Today, the LAC has released a new research guide called "Canada At War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada's Website Recalling the Canadian War Experience".
For the first time, this guide brings together the complete compendium of resources regarding the First World War available at the LAC ranging from Exhibitions such as Aboriginal Soldiers to Research (Digital Collections/Bibliography) which feature such online databases as Court-Martials of the First Word War, the Soldiers of the First World War, and Canadian Historical Sound Recordings of the First World War Era.
The last item that is mentioned in this itemized list of resources is the "War Diaries of the First World War", and they are very interesting. <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/veterans/025001-4000-e.html>.
They are not diaries written about the individuals in the war, but diaries of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), where they were required to keep a daily account of their "Actions in the Field" <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/archivianet/020152_e.html>.
I checked the establishment of the 1st Canadian Stationary Hospital as it mobilized in Quebec City in September, 1914, and the Cyclist Division with the Canadian Reserve Cyclist Company as they set up their operations.
If you know what unit your ancestor served in during the war, these are very helpful diaries, and offer a bit of reflection into the war. I got the feeling while reading them that they understood what was at hand, and they prepared the best they could for what the four years of the war would bring to them - reward, misery, and death.
A daily blog about Canadian genealogy, heritage, and history
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Attestation Papers of Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF)
In 1996, the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) started working on the transcription of the Attestation Papers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) of the First World War. There were 600,000 Canadians who signed up for service in the war, which lasted from 1914 to 1918.
The LAC hired students from Renfrew, Ontario over the summer of 1996 to start work by scanning and processing the images. The Gatineau Preservation Centre Team worked on the project from 1997-1998, and the LAC team worked on it from 1999 to 2000.
You can find the person in the online database at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html>, and by putting the name in the search feature, and it will give you the soldier's rank, reference number, the date of birth, and the digitized copy of the Attestation Paper itself, which contains even more information.
Also, one can find chaplains and nurses online in this database.
On the other hand, I see where Ancestry.ca has issued the Attestation Papers!
They say that the papers were issued to mark Remembrance Day in Canada - but if the Attestation Papers and other information are already on the Canada Genealogy Centre's website - isn't this duplication of effort?
By the way, the "other information" which is available from the CGC is the record of service, casualty form, discharge certificate, war service gratuity, hospital cards, medical history sheet, body temperature chart, last pay certificate, dental history chart, and medical examination upon leaving the service.
You can get this information by simply filing out the form contained online at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-300.001-e.html>.
The LAC hired students from Renfrew, Ontario over the summer of 1996 to start work by scanning and processing the images. The Gatineau Preservation Centre Team worked on the project from 1997-1998, and the LAC team worked on it from 1999 to 2000.
You can find the person in the online database at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html>, and by putting the name in the search feature, and it will give you the soldier's rank, reference number, the date of birth, and the digitized copy of the Attestation Paper itself, which contains even more information.
Also, one can find chaplains and nurses online in this database.
On the other hand, I see where Ancestry.ca has issued the Attestation Papers!
They say that the papers were issued to mark Remembrance Day in Canada - but if the Attestation Papers and other information are already on the Canada Genealogy Centre's website - isn't this duplication of effort?
By the way, the "other information" which is available from the CGC is the record of service, casualty form, discharge certificate, war service gratuity, hospital cards, medical history sheet, body temperature chart, last pay certificate, dental history chart, and medical examination upon leaving the service.
You can get this information by simply filing out the form contained online at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-300.001-e.html>.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil
Last night while coming home from the hockey game between the Ottawa Senators and the Washington Capitals (which Ottawa won - yes!), we drove past the National War Memorial at the corner of Wellington and Elgin Streets, across from the famous Chateau Laurier Hotel. It was 11:41 p.m.. Although there were no people present, the names of some of the 68,000 First World War soldiers were there on the memorial itself. It was the first night of Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil <www.1914-1918.ca>.
The project is to symbolically "repatriate" the Canadian soldiers who never made it back to their homeland, and to remember them on an individual basis, rather than as a collective during Remembrance Day ceremonies. The display which will be active in the evenings until Remembrance Day on November 11th. This vigil will also be held in Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Regina, and Edmonton.
You can look up the names of the dead on the website. You will find their surname, their first name and/or initials, service number, their rank, their regiment, their date of death, and the date their names will be projected on the National War Memorial.
In my case, I never had anyone die in the First World War but I looked up the surname of BARCLAY and found 18 soldiers who had died from 1916 to 1920.
The project was thought up by R.H. Thomson, a Canadian actor, and lighting designer Martin Conboy.
The project is to symbolically "repatriate" the Canadian soldiers who never made it back to their homeland, and to remember them on an individual basis, rather than as a collective during Remembrance Day ceremonies. The display which will be active in the evenings until Remembrance Day on November 11th. This vigil will also be held in Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Regina, and Edmonton.
You can look up the names of the dead on the website. You will find their surname, their first name and/or initials, service number, their rank, their regiment, their date of death, and the date their names will be projected on the National War Memorial.
In my case, I never had anyone die in the First World War but I looked up the surname of BARCLAY and found 18 soldiers who had died from 1916 to 1920.
The project was thought up by R.H. Thomson, a Canadian actor, and lighting designer Martin Conboy.
Monday, November 3, 2008
GenealogyToday Publishes Article
GenealogyToday.com, a website that I have been writing for on a monthly basis for the past six years, continues to publish my columns on Canadian genealogy. It published my latest column, "Chinese-Canadians Immigrants Now Online", on the 10th of September at <www.genealogytoday.com/roots/xweb.mv?xc=Display&xo=rescms&xn=-1&xr=1585&xw=&t_rid=25294&xz=connect.html>.
Simply go to the "Canadian Connections" section of GenealogyToday.com to see a history of the columns that have been published by Illya D'Addezio and company.
He wrote to me over the weekend to tell me of a new website he now has now called "Live Roots".
It was launched a couple weeks ago and now contains over three million names. He says that they continue to add 5 to 10 thousand new names every week!
It is a search engine for genealogists. Illya says that "the feedback has been terrific. Live Roots also includes most of the GenealogyToday.com information, creating one place to search across thousands of databases."
He says that LiveRoots was built to provide the researcher a site that "extends beyond the typical bounds of a traditional search engine or link directory by facilitating access to offline records and publications through partnerships with amateur and professional researchers who either own copies or are geographically closer to the librarians and archives that do."
I have gone on the site to see what is available for BARCLAY, and found quite a bit of stuff - both in the non-subscription and subscription areas. So it is true to its word - the site does provide lots of information that you can't find or would take too long to find.
It says on the website that each of the results has been hand transcribed and checked to make sure they are correct - the results I have checked so far are accurate as far as I know.
You just put in the surname and you will get results in the surname area and resource area - and I found results in each area.
He asks you to email him with feedback after you have had a chance to visit LiveRoots.com. The address is <owner@gentodayllc.com>.
Simply go to the "Canadian Connections" section of GenealogyToday.com to see a history of the columns that have been published by Illya D'Addezio and company.
He wrote to me over the weekend to tell me of a new website he now has now called "Live Roots".
It was launched a couple weeks ago and now contains over three million names. He says that they continue to add 5 to 10 thousand new names every week!
It is a search engine for genealogists. Illya says that "the feedback has been terrific. Live Roots also includes most of the GenealogyToday.com information, creating one place to search across thousands of databases."
He says that LiveRoots was built to provide the researcher a site that "extends beyond the typical bounds of a traditional search engine or link directory by facilitating access to offline records and publications through partnerships with amateur and professional researchers who either own copies or are geographically closer to the librarians and archives that do."
I have gone on the site to see what is available for BARCLAY, and found quite a bit of stuff - both in the non-subscription and subscription areas. So it is true to its word - the site does provide lots of information that you can't find or would take too long to find.
It says on the website that each of the results has been hand transcribed and checked to make sure they are correct - the results I have checked so far are accurate as far as I know.
You just put in the surname and you will get results in the surname area and resource area - and I found results in each area.
He asks you to email him with feedback after you have had a chance to visit LiveRoots.com. The address is <owner@gentodayllc.com>.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
The first question out of Brian Gilchrist——the Reference Archivist of The Region of Peel Archives who was at the Library and Archives Canada yesterday to give the second annual Ryan Taylor Memorial Lecture——was the question, "How savvy a researcher do you think you are?"
And this was just the first of many questions he asked during his lecture, the purpose which was to spur everybody on to evaluate their research - what is the quality of your research?
Do you, as you are supposed to, always work from the known to the unknown? Do you always ask the correct question of fellow genealogists, librarians, and archivists?
Do you think about how many levels there may be to your question? Is there a difference between what you need to know and want to know? And when do you need to know it?
I was reminded of a question that I have had since I started my own genealogy in 1994. That is why my g-g-g-g-grandfather Andrew BARCLAY had listed as his occupation - a bookbinder, and not as a farmer as was his father's business?
He was not the first son, so he did not get the land owned by the Barclay's in Kinrossshire, Scotland ... so was else was he to do? But bookbinding seemed so off the wall at first glance. Why bookbinding?
Through research I found that his grandfather had been a bookbinder in Edinburgh! And that area of Scotland there had been a huge trade in printing, and bookbinding, a profession he would take with him to the United States in c1760.
But maybe the most important question Brian asked through the entire lecture was the one he finished with - "What legacy have we left behind?"
That is perhaps the most important question these days since so many Canadian genealogists over the past three or four years have died. (In our immediate area, there are three nationally-known genealogists—-Sandra Devlin, Ryan Taylor, and Paul McGrath——who have passed on since 2005). Where has their work gone? What has happened to it?
Have you made a provision in your will to give direction to your executive as what to do with your papers, photos, video, and anything else you may have discovered along the way? What will happen to your genealogical "stuff"?
These questions he raised yesterday have made me think. I plan to finish the BARCLAY genealogy over this winter, and post it to the Internet as well do a limited production run of it to give to the Shelburne County Genealogical and Archives in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. I also have photos, certificates, and other family memorabilia which I plan to give to them for safekeeping, and for other people to research.
So, have you done the same thing with the "stuff" you have collected?
And this was just the first of many questions he asked during his lecture, the purpose which was to spur everybody on to evaluate their research - what is the quality of your research?
Do you, as you are supposed to, always work from the known to the unknown? Do you always ask the correct question of fellow genealogists, librarians, and archivists?
Do you think about how many levels there may be to your question? Is there a difference between what you need to know and want to know? And when do you need to know it?
I was reminded of a question that I have had since I started my own genealogy in 1994. That is why my g-g-g-g-grandfather Andrew BARCLAY had listed as his occupation - a bookbinder, and not as a farmer as was his father's business?
He was not the first son, so he did not get the land owned by the Barclay's in Kinrossshire, Scotland ... so was else was he to do? But bookbinding seemed so off the wall at first glance. Why bookbinding?
Through research I found that his grandfather had been a bookbinder in Edinburgh! And that area of Scotland there had been a huge trade in printing, and bookbinding, a profession he would take with him to the United States in c1760.
But maybe the most important question Brian asked through the entire lecture was the one he finished with - "What legacy have we left behind?"
That is perhaps the most important question these days since so many Canadian genealogists over the past three or four years have died. (In our immediate area, there are three nationally-known genealogists—-Sandra Devlin, Ryan Taylor, and Paul McGrath——who have passed on since 2005). Where has their work gone? What has happened to it?
Have you made a provision in your will to give direction to your executive as what to do with your papers, photos, video, and anything else you may have discovered along the way? What will happen to your genealogical "stuff"?
These questions he raised yesterday have made me think. I plan to finish the BARCLAY genealogy over this winter, and post it to the Internet as well do a limited production run of it to give to the Shelburne County Genealogical and Archives in Shelburne, Nova Scotia. I also have photos, certificates, and other family memorabilia which I plan to give to them for safekeeping, and for other people to research.
So, have you done the same thing with the "stuff" you have collected?
Friday, October 31, 2008
New Federal Heritage Minister
The new Department of Heritage minister is James Moore from the BC riding of Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam.
He first entered Parliament in 2004 and was named Secretary of State for Officials Languages, Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics before he was announced yesterday as the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.
The Heritage website is going to be closed tomorrow - presumbly to put Moore in as the minister, and to change some of the script on the website to reflect the new minister.
Josee Verner has been moved from the Heritage Department to Intergovemmental Affairs and is responsible for La Francophonie.
Greg Thompson is still the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
He first entered Parliament in 2004 and was named Secretary of State for Officials Languages, Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics before he was announced yesterday as the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.
The Heritage website is going to be closed tomorrow - presumbly to put Moore in as the minister, and to change some of the script on the website to reflect the new minister.
Josee Verner has been moved from the Heritage Department to Intergovemmental Affairs and is responsible for La Francophonie.
Greg Thompson is still the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Métis Nation Seeks Genealogist
I recently received (indirectly) an email from Karole Dumont-Beckett, Registrar of the Métis Nation of Ontario's head office in Ottawa, looking for a full-time genealogist/historian.
The link for the job description is located at <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/articles/job_postings/08oc_genealogist.pdf>.
Deadline for application for this interesting position is November 10, 2008.
There are other opportunities across Canada, so if Ottawa is out of your area, perhaps something a little closer to (your) home might be available.
In any event, this is an interesting site, and offers a lot of information for those looking for their Métis ancestry, and the latest in news and events. Check out their magazine, Métis Voyageur, at <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/in_print/home.html>.
As well, this big news item from a recent press release on their site -
"MNO, Ontario Government and Council of Ontario Universities announce University of Ottawa selected to host first Ontario Research Chair in Métis Studies (Often unknown history of Ontario Métis will start to be told)". The link is <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/articles/national/08_sep_Chair_Annouce.html>.
For more information, please contact Karole at:
Karole Dumont-Beckett
Registrar / Director of Registry
Métis Nation of Ontario
500 Old St-Patrick St. Unit D, Ottawa, ON, KIN 9G4
Ph: 613-798-1488 Ph: 800-263-4889
Fx: 613-722-4225
Email: karoled@metisnation.org
Website: www.metisnation.org
The link for the job description is located at <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/articles/job_postings/08oc_genealogist.pdf>.
Deadline for application for this interesting position is November 10, 2008.
There are other opportunities across Canada, so if Ottawa is out of your area, perhaps something a little closer to (your) home might be available.
In any event, this is an interesting site, and offers a lot of information for those looking for their Métis ancestry, and the latest in news and events. Check out their magazine, Métis Voyageur, at <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/in_print/home.html>.
As well, this big news item from a recent press release on their site -
"MNO, Ontario Government and Council of Ontario Universities announce University of Ottawa selected to host first Ontario Research Chair in Métis Studies (Often unknown history of Ontario Métis will start to be told)". The link is <www.metisnation.org/voyageur/articles/national/08_sep_Chair_Annouce.html>.
For more information, please contact Karole at:
Karole Dumont-Beckett
Registrar / Director of Registry
Métis Nation of Ontario
500 Old St-Patrick St. Unit D, Ottawa, ON, KIN 9G4
Ph: 613-798-1488 Ph: 800-263-4889
Fx: 613-722-4225
Email: karoled@metisnation.org
Website: www.metisnation.org
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