NEWS FLASH! Library and Archives Canada to Digitize 640,000 First World War Service Files

As part of the commemoration of the centennial of the First World War, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announced in its News section that it is undertaking the digitization of 640,000 personnel service files of the First World War’s Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) members with a view to ensuring the long-term preservation of these frail paper documents.

The first quarter, beginning with the letter A through D, will be closed as of March 2014 and will be available on-line as of Summer 2014.

At the end of the project, expected in 2015, Canadians will be able to research high-quality digital copies of the 640,000 newly digitized service files from the comfort of their own home.

To read more about the project, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/digitization-cef-service-files.aspx

Old Family Photo Workshop

On Saturday March 22, 2014, the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia will present a Photo Workshop as part of the monthly meeting to be held from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm at the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives, 6016 University Ave, Halifax.

The workshop will be lead by Jenny Milligan, MEd, Socio-Costumologist, and will cover -

• Learn to date old photo
• Place people in your family tree
• Help identify faces from your past
• Browse & study a collection of historic photo & costume reference books

Bring your old photos!

Cost: $25 ($20 for GANS Members)

Register by email to info@NovaScotiaAncestors.ca

You may email 1-2 photos with your registration.

Please note that only 20 places are available for this workshop.

The website of GANS is http://www.novascotiaancestors.ca/

Canadian Week in Review 27 January 2014

I have come across the following Canadian websites, social media websites, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too

Websites

The Eastern Townships of Quebec http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~qceastwn/ Its is almost 20 years since this site has been on the Internet. This area was a place where many Loyalists settlers, and immigrants from the British Isles settled.

Immigrants to Canada 1930-1950 $  http://www.orderincouncillists.com/205496156 This site has the surnames of immigrants online who came to Canada between 1930 and 1950, listed on the Orders in Council of the Privy Council of Canada. If you wish to receive the record, a fee will be charged.

Social Media

From Mowat and Beyond http://beyondmowat.wordpress.com/ This blogger researches in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is researching the surnames such as Allary, Basham, Ellis, Galbraith, Goodson, Holt, Johnston, Kotlarchuk, Masiowski, Moxam, Munro, Pascal, Pelletier, Reader, Ritchie, Storrar, and White.

News Articles 

Rideau Canal faces $104M maintenance and repair backlog http://www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/Rideau+Canal+faces+104M+maintenance+repair+backlog/9414058/story.html The Ottawa Citizen newspaper has calculated that Rideau Canal faces a huge amount of repairs that is not being done. This includes repairs to the canal locks, canal walls, dams, weirs, dams and so on. 

Canadian school official pushes for new history curriculum http://www.ecns.cn/2014/01-22/98125.shtml A Vancouver School Board trustee has a motion to be voted on that British Columbia change the high school curriculum to include content on the contributions and discrimination experienced by early Chinese settlers.

Exhibit brings to light Italian Canadian strife during WWII
http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=57317 'Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Times: Italian Canadian Experiences During World War II', is the title of a new touring exhibit by the Columbus Centre of Toronto.

Right now, it’s in North Bay where people can see about the time when Italian Canadians were put in internment camps during the 2nd World War. The exhibit will be open to the public from January 15th to April 18th of 2014, and there is a Video onsite. 

Acadian Museum marks 50th anniversary Sunday http://www.journalpioneer.com/News/Local/2014-01-24/article-3590011/Acadian-Museum-marks-50th-anniversary-Sunday/1 Visit the Acadian Museum and see how it evolved into what it is today – a world class museum on Prince Edward Island. This exhibit will be open until May 2014. 

Sikh museum in Canada to mark Komagata Maru centennial http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=57317 The Abbotsford’s Sikh Heritage Museum will host a special year long exhibit which will commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Komagata Maru incident, during which 352 Punjabi immigrants on a ship from India were denied entry into Canada.

Story of the Week

City of Toronto Archives

The City of Toronto Archives has a new site, and true to its word, it is better organized than the previous site.

The first thing you see when you go to the City of Toronto Archives is the Search the Archives window, and if you press on that site, you will be taken to a search box where you can enter your search term. You can find out where it is located in the archives, and then you can locate it easily when you visit the archives in the future.

You can also see what’s available at the archives for example - city directories, assessment rolls, court proceedings, fire insurance maps, and you can go online and look at their maps, view web exhibits, and photos.

You can look at This month in Toronto’s history, and Find out the history of your house, and Canada’s First Subway.

Plus, you can supplement your research at the Archives of Ontario and the Toronto family History Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society with the City of Toronto Archives.

The site is at http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=7cb4ba2ae8b1e310VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextfmt=defaultt

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 03 February 2014.

Anglo-Celtic Roots - Winter 2013

The Winter 2013 issue of Anglo-Celtic Roots continue to live up to its mandate in bringing family history to the British Isles Family History Society of Ottawa (BIFHSGO) members.

In this issue, there are articles by –

Eleanor Eagar’s Descendents by Carolyn Emblem, in which she tells us about her great-grand-Aunt Eleanor’s travels across three countries – England, Australia, and New Zealand, and her various marriages.

Little by Little from County Mayo to Fitzroy and Beyond  by Brenda Krauter, in which she writes about the Little family who came to the Ottawa Valley during the Great Potato Famine, and the brick wall that they presented to a genealogical researcher.

These Old Walls of Ireland – Recording of Memories by Philip Donnelly is a summarized version of the Don Whiteside Memorial Lecture at the BIFHSGO conference last fall, in which Donnelly give an overview of the projects that are preserving memories of Ireland’s past, and they are -

•         The Gathering Ireland 2013
•          These Old Walls – the Homes of our Great-Grandparents
•          Ireland Reaching Out (Irelandxo.com)
•          The Hercules Project in County Waterford

The Anglo-Celtic Roots also has regular columns by members John D. Reid called The Cream of the Crop, and by Betty Warburton called The Bookworm, as well as a report on the Conference of  2013.

The BIFHSGO website is at www.bifhsgo.com

Their Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/pages/British-Isles-Family-History-Society-of-Greater-Ottawa/149788348437126

The Ottawa Genealogist – Winter 2013 Edition

The most recent edition of The Ottawa Genealogist has just been released, having received my copy in the mail the other day. It is the newsletter of the Ottawa Branch of the OGS.

Of the articles, George Neville submitted a list of names in his article, Petition of Inhabitants of North Gower for Magistrates in Johnstown District No. 3, in which the men of the township are asking that a magistrate be appointed. Meanwhile, Jim Stanzell provides readers with his Early Bytown Settlers Index, in which over 450 names are listed, and all surnames start with the letter ‘M’.

Gloria F. Tubman’s Question Answered, More Questions Posed outlines the questions posed by a previous article which showed the relationship between people from Bistrol Township and North Onslow Township in the Pontiac area of Quebec.

Edward Kipp has two articles in this newsletter, and they are – Cemetery Shunpiking 2011 & 2013 and Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family Reunion 2013.

In the first article, he takes us on a tour of the gravestones of his great-grandparents in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

He provides a history of the people on the gravestones, as well as a photo of the gravestones.

And the second article, he and his wife, Elizabeth, go to Newport, Rhode Island for the latest family reunion of the Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family.

He always writes such interesting travel logs that are intertwined with family history. It keeps my interest throughout.

Plus, there’s lots of other interesting and informative stuff to read in this issue, as there is in the other issues.

This afternoon, my husband and I will be listening to the live streaming of the Branch’s regular monthly meeting – another plus for belonging to the Ontario Genealogical Society, and one of its many branches!

The website of the Ottawa Branch is http://ogsottawa.on.ca

Ancestry.ca has free access until Jan 27th

Ancestry.ca has FREE access to Canadian Vital Records (birth, marriage, death) until January 27 at http://www.ancestry.ca/cdnbmd?o_iid=58437&o_lid=58437&o_sch=Web+Property

Nova Scotia Census, Assessment and Poll Tax Records, 1770-1795, 1827

Ancestry.ca has taken the records from Nova Scotia Archives and under agreement with the archives, have put them online. 

The Non-Census Records in the Collection Nova Scotia Poll Tax Rolls, 1791–1793.
The index includes the name and location for each person. Records in this collection are from the following counties -

· Annapolis

· Antigonish

· Colchester

· Cumberland

· Guysborough

· Halifax

· Hants

· Kings

· Lunenburg

· Pictou

· Queens

· Shelburne

Tax Records

The tax records are from the Gideon White Family Papers. Gideon White was a loyalist from Massachusetts who moved to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, after the American Revolution. He served as tax collector for a time, and tax records for the years 1786–1787 are included in the collection.

The tax records provide names and addresses of Shelburne taxpayers, occupations, and county and poor taxes owed.

They can be accessed at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8809

You can also go to the Nova Scotia Archives at http://www.novascotia.ca/nsarm/virtual/census/ and read the individual narrative about each record, and go in-depth into the tax and census records for each of the areas noted above.