The Nova Scotia Genealogist

The Spring 2013 edition of The Nova Scotia Genealogist with the lovely photo of the painting of the West Hants Historical Society Museum in Windsor, Nova Scotia is on the cover.

An article entitled Visit to West Hants Historical Society by J. Fralic-Brown on page 19 of the edition tells you all that you want to know what the museum holds on its shelves and in filing cabinets.

The main article is The Putman Family of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia by D. Armauda. 

The author says that the complete Putman family history has never been written to his knowledge, and we just get a glimpse of his work in this article.

He has everything sourced, and a very good genealogy explained in very easy to understand terms as he traces them from England, to Massachusetts to Nova Scotia.

They have included the latest books in the Reference Department of the Spring Garden Road Memorial Library, at the GANS Office Library, and the Scotiabank Family History, Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax.

To see more about GANS, visit http://www.novascotiaancestors.ca/ and their Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaAncestors

Halifax Regional Municipality Archives

One of our readers recently sent me information about the Conversion List from the old street numbering system to the new street numbering system on the Halifax Regional Archives.  

Already the reader says that he has found it very useful and have already looked at several ancestors' houses on Google Street View using the modern address.

He continues on to say that “A lot of my family research focuses on Halifax. Whether using City directories, deed indexes, or death certificates, the civic address of my research subject is often listed and can be used for many helpful purposes. Between 1958-1965 however, the City of Halifax renumbered all civic addresses from a 2-digit to a 4-digit number, so if you're interested in locating the current site of a pre-1958 ancestor's residence you were out of luck”. 

So take a look at the site and the list.  

I had fun this afternoon looking at their Virtual Exhibit which featured photographs, maps, and anniversary events that have taken place in Halifax-Dartmouth over the years.

Thanks to Neal for sending me information on this site.

The website is at 

http://www.halifax.ca/archives/CivicAddressHistory.html

Global Genealogy Bookstore has put out their Holiday newsletter full of new products for you to check out.

To subscribe to their FREE newsletter, go to http://globalgenealogy.us6.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=559c438b50304777bf726446b&id=1b3ab7d22a

Kingston Penitentiary: Home to Canada’s most notorious criminals

The four men are Albert McKeowan, James McDonald, Philip Benoit, and George Marles. These photos were taken in 1915.  Credit: Library and Archives Canada, RG73-C-6 

The Library and Archives Canada has just released the ledgers from the Kingston Penitentiary for you to research if your ancestor spent time there when it opened in 1835.   

Located in Portsmouth, now part of Kingston, this institution was designated for the incarceration of prisoners from both Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

Kingston Pen, as it is commonly known, closed its doors on September 30, 2013.

These ledgers, which have been digitized and can be viewed on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website at http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4292048

You will have to know the name of the person you are looking for in this instant.    

The ledgers provide photographs (mug shots) of inmates and information such as name; alias; age; place of birth; physical description; occupation; crime committed; and date, place and length of sentence.

Special Holiday Season Membership Gift

The Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa are offering a special Holiday Season Membership Gift to you.

If you sign up for a standard membership, you will receive an extended Membership Level Membership, and your membership will be extended by one extra month. If you purchase a Plus Level Membership, your membership will be extended by two extra months.

Put in the promotional code AC138 in the printed copy of the sign-up form, and bring it to the box office, or you can call the box office at 819.776.7100.

To see the levels of membership, you can go to http://www.civilization.ca/about-us/get-involved/membership-program

Get savings from Ancestry.ca

Have you ever subscribed to Ancestry.ca monthly newsletter? If you haven’t subscribed yet, maybe you should consider doing so now, because they are offering savings on products for the month of December.

If you subscribe to the December Holiday Issue: 'Tis the season! you can get exclusive savings on Family Tree Maker 2014, Blurb and more!

Sign up for the newsletter at http://home.ancestry.ca/myancestry/SubscribeNews

OGS Conference - Hank Jones Jr interview

Steve Fulton, the Chair of the 2014 Ontario Genealogical Society Conference that will be held. May 1 to May 4, 2014 at Brock University in the Niagara region of Ontario, has posted an interview he had had with the keynote speaker – Hank Jones Jr.

His speech which is entitled How "Psychic Roots" became an "Unsolved Mystery" will be presented on Saturday evening at conference banquet.

The interview is about 8 minutes long, and is interesting to listen to at http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2014/hank_jones_interview.mp3

Two things which struck me was that he said “Genealogists are story tellers”, and “Document everything”. Family history is a series of family stories and we must document everything we write - that should be our mantra as genealogists.

You can go to their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/NiagaraPeninsulaBranchOgsConference2014, and their website http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference2014/index.php.

Postscript: Conferences are held every year in Ontario, and as a member of the OGS you are entitled to special discounts for the conference. December is membership month at the OGS. For the yearly rate of $61.20, you can join the provincial society.