30th Anniversary Celebration

Simcoe County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will celebrate its 30th Anniversary Celebration with an Open House on February 2, 2013 from 11 am – 4 pm, and lectures.

The morning program will feature from 11:15 am to 12:15 pm

• Room A Kenneth Reese An Introduction to Genealogy

• Room B Nancy Leveque Researching Your Ancestors in Simcoe County

• Room C John Wright Beyond the Inscriptions - A Look at Cemeteries

• FHC Bonnie Henderson Brick Walls

The afternoon program will be a repeat of the morning program, and it will be from 1:45 pm until 2:45 pm. So if you can't get there in the morning, you can always go in the afternoon.

So you can learn how to start your family tree, break down the “Brick Walls”, and there will be resources there for you to search while you are there. It sounds like a good time!

Simcoe County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society is located 79 Ferris Lane, Barrie, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For more information, you can contact them at www.simcoebogs.com

New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles - 14 January 2013

I have come across the following websites, blogs, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too –

Columbia Cemetery - Rossland, British Columbia - British Columbia Heritage Markers on Waymarking.com
www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMG4EK_Columbia_Cemetery_Rossland_British_Columbia This is the first time I have come across the waymarking site. It give a good, snappy history of Columbia Cemetery of British Columbia.

Qartz glass can preserve data for millions of years, Hitachi says: Material is water and weatherproof www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/01/07/quartz-data-storage.html The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) is carrying a story which says that there is a quartz glass wafer that could preserve information forever –

St. Boniface Cathedral given heritage status www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2013/01/08/mb-st-boniface-cathedral-heritage-status-winnipeg.html The iconic St. Boniface Cathedral in Manitoba is given heritage status.

Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America  www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol19/no18/escapetogoldmountain.html Learn about the cross-migration between the U.S. and Canada, during the 1800s up until 1947, of the Chinese.

Debate on Morse's Tea building paint job boils over: Lettering on Morse's Tea building was painted over in October www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/01/12/ns-morse-tea-paint-city-council.html CBC Halifax reports that the owner of Morse’s Tea building in Halifax recently had the lettering painted over causing heritage people to complain that he never thought of the history of the place before it was painted.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

INVITATION FROM THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION!

People are travelling from coast-to-coast-to-coast across Canada asking their fellow Canadians their opinion on the new Canadian Museum of History, which will be opened in 2015.

They will be meeting in Montreal of Jan 24th

Their press release says “The Canadian Museum of Civilization is soon to become the Canadian Museum of History—a museum that will present the history of Canada and its people. We would like to invite you to be a part of its creation by telling us what you would put in your Canadian history museum.

Join them on Thursday, January 24, 2013 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., Salon Cartier 1, Centre Mont-Royal, 2200 Mansfield Street (next to the Peel Metro station), in Montréal.

We will kick-off the evening with a dynamic panel discussion —My History Museum: A to Zed —by asking prominent Canadians, what they would put in a Canadian history museum of their making.

This will be followed by a roundtable discussion where we will ask you how you would like to engage with your national history museum. How can the museum meet your needs and interests, from here in Montréal?

RSVP at www.civilization.ca/myhistorymuseum

If you’re unable to attend this event, you can still have your say by visiting www.civilization.ca/myhistorymuseum and adding your comments and completing the survey.

We want to reach as many people as possible. Feel free to pass this email on to anyone you think would be interested in attending this event.

We look forward to meeting you”.

Domaine des pères Sainte-Croix at Lac-Simon, Quebec Has Been Saved!

Just got news yesterday from Chantal Crête that the Domaine des pères Sainte-Croix at Lac-Simon, Quebec has been saved!


She goes to say “A while back you posted the link of our petition to help us save the heritage of le Domaine des pères Sainte-Croix at Lac-Simon. I wanted to let you know that we have succeeded. Municipality of Lac-Simon adopted a reglementation last night to designate the whole site. Yes, Domaine des Pères is now protected under the Cultural Heritage Act. May I express my deepest thank you to you and all of those that have supported the cause. It goes to show that mobilisation can indeed create change”.

Congratulations, Chantal!

If you would like to read my other posts on the Domaine des pères Sainte-Croix at Lac-Simon, Quebec, you can read them at

November 20 - ONLINE PETITION! Domaine d'été des Pères Sainte-Croix http://genealogycanada.blogspot.ca/2012/11/online-petition-domaine-dete-des-peres.html

November 27 - Latest Update on Domaine d'été des Pères Sainte-Croix http://genealogycanada.blogspot.ca/2012/11/latest-update-on-domaine-dete-des-peres.html

Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia Meeting

Pam Wile the Editor of the Nova Scotia Genealogist newsletter from the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia tells us that they will be open today Sunday, January 13, 2013 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. EST

They are located at 3258 Isleville Street, Halifax, and you can have a comfortable research space that includes a patrons' computer with internet access and a library. If you can't make it to their place, you can view their library holdings at www.novascotiaancestors.ca/libraryRecords.php


And she tells us that there will be a meeting on Saturday, January 26, and they will be having special speaker Nancy Wilson, and her topic will be Genealogy and Youth.

Nancy Wilson was the Coordinator for the intergenerational genealogy project: Genealogical Sleuths: Youth and Seniors Partnering to Discover their History developed by the South Shore Genealogical Society.

The meeting will be from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm in the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives, University Ave, Halifax, NS.

Attendees are encouraged to bring along a young person - child, grandchild, neighbour, friend - to introduce them to ways to research their family history. Nancy will talk about ways to get youth involved that will inspire you to share your stories with the younger generation.

There will be door prizes and light refreshments will be served.

A selection of our publications will be on display and for sale at the
lecture.

To find out more about the meetings, go to www.NovaScotiaAncestors.ca

1921 Canada Census to be Released This Summer

Just read the news on Christine Woodcock’s blog that the LAC will release the 1921 Canada Census on June 13th!


That is wonderful news. Thanks, Christine!

Her blog is at http://brantcountyogs.blogspot.ca/2013/01/1921-census-coming-soon.html 

Ancestry.ca Projects for 2013

I have just received the news that Ancestry.ca has the following projects planned for 2013. They are –

St. Lawrence Steamboat Company Passenger Lists

Saskatchewan Genealogy Society Indexes

Pre-confederation records of British Military in Canada

Great news to see that they are continuing to post great Canadian collections at www.ancestry.ca

The Family History Writing Challenge

I just read this on Lynn Palermo's Canadian blog The Armchair Genealogists, and I thought I would pass it along to my readers –

“The Family History Writing Challenge returns for the third year of motivating family historians dedicating daily time for writing their family history stories.

Family historians wishing to take up the torch of writing their stories are encouraged to put down the microfilm and pick up the pen for the month of February, and start writing their family history stories.

Upon signing up for The Family History Writing Challenge, participating members are invited to declare a goal in the form of a word count and to commit to completing that word count during the 28 days in February. In exchange for the commitment, Lynn Palermo, Canadian blooger at The Armchair Genealogist will host of the month long challenge will send out daily newsletters that include motivational messages, writing lessons, along with instructional guest posts by leading genealogists, published authors and editors.

Lynn Palermo states, “by committing to a daily word count my hope is for all participants to make substantial headway in their family history writing goals and to create long lasting writing habits that will carry them forward throughout 2013.”

Lynn encourages members to sign up early to take advantage of the January newsletters that will help participants organize themselves to begin writing on February 1st. A forum for the event is available to participants who want to exchange ideas, struggles and successes in a more intimate atmosphere.

Special guest authors include certified genealogist, author and writing instructor Sharon DeBartolo Carmack from www.NonfictionHelp.com and author, speaker, genealogist and writing instructor Lisa Alzo from The Accidental Genealogist. Guest posts also include writer, educator, historian Biff Barnes Editor at Stories to Tell Books, author and writing coach Tami Koenig from Your Story Coach and Mariann S. Regan, author of the family memoir Into The Briar Patch blog. Lynn Palermo suggests participants should watch for future developments in coming weeks, as this list was not complete at press time.

Family historians who wish to participate in the challenge can sign up or learn more about the challenge at The Family History Writing Challenge website. The event will run from February 1st-February 28th”.

You can contact Lynn at lynn@thearmchairgenealogist.com, or go to her blog The Armchair Genealogist at www.thearmchairgenealogist.com to sign up for The Family History Writing Challenge.

Is Your Conference Listed on Conference Keepers?

Jen Baldwin of the website Ancestral Journeys of Colorado has a website that is offering to list your conference (for FREE).

I checked the International Conference site to see if there were any Canadian Conference, and there are conferences there for British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Manitoba.

To have your Conference listed, you can connect Jen by filling out a contact page at http://conferencekeeper.weebly.com/contact-us.html

Genealogical Classes at Tantramar Seniors’ College

This year, the college is offering 4 courses in this winter term, some of them for the first time.

Long Distance Genealogy Research – a Cooperative Workshop Approach - 9:30-11:30 am Thursdays with Barb Jardine in the Lafford Classroom, Sackville. First class: January 31st (4 weeks). Maximum: 15 (min. 10).

New Brunswick Irish History & Genealogy – 10:00-11:30 am Fridays with Linda Evans in Thomas Williams House, 103 Park Street, Moncton. First class: January 25th (2 weeks). Maximum: 10 (min. 4).

Now I Have Hundreds of Digital Photos – How do I Organize, Improve and Share Them? – 10:00-12:00 pm Wednesdays with Graham Hobster in NBCC Room A1133, Moncton. First class: January 30th (3 weeks). Maximum: 15 (min. 4).

Social Media Tools 101: Skype, Facebook and Google – 10:00 to 12:00 pm Thursday, February 28th with Brian Cormier & Dave Gallant in the Shediac Multipurpose Centre (one class only). Maximum: 12 (min. 6).

Information about registration on Monday, Jan. 14 from 4 to 5:15 p.m., please go to http://tantramarseniorscollege.ca

NEWS UPDATE: Webinar on Indexing for the OGS TONI Project

Just read this notice of a webinar to be held for TONI indexers  -

“A webinar on Indexing for the OGS TONI project is being held for Ottawa Branch volunteers but we welcome all other interested members to join us. This session will include a short description of the project and then a demonstration on how to index a document in order to add it to The Ontario Name Index (TONI).

The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday 22 Jan 2013 at 7:30pm and will be hosted in the Ottawa Branch Live Meeting Room.

Please do so in plenty of time to join before the webinar is scheduled to start.

Please direct any queries to: toni@ogs.on.ca

Haldimand County Branch OGS Meeting

On March 5, 2013 at 1:30 p. m. there will be a meeting of the Haldimand County Branch OGS at the Haldimand County Museum & Archives, 8 Echo Street, Cayuga, Ontario.

The title of the talk will be "Open House Dead Ends", and the speakers will be members of the branch who will help in any way for those looking up information both from the branch library & museum archives.

Please bring any information that you would like help with in tracing family members in Haldimand County. Sometimes we had dead ends, brick walls & find we are at a lost of how to continue doing research for these people & places.

Go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/haldimand to get more information

Obituary on Joan Miller’s Blog

There is a note from Kevin Miller, in honour of his mother Joan Miller, whom we noted, had passed away last week.

The post contains her obituary, and he says that he will “ continue to manage and maintain this blog for as long as I can”, which is good news to fellow genealogists.

The blog is Luxegen Genealogy and Family History, and is at http://www.luxegen.ca

Land of the Morning Calm: Canadians in Korea 1950 – 1953

The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs has declared the Year 2013 as the year in which Canadians honour the 26,000 Canadians who served in the Korean War, with more than 1,550 casualties, including 561 who dead.

The Veterans Affairs site, called the The Land of the Morning Calm – Canadians in Korea 1950-1953 says that it “presents Korean War history and archival footage, interviews with Canadian Veterans of the Korean War and a comprehensive history calendar using an interactive format in either HTML or Adobe Flash formats.

Presented in broadcast style, complete with news anchor and video footage, this feature delivers a multimedia-rich experience for Canadians of all ages, especially youth, to better know and be thankful for the sacrifices of our Canadian men and women in uniform”.

Go to www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/collections/korea

A DAY AT THE ARCHIVES

This notice from Mike More shoulf be of interest to all Ottawa area genealogists -

Want to learn more about the collections in the libraries of the Ottawa Branch, the Sir Guy Carleton Branch UELAC, the British Isles Family History Society and the corporate Archives of the City of OttaArchives of the City of Ottawawa?

Come and visit the City of Ottawa Archives at 100 Tallwood Avenue on
Saturday, February 2 between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. There will be specialists on hand:

 To explain generally how archives work

 To show you all the genealogical materials available

in the libraries housed at the Archives

 To give you tips on researching military ancestors

 To outline the best strategies for using Ancestry.com

 To provide general information on records in the United

Kingdom and Ireland

 To help you search for your Loyalist ancestors

 To illustrate how the Guild of One Name Studies can help you

 To inform you about local resources, particularly in former

Goulbourn Township

 To guide you in choosing genealogy software

 To assist you with your genealogical adventure!

So mark Saturday, February 2, 2013 on your calendar and plan to visit the City of Ottawa Archives on Tallwood between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.

More details are available at www.ogsottawa.on.ca

The Ontario Name Index (TONI) Needs Indexers

The Ontario Name Index (TONI) reached 1-million entries last fall. This is a remarkable milestone but there are many more items that could be added with a larger team of indexers preparing the materials.

A larger TONI indexing team can help us make more information available such as the following:

» Diaries and letters from the Cobourg area

» Information about visitors to a hotel in Kirkland Lake

» Road Petitions from Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Counties

» Archival information from the Ottawa Valley

» Obituaries from London- Middlesex

» Documents from Cornwall

» Newspapers from an old Toronto area village

and,  By-Laws and assessment rolls from villages in the Peterborough area

Everyone is welcome to be a TONI indexer and you can do it in the comfort of your own home. You will need your own computer, the software to read pdfs (downloaded for free), and you will need to be comfortable working with Excel.

If you’re interested in helping get this information online, contact the Provincial Office at provoffice@ogs.on.ca, and we’ll connect you with the project.

To ust TONI, go to www.ogs.on.ca/integrated/toni_database1.php

Biggest Events of the Year Coming to the St. Lawrence Area

The Event Centre of the St. Lawrence War of 1812 Bicentennial Alliance has put out a press release which tells us their plans for the year 2013 -

“While the War of 1812 Bicentennial has raged for nearly a year, the biggest events to hit the St. Lawrence are just coming up. 2013 will mark some key historic events, including the 200th anniversaries of the Raid on Ogdensburg (February 22-24), and the Battle of Crysler Farms (November 11).

Yet what makes next year a once in a lifetime opportunity for regional tourism is a month of unique historical experiences that could draw unprecedented numbers of cultural tourists.

The St. Lawrence War of 1812 Bicentennial Alliance invites all interested parties to attend a special information session at the Red George Pub in Prescott on Sunday, January 20th.

We will unveil upcoming events, our joint marketing plans and suggestions for individuals, groups and businesses alike, looking to be a part of this major tourism initiative for 2013.

The presentation is part of a regular 1812 Dinner Series, featuring fine period cooking. Join us for dinner or a drink, but be sure to reserve your space each month in advance - as there are only 30 spaces available.

Dinner begins at 5:30. The presentation will start at 7:00”.

Call +1.613.925.8800 to save your place, or go to http://celebrate1812.ca

Release of a New Version of the Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906 Database

This notice was just received by me from the LAC –

“Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906 database.

In 1906, the Canadian government called for a special census of the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, and the two newly created provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta) in order to track the high rates of population growth in Western Canada.

Previously, users could search only by geographical information such as province, district and sub-district. It is now possible to also search by nominal information such as name, given name (s) and age for an individual.

This research tool contains 802,442 records that are searchable by name”.

You can go to www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1906/Pages/1906.aspx