I've spent a fair bit of time searching in the London, England, Electoral Registers, 1835-1965 database placed online by Ancestry earlier in the week. It's filled some significant gaps and is a great new online resource. But as is often the case in family history, it has also opened up a whole bunch more questions.
Some were answered by the sections on Historical Background and Searching the Registers located below the Ancestry search panel. The London Metropolitan archives information leaflet here is also worth reviewing.
Although I've not reviewed it the small publication Electoral registers since 1832 : and burgess rolls, a Gibson Guide, might also be helpful. There's a copy in the BIFHSGO library. A newer version is also available.
Ancestry have a habit of exaggerating the scope of databases and updating without letting you know what's added.
I searched for my grandfather who was living in Hendon in the 1930s. He has a distinctive middle name and I was fortunate it was included in the lists from 1930 to 1936. Then nothing after that. I wondered if he'd dropped the middle name, moved to a different area, or if perhaps the districts were changed. I checked the browse collection for Hendon and found it only had content from 1918 to 1930, even though the searchable database went to 1936.
The situation was even more stark for Harrow where I found my other grandfather in the database to 1936 but the browse file only went to 1899.
What happened to the other years between 1835 and 1965 as advertised in the database title? In the whole dataset there's no data for years before 1847 and after 1961.
Looking a little deeper, going through the database year by year for the surname Smith, there is no data for 1850, 1854, 1855, 1863, 1864, and the war years 1915, 1916, and 1940-44. Smith voters in the database first exceed 1,000 in 1886 then jump to 14,694 in 1890 remaining fairly steady to WW1. Women over 30 were enfranchised and numbers increased to 32,208 in 1918. Again in 1929 all men and women 21 and over gained voting rights and Smith voters reached 52,919. Voter numbers drop from the late 1930s as fewer lists are included in the database.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Found and lost in London
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Canadian library genealogy blogs
Many libraries have specialist librarians for genealogy, sometimes combined with local history or a related specialty. You can look to your library for quality help in your family history studies, after all, librarians are professionals.
Even if you don't live within the area served by a major public library you can still benefit through the resources they have online, including blogs. Here's a public library blog overview, in alphabetical order.
Calgary - http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com/blogs/community-heritage-and-family-history
Two posts so far this month, the most recent, on January 10, is "Interesting blogs for genealogists."
Montreal - none that I could find.
Ottawa - http://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en/main/interest/blog/recent/all/241
Only ten postings on this one, the most recent last May. There are also four items posted under Ottawa History including two podcasts.
Toronto - http://torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/local-history-genealogy/
Five postings so far this month, the last on January 9 was "Digitized Toronto Newspapers: Globe & Mail and Toronto Star."
Vancouver - http://guides.vpl.ca/cat.php?cid=30685
A single post under the heading Biography & Genealogy is about "All about Zines @ VPL."
Federal support for Canadian publications
In Tuesday's Ottawa Citizen columnist Randall Denley writes "The little-known Canada Periodical Fund doles out about $71 million a year to publications ranging from Newfoundland Sportsman to the Canadian Coin News." Surely out of that amount there must be something for genealogy.
Yes there is, but it's not as I expected. The only periodical I can immediately identify from the genealogical/family history community is "Mémoires de la Société généalogique canadienne-française" receiving $8,625. That's 0.012% of the total. That's no match for gardening at 0.975% and hockey which receives 1.17% of the funding. So much for genealogy as the most popular pastime.
I'm not complaining, it does help put our genealogy interest in perspective.
To be fair, some of the other publications have history content. Legion Magazine is a Canadian English-language magazine with a French insert published in a four-colour format covering stories about Canadians, Canada’s institutions its military and its heritage. At $7 per year for six issues a substantial part of the $574,113 from the fund must go as a subsidy.
Canada's History, formerly The Beaver, costs $32.95 for the annual six issues and receives a grant of $139,214. Might a reduced price bring a larger subscriber base and a larger grant? For comparison, Canadian Geographic, the cover of the January issue featuring the War of 1812, receives a grant of $592,964 and costs $28.50 for six issues.
Over 84 million genealogists claimed in market assessment
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Ancestry adds London, England, Electoral Registers, 1835-1965
Here's a database many have been waiting for. There is data for 1860 and 1898 to 1965 with 1916, 1917, 1940-1944 and 1962-1965 not present in the sample I checked. The format changes with more detail in the earlier years. There's more at an Ancestry blog posting at http://goo.gl/plqw0
War of 1812 and Migration booklets by Elizabeth Lapointe
Some months ago Elizabeth Lapointe, well known as the editor of OGS Families and a blogger in her own right, or is that write, at Genealogy Canada handed me copies of two booklets she has published. They are laminated single fold, four page format. I'd call them quicksheets but perhaps that's a proprietary name.
It's taken a while for Elizabeth to get them stocked so you can order them. Now they're available from two sources.
Global Genealogy has "The War of 1812: Canada and the United States" and
"Migration: Canada and the United States" conveniently linked from the site front page, right hand side with a good description of the content.
They are also available from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies by following the chain of links "Our Store" > "Other Products" > "By Country/Groups" > "Canada: General" > "Books". Then look on page 2 for the Migration booklet and : page 4 for the War of 1812. It's a convoluted path -- you may discover some other hidden gems along the way!
Elizabeth has packed a lot into the four pages, two column format. In the "Migration: Canada and the United States" brochure the material is divided under Canada and United State. Sub-headings for Canada are: Arcadian Migration, Migration to the Boston States, French Canadian Migration, Migration to the Midwestern and Southwestern States, and Migration from Canada to the United States Due to War. Under each there is a brief discussion of the scope and significance and lists of online and book resources.
For sale at $7.95 these should prove a convenient reference for those researching ancestors involved in these events on either side of the border.
TNA podcast: Anxiety, dread and disease: British ports 1834-1870
I blogged in mid-November about this presentation by Sarah Hutton which I was able to attend at Kew. It's worth listening to even without the visuals, although there should probably be a warning about the graphic description of urban conditions in the mid 19th century.
"As Britain's status as the 'workshop of the world' grew, so did the new industrial and trading towns. Ports became densely populated and ripe for the spread of infection; once disease took hold it moved rapidly and lethally. Yet what made these ports so particularly vulnerable, in addition to the threat from within, was their high exposure to threats from abroad. While obviously of huge economic importance, a section of the 'inside' port town community undoubtedly perceived seafarers as 'outside', 'foreign' and a medical threat. The daily interplay between these settled and transient communities created an environment imbued with anxieties as to the nature of disease, its transmission and its treatment. Sarah Hutton is a modern domestic records specialist at The National Archives, where she has worked for five years. She is particularly interested in 19th and early 20th century health. This talk was part of our diversity week event in November, highlighting the diversity of The National Archives' collection."Listen from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/
Genetic genealogy in the news
Long time readers of this blog know I've much admiration for the work and presentations of California forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick who will be on the program at the OGS conference in Kingston this year. She's in the news this week using DNA analysis to assist Seattle-area sheriff's deputies narrow the field of suspects in a 20-year-old murder. Read the story at
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
1812 has arrived!
Folks are determined to have a good time while remembering the War of 1812, the reason Canadians aren't Yankees. Canada's top historians of the event are on the program for a War of 1812 Bicentennial Symposium on Saturday the 25th of February at the University of Guelph. Full information is at http://www.livinghistoryconference.com/
Historic Toronto newspapers online
The beleagured Toronto Public Library posted to their Local History and Genealogy blog on the availability of the Digitized Toronto Newspapers: Globe & Mail and Toronto Star at home for their subscribers. The digitized Globe and Mail is more widely available through many Ontario libraries.
A reminder about the free availability to all of Google digitized Toronto newspapers:
The Toronto Daily Mail
3,052 issues
May 23, 1851 - Sep 15, 1898Toronto Daily Star
301 issues
Jan 2, 1945 - Dec 29, 1945
2,884 issues
Jun 4, 1813 - Apr 10, 1921
Subscription site Paper of Record has:
Canadian Correspondent, Toronto 1833 - 1834, 210 pages
Canadian Freeman 1st Edition, Toronto 1825 - 1834 (partial), 715 pages
Correspondent and Advocate, Toronto 1834 - 1837, 576 pages
Independent, Toronto 1849 - 1850, 103 pages
Irish Canadian, Toronto 1863 - 1875 (partial), 5,697 pages
Nation, Toronto 1874 - 1876, 1,608 pages
North American Semi Weekly, Toronto 1850 - 1854, 950 pages
Toronto British Colonist, Toronto 1843 - 1850, 2,872 pages
Toronto Examiner, Toronto 1840 - 1855, 3,382 pages
Toronto World, Toronto 1880 - 1921 (partial), 21,669 pages
Monday, 9 January 2012
50% off Ancestry - can you get it?
The small print in the ad says you call the phone number given to make full payment for a one year subscription by credit card and will be automatically enrolled for renewal unless you call to cancel.
Would Ancestry management consider a similar offer to family history society members? It would be widely appreciated, a great incentive for societies to offer to new members. Is this something on which the (US) Federation of Genealogical Societies, whose member societies would benefit, would take the initiative? Maybe the genealogical community, especially the bloggers who judging by recent experience collectively have a voice that carries some weight, could help this happen.
23andMe plans service changes for genealogy
23andMe co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki says "I sincerely apologize" to genetic genealogists who have protested company plans to change terms of service.
For quite a while 23andMe took genetic genealogy as an afterthought, second fiddle to the health targeted service that motivated the company's formation. The company was for a while the most affordable option for autosomal DNA analysis, and likely quite surprised at the interest from the genealogy community. Now genealogy is seemingly a substantial enough part of the company clientele to be meaningful to their bottom line, one that don't want to alienate.
You can read the blog posting here. The good news is "Over the next six months 23andMe is putting substantial resources into Ancestry." Also "We will be engaging with leaders from the ancestry community to do our best to create products that meet your needs. CeCe Moore will be leading this initiative with us and we will look to engage many more of you."
The not so good news is that, unlike FamilyTreeDNA, 23andMe seems set on requiring a continuing subscription in order to benefit from matches with data from newly analysed customers. I hope the company closely examines the market, and considers whether it should further distinguish its health service, which surely gobbles up a lot of its resources, from its ancestry service. 23andMe should consider the free/subscription service model of lostcousins.com where, normally, only subscription paying customers can initiate a contact to a "cousin".
Copyright in Canada
At the BIFHSGO meeting last Saturday I was asked about the situation regarding copyright in Canada. It's in flux.
Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, is currently being debated in Parliament. There is considerable concern about proposed provisions that would make it illegal to circumvent technological protection measures or digital locks used to prevent copyright infringement or piracy, provisions which would override the rights of users to use content for the purpose of fair dealing and education. You can keep up to date on the latest from an advocate for these jeopardized rights at Michael Geist's blog.
The Ottawa Public Library Board have a briefing note on Copyright Developments for their meeting on Monday, 9 January, which may be helpful to those struggling to understand the situation as if presently exists and may change. Read it at http://goo.gl/xzjwU.
Sunday, 8 January 2012
Best of the Genea-blogs
Week after week California-based Randy Seaver makes a personal selection of the best genealogy blog postings of the past week. If you don't follow US genealogy activity, and he does focus on what's happening on the US scene, this is a recommended read to keep up to date. This week's post is at:
http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/best-of-genea-blogs-1-january-to-7.html
Warning: Simon Fowler is coming to Canada
You wouldn't want to miss him. Simon Fowler is perhaps best known as editor of the late lamented family history magazine Ancestors, killed off by TNA. Simon worked at Kew on and off for over thirty years and specializes in military family history, with a particular focus on the First World War.
Simon is coming to Toronto and Ottawa.
On Saturday 31 March 2012 he will be a featured speaker in Toronto at a Finding Your Great War Ancestors Workshop. Toronto is often the venue for significant genealogy events at that time of year. This workshop will have two plenaries, the opening one given by Simon, the close by Canadian War Museum historian and award-winning author Tim Cook, and three other sessions, each with three presentation choices.
For full program details, speaker biographies and registration information, visit www.torontofamilyhistory.org/GreatWarWorkshop2012.html.
On Monday, 2 April, Simon will travel to Ottawa to give two evening presentations hosted by BIFHSGO as a free community service event. The venue is the auditorium at Library and Archives Canada. His presentations will be Researching your (British) Military Ancestors Online, and British Emigration Records. More details at www.bifhsgo.ca
TNA podcast: Sovereign squire rebel
Another podcast in the series from TNA's diversity week last November.
"At the age of five years, Duleep Singh found himself on the golden throne of the Punjab, one of the most powerful independent kingdoms in India and a thorn in the advancement of the British Empire. After the Sikh Wars against the British Empire, the infant ruler was separated from his mother, surrendered the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond and was removed from power by the East India Company.Listen here.
Effectively exiled to Britain, he became an instant favourite of Queen Victoria and an exotic party accessory. But after trying his hand at writing a West End play, standing for Parliament and remonstrating with the British Empire for the shortfall of his stipend, the Maharajah became disillusioned by his surroundings and sought to make a stand against the tyrannical establishment.
Peter Bance is an independent researcher, historian and author on Anglo-Sikh History and has published a number a books on the subject, including two on Maharajah Duleep Singh. He has amassed the largest collection of Maharajah Duleep Singh artefacts which has been exhibited worldwide."
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Which genealogy software?
A few days ago the GenSoftReviews User Choice Awards for 2011 were announced. I was surprised by the results.
Let's have a look at the award winners, and one other, focusing on traditional PC genealogy database software that is hosted on your own computer. Other entries in GenSoftReviews, including analysis add-ons and utilities on a server (in the cloud), likely the way of the future, are not covered here.
Note that the rankings were done at the end of 2011; some comments and ratings have been added on the site subsequently.
Ancestral Quest - 4.89 out of 5 is top rated. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 1,063,336. Of 12 reviews 10 give it a perfect five star rating, 1 just one star. Comments praise the software's simplicity, user support and compatibility to PAF. There's a free version and full version available as a download for $29.95. The company, Incline Software, is located in Utah; the website shows sensitive to the needs of LDS users.
Family Historian - 4.63 out of 5 is second rated. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 1,715,518. There are 16 reviews, 4 added since the new year. 12 give it a perfect five star rating, 2 four stars and 1 two stars. Four of the comments were added in 2011. While comments praise the ease of use and features there do appear to have been some problems with upgrading, and earlier comments referred to a steep learning curve. A free 30 day trial is available by download. A new version, 5 is expected to be released in February 2012 with free upgrade from version 4 which can be purchased online for £29.99. The company, Calico Pie, is located in the UK.
Personal Ancestral File - 4.61 out of 5. It has not been developed since 2006 but remains available as a free download from familysearch.org. The reviews divide about evenly between five and four star ratings. Comments praise the software's easy of use, stability and being free, while noting the lack of some bells and whistles available in later commercial software. As a product of the LDS, and familysearch.org, it was specially developed to meet Church requirements. Did I mention it's free.
Ultimate Family Tree - 4.59 out of 5. The software was acquired by Family Tree Maker (Ancestry.com) and is no longer supported or developed. Of 14 reviews 7 give it a perfect five star rating, 1 a four star and 1 a single star. Comments praise the software's event (rather then person) orientation, but lament that it's no longer supported and incompatible with recent operating systems.
Genbox Family History - 4.47 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 5,883,836. Of 16 reviews 8 give it a perfect five star rating, 5 four stars, 1 two star. Comments note its completeness, compare it to The Master Genealogist, and that the latest release is from November 2007. The company, Thoughtful Creations, is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The full version of Genbox Family History can be downloaded for a free trial for 30 days. A permanent license is $29.95.
Brother's Keeper - 4.42 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 2,401,348. Of 50 reviews 34 give it a perfect five star rating, 7 four stars, 2 three stars and 2 two a single star. Comments were that while it may not have more advanced features, including web interaction, it is simple, reliable and has exceptional support. This is shareware produced by John Steed of Michigan. You can download a fully functional version without charge. A registered version will be mailed for $45.
Note: The following are the big three in PC genealogy software, as reflected in promotion and the higher Alexa rankings for the product website. They have been widely reviewed and are broadly comparable, but see the note for Family Tree Maker.
RootsMagic - 4.45 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 186,946.
Of 47 reviews 41 give it a perfect five star rating, 2 three stars, 1 two stars and 1 a single star. The product, from Utah based RootsMagic Inc, was recently updated to version 5 for $29.95. There is a free essentials version.
Family Tree Maker - Up to Version 16 - 4.18 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 140,254. Of 35 reviews 12 give it a perfect five star rating, 6 four stars, 3 three stars, 3 two stars, and 2 a single star. Note this this is not the most recent version of Family Tree Maker which only gets a 2.5 rating based on 108 reviews.
Legacy Family Tree - 4.06 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 129,328. Of 74 reviews 45 give it a perfect five star rating, 11 four stars, 8 three stars and 7 two stars. The product is from Millenium Corporation, based in Arizona and is available as a free standard edition and a download for $29.95.
One that didn't rank among the award winners
The Master Genealogist - 3.84 out of 5. The associated website has an Alexa ranking of 351,227. Of 104 reviews 45 give it a perfect five star rating, 11 each for four and three stars, 7 two stars and 19 just one star. With such diversity and polarization of opinion it's hard to summarize, but most agree the program takes significant effort to learn. Some of those who like it were criticized for being arrogant toward those who don't; those who don't were criticized for being abusive and sometimes uninformed. There was comment that some of the comments were inside jobs! Version 8 was released in December 2011 so most comments refer to earlier versions. The company, Wholly Genes, is located in Columbia, Maryland. A free 30 day trial by download is available. The full feature gold version is $59 by download.
Comments:
1. Thanks to Louis Kessler for making the GenSoftReviews facility available. You can make it more valuable by posting comments from your own experience.
2. When ratings are based on only a limited number of reviews the system is vulnerable to gaming.
3. Ratings are based on comments since the site opened in September 2008. In most cases there have been developments in the intervening years. Earlier comments may not reflect the situation with the current version.
4. Generally higher ranked software had fewer comments and lower Alexa rankings
5. If the number of comments had been taken into account, beyond not ranking those that received less than 10 ratings, the rankings could have been quite different. For example, based on the number of five star ratings given the first ranked would be The Master Genealogist which didn't even rank among the award winners. TMG, along with Legacy, each gained more five star ratings than the top five ranked programs combined.
6. When choosing software give consideration to support you might need. While most software includes online help consider choosing a program which has a local user base so you can get face to face advice and training. That's especially true if you are looking for a program that is adapted to non-US data, geography and conventions. Most family history societies will have one or more experts and maybe even a user group.
Friday, 6 January 2012
US WDYTYA victims announced
When NBC's genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? returns with its third season Feb. 3, a new crop of celebrities will explore their family history.
Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen will be featured on the series.
From the Hollywood Reporter, via a tweet from Megan Smolenyak
Bible records online
Feeling lucky? You could go out and buy a lottery ticket...
... or for better odds, by a bit, by trying Bible Records Online. There are 1158 Bibles with 5703 instances of 3469 different surnames on this site "dedicated to transcribing and digitizing the contents of family records that were written inside family Bibles and in other important documents from as early as the 1500s through today."
