Celebrating Our Military Roots Day

Gail from Montreal has just sent me this news about a meeting to be held at the Quebec Family History Society, and the McGill University in Montreal digitization project of the Second World War Records.

Quebec Family History Society

Join us at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library for “Celebrating Our Military Roots Day”, the first in a series of monthly “Celebrating Our Roots Days”.

On Wednesday, December 5th, drop by between 1:00 and 4:30 pm and/or between 6:30 and 9:30 pm for coffee, tea and informal conversation. Share your research and learn from others how they learned about their ancestors who served in the military. Bring your favourite military books to show others. On display we will feature our members' memorabilia and books from the QFHS military collection.

Joining us in the afternoon will be Earl John Chapman, author of several military history books, including Canada's Black Watch: Legacies of Gallantry and Service.

So, bring along a friend, coffee mug, copies of your military letters, photos, service records, and medals, or just bring yourself.

Open to our members and the public.

For more information, please go to http://www.qfhs.ca

McGill University War Records Digitized

Family historians can now search the McGill University War Records www.archives.mcgill.ca/public/exhibits/mcgillremembers/warrecords.htm by name or browse the alphabetical list. The collection contains 6,617 index cards and more than 3,000 files containing newspaper clippings, correspondence and about 700 photos, documenting the involvement of McGill faculty, students, alumni, and staff during WWII.

British Columbia Voter’s List

The voter’s lists of 1875 and 1898 were taken from the Sessional Papers of the British Columbia Government, and they were extracted by Hugh Armstrong.

Voter’s lists are known as “census substitutes”, because they can be used to locate a person in a non-census year.

British Columbia only has census in the years 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 which is a nominal list, and the 1891 Victoria City Census which is a head of household list, so the voter’s list can help in this instance.

The 1875 list has the person’s name, their residence, and profession or trade.

For example, there is Bagnalle, John from Fort St, a music seller, and his residence was VicC (Victoria City).

And the 1898 voter’s list has the same information as the 1875 voter’s list. An example is Sabald, John, 208 Yates St, Plumber, VicC (Victoris City).

There are also directories, newspapers, strays, government sources (including public schools reports, unclaimed letters), petitions, stories and pictures on this site.

You can see all these records online (FREE) at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbc/bc.htm
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