Genealogy Canada: Research

Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 2015

The Town of Tecumseh has launched their historical archives

The Tecumseh Historical Archives is the result of an archiving project, undertaken by the Town of Tecumseh, in partnership with the Tecumseh Area Historical Society and Employment Ontario, to digitize the history of Tecumseh by photographing and scanning historically significant items and documents that were then uploaded into an online archive known as the Tecumseh Historical Archives.

The first thing that has been done is to put the Tecumseh Tribune online at http://ink.scholarsportal.info/tribune

You can choose any issue between January 30 1959 to November 11, 2010 to research.

At the Tecumseh Historical Society are deeds from Tecumseh, St. Clair Beach, Maidstone and Sandwich South area. They also have artifacts of medical supplies from Col. Paul Poisson, who was Tecumsehʼs first mayor, antique photographs of the old centre of the town, memorabilia from the Tecumseh Baseball Club, a Doherty pump organ, the telephone switchboard from Hotel Dieu Hospital, an Essex Scottish army uniform, and a photographic portrait of the townʼs first postmaster, Joseph Christe.

Follow the developments on their Facebbok page of the Tecumseh-Historical-Museum https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tecumseh-Historical-Museum-Ontario/303551066341121

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/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-13-april-2015_13.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/

BRAVO! The LAC has listened …

Attestation Paper for Thomas Cussons, regimental no. 675270, Canadian Expeditionary Force personnel files, RG 150, accession number Accession 1992-93/166, Box 2057 – 51; (http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/image.aspx?Image=073302a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fdata2.archives.ca%2fcef%2fgat1%2f073302a.gif&Ecopy=073302a); accessed 15 April 2015); Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada.

The Library and Archives Canada (LAC) today released the latest news on digitizing the First World War Service files. Not only did they say that 143,613 of 640,000 files are available online via their Soldiers of the First World War: 1914-1918 website, but for the first time, they have released the surnames of the soldiers that they have digitized.

Thank heavens! It was a never-ending guessing game whether I should go ahead and request a file, and go to the LAC and take photos of the record, or view it online. I never knew which I should do.

But I had written to them a month ago and asked them if they would tell us where they are on the digitizing scheme of things, and now they have. So bravo to the LAC!

The latest digitized box is #2057, which corresponds to the surname Thomas Cussons. I looked up the name, and it is there – the full service record!

So, hopefully, this little addition to the LAC blog will make a difference to researchers out there. Now I must write a letter of “Thanks” to the people who are working on the boxes.

The website for the First World War Service files is http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/first-world-war-1914-1918-cef/Pages/canadian-expeditionary-force.aspx

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Durham Region Branch is expanding the scope of their meetings

The Durham Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is adding more to their meeting, and they are expanding in a good way.

According to their website, they are going to have, in addition to their standard meetings, the following new items are being added before the meetings -

TONI Tidbits from this huge database of over 3 million genealogical entries

Brick Wall Bomb - a 15 minute brainstorming session on a problem from the audience, and a 10-minute Mini-Talk on a variety of subjects.

This sounds exciting!

Their website is at http://durham.ogs.on.ca/

They have a blog at http://durham-branch.blogspot.com/

You can join their Facebook page by going to https://www.facebook.com/groups/durhamogs/

There is so much genealogy here

The Oshawa Public Library in Oshawa, Ontario just have oodles of information which have been digitized and are online at http://localhistory.oshawalibrary.ca/

They have been categorized into the following subject areas -

Clubs and Associations

Education in Oshawa

**Directories**

Entertainment in Oshawa

**General Local History**

Military

**Oshawa Families**

**Religious Life in Oshawa**

This is a prized collection (especially the Directories) that the library has put together.

Their website is at http://www.oshawalibrary.on.ca/

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/oshawapubliclibrary

Extra news items

Here are some news items which have come across the desk this week -

For those people who regularly follow the Dear Myrt's Beginning Genealogy posts here every week, there will not be a regular post today. Dear Myrt is attending the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Conference in Providence, Rhode Island this week. She will return to her desk next week.

If you have not been following my posts, all of the posts are here at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_9.html

Also, the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society usually has their yearly Conference in the spring of the year. But they have found it impossible to plan one for this year, so they have postponed it until next year – 2016. So keep posted for news as it comes to us.

You have to listen to this!

Essex County Genealogical Society now hold their meeting on a YouTube channel, and the first presentation that they had this week was given by George Pitfield and called Do You Know Your Family?

George always thought that he was English (even had the genealogy to prove it), but a surprising turn in his search that he is full blood Aboriginal – on both sides of his family. All of that English genealogy was wrong. Since then, he has been made an Elder, and has leaned the language of his people. Truly fascinating story!

The YouTube presentation is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/essex/?page_id=165#Apr2015Speaker

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

National Volunteer Week in Canada

National Volunteer Week (NVW) is from April 12 to 18, 2015.

Annually, we spent close to two billion hours a year – the equivalent of approximately one million full-time jobs – in an effort to help out family, friends, and those in need to better our neighbourhoods and communities.

The call for the 2015 nominations for the Prime Minister’s Volunteer Awards was launched on April 13, 2015, and will run until June 30, 2015.

We, at Genealogy Canada, salute all of volunteers of the Canada genealogy community. We have volunteers who take photos of gravestones, who work on the The Ontario Name Index (TONI), who put together our monthly meetings, workshops, and conferences, and who work in our libraries, museum, and archives.

We appreciate what you do for us so that we have records to search, and encouragement to us when we feel that there is nothing left to search to find that elusive ancestors.

A big thank you to everyone. We appreciate all the work that you do.

The website for the National Volunteer Week is at http://volunteer.ca/

35th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy

35th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held in Jerusalem this year from July 6 to the 10th.

The conference will be a truly international "Promised Event". Speakers and registrants hail from around the globe representing 20 nations to date including New Zealand, American Samoa, the Americas, Africa and all of Europe.

Their Preliminary Program is now listed in the website Program & Schedule in the "Program" tab of www.iajgs2015.org . You will see why they are boasting that this will be "A Conference Like No Other". The schedule will become interactive ...shortly.

As announced, the *keynote speaker will be Rabbi Israel Meir Lau,* one of the most prominent figures in Israeli society today. Rabbi Lau, a child survivor of the Holocaust, is an outstanding activist and orator. He will bring a message to genealogists reinforcing the value of their work researching individuals and families.

And Dick Eastman will be there!

They have announced that the *master genealogist Dick Eastman* will be speaking at the closing Banquet. In the mid-1980s, at the dawn of the World Wide Web, Eastman pioneered one of the first online Genealogy Forums. By 1996, he created a weekly online newsletter called "Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter" which has grown from a circulation of 100 to more than 60,000 genealogists.

Registration is now available on the Registration Form for the Shabbaton, Exploration Sunday, Breakfast with the Experts, SIG Luncheons and Banquet, and when you join them for the conference, don't miss the **pre-conference festivities:**

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/IAJGSConference

Beginning Genealogy classes in Winnipeg start today

There will be a two part genealogy Beginning Genealogy class in Winnipeg, Manitoba during the month of April, and the classes will be given by Bill Curtis of the Manitoba Genealogical Society.

The first class will be tonight from 6-8 pm, and the second class will be Tuesday April 21 and it also be from 6-8 pm. Bill will introduce the basics of genealogical research.

In Part 1, you will be a family history detective and find clues in a case study.

In Part 2, you will learn where to find personal information about individual ancestors both on and off the Internet.

These courses will be given at the HENDERSON LIBRARY in Winnipeg, and you can phone 204-986-4314 to register.

The webpage for the Manitoba Genealogical Society is at http://www.mbgenealogy.com/

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Manitoba-Genealogical-Society-Inc/7054423205

And they are also thinking about doing a possible group trip to Salt Lake City.

Anyone who is reading this and are interested in a possible trip for the week of May 17 to 24, 2015, are asked to please email Jayne Paradis. Rooms are $85US single/double and $92US triple/quad.

Jayne is looking into the costs of bussing and flying. Please email jparadis@mts.net if you are interested or if you have any questions.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

BC Provincial Heritage Fair Society

The BC Heritage Fair Society is a non-profit organization that supports their Heritage Fairs Program throughout the province of British Columbia.

They hold 12 regional fairs per year, involving about 6000 young people.

The highlight of the Fair will be the showcase of student projects to the public at the Royal BC Museum on Sunday, July 5, from 12:00 to 3:00 pm

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

Their facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/bcheritagefairs

The Story of Grosse Île – Canada’s Ellis Island

On Saturday, April 25, 2015, there will be a meeting of the Quebec Family History Society at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church Hall, 70 Beaconsfield Blvd, Montreal. Anne Renaud will present the Story of Grosse Île, and the lecture will start at 10:30 am.

From 1832 to 1937 more than four million people sailed across the Atlantic to the port of Quebec with the dream of creating better lives for themselves in the new world. During this period, a tiny island called Grosse Île, known also as the Irish Memorial National Historic Site, located fifty kilometers downstream from the port, served as a quarantine station, its mission was to prevent ship passengers from spreading diseases to the mainland. This is the story of the island, which served both as gateway and graveyard for thousands of people, and of the caring island workers who welcomed them to its shores.

The website of the Quebec Family History Society is at http://www.qfhs.ca/

If you want to learn more about Grosse Île you can go to Immigrants at Grosse Île Quarantine Station, 1832-1937 at the Library and Archives Canada website at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-grosse-ile-1832-1937/Pages/immigrants-grosse-ile.aspx.

You can slso check the database at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/immigrants-grosse-ile-1832-1937/Pages/search.aspx

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

If you missed the last edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review-30-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.

Branching Out Spring Seminar at Campbell River

The Branching Out Spring Seminar of the Campbell River Genealogy Society of British Columbia will be held on Saturday 25th April at the CR Maritime Heritage Centre from 9:30-3:00 pm.

The speaker will be Dave Obee and he will present four seminars and they will be -

Travel Smart with Technology: Visiting an ancestral community is one of the greatest thrills. The presentation is designed to help travellers, both real and virtual, to maximize their research into family connections outside Canada.

Beyond the Online Basics: A genealogical guide to digital collections. This session provides ideas on how to find the documents that will help you learn more about your families, or the local histories of the areas where they lived.

A Fresh Light on old Newspapers: Thanks to the many digitization projects, there are millions of newspaper pages on the Internet. What are the pitfalls? This presentation takes you through the digitization process, from hard copy to your computer screen. It is designed to help you achieve the best results from your work.

Trinkets & Treasures: Things Your Ancestors left Behind - Items that your ancestors used or created will help you to gain a better understanding of the lives they lived and serve as a reminder of times past. Think of the stories they can tell.

The cost of the seminar is $50.00.

A Save-On bag lunch can be pre-ordered for an added fee. Refreshments will be available and there will be a draw for door prizes.

To register, contact Janice Wilkin before April 17 at wilkin1@telus.net or phone (250) 203-0585. A registration form can be downloaded from www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bccrgc/

Their website is at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bccrgc/

The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/179838535426731/

Saturday, April 11, 2015

The Conference has been cancelled!

On the website of the National Genealogy Conference in Canada at http://www.visiontravel.ca/heidiwilker it says that the Conference has been CANCELLED!

They say that “Regretfully, we must cancel the National Genealogy Conference in Canada for July 17-19, 2015.

Many thanks to the planned speakers for their willingness to support an inaugural national genealogy conference in Canada, to the companies and organizations who were willing to support the conference through sponsorship, and to those who generously helped to spread the word to their network of genealogists”.

So the Conference saga has come to an end. It wasn’t unexpected. Because the cost was too high for most people, and having lived in Halifax for 20+ years, I would go for an outdoors vacation where I could visit the sights, rather than stay indoors at a conference.

So maybe they can come back to underwrite another Comference at some future date. We shall see.

Meanwhile, here are two blogs I wrote on the Conference -

January 9, 2015 National Genealogy Conference in Canada http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/national-genealogy-conference-in-canada.html

January 27, 2015 The conference lowers its price – sort of ... http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-conference-lowers-its-price-sort-of.html

Do you know that PEI has a surname list?

Prince Edward Island has a surname list at http://www.islandregister.com/surnames/surname.php?

The surname list has grown by leap and bounds since it was first started in 2002.

1516 surnames have been listed to date.

There is also a list of surname by lot (of land) at http://www.islandregister.com/surnamelist.html

Surnames submitted to the original Prince Edward Island Surname List are from Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society (1891 Census Index), Lovell's Province of prince Edward Island Directory for 1871, and National Archives microfilm #M-896 (1841 P.E.I. Census for Lots 21, 22)

Both of these list are housed on Dave Hunter on his The Island Register site http://www.islandregister.com/

Friday, April 10, 2015

Ontario Jewish Archives

What a complete, and useful archives this is – full of records, and you can research the following topics at the archives -

marriage records

family histories

newspapers and periodicals

cemetery records

synagogue and Jewish fraternal society records

immigration case files created by the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society (JIAS) and the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC)

ledgers from Jewish shipping agents

military records

Who's Who of Toronto Jewry

Go to their wesite at http://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/

Their Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioJewishArchives

Thursday, April 9, 2015

April 9 - Vimy Ridge Day in Canada

Vimy Ridge was a battle in which Canadians fought in the First World War. It was part of a larger battle of Arras in northern France. It began on Easter Monday, and about 30,000 Canadians fought at Vimy Ridge and claimed victory. 3,600 Canadians were killed, with many wounded.

There is a special exhibit in London right now until September 2015, and then will travel across the country, and it is called the Souterraine Impression.

This exhibition illuminates the lives of Canadian veterans through the deeply personal carvings and drawings made by soldiers concealed in the allied caves and trenches near Vimy Ridge, France.

Organized by Zenon Andrusyszyn, Souterraine Impressions “will bring reproductions of site-specific artifacts to Canada through contemporary 3-dimensional printing, allowing audiences a rare glimpse at these personal documents created while Canadian soldiers awaited orders to join the now legendary Battle for Vimy Ridge. While not a great military success, the battle has subsequently become for Canada a symbol of national unity, achievement and tremendous sacrifice”.

Visitors will see “a series of "tableaus” containing one of the reproduced carvings, a photograph of the soldier who created it and a short biography. While many of the carvings feature regimental or battalion badges, there are also carvings of hearts, animals and names’.

You can go to the museum in London at http://www.museumlondon.ca/exhibitions:115 to get particulars on the exhibit.

Meanwhile, there are news articles today in the papers, and some of them are -

Honouring the memory of Vimy Ridge
http://www.melfortjournal.com/2015/04/07/honouring-the-memory-of-vimy-ridge

New Vimy Foundation poll reveals majority of Canadians believe 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge in 2017 should be focus of Canada's Sesquicentennial
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1514029/new-vimy-foundation-poll-reveals-majority-of-canadians-believe-100th-anniversary-of-vimy-ridge-in-2017-should-be-focus-of-canada-s-sesquicentennial

Three Quarters of Canadians (74%) Believe 100th Anniversary of Vimy Ridge in 2017 Should Be One of Canada’s Most Important Celebrations During Sesquicentennial
http://www.northumberlandview.ca/index.php?module=news&type=user&func=display&sid=33787

Ninety-eight years later, historian finds ‘missing’ soldiers from the Battle of Vimy Ridge
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/ninety-eight-years-later-historian-finds-missing-soldiers-from-the-battle-of-vimy-ridge

Dear Myrt’s Beginning Genealogy - Sessions 11

As I promised my blog on 06 January 2014 at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/beginning-genealogy-study-group.html, I watched Dear Myrt’s Beginning Genealogy Session 11 on Wednesday. I will continue to watch the rest of the study group as it proceeds.

The major topic which was discussed in Sessions 11 was a subject which was easy to discuss because Dear Myrt has researched in these records before – American Military Records – Revolutionary and Civil War Military Records.

I, of course, research in both Canadian and American records, and I notice there is a difference. The Canadian records are based on the British system (ranks, for example), and the American are strictly American (my grandfather Lester John BLADES enlisted in the American Army in the First World War although he was from Barrington, Nova Scotia, but was living in Boston, Massachusetts at the time).

If you wish to refresh yourself on American Military Records, you can go to https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Military_Records

If you wish to refresh yourself on Canadian Military Records, you can go to https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada_Military_Records

If you want to refresh yourself on British Military Records, you can go to https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/England_Military_Records

The website for Session 11 is at https://plus.google.com/communities/104382659430904043232

Session 1 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-1.html

Session 2 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-2.html

Session 3 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-3.html

Session 4 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-4.html

Session 5 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-5.htm

Session 6 & 7 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_5.html

Sessioin 8 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_13.html

Session 9 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_20.html

Session 10 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session.html

Remember to make yourself a member of Dear Myrt’s Genealogy Community before watching the YouTube Google+ Hangout on Air at https://plus.google.com/communities/104382659430904043232

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Its time for the 4th Annual Genealogy Fair!!!

The 4th Annual Genealogy Fair will be held at the Kitchener Public Library, 85 Queen St N on Saturday, April 25, 2015 from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm.

It will be an all-day affair, beginners and experts alike are invited to Kitchener Public Library’s 4th Annual Genealogy Fair. Attend workshops and lectures, speak with experts, browse exhibits, and connect with vendors.

The keynote speaker will be Lynn Palermo of the blog The Armchair Genealogist at http://www.thearmchairgenealogist.com/, and she will offer attendees down-to-earth advice on researching and writing their family history.

For a full-day of speaker, go to http://www.kpl.org/ref/gsr/genealogyfair.html

FREE ADMISSION! Just simply drop by. There is no registration required.

Brant County Branch of OGS will hold a Spring Workshop

On Saturday April 18, 2015, the Brant County Branch of OGS will hold a SPRING WORKSHOP from 9:30 am to 4 pm at the site at 14-118 Powerline Road in Brantford, Ontario. There is a map on the homepage at http://www.ogs.on.ca/brant/index.html

The morning Guest Speaker will be Geoffrey Moyer, a librarian and local historian who has long held a passionate interest in the World Wars and their impact on his hometown. His topic will be the First World War World.

The afternoon speaker will be Terri Hunter, who is an expert on how the Facebook works , and she can tell you how to use it for personal and genealogy research.

The cost to hear these two speakers is $30.00 with lunch, or $35.00 at the door plus $5.00 for lunch.

Please pre-register for the workshop by April 11, 2015.

For your convenience you can pay through Paypal.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Do you know that its National Archives Week in Canada?

Although it is National Archives Week in Canada, there some archives which celebrate it at other times during the year.

But one archives which celebrates it is the Grimsby Historical Society Archives in Grimbsy, Ontario.

This little archives has as its logo “We preserve Grimsby’s past for the future”.

Yet the little archives which is acting way beyond its weight, has inputted 525 entries onto www.OurOntario.ca, a huge province-wide database. They have also researched and added more than 1,500 pieces of information to the archives’ First World War file. And they have added more than 2,000 newspaper clippings to the collection, as well as scanning thousands of photos and documents for the collection. The database of obituaries – very important especially for family history researchers – now has 7,800 entries. And all of this work has been done by volunteers!

So if you are in the area, drop in and say ‘Hello’.

The website is at http://www.grimsbyhistoricalsociety.com/

What is Canada's largest non-governmental archives?

The Glenbow Archives in Calgary, Alberta is Canada's largest non-governmental archival repository. It has extensive holdings of unpublished documents and photographs related to the history of Western Canada.

The website says that it “houses a wide-ranging collection of unpublished archival records (such as diaries, letters, minute books, photographs, scrapbooks, speeches, membership lists, films, and sound recordings) for over 3,000 individuals, families, clubs, businesses, schools, and organizations in Calgary, southern Alberta and Western Canada.

The records, date from the 1860s to the 1990s, and the areas of specialty include First Nations (especially Blackfoot), Mounted Police, pioneer life, ranching and agriculture, the petroleum industry, politics (especially the farmers' movement), labour and unions, women, the arts (especially theatre), and businesses”.

To visit the Glenbow Museum, go to http://www.glenbow.org/collections/archives/highlights.cfm

The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/glenbowmuseum