Ancestry.ca Offers Mother’s Day Discount

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, and it often means one thing for many moms – quality time spent with her family. This year, give Mom that quality time by working together to create your family tree.

When you make it from Ancestry.ca, it makes it easier than ever to create your family tree and discover the story of your family’s past.

Learning about your family’s history is an enriching and meaningful way to spend time with Mom, and can create memories that will be cherished forever.

Family Tree Maker starts at just $39.99 USD, and for a limited time, Ancestry.ca is offering readers of this blog a special Mother’s Day discount of 25% off.

The discount is at - www.ancestry.ca/mothersday.

Disclosure: I am a paid subscriber of Ancestry.ca, but I am not employed by Ancestry.com, or their various divisions, in any capacity.

UPDATE: Niagara Peninsula Branch OGS

Steve Fulton U.E, the Chair of the Niagara Peninsula Branch OGS, brings us up-to-date about happenings at the local branch of the Chair of the Niagara Peninsula -

“First of all, I would like to share about our upcoming General Meeting: Thursday May 9th – this meeting will be streamed to the internet if you are unable to make it. See the firestions of the main page.

Renee Tetreault is a founding member of the Welland Branch of the Franco Ontarien Society of History and Genealogy now known as the Resau Du Patrimoine Franco Ontarien. Renee has served for more than thirty years as the expert who assists researchers at their Centre for Research in the Welland Public Library. She will describe the extensive holdings of their library in and offer suggestions for researching in Quebec. Meeting starts at 7 pm.

Now for some other updates from Niagara.

The Morse and Sons index on our website has been recently updated. We've added three more years to it, from 1960 to Sept 1963. There are now names in this index. Year Range: 1828 to 1963 - don't miss the index and the possibility of finding a connection.

The Canadian Headstones Project - the Welland Historical Society has joined forces with the branch and has taken the Welland Cemeteries on and is in the process of placing them on line starting with Woodlawn. Please visit the site often as St Andrews in St Catharines and Pelham Hickside Quaker Cemeteries have been photographed this weekend and should be on the site soon. Other volunteers have stepped forward to help and we thank them for their effort. We need help with photographing cemeteries if you are interested please contact the branch directly.

**This just in - All volunteers for Canadian Headstones Niagara Project: Today we passed 20,000 names in the Niagara Index. Great going! Thanks for all your dedication!** Thanks to Robert Halfyard for his hard work!!

The Welland Historical Society and myself had the opportunity to be interview on Brock University Radio – The interview talk about the Branch and all the good things we are doing as well the Canadian Headstones Project – click on the link to listen too:
http://www.ogs.on.ca/niagara/radio_interview_2013.mp3

Finally if you are on Facebook and have not been on our page, you are missing all the great things going on there”.

For the Niagara Peninsula Branch, go to www.ogs.on.ca/niagara

BIFHSGO Conference registration is now online

Brian Glenn tells us that the 2013 British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) Conference registration is now open. Both the mail-in form and the online application are now online.

The conference theme this year will be Ireland, and there will be many speakers there, such as, Eileen Ó Dúill (an international probate genealogical researcher from Ireland), Linda Reid (a Canadian genealogists), and Lisa Louise Cooke (an American genealogist with knowledge of new technology is outstanding). There will be many topics presented which should be of interest to those whose research area is Ireland.

For information about the 2013 Conference to be held from Sept 20 to 22, you can go to www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=22

Battle of the Atlantic

                          
The Battle of the Atlantic was Canada’s single longest continuous military engagement of the Second World War. It took place from September 1939 to May 1945.

Today is remembered as the Battle of the Atlantic Sunday in Canada, and there will be many ceremonies that will take place across the country.

For almost six years, the men and women of the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Merchant Navy fought the enemy in the North Atlantic to ensure vital supplies reached Europe.

After receiving more training, air cover, special intelligence and better equipment, the Battle of the Atlantic reached a turning point in May 1943

However, despite all efforts, enemy forces sunk over 70 merchant vessels, claiming the lives of over 1,600 Canadian crew members

Please visit the Flickr album that the Library and Archives Canada has put on to view the photos of the Battle of the Atlantic at www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157633223398662

Canada’s Naval History www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/navy/home-e.aspx The Canadian war museum has an online historical exhibit.

70th Anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/feature/battle-atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was Canada's longest military engagement of the Second World War, lasting from September 1939 to May 1945

Remembering the Battle of the Atlantic www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews/straighttalk/archives/2013/05/20130504-160903.html The Sun News has a story of the Battle of the Atlantic "longest, largest, and most complex" naval battle in history

BIFHSGO Monthly Meeting

On Saturday, May 11, The Bitish Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa  (BIFGSGO) will hold a pre-meeting which will feature Comparing FTM, Legacy and Rootsmagic - An Overview which is a part of Before BIFHSGO Education Talks at 9:00 am, and it will be presented by Ken McKinlay.

The main presentation called Building a One-Name Study: The Influence of Computers, The Internet, and DNA will be held from 10:00 am to 11:30 am, and it will be presented by Bill Arthurs.

This presentation will feature the Titus One-Name Study from its inception before the era of computers, through its progression with the advent of the internet, construction of a website, and the use of DNA research.

You can go to and listen to Bill at http://bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106 as he talks with Brooke Broadbent about his start in genealogy and One Name Studies.

If you are interested in certain surnames, you can check the surnames on http://bifhsgo.ca/surname.php. There are 1, 293 Internet pages onsite.

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

The Ottawa Genealogist

The Spring/Summer 2013 edition of The Ottawa Genealogist has been released, and it contains an interesting article, and index. It is published by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

The article is by John Patton and it is called the Ballad of Syd and Annie: A Genealogical Mystery, and it is a story of two people, whose story is totally unbelievable. Sydney Frank LEWER (1892- c.1925), is an Englishman who immigrated to Canada in 1909. He gave so many birthdates, it is difficult to understand exactly when he was born. And the plot thickens when he meets Annie HOSKO. There was apparent deception in an adoption process of a son, unusual evidence in a his First World War military record, prison sentence because of a bigamy charge, and on and on it goes. Their life together was turbulent, to say the least, ending with the fact that he possibly may have died in 1925 – at least his wife declared herself a widow at that time.

This article shows that good research can go a long way in resolving these genealogical mysteries such as this.

The index of Early Bytown Settlers Index in this issue go from the letter D to the I. It gives the name, reference and page number, and some information, such as where they lived, their occupation, their age.

The reminder of the journal is filled with news of the Ottawa Branch of the OGS, Interesting Web Sites, Branch Library Additions, and Gleanings from Newsletters in the Ottawa Branch Library.

To go to the website of the Ottawa Genealogical Society, the website is at http://ogsottawa.on.ca

Friends of Laura Secord Historical Walk

Friends of Laura Secord have arranged for just about everyone to commemorate Laura by doing the War of 1812 historic walk on June 22nd.

You can chose one of eight different options - There are shuttle busses for those who can’t walk and even an option for those who can’t travel to Queenston for the day.

Option 1: Walk the FULL walk! (32.3 km)

Option 2: Laura Secord Experience (22.4 km)

Option 3: Heroic Endings (8.6 km)

Option 4: Cross and Climb (4.4 km)

Option 5: A Little Walk, A Little Wine (13.8 km)

Option 6: Beginnings and Endings (11.7 km)

Option 7: The Secord Shuttle Tour

Option 8: Join Us In Spirit!

There are shuttle busses for those who can’t walk and even an option for those who can’t travel to Queenston for the day

There will be the unveiling of the new Laura Secord Stamp and Coin – a joint event by Canada Post and the Royal Canadian Mint on Friday, June 21 at 9 a.m. at the Laura Secord Homestead.

A Toast to Laura Secord is a ticketed VIP event, and will be held Friday, June 21, 4-8 p.m at Queenston Heights Restaurant.

If you would like to attend any of these events, you can register at www.niagaragreenbelt.com/fls/walkintohistory.html

May is Jewish Heritage Month in Ontario

The “Jewish Heritage Month Act” (Bill 17) was passed unanimously in the Legislature on February 23, 2012. JHMO provides an opportunity to appreciate and learn about the history and culture of Ontarians of Jewish heritage who have made an impact in communities across the province.

Two of the many events taking place in Mat, include

May 5 at 11am (Est. Walk Time 1.5 hrs)

Jane’s Walk: A Sense of Spadina (Toronto, ON)

Did you know that Kensington Market, the epicenter of Toronto hipsterdom, was once a thriving Jewish village teeming with kosher bakeries, synagogues, and social clubs? Through the Ontario Jewish Archive’s “Sense of Spadina” Walking Tour, the Jewish life of the past—biographies of its former inhabitants; the sounds; the smells; Yiddish language; religious, social, and political attitudes—is brought to life.

And

Tracing Our Jewish Roots: Selections from the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto Library Collection

Bathurst Clark Resource Library, 900 Clark Avneue W., Thornhill, ON

JGS Toronto’s Librarian, Elaine Cheskes, is curating a special exhibit on view for the entire month of May at The Bathurst Clark Resource Library.

For more information, go to http://jewishheritagemonth.wordpress.com/2013-events

Heritage Toronto announce the launch of its 2013 Tours program!

They say that many Torontonians know how great their walking tours are – they have been putting them on for 19 years! Heritage Toronto Tours in 2013 will be a bit different. It’s not just walking tours that they will be offering – they are excited to be expanding their usual walking tour program to include bus, bike, family and boutique tours too!

This year’s Tours program will run from the end of April until October and have 58 in total, including 26 new tours.

You will be able to reserve a spot for our new paid and pre-registered tours via our website www.heritagetoronto.org

Join them on a tour – they would love to show you some hidden gems, tell you about some fascinating stories and share with you Toronto’s amazing heritage!”

For info, go to http://heritagetoronto.org/sample-page/contact-us

The tours are listed on the followimg page at http://heritagetoronto.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/HT_TourBrochureelectronics.pdf

There are many postings to the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HeritageToronto

There are countless YouTube Videos on www.youtube.com/user/heritagetoronto on various heritage walks in Toronto

Second Annual Genealogy Workshop

On Saturday, May 11, 2013 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, there will be the Second Annual Genealogy Workshop at 536 Wellington Road 18, between the villages of Fergus and Elora.

Presenters include:

Gwen Armstrong, Family History Centre, Getting the Most out of FamilySearch.org

Rick Roberts, Global Genealogy, Beginning a Family History Project: 12 Steps for Success and Researching Your Ontario Roots Using Traditional and Online Resources

Susan Dunlop, Curator, Wellington County Museum and Archives, Exploring Lesser Known Resources: A Case Study of the Hollinghead-Everson Family of Wellington County

Registration: $35.00, light lunch included

Call 519.846.0916, X 5225 or Toll Free 1.800.663.0750 X 5225 to register.

Email at karen@wcm.on.ca, and the website is at http://www.wellington.ca/museum

Inheritance in Ontario: Estate Files and Beyond

On 27th of May 2013, at 7:30 p.m., there will be a meeting at the Burgundy Room, North York Memorial Community Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, Toronto, and the topics will be Inheritance in Ontario: Estate Files and Beyond, and the speaker will be Jane E. MacNamara.

She will review how to find an estate file and how it can lead to other, and she will explain sources both inside and outside the court system.

This will be a warm-up lecture to her workshop at the OGS Conference on May 31st staring at 9:30 Friday morning when she will talk about wills and her her new book Inheritance in Ontario - Wills and Other Records for Family Historians

There will be an additional short presentation by Jean McNulty A Photographic Puzzle

For more info, go to www.torontofamilyhistory.org

Waterloo Region Branch OGS Township Records

Do you have ancestors in Waterloo and Perth Counties in Ontario? If you do, they have Township Records onsite.

Waterloo County

1840 Wilmot Township Census, transcribed by Laurie Strome

1851 Waterloo Township Census
Perth County

Wallace Township 1861

Wallace Township 1871

Go to www.waterlooogs.ca/waterloo_data.htm

UPDATE: LAC releases a new version of the Census of Canada, 1881 database

The following notice just came in from the Library and Archives Canada -

Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of Canada, 1881 database. This second general census covered the seven provinces and one territory that were then part of Confederation: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories.

This new version includes suggestions for corrections that were received from users in recent months, as well as revised district and sub-district information.

Did they make the corrections that you suggested?

Go to the search page at
www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1881/Pages/1881.aspx

May Events at the Quebec Family History Society

My thanks go to Susan for letting me know about these following events.

On Wednesday, May 8, at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm there will be a meeting on Brick Wall Solutions (Special Interest Group) QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire.

New and experienced genealogists are invited to join us at our monthly meeting to discuss brick wall problems in a friendly and informal setting. This month, we will learn how to improve our online research skills to find family trees, newspapers, and books. We will also review how to use wild cards when searching for ancestors on websites, such as Ancestry, Family Search, and Free BMD.

On Saturday, May 11th, there will be a Guided Tour of the Chateau Ramezay (Tour) at 10:30 am at 280 rue Notre-Dame est, Montreal.

This guided tour is $8 per person and open to QFHS members and non-members. To attend, you must register and make your payment at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library.

The Château Ramezay is the province's oldest private history museum. It was built in 1705 as the residence of the Governor of Montreal Claude de Ramezay and his wife Marie-Charlotte Denys, whom he married in 1690 in Quebec. Their home changed hands over the years and has had an interesting history. The building was enlarged in 1756.

The Château Ramezay Historic Site and Museum was selected by a team of experts, in collaboration with UNESCO, as one of the 1001 historic sites you must see before you die.

On Wednesday, May 15th, there will be Celebrating Our Female Roots Day (Roots Day) from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire.

Half of our direct ancestors are women, and since Mother's Day takes place this month, this is a good time to celebrate our female ancestors and learn how our ancestors lived.

Join us to chat about how to learn what life was like for your female ancestors. What was home life like during the time they lived? Do you own any letters or diaries? Share with others the challenges you face when researching your female ancestors.

On display will be books from the QFHS collection about social history that help us better understand our ancestors’ lives.

Drop by for coffee, tea, and informal conversation to talk about some of the favourite women in your family and how our ancestors may have lived. Bring your own books, resources and memorabilia on social history that have helped you in your research, a friend, or just bring yourself.

Before Roots Day, please drop off copies of photos of your female ancestors for the display with Joan Benoit at QFHS. Remember to caption the photo with name, date, and description. If you live out of town, please send your photos by email at qfhs@bellnet.ca.

Open to members and the public. Free admission.

On Wednesday, May 22th Family History Writing (Special Interest Group)

To be held from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire.

Join us any month! Together, in a friendly and informal setting, we encourage each other to write and discuss each month's mini-project.

This monthly meeting is open to QFHS members. We meet the fourth Wednesday of each month. If interested in joining, call 514.695.1502 or email qfhs.web@gmail.com.

More info: http://qfhs.ca

LAC issues a report on itself

Late Friday afternoon, on April the 26th, the LAC put on its website a report entitled Library and Archives Canada makes Canada’s documentary heritage more accessible than ever.

Through this report, it expresses how the LAC is helping Canadians to access their heritage through different programs that have been instituted by the LAC.

For instance, it says that “To this end, LAC has developed a suite of tools that have efficiently contributed to this unparalleled access to Canada’s heritage. In fact, Canadians showed great interest in accessing LAC’s collections on their computer screens and handheld devices, as observed by the popularity of its Flickr sets (over 350,000 views), its podcasts (over 149,000 listens) and the size of the readership of its blog (over 63,000 views). In addition to these new tools, LAC’s website receives an average of 500,000 visits monthly. The popularity of these channels, enabled by modern technology, demonstrates how promising LAC’s approach is in reaching Canadians, regardless of where they live”.

So what do you think? Is the LAC fulfilling its mandate?

To read the full report, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/news_releases/Pages/2013/documentary-heritage-more-accessible.aspx

UPDATE: FamilySearch Answers Questions

Yesterday, FamilySearch put 6 questions that they have been asked during the past week as people are getting use to a new way of doing things at the FamilySearch website.

Remember to read the comments also, because sometime they can be helpful too.

So are these the questions that people should be asking? Have you run into things which are missing, or could be better explained?

Go to https://familysearch.org/blog/en to read the questions.

Celebrating the Heritage of Cascapedia Bay, Quebec

This is a press release from The Chaleur Bay Military Museum, the Cascapedia River Museum and the Gaspesian British Heritage Village telling us of a video project which they are undertaking -

'The Chaleur Bay Military Museum, the Cascapedia River Museum and the Gaspesian British Heritage Village are working together to produce a series of videos focusing on the history of the Cascapedia Bay area. These videos will tell the story of the community and the magnificent countryside, and will be available as four downloadable video podcasts.

Each bilingual “vodcast” will take the viewer on a drive through the modern-day landscape while highlighting important sites and events from the past. Photos and descriptions of former landmarks will take the viewer back in time - the Dimock Creek ferry, logging and fishing on the Cascapedia River, one-room schoolhouses, inns and hotels, sawmills, blacksmith shops and military history, cemeteries and residences - will all be showcased. In addition, interviews previously carried out with community members will be included.

The project is financially supported by the Fonds de soutien à la mise en valeur du patrimoine culturel, a partnership between the Conférence régionale des élus Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine and the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications.

It is part of the ongoing work that the Military Museum, River Museum and Gaspesian Village carry out to ensure that the important heritage and history of the community is preserved, shared and celebrated. The three partners are very excited about this initiative and are looking forward to increased collaboration in the future.

It is anticipated that these vodcasts will be available for viewing in October 2013. If you have any photos or videos you feel should be included, please bring them by the Cascapedia River Museum or the Gaspesian British Heritage Village during opening hours".

The website of the Cascapedia River Museum is at www.cascapediariver.com/museum.shtml and the email is cascapedia_museum@globetrotter.net.

The website of the Gaspesian British Heritage Village is at www.gaspesianvillage.org, and the email is info@gaspesianvillage.org

The website of the Chaleur Bay Military Museum is at
 www.chaleurmilitarymuseum.com

Alberta Family History Society

There will be a meeting of the Alberta Family History Society at the River Park Church, 3818 - 14A Street SW in Calgary Monday, May 6, 7-9 p.m. at which Frances Swendsen will speak about Family Tree, a new feature at the FamilySearch.org website.

If you would like to view the new website before going to the meeting, you can watch a webinar on the Legacy FamilyTrees website which has given by Devin Ashby at www.familytreewebinars.com/presenter_details.php?presenter_id=39. Although one has to pay to view these webinars, this one will always be FREE because it is sponsored by FamilySearch. (I watched it Wednesday and it is very good.)

Alberta Family History Blog is at http://afhs.ab.ca/blog

Alberta Family History Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/AlbertaFHS

And their website is at www.afhs.ab.ca

Saskatchewan Archives Changes Their Hours

On April 1, 2013, Saskatchewan Archives changed its public hours at their reading room locations in both Regina and Saskatoon. The reading rooms will now be open from 10 am to 4 pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Both the Regina and Saskatoon reading rooms will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

So the hours are –

Monday - CLOSED

Tuesday, CLOSED

Wednesday, 10 am to 4 pm, no retrievals from 12-1 pm or after 3:45 pm

Thursday, 10 am to 4 pm, no retrievals from 12-1 pm or after 3:45 pm

Friday, 10 am to 4 pm, no retrievals from 12-1 pm or after 3:45 pm

If you require clarification about their current hours, please contact either the Saskatoon or Regina reference offices at:

Saskatoon reference office

Phone: (306) 933-5832

Regina reference office

Phone: (306) 787-4068

Email: info@archives.gov.sk.ca

For more information, go to www.saskarchives.com/using-archives

East European Genealogical Society 2013 Seminar

On Saturday, June 1, 2013 (full day and evening), the East European  Genealogical Societies will hold a full-day seminar at Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), 45 Dalhousie Drive, Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the speaker will be Kahlile Mehr, MA, MLS, AG (Salt Lake City).

Kahlile worked thirty-five years at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City, most recently as Slavic Collections Manager. He visited archives throughout Eastern Europe on nine separate acquisition trips and has published over twenty articles and books, as well as presented papers at numerous international genealogical conferences.

The East European Genealogical Society includes Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, parts of Poland and Ukraine, and other former Soviet Republics.

The cost is

•Members $60.00 (includes lunch)

•Non-members $65.00 (includes lunch)

•Dinner $28.00 each

For more info, please go to www.mbgenealogy.com/news/56/15/East-European-Genealogical-Society-2013-Seminar