Kensington Market Through the Lens of the Ontario Jewish Archives

Dara Solomon, Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives, will present the stories found in the collections of the Ontario Jewish Archives about the families, merchants, and community members who made this neighbourhood home during the 1920s-1940s.

She will also discuss how the OJA has shaped these narratives through their 40-year old walking tour of the neighbourhood and their soon-to-be-launched mobile interactive mapping feature on the new OJA website.

The meeting will take place on October 30th at the Lillian H. Smith Branch, Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, Toronto.

To visit the Kensington Market site, go to http://www.kmhs.ca/

To visit the Ontario Jewish Archives, go to http://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/

The Ontario Jewish Archives is celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year.

Kitchener Public Library Genealogy Fair

On November 2, 2013, there will be the 3rd Genealogy Fair at the Kitchener Public Library in Kitchener, Ontario.

It starts at 9:30 AM, and the fair will be for beginners and experts alike. There will be workshops, speak with experts and more than 25 exhibits and vendors.

Some of the speakers are –

Genealogy in a Community Cookbook
with Carolyn Blackstock, Historian & Blogger

Genealogy and the Law in Canada
with Professor Margaret Ann Wilkinson, University of Western Ontario

Introduction to Genetic Genealogy
with Sue Fenn, Family History Alive

Finding Your Ancestors in Germany
with Noel Elliot, The Genealogical Research Library

There are many more speakers, and if you want more information , go to http://kpl.org/ref/gsr.html

Friends of the Tecumseh Monuments

The expansion of the site of the Tecumseh Monument is southwesters Ontario has launched a Buy a Brick Program to renovate and expand the existing site.

You can read the plans for expansion at http://www.tecumsehmonument.ca/

Individuals or companies can purchase bricks for $30. Each brick can be inscribed with a message of up to 25 characters

Ancestry.com LLC acquires Find a Grave

On the last day of September, Ancestry.com made the following announcement -

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 30, 2013 -- Ancestry.com LLC announced today it has acquired Find A Grave, Inc., the leading online cemetery database.

With over 100 million memorials and 75 million photos, Find A Grave has amassed an unparalleled collection of burial information. Over the past 18 years, it has grown to become an invaluable resource for genealogists, history buffs and cemetery preservationists. Find A Grave will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ancestry.com, and will continue to be managed by its founder, Jim Tipton.

"Find A Grave is an amazing phenomenon supported by a passionate and engaged community of volunteers around the world," said Tim Sullivan, CEO of Ancestry.com. "We at Ancestry.com are so excited...honored really...to take on the responsibility of supporting this community. We will maintain Find A Grave as a free website, will retain its existing policies and mode of operation, and look forward to working with Jim Tipton and the entire Find A Grave team to accelerate the development of tools designed to make it even easier for the Find A Grave community to fulfill its original mission to capture every tombstone on Earth."

Ancestry.com plans to bolster the resources dedicated to Find A Grave to launch a new mobile app, improve customer support, introduce an enhanced edit system for submitting updates to memorials, foreign-language support, and other site improvements.

"Ancestry.com has been a long-time supporter of Find A Grave. They have been linking and driving traffic to the site for several years," said Jim Tipton, founder of Find A Grave. "Burial information is a wonderful source for people researching their family history and I look forward to working with Ancestry.com to help continue our growth and accelerate the pace of improvements."

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Canadian Week in Review 30 September 2013

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

Websites

No new websites this week.

Blogs

No new blogs this week

Facebook, Videos, You Tube

Upper Canada Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/JaniceCNickerson Janice, a Canadian genealogist, has joined Facebook, and one of the first questions she asks is – “Working on my next talk - about heir tracing and finding living people. I'm collecting a list of the best online sources for Canadian obit and gravestone indexes. Would my genealogist friends care to recommend their favourites?”

Canadian Conservation Institute https://www.facebook.com/cci.conservation?ref=hl They are a year old and have had 1,242 “likes”. They ask - What do you like about our page? What kind of posts do you want to see?

Newspapers Articles of the Week

Fire on historic Lunenburg waterfront now out http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fire-on-historic-lunenburg-waterfront-now-out-1.1871643 A fire in Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Place, on Friday night, destroyed the historic Scotia Trawler Equipment Ltd. Building. The Bluenose II schooner, currently undergoing sea trials out of Lunenburg, was not involved in the fire.

15 P.E.I. lighthouses receive heritage designation http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/15-p-e-i-lighthouses-receive-heritage-designation-1.1868056 The following 15 lighthouses across the Island receive heritage designation
Leards Front Range Lighthouse, Victoria
Cape Egmont Lighthouse, Cape Egmont
Blockhouse Lighthouse, Rocky Point
Cape Bear Lighthouse, Beach Point
East Point Lighthouse, East Point
Indian Head Lighthouse, Lower Bedeque
New London Range Lighthouse, Park Corner
North Cape Lighthouse, Seacow Pond
North Rustico Lighthouse, North Rustico
Panmure Head Lighthouse, Panmure Island
Point Prim Lighthouse, Point Prim
Seacow Head Lighthouse, Fernwood
Wood Islands Lighthouse, Wood Islands
Souris Historic Lighthouse, Souris
West Point Lighthouse, West Point

Mi’kmaq History Month launching website for 20th anniversary http://www.thevanguard.ca/Living/2013-09-25/article-3406293/-Mi%26rsquo%3Bkmaq-History-Month-launching-website-for-20th-anniversary-/1 October is recognized as the 20th anniversary of Mi’kmaq History Month in Nova Scotia. To commemorate this milestone, a website has been created “to promote awareness, share information, and highlight culturally-related events taking place during Mi’kmaq History Month”.

To go to the website, click www.mikmaqhistorymonth.com. It’s a very nice website, and has lots of information.

Story of the Week

Franco-Ontarian Resource at the Archives of Ontario

September 25th is now Franco-Ontarian Day in Ontario. This date marks the anniversary of the Franco-Ontarian flag’s unveiling in 1975, and it is the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé's journeys to what is now Ontario.

There are various family files held at the Archives, including

• Jacques Duperon Baby family fonds 1759-1866, 1946
This family was involved in the fur trade, and public service. “Francois Baby, brother of Jacques Duperon, and his descendants played an important role in Quebec's politics and economy during the late 18th and 19th centuries”
• Max LeMarchant deGodart du Planty collection [194-]-1979
“Collection consists of research notes, genealogies and correspondence on the du Planty family, the Godart family and their branches, as assembled by Max LeMarchant de Godart du Planty. Families mentioned include Dongan (Dungan), Van Buskirk and a large number of other French (continental) families.”
• Jean Baptiste Rousseau family fonds 1774-1953
“Jean Baptiste Rousseau (1758-1812) was an early merchant and mill owner in Ancaster, York and Kingston, Ontario, who died while serving in the War of 1812”.

There are many other topics that you can check, and it should be one of the places that you research if you are doing Franco-Ontarian research.

The website is http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/franco-ontarian.aspx

Reminder: Check out Canadian Week in Review every Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 07 October, 2013

MacDonald family history

Here is some news from Ron Zinck, who posts to the NSRoots mailing list quite often -

“I spent part of my Friday the Archives of Ontario working my way through
the collection of Rev. Ewen MacDonald. He worked for decades on Scottish
history and the McDonald family history. I have a number of scans that may
be of interest to researchers and I suspect I will have allot more after
every visit. This batch includes letters and a few charts that discusses
Antigonish, Cape Breton, and different septs in Scotland.

I hope that some of the MacDonald researchers will be able to help decipher, interpret and place these scans in context."

I uploaded them onto Google drive at this link
https://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/

The Niagara Peninsula OGS Branch announces new publication

The Niagara Peninsula OGS Branch is starting to take orders of their new book - More Than A Mere Matter Of Marching on October the 1st.

This will be a limited-edition book to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

The press release says that “When Thomas Jefferson made his infamous prediction that "the acquisition of Canada this year... will be a mere matter of marching," he underestimated the courage and determination of the men and women of Upper Canada, including their First Nations allies.

Our book, More Than A Mere Matter of Marching contains the fascinating stories of over 60 families whose experiences during the War of 1812 may never have been in print before. The book is 323 pages, contains both colour and black-and-white images, and an index of over 1700 names.

PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE (available Oct. 1 - Oct. 31, 2013): $25.00 shipping and handling
PUBLICATION PRICE: $30.00 shipping and handling”.

For further information, please visit the Niagara Peninsula OGS Branch website: http://www.ogs.on.ca/niagara/. Just click on to the button which says War of 1812.

Gene-O-Rama returns to Ottawa

After a year’s absence, the Ottawa Branch of the OGS, will be having a Gene-O-Rama 2014 at the Confederation Education Centre, 1645 Woodroffe Av., Ottawa.

It will be held on the 21 and the 22 March, 2014, and the featured speaker will be Toronto genealogist Jane E. MacNamara.

So mark your calendar.

For more information, go http://ogsottawa/geneorama/

Sudbury District (OGS) Branch Meeting

On Monday, October 21, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. there will be a meeting at the Parkside Ctr, 140 Durham Street in Sudbury of the Sudbury District (OGS) Branch.

The topic will be The Shouldering of Arms by Gary Peck. He will discuss what led to the First World War, with the intent to help better appreciate ancestors in the context of the times.

For more info, go to http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onogs/ogs.htm

Ancestry.ca UPDATE: Historical records of passengers travelling the St. Lawrence from 1819 to 1838

I just received word this morning about a new database, and this one will interest people if they have ancestor's who immigrated to Canada 1819 to 1838.

TORONTO (Sept. 26, 2013) – Ancestry.ca, Canada’s largest family history website, announced today the launch of almost 200,000 passenger records dating from 1819 to 1836, documenting passengers travelling between Quebec City and Montreal on the ships of the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company.

The St. Lawrence River is one of the world's great waterways and has played a vital role in the history of Canada, serving as the main route into the continent for French explorers in the 17th century. Throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th, the river carried hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Canada in search of a new life in a new land. For this reason, the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company passenger lists are significant source of information for genealogists and family historians.

“The passenger lists can offer Canadians rich information about their ancestors but also help paint a picture of the changing face of Canada through one of our most significant bodies of water,” says Lesley Anderson, a genealogist and Content Manager for Ancestry.ca. “The St. Lawrence River is an important part of our history, and we are proud we can offer the only known surviving historical records of the ships that operated on the river in the 1800s. This collection is truly a national treasure.”

The history of the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company is an important part of Canada’s history. Following the successful launch of his brewing company in the 1780s, John Molson and his sons expanded into the shipping industry by creating the St. Lawrence Steamboat Company. The vessels transported passengers and freight along the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City.

Travellers during this time, who were mostly English speaking, often used the vibrant thoroughfare as a stepping stone to make their way into the United States. One method of entering the U.S. from Canada was to take a steamer from Quebec City to Montreal and proceed south by sleigh, foot or horse and buggy.

In this new collection of historical records, users can find the name of a passenger departure city and the amount paid for a ticket. Members can also see whether a passenger travelled in steerage or cabin, travel dates and if they travelled with family. The collection will help provide users with context for when their ancestors arrived in Canada or the U.S. This new collection supplements Ancestry.ca’s vast database of millions of historical passenger and immigration records, which also includes:

· Canadian Passenger Lists and Ocean Arrivals – These collections consist of all records of immigration to Canada by ship or overland between 1865 and 1935, a period of 70 years that saw the largest influx of immigration into Canada ever, from all parts of the world.

· Pre-Confederation Passenger Lists – These lists contain correspondence and dispatches regarding emigration from the British Isles from 1758 to 1851. The collection also includes letters from many people requesting information and assistance to immigrate to Canada. It showcases the waves of immigration to Canada in the century before Canada became a nation.

. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists – These collections relate to immigration for the U.S. and Canada prior to the 1820s. Housing more than four million records of individuals who arrived on U.S. and Canadian ports from the 1500s through the 1900s.

To check out the new St. Lawrence Steamboat Company records please visit http:www. ancestry.ca.

1911 Census Updated

Ancestry.ca has updated the 1911 Census database.

There are now over 7-million names on the database.

This database is an every name index, and it covers the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, and two territories - the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories.

Go to the website at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8947

The New Acadia Project

Warren Perrin, of the Acadian Museum in Louisiana, says that “The New Acadia Project is an archaeological/historical initiative that aims to locate the original mid-eighteenth-century settlements of the first group of Acadian exiles in the Louisiana territory.

Their descendants today comprise over 500,000 Cajuns in Louisiana and throughout the world.

The New Acadia Project seeks to locate artifacts which will help establish the locations of these Acadian settlements, evidenced to be near the Teche Ridge/Teche River, as early as 1765.”

Their goal is to raise $100,000 by private donation. If you would like a detailed summary of the project, you can go to www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~mar4160/nap.html

Canadian Week in Review 23 September 2013

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

Websites

No new websites this week.

Blogs

Family Tree Knots http://familytreeknots.blogspot.ca Ken, a cousin of mine (related through the Chipman – Webster family of Kentville, Nova Scotia) has a new blog in which he tackles brick walls in his family tree.

Facebook, Videos, You Tube

No new sites this week

Newspapers Articles of the Week

Lac-Mégantic library to get Maine donations after explosion Farmington Public Library raises funds to help rebuild destroyed library in Quebec town http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/lac-m%C3%A9gantic-library-to-get-maine-donations-after-explosion-1.1363080 Libraries across Maine have been busy collecting donations to help the people in Lac-Mégantic, Que. rebuild their library which was totally destroyed in the train derailment and explosion in June.

Plaque honours Angus MacLean - war hero, politician, farmer and family man http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2013-09-15/article-3390983/Plaque-honours-Angus-MacLean---war-hero,-politician,-farmer-and-family-man/1 The late Angus MacLean, a member of parliament and then as premier of Prince Edward Island was honoured with a plaque placed at the Lord Selkirk Park by the The Clan Maclean Heritage Heritage Trust, Clan Maclean Atlantic Canada, the Caledonian Club of P.E.I and the Belfast Historical Society.

Windsor Historical Society’s Veterans’ Memories Project http://www.examiner.com/article/windsor-historical-society-s-veterans-memories-project Corinne Frontiero writes a piece about Matthew Pritchard, a young historian involved with the Windsor Historical Society’s Veterans Memories Projects

Story of the Week

Some very sad news for Ottawa as news slowly came out that two of the six people in the train – bus accident Thursday had indirect ties to the genealogy community in Ottawa.

Robb More, the son of vice-president Mike More of the Ontario Genealogical Society, and former chair of the Ottawa Genealogical Branch, and Karen Krzyzewski, an employee at Library and Archives Canada both passed away in the accident.

Our prayers are with the families at this time.

All flags in Ottawa are at half mast this week, and if you wish to learn more about this symbol of the county’s grief, you can go to http://www.pch.gc.ca/eng/1311704914994/1311705010488


Reminder: Check out Canadian Week in Review every Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 30 September, 2013

Strengthening Ontario’s Heritage Network

The Ontario History Society, which was established in 1888, now has a series of FREE Webinars about Ontario’s history.

They say that “These webinars are the first in a new series of online training sessions held by The Ontario Historical Society, and as such, we would like to offer a complimentary registration to OHS members and friends!

Please spread the word to colleagues and friends”

The next webinar is Professional Development for Teachers Using Ontario's New History and Social Studies Curriculum and it will be on Tuesday September 24th

To read more about the Webinars, go to http://www.ontariohistoricalsociety.ca

Kent County Branch Meeting

On Friday, October 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the St. Andrews Residence, 99 Park St., Chatham, ON, the Kent County Branch of the OGS will hold their monthly meeting at which Reg Johnston will speak on 150 YEARS! THE CHATHAM GRANITE CLUB.

Mr. Johnston with share the history and the people involved with building the curling club.
Contact http://ogs.on.ca/kent

If you can’t make it to the meeting, there is a short history of the Chatham Granite Club on their website at http://chathamgraniteclub.com/club

Grande Prairie and District Branch - Fall Workshop

The Grande Prairie and District Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society is offering a workshop this weekend to help you find your ancestors in Canada. The workshop is offered in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

The workshop will take place on Friday and Saturday (Sept 20 and 21st), at the Family History Centre at 11212-102 Street and Grande Prairie Public Library at 9839-103 Avenue in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

Quebec Family History Society President Gary Schroder, and John Althouse will headline the weekend with discussion on searching census records, birth, marriage and death records, and passenger lists. More than 60 people have already registered for the event, and they welcome all walk-ins.

There is no cost associated with the event, but a lunch will be available on Sept. 21, for a pre-ordered price of $15.

Sign-up begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, to save your seat call 780-766-2920 or 780-538-9464.

For more information and a complete schedule, visit http://gp.abgensoc.ca

Many volunteers make blog postings

If you are a society having problems keeping up with blog postings, then a number of societies have a solution for you!

Why don’t you do what the Alberta Family History Society and the Ottawa Genealogical Society have done – designate a number of people to write blog posts, instead of just one person doing all of the work? Spread the responsibility around to a number of potential bloggers in the society.

Here are the websites of the two blogs -

The Alberta Family History Society blog at http://afhs.ab.ca/blog

The Ottawa Genealogical Society blog at http://ogsottawa.blogspot.com

Region One Annual Meeting

The Region One Annual Meeting of the Ontario Genealogical Society hosted by Lambton County Branch OGS will be held on October 19th, 2013 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the John Knox Christian School at 4738 Confederation Road, Wyoming, Ontario.

The title of the one-day conference will be On and Off the Internet Strategies for Effective Genealogical Research.

Steve Fulton, Technical Support and Innovations Committee Chair, OGS/Chair, Niagara Peninsula Branch OGS will talk on Searching the Past with the help of the .com

Alan Campbell, Newsletter Editor and Past Chair, Lambton County Branch OGS will talk about Going Totally Off-line-Almost/On-Site Researching in Libraries and Archives

Heather Lavallee, Archivist -Lambton County Archives, Wyoming, Ontario will talk about Finding the Secrets of the Archives

Advance Registration [Includes Lunch] OGS Members $30.00 CDN Non Members $35.00 CDN Registration at the Door $35.00

Register on-line at http://www.lambton.ogs.on.ca/Bulletinboard.html