Promoting Canadian History through Horticulture

Doug Grant who is the editor of Loyalist Trails, the weekly newsletter of the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada, and this week he had an interesting article that showcased the use of gardening to promote Canadian history.

When the Branch was asked by District 9 of the Ontario Horticultural Association to set up a display for the 2012 Ontario Horticultural Association  Convention in Niagara on the Lake, the proposed theme was "Gardening Then & Now 1812-2012" .

Doug says ‘It was the effort of Ann Huffman, Membership Chair of the Branch, that lead to a more successful promotion of the observation of 200 years of peace between Canada and the United States. Through her initiative, the City of Welland created a War o f 1812 garden at one of the prominent sites in town. Ann's description of the process as well as a picture of the final work of horticultural design is visible here. Perhaps she will be equally lucky with her plans to observe the centennial of UELAC in 2014”

Go to www.uelac.org/PDF/Floral-Design-Welland-1812.pdf to see the wonderful display "Gardening Then and Now 1812 – 2012".

The website of the UELAC is www.uelac.org

A Toronto Trust Cemeteries Indexing Project Milestone

The Toronto Family History Society of the OGS has a blog, and the other day they posted that their partnership with Salt Lake City has yielded yet another milestone concering the index of Toronto Trust Cemeteries.

The following will be online at FamilySearch.org

» York General Burying Ground (Potter’s Field) 1826 to 1855

» Toronto Necropolis 1877 to 1935 (1850 to 1877 were already available)

» Mount Pleasant Cemetery 1876 to 1903

The recent records includes plot owners, next of kin names, full addresses, and all have been indexed.

They are asking for more indexers. There are more records in progress: Mount Pleasant Cemetery 1904 to 1935, and Prospect Cemetery 1890 to 1935.

They would welcome your help. Please contact Jane MacNamara at fsi@torontofamilyhistory.org if you would like to participate. Their blog is at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/projects

Spirit Walk to be Held in Puslinch

Betty Andersen has sent me the following notice -

“Celebrate the 175th anniversary of Duff's Church with a SPIRIT WALK to be held Monday September 17 at 7 pm

Come with us to visit the resting places of five of Duff's Church's first members - early pioneers in Puslinch Township, Ontario. Hear the stories of their lives as presented by some of their descendants -

Kerr

Meldrum

McCaig

McLean

McRobbie

Meet at Crown Cemetery REAR entrance which is off Nicholas Beaver Road (at Tim Horton's on Brock Road, Aberfoyle).

The SPIRIT WALK is sponsored by Puslinch Historical Society http://puslinchhistorical.ca

GenWeb Monday Sept 3 2012

I came across these website, and newspaper articles over the past week, and I thought you might like to know about them too -

Canadian Vietnam Veterans Information Website www.canadianvietnamveterans.ca There is a Memorial Wall, News and Events page, and other Veterans organizations in Canada.

The Art of Genealogy www.theartofgenealogy.com Karin Hadden is a family historian and genealogy student at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. She has researched such areas as New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Canada, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Some items that made the newspapers this past week in Canada were -

Casey family returns to Ireland www.thechronicle-online.com/2012/08/30/casey-family-returns-to-ireland This story in The Chronicle Online and recounts that the Casey family has been reunited with their Irish counterparts by visiting their relative in Ireland this summer. (Accessed 31 August 2012)

Rob Ford's ancestor landed in Canada for being 'unruly' http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2012/07/31/20049106.html Read the story written by Don Peat, City Hall Bureau Chief of the Canadian online publication The Canoe.  He has done a story on Ancestry.ca's finding in their records that Rob Ford’s grandfather was sent to Canada as a child for being ‘unruly’. Looks like his grandfather was a Hone Child. (accessed 31 August 2012)

Fitz-Geralds visit their roots www.thecoaster.ca/News/2012-08-20/article-3056239/Fitz-Geralds-visit-their-roots/1 Read how three descendants of Dr. Conrad Fitz-Gerald were in the St. Jacques, Newfoundland area during the 2012 Come Home Year to research their family history in the The Coaster newspaper. (accessed 31 August 2012)

“Tracing Your Family Tree” Course

Interested in tracing your family tree?

The Alberta Genealogical Society Edmonton Branch will offer a course on Saturdays in the fall of 2012, and they will be -

October 13: Orientation to gathering, recording and organizing information.

October 27: Sources for genealogical research

November 3: Searching Government Records, using libraries, archives

and internet resources for genealogy research.

The sessions will run from 10 am to 3 pm with a half hour lunch break. Bring your own lunch; coffee, tea & juice provided.

The cost will be Members $75 Non-members $90 for the package of 3 workshops.

The classes will be held our facility in Nexus Business Park, #162, 14315 - 118 Avenue, Edmonton. Parking available.

To dowload a registration form, please go to www.abgensoc.ca/events.html

A New Article in the Canadian History Magazine

Paul Jones, a Toronto genealogical researcher and volunteer, has written the article Roots: Genealogy can be child’s play in the August issue of Canadian History Magazine.

The article is devoted to things that you can use to make it cool for kids to become involved with family history.

For example, you can use age appropriate activities such as looking through and discussing grandmother’s photo albums and heirlooms.

He explores other ideas, and this article should be read by people at genealogical societies because he has some interesting ideas. Any society could use these idea in their quest of getting younger people involved in family history.

To read the complete article, go to http://canadashistory.ca/Magazine/Online-Extension/Articles/Roots--Genealogy-can-be-child%E2%80%99s-play.aspx

Legacy Family Tree Webinars

On Wednesday afternoon, I had the pleasure of listening to a Webinar given by Judy G. Russell CG called “Building a Family from Circumstantial Evidence” put on by Legacy Family Tree.

The Webinar (which lasted almost 2 wonderful hours!) concentrated on using indirect evidence to construct a family tree.

She used a case study to show how finding all records and citing the sources of evidence, analyzing all the data, and resolving conflicts as they arise was the way to solve the particular problem she had – how to construct a family tree with a group of dates from a family Bible.

Obviously, Webinars are becoming more popular now with 1,700 people worldwide checking in to view this Webinar. And these Webinars are FREE! (for a certain amount of time after after their initial date of viewing).

It looks like I will be reserving Wednesday afternoons now so that I can take in future Webinars.

Next Wednesday, they will have Lisa Alzo (familiar to OGS people because she has talked here at different conferences), and she will talk on September 5th. The topic will be “Beyond the Arrival Date: Extracting More from Passenger Lists”.

To see which one you will want to listen to, go to www.legacyfamilytree.com/webinars.asp