Ontario historical vital records

The Archives of Ontario’s newest release of historical vital records is now available on microfilm in our reading room and through microfilm interloan service.

Vital Statistics are some of our most heavily used records, and are a highly valuable tool for genealogical research.

The newest release covers registrations for Ontario births from 1917, marriages from 1932 and deaths from 1942, as well as all indexes.

The website is at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/

For research help on Ontario Vital Records is at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Ontario_Vital_Records

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Aboriginal Heritage Festival

 

The Museum and Archives, in collaboration with community partners, is pleased to present the Aboriginal Heritage Festival for the fourth year at this site. The theme of this year’s festival is A Celebration of First Nations, Inuit and Metis Art and Culture.

The festival will be held May 2 at the Wellington County Museum and Archives, located at
0536 Wellington Rd 18, Fergus Ontario from 1:00 – 5:00. It is $5.00 per person or $12.50 per family.

 They say that “This celebration blends the beauty of Native Art, the sounds of the drum and the power of the indigenous voice. The full day event combines guest speakers, native educators, displays and demonstrations.

Local First Nations organizations will be on hand to share the history of the original peoples though discussions and storytelling. The event will also feature native foods for sale and an artisan marketplace’.

The presenters include -

Metis Nation of Ontario

Tribal Vision

Renee Thomas-Hill from the Ohsweken Genealogy Society

Lois Marshall

Jan Sherman

The website of the Wellington Museum and Archives is at http://www.wellington.ca/Museum/?_mid_=16514

 

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012. 

What is ‘Story Me’?

At the Kingston Frontenac Public Library in Kingston, Ontario, there is an online section that is called Story Me.

It is a programe through which the library collects images and stories (audio interviews) from Kingston-Frontenac residents. Images and recordings will be added to their local history collection to preserve memories from residents of all walks of lie. You can read these stories online.

Also under the umbrella of the Story Me project is also the WWI Postcard Project. 

Our Home Town, Home Front postcard project invites Kingston-Frontenac residents to learn about the families who lived in their communities during World War I. Everyone is welcome to participate, and to share stories and discoveries with everyone.

Some of the stories are - 

Thomas Hancock, 155 Bagot Street, was captured at the Battle of St. Julien and spent much of the war in a German prisoner-of-war camp.

Benjamin Davy and his brothers Irvin Davy both enlisted from their family home at 50 O’Kill Street, which is now part of the Queen’s University campus.

If you want to read the stories, they are at https://kfplstoryme.wordpress.com/

If you want to contact Story Me, it is at https://kfplstoryme.wordpress.com/contact-us/

The website of the Kingston Branch Genealogical Society is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/kingston/

 

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Dear Myrt’s Beginning Genealogy - Sessions 12

As I promised my blog on 06 January 2014 at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/beginning-genealogy-study-group.html, I watched Dear Myrt’s Beginning Genealogy Session 12 yesterday. I will continue to watch the rest of the study group as it proceeds.

The major topic discussed yesterday was how reliable is secondary information given by an informant at the time of death, or on a tombstone?

“Not very” was the answer, and I totally agree.

There could be many reasons why the years of age, misspelled names, the date of death etc could be incorrectly recorded on the death certificate and/or the gravestone. It can be the perfect spot for misinformation to be recoded given the circumstances of the time.

Once again, we have to be careful. We have to fully check the facts, and have more than one source to verify the date of death and burial, for instance.

Some information can be had at -

The American Cemetery Records Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Cemeteries

The American Funeral Homes Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Funeral_Homes

The Canadian Cemetery Records Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada_Cemeteries

The Canadian Obituries Wiki is found at FamilySearch at https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Canada_Obituaries

The website for Session 12 is at https://plus.google.com/communities/104382659430904043232

Session 1 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-1.html

Session 2 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-2.html

Session 3 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-3.html

Session 4 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-4.html

Session 5 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session-5.htm 

Session 6 & 7 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_5.html

Sessioin 8 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_13.html

Session 9 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_20.html

Session 10 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-session.html

Session 11 - http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/dear-myrts-beginning-genealogy-sessions_9.html

Remember to make yourself a member of Dear Myrt’s Genealogy Community before watching the YouTube Google+ Hangout on Air at https://plus.google.com/communities/104382659430904043232

Extra news items

Here are some news items which have come across the desk this week -

There will be a full-day of activities on April the 25th at the Ottawa Branch Genealogical Society of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

At 10:30, there will be Genealogy: Back To Basics! Genealogy B2B. There will be a short lecture on a genealogical topic, followed by a Question and Answer session with Ottawa Branch members. This month's topic will be Genetic Genealogy with Richard McGregor.

Then at 1:30 to 3:00 pm, the society will hold their regular monthly meeting, and the topic will be Don't Fade Away: digitization and preservation of family photographs by Kyla Ubbink.

Digitization is a great way to facilitate creative use and sharing of photographs and documents, but with so many options out there for scanners, cameras and software it is hard to know what will suit your needs.

In this workshop aimed at beginners Kyla will discuss the different kinds of equipment and software available as well as the techniques required for carrying out digitization, organizing the resulting images, and some of the creative projects you can undertake to make the most out of your memories

The website is at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

There will be a meeting of the Kent Branch Ontario Genealogical Society and it will be held on Friday May 8, 2015 at 7:00 PM at St. Andrew’s Residence, 99 Park St., Chatham. The Victorian Celebration of Death will be the topic.

Learn how our Victorian ancestors buried their death and the rituals and traditions they followed with Catherine MacKendrick, University of Windsor.

Everyone is welcome. Open and free to the public. If you are unable to join the meeting in person, please join us live online!

The website is at http://ogs.on.ca/kent/

If any of you are interested in the idea of researching a single surname, but if you would like to find out more about it, the Surname Society at http://surname-society.org/ now has a public Facebook group which is open to members and non-members alike.

The website is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/905667519498834

This is an international site, with Elizabeth Kipp from Ottawa being the editor of the newsletter The Surname Scribbler. 

One of the founder of this society, Kirsty Gray, will be the keynote speaker at this year's conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society  at http://www.ogs.on.ca/conference/

 

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Could you become an arbitrator for FamilySearch?

 FamilySearch.org is looking for qualified indexers to become arbitrators. 

All indexers who have indexed at least 4,000 records are eligible to become arbitrators. Qualifying indexers who would like to participate as arbitrators should visit https://FamilySearch.org/indexing/help to learn how to get started.

They say that the following four essential tips will ensure volunteers are ready to submit high-quality arbitrated records during the Worldwide Arbitration Event May 1-8, 2015 -

• Read the instructions. Read or re-read the field helps and project instructions for each arbitration project before beginning. 
• Record match. Record matching ensures that arbitrators use a correct and fair comparison between the information recorded by indexer A and indexer B. For instructions, watch the video: “Arbitration Training - Record Matching,” which teaches how to complete this essential step in the indexing process.
• Index. If possible, volunteers should index one or more batches from each project they plan to arbitrate during the event, then continue to index one batch for every ten they arbitrate. Indexing (and reviewing the instructions) will help arbitrators stay sharp.
• Arbitrate in native language. Accuracy is highest when volunteers work only in their native language. Unless they have received extensive training in a second language and are highly proficient in that language, or have been specifically trained to index certain types of records in a second language, volunteers should stick with projects in their native language. 

So are you ready to be an arbitrator?

If you are, visit https://FamilySearch.org/indexing/help

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

 

Call for papers

  

 

The second annual Kawartha Conference in Peterborough, Ontario will be held by the Kawartha Genealogical Branch on Saturday, October the 3rd, and they are putting out a call for papers. 

The theme of the conference will be Military Settlers and the organizers are seeking papers on all aspects of the settlement of British discharged military in Ontario.

In particular they are seeking papers on -

• the situation (economic and political) in the UK that caused military people to emigrate
• the military situation in Canada that encouraged military settlers the economic situation in Canada how the military emigration took place
• the results
• where the documentation is  

 

This will be a one-day conference with five speakers, each of one hour.

   

Please send a brief outline of your paper to kawarthaconference@ogs.on.ca by April the 30th.

 

The site of the is at http://www.ogs.on.ca/kawartha/

 

This is a conference that I am thinking of attending because the subject is so unusual, and the Kawartha Genealogical Society should be congratulated for thinking of having a conference on Military Settlers. 

 

 

Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

 

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/04/canadian-week-in-review-20-april-2015.html

 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012