Canadian Genealogy News (CGN) 26 July 2015

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

There's always something new to see at Brantford's Canadian Military Heritage Museum.

There is going to be a rare German minenwerfer, or "mine launcher" that will be the centre of the open house that will be held Sunday, 02 August 2015 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The mine launcher was one of two captured by allied forces at Vimy Ridge in the First World War.

As well as free admission to the museum, the open house will include a performance by Brantford Pipes and Drums, historical re-enactors, 1812 cannon displays and machine gun firing. 

To see what is available go to http://www.cmhmhq.ca/

On Monday August 3, 2015 at the Ottawa Locks, Rideau Canal, 1 Canal Lane, Ottawa, come and enjoy the events that will take place by the Ottawa River. The Ottawa Genealogical Society will be there.

In honour of 400 years of Francophone presence in Ontario, the celebrations will feature Voyages 400! programming highlighting the shared traditions of Francophone and Aboriginal cultures in the region.

Bytown Days wraps up August 3rd, with the 20th Annual Colonel By Day, featuring costumed characters and free interactive activities: processions, demonstrators, exhibitors & entertainment. Bytown Days is your PASTport to Ottawa’s By-gone days!

For further information, go to http://www.ottawafestivals.ca/event/bytown-days/

Ever wondered how basketball got it's start in Almont, Canada? 

It was a Canadian Dr. James Naismith who invented basketball. Born in the Ottawa valley town of Almonte, province of Canada on November 6, 1861, James Naismith was orphaned at a very young age and was raised along with his older sister Annie and younger brother Robbie by his uncle and aunt.

He eventfully moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, but you can read about his early life in Canada at the Library and Archives Canada at their blog at http://thediscoverblog.com/2015/07/24/james-naismith-his-early-formative-years-in-canada-leading-to-the-invention-of-basketball/. 

The title of the blog is James Naismith: his early formative years in Canada leading to the invention of basketball.

Are you a living descendant to these founding families of Ottawa, Canada?

City of Ottawa, Canada West. View of Parliament Hill and Chaudière_Falls. ca. 1859, by Stent and Laver 

Mike More of the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society has put this notice on the society's Facebook page - 

Bruce Deachman at the Ottawa Citizen is trying to find living descendants in the area of Ottawa’s founding families:

THOMAS AHEARN (1855-1938): Inventor, businessman, co-founder of the Ottawa Car Company, founder and president of Ottawa Electric Railway Company, brought electric streetlight to Ottawa, first chairman of the Federal District Commission. Partner with Warren Soper. 

BRADDISH BILLINGS (1783-1864): First settler in Gloucester (Billings Bridge). 

JOHN RUDOLPHUS BOOTH (1827-1925): Lumber and railway baron.

HENRY FRANKLIN BRONSON (1817-1889): Lumber baron. 

LOUIS-THEODORE BESSERER (1785-1861): Businessman, lawyer. Owned a large estate that became Sandy Hill.

CHARLES CUMMINGS (1801-1848): Businessman, founder of Vanier. Built the first Cummings Bridge, joining Ottawa with Janesville (Vanier). 

EZRA BUTLER EDDY (1827-1906): Lumber baron, politician. 

IRA HONEYWELL (1785-1852): First settler in Nepean.

WILLIAM PITTMAN LETT (1819-1892): Editor, poet and Ottawa’s first city clerk, a position he held for 36 years. Chronicled Ottawa’s development in poetry and journalism, including pamphlets on local history such as “The City of Ottawa and its Surroundings” and “The Transition of Bytown to Ottawa 1827-1877,” and poetry, such as the oft-cited “Recollections of Bytown and its Old Inhabitants.” 

THOMAS MacKAY (1792-1855): Architect, stonemason, politician. A Montrealer, he came to Ottawa to build the lower locks on the Rideau Canal, then stayed in Bytown, buying land where the Rideau and Ottawa Rivers meet and founding New Edinburgh. Built the stone house that is now the Bytown Museum. Also built Rideau Hall, where he lived, and Earnscliffe, for his daughter and son-in-law. 

JAMES MacLAREN (1818-1892): Early settler and entrepreneur in Western Quebec. Sawmills mostly. Helped found the Hull Iron Company in 1880, the North Pacific Lumber Company of British Columbia in 1889 and the Bank of Ottawa, later merged with Scotiabank, in 1894. 

FRANK HENRY PLANT (1883-1952): Ottawa mayor and businessman (carriage maker). Was heavily involved in Ottawa sports, as president of the Ottawa City Hockey League and the City Baseball League during the 1920s. Plant served as a member of the Ottawa Hydro Commission from 1936 until 1951. Plant also served as a director of the Ottawa Senators hockey team, a director of the Ottawa Nationals baseball team, vice-president of the Ottawa Amateur Athletic Association, president of the Ottawa Kennel Club and a long-time (over 20 years) director of the Central Canada Exhibition Association. The Plant Bath is named for him. 

WARREN YOUNG SOPER (1854-1924): Partner to Thomas Ahearn. His cottage is now residence to the U.S. Ambassador to Canada. 

NICHOLAS SPARKS (1794-1862): Labourer on Philemon Wright’s farm, he saved his earnings for years and eventually bought 200 acres of land where now is located the Parliament Buildings and downtown Ottawa. Also a financier and politician. 

PHILEMON WRIGHT (1760-1839): Farmer and entrepreneur, he founded Wrightsville (later known as Hull), the first permanent settlement in the area. 

He would appreciate hearing from any descendants in the world and he can be reached at bdeachman@ottawacitizen.com or 613-726-5834.

Thank you, Mike, for bringing this to our attention. 

Canadian Genealogy News (CGN) 24 July 2015

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

Family Tree Magazine (FTM) has released their Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Websites this year, and the four Canadian website are - 

Canadiana.ca at http://www.canadiana.ca/en/home

La programme de recherche en démographie historique (The Research Program in Historical Demography) at http://www.genealogy.umontreal.ca/

Library and Archives Canada at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Records at https://www.novascotiagenealogy.com/

As long as we understand that this is definitely US centered, with an small after thought to Canadian websites,  I guess the five chosen isn't that bad. But to say they are the best Canadian sites is a bit of an overstatement, I believe. 

To read the complete list, go to http://familytreemagazine.com/article/best-canadian-genealogy-websites-2015

Do you have ancestors in your family tree or did you used to live in Ottawa, Canada, then this may be a place that you should look at, because the city is decommissioned street name signs and they are available for purchase from the city. 

The City of Ottawa sells signs that have been replaced for maintenance, or removed from in order to avoid duplication of names in the wake of amalgamation, and they are available for $10 apiece.

A list of other available signs can be found on the http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/transportation-and-parking/traffic/decommissioned-street-name-signs

Artist John Horton has designed the silver coin which shows HMS Terror and HMS Erebus on the Arctic Ocean, and Nova Scotian Michael Little helped draw two  new stamps to commemorate Sir John Franklin's doomed Arctic expedition. One depicts HMS Erebus, the other shows a mapThe stamps were unveiled at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on Wednesday, alongside a new silver coin from the Royal Canadian Mint.

Franklin's crew became locked in the ice during a doomed search for the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean in 1845. All 128 crew members eventually died, though there's evidence to suggest some may have survived for several years.

Many searches throughout the 19th century attempted to find the lost ships, but the mystery of what happened to John Franklin and his men has never been solved.

HMS Erebus was discovered last summer, and you can read about it at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/franklin-expedition-ship-found-in-arctic-id-d-as-hms-erebus-1.2784268

Until tomorrow, have a nice day researching!

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

If you missed last week’s edition, it is at
http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/07/canadian-week-in-review-13-july-2015.html

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

Canadian Genealogy News (CGN) 23 July 2015

 There is so much news lately, that instead of creating individuals posts for them, I have decided to issue them in one post once a day, and it will be called Canadian Genealogy News (CGN).

The Canadian News in Review (CWR) will still be published each Monday, as it has been since April 2013.

News comes to us that The Newfoundland and Labrador government will change the Vital Statistics Act to allow transgender people to change their birth certificate and government identification to match their gender identity. 

The change comes after transgender activist Kyra Rees in St. John's took the provincial government to court, in a battle to get her birth certificate to reflect the gender she identifies with.

Changes have already been made in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. 

The Ottawa Branch will be hosting the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference 2017. 

There are tours and workshops, lectures and Marketplace, awards, a Research Room, the annual Banquet, displays and special events during the year that Canada will be celebrating its 150th birthday. 

A small committee has started to plan the event but we can always use help. Meetings are held on-line, so you can participate from anywhere in the world. If you would like to join one of the sub-committees, particularly if you have expertise in Marketing or Social Media, please contact Mike More at conference2017@ogs.on.ca. 

If you belong to another heritage or genealogical organization in Eastern Ontario, we would be pleased to have you participate with us. For more details, contact Mike at conference2017@ogs.on.ca. 

There is the last chance to see the exhibition Magna Carta – Law, Liberty and Legacy! It closes 26 July 2015. 

In celebration of the Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary, original copies of the Magna Carta and its companion document the Charter of the Forest from 1300 are featured in the exhibition Magna Carta – Law, Liberty, and Legacy at http://www.historymuseum.ca/magnacarta/ 

Don’t miss this rare chance to come face-to-face with one of the most important historical documents in the world. 

A once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity that you won’t want to miss!

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

If you missed last week’s edition, it is at
http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/07/canadian-week-in-review-13-july-2015.html

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

Canadian Genealogy News 22 July 2015

News come from Ancestry that they now have over 100 years of Canadian Yearbook Records at Ancestry.ca, which means that they digitized yearbooks 1908 to 2010.

So I went on to see if my name was there. I had attended the Shelburne Regional High School, Shelburne, Nova Scotia and Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia but the books from those institutes weren't there. So I out of luck this time, but as they add more schools and universities, I am sure that I will pop up on the radar.

They do say that is it a collection which "contains 1,355,141 Canadian middle school, junior high, high school and university records from almost 800 institutions across the nation".

Th search the collection, go to http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=60576

Global Genealogy has their annual Dog Days of Summer Sale until the end of July.

I have picked out a couple of books that I want, and I will be sure to order them.

Global Genealogy specializes in Canadian books, and you see them at Canadian genealogical conferences.

Enter the Coupon Code words Summer Sale into the 'Coupon Code' field in the shopping cart when checking out online. The shopping cart will automatically calculate your discount. The Summer sale ends on July 31 at midnight.

Their website is at http://www.globalgenealogy.com

And Salt Lake City record-setting 100,000 online volunteers are expected to participate in the second annual Worldwide Indexing Event.

Scheduled for August 7–14, the event will show how anyone with a computer and Internet connection can help you by making information from historical documents easily searchable online.

And this year they are putting International Language Emphasis in the forefront. Currently FamilySearch.org offers 20 times more searchable records in English than in all other languages combined. To balance this ratio, people with fluency in other languages, especially French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, are being sought as indexing volunteers.

Go to https://familysearch.org/indexing/ to get started.

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

If you missed last week’s edition, it is at
http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/07/canadian-week-in-review-13-july-2015.html

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

Extra news items 21 July 2015

Here are some news items which have come across my desk this morning -

Malcolm Moody of the Archives CD Books Canada tells us that they are having their Mid-Summer SALE!! It is already under way and almost all of their Canadian made digital products have been reduced by 50%!! And you can’t afford to let a sale like this run for too long, so jump on the “bandwagon” while you can. 

To see what is on sale go to their “home” page at www.ArchiveCDBooks.ca/ and select the “CANADA” choice from the left hand column. (Or go to your favorite Province if you prefer.) 

Take a minute to look at these photos of Images of National Parks in Canada on Flickr. They are beautiful! 

The national parks are protected areas established under federal legislation to preserve Canada's natural heritage for public understanding, appreciation and enjoyment. The parks are maintained for future generations and have existed in Canada for well over a century. 

Go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157654902028592

Gwyneth Pearce, Secretary of the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society is pleased to announce that the fifth annual Toronto History Lecture will take place on Wednesday 5 August 2015 at the City of Toronto Archives.

As they mark the four-year centenary of the First World War, it is fitting that the topic of the 2015 Lecture is Returned Men: Toronto’s Veterans in the Great War’s Aftermath. Historian Jonathan Scotland will examine the consequences, aftermath, and impact of the War and how Toronto’s “returned men” tried to reintegrate into civilian life. 

This event is free to attend but advance reservation is required and space is limited. For details, visit http://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/toronto-history-lecture/.

Until next time, this is what crossed my desk this morning.

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

If you missed last week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/07/canadian-week-in-review-20-july-2015_20.html

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

Canadian Week in Review 20 July 2015

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

This Week in Canadian History 

Carmen Lombardo 1903-1971, was born in London, Ontario on July 16th. Lombardo was of course a member of brother Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians. It was a dance band which was popular from the 1940s to the 1970s. 

For more information, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Lombardo 

In 1792, at Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, John Graves Simcoe 1752-1806 issued a royal proclamation dividing Upper Canada into districts and counties, and setting the allotment of representatives. 

To read about the division, go to the Archives of Ontario site at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/maps/ontario-districts.aspx 

Social Media

Family Tree Knots

New Brunswick Research Sites

A very good survey of New Brunswick research to add to your toolkit

Go to http://familytreeknots.blogspot.com/2015/07/new-brunswick-research-sites.html 

Newspaper Articles

Prince Edward Island

Bedeque museum displays senior's history collection in new exhibits

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/bedeque-museum-displays-senior-s-history-collection-in-new-exhibits-1.3151927

One man's donation of 3,000 items has filled the once empty second floor of the Bedeque Area Historical Museum.

Part of the collection donated by Howard Clark is now displayed in a number of new exhibits at the museum

New Brunswick 

Albert County group aims to grow living apple tree museum

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/albert-county-group-aims-to-grow-living-apple-tree-museum-1.3150719

Some Albert County residents want to preserve unique New Brunswick apple varieties and they are looking for help in locating apple trees 

Ontario

The man behind the scenes

http://www.niagarathisweek.com/community-story/5731037-the-man-behind-the-scenes/

The awards range from the Gemini he netted for the time-lapse video of the building of the (then-named) SkyDome in Toronto to the 12 international awards his recent War of 1812 reenactment video picked up and plenty in between.

Canadians give thumbs-down to grandiose memorials planned for Ottawa and Nova Scotia:poll

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadians-give-thumbs-down-to-grandiose-memorials-planned-for-ottawa-and-nova-scotia-poll

Fifty-eight per cent of respondents to the survey by Postmedia and research firm Mainstreet Technologies said they disapproved of plans to erect a memorial to victims of communism in Ottawa, while 50 per cent objected to a huge statue planned for Nova Scotia.

British Columbia 

Green Island Lighthouse granted heritage status by Parks Canada

http://www.thenorthernview.com/news/314723371.html

The Pacific northwest just got a little more historically symbolic.

The Green Island Lighthouse, located just south of the Alaskan border, gained heritage status by Parks Canada on July 2, along with 20 other B.C. lighthouses.

The Stories This Week

Travel Canada this summer!

Every province, city, town and village has a list of things to so in the summer in Canada.

Always looking for new places to go, I have been reading them, and here are some that you might find interesting - 

50 things to do in Canada this summer

http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/story.html?id=7e45e278-e158-4aed-b2c5-257049a5c187

Top Things To Do & See In Canada: Tourist Attractions 

http://wanderingtrader.com/canada-travel-guide/things-to-do/#sthash.WP4eiPcD.dpuf

20 Things You Must Do This Summer In Canada 

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/06/05/canada-travel-bucket-list_n_5445607.html

100 Places to Visit in Canada This Summer 

http://www.hikebiketravel.com/25203/100-places-visit-canada-summer/

And here is 50 free things you can do this summer - 

50 free things to do this summer

http://www.canadianliving.com/relationships/family_connections/50_free_things_to_do_this_summer.php

And that was the Canadian genealogy, history, and heritage news in Canada this past week!