Ottawa Branch OGS 2013 AGM

Somehow I managed to miss that Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society held their monthly meeting, including their Annual General Meeting, last Saturday. Mike Moore kindly sent a summary and Heather Oakley added items.

Norah Cousins-La Rocque continues as Branch Chair. Doug Gray is added as Vice-Chair. Heather Oakley and Richard McGregor become Members at Large. Grace Lewis becomes Librarian replacing Al Lewis. Marg Patenaude recently became the Ottawa Branch Inquiries Co-Ordinator.

As previously mentioned Jim Stanzell received a Citation of Recognition from OGS: Forty Year Pins were awarded to  Jim Neelin (49 years) and Bruce Elliott ( 41 years).

OGS Volunteer Service awards went to Dolly Allen (25 years), Joan McKay (30 years), Helen Small (20 years), Mike More (20 years), Elizabeth Kipp (10 years), Tania Jones (5 years).

Ottawa Branch 30 years awards went to Kathleen O'Brien, Christopher N. Sheap, Frederick I. Hill, Mary I. Driver, Laurel Gilchrist, Senator Lorna Milne, Lawrence C. Erwin and, Doris Purdy.

The Branch announced its new initiative to start spending its surplus - a
committee of Heather Oakley, Kyla Ubbink and Rachel Muston will work on terms and conditions, etc. - on worthwhile small projects that will benefit local and other genealogists. This type of thing is already being done by Halton-Peel
Branch OGS where they have funded, among other things, the
digitization of local records.

Heather Oakley and Doug Gray are working in Gene-O-Rama 2014 which will likely be in a new location.

The OGS Annual conference in 2017, sesquicentennial year, will be held in Ottawa. Anyone willing to help in planning the events please contact Mike More at  vp@ogs.on.ca

Prospects for early access to the Irish 1926 census recede

Not so good news in John Grenham's Irish Roots column. It appears the Irish census bureaucracy can be equally as dogmatic as Statistics Canada proved to be a few years ago.
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/irishroots/2013/06/17/not-the-1926-news/

The 1921 census. If we don't ask we won't get.

According to an item in the Global Genealogy newsletter

"... the entire 1921 census of Canada has already been digitized plus a geographical index. It's sitting on a server ready to go online (free). Problem is that the Harper Government has put a hold on its release."

Please help persuade the government to put the 1921 census online. Email Heritage Minister James Moore. A long email isn't required. The more people call for release the sooner it will happen. Numbers count, the length of your email does not. You don't have to be a Canadian either.

Just email james.moore@parl.gc.ca with the Subject 1921 Census and write:

Dear Minister Moore:
Please instruct management of Library and Archives Canada to make images of the 1921 census available online immediately. 

(name)

Any additional information you want to add is fine, but make it short. It's number of such emails received that will count. Ask you friends and relatives to send emails too.

Music for Waterloo Day

Today is the 198th anniversary of the end of the battle of Waterloo where Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon. The first half-hour set of last Sunday's CKCU program Music From the Glen celebrated in traditional song and tunes various aspects of the Napoleonic wars. For about the next four weeks you can listen from http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/31/12413.html

Responsible record indexing at Ancestry

How clean are the records you use? I'm not referring to layers of dust accumulated on original records stored and undisturbed in an archive for decades, but rather the working conditions of those, usually in developing countries, who index the records we enjoy?  Following the disaster in Bangladesh which killed more than 1,000 it's only natural to wonder about working conditions. Is there a potential Rana Plaza-like disaster waiting to happen?

I enquired and here is the response received from Ancestry, via Matthew Deighton from their media communication section:

Ancestry.com takes its choice in indexing vendor relationships very seriously. We personally conduct social audits and formal audits with all companies that we work with on a regular basis. The kind of transcribing that our company does requires a high emphasis on character recognition, quality and education. The buildings used for our type of work require modernization and a lot of technology (transmission of high volumes of data), which insures that our vendors are located in newer areas, close to IT infrastructure. We partner with vendors that can provide us with a quality outcome that also provides a safe, healthy work environment that meets our high standards. In fact, we recently partnered with Digital Data Divide, an indexing vendor, who released a video featuring our relationship with them. Check out the video here: http://vimeo.com/wondros/review/61991533/7d9444770e.

Cheshire Non-conformist Records, 1671-1900

On Monday FamilySearch added 204,049 transcripts of Cheshire Non-conformist Records, 1671-1900. The data-set is based on 67 reels of FHL microfilm sourced from the Record Office, Chester.
Quite a few dates given, later than 1900 indicated as the end of the record period, are likely incorrect. The marriage of Georgium Hen. Worrall, son of Gulielmii Worrall, to Ellenam Langwine at Runcorn, Cheshire, England, with the Latinized names seems more likely to have occurred in 1738 rather than 1938 as transcribed.

RootsTech 2014 Call For Presentations

February 6 – 8, 2014, sees the fourth annual RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City. The call for presentation proposals, just issued, is available at https://rootstech.org/proposals/. It closes on July 8.

1921 census of Canada count-up: day 16

This is Day 16 since the 1921 census officially passed into the custody of Library and Archives Canada. As stated on the LAC website,

Under the legislation, when 92 calendar years have elapsed since the taking of a census, those records will be opened for public use and transferred to Library and Archives Canada.

LAC has the census already digitized but not name indexed. Last Thursday, to add my voice to those looking for timely release and name indexing, I sent the following email to the Minister:

Dear Minister Moore:

I am an active genealogist, past president of a local Ottawa family
history society and author of a widely followed Canadian genealogy
blog. I'm writing to ask you to instruct Library and Archives Canada
to move rapidly on making the 1921 census available to Canadians
through a partnership agreement.

LAC is constrained in its ability to make that census, which has just
passed out of a 92 year privacy embargo, available to Canadians while
meeting other obligations and expectations.

LAC's budget situation is far from unique internationally; just last
year the US archival counterpart made their 1940 census available
through a partnership agreement which meant a name index to the census
was created in a matter of months. By that agreement the census became
available to all for a year at no cost to the government or the
public. Similar arrangements have been made in the UK.

Canadians now enjoy free access to our earlier censuses on the LAC
website because of similar arrangements which made them available,
with the name index, after three years. Those arrangements also made
the census available for free at numerous public access internet sites
such as public libraries across the country.

Short of an injection of new government funds, and I'm not looking for
increased taxes, the alternative seems to be no access for a
protracted period, a situation which currently is making nobody happy
and is likely contrary to law.

Please instruct LAC to move ahead with such a partnership arrangement.
It should be the proverbial "simple, quick, popular and cheap"
approach following a well accepted model for government/industry
partnership for censuses and other records of genealogical interest.

Sincerely,

John D Reid

If you support prompt release, and name indexing under a partnership arrangement, please email the Minister at james.moore@parl.gc.ca

Ottawa Public Library Online Ideas Campaign

The one month campaign is now ended. OPL have posted this follow-up in the participation and next steps.

"Thank you for your interest and participation in our first online ideas, or crowdsourcing, campaign. The fact that more than 14,750 people took the time to participate by posting 1,338 ideas, 1,391 comments, or casting 27,528 votes reminds us how passionate Ottawa is about its Library.

Our next step will be to analyze the ideas and comments posted, and determine which ones are feasible and will lead to the improvement of the customer experience and efficiency of the Library system. We will then reach out to the community to confirm what we have learned. All this will become part of a final report to be presented to the Ottawa Public Library Board in December 2013."

My initiative "Improve Convenience" ranked fourth overall, Genealogy/Family History received more than 100 Likes, and Genealogy more than 50. Those are significant achievements, thanks to your support.

There are some obvious conclusions for the survey. We should not have to wait until December, and the report to the OPL Board, to see the Library collect some of the "low hanging fruit".

London volunteer soldier records, 1859-1955

Findmypast.co.uk have added an interesting collection of London military records. Here's the blurb:

"We've just put online records of part time soldiers who served in the British Army from 1859-1955. These records will give you details such as service number, rank, enlistment & discharge details (together with a reason for discharge), medals awarded and date of death.

The collection lists men who served with the following corps and battalions:

20th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps
11th Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps
3rd Volunteer Battalion, The London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
10th (3rd City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
625th London Anti-Aircraft Regiment."

These are transcript records for a total of 5,272 men from a compilation by military researcher J P Kelleher; no indication of his source.

Ancestry updates

Of possible interest to those with research interests in Atlantic Canada, Ancestry has updated its Acadia, Canada, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) database, 1670-1946 now with 921,991 records.

Also seeing an update is the 1871 Census of Canada, now with 352,3134 records. Don't forget that Library and Archives Canada now have a version of the 1871 census with their name index based on that prepared by Ancestry, but now deviating as updates are made independently.

BIFHSGO Conference News: Interview with Linda Reid

Find out about the two talks Toronto genealogist Linda Reid (no relation) will be giving at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa conference this September from here. Also added up front are links to interview recorded last February at WDYTYA? Live with conference speakers Lisa Louise Cooke and Eileen O'Duill.

Perth Historical Society June Meeting

Something different, a field trip, is organized for the final meeting of the season for the Perth Historical Society. It's on June 19; read about it at http://www.perthhs.org/events.html

Richard III Y-DNA

Indirectly from Dr Turi King of Leicester University comes the news that "there are preliminary indications that Y-DNA analysis (for Richard III) may also be possible." That's news via a post by Dr Anne Turner on the Genealogy- DNA Rootsweb list.

Ken McKinley's Ottawa genealogy map

Not sure where the archives, cemeteries and other genealogical resources are in Ottawa? Check out Ken McKinlay's new Google map at https://t.co/vpVHyYYg0a. It's more current than the one I did in 2007 at http://goo.gl/qNUR6

 

Ancestry gets London Gazette browse files

The London Gazette is a treasure house of notices on military appointments and promotions, deceased people’s estates, bankruptcies, medals and honours. Ancestry has added browse files of this government publication, between 1825 and 1962, albeit with random gaps in this collection. This is likely a prelude to the files becoming computer searchable and integrated into the billion of records in Ancestry's collections.
In the meantime there is perfectly serviceable access to the London, Edinburgh and Belfast gazettes at www.gazettes-online.co.uk/.

The gold standard for genealogy

James Tanner on his Genealogy Star blog posts an article Methodology vs. Proof in Genealogy worth noting.

His conclusion is that "Genealogy is methodology and cloaking it in the robe of proof does not accurately reflect the processes."

Saying that all proofs are tentative, as Tanner does in the article, is neither new nor especially helpful. It begs the question How tentative? If genealogy can go no further than present the evidence and say the result is tentative, without indicating how tentative, it makes the whole exercise impotent.

We can do better. Proceeding with conventional professional genealogical methodology may get you to a situation where all the evidence aligns and most would agree the issue in question, perhaps a kinship, is highly likely to be the case. Or perhaps the evidence is somewhat at odds. You have less confidence in the conclusion. There is a need for an agreed terminology to express degree of confidence in the result of applying the methodology. It should be expressed in probabilistic terms.

What's the standard? Helen O'Leary wrote in 1998 (http://www.bcgcertification.org/skillbuilders/learyevidencepf.html ) “Science and the law are in agreement: there is only one way to prove kinships beyond reasonable doubt — DNA testing.” Anything else does not meet that legal standard of proof, and as we know there are lots of legal cases where the beyond reasonable doubt standard was met and the person convicted only to have the verdict overturned by DNA evidence.

Genealogy should acknowledge DNA evidence as the gold standard.

 

UPDATE

Just came across this related article http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/3440006