension Ledgers and Index Cards,1914-1923 collection at https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61588/, with records for Officers Survived and Officers' Widows.

There is a free index to the collection on Ancestry, but the original records can only be viewed at www.Fold3.com.

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.

My talk: Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records

That was another great day with the Scottish Indexes (www.scottishindexes.com) team at their third conference, a wonderfully international affair with contributions from the US, Canada, Australia and Scotland. The good news is there will be another conference coming soon on July 11th, keep and eye out on Emma's and Graham's site at www.scottishindexes.com for further news soon, it sounds like there will be a lot more great talks on the horizon!

In the conference today I offered a copy of my latest book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, as a prize for whoever came up with the best question, as decided by yours truly. The winner of that is Anne Buchanan, who following Tahitia McCabe's excellent talk on referencing asked: "A cheeky question! Can one of the genealogists let us see examples of their notes when compiling a family tree, how do they take notes, is it handwritten, is the tree on paper, online, do they go back and forward to different family members?"

That question wins for the simple reason that I could see the look of fear that question generated in all my fellow panellists' eyes as it was read out! Speaking personally, believe me, you do not want to see my notes as an exemplar - I can only describe my personal route to generating research reports as being somewhat 'scenic'...! lol :) So well done Anne, a cheeky question wins a cheeky book!

If you missed my talk, you can see it below or at https://youtu.be/MoeMt-ButRc for the next week or so.

If you are interested in my latest book, it is available from https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Scottish-Family-History-on-the-Internet-Paperback/p/17717, and if interested in joining the latest Scottish Research Online course, which started today, please do visit https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102.

(With thanks to Graham and Emma Maxwell)

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts June 8th - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My next book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is out shortly, 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.