GenealogyCanada named as one of the Top 90 Blogs

As you will see if you look to the right side of my blog, you will see that my blog has been chosen as one of THE TOP 90 GENEALOGY BLOGS of 2013 by FreePeopleSearch.org.

They say that “Fortunately, there are a great number of talented and experienced genealogists willing to share their information, advice, and expertise through their blogs. Some of these are simply records of personal family searches while others are treasure troves of research methodology, resources, technological aids, and genealogical news and events”.

My blog is number 8 in the Ethnic & Regional Orientation.

Thank you, FreePeopleSearch.org, for listing GenealogyCanada as one of blogs to follow!

To read the full article, go to http://freepeoplesearch.org/blog/the-top-90-genealogy-blogs.html

Quebec Heritage News

If you have never been to the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) website, it is worth the visit.

It was founded in 2000, and it mission states that it is “to promote a greater understanding of the history of Quebec’s English-speaking communities by informing, inspiring and connecting people through its activities”.

They have a Facebook page where they have the latest Quebec Heritage News on sale, and they have the latest news on the Hometown Heritage Essay & Heritage Photo Contests on their website at http://qahn.org 

Summer issue of QFHS Connections

The summer issue of the journal of the Quebec Family History Society called Connections have just been released, and it’s full of articles, and other newsy bits of information.

In this issue, there is an article by Mark W. Gallop entitled Downton Abbey and Its Predecessors in which Mark discusses the role that the Whiteoaks of Jalna and Downton Abbey has played in convincing him to follow the life of a genealogist.

Henry’s Story by Peter Sampson tells of how he found Henry Sampson from Quebec City who has died in a shipping accident along the coast of Portugal in 1913.

The news in this issue is that the QFHS can now announce that they have signed an agreement with FamilySearch to become an affiliate with the library. You can now order microfilm and microfiche from the LDS library in Salt Lake City, and can read them at the QFHS library.

They have the latest books that have been received at the library, genealogical software, and the latest events in their public lecture series.

To go to their website, go to http://www.qfhs.ca

Q&A: What does an archive have for me?

Tony Spears, a writer with the Ottawa Citizen, asked Dr. Ian Wilson, the former Head of the Library and Archives Canada, (he retired in 2009), and University of Toronto’s Wendy Duff - what do people want from an archives.

It seems that Wilson said it was genealogy related materials (for instance, like census, immigrant records), and Duff said local history is popular with people.

Dr. Wilson, who gave the 2012 Houston Memorial Lecture at the OGS Conference in Kingston last year, entitled In Reflections on Archivists and Genealogists, in which he took us “through his early years at Queen’s University, his career as the Provincial Archivist of Saskatchewan and Ontario, and describing his tenure as the National Archivist of Canada at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa ..." is a good read. Families Vol 52 No 1

If you would like to read the Q & A, go to  www.ottawacitizen.com/What+does+archive+have/8522832/story.html#ixzz2WBy6jLYA 

The website of the Ontario Genealogical Society is www.ogs.on.ca

Automotive Heritage Month in Nova Scotia

Did you know Nova Scotia manufactured its own car, the MacKay Touring Car, in   Kentville and later in Amherst, in 1911?

Or that the first Toyotas assembled in Canada was at Point Edward, Cape Breton?

It’s easy to see that “the automobile has had a significant impact on the Province of Nova Scotia over the last century”.

To celebrate this impact, the Provincial Government of Nova Scotia has proclaimed July as Automotive Heritage Month.

Hobby car clubs across the province will be celebrating during the month at show and shines across the area.

To see what the National Association of Automobile Clubs of Canada does, go to their website www.naacc.ca/home.html

To see a picture and short history of the McKay 7-seat touring car, go to

http://ns1758.ca/auto/automobiles.html

History of Automobiles: The Early Days in Nova Scotia: 1899-1949

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/moi/en/home/collectionresearch/automobiles/mckay.aspx

UPDATE: Census of Lower Canada (Quebec), 1825 now available online at LAC

Just received this notice from the LAC - 

"Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce that Canadians can now access the Census of Lower Canada, 1825 online. The Census of Lower Canada, 1825 is partly nominal and therefore only contains the names of heads of family, their occupation, and the number of residents for each family.

Users can search this new database by the names of heads of family, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names".

They are available in JPG, and PDF, and there are 74,322 records.

The surname, given name(s), occupation, number of residents (classed by age – not name or relationship to head of the household), district name, sub-district name, volume number, page number, microfilm, and reference are listed in the census.

To suggest a correction, click on the Suggest a Correction link to access an electronic form

To search the census, go to www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1825/Pages/1825.aspx

UPDATE: LAC Paywall??

According to a “leaked” document which suggests that there may be a “10-year plan to digitize documents” and we may have to pay to get access to them. Up until now, document that have been digitized have been free e.g. the land petitions of Upper and Lower Canada are free. Will we now have to pay a fee this fall to gain access to them? 

Read about the CBC report at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/06/11/ottawa-library-archives-canada-paywall.html