New/Improved Canadian Websites and Blogs Week 22

Tack My Kin: Tracking the Past in the Present for Posterity http://trackmykin.blogspot.com/ A new blog about American genealogy, it covers the Smets - Smiths, and how they came from Quebec down to Lowell, Massachusetts.

Fiddles & Folklore: Our Acadian-French Heritage http://cajuncharlie.blogspot.com/ Started in April of this year, this blog covers the families of Bourgoyne, Ferbos, Frioux or Fryoux, Landry, Marson, Roccaforte, Smith, Tullier, and others from Iberville, Quebec and the West Baton Rouge Parishes in Louisiana.

Anne Brooke's Ancestry http://www.annebrooks.ca/ The name of Noseworthty in Canada, and the Brooks and Beck families in Prince Edward Island.

Beck, Keffer, Moore & Puterbaugh families from Germany, USA, and Ontario. Also, Kratochvil Ondrejov, Bohemia; Secor/Sicard families from Quebec, Canada. www.cyndislist.com/openurl/?url=310138, http://ks-gt.blogspot.com

Calhoun-McKnight Genealogy http://calhoun-mcknight.blogspot.com/ A blog of narratives and charts concerning the names of Calhoun, McKnight, McGraw, and Bombard; ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, England, and Quebec who settled in the northeastern US, mainly New England.

Harrison Family History http://harrisonfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ History of the Harrison family of Egton, Glaisdale, and Lyth, North Yorkshire and Toronto Gore Township, Peel County, Ontario, Canada.

Hewgill Family History http://hewgillfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ A history of the Hewgill Family of Glaisedale, North Yorkshire and Toronto Gore Township, Peel County, Ontario, Canada.

The Blaney Family - Birmingham to Canada http://birminghamtocanada.blogspot.ca/ A history of the Blaney family as well as the Elcocks, Cheffins, Langley, Bellingham, Welch, Lewis and Barnes families across Canada.

The Blog of Russian Genealogist ~ The Only English Blog about Genealogy in Russia and ex-USSR http://russianmemory.org/ Semionoff Vitaly lives in Moscow, and he can provide you with first-class genealogy research if you speak English, French, German, Spanish, or Polish.

Booklets
 
I have just published two booklets - The War of 1812: Canada and the United States, and Migration: Canada and the United States.

They are available for purchase through Global Genealogy at http://globalgenealogy.com, the National Institute of Genealogical Studies at http://www.genealogicalstudies.com/, and now, in the U.S., from the Family Roots Publishing Company at http://www.familyrootspublishing.com/.

For more on the booklets, go to http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2012/01/booklet-1-war-of-1812-canada-and-united.html and http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2012/01/booklet-2-migration-canada-and-united.html

OGS "Families" – February 2012 Issue

Photo – A cover photo by Janet Iles of the Greenwood Cemetery in Owen Sound, which was once known as the “People's Cemetery”. Read more about its history in “On the Cover” on page 34 of this issue.

The Ontario Genealogical Society's journal, Families (of which I am the editor) was released in February of this year.

As usual, there were two themes to this issue – Ontario Cemeteries, and Ontario Heritage.

Cemeteries

The excerpt was from the book, A Better Place: Death and Burial in Nineteenth-Century Ontario, by Susan Smart in which Chapter 6: The Establishment of Cemeteries in Three Towns (the three towns were Peterborough, Kingston, and Niagara-on-the-Lake) was reprinted in full. Plus, a book review was written about the book on page 32.

To continue the cemetery theme, two more articles about Ontario - Rambles Around Some Halton-Peel Cemeteries by Dorothy Kew, in which she gives an excellent review (with photos) of cemeteries of Halton-Peel, and an article, Changing Gravestone Motifs in Quinte and Beyond by Peter Johnson, in which he describes the “changing motif” on gravestones through the centuries – and there are fourteen photos in the paper!

Ontario Heritage

Three papers were published in acknowledgement of Ontario Heritage Day in February, and they were - Family History of a Caribbean Canadian by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, in which he traces the life of Tom Ashby; Why and When Had Mary Ann and Joseph Whiteley Moved to Grey County by Catherine Whiteley, in which she traces the life of George Forbes; and Hunting for Hidden History: How Slavery Came to the Town of York by Hilary Dawson, in which she write an account of slavery in York Township.

One other paper, Letters Home: Upper Canada to England by Dr. Bill Mills, give a very gripping account of a homesick Christopher Stokes writing home to his family in Nottinghamshire, England.

Families is available only to members of the Ontario Genealogical Society. There are two membership packages available – a six month term for $35.00, or a full year for $60.00. Memberships are available at www.ogs.on.ca/membership.php

Full issues of Families, including an index, is also available for the years 1962 to 2006 through the “Members Only” portal at

www.ogs.on.ca/membersonly/mem_sign_in.php.

Chris Paton is Coming to Ottawa!

When Chris Paton came to Toronto last year to speaker at a full day workshop, my plans didn't allow me to attend the meeting, but I will be at the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa in Ottawa at their conference this fall because Chris will be the featured speaker!

I can hardly wait since my maiden name is BARCLAY from Cleish, Kinrossshire, Scotland, and I have been doing research on the Barclay's in the area for 20 years.

I must say a few words about the BIFHSGO conference – I believe it is the best Anglo-Celtic conference held in North America today.

I have attended every conference for the past 6 years, and I have come away from every conference with a new way to look at doing research on a particular subject, I have had delightful talks with fellow genealogists, and the size, and variety in their marketplace is outstanding!

If you are able to come to the conference, it will be held from Sept 14 to the 16 of September, 2012 at the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.

Go to http://bifhsgo.ca/

Dunnville Heritage Day

Dunville, Ontario will hold it's heritage day on Saturday, April 28, at the Dunnville Public Library. The theme of the day will be the area's railroads!

Dunville was important because not only did people travel by rail for business, and pleasure, but some of them migrated from sounthern Ontario to the United States Midwestern cities in the 19th and 29th centuries.

Special exhibits will be presented by the Hamilton and Buffalo (TH&B) Railway Historical Society, the Haldimand Museums and Archives, the No. 6 RCAF Dunnville Museum, and the Haldimand Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

For more information, email genealogydpl@yahoo.ca.

Vote for OurDigitalWorld

We have received this news from the OurDigitalWorld people -

“Recently, ODW has applied for the EMC Heritage Trust Project grant and were informed this weekend that we are finalists in the grant process!

The proposal we put forward is to develop and enhance our newspaper portal which will be a one-stop search and free access to the largest collection of online Ontario newspapers and newspaper index records.

The Heritage Trust Project will select three winners from the list of finalists through a Facebook voting campaign available here: www.facebook.com/emccorp?v=app_222471081145150

I was wondering if you could ask your readership to vote for the OurDigitalWorld proposal and support the promise of more, free, easily searchable newspaper pages and index records to improve their research.

Many thanks for your consideration”.

Jess

Pioneer History of Anderdon Township, Ontario

A new book Anderdon; Some Folks Down the Road has been published about the pioneer history of Anderdon Township 1790-1920. Samples of the book are online at www.anderdon1812.com.

The township is in the southwest corner of Ontario, generally in the Amherstburg and Windsor area.

The author Mark Warren says that “The book itself is 429 pages of adventures, disasters, heartbreak and stories of great courage and determination. Images are from many local and international archives, including the Smithsonian Institution and Library of Congress in Washington, the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, the Stark Museum in Texas, and the Archives of Ontario. These are matched by intriguing photos from family albums… over 100 of them! There are many newspaper clippings from (among others) the Essex Free Press, the Amherstburg Echo, the Windsor Evening Record and the Canadian Emigrant and Western Advertiser.

This is history, as well as genealogy. Anderdon had been a First Nations Reserve, so its gradual demise and the enfranchisement of its band members receive special treatment. The War of 1812 is covered, along with the Patriot Rebellions, and the American Civil War. Seventy-four immigrant families are traced in detail, and hundreds of surnames are mentioned in the text. The appendices contain official government documents, personal letters, accounts of land auctions, a list of homesteaders, crown patents that were issued and census information. There is a strong 32-page index”.

You can look at the surnames mentioned in the book, there are area maps available for viewing, as well as samples from the book itself.

Bay of Quinte UEL Genealogy Workshop

Brian Tackaberry UE, President of the Bay of Quinte UEL Branch, has informed us of an up-coming workshop -

“The Bay of Quinte Branch will be presenting a workshop to help people find their Loyalist Roots on Saturday April 21st, 2012 at the Adolphustown Township Hall in Adolphustown, located on old Highway #33, the Loyalist Parkway. 

We invite anyone doing research on their Quinte area ancestors to come out for help with their Loyalist links, and to bring along any other individuals who may be interested to discover their Loyalist connections.

The program begins at 10:00AM and runs throughout the day until 3:00PM.  People may feel free to come at any time throughout the day.  Those in attendance will receive several handouts, including application forms and tips for Loyalist Lineage, a list of UEL names for the Bay of Quinte area, examples of acceptable proofs and where to find them, and a certificate of participation.  There will also be tours of the UEL Museum, research library and the park including a visit to the UEL Cemetery and site of the original Loyalist Landing.

There will also be a series of short talks on researching your links during the morning by Linda Corupe, Peter and Angela Johnson, and Brian Tackaberry.  We will also have them available later to give you one-on-one assistance with your family search.  There will also be books for sale to help with your Loyalist research.

 The cost for the day is $10 which will include the handouts, coffee/tea/water and certificate.  You are asked to bring along a bag lunch for the day.  If you wish to attend the workshop, please complete the registration form and send to Angela Johnson, or email myself  btackaberry@trytel.com or Angela johnsonue@xplornet.com. To find the registration form, go to the Bay of Quinte website, www.uel.ca.

Brian Tackaberry UE, President, Bay of Quinte Branch”