Francophones in Alberta: Courage and Determination

The Musée Héritage Museum of St Albert, Alberta have a bilingual exhibition called Francophones in Alberta: Courage and Determination, which tells the story of the French in Alberta. It is based on the Francophone Archives Project, a collective venture between the Provincial Archives of Alberta and the Francophone Secretariat of Alberta.

They say that the exhibit includes ‘artifacts from our own collection to reflect the Francophone history of the St Albert area, highlighting objects from local families to help illustrate the greater experience of Francophone immigrants across the province. Interpretive panels will trace the history of French Albertans through their associations, both economic and cultural, its religious and early pioneering work’.

The exhibit will run through until June 21, 2015.

The website is at http://museeheritage.ca/

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

FamilySearch Webinars

FamilySearch has just announced the May schedule of Webinars, and there are two which would be of interest to Canadian researchers, and they are -

 

May 14: Family History Library Catalog Webinar—This webinar begins at 6:00 p.m.

 

May 28: Using Canadian Census Records Webinar—This webinar begins at 7:00 p.m.

If you are just getting into genealogy, or have been at it for a long time, these are classes you should not miss.

To get the details, go to https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Online_Webinars_from_the_United_States/Canada_Research_Team

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-20-april-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

FamilySearch – Nova Scotia Death Records 1956-1957

This collection include death records from 1956-1957 from Nova Scotia counties. The death records are from all counties and are arranged by county name. These records are housed at the Archives of Nova Scotia in Halifax.

Death Records may contain the following information:

Name of deceased

Name of parents

Maiden name of mother

Place of parent’s birth

Name of spouse

Gender

Age at death

Place of birth

Date of birth

Date of death

Place of death

Cause of death

Date of burial

Place of burial

Marital status

Name of cemetery

Name of funeral home

Place of residence

Occupation

I found the death of a son (Austin Locke Peterson) of my great great aunt Margaret Barclay of Jordan River, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, and since his son-in-law, J. Thomas Whiteway, was the informant on the death certificate, another clue has been was given to me to take my genealogy to another level. Excellent!

If you wish to check out this website, it is at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2251301



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-20-april-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.

Diaries are the "meat and potatoes" of genealogy

Diaries are the "meat and potatoes" of genealogy. They bring your ancestors to life with the stories they have to tell.

So from April 20th until June 20th, visitors to the Lambton Heritage Museum, located at 10035 Museum Road, R.R. #2, Grand Bend, Ontario, can view “A Lifetime – Day by Day, Five Women and their Diaries”, on loan from the Archives of Ontario.

The five panel exhibition provides important insight into the everyday lives of early Ontario pioneer women during the last half of the 19th century.

The women featured are -

•Martha Hastie, “Marty”, the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister who started her diary at the age of 13.

•Katherine Beatrice Edgar, whose father was a Member of Parliament, kept a journal of the many social events and activities she enjoyed when her family lived in Ottawa.

•Phoebe Holden Gregg’s journal spans several stages of her life – from her marriage in 1849 to the last entry at age 62 in 1893.

•Bessie Gregg Stewart, Phoebe’s daughter, also began her diary on the day of her marriage. She wrote her diary in Clinton from August to December of 1880.

•Frances Tweedie Milne wrote her diary when she was 18 and living on her mother’s farm in Whitby.

Since this is a travelling exhibit by the Archives of Ontario, contact your local museum to see when it is coming to a facility near you.

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

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-20-april-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.

Ontario historical vital records

The Archives of Ontario’s newest release of historical vital records is now available on microfilm in our reading room and through microfilm interloan service.

Vital Statistics are some of our most heavily used records, and are a highly valuable tool for genealogical research.

The newest release covers registrations for Ontario births from 1917, marriages from 1932 and deaths from 1942, as well as all indexes.

The website is at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/

For research help on Ontario Vital Records is at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ontario_Vital_Records

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-20-april-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.

Aboriginal Heritage Festival

 

The Museum and Archives, in collaboration with community partners, is pleased to present the Aboriginal Heritage Festival for the fourth year at this site. The theme of this year’s festival is A Celebration of First Nations, Inuit and Metis Art and Culture.

The festival will be held May 2 at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, located at
0536 Wellington Rd 18, Fergus Ontario from 1:00 – 5:00. It is $5.00 per person or $12.50 per family.

 They say that “This celebration blends the beauty of Native Art, the sounds of the drum and the power of the indigenous voice. The full day event combines guest speakers, native educators, displays and demonstrations.

Local First Nations organizations will be on hand to share the history of the original peoples though discussions and storytelling. The event will also feature native foods for sale and an artisan marketplace’.

The presenters include -

Metis Nation of Ontario

Tribal Vision

Renee Thomas-Hill from the Ohsweken Genealogy Society

Lois Marshall

Jan Sherman

The website of the Wellington Museum and Archives is at http://www.wellington.ca/Museum/?_mid_=16514

 

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-20-april-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. 

Dear Myrt’s Beginning Genealogy - Sessions 12

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 12 yesterday. I will continue to watch the rest of the study group as it proceeds.

The major topic discussed yesterday was how reliable is secondary information given by an informant at the time of death, or on a tombstone?

“Not very” was the answer, and I totally agree.

There could be many reasons why the years of age, misspelled names, the date of death etc could be incorrectly recorded on the death certificate and/or the gravestone. It can be the perfect spot for misinformation to be recoded given the circumstances of the time.

Once again, we have to be careful. We have to fully check the facts, and have more than one source to verify the date of death and burial, for instance.

Some information can be had at -

The American Cemetery Records Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Cemeteries

The American Funeral Homes Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Funeral_Homes

The Canadian Cemetery Records Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada_Cemeteries

The Canadian Obituries Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada_Obituaries

The website for Session 12 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

Session 11 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_9.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

Extra news items

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

There will be a full-day of activities on April the 25th at the Ottawa Branch Genealogical Society of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

At 10:30, there will be Genealogy: Back To Basics! Genealogy B2B. There will be a short lecture on a genealogical topic, followed by a Question and Answer session with Ottawa Branch members. This month's topic will be Genetic Genealogy with Richard McGregor.

Then at 1:30 to 3:00 pm, the society will hold their regular monthly meeting, and the topic will be Don't Fade Away: digitization and preservation of family photographs by Kyla Ubbink.

Digitization is a great way to facilitate creative use and sharing of photographs and documents, but with so many options out there for scanners, cameras and software it is hard to know what will suit your needs.

In this workshop aimed at beginners Kyla will discuss the different kinds of equipment and software available as well as the techniques required for carrying out digitization, organizing the resulting images, and some of the creative projects you can undertake to make the most out of your memories

The website is at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

There will be a meeting of the Kent Branch Ontario Genealogical Society and it will be held on Friday May 8, 2015 at 7:00 PM at St. Andrew’s Residence, 99 Park St., Chatham. The Victorian Celebration of Death will be the topic.

Learn how our Victorian ancestors buried their death and the rituals and traditions they followed with Catherine MacKendrick, University of Windsor.

Everyone is welcome. Open and free to the public. If you are unable to join the meeting in person, please join us live online!

The website is at http://ogs.on.ca/kent/

If any of you are interested in the idea of researching a single surname, but if you would like to find out more about it, the Surname Society at http://surname-society.org/ now has a public Facebook group which is open to members and non-members alike.

The website is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/905667519498834

This is an international site, with Elizabeth Kipp from Ottawa being the editor of the newsletter The Surname Scribbler. 

One of the founder of this society, Kirsty Gray, will be the keynote speaker at this year's conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society  at http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/

 

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-20-april-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.

Could you become an arbitrator for FamilySearch?

 FamilySearch.org is looking for qualified indexers to become arbitrators. 

All indexers who have indexed at least 4,000 records are eligible to become arbitrators. Qualifying indexers who would like to participate as arbitrators should visit https://FamilySearch.org/indexing/help to learn how to get started.

They say that the following four essential tips will ensure volunteers are ready to submit high-quality arbitrated records during the Worldwide Arbitration Event May 1-8, 2015 -

• Read the instructions. Read or re-read the field helps and project instructions for each arbitration project before beginning. 
• Record match. Record matching ensures that arbitrators use a correct and fair comparison between the information recorded by indexer A and indexer B. For instructions, watch the video: “Arbitration Training - Record Matching,” which teaches how to complete this essential step in the indexing process.
• Index. If possible, volunteers should index one or more batches from each project they plan to arbitrate during the event, then continue to index one batch for every ten they arbitrate. Indexing (and reviewing the instructions) will help arbitrators stay sharp.
• Arbitrate in native language. Accuracy is highest when volunteers work only in their native language. Unless they have received extensive training in a second language and are highly proficient in that language, or have been specifically trained to index certain types of records in a second language, volunteers should stick with projects in their native language. 

So are you ready to be an arbitrator?

If you are, visit https://FamilySearch.org/indexing/help

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-20-april-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.

 

Call for papers

  

 

The second annual Kawartha Conference in Peterborough, Ontario will be held by the Kawartha Genealogical Branch on Saturday, October the 3rd, and they are putting out a call for papers. 

The theme of the conference will be Military Settlers and the organizers are seeking papers on all aspects of the settlement of British discharged military in Ontario.

In particular they are seeking papers on -

• the situation (economic and political) in the UK that caused military people to emigrate
• the military situation in Canada that encouraged military settlers the economic situation in Canada how the military emigration took place
• the results
• where the documentation is  

 

This will be a one-day conference with five speakers, each of one hour.

   

Please send a brief outline of your paper to kawarthaconference@ogs.on.ca by April the 30th.

 

The site of the is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/kawartha/

 

This is a conference that I am thinking of attending because the subject is so unusual, and the Kawartha Genealogical Society should be congratulated for thinking of having a conference on Military Settlers. 

 

 

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-20-april-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

New building for Stratford-Perth Archives, Ontario

The new building - the Stratford-Perth Archives - located in Stratford, Ontario is almost ready to be occupied and the Grand Opening will be held Saturday, June 6, 2015. 

Next month in May, they will reopen the reading room at the new building (with limited stack retrievals) with a new schedule of hours. They will move to retrievals from the stacks over the following 2 – 3 weeks. Please call ahead of any research visits in May to confirm open hours and what records are available.

They will post updates regarding the progress of the move and any additional service disruptions on the Perth County website as the project moves along and you can contact them if you have any questions.

They have many collections to research including tax assessments, newspapers, and township records.

You can phone 519-271-0531, ext 250, or email them at archives@perthcounty.ca

The website is at http://www.stratfordpertharchives.on.ca/

The new building is at 4273 Huron Road (Highway 8 West, Next Door to Stratford-Perth Museum), Stratford, Ontario.

Happy Researching!

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-20-april-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.

British Columbia city directories

 

Vancouver Public Library's collection of digitized British Columbia city directories dates from 1860 - 1955.

This is an amazing collection!

The directories contain detailed historical information about British Columbia communities, for instance -

• street and name listings of individuals and businesses in Vancouver and Victoria 
• population figures
• government listings
• operating newspapers
• and schools and libraries from communities across the province. 

If you have ancestors from British Columbia and would like to find out more information about them, try the city directories.

The website is http://www.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php

Happy Researching! 

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-20-april-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.

 

Are you a Billings descendant???

One of the things that Mike More of the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has done over the years is to keep the Descendants of the Immigrant Roger Billings of Milton Mass to Ottawa, Ontario. So far, there has been 5,894 people listed in the genealogy.

The website says that ‘Braddish BILLINGS, a son of Dr Elkanah BILLINGS was one of the first settlers in what is now the capital of Canada – the city of Ottawa. Braddish's house was left to the city by one of his descendants and has become the Billings Estate Museum.

There is considerable interest in the genealogy of the BILLINGS family by visitors to the City Archives, and this is an attempt to compile a reference chart of the family. It initially concentrated on the descendants of Dr. Elkanah, but an article in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, `Roger Billings of Milton, Mass., and some of his descendants, by Harold Ward Dana published 1938-1940, lead to an expansion to include the known descendants of immigrant Roger Billings”.

The website is at http://www.ogsottawa.on.ca/billings/index.htm

The website of the Billings Bridge Museum is http://ottawamuseumnetwork.com/index.php?page=billings-estate

The website of the Ottawa Genealogical Society is http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

Happy researching!



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.

Guelph Museum - Your stories live here

The Guelph Civic Museum in Guelph, Ontario will host an exhibit Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Times: Italian Canadian Experiences During WWII. This exhibit opens next Friday, with a reception starting at 6.30 p. m.

More than 31,000 Italian-Canadians were designated "enemy aliens" and around 600 were removed from their homes and held in prisons and camps. Many also lost jobs or experienced racism and violence in their communities.

And while you are there, why not take the time to look at their archives (many of which are already online – and there are photos, objects, papers at http://guelph.pastperfectonline.com/). 

The museum was started back in the 1960s, and moved to 52 Norfolk Street, the former Loretto Convent in 2012.

Their website is at http://guelph.ca/museum/



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. 

Did your ancestor' s marry or die in Victoria, British Columbia?

If you have ancestors in the City of Victoria in British Columbia, then maybe you should look at the City of Victoria Archives.

They have the following reords online -

Ross Bay Cemetery Records 1872-1980

The information about each gravesite (where possible), as well as photos and descriptions of select gravesites along tour routes. The map can be used to determine the location of gravesites within the cemetery.

Death Notices Index1901-1939 

Marriage Notices Index 1901-1939

The archives was started in 1967 by Ainslie Helmcken, a descendant of one of Victoria's pioneer families. Mr. Helmcken held the position of City Archivist, he worked to create strong ties to the people of Victoria and was very active in the acquisition of archives.

The website is at http://www.victoria.ca/EN/main/departments/legislative-services/archives.html



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.
 

Cape Beaton Institute Digital Archives

This website provides access to the digital collections of the Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia.

The Digital Archives is an online database that contains archival descriptions from the holdings of the Beaton Institute.

Notice that there are places in Cape Breton here at http://beatoninstitute.com/places that you can search, as well, as people and organizations at http://beatoninstitute.com/actor/browse, and there is  full archival descriptions at http://beatoninstitute.com/informationobject/browse

The website is at http://www.cbu.ca/beaton/archway#.VTEq3HnD-aU

Happy Researching!



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.

Two newspaper column this week

Janice Nickerson and Dr. Fraser Dunford, two Ontario genealogists, have newspaper columns this week in area newspapers.

Janice continues on with her monthly column in the City Centre Mirror by writing GENEALOGY WITH JANICE: What’s in your closet?

Old documents tell your family’s history and they may be hidden in your mother's or grandmother’s closet for safe keeping until it is discovered one day by yourself, or another person. What a find!

To find out what you may possibly find, go to the newspaper article at http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5561867-genealogy-with-janice-what-s-in-your-closet-old-documents-tell-your-family-s-history/

Janice’s website is at http://www.uppercanadagenealogy.com/aboutus.html

And Fraser Dunford continues with his column, and this time he writes about census in Ontario.

Fraser is a professional genealogist and member of Kawartha Branch, OGS, and former executive director of the Ontario Genealogical Society, and he has written a column called The  Amateur Genealogist: How To Read A Census.

They both offer sage advice. They have been at the game for a while, so to speak, and they offer good advice.

His article is at http://www.mykawartha.com/community-story/5561328-the-amateur-genealogist-how-to-read-a-census/



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.

New Brunswick Archives adds more birth records

On April the 16th, the Province of New Brunswick Archives has added 2,284 birth records to the years 1870 -1877 at http://archives.gnb.ca/Search/VISSE/?culture=en-CA

There is an excellent finding aid at http://archives.gnb.ca/Documents/FindingAids/GovernmentRecords/RS141-EN.pdf, and this finding aid cover births, marriages and deaths and there is an Introduction and a Help page.

You can search 3,179,613 names from 34 databases in one place online!

The website for the Province of New Brunswick Archives is http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/?culture=en-CA

Happy researching!



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.