Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Historica-Dominion Institute to be named Historica Canada.

A press release has been released by the Historica-Dominion Institute of Toronto, in part it says -

TORONTO, July 2, 2013 - Stephen Smith, Chairman of the Board of The Historica-Dominion Institute, announced today that effective September 3, 2013 , the organization will change its name to Historica Canada.

'The new bilingual name will clearly and concisely reflect our focus on building awareness of our history and the values of Canadian citizenship, " said Mr. Smith. "These continuing priorities have formed our mandate since our two founding organizations, The Historica Foundation of Canada and The Dominion Institute, merged in 2009, and will continue to do so."

Based in Toronto with activities across the country, the organization's programs include the making of the popular Heritage Minutes - 60-second vignettes on Canadian History; The Memory Project, which provides audio, video and live platforms for the country's war veterans to relate their experiences; Passages to Canada, which gives newcomers to Canada a similar platform; the annual Aboriginal Writing and Arts Challenge; and Encounters with Canada, which brings more than 1,000 high school students from across Canada into Ottawa each year for a week of learning about their country. The organization is also presently building new interactive enhancements to its widely-used Canadian Encyclopedia, with those features slated to be unveiled this fall.

The new name will not take formal effect until the fall in order to allow for legal and logistical steps to be completed. In the run-up to the change and beyond, the present phone numbers, e-mail addresses, website and overall contact points for the organization will remain the same.


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

British Columbia Genealogical Society Library Week

The annual BCGS Library Week will be held this year from July 15th to 21st, 2012. The Library Open House from 2-4 pm is on Sunday, July 15th. 

Library Week is a FREE event, and refreshments will be served.

From July 16 to 21st, the Library will be open each day from 10 am to 3 pm. Volunteers will be available to assist you in searching the Library collections and there are talks scheduled each day on various topics – Scottish, Irish, English. Canadian, US and Australian research, and on using Ancestry Library Edition and our BCGS website and more.

The schedule will be -

Monday: Scottish

Tuesday: Irish

Wednesday: English

Thursday: Canadian

Friday: United States

Saturday: Europe

There will also be sessions available on using Ancestry Library, the Genealogical Research Library and the American Ancestors on-line databases, and Geni.com – and this BCGS website


For more information, go to www.bcgs.ca/?page_id=1563

UPDATED: Ancestry.ca

The following record groups have been updated –

Ontario, Canada, County Marriage Registers, 1858-1869 This database is an index to approximately 3.2 million marriages recorded in Ontario, Canada between 1801 and 1928


Toronto Star Obituaries, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1999 - April 2000, February 2001This database is an index to over 2 million deaths that were registered in Ontario, Canada, between 1869 and 1938


Canadian Genealogy Index, 1600s-1900s The majority of these records are from city directories, marriage records, land records, and census records.


You should check Ancestry at least every three months to see if the records have been updated. 

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Lennoxville-Ascot Historical and Museum Society

There is an exhibit called Old But New to Us at the Lennoxville - Ascott Historical  and Museum Society.

It will range from sports equipment, clothing and artwork to toiletries and household items dating as far back as the 18th century. 

The exhibit will continue until December 15th, 2013.  Guests are invited to visit from Tuesday to Sunday between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Admission is free! 

Visit the exhibit at 9 Speid Street, Sherbrooke, Quebec

For more information, please visit our website www.uplands.ca or contact us at 819.564.0409.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

UPDATE: 1921 Canada Census Petition

I have just received word from Bill Robinson, that over 1,849 people have signed the petition to release the 1921 census.

Thanks to all of my readers for doing their part in making sure that the census is released, so that indexing can begin.

Thank you, Bill, for the update.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Town of Plympton-Wyoming, Ontario to establish a museum

The Lambton County Branch of the OGS is helping the Town of Plympton-Wyoming to establish a museum in the lower level of the Camlachie Library [former Camlachie United Church].

One way they are doing this, is publishing the fact that the people of Plympton-Wyoming are looking for information about World War I and World War II Soldiers.

The names on the Camlachie Cenotaph are -

World War I                                                       

Sam Norwood                                                      

Thomas Powell                                                    

George Richie                                                      

George Gray

World War II

Martin Anderson

Leslie Collinson

John Stewart

Editor’s Note: A George Ritchie, who claimed Mrs. Thomas Maloney of Camlachie as his next of kin, was born 16 June 1881 at Point Edward, Ontario and died 15 August 1917. His name is on the Vimy Memorial. Does this information connect with anyone’s family tree?

Are any of these people your ancestors?

If you wish to help form the local historical society and museum contact Mayor Lonny Napper at 226-307-0523 or Don Poland at 519-869-4909 or dpoland1@cogeco.ca