Genealogy Education

The theme of the August 2011 edition of the OGS journal, Families, was “Genealogy Education”, and it contained seven papers -

The Training of Teachers is taken from the excellent book, Education and Ontario Family History, by Toronto genealogist, Marian Press. The article and book shows us where to find the educational records in such places as The Archives of Ontario.

Childhood Forgotten: The Story of a Home Child, by Robert McCauley, the winner of the 2011 Mike Brede Genealogical Essay Prize, tells the rather tragic story of Ada Victoria Girling from London who was put in numerous homes before she came to Canada as a Home Child, and the many years it took to find her story. It's her likenesses on the cover (above), as a sad little girl, and as a striking young woman.

Genealogy for Young People: Interest, Involvement, Nurturing by OGS Vice-President, Shirley Sturdevant, is a paper by a former teacher taking us through the process of teaching children about family history.

Our Heritage … Our Past is a paper be Carol White in which she tells us about the success of Heritage Fairs in Ontario. They have gone from having one fair in 1998 to 20 in 2011!

Robert Halfyard, in his paper, Never Assume!, tells us about the people that may be related to James Miller and his wife, Jane Bradley, and how he assumed that certain people were related, but weren't.

Gwen Patterson, in Documents for the Education Sector of Ontario, recounts the history of the Ontario Educational System.

Dave Obee's Tech Tools for Genealogists is the paper you should read if you want to be brought up-to-date on Social Media. It is taken from the Conference's closing lecture that he gave in Hamilton this past May.

The upcoming themes of the November 2011 issue of Families will be "The War of 1812", and "Immigration".

The Ontario Genealogical Society now has a half-year membership available for $35.00 at www.ogs.on.ca/membership/types.php

The Dieppe Raid

The 69th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid (also known as The Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter, or later on as Operation Jubilee), is today, August 19th.

It happened during the Second World War, and was an Allied (mainly Canadian), attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France.

Over 6,000 infantrymen were involved in the attack. Of those, a total of 3,623 (almost 60%) who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured.

You can check the following three webpages to view more about the Dieppe Raid -

Canada in WW II http://www.junobeach.org/main.html

Canadian Forces after 1918 (including Second World War) Military Records Held by Library and Archives Canada http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-909.007

The Books of Remembrance … The Second World War http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/sub.cfm?source=collections/books/bww2

VanKleek Hill Family History Day

Family History Day will be held at the Musée Vankleek Hill Museum, 95 Main Street East, and at VanKleek Hill Community Centre, VanKleek, Ontario.

The museum has invited four guest speakers – Harold MacMillan will introduce the local Galic language history, and teach you some words in Galic; David Abderson, a local book collector will tell you what to do with the collections that you have been left; Doroth Smith will talk about her research into the early history of the Van Kleek Hill Agricltural Aociety; Denis Sequin who is president of the VanKleek Hill & District Historical Society will explain the importance of the unique Victorian built-heritage as a tourist attraction.

Ottawa genealogists Glenn Wright, President of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/ who will be there to answer your questions on immigration, the Anglo-Saxon family roots, and military history, and genealogy.

If you wish to go to the Family History Day at Vankleek Hill on Saturday, Oct. 1 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. , please follow Highway 417 to Exit 17. It is located at the crossroads at Highways 10 and 34. It is free!

The website is http://www.vankleek.ca/index.php you can email them at info@vankleek.ca, or phone them at 613-678-2323.

Last year we went to the Family History Day, and completely enjoyed it, so much so, that we will go again this year. See you there!

Juvenile Inspection Reports

I have been reading about the immigration to Canada of children from Britain, and the creation of inspection report cards as they carried out regular inspections of the children. I was interested in this because Robert McCauley wrote about a Home Child named Ada Victoria Girling in a paper in this month's Families entitled “Childhood Forgotten: The Story of a Home Child.”

Most of these reports at the Library and Archives Canada http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html concern the British Home Children. Some 100,000 British Home Children immigrated to Canada between between 1869 and 1948.

There is usually one page in the inspection report per child, with the following details -

name
age or date of birth
year of arrival
name of ship
sending organization, and,
names and addresses of farmers with whom they were placed.

In some cases, you may have to consult the List of Abbreviations to determine the name of the sending organization, such as the Middlemore Home Children in the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa. http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=4

This series also includes inspection cards for some European children, including those brought to Canada by the Armenian Relief Association of Canada (1923-1932) and the Canadian Jewish War Orphans Committee (1920-1921).

The Juvenile Inspections Reports are available on the following microfilm reels, arranged in approximate alphabetical order by the Library and Archives Canada at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html

T-15420 A to CARDNO, Leslie
T-15421 CARDWELL, Andrew to EVANS, Arthur E.
T-15422 EVANS, Arthur L. to HENDERSON, Ann F.
T-15423 HENDERSON, Charles H. to LOCK, Annie
T-15424 LOCK, Herbert to O'BRIEN, Samuel
T-15425 O'BRIEN, Thomas to SHAW, Victor
T-15426 SHAW, Walter A. to WEALE, Walter
T-15427 WEALLS, Eric to ZYCZYNSKI, Leon

This is the only known source for children sent by the British Immigration and Colonization Association from Britain to Canada.

Cemetery Outing

News from the Halton-Peel Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society http://www.halinet.on.ca/sigs/ogshp/tells us that there will be a Cemetery Outing to St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery on Saturday September 10th at 2099 Dickson Road, Mississauga.

They are looking for people to finish transcribing the cemetery, and if you are able to help out please contact Dorothy Kew at dkew@cogeco.ca for directions to the cemetery.

Writers' Groups in Genealogy

There are two genealogical societies in Canada which have a writer's group.

They are -

The SouthEast & Winnipeg Branch of the Manitoba Genealogical Society http://www.mbgenealogy.com/index.php?page=southeast-and-winnipeg-branch

They have just started their group, and they say “The focus of each meeting will be to help and support each other’s desire to write about our families”.
They say that they will be “Exploring writing techniques — how to find and develop a theme, how to add details to catch the reader’s interest, and how to tighten or expand our writing.

Everyone with a willingness to write and share is welcome! Bring a notebook and your favourite pen to write with”.

Contact Virginis Braid at vbraid@mts.net for more information.

The other society which I know has a writing group is -

The British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, and they hold their meetings right after the regular monthly meeting on Saturday morning at the Library and Archives Canada,5th floor cafeteria.

They are a Special Interests Groups and they meet from 11:45 am to 2:30 pm.

They say that they are “Open to BIFHSGO members who want feedback on writing their family history or memoirs, the Writing Group meets after the monthly BIFHSGO Saturday meetings. We bring extra copies of our writing to share with members. Most of us also bring a lunch to eat before we begin our”.

The website is at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/events.php, you can contact them at
queries@bifhsgo.ca

Are there any more writing groups out there? If there are, write and tell us about the group.

NIGS - GRADUATION CEREMONY

Even though it is still a month away, things are starting to happen for the 17th annual BIFHSGO conference! Their website is at http://www.bifhsgo.ca/

I just got this notice last night from The National Institute for Genealogical Studies, and it says that there is “Only one month to go for our GRADUATION CEREMONY. Join us in Ottawa to honour our 'Graduates'. Everyone is welcomed......

If you have not yet let us know you are attending, please do so as soon as possible. The instructions are below or you can send an e-mail to: admin@genealogicalstudies.com to indicate the number of people. Here was the original announcement:

THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE. The National Institute for Genealogical Studies and the Continuing Education unit of the University of St. Michael's College in the University of Toronto, invites you to come celebrate with us, with our students and our graduates. The graduation ceremony will take place at 4:00 pm, just prior to the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO)'s opening ceremony at Library and Archives Canada. You will hear from a few of our graduates and mingle with our students and instructors. Graduates, remember to invite your family and friends to attend - everyone is welcome!

Friday, 16 September 2011 at 4:00pm
Library and Archives Canada
Room 156, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario

To reserve your complimentary tickets:
please go to http://www.genealogicalstudies.com/
click on LOGIN (top right hand corner), type your e-mail address and your password, click OK,
click on SERVICES & TIPS (on the left under Other Products),
click on National Institute for Genealogical Studies,
Click on Graduation Ceremony,
click on ADD TO CART, click on SHOPPING CART,
in Quantity: change the number of tickets you would like, click on UPDATE,
click on CHECK-OUT STAND, Click on PAY BY CHECK/CHEQUE.
There will no charge. This will simply complete the request.
Or if you prefer, or have any questions, call us at 1-800-580-0165 or if local, to Toronto 416-861-0165.

Hope to see you in Ottawa...”