I'm heading to Salt Lake City in 2025!

So the big news that I have been sitting on for a bit is that I am going to be one of the instructors at the International Society of British Genealogy and Family History's British Institute in Salt Lake City in October 2025, teaching twenty hours on Scottish family history research. It's going to be a great week, with my pal Paul Milner covering England, and my fellow Norn Iron chums Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullen, from the Ulster Histoical Foundation, covering Ireland. I'm firmly convinced that everyone will have an Ulster accent at the end of the week, just as the good Lord intended...! My week long programme is provisionally entitled Feudalism, Foes, and Fornication: Tracing Your Family History in Scotland, covering all of those topics and everything in between!

I've previously taught at one British Institute for the ISBGFH in 2021, covering Ireland, but this had to be switched to a virtual event due to Covid, so I am finally looking forward to getting to to Salt Lake City again! I've only been there once before - in 1999, when I had a day off whilst filming on a Scottish Television series (called Celtic America), and in the year before I started taking an interest in family history.

I'm looking forward to getting to the Family History Library at long last, and to catching up with many folk, not least Megan Croll Heyl who has been patiently keeping us all on track over the last few years!

It's going to be great craic! In the meantime, for details on this year's British Institute, please visit https://isbgfh.com/bi/. Once the registration page is live for our event in 2025, I'll blog an update.

And keep an eye out next January for a talk I'll be giving for the ISBGFH online, more on that soon!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Ancestry Pro-Tool subscription shoots up to £7.99 a month

This is quite a shock - the Ancestry Pro-Tools subscription, which I blogged about earlier in the week at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2024/06/ancestry-protools-subscription-rolled.html, following its release in the UK, has just shot up from £4.99 a month to £7.99.

What gives, Ancestry?

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

MyHeritage offers free access to Canadian records for Canada Day

From MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com):

MyHeritage is offering free access to all 135.4 million Canadian historical records on MyHeritage for a limited time, from June 27 to July 2, 2024.

MyHeritage has 183 collections from Canada, including vital records (birth, marriage, and death), census records, immigration and passenger lists, military records, and newspapers pages. Among these collections, we have recently added the 1931 Canada Census, complete with an index created by MyHeritage. These records provide a wealth of information that can help anyone with Canadian heritage learn more about their family story.

For further details visit the MyHeritage blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2024/06/celebrate-canada-day-with-free-access-to-canadian-historical-records/.

(With thanks to Daniel Horowitz)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

British Newspaper Archive passes 80 million pages - twice its initial target

Congratulations to the British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) on reaching over 80 million pages of content - a significant milestone, in that it now offers twice the original target of content, which was set initially as a ten year project by FindmyPast and the British Library to digitise and make searchable some 40 million pages.

For Scotland and Ireland, the following new content has been added over the last 30 days:

Scotland:

Daily Record
1935

John o' Groat Journal
1952

Inverness Courier
1932-1938, 1942, 1957-1967

Stornoway Gazette and West Coast Advertiser
1994

Carluke and Lanark Gazette
1988, 1990-1991, 1998

Fraserburgh Herald and Northern Counties' Advertiser
1892

St. Andrews Citizen
1985, 1995

Kirriemuir Herald
1988

Callander Advertiser
1912-1950

Blairgowrie Advertiser
1858-1859, 1936-1950

Bridge of Allan Gazette
1892-1950

Irvine Herald
1877-1878, 1893-1904, 1906-1950

Kirkintilloch Herald
1987-1989, 1993-1994

Bellshill Speaker
1988-1989, 1992-1994

Jedburgh Gazette
1957-1963


Ireland:

Belfast News-Letter
1801, 1805, 1807-1809

Londonderry Sentinel
1985, 2002

Irish Independent
1940

Louth Standard
1994, 1998

Ballymena Weekly Telegraph
2001-2003

Mid-Ulster Mail
2000, 2002

Portadown Times
1960-1963, 1971-1977, 2000-2001
 

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

ScotlandsPeople releases new batch of church courts records

This is more like it! ScotlandsPeople (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) has updated its kirk session registers collection, with records also added from presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly. From its news release:

Nearly 4,000 new volumes of records from the Church of Scotland, equating to around 290,000 digital images, have been added to the ScotlandsPeople website. This release complements the upload of kirk session minute books and accounts in 2021 and is the latest instalment in an ongoing programme of making church records available online.

This new upload, including over 3,000 kirk session records, also provides online access to records of presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly, all of which have been made available on ScotlandsPeople for the first time and are ready to be explored.

Covering almost 350 years of Scottish history, from the 1560s to 1900, digital images of a vast array of church court records can now be searched and viewed for free. Images can be saved at a cost of two credits per image. Available records include minute books, accounts and cash books, communion rolls, seat rents, poor relief and education records, as well as a wide variety of other records created by church courts. 

For further details visit https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/article/news-article-more-church-court-records-released-scotlandspeople.

Records are fee to view online, but are watermarked with the ScotlandsPeople logo. Clean images can be downloaded at 2 credits per page.

Update: On the ScotlandsPeople Facebook page, they have answered someone's query on dissenter records as follows: "A wider scope of CH3 records are currently being prepared for release to the Virtual Volumes area of ScotlandsPeople during 2025."

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Consultation on mother and baby homes inquiry to begin in Northern Ireland

A 12-week consultation is set to start this week in Northern Ireland, to discuss the proposals to establish an inquiry into mother and baby homes in the country, through which some 10,500 unmarried girls and women passed between 1922 and 1990. A third were under the age of 19, the youngest aged just 12.

For more on the story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckvvgd01p84o

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Ancestry ProTools subscription rolled out to UK - includes DNA Enhanced Shared Matches tool

Ancestry is now making available its new ProTools subscription, at £4.99 a month. This adds a few bells and whistles for you to help check your tree and to search your DNA results. 

By far the most useful tool is its new Enhanced Shared Matches facility for DNA results. This basically allows you to note how many centimorgans both you and a match may share with other matches, and how you and the other match may be related to any other shared matches. I've been exploring it for a couple of days now, and whilst I have not made any breakthroughs yet using it, it certainly is a worthwhile enhancement - although it is a bit of a poor show that it can only be accessed by paying for yet another subscription on top of the one I already have. There's more on the tool at https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/AncestryDNA-Shared-Matches?language=en_US.

I intend to use this upgrade for a month, without renewing, but may upgrade from time to time for short periods to carry out additional research. 

I'm not too bothered by the other offerings in the subscription, but you can read more about Ancestry's ProTools at https://support.ancestry.co.uk/s/article/Ancestry-Pro-Tools-Membership.

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Family Tree magazine - Irish Ancestors Study Afternoon with Chris Paton

I hope you can join me for this study afternoon on Saturday 29th June!

Family Tree presents a live Zoom event with genealogy expert Chris Paton.

Join us on 29 June starting at 1pm UK time for three masterclasses, with a Q&A after each. Chris will explore Irish record sets – both on-site and online, and explain how to tackle research challenges. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, and the full session will be recorded for you to watch in your own time.

(Please note: session start times may vary slightly if previous sessions run a few minutes over)

Your ticket includes:

- Access to all three masterclasses and Q&A sessions on Zoom

- The chance to ask Chris Paton your Irish family history question at the end of each talk (subject to timings and demand)

- A copy of the recording to watch on-demand for 7 days

 

Session 1: Records of Daily Life in Ireland
There are many basic resources available to help us establish the genealogy of our families, but in this session, Chris Paton looks at many additional record sets exist that document their role and status in society, as well as their fate. These include electoral records (including freeholders lists and absent voters lists), the administration of the poor law and the role of the poorhouse in Ireland, and education records.

Chris will also look at judicial records and the records of law enforcement, and explore a case study of a 19th century murder which unblocked a genealogical brick wall within his own ancestry, pushing the family narrative back to the mid 18th century.

Session 2: Researching Irish Occupations
In this session Chris explores the occupational world of our Irish ancestors, including agricultural Ireland, the factories and shipyards established through industrialisation, the professional classes such as church ministries, physicians and nurses, communications workers, the merchant shipping services, and the military, both British and Irish.

Chris will also look at how Irish people travelled to Britain and beyond for economic opportunities, whether through seasonal work or through longer term economic necessity.

Session 3: Researching Ireland 1912-1923
In this talk Chris looks at the landmark events that led to the Partition of Ireland in 1921 and its consequences. It includes the Suffragette struggle in Ireland, the Ulster Covenant of 1912, the formation of the Irish Volunteers and the Ulster Volunteers, the Dublin Lock-out of 1913, the First World War, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, Partition, and the subsequent Irish Civil War. As well as addressing the historical events it shows how to research ancestors caught up in the period, whether on the British or Irish side, and from across the island and beyond.

To book a place please visit https://www.family-tree.co.uk/store/downloads/family-tree-magazine/irish-ancestors-study-afternoon-first-edition-issue-1/

I hope to maybe see you there!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

TheGenealogist adds 1600s-1800s obituaries collection

From TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk), a new obituaries collection which includes entries from Scotland and Ireland, as well as the rest of Britain:

Obituaries from the 1600s to the 1800s are now searchable online
Find the vital details of your ancestors from the Stuart Era to the Victorian Era, recorded at the time of their deaths

TheGenealogist has added obituary records from the Index Society, Musgrave’s Obituaries and the Society of Friends to its record collection, with obituaries dating back to the 1600s.

Family Historians can now access a set of intriguing records covering three important publications from the 17th to 19th centuries.

Firstly, the Index Society’s Obituary Notices for 1880, 1881, and 1882 include obituaries for many industry journals and periodicals, such as The Lancet and The Law Journal, along with local and national newspapers like The Hertfordshire Mercury, The Guardian, and The Times.

Also included in this release is Musgrave’s Obituaries, with records as early as the 1400s but mainly covering 1600 to the 1800s. This publication is named after Sir William Musgrave who had originally assembled the slips or extracts taken from various works, such as The London Magazine and The Gentleman’s Magazine. These had been neatly written up before being pasted into books in alphabetical order. These manuscripts were then published by The Harleian Society and it is these printed versions that are now digitised on TheGenealogist.

Additionally, several Society of Friends records from the 1880s are included. These Quaker records, known as the Annual Monitor or Obituary of the Members of the Society of Friends, are for the years 1880, 1882 and 1885. Apart from many names and dates, these book records also include some expanded “memoirs” recounting anecdotes about various members and their families.

The value of these newly released obituaries to researchers lies in the information they provide. The entries give the dates not only of the individuals' deaths but also their birth dates or ages and often other useful observations such as occupation details and other family members.

Obituaries often cite their sources, for example providing a newspaper page, edition, etc., which can be very helpful for the family historian in conducting further research into ancestors.

TheGenealogist has added over 20,000 individuals to its record collection with these newly released obituaries dating back to the 1600s.

Read TheGenealogist’s feature article: Dead but not Forgotten
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2024/dead-but-not-forgotten-7506/ 

COMMENT: You will find the Obituaries section under the Births, Marriages and Deaths category.

(With thanks to Nick Thorne)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

RootsMagic 10 now on sale

I've just received an email from TheGenealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk) advising that a new version of popular family tree software programme RootsMagic 10 is now on sale. Here's the description of its new features:

What's New in RootsMagic 10?

DNA Matches - Easily track DNA matches for any person; track DNA test details; view tree relationships and DNA predicted relationships side by side; DNA Kinship lists show all relationships to a start person (both tree relationship and predicted DNA relationship).

Enhanced Searching - Advanced search and criteria group rules now include searching by family line, genetics, individual, or family; Aave (and reuse) full advanced search and criteria groups with new search rules; advanced couple list search lets you search on both husband and wife simultaneously; search on # of shared facts; search on proof for facts (and any fact).

Health History - Track unlimited health conditions (illness, disease, accidents) for each person; customizable Family Health History report shows health conditions for a person and all immediate family members; Health Conditions list shows any group of people who share the same health condition.

Updated Help System - Context sensitive help lets you press F1 to get help on whatever you are doing; help can be accessed either online or local on your computer.

Simplified Group Access - Add, edit, or delete a group directly from the Groups side panel; directly refresh any "saved rules" group directly from the Groups side panel.

New Tools - Globally add a fact to everyone in a group; copy a persons fact to one or more other people; move a persons fact to another person.

Printing and Reports - Family Health History report; DNA Kinship report; Leeds Method report for DNA clustering; Health Conditions list shows any group of people who share the same health condition; Kinship List includes option to filter which people to include (everyone, list, or group).

Ease of Use - Copy a book in Publisher; auickly hide / show the folder list on the Tasks page; more viewable and printable lists in Enhanced Properties; lists of unused records (places, citations, etc) from the Enhanced Properties now allow you to delete; enhanced capabilities when adding a shared fact; Find Everywhere now supports saving or printing results; quickly switch between color code sets from any view. 

For further details visit https://genealogysupplies.com/rootsmagic

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.