Researching Family History in Vermont (Free Lecture)

The lecture will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. at Briarwood Presbyterian Church Hall, 70 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield (Montreal) QC, H9W 3Z3.

The leacture will be given by Ed Maquire, President of the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogy Society.

Ed Maquire will discuss the long history shared by Quebec and Vermont. In the 1860s, about almost half of Vermont’s residents were French-Canadian, and many from Lower Canada in the Eastern Townships.

They were living close to the US border, and many married in Vermont. Mr. Maguire will talk about the type of records available, such as church, immigration, naturalization, court, and military records, and explain where to find them.

Members and guests are welcome to join us!

Visit http://www.qfhs.com/

Postscript: I will have a new booklet entitled French-Canadian in Canada/Franco-Americans in the United States available in June of this year.

Watch this blog for the date the booklet will be available.

Genealogy Courses in Toronto

Gwyneth Pearce of the Toronto Branch of the OGS has just written to GenealogyCanada to tell us that the previously scheduled March/April course, "Going Back to Basics – A Refresher", has been cancelled due to low enrolment.

In addition, their course on "Exploring the Baldwin Room’s Manuscript Collection", which was to be offered in March, has been postponed (new date TBA) due to the Toronto library strike.

The following are courses which are still offered by the Branch. They are -

DATE: 5-19 Apr 2012: 3 sessions, Thursdays (5:30-7:30 p.m.)
COURSE: Toronto Branch OGS
LOCATION: Archives of Ontario, 134 Ian MacDonald Blvd., Toronto
TITLE OF COURSE: "Hands-On Ontario Estate Records"
NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: Jane E. MacNamara
BRIEF INFO: Participants will follow assigned case histories to learn hands-on at the Archives of Ontario how to find estate files and land registry records. Basic course or equivalent experience is a pre-requisite. This course is now FULL.

DATE: 18-25 Apr, 2-9 May 2012: 4 sessions, Wednesdays (6:15-8:15 p.m.)
COURSE: Toronto Branch OGS
LOCATION: Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto
TITLE OF COURSE: "Advanced English Family History"
NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: James F.S. Thomson & Joan Read
BRIEF INFO: This advanced course will focus on the 1700-1837 period – topics will include finding vital events, researching a parish, population listings, inheritance records, poor relief, apprenticeship records and land tenancy records.

DATE: 28 Apr 2012: Saturday (9:00-4:00 p.m.)
COURSE: Toronto Branch OGS
LOCATION: North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto
TITLE OF COURSE: "A Day of Technology for Family Historians"
NAME OF INSTRUCTOR: Carol Nichols
BRIEF INFO: Learn how to harness the power of technology in your genealogy – find out how technology can assist family historians in finding and organizing information, and in editing and sharing photographs and other images.
CONTACT INFO: www.torontofamilyhistory.org/

The following is the monthly meeting -

DATE: 23 April 2012 (7:30 p.m.)
MEETING: Toronto Branch OGS
LOCATION: Burgundy Room, North York Memorial Community Hall, 5110 Yonge Street, Toronto
TITLE OF TALK: “Women, Bicycles and Animals: Humanizing the First World War”
NAME OF SPEAKER: Melissa Ellis
BRIEF INFO: A look at some databases of women's involvement in the war effort and the bicycle corps' work in reconnaissance gathering. Additional short presentation by Elayne Lockhart: “My DNA – the Genealogical Gift That Keeps on Giving”. $5 charge for non-members of OGS.

For more information, go to http://www.torontofamilyhistory.org/

BIFHSGO's Anglo-Celtic Roots - Spring 2012

The Spring 2012 edition of the newly-revamped Anglo-Celtic Roots has just been received, and the new format lends itself very well to the writings of the members of BIFHSGO.

Under the title of "Family History Research" are four articles - Perhaps Love: A Postcard from the First World War; Little Girl Lost – and Found; The Yacht Armide; and Eleanor, Ellen and Francis.

In "Techniques and Resources" are the articles The Cream of the Crop, and The Bookroom.

There is the "BIFHSGO News" section in which they have put the Notice of Annual Meeting and Minutes of 2011 AGM; Website Access; Great Moments: June Meeting; and the Membership Report.

Anglo-Celtic Roots is published four times a year; this is in addition to an electronic newsletter issued once a month via email.

Over 20 informative and interesting articles have been reprinted and made available online as "Classic Articles" at www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=33, while past issues are available in the "Members Only" section at http://bifhsgo.ca/members.php.

Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre

The Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre (MAGRC) is located in the Ameliasburgh Ward of the City of Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. The area was settled by the United Empire Loyalists in 1784

Some of the records that they have are -

Hastings County Land Records for about 100 years prior to 1955

Tudor & Cashel Township Records, dating back to 1852

The Klein research on the Tripps' of the Bay of Quinte

Women's Institute Tweedsmuir histories, minute books, and other records

Douglas Crawford canning factory papers

Hessian Research of Johannes (John) Helmut Merz

Heal Research Papers and Records

There are also two databeses online – the Names Database with 1,426 names that you can check, and the Heal Database with 147, 760 names.

The site is at http://quinte-kin.com/magrc.htm

1921 Canadian Census

The 1921 Cenadian Census will be released to the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) on June 1st, 2013 from Statistics Canada. According to the legislation, 92 calendar years must have elapsed before the census is releaded to the LAC. The records will be transforred to the LAC, and it will opened for public use.

The LAC says that it is their intention to make the 1921 Canadian Census available to researchers online, in the same format as previous censuses, as soon as possible after that date.

Here are a few facts about the 1921 Canadian Census -

It was taken on June 1, 1921

It is the sixth comprehensive decennial census to be taken since the creation of the Dominion

There will be five schedules with a total of 565 questions

241 commissioners and 11,425 enumerators were employed

The most important growth of the population was in the prairie provinces with 47% since the 1911 Census

and

the overall population of Canada was 8,788,483 individuals.

If you would like to see the other census records, go to http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-911-e.html

Preparing for the OGS Conference

The Ontario Genealogical Conference to be held from June 1st to the 3rd in Kingston, Ontario will have a number of unique activites going on during the weekend.

Some of them are -

Ask a Pro - You’ll be able to sign up for one free session lasting 15 minutes with a professional genealogist, courtesy of members of the Ontario Chapter, Association of Professional Genealogists.

Research Around Kingston – Look at the page on the Kingston Area Research.  Do note that most of these repositories have valuable holdings but are quite small.

Go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2012/kingston-facts, and see the many places to research in Kingston.

Research Room – See the separate page about this under “Program”. Sign up on arrival at the College for your hour of free research in genealogical databases for which you would normally have to pay.

The website is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2012/research-room tells you what to expect in the Research Room.

Wall of Ancestors – Take advantage of this FREE research activity. Decide which facts you most want to learn about which ancestors, and make up 3×5″ cards ahead of time, to post on the Wall of Ancestors when you arrive.

You can go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2012/ancestors ,and read what can be included on your card.

Go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2012 to read about the Conference itself.

TONI and OGSPI Update

I have been using Ontario Genealogical Society's The Ontario Name Index (TONI), and the Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Index (OGSPI) this week.

TONI is an index of every name in every publication relating to Ontario. The index points people to the location of the information about that name, and the location of the information may be a Branch (Chapter) document, a web site, a microfilm, a family history, an archive, etc.

It was started in May 2011, and you should check it often because they are putting on names to the index nearly everyday.

You can check out the index at http://www.ogs.on.ca/integrated/toni_database1.php

Also, don't forget the Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Index (OGSPI).

There is 1,830,226 names on this index, and the project was started in 1997. It is located at http://www.ogs.on.ca/ogspi/welcome.htm on the Ontsario Genealogical Society.

As with any index, I always compare, and contrast the two indexes – TONI and OGSPI. Since TONI is a "work in progress", I always check it against the OGSPI to make sure that I have found all the information possible that has been put on the two indexes.