Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toronto. Show all posts

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, please let me offer a "Happy Thanksgiving!" to our American Cousins! (I have first cousins in Maine, first cousins once removed in Texas, and first cousins three times removed in California).

Canada, in 2005, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Society of Mayflower Descendants, and is still going strong <www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canms/canada.html>.

There are four "colonies" in the country (in Toronto, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Alberta), with the Canadian society being the first formed outside of the United States.

They published a book for their 25th anniversary detailing their history, and it has many pictures which cover the events and meeting of their four colonies.

The site, which has had over 20,000 visitors since the website first started eight years ago, has an index on Mayflower Research Articles, Mayflower Families Corrections and Additions, and Upcoming Events & Society Meetings.

There is a List of Mayflower Passengers Who Left Descendants, Society Dues & Fees, and Application Procedure & Documentation Requirements.

They have also put online Reports of our Past Guest Speakers, Mayflower Research Articles (Index), and Mayflower DNA Projects.

For a change of pace, please read this interesting article entitled, "Were Cats and Dogs on the Mayflower?", at <http://www.petplace.com/cats/were-cats-and-dogs-on-the-mayflower/page1.aspx?utm_source=catcrazynews001et&utm_medium=email&utm_content=petplace_article&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter>.

And finally, for a bit of fun, knowing that watching football is paramount in any household this weekend (we watch it, too!), visit our Canadian Thanksgiving page at <http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2008/10/happy-thanksgiving.html> and check the graphic at the bottom.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil

Last night while coming home from the hockey game between the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals (which Ottawa won - yes!), we drove past the National War Memorial at the corner of Wellington and Elgin Streets, across from the famous Chateau Laurier Hotel. It was 11:41 p.m.. Although there were no people present, the names of some of the 68,000 First World War soldiers were there on the memorial itself. It was the first night of Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil <www.1914-1918.ca>.

The project is to symbolically "repatriate" the Canadian soldiers who never made it back to their homeland, and to remember them on an individual basis, rather than as a collective during Remembrance Day ceremonies. The display which will be active in the evenings until Remembrance Day on November 11th. This vigil will also be held in Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Regina, and Edmonton.

You can look up the names of the dead on the website. You will find their surname, their first name and/or initials, service number, their rank, their regiment, their date of death, and the date their names will be projected on the National War Memorial.

In my case, I never had anyone die in the First World War but I looked up the surname of BARCLAY and found 18 soldiers who had died from 1916 to 1920.

The project was thought up by R.H. Thomson, a Canadian actor, and lighting designer Martin Conboy.