Ancestry.ca is offering free access to its Second World War records

Ancestry.ca is offering free online access to its entire collection of global military records from November 6 to November 11, 2015. 

It includes attestation forms, medical history forms and correspondence to family members back in Canada. Digitized records detail the brave service of more than 29,000 Canadian soldiers killed in action in WWII.

It contains over 29,000 records of Canadian military personnel killed in action during the conflict. The collection, consisting of more than two million images, includes a variety of different documents for each soldier. From attestation papers, to medical history forms and even correspondence to family members back in Canada, this collection can help tell a more in-depth story of what these war heroes were like during their time in conflict.

Each service file contains an average of 52 pages of personal information.

"The most incredible part about this new collection is the sheer amount of detail revealed about these individuals. Records of promotions or tributes written by comrades help bring to light the true heroism of these soldiers during an incredibly terrifying time, and will undoubtedly instill pride among living relatives of these brave souls today,” says Kevin James, PhD, Professor, Department of History at University of Guelph. “The other benefit of this collection is that it can help shed light on what life in Canada was like during the war. From hand-written letters, to telegraphs informing Canadians at home that a family member was missing in action, these records provide fascinating insight into the life and times of the WWII era.”

The records, digitized and archived by Ancestry, were originally compiled by Library and Archives Canada as part of the Canadian school curriculum, and will be available to search for free online from November 6 to November 11, along with Ancestry’s entire collection of military records - which includes more than 4.4 million records pertaining to Canada alone.

The Ancestry.ca site is at http://www.ancestry.ca/

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Check the Canadian Week in Review (CWR) every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is 

at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/11/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-02-november.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been published on a continuous basis every Monday since April 2012!

Naturalization Records 1915 1951 updated at Library and Archives Canada

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the online database – Naturalization Records 1915 to 1951.

The nominal index has been extended with the addition of more than 68,000 names and now covers the years from 1915 to 1944, inclusively. Work is ongoing to extend the nominal index to 1951, and volunteers are welcome to help. Those interested should write to Cdn-Nat-Coord@jgs-montreal.org.

This database is one of the few Canadian genealogical resources specifically designed to benefit researchers having roots other than British. The reference numbers indicated in the database can be used to request copies of the original naturalization records, which are held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Library and Archives Canada would like to thank the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal and its volunteers, without whom this project would not have happened.

The database is at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/citizenship-naturalization-records/naturalized-records-1915-1951/Pages/introduction.aspx

The website of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal is http://jgs-montreal.org/

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Check the Canadian Week in Review (CWR) every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is 

at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/11/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-02-november.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been published on a continuous basis every Monday since April 2012!

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) opens to the public today

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) was created to preserve the memory of Canada’s Residential School system and legacy - not just for a few years, but forever.

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) at the University of Manitoba will be home to millions of records, including statements from survivors, photos, videos and government documents and records that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has collected.

Most of these records are digital, and the physical centre has a ceremonial space, reading room, computers to access the material, a meeting room, library and physical items of the collection, such as artifacts from residential schools.

The Internet access is at http://umanitoba.ca/nctr/

For the history of the Residentail Schools, go to http://umanitoba.ca/centres/nctr/overview.html

===========================================================================

Check the Canadian Week in Review (CWR) every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is 

at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/11/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-02-november.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been published on a continuous basis every Monday since April 2012!

Bring the long-form census back in time for 2016!

In 2010, the long-form census was done away with, and we went with a volunteer form. Now that the governmemt has changed during the last election (October 19th), a call has come from the people to reinstste the long-form census, and once again to make it mandatory.

But from what the experts say, it must be done right away, so a petition has been put on at https://evidencefordemocracy.ca/en/save-the-census, and you may sign it if you wish. Although I have found through other campaigns that we have had over the years, that a letter to your minister can be a more effective way to go.

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Check the Canadian Week in Review (CWR) every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is 

at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/11/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-02-november.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been published on a continuous basis every Monday since April 2012!

Waterloo Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will be an e-presence only



As has been reported by bloggers over the past day, the Waterloo Region Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is going to re-invent itself as "an e-presence only, with a new website and the creation of a Facebook group. The new website will have a members only section and an e-store. Queries will be handled via this on-line presence”. 

 

The press release that was issued as part of the OGS e-Newsletter on Saturday, said that “Since this Branch is modeled on that of our on-line based Special Interest Groups, the fee, as decided by the Branch, is a bargain of $4 for the first year due to the website being "under construction" as members and the TSIC Committee of OGS work to place items, prior to January 1st, 2016, in the members only section related to research in the County of Waterloo. The same as with other OGS Branch members only sections on websites, the "stocking" of the section will be ongoing. There will be no newsletter, no physical Branch meetings and no postal mailing address”.

 

The OGS says that that this is a “pilot project authorized by the Board in order to explore alternatives when the volunteer base for a Branch becomes too small to provide all of the services that have been provided in the past”. 

 

So is this the way for the future of the OGS as members disappear? The membership has been decreasing for years, and something had to give, so to speak, and this looks like it may be a solution. What do you think? And this news comes a day after the 2016 re-membership drive starts. It will be interesting time ahead, I think. 

 

As of this morning, the Waterloo Branch still has a website at http://www.waterlooogs.ca/ with limited information. They still have cemetery CDs at for sale at http://www.waterlooogs.ca/cemeteries.htm, and the following family CDs - Bauman/Bowman Family, Bechtel, Bergey, Biehn, Bricker, Eby, Erb, Groh, Hallman, Hoffman, Lichty, Martin, Snyder, Shantz, Wanner and Weber are available for $20 each. 

 

Happy Researching!!

===========================================================================

Check the Canadian Week in Review (CWR) every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed last week’s edition, it is 

at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/11/canadian-week-in-review-cwr-02-november.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been published on a continuous basis every Monday since April 2012!