Global Genealogy Bookstore has put out their Holiday newsletter full of new products for you to check out.

To subscribe to their FREE newsletter, go to http://globalgenealogy.us6.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=559c438b50304777bf726446b&id=1b3ab7d22a

Kingston Penitentiary: Home to Canada’s most notorious criminals

The four men are Albert McKeowan, James McDonald, Philip Benoit, and George Marles. These photos were taken in 1915.  Credit: Library and Archives Canada, RG73-C-6 

The Library and Archives Canada has just released the ledgers from the Kingston Penitentiary for you to research if your ancestor spent time there when it opened in 1835.   

Located in Portsmouth, now part of Kingston, this institution was designated for the incarceration of prisoners from both Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

Kingston Pen, as it is commonly known, closed its doors on September 30, 2013.

These ledgers, which have been digitized and can be viewed on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website at http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4292048

You will have to know the name of the person you are looking for in this instant.    

The ledgers provide photographs (mug shots) of inmates and information such as name; alias; age; place of birth; physical description; occupation; crime committed; and date, place and length of sentence.

Special Holiday Season Membership Gift

The Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa are offering a special Holiday Season Membership Gift to you.

If you sign up for a standard membership, you will receive an extended Membership Level Membership, and your membership will be extended by one extra month. If you purchase a Plus Level Membership, your membership will be extended by two extra months.

Put in the promotional code AC138 in the printed copy of the sign-up form, and bring it to the box office, or you can call the box office at 819.776.7100.

To see the levels of membership, you can go to http://www.civilization.ca/about-us/get-involved/membership-program

Get savings from Ancestry.ca

Have you ever subscribed to Ancestry.ca monthly newsletter? If you haven’t subscribed yet, maybe you should consider doing so now, because they are offering savings on products for the month of December.

If you subscribe to the December Holiday Issue: 'Tis the season! you can get exclusive savings on Family Tree Maker 2014, Blurb and more!

Sign up for the newsletter at http://home.ancestry.ca/myancestry/SubscribeNews

OGS Conference - Hank Jones Jr interview

Steve Fulton, the Chair of the 2014 Ontario Genealogical Society Conference that will be held. May 1 to May 4, 2014 at Brock University in the Niagara region of Ontario, has posted an interview he had had with the keynote speaker – Hank Jones Jr.

His speech which is entitled How "Psychic Roots" became an "Unsolved Mystery" will be presented on Saturday evening at conference banquet.

The interview is about 8 minutes long, and is interesting to listen to at http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2014/hank_jones_interview.mp3

Two things which struck me was that he said “Genealogists are story tellers”, and “Document everything”. Family history is a series of family stories and we must document everything we write - that should be our mantra as genealogists.

You can go to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NiagaraPeninsulaBranchOgsConference2014, and their website http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2014/index.php.

Postscript: Conferences are held every year in Ontario, and as a member of the OGS you are entitled to special discounts for the conference. December is membership month at the OGS. For the yearly rate of $61.20, you can join the provincial society.

Canadian Week in Review 02 December 2013

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

Websites

Souvenir of Toronto: Announcing the Robert MacIntosh Collection on the History of Toronto http://library.ryerson.ca/asc/2013/11/souvenir-of-toronto-announcing-the-robert-macintosh-historical-toronto-collection/ Ryerson Polytechnic University Archives has just acquired the personal collection of 141 books of long time Toronto resident, Robert M. MacIntosh.

They rang from the date 1807 to 1988 and the topics include  “historical accounts, biographies of notable Torontonians (including John Toronto himself, Bishop Strachan), tourist keepsakes through the years, maps, centennial publications, and TTC brochures”.

FamilySearch Wiki - Category:Charts and Forms FamilySearch has forms of the following -

1851 Canada Census https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/5/51/Canadian_Census_Form_1851.pdf

1861 Canada Census

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/f/fe/Canadian_Census_Form_1861.pdf

1871 Canada Census

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/d/da/Canadian_Census_Form_1871.pdf

1881 Canada Census

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/a/a8/Canadian_Census_Form_1891.pdf

1891 Canada Census

https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/images/d/d0/Canadian_Census_Form_1901.pdf

Social Media

Membership Renewal

http://saskgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/membership-renewal_23.html Membership fees will be increasing for all membership renewals in 2014

News Articles

Oil-industry money won’t influence exhibits, museum of civilization  CEO vows http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Canadian+Museum+Civilization+gets+sponsorship+deal+from+Canadian+Association+Petroleum/9210141/story.html Because of this investment, the Museum of History will be able to mount a special exhibit called 1867 which will show how  the new country called the Dominion of Canada evolved from the colonies of British North America. The exhibit will be on from November 2014 to September 2015, and then it will tour the country.

Record $15-million donation to Calgary Stampede Foundation http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Stampede+Foundation+create+heritage+centre+with+record+donation/9214611/story.html A new western heritage centre will be built with the donation by Don Taylor and it will be the future home of the Stampede Archives.

Discover the Humanity in History with New Novel http://www.choosecornwall.ca/eng/news/743/57/Discover-the-Humanity-in-History-with-New-Novel/The novel Shadows in the Tree,  tells the story of Maria Catrina Eamer who came with her children over the Adirondack Mountains as they fled to Canada to escape the American Revolution.

737 takes off from City Centre Airport, lands safely at new home http://globalnews.ca/news/999859/737-takes-off-from-city-centre-airport-lands-safely-at-new-home/The Alberta Aviation Museum will be the new home for the Boeing 737. It was with the Pacific Western Airlines, and was retired from Air Canada’s service in 2005.

Story of the Week

There are many website staring to appear celebrating Canada 150^th anniversary in 2017.

If you want background information on Canada’s 150 Birthday, you can read about it at the PARLIAMENT of CANADA site at  http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5614610&File=84

2017 starts now The CBC has started the celebrating Canada’s 150 birthday already on their website http://www.2017startsnow.ca/

Local app celebrates Canadian heritage

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/103621/Local-app-celebrates-Canadian-heritage Well a Kelowna company has developed a new app that is all about having fun and learning about our amazing country at the same time.

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next 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 09 December 2013.

November 2013 Families Part II

The Ontario Genealogy Society journal Families has issued its November issue, and here are the papers included in Part II.

The first paper More Than Dates: Lives Revealed Through Ecclesiastical Records by Ellen Paul, the 2^nd place Keffer Writing Contest winner.

In addition to the story she tells of Jean Baptiste Cotton, she demonstrates how to use the Drouin Collection when proving genealogy.

The surname keywords are Archambault, Beaudry, Cotton, DeGuay, Débussat, Dussault, Gauthier, Gauthier dit Landreville

“Up to Rawdon” Explained is a paper by Daniel B. Parkinson in which he explains how he came to write his 2-volume set of genealogies about the people from Rawdon, Quebec and their migration to such Ontario counties as Wellington, Huron, Grey, Bruce and Simcoe Counties.

The surname keywords are Burton, Bourne, Copping, Corcoran, Dugas, Eveleigh, Gray, Hamilton, Holiday, Holtby, Jefferies, Johnston, Keo, Mason, Norrish, Parkinson, Pearson, Scroggie, Rourke, Sadler, Smiley, Tiffin, Turner, Wade

“Feathers in the Family”: The Story of Magdeleine Pewadjiwonokwe by Lynne Duigou is the story of a ‘county marriage’ between Charles Denys de Laronde Thibaudiere and Magdeleine.   

The surname keywords are  Croteau, Pewadjiwonokwe, Laronde, Gaucher, piot, Langevin, Missosikwe, Tessepatikokwe, Gradmotagne, Okajagaw, MacFie, Douglas, Robinson

I Am a GOON: The Willox Search by Cathie Blackburn is the influence that the Guild of One-Name Studies has had on her study of her family name – the Willox.  

The surname keywords are Willox, Cole, Harper, Legge

  

Postscrpt:  December is the yearly membership drive by the OGS. This year the basic membership is $61.20 which is a deal for all the benefits that you can receive from the Members Only pages at http://www.ogs.on.ca/index.php                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

November 2013 Families Part I

 The Ontario Genealogy Society issued its journal Families for November, and here are the papers included in Part I this issue. Part II will continue tomorrow.   

With 2014 being the 100^th anniversary of the First World War, the papers about the people who fought in that war are starting to come into Families to be published.

The two papers are

Hart Leech: “A dog-gone good soldier … doing hid blooming job” by Catherine Whiteley tells the story of Hart Leech from Winnipeg, who, like so many others, went off to war as a young man, and like so many others died because of the war.  

But while he was fighting in the war, he earned the praise of his superiors, and when he died helping his fellow soldiers, he was given a burial in the Oville British Cemetery in France.

His mother received the Memorial Cross.

The keywords in the paper is Leech.

The ship on the front cover of Families and is the SS Olympic. It is shown in Halifax as it disembarked Canadian soldiers coming back from the First World War.

Blacks in the Great War by Jerry Hind is a paper which recounts the role that Blacks played in the First World War.

The men from the Chatham-Kent area who entered the 1^st Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the discrimination that they faced.

To go with the Families paper, there is a website called    

Gathering our Heroes at http://www.gatheringourheroes.ca/ at which there are bios of many of the Blacks who were in the No. 2 Construction Battalion.

The keywords are Jones, Hosey, Lucas, and Mills.   

Postscrpt:  December is the yearly membership drive by the OGS. This year the basic membership is $61.20 which is a deal for all the benefits that you can receive from the Members Only pages at http://www.ogs.on.ca/index.php

Niagara Branch of the OGS is host this year to the 2014 Conference whose theme is Genealogy Without Borders . It will be held May 1 to May 4, 2014 at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario.

They have just released who they will have as speakers and the schedule, and it is quite an impressive group, such as - 

Chris Paton, the Scottish Genealogist will conduct workshops, and will give the Houston Lecture Genealogy Without Borders-Technology on Friday evening.

Hank Jones will be the keynote speaker on Saturday evening  when he gives the talk

How "Psychic Roots" became an "Unsolved Mystery".

To see the rest of the speakers, go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2014/speakers_info/Conference%202014%20Schedule.pdf

You can also go to the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NiagaraPeninsulaBranchOgsConference2014

Like the organizers say "Genealogy Without Borders" is genealogy research that does not require a passport!

Location! Location! Location!

Have you been involved in doing Ontario research lately, and have come across a town, and you are having a hard time to find what county it is in - where it is located?

Now, you can go to the Ontario location website at http://www.ogs.on.ca/branches/ontariolocator.php.  It lists every municipality in Ontario (city, town, village, township, regional municipality) and all of the geographic townships which have belonged to a municipality.

You can find the township, and there are two types of townships –

1.     A geographic township (G Twp) is a piece of land. You need to know this to find land records and to find where people lived.

2.     An administrative township (A Twp) is a form of government, often administering several geographic townships. You need this to find local records.

And you can find out what county you are in, and the Ontario Genealogical Society Branch the municipality is in.

Snow!

We are in the middle of the first major snowstorm of the season here in Ottawa today, and the Museum of Civilization will soon open its exhibit about snow which will run from December 6, 2013 to September the 28th 2014.

The exhibit will feature some 300 articles, and more than 400 photos that Canadians have taken of snow.

To find out more about the exhibit, go to http://www.civilization.ca/event/snow/

Share a Memory Contest

Thinking that you would like to go to RootsTech 2014 but don’t know quite how to do it?

Dear Myrt, America’s “Your Friend in Genealogy”, otherwise known as Pat Richley-Erickson, has a solution.

She and her daughter are offering a Share a Memory Contest and the grand prize is a fully paid registration fee to Rootstech 2014, and two other separate prizes from Amazon.

The deadline is November 30^th , so don’t delay!

It’s all on her blog of Nov 18^th at http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/2013/11/2nd-annual-share-memory-contest.html

Canadian Immigration Records

I see where FamilySearch has added Canada Immigration Records from (1881-1930) to their holdings.

It contains records for the parts of Quebec City (1900-1921), Halifax (1881-1922), Saint John (1900-1912), North Sydney (1906-1912), Vancouver (1905-1912), and Victoria (1905-1912).

There are also records from New York City (1906-1912), and Eastern US parts from 1905 to 1912.  These are records of those names of passengers who had the intention of going directly to Canada.

To go to FamilySearch Canada Immigration Records , go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1823240?ET_CID=45833734&ET_RID=genealogycanada@aol.com

Canadian Week in Review 25 November 2013

I have come across the following Canadian websites, social media websites, 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.

Social Media

A number of Canadian provinces have been updates on the FamilySearch Wiki website -

Alberta Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Alberta

British Columbia Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/British_Columbia

Canada Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada

New Brunswick Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/New_Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador Wiki
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Newfoundland_and_Labrador

Nova Scotia Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Nova_Scotia

Ontario Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ontario

Prince Edward Island Wiki
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Prince_Edward_Island

Quebec https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Quebec

Saskatchewan Wiki https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Saskatchewan

News Articles

Dalnavert Museum's glimmer of hope: Historic site would be kept open to public http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/dalnavert-museums-glimmer-of-hope-232304961.html I did not know that Dalnavert Museum was once the home of Hugh John Macdonald, the son of Sir John A. Macdonald. He was twice elected as a Conservative MP and was briefly the minister of the interior in 1896. And the members of the board want to keep the museum open to the public.

Q & A: Heritage Minister Tony Ince on Bluenose II http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1168125-q-a-heritage-minister-tony-ince-on-bluenose-ii-restoration A staff reporter of the online Herald News asked some questions about the Bluenose II to the Nova Scotia Heritage Minister.

Bank of Canada: Add women from Canadian history to Canadian bank notes http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/bank-of-canada-add-women-from-canadian-history-to-canadian-bank-notes In 2011, the government put The Famous Five women on our 50-dollar bill, but nothing has been done since then. Why?

History comes alive in street names http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/1169063-history-comes-alive-in-street-names Liverpool, Nova Scotia is visited to see the history of two of its streets.

Story of the Week

Macdonald & Laurier Days


Macdonald & Laurier Days, the first two prime ministers of Canada, is a website brought to us by The Historica-Dominion Institute.

The ‘days’ referred to are the days of the birthdays – February 11 for Sir John A. Macdonald and November 20 for Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

It is quite a delightful site to read some of their speeches on the site, a quiz, and to see some political cartoons.

In addition to this page, you can also read about Sir Wilfrid Laurier at

Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier http://canadaonline.about.com/cs/primeminister/p/pmlaurier.htm

Sir Wilfrid Laurier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfrid_Laurier

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next 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 02 December 2013.

The Ottawa Genealogical Oct-Dec 2013

The Ottawa Branch of the OGS has released its issue of The Ottawa Genealogist, and this issue contains an article on a local settlement, and an article on a re-enactment that took place this summer at a local destination. 

In the Glen Falloch – Glengarry County, Ontario article, there is a history of the settlement, plus two maps of the Glengarry County, a family tree of Donald MacAruthur, and there is also the Ancestors of John Gould (who left the area in 1912 to farm in Alberta).

There is an article called Gleanings from Gouldbourn and Nepean Township Papers in which there are hundreds of names, and land which they owned!

And there are pictures and article of the Battle of Crysler’s Farm Re-enactment July 13^th at which Edward Kipp, the editor of The Ottawa Genealogist covered.

The next meeting of the Ottawa Branch will be held on Saturday, December 14, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. at the City of Ottawa Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa,

At their meeting they will hear Andrew Jeanes talk about Freiman’s Santa Claus Train.

And don’t forget if you are a member, you can listen to the meeting at home by listening to the simulcast.

For more information, go to http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

Postscript: December is membership month at the OGS. For the yearly rate of $61.20 plus 15.00, you can join the provincial society plus the Ottawa Branch.        

York Region Ancestors Newsletter

The York Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) has just issued its November newsletter, and in this issue they have an article A View of Markham Township in 1799 in which Surveyor Augustus Jones lists the people in the township and the land they held.

There is also an article on the Early Lutheran Deaths in the Twp of Markham (1834 – 1841), and Confirmations in the Lutheran Church 1834 and 1836.

There is the family tree of John Stiver and Mary Ann Shutz, and a list of
Tavern Licenses Granted from 1855 to 1860, and a list of innkeepers for Whitchurch Township from 1803 to 1841.

Please be reminded that they have all the back issues of Ancestors from 1996 to 2006 which includes a subject index for sale, in addition to over 150 cemetery transcripts on their publications page at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onyrbogs/pub_001.htm

You can visit their webpage at www.rootsweb.com/onyrbogs

Postscript: December is the yearly membership drive by the OGS. This year the basic membership is $61.20 which is a deal for all the benefits that you can receive from the Members Only pages at http://www.ogs.on.ca/index.php

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