RootsTech 2013

RootsTech 2013 is almost upon us, and I am getting ready to live stream the 13 talks that the speakers will give at this year conference.

FamilySearch has a blog today in which Paul M. Nauta, marketing manager for FamilySearch says  “RootsTech has something for everyone, whether an avid genealogist or someone just getting started and interested in telling and sharing personal and family stories or simply to discover the latest technologies and solutions to better connect the family,” said Paul M. Nauta, marketing manager for FamilySearch, the Church’s organization providing service to family history enthusiasts worldwide regardless of religious persuasion”.

Among the Canadian blogger that will be there, are –

John D. Reid

Anglo Celtic Connections www.anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com

Deborah Large Fox

Help! The Faerie Folk Hid My Ancestors! http://irishfamilyresearch.blogspot.com

M. Diane Rogers

CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane’s Your Aunt

www.canadagenealogy.blogspot.ca

Lorine McGinnis Schulze

The Olive Tree Genealogy

http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.ca

Attendance is expected to exceed last year’s event, which attracted more than 4,000 registrants and was seen by more than 50,000 viewers of live streaming sessions. They expect 5,000+ to attend this year’s conference!

To see the website, go to www.rootstech.org

Connections Winter/Spring 2013

 

The Quebec Family History Society has recently released its Volume 35 Number 2 issue of Connections.

In this issue, there are a number of pieces that are of interest, for example, the article entitled The Mintram Family: Barnardo’s and The Titanic Connection which tells the story of how William Mintram, a Titanic survivor,  killed his wife,  and three of their children wound up in Canada after having been taken in by Barnardo’s Home in London.

The interesting point about this article is the description that Walter (William’s son-in-law) gave of the sinking of the Titanic. I had never read such an account before.

In the article Streetcars Named Tragedies, Sandra Belliveau writes about two people in her family who were impacted by streetcars in Montreal – a stranger whom her grandmother Ethel Saunders helped, and subsequently received a commendation, and her paternal great-grandfather, William Stuart, who was killed on August 11, 1911.

In the last article entitled Victoria Bridge and the Irish of Montreal, Dawn Miller Quellette gives the linkage between the building of the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River, and the famous Black Stone Monument to the Irish immigrants was dedicated in 1859.

This journal is also a welcome sight when it arrives because of all of the information it contains. There is an additional article on the British Home Children, looking for obituaries, and a What Was News to Your Ancestors.

If you want to be kept current on the news of interest to the QFHS, read the Bulletin Board at www.qfhs.ca/cpage.php?pt=53

If you wish to know more about QFHS, you can go to www.qfhs.ca

UPDATE: Ancestry is FREE

In addition to searching for your Irish ancestors as posted in yesterday’s blog, you can now do it for FREE until midnight March 17, 2013.

Whether they began in Ireland or Italy, you can explore your roots with FREE ACCESS to select immigration collections — including some just-added records.

Fascinating immigration stories are here for you to discover. Start now

Go to www.ancestry.com/cs/us/passengerlists

Go to their Facebook page where they have a recipe for Irish stew at http:www.facebook.com/Ancestry.ca

Ancestry.ca UPDATE: Discover your Irish Ancestors

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and now is a good time to go to Ancestry.ca and discover what records they have for Irish immigrants to Canada.

They even have an excellent video for you to watch, and it gives good tips on how to find your Irish immigrants to Canada. It is very good.

So have fun as you look through the records to find Irish people who came to Canada.

The video is at www.ancestry.ca/cs/ca/canadianirish

Ancestry.ca UPDATE: Canada, City and Area Directories, 1819-1906

As of 12 March, 2013, Ancestry.ca has 8,299,563 people in their database of Canadian directories.

TherThere are directories for Kentville, Nova Scotia, and Henry B. Webster is listed there as a barrister in 1867, in the Hutchinson’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1866-1867, and in 1869 in the  McAlpine’s Nova Scotia Directory, 1868-1869.

Henry B. Webster was the son of Henry Webster of Kentville, Nova Scotia, and Edwardiana Barclay, Shelburne, Nova Scotia, who was the only daughter of James Barclay and Catherine Bingay, the brother to my g-g-g-g-grandfather George Barclay.

So go to www.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=3789, put in the name of yout ancestor, and see what come up – you may be surprised.

BCGS Publication The Offspring

The e-newsletter of the British Columbia Genealogical Society The Offspring is back in production again, and it is full of news. 

The BCGS Offspring was previously published on-line from 2006 to 2008. 

The most recent issue is at www.bcgs.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/The-Offspring-final_4.1_Spring_20131.pdf

The BCGS Website is at www.bcgs.ca

Celebrating Our Irish Roots Day

On Wednesday, March 20, 2013, there will be a meeting of the Quebec Family History Society from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire (Montreal), and you are asked to come and celebrate your Irish roots.

Join QFHS members Sharon Callaghan and Kelley O'Rourke for coffee, tea, and informal conversation to talk about Ireland and our ancestors who came from there.

Sharon is a lecturer and author of the book, Paths of Opportunity, a portrayal of the Irish Montreal experience of one family who arrived in Quebec in the 1840s at the start of The Famine. Kelley was a member of a small group of dedicated volunteers who played a significant role in restoring the St. Columban Cemetery, a predominantly Irish cemetery in the Lower Laurentians.

Come browse the books from our Irish collection. If you are new to genealogy, talk to our members about how to start researching your family history.

Bring a coffee mug, a friend, your own favourite books and resources on Ireland that have helped you in your research, or just bring yourself.

Everyone is Irish on Irish Roots Day, so join us.

Open to our members and the public. Admission is free.  Visit  www.qfhs.ca/events.php