OGS webinar series — Caribbean, Jewish and Chinese genealogy

The Ontario Genealogical Society this month will host an International Series of three webinars.

The series is free for members. It is $25 for non-members or $10 for a single webinar.

Thursday, July 10, 7:00 p.m. Eastern time
Tracing Your Caribbean Ancestors by Pooran Bridgelal

This specialized genealogy course is designed to assist individuals tracing their Caribbean ancestry — whether African, East Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, or otherwise. While traveling to one’s country of origin can be costly and time-consuming, participants will discover a wealth of resources available locally and online. The course introduces materials found in libraries and digital archives that provide valuable insights, laying a strong foundation for amateur researchers. It also prepares participants to identify key records and documents when they eventually visit archives in their ancestral homelands.

Thursday, July 17, 7:00 p.m. Eastern time
Landscape of Dreams: Jewish Genealogy in Canada with Kaye Prince-Hollenberg

The landscape of Canada is extensive, and so are our genealogy resources! This session will look at accessing some of the most common Canadian genealogy documents available online, including census, immigration, military, and vital records. We’ll also explore the abundant number of Canadian Jewish specific resources including archives and heritage organizations, newspapers, and digitized books.

Thursday, July 24, 7:00 p.m. Eastern time
Getting Started in Chinese Genealogy by Linda Yip

Chinese Canadian genealogy has it all: challenges, determination, and grit. In this talk, attendees will gain an understanding of the laws and regulations established for all Chinese in Canada and how they created unique record gaps and alternate sources. It may surprise you to know the Chinese Immigration Act applied to all persons deemed to be of the Chinese race, whether born in Canada or immigrated. The discussion will include some of the top issues in this branch of genealogy and how to get over those brick walls. Never before seen examples will be drawn from persons of Chinese descent in Ontario.

Learn more about the series and register here.

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This week’s crème de la crème — July 5, 2025

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week.

Crème de la crème of genealogy blogs

Blog posts
Snapshots of British Columbia’s Ghost Towns: Part 1—The Corbin Miners’ Strike by Jill Henderson on Digitizer’s Blog.

Finding Scotland’s Place Names and Research Documents and Letters With Artificial Intelligence by John Reid on Anglo-Celtic Connections.

 I Tried the “One Good Prompt” by Nancy G. Carver on Legacy Carvers.

AI as a Partner: Embracing Change in the Genealogy World by Jon Marie Pearson on The Simple Living Genealogist.

How Newspapers Can Lead to Other Sources by Jen Rikards on Auntie Jen’s Trees.

Mom’s Recipe Book by Mary Sutherland on Genealogy Ensemble.

News Reports of Kathleen Southwood Barnes Slatter in Vancouver by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree.

The Day Everything Changed by Jenny Mackey on Jenny’s Scrapbook of Family History Stories.

The Fragility of Childhood Before Vaccines by Amerly Peterson Beck on The Genealogy Girl.

The Summer We Left the House and Never Looked Back: A Nostalgic Journey Into Childhood Summers by Beth Farrar on Beth Farrar.

Recent improvements to the matrix tool by Jonny Perl on DNA Painter Blog.

Articles
Canada’s Archives Are in Trouble—and So Is Its History by Mark Bourrie, The Walrus, Toronto, Ontario.

RIP, John Parry, it was much too long by Collin Gallant, Sunny South News, Coaldale, Alberta.

175,000 new historical records released by Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, IrishCentral, Dublin, Ireland.

7 Steps for Handling Sensitive Subjects in Family History Interviews by Rhonda Lauritzen, Family Tree Magazine, Dublin, New Hampshire.

For more gems like these throughout the week, join the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group. When you submit your request to join, you will be asked to answer two quick questions about your family history research.

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Almost 4,000 birth records added to Provincial Archives of New Brunswick’s website

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick yesterday released 3,872 digitized images of birth registrations for the cities of Bathurst and Fredericton, from 1920 to 1929.

These records are available on the archives’ Vital Statistics web page where you can search by name, year, and/or county. Bathurst is in Gloucester County and Fredericton is in York County.

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Free access to US newspapers on OldNews

MyHeritage is offering free access to the entire collection of US newspaper pages on OldNews.com from July 3 to 5, 2025.

No need to set up an account. And there’s no need to sign up for a free trial. Just click on the above link and start searching.

Even if you subscribe to another newspaper site, I recommend you check out OldNews. I’ve been pleasantly surprised many times by the articles that have appeared in my searches.

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23andMe to be sold to its cofounder and former CEO

A US bankruptcy judge on Friday approved the sale of 23andMe to the nonprofit TTAM Research Institute, owned by cofounder and former CEO of 23andMe Anne Wojcicki.

The sale will ensure that the DNA of the company’s customers will not be transferred to a third party. 

According to an Associated Press report, this means that Ms. Wojcicki’s nonprofit TTAM Research Institute “will purchase ‘substantially all’ of San Francisco-based 23andMe’s assets for $305 million. The transaction — which arrives more than three months after 23andMe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — is set to officially close in the coming weeks.”

Under the deal, TTAM will acquire 23andMe’s signature “Personal Genome Service” provided through the company’s saliva-based DNA testing kits — as well as research operations and its Lemonaid Health subsidiary, a telehealth services provider that 23andMe previously planned to wind down.

When announcing its intended sale to Ms. Wojcicki’s nonprofit last month, 23andMe confirmed that TTAM “has affirmed its commitment” to comply with the company privacy policies and applicable law. That means TTAM will honor existing policies around consumer data, the company said, which includes allowing users to delete their data and “opt out” of research.

23andMe said it will send an email will be sent to all customers at least two business days before the acquisition closes to provide details on TTAM’s privacy commitments and instructions on how to delete data or opt out of research. TTAM will also offer customers two years of Experian identity theft monitoring at no cost.

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Acadian genealogist Stephen White appointed to Order of Canada

Governor General Mary Simon announced yesterday that Stephen Adrian White, the author of the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes, is one of 83 new appointments to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour, for his contribution to Acadian genealogy.

Mr. White is an authority on Acadian genealogy and has trained and inspired many generations in the Maritimes.

Stephen A. White.
Photo: Acadian and French-Canadian Ancestral Homes.

In the Governor General’s announcement, Mr. White was described as a Canadian authority on Acadian genealogy. “Stephen White has trained and inspired several generations of archivists and technicians in the Maritimes. As the author of the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes, he has left Acadians an outstanding genealogical work honouring them. More importantly, he has helped millions around the world discover their Acadian roots and heritage.”

Most family historians who have devoted time to researching their Acadian roots know Mr. White’s name and have benefitted from his decades of work.

Born in Massachusetts, Mr. White is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He practiced law in Boston, Massachusetts when offered the position as Genealogist at Moncton University’s Centre d’Études Acadiennes [Centre for Acadian Studies] where he worked for 48 years.

After working on the Dictionnaire généalogique des familles acadiennes for almost 30 years, Mr. White published the first two volumes in 1999.

He is an Acadian LeBlanc descendant. His great-grandfather, Simon-Pierre LeBlanc, was a captain without his own ship when he moved his family from Cape Breton to Massachusetts and changed his name to Simon Peter White.

Lucy LeBlanc Consentino wrote on the Facebook group, Acadian and French-Canadian Genealogy, “His work has been one that has helped to correct long-standing errors but it is especially his willingness to share all and any of his research that has been a benefit and enriched our family histories.”

Ms. LeBlanc Consentino also wrote, “Stephen was the very best when all we could find were genealogy publications containing errors. He brought a breath of fresh air as he combed through original records and shared them. The work of others has often been built on the foundation he created.”

Mr. White has left Acadians an outstanding genealogical work honouring them.

The appointment to the Order of Canada will be an honorary appointment for Mr. White.

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Québec Genealogical eSociety to host 14 free webinars

For the next five months, from July 17 to November 20, the Québec Genealogical eSociety has scheduled eight webinars in English and six webinars in French on a variety of interesting topics. They are all free and open to the public. All you need to do is register.

The topics presented in English include Quebec’s land registry, Indigenous research, Library and Archives Canada’s website, and AI. The speakers will be Mark Thompson, Jenna Lemay, Tracey Ariel, and Ken McKinlay.

In French, the topics include Indigenous genealogy, FamilySearch, searching for ancestors on the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec website, AI, and the future launch of Transcrire la Nouvelle-France. The speakers will be Jean-Claude-Sa’n Béliveau, Marcel Blais, Nathalie Poulin, Marie-Eve Robert, and Maxime Gohier.

The webinars will take place at 7:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

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This week’s crème de la crème — June 28, 2025

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week.

Crème de la crème of genealogy blogs

Blog posts
“Genealogy” and “census” are missing in the LAC 2025-26 Departmental Plan by John Reid on Anglo-Celtic Connections.

The Underground Railroad in Canada Helped Thousands Find Freedom by Laurie Bradshaw on FamilySearch Blog.

The Chinese Times Digital Collection Moves from Simon Fraser University to Canadiana on Canadian Research Knowledge Network.

How To Obtain Canadian Dual Citizenship by Kim Gilboy on Legacy Tree Genealogists.

Did Your Ancestor Have an Accident at Work on the Railways? by Nick Thorne on The Nosey Genealogist.

Need Records from NARA? Try This Game-Changer by Lori Samuelson on Genealogy At Heart.

The Ultimate FAN Club: When Family Becomes Everything by Kirsten M. Max-Douglas on Our Growing Family Tree.

Should You Include Unresolved Questions in Your Family History Writing? by Devon Lee on Family History Fanatics.

Why Genealogists Need Good Citations by Marcia Crawford Philbrick on Heartland Genealogy.

What Will Happen to Once-Treasured Silverware and China? by Marian B. Wood on Climbing My Family Tree.

How Genealogy Societies Can Master Organic Social Media (No Ads Required) by Jon Marie Pearson on The Simple Living Genealogist.

The Story of Lost Lynn: Part 1 by Miriam Robbins on AnceStories.

FamilyTreeDNA and WikiTree Collaboration – In Two Easy Steps!! by Roberta Estes on DNAeXplained.

WikiTree and Family Tree DNA Group Projects by Mags Gaulden on Grandma’s Genes.

WWII Soldier Identified 80 Years Later Through DNA by Dick Eastman on Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Articles
MSU project documents names of enslaved people through online archive by Riley Connell, WILX, East Lansing, Michigan.

Tattered Pages Discovered in Storage Reveal an Enslaved Man’s Daring Bid for Freedom—and His Second Life at Sea by Ellen Wexler, Smithsonian Magazine, Washington, DC.

New database uncovers lives of Czechoslovaks executed by Nazi regime by Alex Webber, TVP World, Warsaw, Poland.

Family Tree Maker 2024 Software Tips, Family Tree Magazine, Dublin, New Hampshire.

Findmypast hires agency to step up assault on Ancestry, Decision Marketing, Doncaster, England.

For more gems like these throughout the week, join the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group. When you submit your request to join, you will be asked to answer two quick questions about your family history research.

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Free access to Canadian collections on Ancestry

For Canada Day, Ancestry is offering free access to key Canadian collections for a limited time. The free access period ends on July 2 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

These key collections include Ontario marriages, 1826-1942, and Quebec church records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1968.

Learn more here.

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New parish and electoral records on Findmypast

This week, Findmypast added baptism, marriage and burial records from Cheshire, England, as well as more than a million British electoral registers.

UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors
There are now 1,081,193 records added to Findmypast’s existing collection of British electoral registers.

Cheshire, Diocese Of Chester Parish Baptisms
The collection of Chester baptism records has 272,555 new additions.

Cheshire, Diocese Of Chester Parish Marriages
There are also 211,575 marriage records to explore.

Cheshire, Diocese Of Chester Parish Burials
Finally, there 215,879 burial records from Chester.

New Scottish newspapers
Findmypast has added 182,850 pages to its newspaper archive this week, with six new Scottish titles and fourteen updates.

New titles:
Border Standard, 1886-1887
Edinburgh Advertiser, 1850-1851, 1855
Fraserburgh Advertiser, 1858-1869, 1875, 1884-1941
Lerwick Times, 1872-1873
St. Andrews Times, 1937-1940
The Reformer, 1870-1875

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