High Fives - March 30, 2018

High Fives are articles or blog posts I have read during the week that I find interesting, and perhaps are pertinent to my research. Sometimes there are only a couple and sometimes there are quite a few.

FindMyPast smuggles out birth and marriage records

~by John at John Grenham – Irish Roots

Finding online Irish bmd records... well, that explains it!

The Family Theme

~by Alice at Family Tree

I never thought of this! 

Secrecy, sabotage and resistance: a Second World War ‘special relationship’

~by Neil Cobbett at The National Archives Blog, UK

Reading this led me to a discovery I will share with my readers in an upcoming post. You’ll know it when you see it 😉

How to Prepare for Your Visit to Your Ancestor's Hometown

~by DiAnn Iamarino Ohama at Fortify Your Family Tree

I need all the tips I can get for my ancestoral visit next fall. 

For more exciting weekend reading, see what posts these bloggers liked...

Saturday – Gail Dever, Crème de la Crème

Sunday – Randy Seaver, Best of the Genea-Blogs

Genealogy Blogging From A to Z

The Blogging From A to Z Challenge is when participating bloggers write a post for every letter of the alphabet every day in April, except Sundays. 

April snuck up on me again! I did this one year and really enjoyed the challenge, but it is not easy to blog to a theme every day, especially without lots of preparation! Maybe one year I will do it again.  Most bloggers pick a theme, although it is not mandatory, and this week is Theme Reveal Week. 

It is always fun to see what bloggers come up with for their version of the A to Z Challenge.  This year to date there are 9 bloggers signed up in the Genealogy category.  

At the end of the site post of March 19th there is a master list of bloggers. You can still sign up for the master list until April 1st, but it is never to late to catch up and participate.  I can add Genealogy bloggers here as long as the challenge runs.


I have scoped out all the Genealogy bloggers to list here...

Anne’s Family History

Everyone Has a Story to Tell

Finding Eliza

Jollett Etc.

Lori Crane (late start, but catching up!)

Roots & Stuff  (opted out)

Sandra's Ancestral Research Blog  (opted out)

The Curry Apple Orchard

Tracking Down the Family 

Genealogy Challenges  (this is me)


Let's show them our support by reading and commenting on their posts. 
Let me know if you want your blog added to the list. 


* Alright already! I decided to take up the challenge. I added my blog Genealogy Challenges to the end of the list 

High Fives - March 23, 2018

High Fives are articles or blog posts I have read during the week that I find interesting, and perhaps are pertinent to my research. Sometimes there are only a couple and sometimes there are quite a few.

Machines reading the archive: handwritten text recognition software

~by Dr Richard Dunley at The National Archives Blog, UK

I have some trouble reading old handwriting, lets hope this new software does a better job!  With so many different styles of handwriting it is not like reading typed text.

Women's History Month 2018: Bastardy Bonds

~by Gena Philibert-Ortega at Gena’s Genealogy

There are such records for other countries like England and Scotland also. On one record for a cousin's ancestor born out of wedlock the parish clerk wrote "base born". 

Kangaroo Island, South Australia -Visitor's List - 3 January 1914

~by Lorraine Newland at Remembering the Past Australia

The name Kangaroo Island intrigued me to take a look, then to google the island.

If you want to see Kangaroos and can’t get to Australia, on your next trip to western Canada, stop in at the Kangaroo Creek Farm in Kelowna, where you can interact with the kangaroos and hold the joeys. My grandchildren had a wonderful time there!

An 18th Century Easter Meal

~by Culloden Battlefield

Since my dog seems to be so adept at catching rabbits, maybe I should bookmark this recipe?? 

For more exciting weekend reading, see what posts these bloggers liked...

Saturday – Gail Dever, Crème de la Crème

Sunday – Randy Seaver, Best of the Genea-Blogs

Annales Maritimes et Colonials - Annals of the Navy and Colonies of France

There is a series of volumes called "Annales Maritimes et Colonials" published in Paris for the French Minister of the Navy and the Colonies. 

 Annales Maritimes et Colonials Vol 1, 1818

Laws, ordinances and decrees to do with the navy and with France's colonies. Volume 1 starts at 1809. Canada was no longer under French rule by this time, but you get an idea of life in the navy. The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, is a still a territory of France, among many others.

From description at Internet Archive:

"Issued in 2 parts: ptie. officielle (Lois et ordonnances); ptie. non officielle (Sciences et arts) Each part has separate t.-p. and paging. (Lois et ordonnances form 1 v. (in 1827 and 1830, 2 v.) annually; Sciences et arts form 1 v. annually, 1816-21, 2 v. annually, 1822-47) Beginning with July 1843 an additional section was added to the non-official part, entitled Revue coloniale (forming 1 v. in 1843, 2 v. annually, 1844-47) Revue coloniale was also issued separately.

Publication was suspended by ministerial decree in Dec. 1847. The official part was continued in Bulletin officiel de la marine. The section Sciences et arts was replaced by Nouvelles annales de la marine. The Section Revue coloniale was continued in the separately issued publication Revue coloniale, 2d series"

 If your ancestor was in the French navy, there are some sections you will find interesting... the makeup of a regiment, what their wages were, navy school, what clothing and equipment they were furnished with, what kind of food they ate, etc. There are names of officers that are stationed at the different colonies.

Uniform clothing, pg

You will also find death notices...

Death notices, Vol 23 -1824 pg 682

As with most lists of publications, at Internet Archive you can change from Date Archived to Date Published to get the years in order. 



Relevant Links

Annales Maritimes et Colonials

List of French Colonies

List of Ministers for the Navy and the Colonies

High Fives - March 16, 2018

After a couple of months hiatus, I am bringing back my High Fives on Fridays. I like doing this segment because, besides bringing you some blog posts or bloggers you may not know, it forces me to read posts from my fellow bloggers, something I didn't have much time for lately, and greatly miss. 

High Fives are articles or blog posts I have read during the week that I find interesting, and perhaps are pertinent to my research. Sometimes there are only a couple and sometimes there are quite a few.

Questionable Judgement Pt 1

~by Martin at Things I Find in the Garbage
Have you ever saved photos from the trash? My brother was scanning all his photos then pitching them in the fire - I managed to salvage a few, phew! 

Speculating upon the archive: women+pants=key search

~by Susan Long at State Library of Victoria Blog

My grandmother wouldn't have been caught dead in pants!!  But her sister, on the other hand, wore pants whenever she wasn't working. Interesting article!

What did an ancestor look like without any known photos?

~by Alice at Family Tree

Where else have you found a description of your ancestor?

Ste. Anne’s First Nation Heritage

~by Tracey Arial at Genealogy Ensemble

My husband's Nolin family is from the Ste Anne area of Manitoba, and I find this information helpful.

Highland Men’s Clothing in the Mid-18th Century

~by Culloden Battlefield 

Another way to add to the description of our ancestors, is how they dressed.

How to Turn a Hunch into Facts for Your Family Tree

~by DiAnn Lamarino at Fortify Your Family Tree
When I am stuck I often start with a hunch and try to prove or disprove it. I do enter it on my family tree at Ancestry (best way to search for records) but I make a note on the birth line that I am not sure about this person, so others don't copy the wrong information.  

For more exciting weekend reading, see what posts these bloggers liked...

Saturday – Gail Dever, Crème de la Crème

Sunday – Randy Seaver, Best of the Genea-Blogs

The Astronomical Society

When we found the place where we wanted to come to escape the rainy winters of home, we asked a friend if he wanted to come to this area.  No, he said.  Even though it is not a big city, there are too many lights at night.  Our friend is into astronomy and he wanted to find a place out in the country, away from any city lights so he can see what is going on in the night sky.

Perhaps your ancestor belonged to an Astronomical Society...

List of Members, Astronomical Society of London, 1824, pg 523

Also check Canadian publications for your American ancestors...

Associate Members of the Royal Astronomical Society Toronto 1893, pg x, mark 17

Celebrate Astronomy Day on 21 April 2018

\
Relevant Links

The American Astronomical Society - Astrophysical Journal

List of Members of The Astronomical Society of the Pacific,SF

Transactions of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada,Toronto

Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society UK w/members list

The PRDH - Have you tried it for early Quebec research?

Généalogie Québec wrote a post to explain the difference between their records and the PRDH database, and the features available if you subscribe to both. Both are websites of the Drouin Institute. 

I have been a subscriber to the PRDH, developed by the Université de Montréal,

for many years. The acronym is for Programme de Recherche en Démographie Historique, (Research Programme in Historical Demography). 

You can navigate the site on a first level tier for free, but to learn more you must subscribe. The fees are for a number of hits that never expire. I subscribed quite a few years ago and I still have 46 hits left. I have found the database very helpful many times in my research of early Québec families. 

You will see at the link that if you are already subscribed to Généalogie Québec, you are eligible to receive extra free hits on buying a subscription for the PRDH.    

Relevant Link

Généalogie Québec and PRDH

International Women's Day

For International Women's Day, here are some resources where you may find your women ancestors. 



Relevant Links

Agenda for the quinquennial sessions of the International Council of Women, to be held at Toronto, Canada, June, 1909

Report of the International Council of Women: Assembled by the National Woman Suffrage Assoc., Washington DC 1888

Int’l Council of Women; Report on the quinquennial meetings in Rome 1914

Woman's who's who of America : a biographical dictionary of contemporary women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915

Rules of the Aston female sick club, w/members, England 1863

Woman's Morning Music Club, Ottawa Ont 1894-95

General Federation of Women's Clubs

Woman's Reading Club - Fort Wayne, Ind.

Woman's City Club bulletin (Chicago)

Woman's Club, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Women Telegraph Operators in the Civil War

New Zealand: Suffregette Petition

Win an Ancestry Mystery Box

If you live in the USA you can win an Ancestry Box with clues and information about YOUR ancestors in the Relative Race Giveaway Contest.

Enter by March 9th and THREE winners will be randomly drawn on March 10th. 

Read the Terms and Conditions as contest is void in some states. 

Winners have 24 hours to claim their prize. Your box will contain may contain photos and items that give you clues and information about YOUR ancestors! 

Watch Relative Race Sundays on BYUtv, on BYUtv.org website or on the BYUtv app.
You can watch the show from Canada, but you have to me a US Citizen to enter the contest.

Click here to enter!

Clothiers, Tailors and Haberdashers

I have tailors on two branches of my family tree.  I have written about Andrew Tait, a Master Tailor in Liverpool and Bath that invented a secret pocket in pants. My great grandfather's brother Thomas Seale was a merchant tailor, having a shop on Princess Street in Kingston, Ontario. He had a specialty department of water-proof clothing and camping materials.

Kingston Directory, 1878, pg 72 (at Ancestry)

If your ancestor was a merchant tailor, clothier or haberdasher, look in trade magazines, directories, newspaper ads and ads in other local publications. My great grand uncle placed an ad in the Queen's College Journal, Kingston. 

Queen's College Journal 1878, pg 144

Relevant Links

The Clothier and Furnisher

Clothiers' and Haberdashers' Weekly

Fairchild's men's and boy’s wear Directory NY

The Modern Tailor Outfitter and Clothier

A list of some eminent members of the Mercers company of London 1872

Cost and selling price for merchant tailors

The Haberdasher, NJ

Tailor And Cutter Magazine