Ancestry.ca Digitizes Records from the Lest We Forget Workshops

Today, Ancestry.ca released a press release saying that they have taken the records from the Lest We Forget Workshops of the Library and Archives website, and have put them online.

This program was run through the Library and Archives for a number of years through their Education Centre, but it was closed this year (March 30, 2010), because of lack of funds.

In part, the press release says, "The collections, Selected Service Records of Soldiers, 1914-1918 and Selected Service Records of War Dead, 1939-1945, are fully-searchable by the soldier's name, birth and death date, and keyword, and provide unprecedented information about soldiers' lives during their time serving in the military."

Individual soldiers' records in the collections contain up to three dozen forms detailing their enlistment, training, medical and dental history, hospitalization, discipline, pay, and discharge or notification of death, painting a rich picture of their lives and often tragic experiences.

Selected Service Records of Soldiers, 1914-1918 contains a sampling of approximately 100 individuals who served in the First World War. Amongst these documents is personal correspondence from the few surviving complete service files which have been recently released by LAC.

Selected Service Records of War Dead, 1939-1945 includes the enlistment records, medical and dental charts, evaluation reports, medal and promotion entitlements, letters (personal, military and recommendations), wills, and inventory of personal effects of approximately 100 soldiers from the Second World War Service Files.

These new records add to what is already the largest online collection of Canadian military records found anywhere in the world, one that includes the Soldiers of the First World War, a collection of attestation papers for nearly 600,000 Canadian soldiers who fought in the 'War to End All Wars'.

Ancestry.ca genealogist Lesley Anderson comments: "There are so many Canadians with ancestors who fought in the two world wars - many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice - and so it is important that new generations continue to learn about their stories through workshops such as Lest We Forget".

Ontario Chapter, APG Presents Elizabeth Shown Mills

On Saturday April 2nd, 2011, I will be in Toronto to see one of the eminent genealogists of our time - Elizabeth Shown Mills!

The Ontario Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Canadiana Department, North York Central Library (Toronto Public Library) are pleased to present this opportunity to hear one of the foremost genealogical educators of our day. We promise a full day of stimulation for your personal or professional genealogical pursuits.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FAGS, FNGS, FUGA, has been a leader in genealogical education for a quarter of a century, pushing the cutting edge of research methodology, standards, and quality, serving as president of both the Board for Certification of Genealogists and the American Society of Genealogists, as well as an officer or trustee of other major organizations. During her 16 years as editor of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Elizabeth made the journal into the leading forum for the teaching of research methods and principles. For even longer, her Advanced Methodology Track at the Samford University Institute of Genealogy & Historical Research has been a rite of passage for serious family historians.

Among Elizabeth's countless publications are the award-winning Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian and Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians. They are considered "absolute essentials" for both personal and professional genealogists. Her latest book, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, earned Library Journal's Best Reference 2007 designation. She has also created a number of convenient QuickSheets as research aids.

The schedule has been posted at www.ocapg.org/shown_mills.html

Saturday, April 2, 2011
Advanced Genealogical Skills: A Seminar with Elizabeth Shown Mills

Program:
8:30 Doors open
9:00 Welcome
9:15 Genealogical Problem Solving: Professional Techniques for Everyday Success
11:00 Sources & Citations Simplified: From Memorabilia to Digital Data to DNA
12:15 Lunch break
1:30 Finding Females: Wives, Mothers, Daughters, Sisters & Paramours!
3:15 Dissecting Your Research Problem and Planning a Solution
4:30 Concluding Question & Answer Session

Place:
Auditorium, North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto

Information:
Refreshments will be available; lunch is not included.

Lunch: Brown bag it, North York Centre food court, or restaurants on Yonge Street.

For accommodation, Novotel North York is part of the North York Centre (416-733-2929, www.novotel.com).

Books of interest will be available for purchase on the day of the event. See the registration site for titles and pre-ordering, when registration begins. Our speaker will be available during the afternoon break for book signing.

ONLINE REGISTRATION BEGINS HERE ON JANUARY 15, 2011
Cost: $45 public admission; $20 OCAPG members.
Space is limited.

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Launch of LAC "Medals, Honours and Awards" Database

Victory Medal, First World War
Courtesy: LAC

Ottawa, December 9, 2010 — Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the launch of a new online database, "Medals, Honours and Awards".

Through this online database, researchers can access more than 113,000 references to medal registers, citation cards, and records of various military awards. In addition to archival references, this research tool includes digitized images of some medal registers.

The database is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/medals/index-e.html

I checked the database and found a Barclay Webster, s/o Henry Bentley Webster and Ina Mary Barclay (my gggg aunt) who joined the 2nd Canadian Queen's Regiment.

I did not know that he was in the militia, and that he had received the Canada General Service Medal as noted below www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/medals/001099-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=u8farn7vbbhl9hqp3oa83u73m5&q1=Webster&q2=Barclay&q3=&q4=&q5=&q6=&interval=2 -

Name: WEBSTER, Barclay
Rank: Private
Regiment: 2nd Queen's Regiment Nova Scotia Militia
Medal/Honour/Award: Canada General Service Medal
Event/Time Period: Fenian Raid (1866)
Volume: 8
Page: 113
Reference / Acession Number: RG 9 IIA5
Microfilm: C-1862

There is a very brief account of him and his life on Wikipedia, as follows -

Barclay Webster - from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barclay_Webster

Barclay Webster (September 16, 1849 – ) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented King's County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1890 to 1894 as a Liberal-Conservative member.

He was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, the son of Henry Bentley Webster, a lawyer, and Mary Ina Barclay. Webster was educated at Acadia College, Dalhousie University and Harvard University. He was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 1872 and set up practice in Kentville. He married Ethel, the daughter of Leverett de Veber Chipman, in 1877. In 1890, Webster was named King's Counsel.

His son, L. Beverley Webster, died in London after fighting in the Boer War.

New Issue of OGS Families - Cont'd

To continue the overview that I started the other day of the papers in the Ontario Genealogical Society's journal, Families, there are four more papers in the November issue, and they are -

"Where Are The Records?" is an ongoing column by Gwen Patterson in which she takes often overlooked resources at the archives or library and sets them in context so that Ontario researchers can use them.

In this issue, she has a piece on "The Papers of Andrew F. Hunter (1863-1940), Simcoe County Historian" and there are newspaper clippings from The Family Herald and Weekly Star. These clippings concern Lost Persons and Deaths from 1936 to 1938.

"Unfolding Old Documents", by Dr. Fraser Dunford, the Executive Director of the Ontario Genealogical Society, goes through the work involved in taking old papers to ready them for scanning. There are photos, and the step-by-step process is described for those people who are faced with the same problem.

'The Edgars in Glengarry Country and Abroad", by James Somerville Edgar, tells the story of the searching for Charles Edgar of Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland.

"Documenting Ontario War Dead, 1918-1950", by military archivist Glenn Wright. Since November is Remembrance Month in Canada, Glenn has written a new book called Canadians at War 1914-1919: A Research Guide to World War One Service Records, which details the records in Canada.

This paper goes through the Circumstances of Death Registers (which are not online) in the Library and Archives Canada, and he tells us, in detail, how to use these records.

In the February issue, the lead article will be "How to Research Your Jamaican Ancestry from Canada", by Dorothy Kew, in honor of Heritage Day in Ontario.

It's one in a variety of other similar excellent articles written by enlightened and exciting authors.