AGM and Genealogy Fair in Brockville

Brockville, Ontario — on the shore of the lovely St. Lawrence River — was the city where the AGM of Region VIII of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) and Genealogy Fair was held Saturday, 25 April at St. Lawrence College. It was hosted by the Leeds and Grenville Branch of the OGS <www.leedsandgrenvillegenealogy.com>.

The first presentation was by Kees Van Den Heuval and he gave a talk on the options available to genealogists for digitizing and restoring photographs entitled, "A Primer on Digitizing and Restoring Photographs for Genealogists".

He went into quite a bit of detail on how to restore photographs, which was of interest to us, for I have a number of photos that have to be restored. My husband and I were madly taking notes, and afterwards, members asked quite a few questions as everybody seemed quite interested in how to restore old photos.

Patti Mordasewicz, Chair of the Leeds and Grenville Branch of the OGS, thanks Kees Van Den Heuval for his presentation at the Genealogy Fair.

Credit: J.M. Lapointe, CD

After lunch, we listened to Jessica Squires from the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) give a talk on the "Indian Affairs" RG 10 Records held at the LAC, called "Aboriginal and Natural Resources Division on Aboriginal Research". The website for these records is located at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-905.003-e.html>.

She said that among other things, they have treaty paylists, band membership paylists, and enfranchisement lists at the LAC. They also have military records, census records, vital records, and social records.

She also gave a short history of the department and the reclassification of regional offices within the department, and steps to use to overcome this challenge.

She suggested that we all consult the book by Bill Russell entitled, "Records of The Federal Department Of Indian Affairs At The National Archives Of Canada".

Patti Mordasewicz, Chair of the Leeds and Grenville Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, thanks Jessica Squires after her talk to the people at the Brockville Genealogy Fair.

Credit: J.M. Lapointe, CD

The third and final presentation was by Professor Tim Abel, who presented a very lively talk on a special archeology dig he did a couple of years ago for a large Realtor who wanted to build on the outskirts of Watertown, Jefferson County, New York — right across the river from Brockville.

The city requested that a survey be done on the land first and it was known that a farm land had been there before, but very little evidence had been found about what had happened to it.

Tim was hired to go start an archaeology dig there, and found the house had caught on fire in the late 1800s and burnt down!

He was unable to find the descendants of the Earl family but he was able to take over 6,000 objects from the area. They have been classified and put in a museum in the area.

The Realtor built its store on the property - but in front of the store there is a spot where the farm house once stood. It is undeveloped, with uncut grass growing there in the summertime.

Patti Mordasewicz, Chair of the Leeds and Grenville Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, says her "thank you's" to Tim Abel for his interesting talk at the Brockville Genealogy Fair.

Credit: J.M. Lapointe, CD

We had an enjoyable trip to Brockville and found St. Lawrence College quite easily and went in to register. There were a dozen or so vendors and groups represented in the marketplace, and they seemed to be doing a brisk business.

We had a wonderful lunch of hot soup and sandwiches served in the cafeteria. And at a table just as you entered the marketplace, there were homemade squares of every description, and coffee and tea that you could have at anytime.

It was a most wonderful day, and we had a nice trip back to town in about an hour and a half. That night, we had a most terrific storm with wind and thunder that caused trees to fall and much damage to roofs on houses and barns, in Ottawa and surrounding area. It was later classified as a tornado.

Anglo-Celtic Roots Arrives!

The spring edition of Anglo-Celtic Roots arrived the other day, and I can see by the advertisement put in the latest issue that plans for the fall conference are well underway.

This year's conference is to be held from Sept 18th to the 20th and will feature a Scottish focus this year. Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, will speak on two topics - "Scotland's Demographic History since Victorian Times" and "How to Find Your Own Scottish Ancestors".

Colleen Fitzpatrick from California is the author of Forensic Genealogy. I heard her speak at last year's OGS Conference in London, and she is fantastic.

There will be many other speakers, as well. And on Friday, there will be a special intermediate course given in genealogy, a tour of the Library and Archives of Canada, and a Family Tree Maker workshop.

This will be their 15th Annual Fall Conference, and according to President Mary Ann Sharpe, many are taking advantage of the "on-line" membership and conference registration available at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa website <www.bifhsgo.ca> - almost 40 percent!

Meanwhile, there are five articles in this issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots and they are -

"The Luck of the Scots" - an article by Carol Annett in which she writes about her husband's grandfather, John Alexander (Jack) MacKinnon, and the finding of his gravemarker besides the ruins of St. Raphael's Church.

"Doors Open and There is My Great-great-grandfather", by Irene Kellow Ip, tells the story of how she discovered the baptismal and marriage record of Patrick Mackin by telling a fellow researcher about him at an "Doors Open" event in Ottawa.

"Simplified Publishing of Military Research" by Norma O'Toole is an article about Norman Johnson of the 405 Pathfinder Squadron of Vancouver and how Norma discovered his war service.

"Don't Believe All You Read" by John Sayers is about an article read by John in the 1922 issue of the Montreal Gazette in which four children were drowned near Grosse Île.

"Secret Secretaries" by Ilana Reimer is an article about Dorothy May Helm about her grandmother who worked as a Secret Secretary for William Stephenson (the man who ran the Second World War Office, called the British Security Coordination, or BSC).

IOOF Database

The Ontario Genealogical Society <www.ogs.on.ca> has recently put the Independent Order of Oddfellow (IOOF) index online. Nearly thirteen years ago, the application papers were donated to the OGS. It represents nearly 60,000 Canadian men who obtained life insurance from this plan.

This is the third database that the Ontario Genealogical Society has made available to their "Members only" site, the two other being the Strays Database and the Church Histories of the London Roman Catholic Diocese.

Each application is four pages long and includes such genealogical information as the name of a beneficiary and the person's relationship to the applicant, the age and health of siblings and parents (although their names are rarely mentioned), and other letters and notes attached to the applicants.

The database contains the applicant's name, date of birth, and location when the application was made, and the application date and number.

I checked the database for a couple of surnames and found that you can write to the OGS if you want any of the files on the database (the 100 year rule applies for health reasons, so only papers piror to 1909 can be released) for $10.80, which includes tax. The money will go to the preservation of the project.

You can write to them at 40 Orchard View Blvd, Suite 102, Toronto, ON M4R 1B9, or send them an email at <research@ogs.on.ca>.

Saturday was a Treat!

We were in for a treat last Saturday when we attended the annual FHC Genealogy Fair at their location on Prince of Wales Drive near Dow's Lake and the Experimental Farm. The website for the Family History Center in Ottawa is <www.OttawaStakefhc.on.ca>.

The treat turned out to be a dual presentation by Ottawa genealogists Glenn Wright (BIFHSGO member) and Lesley Anderson (with Ancestry.ca) on the Canadian Census.

They made the comment that they didn't think it had been done before - and I honestly don't think it has. They have taken a rather dull subject and have turned it into something fun and interesting - and if they present it again (which I hope they will), you should not miss it.

As Glenn and Leslie pointed out, census have been taken in Canada since 1666! They went through the history of the census as it was in Canada, paying special attention to the censuses since 1871 - the first national census in Canada.

The 1871 Canadian Census is still complete at the Library and Archives Canada (it wasn't discarded after it was microfilmed), and it has many different schedules of interest (e.g. the agricultural and industrial census is attached).

They stopped and looked at the 1906 and 1916 censuses of Western Canada (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) and noticed how complete they are - they are on Ancestry.ca.

In the 1916 census, it has who was away on the First World War overseas, and people were asked the country of their birth to make sure the government was keeping track of immigration.

The 1911 Canadian Census was the last one made public before the next census of 1921 (which is due to be made public in 2013 - 92 years after it was taken) is also on Ancestry.ca. It is the year when people were asked what year they came to Canada - again, to keep track of immigration.

Leslie said that all Canadian census will be on the Internet at Ancestry.ca next month - the 10th of June.

I spent my break times answering questions on the Loyalists who came to Canada because I am descendent for them on both sides of the family, and also answered questions about the Ontario Genealogical Society because I am their newsletter editor.

Therefore, I didn't have time to go to the "cultural room" to see who was there at the table, although my husband went there, and said that BIFHSGO and the City of Ottawa Archives were there, to name a few.

It was time very well-spent, and Shirley Ann Pyefinch and her group are to be congratulated for putting together another successful fair, and for making us feel at home.

They should go "on the road" with their presentation, which they gave Saturday at the FHC Genealogy Fair in Ottawa.

Credit: Mario Lapointe, CD

Going to Brockville Tomorrow

Tomorrow, I am going down to Brockville, a city about an hour and a half away from here (Ottawa) to attend the Region VIII AGM and Genealogy Fair being hosted by Leeds and Grenville Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

The day-long meeting starts at 9:00 a.m., so we shall leave around 6:00 a.m., stop and have coffee, pick up another person and then travel along Highways 416 & 401 until we come to St. Lawrence College, where the genealogical day will be held.

There will be three speakers (Kees Van Den Heuval, Jessica Squires, and Dr. Timothy Abel) plus about 16 groups in the marketplace. I will attend the lectures and take pictures for the blog (I will tell you how it went next week) and for the OGS NewsLeaf and E-NewsLeaf.

It is suppose to be an early spring day, and the temperatures are supposed to go as high as 27 degrees Celsius, with afternoon thunderstorms thrown in for good measure - so it should be an interesting day!

The Genealogical Week in Review

I have been absent from the blog for a while because I have been busy writing articles, but here is a summary of some of the things which has happened this past week -

Ian S. Wilson Announces Retirement - Ian S. Wilson, the Chief Archivist and Librarian of the Library and Archives of Canada, is retiring April 24th.

This came somewhat as a surprise to genealogists, but he has been at the Library and Archives Canada since 1999 when he joined as National Archivist, and then became the Chief Librarian and Archivist in 2004 when the two institutions were united.

He says in his letter advising of his retirement that he will continue his work as President of the International Council of Archives.

The government will make an announcement shortly regarding his successor.

Ontario Genealogy Society's Call for Papers Conference 2010 - The Toronto Branch of the OGS will be hosting Conference 2010 and has called for papers for May 1st.

But recently, they have amended their "Call for Papers" in that the workshops they plan to hold for Italian and Dutch lecture streams will have until June 1, 2010 to submit their proposal for papers.

This extension is to allow for more complete outreach to these communities.

The deadline remains unchanged (1 May 2009) for submission of all other topics.

To read more details on Conference 2010, you should go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2010.

Discount on British Columbia Membership - The Ontario Genealogy Society (OGS) has entered an arrangement with the British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) in which you can belong to both societies with a $5.00 discount on your membership for both.

Remember, a couple of months ago a similar discount was announced with the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society's membership, and that seems to be going along quite nicely.

If you are a members of both societies or wish to be a member of both, you should phone 416.489.1734 or email <membership@ogs.on.ca>. BCGS members should phone 604.502.9119 or email <membership@bcgs.ca>.

The British Columbia Genealogist Arrives

The March 2009 issue of The British Columbia Genealogist arrived safely on my doorstep the other day.

As usual, Diane Rogers (the editor), has done a fantastic job in putting the stories together plus all the news about the BC genealogical community.

It was interesting to read the essay that won the Most Improved Contest entitled, “Nock, Nock, and Nock Again” by Brenda Smith, as well as the two follow-up essays - “David James Gill Became A Home Child in Canada in 1871” by Judy Hassall, and “The Stanborough Family” by Brenda Perfitt Jensen.

There are three cementeries covered in this issue: the Veterans Cemetery, Esquimalt; the Rock Creek Cementery at Rock Creek; and Robinson Memorial Park Cementery in Coquitlam. The pictures of the cementeries are quite nice.

This issue also contains the 2009 Price List for their publications, as well as the schedule of things going on in the chapter.