Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Breaking the Silence –British Home Children in Canada

On Saturday April 6th 2013 from 1pm to 4pm there will be a special meeting in which the Ontario East British Home Child Family in cooperation with British Home Children Advocacy & Research Association, otherorganizations and individuals from across Ontario will be presenting information on British Home Children at the Ottawa Public Library.

They will provide assistance in finding the stories associated with the over 120,000 children, who came to Canada between the 1860s and the1940s as indentured servants.

Ranging in age from 1-16 years, these impoverished children from all parts of the British Isles came to our country in hopes of a chance at a better life. It was with these hopes that many philanthropic organizations working in tandem with the government to bring these children to Canada and other British Colonies.

Hear how their stories have lay hidden for decades due to the stigma attached to them. Only now many Canadians are learning that their family member was a British Home Child.

Join us as we give these children a voice and place in Canadian History.

If you suspect that your ancestor was a Home Child, this is a meeting that you should attend. Many people were Home Children, although their family never knew that they were – and there are such great resources that have been put on the Internet by genealogists from Ottawa.

Check out the Home Children website at www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=4

Toronto Tax Assessment Rolls for 1853


The Toronto Branch of the OGS has produced an indexed transcription of the Toronto tax assessment rolls for 1853. The original assessment rolls for 1853 are at the City of Toronto Archives.

There are two parts of the assessment rolls -

The first part of the project is a searchable online index available on this web site www.ontarioroots.com/ogs

The index (more than 9,000 names of owners and occupiers) and images is available free of charge to researchers around the world.

The second part of the project is a book and CD version of the index with lots more information for researchers with interests in mid-19th century Toronto.

There are maps and descriptions of the wards and streets, vital records, religious records and cemeteries, land records, immigration, directories, published sources and historical background.

You can order the book or CD version Toronto in the 1850s: A transcription of the 1853 tax assessment rolls and guide to family history research. The ordering instruction are on www.torontofamilyhistory.org/otherpubs.html#assessrolls

Niagara Peninsula Branch Supports Canadian Headstones Project

Steve Fulton, the Chair of the Niagara Peninsula Branch of the OGS, tells us that the Niagara Peninsula Branch is making great progress in putting gravestones onto the CanadianHeadstones website.

Currently, they are working on the Fonthill Cemetery. In the spring, they will be looking for people who enjoy taking pictures or people who can get involved from the comfort of their home, and training is available

So if you live in the Niagara Peninsula, or you have information that you would like to share with the people at the Niagara Peninsula Branch,     don’t hesitate to contact them.

The website for the Canadian Headstone Project is at http://canadianheadstones.com

The website for the Niagara Peninsula Branch OGS is at www.ogs.on.ca/niagara