British Columbia Voter’s List

The voter’s lists of 1875 and 1898 were taken from the Sessional Papers of the British Columbia Government, and they were extracted by Hugh Armstrong.

Voter’s lists are known as “census substitutes”, because they can be used to locate a person in a non-census year.

British Columbia only has census in the years 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 which is a nominal list, and the 1891 Victoria City Census which is a head of household list, so the voter’s list can help in this instance.

The 1875 list has the person’s name, their residence, and profession or trade.

For example, there is Bagnalle, John from Fort St, a music seller, and his residence was VicC (Victoria City).

And the 1898 voter’s list has the same information as the 1875 voter’s list. An example is Sabald, John, 208 Yates St, Plumber, VicC (Victoris City).

There are also directories, newspapers, strays, government sources (including public schools reports, unclaimed letters), petitions, stories and pictures on this site.

You can see all these records online (FREE) at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbc/bc.htm
© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Winners Are Announced

The following are people who won the booklet The War of 1812: Canada and the United States by answering The Questionth of the Day during Veteran’s Week Nov 5th to 11th on my blog -

Nov 5th - Lisa M. Layton, U.S.

Nov 6th – Phyllis M. Vancouver, CAN

Nov 7th and Nov 8th – Brooke S. Waterloo, CAN

Nov 9th – Gail D. Montreal, CDN

Nov 10th – Jackie C. Winnipeg, CDN

Congratulate to everyone who entered, and to each of the winners.

The next contest will he held on Jan 2 2013 when my blog GenealogyCanada will be five years old! On that date, five booklets Migration: Between Canada and the United States will be given away by answering a question about my blog.

Good Luck!

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Anishinaabe First Nations in the War of 1812

Alan Ojiig Corbiere, former Executive Director of the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M’Chigeng, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, comes to Toronto to detail his research, including interviews with elders, to uncover the names and experiences of Anishinaabe combatants in the War of 1812 – often left nameless in historical records.

The date of the talk will be Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

And the location is Native Canadian Centre, 16 Spadina Road (west side, north of Bloor), Toronto.

To learn more about the Anishinaabe people , you can go to

Anishinaabe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anishinaabe The meaning of Anishnaabeg is 'First' or 'Original Peoples' or good people - those people who are on the right road/path given to them by the Creator or Gichi-Manidoo (Great Spirit).

Anishinaabe outfit collected by Andrew Foster http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/woodlands/242000.html There is a photo of the clothing that was worn about 1790 by the Anishinaabe.

New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Articles – 12 November 2012

Here are some websites, blogs and articles that I have come across this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too –

Latest news about the Library and Archives Canada The LAC is going ahead with the cancellation of the inter-librarian program next month, not in February 2013, as was reported earlier this year. Budget cuts has forced the change, and what used to be borrowed by inter-library loans (microfilm/books, for example) will now be digitized. There is no word on the indexing of the material, although.

Read about the change in the inter-library loan system at
Library and archives interlibrary loans soon eliminated: Loan requests dropped 75 per cent in last 12 years, according to library officials www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/11/06/ottawa-library-and-archives-canada-interlibrary-loans-cancelled.html

Federal government to honour workers who died building Rideau Canal
http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/11/02/federal-government-to-honour-workers-who-died-building-rideau-canal Jessica Beddaoui of the Ottawa Sun writes that the federal government will commemorate the construction workers (primarily Irish immigrants and French-Canadians), who built the Rideau Canal between 1826 and 1832 by putting a plaque beside the canal.

Your thoughts needed on Canadian History Museum: Staffers are in Vancouver for your suggestions www.news1130.com/news/local/article/420874--your-thoughts-needed-on-new-canadian-history-museum They are starting to travel across the country to hear what Canadians want to see in the Canadian History Museum (it will replace the Museum of Civilization) when it debuts in 2017.

Acadianeire's Heritage: Discovering my Cape Breton and County Down ancestors through sepia photographs, anecdotes and poetry http://acadianeire.blogspot.com Kat Mortensen has a really nice blog, showing pictures of her family, and putting comments on the website about the photos.

Conference Keeper http://conferencekeeper.weebly.com Jen Baldwin, genealogist and family historian, and owner of Ancestral Journeys in Breckenridge, Colorado, will post your conference - free of charge. Quite an interesting site!

Historic Lectures Given in PEI www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/pe/pei-ipe/activ/activ10/activ10i.aspx Prince Edward Island is celebrating 75 years of its national park, and they are having free lectures.

On November 20th, there will be a lecture by Dr. Claire Campbell, and she will talk on the subject “From Sea to Sea to Sea: National Parks and the Story of Canada” , and another lecture on the 27th which will feature Barbara MacDonald, and she will talk on “The Colorful History of Green Gables”.

For more information, visit www.upei.ca/history. For more information about this lecture series or Parks Canada on PEI, call us at 902.566.7050 or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PEInationalpark.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Remembrance Day: Who are you remembering?

Your Community Blog, found on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) website, www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity, is asking you to send in a remembrance of a person and a photo to the  blog on this Remembrance Day.

The blog asks - "Is it a grandparent who served in World War I? Or a brother or cousin who served in Afghanistan? Share your memories in three to four lines, if possible - along with a picture of the person you'll be thinking of”.

CBC Remembrance Day Program Guide - Tune to CBC for full television, radio, and online coverage of Remembrance Day services in Canada www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/11/07/f-remembrance-day-program-guide.html

Question of the Day: The series of Question of the Day for Remembrance Week has ended for this year. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to send in their answers, and I hope that you have enjoyed the posts. The list of the winners will be posted on Monday.

Please take the time to thank a veteran for his or her service, even if they are not yet familiar. You never know - they may be someone who can illuminate a part of your family history research, or they may even be one of my own relatives (both blood and in-laws) who—along with countless other Canadian military members and their families—had, or have, spread themselves across the country and overseas in their dedicated and selfless service to Canada and her allies.

Lest We Forget ...

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

"For King and Country" Project in Toronto

Gwyneth Pearce, of the Toronto Family History Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, has just sent me the following press release -

“I am writing to share some news from the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society that I hope will be of interest…

The Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has added 3,000 more names and ten more schools to its on-line database of school memorials commemorating Toronto students and staff who volunteered for active service in the two World Wars and other military conflicts.

The newest schools in the For King and Country database are Brock Avenue, Hodgson, Jesse Ketchum, King George, Lambton Park, Long Branch Continuation, Oriole Park, Plains Road, R.H. McGregor and Sackville Street. The latest additions bring the total number of names in the database to just under 30,000. But that’s not all – the database also includes transcriptions and photographs of school war memorials, as well as information about the history of the schools themselves and links to other useful school and community websites.

As we all pause to mark Remembrance Day, take a few moments to explore this growing collection at www.torontofamilyhistory.org/kingandcountry

To find out more about the For King and Country project, and how you can help, contact co-ordinator Martha Jackson at kingandcountry@torontofamilyhistory.org”

I first heard about this site at the OGS Conference in Toronto in 2010, and it was just starting, and they encouraged every one to go and take a look. You may discover your ancestor there.

War of 1812 Issue of OGS' Families

Cover page from the November 2012 issue of Families, the journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) www.ogs.on.ca

As most of you know, this year is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, which involved British, Canadian, American, Black, and Aboriginal forces, as well as both Army and Navy personnel, in both Canada and the United States.

The papers in this issue include –

• Six Degrees of Separation from the War of 1812 by Fred Blair

• QMSSgt Joseph Legare/Legary: War of 1812 Veteran by Bill Amell

• The War of 1812 and Its Influence of North Simcoe County by Gwen Patterson 

In fact, Fred Blair of the OGS has a resource on the Resources webpage of the OGS website at www.ogs.on.ca/services/1812-militia.php. Here, he talks about “Ontario Records and Resources - War of 1812 Documents”, and has published such transcriptions as the 2nd Regiment of York Militia – Payroll, and the 2nd Regiment of York Militia and 5th Regiment of Lincoln Militia - Flank Companies and Others.

You may contact him at fredblairorillia@hotmail.com

You can also check the name of your War of 1812 ancestor on The Ontario Name Index (TONI) of the OGS. It is upgraded monthly, and may reach as high as fifty million entries when it is finished. Note that this is an index – it does not contain the information; it just tells you where to find the information.

The website for TONI is www.ogs.on.ca/integrated/toni_database1.php

The Borrow/Buy button on the website may take you to a screen which gives you purchase options - to buy the whole book of cemetery transcripts through the e-Store, or to buy that particular tombstone transcription  through Pay-Per-View (PPV).  

Question of the Day: The York Regiment recruited young men of a certain age to be in the regiment. Between what ages were the recruits mustered? Send your answer to Elizabeth at genealogycanada@aol.com by midnight, Eastern Standard Time. Please put “booklet” in the title, and remember to submit your full name and postal address. A winner will be chosen by random draw from every eligible entry received.

For details on the contest and the booklet prize—a research guide on both sides of the War of 1812 entitled The War of 1812: Canada and the United States—please visit http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2012/11/one-booklet-to-be-won-every-day-during.html

Good luck with the draw, and happy researching!

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved