PEI Genealogical Society upcoming event

The PEI Genealogical Society will hold its next general meeting on Saturday November 23 at 2:00 pm at Beaconsfield's Carriage House, located at the corner of Kent and West Streets in Charlottetown.

Guest speaker Dr. Ed MacDonald will present a talk on Our Fathers: A Brief Introduction to PEI's Fathers of Confederation. He will answer the question - Who were the PEI Fathers of Confederation? The public is invited to attend and find out more than just a name.

Admission is free.

If you would like more information, go to http://www.peigs.ca/

101st Grey Cup Football Game this Sunday

Library and Archives Canada / C-017372

The Grey Cup Game is this weekend in Regina, Saskatchewan, but do you know that the Library and Archives Canada has the papers of Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey. He was the Governor General of Canada from 1904 to 1911 and he actually wanted to donate the cup to the champion hocked team – not the football team!

They hold many resources relating to the history of the Governor General and the Grey Cup.

To learn more about the life and activities of Lord Grey himself, you can consult the Albert Henry George Grey, 4th Earl Grey fonds at http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=105479

WWI Memorial Wall at OGS

Have you checked the WWI War Memorial Wall at OGS lately? It is starting to get populated with photos from the First World War, but the Ontario Genealogical Society is looking for more photos.

So they are asking “Do you have family members who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during WWI? As we approach the 100th Anniversary of the Great War, the Ontario Genealogical Society invites you to share their stories and photos on our newly created WWI Memorial Wall on the OGS Soldphotos flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ogsphotos/sets/

If you would like to share your scanned photos, letters, diaries, or require more information, please contact our Digitization Manager at scanning@ogs.on.ca

We also welcome photos and stories from all of our Canadian War Veterans, and as always, those popular Mystery Photos”.

The Chinese Labourers

There is an article on the Manitoba CBC site this morning that a Winnipeg student - Kelsey Omaga has received a Governor General's History Award.

She is a Grade 7 student at Holy Ghost School, and she wrote and illustrated The Chinese Labourers, a story told through the eyes of a Chinese worker in the 1880s.

You can read about her and the book at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-student-wins-governor-general-s-history-award-1.2431554

One Day Symposium on Scottish Genealogy Research

Plans are starting to come together for a one day symposium on Scottish Genealogy Research to be held Friday August 22, 2014 at the Spring Hill Suites by Marriott in Vaughn, Toronto. They have four speakers confirmed, and each one will speak on a different aspect of Scottish Genealogy Research.

In addition, plans are being made to have a marketplace with a combination of genealogy vendors, clan representatives and hopefully a couple of Scottish vendors. More on this as this part of the day gets confirmed.

The topics will be Basic Scottish Research by John Thomson, DNA by Linda Reid, Scot Irish by Ruth Blair, and Tracking our Scots Emigrant Ancestors by Christine Woodcock.

Registration will open in February for the Scottish SIG Symposium. Hotel reservations are on a first come, first serve basis and are open now. More information will be sent to the SIG members on the market place and pricing details have been confirmed. The Symposium will be open to the public, with a reduced registration fee for OGS members.

For more information, please contact Christine Woodcock at genealogytoursofscotland@gmail.com

Another Free Service at FHL

The Family History Library of FamilySearch recently announced a FREE SERVICE where you can send a limited preview of Google Books page and get them to scan the entire page and email it to you for free.

All you have to do is to fill out their Online Photoduplication Request Form, and send it to Salt Lake City by email, and you will get the full page back as soon as possible.

This is a great idea!

They walk you through the process on their blog at https://familysearch.org/blog/en/google-books-free-copies-pages-family-history-library-books/

Two workshops at the Windsor Public Library

The Central Branch of the Windsor Public Library in Windsor, Ontario invite people who have an interest in family history at two workshops presented by Tom Vajdik, WPL Genealogy and Local History Librarian.

The two workshops are –

Introduction to Genealogy will take place at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 28 in WPL’s Fred Israel Auditorium (lower level of Central Branch, 850 Ouellette Avenue) This workshop will be an introduction to the methodology and cover the basics of genealogy as well as offer resources that assist in learning to trace your family history.

Genealogy on the Internet will be offered at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 18, in WPL’s Computer Lab (main floor near Dufferin Entrance at Central Branch, 850 Ouellette Avenue). This workshop will examine the many free web sites devoted to genealogy.

“At Windsor Public Library, we have noticed there’s been a resurgence in people’s desire to know their ancestors as people and learn more about their roots,” says Vajdik. “People visit us from far and wide to avail themselves of our resources. Solving puzzles and being the Sherlock Holmes of their own family stories satisfies a desire to tie their past to their present. Windsor Public Library is pleased to offer these genealogy workshops. All are welcome to attend and there is no fee to register.”

For more information and to register for either of these free workshops, please call 519-255-6770, ext. 4434 or email tvajdik@windsorpubliclibrary.com.  

Please register early for the November 18 workshop to ensure you get a seat!

Remembering the Fallen in Canada

A new app for the iPad has been created for Remembrance Day as an interactive experience, giving Canadians a way to remember those who have given their lives in service to our country.

Click on the red poppy (I clicked on the poppy on Halifax, and discovered the story of The Sisters of Mercy – the Canadian Nursing Sisters, part of the Canadian Army Medical Corps of the First World War), but they have graves from the Boer War, through the World Wars, Korean War, our Peacekeeping Missions and Afghanistan.

The website is http://www.thefallen.org/

Canada Remembers – 30 Ways to Remember

A fellow Canadian blogger has started a new blog called The Rising Village and it’s about her family – John and Lizzie McCluskey who settled in the St. Andrews East area of Quebec in the 1800s. Today the area is known as Saint-André-d'Argenteuil - just south of Lachute.

And she has started a new project to coincide with Canada Remembers – 30 Ways to Remember, and she is taking one person per day who is listed on the Honour Roll at Veterans Affairs Canada and is telling their story.

She is asking anyone who has more information on the people she has put on the blog to write her, and if you have information on her family to do the same – she would like to hear from you.

The address is http://therisingvillage.blogspot.ca/

Contribution of Aboriginal Peoples in the First World War (1914-1918)

Above is the Attestation Paper of Private Henry Norwest, a Métis from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, was one of the most famous snipers.

The Library and Archives Canada has sent this email to me so that I could alert my readers that they have a new post called the Contribution of Aboriginal Peoples in the First World War (1914-1918).

In part, the post says that “Aboriginal peoples have a long tradition of military service in Canada dating back several centuries. Although not legally required to participate in the war, an estimated 4,000 Status Indians, and an unrecorded number of Métis and Inuit enlisted voluntarily and served with the Canadian Corps in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

Almost all of the young men on many reserves enlisted for service. For example, approximately half of the eligible Mi’kmaq and Maliseet from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia volunteered for overseas duty. In other provinces, the number was even higher. In the small Saskatchewan community of File Hills, nearly all of the eligible men signed up to fight.

The exact number of Aboriginal soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War is not known. It is estimated that at least 300 men were killed during battles or died from illness, such as tuberculosis”.

Read the full blog post at http://thediscoverblog.com/tag/aboriginal/

Postscript: Am I correct in thinking that the LAC is changing the design of its website again? I am starting to get frustrated as I flip back and forth between the old-old site and the new site. Some records are still at the old-old site, and then some are on the new site, and …

Discover your family’s hero this Remembrance Day,

Ancestry.ca is offering free access to their Canadian military records in honour of Remembrance Day.

They say that “In honour of Remembrance Day, Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, is giving Canadians the chance to discover the military hero in their family by providing free access from November 7 to 12 to more than 4.4 million online military records from some of its most popular collections, some of which are available free for the first time.

Our Canadian Military records include details such as rank, home address, salary and more, and can connect your family to the front lines of Canada’s most historic wartime battles. With these records that date back to as early as 1710, you may follow an ancestor’s journey from enlistment, to their post overseas, to awards received and, in some cases, to their final resting place".

The records are

Canada, Military Honours and Award Citation Cards, 1900-1961, containing almost 70,000 records

Canada, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunteer Militia, 1857-1922, contains more than 1.6 million records

Canada, War Graves Registers: Circumstances of Casualty, 1914-1948, contains almost 30,000 records

Canada, CEF Commonwealth War Graves Registers, 1914-1919, contains over 56,000 records.

Canadians looking for information about their ancestors, or for those who want to start their family tree for free can visit www.ancestry.ca.

Those who want to explore the military heroes in their family tree can do so by visiting www.ancestry.ca/honouryourheros.

Veterans Week - Cape Bretoners in World War Two

Wayne Macvicar, from Cape Breton (Nova Scotia), has emailed that
his site - Cape Bretoners in World War Two has just gone through an update.

The site contains an additional 16 individuals for a total of 16, 077 and 261 new pages for fatal casualties in the period Jan-Jul 1944, with photos for 19 individuals that are not on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial site.

He says that “Although I feel I'm getting close to completing the number of individuals that served I only have the bare information for many of them, including those that died in service. I invite everyone to have a look at my site and if they have any information they would like to share to fill out the form I have provided on my general Cape Bretoners at War https://sites.google.com/site/cbatwar/ site”.

To visit his sites, go to Cape Bretoners at War: https://sites.google.com/site/cbatwar/ and

Cape Bretoners in World War Two: https://sites.google.com/site/cbinww2/

Wayne thanks you for your input. It is very much appreciated.

(C) Veterans Affairs Canada

Postscript: This year during Veterans Week (November 5 – 11th), we remember Canada's Veterans - Brave and Proud.

Thank a Veteran by sending a Postcard for Peace at http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/veterans-week/postpeace

Canadian Week in Review 05 November 2013

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, 2013

Veterans Week November 5 - 11

Today is the beginning of Veterans Week in Canada. This year’s theme is I Remember – Canada's Veterans, Brave and Proud.

They have an Honour Roll at their page at
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/collections/virtualmem/honour-roll

Yesterday, they honoured 281 people who died in war on that date, and each person has burial information, a photo of the soldier if it is available, and a summary of their military service.

Some of the stories that have caught my eye this week were –

‘Give a Vimy for Vimy:’ Fundraising campaign highlights battlefield image on $20 bill http://www.canada.com/Give+Vimy+Vimy+Fundraising+campaign+highlights+battlefield+image+bill/9119175/story.html Montreal-based Vimy Foundation is launching “a centennial campaign to convince the country to adopt the nickname “Vimy” for the new polymer $20 bills, which feature an image of the towering Vimy Ridge battlefield memorial in France”.

Libraries and Legion work together for literacy this Remembrance Day http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2013-10-01/article-3413507/Libraries-and-Legion-work-together-for-literacy-this-Remembrance-Day/1In order to promote Remembrance Day this year, the Legion and the libraries in Nova Scotia are giving away 6,000 copies of Norman Leach’s award winning book Passchendaele,an illustrated history.

`Victory in Europe's 70th anniversary and the liberation of the Netherlands http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/canadian-students-and-teachers-to-join-dutch-citizens-in-celebrating-victory-in-europes-70th-anniversary-and-the-liberation-of-the-netherlands-229744371.html Students from Canada will go to the Netherlands May 2015 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe and the liberation of the Netherlands.

New Updates to the Family History Library Catalogue

FamilySearch has made long awaited changes, here and there, to the Family History Library Catalogue, and has incorporated the “old” and “new” catalogue into one entity.

For example, the catalogue does a title search that includes subtitles and inclusive dates, the main author in bold type, and it displays additional places.

And the names of the catalogue searches are now the same as they were in the old catalogue, which s good to hear.

As someone who uses FamilySearch on a regular basis to search for those books and periodicals (some of which can be found in no other place on the Internet), I depend on their being a good useable catalogue at my disposal.

Postscript: The Canadian Week in Review will be published tomorrow as a special military issue as Canada begins its Veterans Week from November 5th to the 11th.

Ontario GenWeb's Q&A!

Did you know that the Ontario GenWeb offers questions and answers on genealogy research in Ontario, Upper Canada and Canada West – free of charge!

This has been going on since 1998!

Go to http://ontariogenwebqa.blogspot.com/

Mini-biographies of the pioneers of York County, Ontario

York County GenWeb, under the leadership of Sherri Pettit and Fred Appleton, started a place last year to put mini-biographies of early settlers in York County on the website at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onyork/early-residents.html

So far, the settlers who have been placed there are

Pioneer Residents of Georgina Township

EZRA SHERWOOD

ROBERT RIDDELL

ARCHIBALD RIDDELL

Pioneer Residents of Markham Township

William Robson

Pioneer Residents of Whitchurch-Stouffville Township

In the Whitchurch Township, there is a list of records of the land patents issued in the earlier years of the settlement, and there are mini-biographies of

CHRISTOPHER SMITH

CHARLES APPLETON

Although these are not in-depth biographical studies, there may be information there that could be treated as a clue, and it could lead to a new discovery in your family history.

OGS is seeking an individual for Publishing Committee

For many years, the OGS has had a publishing committee, and part of its mandate has been publishing genealogy resource books.

The Publishing Committee is now looking for “an energetic individual interested in the world of Canadian genealogy to chair the OGS Publishing Committee. We are looking for someone with an understanding of the publication process, and a vision for the future of OGS publishing”.

The volunteer would help to

- determine current needs with regards to genealogical publications and work to develop publications to fulfill these needs,

- receive and develop publication proposals with possible authors,

- establish and follow budgets for the titles being published,

- develop marketing plans for titles

If you are interested, please contact the OGS Executive Director at ed@ogs.on.ca to discuss your skills and ideas.

Voices of the Past

Merv Scott, Project Director of the Victoria Genealogical Society has sent this notice to me. It sounds like a good idea. Are there any other societies doing a program like this?

“Our not for profit and volunteer run society is proud to announce the
launch of a new and free community service called "Voices of the Past"
and we hope that you will help us to get the word out to seniors in
our community.

The website is http://www.victoriags.org/voices

These recordings are then published/posted on our new website for
Voices of the Past at www.victoriags.org/voices where family members,friends and others can enjoy them now and in the future, and from
anywhere in the world.

The first few stories have been recorded by our volunteers and are now available on the Voices of the Past webpages. Other upcoming recording sessions are scheduled at the Greater Victoria Public Library on November 15 and December 10 (see GVPL programs website) and at the Victoria Genealogical Society Resource Centre on November 21. Recordings are free but advance registrations is required by email to projects@victoriags.org

We hope seniors don't miss this limited time opportunity to have their story, or their loved one's story, recorded for posterity.

For more info check out our fhs website at http://www.victoriags.org
and if any fhs out there wants to know how we did this please email
direct”.

1921 Canadian Census

The every name index to the 1921 Canadian Census is now on Ancestry.ca at http://www.ancestry.ca/census

Global Genealogy – Used Book Sale

Global Genealogy tells us that they are having a 50% off sale until Oct 31st at midnight on all Used Book and Book-on-CD sale.

Rick Roberts says that “we acquired several collections of USED and antiquarian genealogy and history books that we are selling off at a deep discount”.

Include the following coupon code used-books-only when you order.

Their site is www.globalgenealogy.com