With Only a Suitcase

Ellen Adamsons will talk about her family’s escape from their native Latvia after World War II, their settlement in Kars, Ontario, and the process of writingYou have recently attended a genealogy program at Ottawa Public Library, and this upcoming program may also be of interest to you.

This program will appeal to anyone with an interest in the local history of Kars, Ontario and North Gower Township, or in European history after World War II. It will also be attractive to anyone who wants to hear about telling family stories or writing about family history.

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 6, 2:00 – 4:00 pm, Room 1B, Nepean Centrepointe Library Branch, Ottawa.

Please register at biblioottawalibrary.ca/program

If you want to learn more about Canadian immigrants from Latvia, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvian_Canadian

Kensington Market (Toronto) Historical Society Inaugural Public Event

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013 the Kensington Market Historical Society will be pleased to present two distinguished speakers and authors - Jean Cochrane who wrote the book Kensington (Boston Mills Press, 2000), and Rosemary Donegan who wrote Spadina Avenue (Douglas & McIntyre, 1985).

The meeting will be held at 6:00 pm, and it will be at Lillian H. Smith Library, 239 College St. (at Huron), Toronto.

Admission to this event is free, and light refreshments will be served.

If you want to find out more about this famous area of Toronto, please go to the Kensington Market Historical Society’s website at www.kmhs.ca

Film Screening of the Coffin Ship Hannah

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 at the Enoch Turner Schoolhouse,106 Trinity Street,Toronto, there will be a special screening of The Coffin Ship Hannah which recounting the extraordinary tale of an Irish coffin ship.

In 1849, while carrying Irish immigrants fleeing to Canada from Ireland’s potato famine, the Hannah struck ice off the coast of Newfoundland, and was shipwrecked.

The film was produced in 2011 by Galafilm, in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada.

The doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the film screening will be at 7 p.m. Discussion will follow the screening at 8:45 p.m.

Tickets for this special event are $10 for adults, $8 for students, seniors and Enoch Turner Schoolhouse Foundation members, and free for children 13 and under.

For more information, or to buy tickets in advance, please visit Enoch Turner Schoolhouse, call 416-327-6997 or email enochturner@heritagetrust.on.ca. Tickets will also be available at the door.

To go to the website, click on www.enochturnerschoolhouse.ca

To go to the Hannah website, click on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_(1849_shipwreck)

One More River to Cross: Tales of the Underground Railroad

The Canadian Museum of Civilization is going to present the story of Isaac Brown, a Maryland slave. Historians and masterful storytellers Shannon and Bryan Prince bring to life this remarkable true story with hauntingly beautiful songs by Denise Pelley and Tom Starks.

It will be held on Saturday, February 21 in the theatre of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and tickets are $5.00. They are available online, at the Museum Box Office, or by calling 819-776-7000

The website of the Black History month is at www.civilization.ca/event/one-more-river-to-cross-tales-of-the-underground-railroad?calendar_date=2013-02-23&cm_mid=2217850&cm_crmid={76C38DEF-186A-E211-9333-005056A35E1C}&cm_medium=email

Ottawa Genealogy 2013

On Saturday 4 May 2013, the Ottawa Genealogy Society will hold a Genealogy Day at the James Bartleman Centre (City of Ottawa Archives), 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm.

The lectures that I will be attending are -

09:00 Session 1 British Home Children in Ontario Speaker - Carolyn Goddard Room 115

11:00 Session 2 Genealogy: the ‘Facebook’ of the past: a look at Library and Archives Canada’s ‘Wall’ Speaker - Marthe Séguin-Muntz Room 115

12:00 Lunch & Browse Marketplace (Lunch available only to pre-paid ticket holders)

1:15 Session 3 Utilising FamilySearch.org Information Resources Speaker - Shirley Ann Pyefinch Room 226

3:00 Session 4 Great Revelations: Canada, Canadians and the 1921 Census Speaker - Glenn Wright Room 115 (I am really interested to hear what Genn has to say about the 1921Census. Watch for a post that I will do after the lecture)

The parking is free, and you can register online at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/ogeventregistration, or by mail at
http://ogsottawa.on.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RegFormBrochure13B-1.pdf

For more information e-mail conference@ogsottawa.on.ca

Because of the limited space available, there will only be 80 registrants spaces. So if you want to attend, the recommediation is that you register early.

See you there!

Canadian Blogger Supports Canada Census 1921 Indexing Project

M. Diane Rogers of the blog CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt! has had an idea.

Why not a series of blog prompts on the 15th of each month?

She will be “blogging either about someone who lived in a certain Canadian province or territory, or about new or interesting resources for genealogy in a particular area of Canada, or about a special Canadian topic, like the long awaited release of the 1921 Canadian census in June.

I hope to be supporting indexing of this at a Canadian site like AutomatedGenealogy.com right after Library and Archives Canada receives it”.

While she awaits for the census to be released, she has put on the blogging calendar the dates of March 11th, and the territory of the Yukon, and the second one will be the week of April 8th and the province of Alberta.

Go to the blog, click on to http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.ca/2013/02/canadian-genealogy-blogging-prompts-for.html

Heritage Property Resource at the Nova Scotia Archives

People who want to join the Canada-wide celebration of Heritage Day can explore a new heritage property resource at the Nova Scotia Archives.

For the first time, records and photos of pre-1914 built homes, churches, railway stations, bridges and other community structures are available.

A selection of the records is now available for visitors on public computers in the archives' reading room. The records include photos, descriptions of the properties and information about historical features and architecture.

The Provincial Built Heritage Inventory Project began in the late 1990s to record and document all buildings built before 1914. The Heritage Property Program records were digitized then transferred to the Archives in January.

Information about the archives' resources and programs is available at www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm

I checked the information that the archives has on the town of Shelburne and there is the paper-covered book containing list of assessments of Shelburne county and poor taxes for 1787, in semi-alphabetical order. I had never actually seen the book before, only a photocopy of it, so it was good to see the book itself as it was created in 1787.

The other communities that I have got to check when I have more time is Barrington, Tusket, Yarmorth, and Kentville.

Two other papers I noticed was the original signature of Andrew Barclay, and a postcard photo of James Barclay’s house, son of Andrew, in Shelburne, on page 9 image 4.