Showing posts with label Ottawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ottawa. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2015

Are you a living descendant to these founding families of Ottawa, Canada?



City of Ottawa, Canada West. View of Parliament Hill and Chaudière_Falls. ca. 1859, by Stent and Laver 

Mike More of the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society has put this notice on the society's Facebook page - 

Bruce Deachman at the Ottawa Citizen is trying to find living descendants in the area of Ottawa’s founding families:

THOMAS AHEARN (1855-1938): Inventor, businessman, co-founder of the Ottawa Car Company, founder and president of Ottawa Electric Railway Company, brought electric streetlight to Ottawa, first chairman of the Federal District Commission. Partner with Warren Soper. 

BRADDISH BILLINGS (1783-1864): First settler in Gloucester (Billings Bridge). 

JOHN RUDOLPHUS BOOTH (1827-1925): Lumber and railway baron.

HENRY FRANKLIN BRONSON (1817-1889): Lumber baron. 

LOUIS-THEODORE BESSERER (1785-1861): Businessman, lawyer. Owned a large estate that became Sandy Hill.

CHARLES CUMMINGS (1801-1848): Businessman, founder of Vanier. Built the first Cummings Bridge, joining Ottawa with Janesville (Vanier). 

EZRA BUTLER EDDY (1827-1906): Lumber baron, politician. 

IRA HONEYWELL (1785-1852): First settler in Nepean.

WILLIAM PITTMAN LETT (1819-1892): Editor, poet and Ottawa’s first city clerk, a position he held for 36 years. Chronicled Ottawa’s development in poetry and journalism, including pamphlets on local history such as “The City of Ottawa and its Surroundings” and “The Transition of Bytown to Ottawa 1827-1877,” and poetry, such as the oft-cited “Recollections of Bytown and its Old Inhabitants.” 

THOMAS MacKAY (1792-1855): Architect, stonemason, politician. A Montrealer, he came to Ottawa to build the lower locks on the Rideau Canal, then stayed in Bytown, buying land where the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers meet and founding New Edinburgh. Built the stone house that is now the Bytown Museum. Also built Rideau Hall, where he lived, and Earnscliffe, for his daughter and son-in-law. 

JAMES MacLAREN (1818-1892): Early settler and entrepreneur in Western Quebec. Sawmills mostly. Helped found the Hull Iron Company in 1880, the North Pacific Lumber Company of British Columbia in 1889 and the Bank of Ottawa, later merged with Scotiabank, in 1894. 

FRANK HENRY PLANT (1883-1952): Ottawa mayor and businessman (carriage maker). Was heavily involved in Ottawa sports, as president of the Ottawa City Hockey League and the City Baseball League during the 1920s. Plant served as a member of the Ottawa Hydro Commission from 1936 until 1951. Plant also served as a director of the Ottawa Senators hockey team, a director of the Ottawa Nationals baseball team, vice-president of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association, president of the Ottawa Kennel Club and a long-time (over 20 years) director of the Central Canada Exhibition Association. The Plant Bath is named for him. 

WARREN YOUNG SOPER (1854-1924): Partner to Thomas Ahearn. His cottage is now residence to the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. 

NICHOLAS SPARKS (1794-1862): Labourer on Philemon Wright’s farm, he saved his earnings for years and eventually bought 200 acres of land where now is located the Parliament Buildings and downtown Ottawa. Also a financier and politician. 

PHILEMON WRIGHT (1760-1839): Farmer and entrepreneur, he founded Wrightsville (later known as Hull), the first permanent settlement in the area. 

He would appreciate hearing from any descendants in the world and he can be reached at bdeachman@ottawacitizen.com or 613-726-5834.

Thank you, Mike, for bringing this to our attention. 

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

LAC will hold a Town Hall meeting



The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is holding a Town Hall meeting on June 1, 2015 between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. at 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. They are interested in hearing from clients that currently use, or plan to use its services onsite, on the website or by telephone - that means genealogists!

It is limited to a maximum of 100 persons, and will be allotted on a first come first serve basis. The email to reserve a seat is by email: rsvp@bac-lac.gc.ca, and you should register by May 22, 2015.

I won’t be going to the Town Meeting but my husband will, and it will be interesting to see what will be discussed.

In the meantime, the transcript of the speech that was given by Dr. Guy Berthiaume, Librarian and Archivist of Canada to the Friends of the City of Ottawa Archives on April 30th called Something old, something new: access and the heart of LAC's mandate is at http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mthd=tp&crtr.page=1&nid=973169&crtr.tp1D=970

The website for the LAC is at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

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SPECIAL OFFER!!!!!!!!!

Need help in finding your Canadian ancestors?

As a nod of the hat to the Ontario Genealogical Conference being held in Barrie, Ontario from May 29 to May 31, may we take this opportunity to offer a month-long discount on our research and consultation services of 15% (ends 11 June at midnight).

Just go to Elizabeth Lapointe Research Services at www.elrs.biz, or send an email with the subject "special" to genealogyresearch@aol.com to see how I can help you find that elusive Canadian ancestor!
 
Research Tip! If you want a place to start your genealogy research, read “What to do First” at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/how-to-begin/Pages/what-to-do-first.aspx 
 
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/05/canadian-week-in-review-11-may-2015.html
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada.
 

Friday, May 15, 2015

Artifacts from HMS Erebus on display this Victoria Day weekend



Don’t miss this rare chance to view artifacts recently recovered from the HMS Erebus, on display at the Canadian Museum of History this weekend only. The micro-exhibit features objects recovered during the recent Canada Park’s expedition in the High Arctic to research the famed Sir John Franklin shipwreck. Parks Canada staff will be on site to answer your questions.

The exhibit will be open to the public May 14–18, 2015 at the W.E. Taylor Salon
Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Quebec. (The museum is located right across the river from Ottawa).

They also say that in 2017, the Museum, in collaboration with Parks Canada, will present a special exhibition on the search for the Northwest Passage and Sir John Franklin’s disastrous final voyage of 1845.

The website is http://www.historymuseum.ca/home

 ======================================================================
SPECIAL OFFER!!!!!!!!!

Need help in finding your Canadian ancestors?

As a nod of the hat to the Ontario Genealogical Conference being held in Barrie, Ontario from May 29 to May 31, may we take this opportunity to offer a month-long discount on our research and consultation services of 15% (ends 11 June at midnight).

Just go to Elizabeth Lapointe Research Services at www.elrs.biz, or send an email with the subject "special" to genealogyresearch@aol.com to see how I can help you find that elusive Canadian ancestor!
 
Research Tip! You should focus your research question when contacting a professional genealogist. The most popular question concerns the relationship of one person to another. For example, Who were the parents of Andrew Barclay who lived in Shelburne, Nova Scotia from 1783 to 1832? 
 
 
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/05/canadian-week-in-review-11-may-2015.html
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Ever been to the 'library' at the Library and Archives Canada?





Have you ever been to the ‘library’ of the Genealogy and Family History Room on the third floor of the Library and Archives Canada building at 365 Wellington Street, Ottawa? 
 
If you haven’t been there, why not stop in the next time you are in Ottawa? It has many books in it's stacks that may interest you in your pursue of Canadian family history.  
 
They recently received more books under the following headings, such as - 
 
Family Histories 
 
Le grand rassemblement...: familles Zéphirina Dupuis, Aquila Dupuis, André-Joseph Dupuis: généalogie et biographie by Francine Dupuis Loranger 
 
Mes ancêtres Laroche et Desrochers by Lyne Laroche 
 
The Melanson story: Acadian family, Acadian times by Margaret C. Melanson 
 
Une famille, un village, un pays : les Gagnon, les Bergeronnes, le Québec by Rodolphe Gagnon 
 
Ethnic and Local Histories 
 
Cartes mortuaires. Les Éboulements et Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive by Alain Anctil-Tremblay, Jean-Philippe Tremblay 
 
Cimetières La Malbaie by Alain Anctil-Tremblay, Jean-Philippe Tremblay 
 
Cimetières Les Éboulements, 1733-2010 et Saint-Joseph-de-la Rive, 1932-2010 by Alain Anctil-Tremblay, Jean-Philippe Tremblay 
 
Familles Caron d'Amérique: répertoire généalogique by the Association les familles Caron d'Amérique 
 
Généalogie des familles acadiennes de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard (volume 5) by Jean Bernard 
 
Gravestones of Glengarry (volumes 10 to 14) by Alex W. Fraser

To see what hours they are open, or to ask a question, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/Pages/introduction.aspx
 


Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review-16-march-2015.html
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Library and Archives Canada - online survey


 
Sylvie Tremblay, Manager, Online Content of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), has sent out the following press release -

Library and Archives Canada is conducting a usability study of our to gather information about how visitors use our website. This study includes a question about digital content available on the LAC website. Please note that the identity of respondents is strictly confidential’.

The study can be accessed at: http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/lacbac01/lac/ until March 6th.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact: webservices@bac-lac.gc.ca.

So I took the survey, and found that they asked very good questions, such as how did you find the LAC website and what (records) were you searching for today?

The questions caused me to think, and the two things that I would like to see added would be the 1851, 1861 and 1871 agricultural census and the vast collection of newspapers that they have onsite. Whether they will accommodate my wish list remains to be seen.

What did you think of the survey? What would you like to see in the future as far as digital content is concerned? Are there questions that they should have asked, and didn’t?


Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review.html
 It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since
April 23, 2012.
           
        

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

BIFHSGO has a New Monthly Meeting Location


Over the past year, many Canadian societies have found new locations in which to hold their meetings.
The latest society to find a new venue is the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO). They moved from their former home at the Library and Archives Canada in downtown Ottawa to The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa (formerly Nepean). 
On Saturday, March 14, 2015, there will be their regular meeting, and then in the afternoon, they will have a special speaker from the Ulster Historical Foundation (UHF).
The morning session is free, as usual, but the afternoon is offered for a fee of $10 per head.
Tickets will be sold at the January and February BIFHSGO Monthly Meetings and will also be for sale at the door on the day for as long as they last. Seating is limited, so purchase your tickets early (and from personal experience, please do) to avoid disappointment.
The two speakers from UHF presenting the series of lectures are Gillian Hunt and Fintan Mullan.
Full details are on the website at http://bifhsgo.ca/eventListings.php?nm=127
Check the Canadian Week in Review Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!
It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

New Book at the Genealogy Services Collection



Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has released the titles of new Family Histories and Ethnic and Local Histories of the Genealogy Services Collection, and they are available at the LAC.

You can go to the Genealogy and Family History Room located on the 3rd floor at 395 Wellington in Ottawa. 

Family Histories

De nos ancêtres Houallet en France aux descendants Ouellet-te en Nouvelle-France, de François Houallet et Isabelle Barré, à leur fils René et son rêve américain by Jeannine Ouellet

Généalogie ascendante de Maurice Fortier by Lise Lefebvre

La descendance de Pierre Gilbert, capitaine de vaisseau: Petite-Rivière-Saint-François à partir de 1756 by Jules Garneau

André Marsil dit Lespagnol: l'ancêtre des Marcil et Mercille d'Amérique (1642-1725) by Denis Marsil

La famille Miville-Dechêne, Julie: l'arrivée en Nouvelle-France et les pérégrinations à Québec et dans les environs du 17e au 21e siècle by Michel Émond

Larocque family by Charles G. Clermont

L'histoire de la famille acadienne des Lejeune dit Briard: les sept premières générations et plus by André-Carl Vachon

Looking back: a history of the Robert and Hannah (Swinton) Williamson family, 2013-1783 by M. Yvonne Brown

The Amos B. Weber family history by Tim Campbell

The legacy of Peter Martin by Tim Campbell

The Noah B. Martin family history by Tim Campbell

The scent of oil: a Nicklos/Perkins family saga by Gary May
Ethnic and Local Histories

Atlas généalogique de la France ancestrale: pays des migrants vers la Nouvelle-France by Micheline Perreault

Dictionnaire des souches allemandes et scandinaves au Québec by Claude Kaufholtz-Couture and Claude Crégheur

Irish presence: the protestant religious history, volume 1: Villages et visages en Lotbinière (includes cemetery transcriptions), research and writing by Sylvie Bernard; translation by Claude Crégheur and Mélanie St-Jean

La colonie nantaise de Lac-Mégantic: une implantation française au Québec au XIXe siècle by Marcel Fournier

Le pays des filles du Roy... au confluent du Saint-Laurent et de la Richelieu by Louise Biron, Danielle Mailloux and Louise Pelletier

Les Filles du roi au XVIIe siècle: orphelines en France, pionnières au Canada by Yves Landry

Les sépultures du coteau des Cèdres, 1750-1780 by Jean-Luc Brazeau and Isabelle Aubuchon

Patriotes, reformers, rebels & raiders: tracing your ancestors during the troublous times in Upper and Lower Canada, 1820-1851 by Kenneth Cox

Pour que rien ne s'efface: Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, 2014 by Robert Charbonneau, Mario Cyr and Huguette Plourde

Répertoire des naissances, des mariages et des décès de la paroisse de Saint-Émilien, Desbiens, 1926-1941 by Société d'histoire du Lac-Saint-Jean

The Irish Catholic families of Puslinch Township, Wellington County, Ontario: a genealogy by Marjorie Clark

The website of the LAC is http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/genealogy/Pages/introduction.aspx 

Remember to check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at
http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-05-january-2015.html

It’s the
ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

The OGS picks their theme for the 2017 conference!



Our Canada-Your Family: Building A Nation is the theme which has been chosen for the 2017 Ontario Genealogical Society's conference, and what a fantastic title!

And the reason that the title of the conference was chosen is that 2017 will be the 150th birthday of the founding of Canada. It will be a super busy time in Ottawa, so why not plan at attend the conference and do some sightseeing along with your stay? 

This will be the sixth time (plus they co-hosted the 2012 conference in Kingston) that Ottawa (the nation’s capital) will have hosted the conference.

They already have a small group of volunteers, but they can always have more people join them in this effort. 

You can contact them at conference2017@ogsottawa.on.ca 

Watch for news in this blog and at the Ottawa blog at http://ogsottawa.blogspot.com/ and their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/237267743111732/?fref=ts 

The webpage is http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

Friday, May 9, 2014

69th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands

Patric Allard, Taken May 2006 at Hog's Back, Ottawa.

Monday was the 69th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands, which was led by the Canadians in the Second World War.

After the war, the Netherlands wanted to say Thank You to Canada for its war service, and it gave the country, and Ottawa in particular, tulip bulbs. Ottawa adopted the tulip as its official flower.

In 1953, Ottawa started the Tulip Festival, and this year, it runs from May the 9th to the 19th, with fireworks, musical shows, Cirque de Liberation, and the International Pavilion.

The festival claims to be the world's largest tulip festival. There are over one million tulips planted all over the city, and there are over 500,000 visitors each year. It is quite a show!

This year, the festival will honour artist Silvia Pecota. She will be in attendance May 9th, 17th & 18th from 2 pm to 4 pm at Queen Juliana Park (by Dow’s Lake – a man-made lake in the center of the city) and you will be able to view some of the photos she took of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan (2001-2014).

She is presently working on an art book that incorporates her poetry. It covers the War of 1812 (Bicentennial), WWI (Centennial) and the Closure of the Afghan Mission (2014).

For more information, visit her website at www.silviapecota.com.

To read about Canada’s role in the liberation of the Netherland, go to http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/canada-netherlands

To read about the Tulip Festival, see http://tulipfestival.ca/site/home/en

Saturday, April 5, 2014

From Aberdeen to Albany: How Our Scott Family Ancestors Became United Empire Loyalists in Canada

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) will be holding its monthly meeting next Saturday at the Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. 

The meeting will start at 9:00 a.m. with the Before BIFHSGO Education Talk which will be given by Ken McKinlay and he will talk about Using Evernote for Genealogy Research. He will provide an overview of the online tool and how it can help with genealogy tasks.

From 9:30 until 10:00 a.m. you will be able to browse the Discovery Tables and talk to Ken McKinlay about the online tool Evernote. (Since I am a recent covert to Evernote, I will be interested to hear what Ken thinks about this newer research tool for genealogy.)

At 10:00 a.m.. Ken Harley will give a talk in which he will build on an earlier presentation he made to BIFHSGO in December 2009 during which he established how his wife Maxine's family arrived in Manitoba as original homesteaders. The first presentation traced the Scott family roots back to UEL settlers in Prince Edward County. Ontario. 

This talk will track Maxine's GGGG-grandfather's emigration from Inverurie, in Aberdeenshire Scotland through Ireland and on to the American Colonies in the early 1700s. In addition to how William Scott followed his dream, Ken tries to establish why our ancestors would emigrate to what was essentially an unsettled wilderness. 

Dave Cross’s interview with Ken Harley has been added to the BIFHSGO Podcast page. Through this interview, Ken provides you with the structure of his upcoming presentation, a bit about the research he has done with the Scott family and some of the interesting stories which might yet be uncovered.

The podcast is available at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106 

All monthly meetings are open to the general public, and they are free of charge.

The website is at http://www.bifhsgo.ca 

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Lost Landscapes: Up the Gatineau! with Google Earth

Join the Gatineau Valley Historical Society as they mark Earth Day with an historical virtual tour up the Gatineau River. Society President, Marc Cockburn, will take you on multi-media voyage from Hull up to Low and beyond, using Google Earth and archival photos and maps to reconstruct how the river’s landscape looked before much of its natural and built environment was flooded in 1927.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 at 7:30 pm, at The Wakefield Centre, 38, ch. Valley, Wakefield, QC

The website of the society is at http://www.gvhs.ca

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Was your ancestors buried in Ottawa between 1828 and 1845?

I first became aware of this story at the end of last year, while doing the Canadian Week in Review, my weekly online newspaper summary.

As it turned out, the construction crew with the Light Rail Tunnel who has been digging beneath Queen Street in downtown Ottawa, came upon burials in the area.

Subsequently, it was determined that they were the remains in the Barrack’s Hill Cemetery, and that they would have to be removed and reburied elsewhere.

So Ontario's Registry of Cemeteries is looking for descendants of persons buried in the Barrack’s Hill Cemetery which existed near Elgin & Queen Streets in Ottawa between 1828 and 1845.

Descendants will have a say in where the remains are placed if they contact the Registrar by March 21, 2014.

You can contact the registry by going to http://www.omba.com/contact_government.php

For a history of the Barrack’s Hill Cemetery, you can go to the http://www.ottawagraphy.ca/bayfkeyword/cemeteries

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on National Flag Day


February 15, 2014

Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement to mark National Flag of Canada Day:

“The Canadian flag is an inspiring and endearing symbol that unites Canadians from coast to coast to coast. It is equated both at home and abroad with a peaceful and progressive country of enormous natural beauty, prosperity and generosity of spirit. At no time is national pride in our flag more evident than during the Olympic Games, and it is certainly on prominent display in Sochi over so many podiums and around so many of our magnificent athletes. We could not be more proud.

“In keeping with the recent tradition of presenting a Peace Tower flag to deserving Canadians, I am deeply honoured to present this symbol of our country to Gordon Burke and Jan Phelan, parents of the late Sarah Burke, who are accompanied today by widower Rory Bushfield. Sarah was a gifted athlete, a trailblazer in freestyle skiing, and one of the principal reasons why the half pipe was introduced as an Olympic sport this year in Sochi, Russia. She was a great Canadian whose efforts have had a remarkable impact on the world of sport, and whose story has touched the nation. Her legacy will live on in the many athletes who take up the sport she so championed.

“On this day, I invite all Canadians to take a moment and reflect on our national icon and what it means to be Canadian.”

February 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day in 1996. To celebrate this special day in Canadian history, each year the Peace Tower flag is presented to a Canadian who has exemplified the values our country holds most dear.

To read about the history of National Flag Day, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Flag_of_Canada_Day and go to http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1359736104513


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The National Gallery of Canada

There will be a summer exhibit called The Great War: The Persuasive Power of Photography, and it will begin June 27, coinciding with Canada History Week, which starts July the 1st, and will run until the 17th of November. 

This exhibit brings together a diverse and remarkable selection of photographs drawn from national and international collections in an effort to illustrate the many important roles that photography played in the First World War.

The website for that National Gallery of Canada is http://www.gallery.ca/en/

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Military Great Moments in Genealogy

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) is having a special monthly meeting in honour of Remembrance Day on Saturday November 9th, when they will feature seven 15-minute talks.

The meeting will take place at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.

Come early and browse the Discovery Tables, and meet with family history experts.

9:00 to 9:15 am
Over the Top: Researching our First War Ancestors in Fifteen Minutes Glenn Wright

9:15 to 9:30 am
Finding a Family Member on the Western Front Jane Down

9:30 to 10:00 am
Discovery Tables — Military Memorabilia Helen Garson

10:00 to 10:15 am
BIFHSGO Monthly Business Meeting Glenn Wright

10:15 to 10:30 am
Sam Cromie: Canadian Private to British Officer Wendy Croome

10:30 to 10:45 am
A Family in Service Mark Lloyd

10:45 to 11:00 am
Slipping Backward: A Canadian Prisoner of War, 1915-18 Brian Watson

11:00 to 11:15 am
William Sterling Lamb (1894-1918): A Promising Life Cut Short Anne Sterling

11:15 to 11:30 am
What Did He Do for Armistice? By Brian Glenn

If you want to hear speakers Glenn Wright, and Anne Sterling as they are interviewed by Dave Cross about the subjects of their talks, go to http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106


The BIFHSGO website is http://www.bifhsgo.ca

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Lecture Series: Grub and Grog: Food and Drink in History


The Shannon lecture series at Carleton University, Ottawa called Grub and Grog: Food and Drink in History will bring in speakers from as far away as San Francisco, Minnesota, and Victoria BC to speak on the history of food and drink.

There are three lectures left, and they are -

October 25, 2013 Adventures in Cooking from the Past. Ken Albala, Department of History, University of the Pacific.

November 8, 2013 The Tavern Company: Food, Drink, and the Bonds of Sociability in a Colonial Society. Julia Roberts, Department of History, University of Waterloo.

November 15, 2013 Only in Canada: History, Ecology and Culture of Edible Wild Plants of First Peoples in Western Canada. Nancy Turner, School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria.

For further information please contact the Department of History at (613) 520-2828, by email to history@carleton.ca or visit our website at www.carleton.ca/history.

All lectures will take place in the Humanities Lecture Theatre, 303 Paterson Hall, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. followed by a reception in the Department of History Lobby, fourth floor Paterson Hall.

And while we are talking about the food industry, here is an entertaining article I found in the Timmins Press about war rationing in the Second World War.  HISTORY: War rationing inspired recipes http://www.timminspress.com/2013/10/18/history-war-rationing-inspired-recipes      

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Fall 2013 Anglo-Celtic Roots

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO)has issued the fall edition of its journal the Anglo-Celtic Roots.

There are a number of articles in this issue, and they are –

The Cowley Family Saga: From Sherwood Forest to the NHL – Part I by Christine Jackson which talks about the role that the Crowley family (they arrived in the Ottawa area from England in the 1830s) played in the development of the Ottawa Valley, and of Champlain Park, a housing development in the west end of Ottawa in the 1950s.

Found in a Monastery? by Brian D. Cook is a summary of what happened to tracing his maternal great-grandfather – Cuthbert Baker – from help by the BIFHSGO society, and genetic genealogy. .. and the records of the Benedictine Monastery in Europe.

The Cutler Genealogical Odyssey by Gillian Leitch tells of she successfully traced John Cutler from Eton, England who was employed as a clerk at the Tower of London. It is a fascinating story!

In the From the President message, Glenn Wright, says that they have imitated two projects that will result in two databases – the pre-Confederate immigrants from the British Isles (which will hold important names for researchers), and the second one will concern the First World War. So stayed tuned for developments on that front.

Betty Warburton keeps us up-to-date on the happenings at the library at the Archive of Ottawa, this month she tells us of the books on Ireland; John D. Reid talks about Canadiana.org, and the 1921 Census in The Cream of the Crop, and Ian White writes about The Ottawa City Archives: a Treasure Chest for Genealogists.

The Anglo-Celtic Roots (ACR) is available as a member benefit of BIFHSGO when you join the organization.

To join as a member, go to http://www.bifhsgo.ca

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Hands-On Claesses in Early Ontario Land Records

Gwyneth Pearc, the Secretary of the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society, has sent us this announcement -

“Hands-On Early Ontario Land Records” is a three-session course to be taught by author, educator and long-time OGS member Jane MacNamara. Designed for both family and local historians, this course will provide an introduction to the land granting process and the main types of Crown Lands records. Participants will learn how to use the various finding aids and collections at the Archives of Ontario (including those on microfilm from Library and Archives Canada) to document a person’s acquisition of (or attempt to acquire) land in Upper Canada, and will work in small groups following case histories through the records.

The course fee is $90 ($78 for OGS members), and the schedule is Thursdays November 28, December 5 and 12, 2013, from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

The place that this will be held is the Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian MacDonald Blvd., York University, Toronto

Visit their Branch website at www.torontofamilyhistory.org/courses.html for course and registration details.

Postscript: To those who want to see Jane, she will be at the Ottawa Genealogical Society on March 22, 2014 at which she will appear as Guest Speaker.

For more information, go to http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org announces partnership

Last week, I reported on the new digitization partnership between the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian.org (see blog posting of Aug 23rd  “Some land records are being digitized”), and now it has been made official.

The LAC has agreed to a “large-scale digitization partnership involving about 60 million images from numerous collections”.   

A couple of things caught my eye –

This will be a ”10-year agreement with this longstanding partner (which) covers the digitization, indexing and description of millions of personal, administrative and government documents, as well as land grants, war diaries and photographs. There will be no change for those Canadians who wish to access these collections at LAC.

The go on to further say that “Canadiana.org also will also transcribe millions of handwritten pages, and create related descriptions. Enhanced search tools facilitating access to these records will be available to Canadians free of charge at LAC, as well as at hundreds of subscribing libraries in regions across Canada. For a small monthly fee, Canadians will also be able to use the enhanced tools online to conduct advanced searches without leaving home

Notice that the press release says nothing about newspapers. And what will be the fee? And when will this take place?

It also sounds as if you want to see these records free of charge, you will have to visit them at the LAC in Ottawa.


Saturday, August 3, 2013

BIFHSGO Conference next month


Conference time (Sept 20 - 22) is nearly here, and are you ready to attend a full-day of workshops, and two days of lectures by people from Ireland, and local genealogical experts on Irish roots?

One thing which BIFHSGO does, and has done for the past two years, is to present interviews with the conference speakers.

This year, some of the interviews are -  

Lesley Anderson Previews her Pre-conference Seminar  Lesley talks about her lecture on Ancestry.ca and how it can help you with your Irish family history research.

Interview with Linda Reid Toronto genealogist Linda Reid will be presenting "Around the Brick Wall: Tracing Back an Irish Family through Collateral Lines" and "Are They Really My Ancestors? Using Autosomal DNA Tests to Confirm (or Deny) Relationships and Ancestors."

and

Success through One Name Studies Sandra Adams, Bill Arthurs and Elizabeth Kipp along with John D Reid talk about the successes they have had by pursuing their one-name studies and what you can expect to learn if you attend the Saturday afternoon session "Success through One Name Studies"

If you want to listen to these interviews, go to www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=62

If you still haven’t registered, you can register online at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=109

The website for BIFHSGO is www.bifhsgo.ca