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.

New medical occupation records added to TheGenealogist

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

New Historical Medical Professionals added to the occupational records on TheGenealogist
Covering Doctors, Midwives, Opticians and medics in British India

At this time when we are all so very conscious of the work of our medical professionals in the face of the pandemic, TheGenealogist has released a set of new records for our medical ancestors who treated others in the course of their occupations in the time before the creation of the National Health Service.

It would have been a very different world from today in which these men and women worked. Before 1948 and the founding of the NHS, medical professionals were in private practice. The poorer members of society depended on charity and being assessed for what financial contribution they could make to their treatment.

TheGenealogist has added to its occupational records with a fascinating release that has a medical theme. From the time from before the NHS came into being, these name rich records covering Doctors, Midwives and Opticians can be searched by name and keywords. All of these practitioners would have been working at the time when the wealthy could afford the best treatment, while the poor went to hospital with the added shame that this held as these institutions were where the poor were predominantly treated.

Use these records to:

Discover Doctors etc. who served in India in The Madras Medical Register 1934
Find Medical Ancestors in The Medical Who's Who 1912
Seek out midwives in The Midwives Roll 1905
See optometrists names in the Institute of Ophthalmic Opticians, Official Directory, 1927

This latest release expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Occupational records collection that includes actors, apprentices, clergy, crew lists, directors, flight, freemen, law, railway, sports, teachers and biographies as well as other medical registers.

You can read the article, ‘Medical ancestors from before the NHS began’, here:
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/medical-ancestors-from-before-the-nhs-began-1262/

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

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 English, Welsh and Canadian records

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

England & Wales Electoral Registers 1920-1932
In partnership with the British Library, we’ve added over 16 million names to this collection. Voting lists are compiled annually of people who are eligible to vote and include their reason for eligibility, such as their residence or ownership of a property. You're likely to find your ancestor featured more than once. This invaluable record set includes those first entitled to vote after 1918 and is an excellent substitute for the lost 1931 England & Wales Census.

Britain, Histories & Reference Guides
A General and True History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, etc. has been added to our collection of publications relating to British history, heraldry, culture and genealogy.

Canadian Directories & Almanacs
433 additional volumes with over 353,000 images covering Newfoundland, Ontario and Toronto have been added to help research your Canadian ancestors. This collection of directories spans over a century from 1853 to 1975. Published as searchable PDF documents, using keywords and wildcard searches can help you pinpoint the record you're looking for.

Canada, Ontario, Toronto Emigrant Office Records Index
This new index includes over 29,000 names of those who received assistance to emigrate to Ontario between 1865 and 1883. Created by the Toronto Emigrant Office, there are four volumes of assisted immigration registers. The registers are a chronological listing of those new immigrants broken down as follows:

Volume 1: 3 January 1865 to 20 September 1870
Volume 2: 26 September 1870 to 31 July 1873 and 2 October 1874 to 29 December 1876
Volume 3: 1 January 1877 to 31 January 1883
Volume 4: 24 May 1873 to 2 October 1874

Newspapers
Two new publications and updates to other titles make for an exciting week of discoveries in our newspaper archives. Brand new to the collection this week are:

Colonies and India covering the years 1885-1898
Reveille covering the years 1940-1942 and 1946-1948

As well as those brand new editions, the following three papers have been updated:

Munster News covering the years 1916-1918 and 1920-1921
Penrith Observer covering the years 1905-1906
Sunday Mirror covering the years 1919-1938, 1947-1952, 1954-1955, 1957-1963, 1965-1975, 1977-1985 and 1987-1999


For further details and links visit www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/new/british-canadian-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.

National Library of Australia reopens for ticketed access

Good news for readers in Australia - the National Library of Australia (www.nla.gov.au) in Canberra has reopened from today. From the library:

Reopening the Library: step by step, together

We are delighted to be able to reopen the Library at 10am on 3 June 2020 for pre-booked ticketed access to our collections and eResources. The safety of our visitors and staff remains paramount, so a number of precautions will be in place.

Book your session

Booking is now open for three-hour ticketed access to use the Library’s collection material. Access is limited to 20 readers per session, and there are two sessions per day, Monday to Friday.

The session times are:

Morning session: 10 am to 1 pm
Afternoon session: 2 pm to 5 pm

Visitors can book a maximum of one session per day.

For further details visit https://www.nla.gov.au/stories/news/2020/05/29/step-by-step-reopening-together

By the way - it's a great facility!

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 introduces Cross-Language Record Matches

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

Introducing Cross-Language Record Matches

As many genealogists already know, MyHeritage is the website of choice for international genealogy, particularly in Europe. It is also extremely useful for U.S. genealogists whose ancestors arrived in the U.S. from other countries. This strength comes from the fact that MyHeritage is translated into 42 languages and is the most popular genealogy website in most non-English speaking countries, as well as having millions of international users who built family trees found only on MyHeritage, exclusive global record collections, and unique technology for overcoming language barriers.

We are working constantly to improve the technologies on MyHeritage even further and today, we’re delighted to announce a significant innovation: our Global Name Translation Technology™ has been extended to apply to Record Matches as well!

Individuals researching their heritage often face a language barrier when researching their ancestors who lived in another country. MyHeritage pioneered Global Name Translation Technology™ to help users overcome this barrier, by automatically translating names between languages. This unique capability, originally conceived by MyHeritage’s Founder and CEO, allows users to locate records that mention their ancestors in different and often unexpected languages (as well as in synonyms in each language). Initially, this was available in our search engine, SuperSearch™, and has now been extended to automatic Record Matches as well.

For example, if you search for an ancestor you know as Alexander, the algorithm may uncover a Spanish record where his name is listed as Alejandro (a Spanish version of Alexander), or a Russian record with the name written Александр in Cyrillic characters (the Russian way to write Alexander), or its common Russian nickname Саша (Sasha).

With this new addition, translated Record Matches are now calculated on an ongoing basis, and you’ll receive matches with historical records and family tree profiles in other languages. When you view them, the names will be conveniently spelled out using your own alphabet. You may already have noticed some records from other languages appearing in your matches.

This feature will help you easily locate records that would otherwise have been very difficult for you to find.

This unique technology is only available on MyHeritage and works hand in hand with our huge database of international records.

For further information visit https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/06/introducing-cross-language-record-matches/.

(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.

PRONI launches coronavirus census for posterity

This is such a brilliant idea, an Irish census story with (hopefully) a happy ending!

As part of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland's Stay Home Memories project initiative, launched on March 23rd 2020, the archive is now asking people to fill out a census form to describe the experience, for the use of future generations looking back at the coronavirus crisis of 2020. Here is the full project update:

Stay Home Memories project

As the Official Archive for Northern Ireland, PRONI will receive and archive records of the activities of the nine core Civil Service departments and how they responded to the pandemic. It is also important that PRONI is able to collect, preserve and make available the experiences of as many members of our community as possible, and for this we need your help.

PRONI has launched the Stay Home Memories project to gather information on the lives of the people of Northern Ireland and how the pandemic effected everything from work and education to shopping and family and social life.

Record keeping is vital to our understanding of the past, and the present. In recent years PRONI has been able to investigate and understand events around the Decade of Centenaries because of the historical records that were kept and it’s important that we collect information now for researchers of the future.

There are three ways that you can participate in the Stay Home Memories project:

Stay Home Census
Complete the Stay Home Census Form and tell us who you locked down with, how it affected your work, education and living arrangements.

Stay Home Web Archive
PRONI already archives government and local authority websites but so much key information is held on private and community based websites. Help to capture our online heritage by nominating websites containing information on community activity and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stay Home Diaries
Diaries can tell us so much about an individual’s experience of a historical time period – have you been keeping one during the COVID-19 pandemic? If so, would you consider depositing it with PRONI? We can accept both paper and digital diaries, as gifts or loans and you can decide who gets access to it and when.


The Stay Home Census form is accessible at https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/stay-home-census. Once filled in, you are asked to return your completed census to pronievents@communities-ni.gov.uk or by post to STAY HOME MEMORIES – PRONI – 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, BT3 9HQ.

And finally:

"By returning this census you are gifting it as a record to the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. All census returns will be archived in the Stay Home Census archive at PRONI, held under reference D4771. In line with data protection legislation, the census returns will be closed to the public to protect personal information relating to living individuals. Any data used publicly will be anonymised."

This a Northern Ireland focussed project, but what a great idea for all of us around the world.

Great work, PRONI.

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.

Registration for 2020 Virtual British Institute now open

From the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (www.isbgfh.com)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLORADO

Given the current restrictions on travel as the world grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic, we at ISBGFH have made the decision to change our 2020 British Institute to a three-day Virtual event. This allows people to attend, to attend more than one course and to remain safe while learning from our instructors.

OCTOBER 12-14, 2020
As planned for the in-person event, we will have three instructors, one each day:

• Chris Paton – Irish Research
• Paul Milner – English Research
• Darris Williams – Welsh Research

Each instructor will present 8 hours of online instruction (live) and will be available to answer questions. All sessions will be recorded and access to the recordings will be open until the end of November, 2020.

Attendees can attend one full day, all three days, or a combination of any two days. There is a discount for ISBGFH members.

Registration for the Virtual event is now OPEN

For details: https://www.isbgfh.com/BRITISH-INSTITUTE

Contact: InstituteDirectorISBGFH@gmail.com

COMMENT: Should be fun - I hope to see you there!

(With thanks to Megan Heyl)

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.

History of Dundee course

If you live in Scotland, there's a free to access course on the history of Dundee available from the University of Dundee:

The History of Dundee 1700-2000

Level 1
History - School of Humanities
Coursework 100%

Description

The aim of this module is to offer an introduction to the history of the city of Dundee. It introduces students to the periodisation of the city’s history. It contracts Dundee with other Scottish cities, primarily Edinburgh and Glasgow. It sets the history of Dundee in its global context. The aim is to enable students to understand specific architectural, social and economic features of the city in historical context. The following will be considered in class:

• Dundee as Renaissance City
• Trade and the growth of the city
• The maritime quarter and the rise of whaling
• The Victorian city and class
• Dundee and Modernism
• “City of Women”: The role of gender in civic development
• From Dundee to Tel Aviv and back again: Dundee in the history of urban planning

Convenor
Mr Andrew McDiarmid

Teaching
Structured learning will take place in a workshop format including lectures, seminar discussion, collaborative thinking and reflective learning.

Assessment
Course Journal (70%)
Source Interpretation (30%)

For further details visit https://www.dundee.ac.uk/cpd-upskilling/modulesandcourses/creativity/

(With thanks to @AlikiVarvogli via Twitter)

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 conference programme for June 8th

The programme for the third free to attend Scottish Indexes Conference is now available online via the company's website at www.scottishindexes.com. These are the talk times for the UK (worldwide time equivalents are listed on the website):

Scottish Indexes Conference Monday 8 June 2020

● All times given in this schedule are British Summer Time (BST).
● Most presentations will be followed by a live Q&A with our expert genealogists.
● This event is free, to donate please go to www.scottishindexes.com
● To access this event please join our Facebook Group ( www.facebook.com/groups/scottishindexes ) or see www.scottishindexes.com

Programme

First session
07:00 ‘Finding your Scottish Ancestors in Australia’ by Kerry Farmer.
08:15 ‘Using Deeds to Trace Your Scottish Family History’ by Graham Maxwell.
09:20 ‘Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records’ by Chris Paton.
10:30 ‘Referencing for Genealogists: or how to show where you found the data’ by Tahitia McCabe.
11:30 ‘Sounds like Family - Using Audio Recordings for Research’ by Jeni Park.
12:15 Genealogy Q & A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.
13:00 ‘Finding Scottish Origins in U.S. Records’ by B.J. Jamieson.
13:30 ‘Finding Your Scottish Ancestors in Canada’ by Christine Woodcock.

Second Session
15:00 ‘Referencing for Genealogists: or how to show where you found the data’ by Tahitia McCabe.
16:00 ‘Sounds like Family - Using Audio Recordings for Research’ by Jeni Park.
16:40 ‘Using Deeds to Trace Your Scottish Family History’ by Graham Maxwell.
17:45 ‘Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records’ by Chris Paton.
19:00 Quiz
19:30 ‘Finding Scottish Origins in U.S. Records’ by B.J. Jamieson.
20:00 ‘Finding Your Scottish Ancestors in Canada’ by Christine Woodcock.
21:00 Genealogy Q & A hosted by Graham and Emma Maxwell.
21:45 ‘Finding your Scottish Ancestors in Australia’ by Kerry Farmer.

As noted, I'll be giving a talk on Scottish Burgh and Trade Incorporation Records at 9.20am and again at 5.45pm, and will pop in for other sessions throughout the day, including the two Q&As. There might even be a wee competition prize going...!

This is the most international conference yet, and once again, should be a lot of fun - hope to see you

there!!!

(With thanks to Emma and Graham 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.