LAC present photos of Residential Schools on Flickr

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) presents photographs from its collection of Residential Schools, taken between 1885 and 1996 on Flickr.

Flickr allows easy access to photos from the province or region of your choice. Right now, there are photos  from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba on Flickr. 

And if you want  good, print editions of the photograph, you can order a photo from the LAC. 

The Flickr package is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157644658798142/ 

The history of Residential Schools is on http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/Pages/residential-schools-photo-sets.aspx

Fall Events at Mackenzie House, Toronto

For those of you who do not know, Mackenzie was the last home of William Lyon Mackenzie, the city's first mayor, and one the participants in the Rebellion of 1837.

He returned from self-imposed exile to the United States as a result of his involvement in the rebellion, and the house was bought for him by his friends and supporters in 1858.

There is a host of fall events to be held at Mackenzie House, such as -

High Park Harvest Festival

Sunday, October 5, 12 to 4:30 p.m.

Visit the Mackenzie House table when you come to the High Park Harvest Festival at Colborne Lodge. They will give you information about their museum programs and the opportunity to print a special Harvest Festival souvenir on their historic proof press!

City of the Dead: The Necropolis Cemetery Tour

Sunday, October 19, 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Not recommended for children under 8 years of age.

The walk starts at the Cemetery. Meet at the main entrance.

Join them for a drama-enhanced walk through the Necropolis Cemetery to visit the graves of William Lyon Mackenzie and his family, his fellow rebels and rivals. Hear stories of murder, heartbreak and great perseverance.

After the walk, participants are invited to return to Mackenzie House, for a tour and some light refreshments. 

The Necropolis Cemetery is located at 200 Winchester Street, the west side of the Don Valley near Riverdale Farm.

Pre-registration and pre-payment required. Adults (16 yrs. & older):$12.50 plus tax; Children 8-15 yrs.: $10.50 plus tax.

Spirit Walk

Saturday, October 25 - Three times available At 6:30 p.m., 7:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.

Not recommended for children under 8 years of age.

Let your imagination take over as they lead you through downtown alleys and lane ways to discover some of Toronto’s reputedly haunted buildings ….

Return to gas-lit historic Mackenzie House and soothe your goose bumps with mulled cider and biscuits as you hear about the ghost stories associated with the house.

Pre-registration and pre-payment are required. Adults (16 yrs. & older): $12.50 plus tax; Children 8-15 yrs.: $10.50 plus tax

Contact them at 416-392-6915 or email machouse@toronto.ca

The webpage is at http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=8ccf1d18ed7a0410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD

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

The story of of William Lyon Mackenzie is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lyon_Mackenzie

The Library and Archives Canada has digitized the War Diaries of the First World War

As the LAC say, these dairies of the “Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) units were required to maintain a daily account of their "Actions in the Field." This log was called a War Diary. 

This database contains the digitized War Diaries of CEF infantry, artillery and cavalry units, Brigade, Division and Corps commands and support units such as Railway and Forestry troops. The site also includes the War Diaries of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment and several British units that served under Canadian command.”

To read about the war diaries, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/Pages/war-diaries.aspx#b 

OGS Printerest Board - Ancestral Lands

The Ontario Genealogical Society has a Printerest Board now called Ancestral Lands. 

You can see the pictures or put your own pictures on the board. You may, as the OGS suggests,discover some new "neighbours!" 

So far, there have been 62 ''pins'' to the OGS Pinterest Board. 

The Printerest page is at http://www.pinterest.com/OGSLibrarian/ 

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

The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ontario-Genealogical-Society/259163438258

Call for Speakers – Pre-1867 Ontario

Toronto Branch is planning a day-long workshop on 11 April 2015 on Upper Canada and Canada West Research, and has just called for speakers who would like to take part.

They are asking if you have expertise in pre-Confederation Ontario family history or local history research that you would like to share?

If so, they would like to know about it.

Potential speakers are invited to submit proposals for lectures on sources, research techniques or historical background that may be helpful to researchers.

Sessions may be targeted at beginners or at more seasoned family historians.

You’ll find a link to their detailed call for presentations on their Speakers and Instructors Wanted page at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/? s=Speakers+and+Instructors+Wanted&submit.x=10&submit.y=5&submit=Search
Please note that the deadline to submit a proposal for this workshop is Saturday 15 November.

And the latest news has come out about the 2016 Conference to be held in Toronto. It will be based at the International Plaza Hotel and conference centre, close to Pearson International Airport, Highway 401, and with good connections by local and regional public transit.

Watch for announcements coming summer of 2015.

The website is http://torontofamilyhistory.org/

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

Missisquoi County Canada Genealogy Research Volunteer group announces 10,000 record transcription milestone

This is a notice I received this afternoon from Nancy Cunningham, concerning her group, the Missisquoi County Canada Genealogy Research Volunteer Group. They are doing great work!

‘We at the Missisquoi Rootsweb group ( * Missiquoi was an historical county located in Quebec / Lower Canada / Eastern Townships along the US border) have been for the last 10 years quietly transcribing and publishing records much needed for research in our area. The Missisquoi historic county area, although located in Quebec was heavily Protestant & English speaking with many immigrants from Great Britain and US. ( Vermont) .

This week we reached the 10,000 image milestone on our transcription project of Quebec, Non-Catholic Parish Registers, 1763-1967 from Family Search.org . The 10k mark is for the number of images transcribed, the number of actual individual parish records of births, marriages and burials is closer to 15,000.

We make them all freely available and searchable on our blogs.

We haven’t limited our projects to Family Search digital records- we have also transcribed Library and Archives Canada microfilm Notary records, Google newspapers, Internet Archive eBooks of local directories and posted images and burials to Find-A-Grave.

We use an innovated volunteer sign-up sheet system through Sign up genius, this enables volunteers to work together on projects even though they actually live all over the world.

We believe strongly in paying it forward in genealogy and think this is a little way we can give back for all the help we’ve been given by others in the past.

If anyone has folks that once lived in our area, we’d love for them to search our records and maybe get involved with our group on Rootsweb.

Don’t forget how great Rootsweb ( mailing lists and message boards) is and it’s FREE – check the groups in your areas of research- they may be doing great stuff too!'

Blog http://missisquoigenealogy.blogspot.com/

Rootsweb group http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/CAN/CAN-QC-MISSISQUOI.html

If you want to write to Nancy Cunningham, coordinator, her email address is missisquoigenealogy@gmail.com

LAC Podcast - Sign Me Up: CEF Files, 1914-1918

The Library and Archives Canada has issued a another podcast, and this one concerns the First World War Service Papers in Sign Me Up: CEF Files, 1914-1918. These papers are being digitized and are being put online.

I listened to the podcasts, and although nothing new was mentioned in the podcasts, I feel that there will be questions that will still be asked about the papers. The researcher will have to study the various papers in detail in order to reconstruct the life of the soldier. For example, if the soldier was in the Canadian militia before signing the Attestation Paper, what militia unit was it, where were they located, what was his service, or if he served in different regiments while overseas (which many did), why was this so? Who did he serve with, his time of service, in what battles was he involved, and so forth.

I had the occasion to download a complete service record a couple of weeks ago, and depending on the length of the records, it can be a rather long process from start to finish. Some of the records were difficult to read because of the use of abbreviations, and the faded ink, but some of the papers were very clear.

I think the best thing to do before one starts to read the service papers is to read the book, Canadians at War 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War One Service Records, by retired Library and Archives Canada archivist, Glenn Wright.

This book, although it was written in 2010, is still THE book to read when researching CEF papers. If you read and study this book, you will have a good understanding of the records that you are viewing.

The book is for sale through Global Genealogy at http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/military/resources/101160.htm

Don't forget to scroll down this page and see the book review I wrote for Families, the journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) http://www.ogs.on.ca, of which I am its editor.

Although the review was published four years ago, my opinion of his book has not wavered, and, in fact, the more I use it for research, the more invaluable I find it as a resource.

A table of contents of the book is available as a PDF file here - http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/military/resources/images/101160-contents.pdf

For more on this blog, go to http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-list-of-books-for-holidays.html

To listen to the podcast, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/podcasts/Pages/cef-files-1914-1918.aspx

FamilySearch.org: Campaign Aims to Gather Your Fondest Grandma Stories

This press release from FamilySearch sounds like a great idea - they will be gathering grandma stories from September 20 to 30th, 2014. They already have over 160 stories!

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—If you could share ONE story about your grandma, what would it be? That’s the question nonprofit FamilySearch International (FamilySearch.org) is nudging people worldwide to respond to as part of its worldwide #meetmygrandma social media campaign, September 20-30. FamilySearch announced the campaign today, seeking 10,000 stories in 10 days to kick off the global initiative where descendants are invited to share and preserve online or through a mobile app the fond memories or stories about their grandmothers’ charms or idiosyncrasies.

“Heart-warming experiences with a beloved grandmother are at the heart of many fond memories from our formative years, or even adulthood,” said Brad Lowder, International Marketing Director for #MeetMyGrandma campaign. “All you have to do is ask a person to share a special memory about their grandmother, and they immediately wax sentimental as they recount a heartfelt story or wise saying they cherish from a grandmother. We want to encourage people to capture for future generations those stories that make their grandmothers so special.”

FamilySearch.org offers a free international service for families to share their family histories, memories, photos, and historic documents online and preserve them for future generations. If you are fortunate to have a grandma still living, the free FamilySearch Memories mobile app (IOS only for now) allows individuals to audio record their grandmother and save those recordings online. And there are 20 fun questions to ask your grandma to help write and preserve her personal history in her own words online.

“The #meetmygrandma campaign encourages families to have fun as each member of the family shares their personal perspectives of what makes their grandmothers so special to them,” added Lowder. Their stories, and those contributed by other family members and relatives, are saved to a dynamic online profile dedicated specifically to their grandma, along with any photos and digital artifacts submitted.

The launch of the initiative runs from September 20–30, but the campaign will run indefinitely. 

Go to https://familysearch.org/meetmygrandma?et_cid=47830250&et_rid=839174644&linkid=https%3a%2f%2ffamilysearch.org%2fmeetmygrandma&cid=em-1811

Ontario’s oldest genealogy fair this Saturday

Eva Brook Donly Museum hosts the 38th annual Norfolklore family history fair this Saturday in Simcoe, Ontario. 

An afternoon lecture at 1 p.m. will discuss the ins and outs of researching United Empire Loyalist ancestors and will be hosted by the Grand River branch of the United Empire Loyalist Association.

For the more experienced family history hunters, there’s a chance to book a 10-minute personal consultation with archives co-ordinator Robin Dickson. 

A historical walking tour through downtown Simcoe will also be offered. The tour is at 1 p.m. and is an additional $10.00. 

The Norfolklore fair runs Saturday, Sept. 20 from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m at the Eva Brook Donly Museum, located at 109 Norfolk St. S. in Simcoe.

General admission is $10 ($5 for historical society members) and includes access to lectures, genealogist consultation, exhibitors’ hall and a book sale.  

For more information or to book a consultation, visit www.norfolklore.com 

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

GANS - 5th Annual Brick Wall Busters

If you have Nova Scotian ancestors, you should be interested in this notice I received from the Genealogy Association of Nova Scotia (GANS) this morning.

On Tuesday, November 25th, there will the 5th Annual Brick Wall Busters from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Akins Room, 6016 University Avenue, Halifax, NS. 

Ginny Clark, CG(C), Dr. Allan Marble, CG(C) and Doug Cochrane CG(C) will provide information found on submitted brick wall questions. 

Please include all pertinent available information such as surname and given name, approximate dates, area of Nova Scotia, the piece of information you would like to find, sources you have already checked, and your contact information. You should present a specific question in which you require an answer or are most interested. We must receive adequate information in order to properly assist you with your query otherwise it may not be accepted. 

The query must be of a length that can be read within two minutes.

The deadline for receiving the queries is midnight October 25th, 2014. 

Eight queries will be selected to be addressed at our lecture on November 25, 2014: four from local members who will be attending the meeting and four from members outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality who are not able to attend the meeting. 

At the event, the local members will read their queries for the benefit of other attendees. A member of the GANS Executive will read the queries from the members from “away”. 

For more information, go to http://www.novascotiaancestors.ca/eventListings.php?nm=287 

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

Kirsty Gray, UK Genealogist, will talk at two workshops in Canada

Kirsty Gray will be in Toronto on November 1st where she will give lectures on Industrial England. She will explore the Industrial Revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries transformed the world and dramatically changed the lives of our ancestors in many ways. 

This one-day workshop will be co-sponsored by Toronto Branch and the Canadiana Department of North York Central Library, and will be held in the Library’s Auditorium. 

Early-bird rates apply until today and members of the Ontario Genealogical Society enjoy a further discount on the workshop fee. 

For additional details and to register on-line go to http://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/workshops/industrial-england-workshop/  

Then she will come to Ottawa the next day where she will appear from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, and she will give two lectures at the Woodroffe United Church Banquet Hall, 207 Woodroffe Ave., Ottawa ON. 

She will talk on two subjects - 

1. Searching for Names: Challenges, Pitfalls and the Downright Ridiculous 

2. Solving Problems Through Family Reconstruction 

The lectures will be sponsored by the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO). Admission is $10 per person at the door. 

A break with light refreshments will be held between the two lectures.

Contact information is available at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/ 

Immigration Conference: Getting Here

Kawartha Branch, The Ontario Genealogical Society will have a special one-day conference on Saturday, October 4 from 9 am to 3:15 pm at the Northminster United Church, 300 Sunset Blvd, Peterborough.

The speakers and the topics will be -

• Archivist Col. John Carew New Life, New Hope, and a New Land 

• Alan Brunger Corsley Immigration to Canada, 1830s 

• Elwood Jones The Cumberland Emigration 

• Peter McConkey The Robinson Emigrations 

Cost: $35 and includes snacks and lunch. 

For more information, go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/kawartha/Conference-Page 1 and 2.pdf  

To register, you can go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/kawartha/Conference-Registration (2).pdf

Italian Canadians and World War II

A special travelling exhibition organized by the Columbus Centre of Toronto/Villa Charities will visit Windsor’s Community Museum from September 19th to December 13th. 

It says in the press release that “This exhibit explores the experiences of Italian Canadians following Italy‘s entry into World War II on the side of Germany. The political consequences within Canada of Italy‘s declaration of war in June 1940 deeply affected all spheres of ordinary life for Italian Canadians. Through video, audio, and text, the travelling exhibit puts a human face to this little-known period in Canadian history”. 

The exhibit will open September 19th, with a special screening of Piazza Petawawa (Director Rino Noto), a documentary telling the story of Italian-Canadians during World War II. The event runs from 4 – 6 pm. Refreshments will be available and admission is free. 

In addition, Dr. Walter Temelini, Professor Emeritus of the Italian Studies Department of the University of Windsor will hold a lecture entitled “The Italian Canadian Experience during World War II.” This event takes place at Windsor’s Community Museum on September 27th beginning at 2:00 pm and admission is free. 

The museum is located at 254 Pitt Street, Windsor, Ontario.The website is at http://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/culture/windsors-community-museum/Pages/Windsors-Community-Museum.aspx

More microfilm put online

Canadiana.org has put on more microfilm online at the Héritage website.

I have picked out some of the microfilm that you may find interesting, Please be advised that none of these records have been indexed, although some of them may have internal indexes.

Canadian Army Courts Martial documents 

Census of the township of Augusta

Census of the City of Montreal, 1831

Census returns 1842: Canada West

Central registry files created by the Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch

Department of Militia and Defence: Yukon Garrison, nominal rolls and paylists

Department of Militia and Defence: 1903 Army Central Registry, subject files

Department of Militia and Defence: Contracts Branch letterbooks, 1895-1912

Department of Militia and Defence: Correspondence of the Deputy Minister’s office

Department of Militia and Defence: Register of correspondence of the Deputy Minister’s office, 1867-1903

Department of Militia and Defence: Special Forces nominal rolls and paylists

Department of Militia and Defence: Yukon Mortar Machine Gun Batteries

Department of Railways and Canals: Records related to Welland Canal

Department of Railways and Canals: Records related to the St. Lawrence Canals

Department of the Interior: Dominion Lands Branch: North-West Territories, Metis scrip applications

Department of the Interior: Dominion Lands Branch: North-West Territories, Index to Metis scrip applications

Parish archives for Richelieu County

Parish archives for Saint-Pierre de Sorel: baptisms, marriages and burials

Perth [Ontario] Military Settlement fonds

Peter Hunter collection and papers

Peter Robinson Collection

Port of Saint-Servan Archives 

The Héritage Portal is at http://heritage.canadiana.ca/ 

The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Canadiana/115437585187018 

Tour of Nova Scotia Archives and Its Holdings

On Wednesday, September 24, 2014 the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia is inviting everyone to a Tour of Nova Scotia Archives and Its Holdings from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The Nova Scotia Archives, Akins Room (wheelchair accessible) is located at 6016 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The guest speaker will be Garry Shutlak, Senior Archivist, Public Archives of Nova Scotia

Garry will talk about the website and the genealogical resources found there followed by a tour of the 3rd Floor holdings.

Open to the general public. All are welcome.

The website is http://novascotia.ca/archives/

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

Ancestry.ca - Campbell River, British Columbia newspaper database

Ancestry.ca has put on another database and this one concerns the index of birth, marriage, and death information from three newspapers serving the Campbell River, British Columbia, area in central Vancouver Island, and they are -

Campbell River Courier, 1947–1974

Comox Argus, 1917–1945

Campbell River Upper Islander, 1964–1990

Details vary depending on the paper and type of event, but you may find the following:

· name

· birth date and place

· christening date and place

· father’s name

· mother’s name

· spouse’s name

· marriage date and place

· death date and place

· age at death

· burial date and place

Information for this index was extracted by members of the Campbell River Genealogy Society.

The website is at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=2492

Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ancestry.ca

Virtual Institute of Genealogical Research (VIGR)

In order to give my research clients the most-up-to-date information, using modern methodology—and in addition to my working towards a Certificate in Professional Development from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies (NIGS)——I have just enrolled in Michael Hait’s course in Writing a Logical Proof Argument, a course from the new Virtual Institute of Genealogical Research (VIGR).

As I wrote to the people behind VIGR, “I am really excited to be a part of the first class! This is groundbreaking in the realm of genealogical institutes, and I am so glad that it has come to pass”. 

The link to the Virtual Institute of Genealogical Research (VIGR) website is  http://vigrgenealogy.com/news/ 

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

My research website is at www.elrs.biz.

Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre - Ontario Jewish Archives-

Back in 1973, the Ontario Jewish Archives, known as the Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre, started to acquire, preserve and today, it is making available documentary sources related to Ontario's Jewish community. 

Now, the Government of Canada has announced that it will be providing $195,100 through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund to support a renovation project undertaken by the Ontario Jewish Archives Foundation. With this funding the Foundation will retrofit the vault and redesign and furnish the public access space and document processing area in the Blankenstein Family Heritage Centre. 

The Ontario Jewish Archives is the largest professionally maintained repository of Jewish archival material in Canada.

You can search their archives where they have over 5,000 cubic feet of textual records, photos, newspapers, films, and oral histories. 

The website is at http://ontariojewisharchives.org/

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

Niagara Peninsula has a new website!

The Niagara Peninsula of the Ontario Genealogical Society has a new website, and it is exciting because of the new features that are on the site. 

In addition to having a new website (which is very neat and well organized), they are also starting to put video of their meetings and cemetery tours under the heading of Media! 

Last evening, I watched a video of their last meeting, and I was impressed with the quality and media presence of the presenters. I was left with the thought that everyone should do this. It’s a great way to tell everybody about your Branch or Chapter for free!  

So why isn’t this an initiative from the head office? Maybe it is, and we are just finding out about it, but I don’t think so. 

The website is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/niagara/

New home for GANS

I received a notice from the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia (GANS) (of which I am a member), that they have found a new place for their office in the Halifax – Dartmouth area of Nova Scotia.

They had received a notice of termination of their lease from their landlord dated July 1, 2014, and they only had three months to find a new office space.

As the notice says, “An earlier formed Premises Committee chaired by Vice President, Bob Davison and including Executive members Nathaniel Smith, Pam Wile, Jan Fralic-Brown, Holly Gunn and our Executive Director, Dawn Josey, was tasked with finding GANS a new home.

After an aggressive search, the Committee was successful in locating an office that meets GANS current and future needs.

The search committee established a set of criteria for the new location:

1. Room and structural integrity for expansion of research collection.

2. Quiet area for research.

3. Meeting and office administration space.

4. Separate room for processing and storing donations, acquisitions and our inventory.

5. Accessible space.

6. Lecture/large meeting room to seat 50 people.

7. Quiet building, suitable parking and street level visibility in high traffic/high profile area with potential for highly visible signage.

The Committee visited over a dozen locations throughout HRM. The office located in the Quaker Landing building at 33 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth was the space that best met the above criteria. This 1731 square foot office will have a dedicated library area, a research room and a large meeting room where GANS can hold monthly lectures and workshops. library and collections will be protected for use by our members and the general public”.

So the new office is right downtown, just up from the ferry from Halifax, and is in the perfect place.

They plan to have an Open House once everything is unpacked, and you can
contact them through the Executive Director, Dawn Josey info@novascotiaancestors.ca.

The website is http://www.novascotiaancestors.ca/

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