Showing posts with label Montreal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Montreal. Show all posts

Thursday, September 8, 2011

International Jewish Genealogy Month

The International Jewish Genealogy (IJG) month is celebrated on the Hebrew month of Cheshvan - Oct 29 to Nov 26, 2011.

The press release says that the “International Jewish Genealogy Month honors our Jewish ancestors through the pursuit of Jewish family history research".

To read more about the IJG go to http://www.iajgs.org/jgmonth.html

To mark the International Jewish Genealogy Month, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada at http://www.jgstoronto.ca/content/view/448/30 is also celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the organization.

They have published a book called Tracing Our Roots - Telling Our Story. As the website says “It is an anthology of over over 45 compelling and entertaining contributions, written by members of our society”.

Also, on Sunday, September 18, 2011 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm Stanley Diamond from Montreal will be in the Toronto area to give a workshop on what is new at the Jewish Records Indexing – Poland.

The website is http://www.jgsh.org/Events.php

Four other societies in Canada are -

Jewish Genealogical Society – Hamilton & Area http://www.jgsh.org/About.php

Genealogical Institute of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada Inc http://www.jhcwc.org

Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia http://jgibc.shutterfly.com

Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal http://www.jgs-montreal.org

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

120th Anniversary of Ukrainian Settlement

Over 1.2 million Ukrainian-Canadians are celebrating this year's events in the 120th Anniversary of settling in Canada.

They have completed the Historical Train of Ukrainian Pioneers from Halifax stopping in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Edmonton where they traced the steps of the people who came here in 1891; yesterday they honoured the annual Black Ribbon Day in which they remembered the victims of Communism and Nazism in Europe, and on the 24th of October of this year they will celebrate Ukrainian Day on Parliament Hill.

To view the history of Ukrainian-Canadians, the website is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_Canadian

To view the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, visit the http://www.history.alberta.ca/ukrainianvillage/default.aspx


Digging up the Parliament Building (Montreal)

On Tuesday, the CTV News http://m.ctv.ca/topstories/20110823/archaeologists-montreal-dig-110823.html had a story about archeologists digging up the Parliament Building which was burnt down by rebels of the Rebellions of 1837 in Montreal.

Reports say that they are starting to find items including a tea set, and a pair of glasses which was probably left behind by someone when the building burnt to the ground.

The ground will be turned into a green space in time for Montreal's 375th birthday, which will take place in 2017.

Read the history of the Parliament Building http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_the_Parliament_Buildings_in_Montreal

For a history of Montreal, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal

For the Rebellion of 1837 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_Losses_Bill

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ancestry.ca Launches Online the "Canadian Passenger Lists 1865-1935"

At 10 o'clock this morning (on Tuesday, September 16, 2008), Josh Hanna — Ancestry.com's Senior Vice-President — announced in Toronto that it has put the Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 online at <http://landing.ancestry.ca/intl/canada/passenger/lists.aspx> in both French and English (simply click the language link at the top of the page).

I have been on the site (even though all of my ancestors came to Canada pre-1865) to see what it is all about, and there is 1,441 BARCLAYs who came to Canada and 178 BLADES. (To those who don't know - my father's line is through the surname of BARCLAY, and my mother's name was BLADES - both of them descendent from United Empire Loyalists who came to Canada in 1783 and 1784, respectivly, from the United States.)

The passenger lists covers the provinces and cities of Quebec (Quebec Ports, May 1865-June 1908, June 1919-July 1921, April 1925-November 1935); Montreal (April 1925-November 1935); Halifax, Nova Scotia (1881-October 1922, 1925-1935); North Sydney, Nova Scotia (November 1906, August 1908-August 1922, 1925-1935); Saint John, New Brunswick ( 1900-September 1922, 1925-1935); Vancouver, British Columbia (1905-September 1922, 1925-1935); Victoria, British Columbia and Pacific Ports (April 1905-September 1922, 1925-1935) and some eastern U.S. Ports (July 1905-1919, 1925-1928) and New York City, which covers 1906 to 1921.

When you put the name into the search engine you may get their estimated year of birth, their birth country (although many of the immigrants did not mention their country of birth), date of arrival, name of the vessel, and port of departure. You can then view the image from which the information was taken.

It appears that the partnership that was forged between Ancestry.com and the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in May, 2007 was not adhered to in this instance because nowhere is the LAC mentioned in the Ancestry.com press release.*

But it may be worth checking the LAC site <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/immigrants> because they have some of the passenger lists onsite, too. They also have the Moving Here, Staying Here. The Canadian Immigrant Experience online, and it's worth looking at it because it can give you the background behind immigration.

This past August, Sylvie Tremblay, Chief Project Manager of the Canada Genealogy Centre, said that the LAC has embarked on a three to five year project where they hope to develop a family history site where you will go to get the "story behind the headlines". They will make the connections for you between the databases, and the history in family history, and they are looking towards wikis to do this - so watch for that.

In the meantime, you can look up your ancestor on Ancestry.ca, and decide if you want to spend the money to do a deeper search. Remember, you can also get a 14-day trial at <www.ancestry.ca>.

*The LAC is mentioned in the CNW News Release. It refers to the LAC in that the LAC holds the official records on microfilm.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Spring/Summer Journal Arrives from QFHS

My copy of "Connections" — the Journal of the Quebec Family History Society (QFHS) — arrived last week. The 28 page journal has a picture of the world-famous Quebec City hotel, the Chateau Frontenac, on the front page. Taken in 1943, it is an impressive invitation to the index on the inside of the journal.

One of the articles includes "New Kid On The Block: St. James United Church" (Robert N. Wilkins, p.6), a piece about a Methodist church hidden from view in Montreal by shops built in front of it! Now on public view once more, it was one of the largest churches of the Methodist faith built in the world. It seats 2,000 people!

In this church in 1906, Booker T. Washington gave a speech on anti-slaverly. Another time, Harriet Beecher Stowe gave a similar speech on that topic, too.

At the end of page 3 is "Researching Your Family Lineage in France" in which the QFHS is offering to "... carry out detailed family searches of your French-Canadian Family Lineage(s) from Quebec to France".

They will do detailed searches for $50.00 per search and a search will take, on average three to four hours to complete - an average of $15 - $20 per hour. Where else can you find research, that experience, yet done with a knowledge only available at the QFHS?

One other article to note is their two-part series on "The Land Register of Quebec: Part I - The System" by Sharon Callaghan (p. 17) in which she says " ... that there is now an on-line, searchable database in which you can trace the history of any property in Quebec".

Part II of the article will appear in the fall issue of "Connections". She will take you on a tour of the website, and will review the search venue at <www.mrnf.gouv.qc.ca/english/home.jsp>.

There are also two articles on Montreal: "The City of Old" and "Phoebe David (1736/37-1785)" on pages 20 and 21. These should not be missed, as they provide great reading.

If you have never thought about joining QFHS, maybe it's time to consider doing so. I have been aware of Derek Hopkins and the gang since 1994, and they have done wonders with the English part of Quebec family history.

To see what else is avaible, go to their website at <www.qfhs.ca>, or send them a note at <admin@qfhs.ca>.