Happy 2012!

The past year of 2011 was great as far as Canadian Genealogy was concerned!

For the Ontario Genealogy Society (OGS) www.ogs.on.ca, it was their 50th Anniversary (which was celebrated in Hamilton), the OGS and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies www.genealogicalstudies.com started a partnership, and TONI (The Ontario Names Index) www.ogs.on.ca/home/TONI.php was started.

It was also the year of the 17th Conference of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ontario (BIFHSGO) www.bifhsgo.ca, and the beginning of covering the Conference using Social Media tools (I was one of their Official Bloggers, which included John D. Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections blog fame http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com, and Susan Davis, BIFHSGO's Director of Communications, and presenter of her excellent and informative lecture, “A Social Media Primer for Family Historians”).

My blog was very successful this year: I published 326 posts, and I made many new friends over the year through the blog. It was the first year that I tried a series of blog postings for Remembrance Week www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/11/blogger-showcases-canadas-veterans-week.html, and it was extremely well-received.

Another year has past as Editor of Families, the journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society, and I had a year of exceptional papers submitted and published. And it doesn't look like it will slow down ...

So I wish everyone a Very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year, and may all of those Genealogy Wishes (and you know what they are) do come true for you!

Elizabeth

Monday's Post: 4th Blogiverary

Most Popular Pages of 2011

The most popular blogs that I posted in 2011 (in order of popularity, according to online stats) represent a cross-section of topics, ranging from "Some Canadian Archival Resources" on December 29 to "Holiday Sale!" on December 27 to "War of 1812 Meetings", posted on December 22 -

December 29, 2011 - Some Canadian Archival Resources www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-canadian-archival-resources.html

December 28, 2011 - French-Canadian Societies www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/french-canadian-societies.html

December 27, 2011 - African-Canadian Societies www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/african-canadian-societies.html


December 27, 2011 - Holiday Sale! 
www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/holiday-sale.html

December 1, 2011 - The Archive CD Books Project
www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/archive-cd-books-project.html

 December 30, 2011 -  Some Other Ontario Genealogy Groups www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-other-ontario-genealogy-groups.html

 July 4, 2011 - Red River Colony genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/07/red-river-colony.html

November 29, 2011 - Historical Online Newspapers in Canada www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/11/historical-online-newspapers-in-canada.html

April 22, 2011 - Easter Treats from Ancestry.ca www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/04/easter-treats-from-ancestryca.html

December 23, 2011 - War of 1812 Meetings www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/war-of-1812-meetings.html  

If your favourite page is not listed, I'd like to hear about it - please send me an email at genealogycanada@aol.com. I appreciate hearing from my readers.

Thank you for following me in 2011, and I look forward to having you follow me again in 2012!

Elizabeth

Some Other Ontario Genealogy Groups

Besides the ever-popular Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) www.ogs.on.ca and the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa (BIFHSGO) http://bifhsgo.ca, you will find other groups of interest in Ontario, such as -

The Upper Ottawa Valley Genealogical Group http://uovgg.ca They have the Timberline Newsletter Index (1990-1999), Renfrew County Cemetery Transcriptions, and a project on The Canadian Wends (German/Polish) immigrants.

The Manitoulin Genealogy Club www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onmanito/club.html This group, located on Manitoulin Island in Northwestern Ontario, is interested in collecting family histories of Howland Township.

Lanark County Genealogical Society www.globalgenealogy.com/LCGS They are located outside of Perth in Eastern Ontario. Many people from Lanark County went to Bruce, Huron, and Grey Counties in the 1850s, and later, to Manitoba and the Dakotas.

Temiskaming Genealogy Group www.nt.net/~timetrav This group is located in Northeastern Ontario on the border with Quebec, and they have many records on the English and French fur traders.

Sioux Lookout Genealogical Society www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~onslgc Located in Northern Ontario, they have burial records, as well as the Tax Assessment Roll for 1913.

The Muskoka Parry Sound Genealogy Group www.mpsgg.com Covering the Central Ontario areas of Muskoka and Parry Sound, this group has the Cemetery Surname Database, which gives the date of death plus date of birth (where available), and other resources of the area.

Tomorrow's Post: Most Popular Pages of 2011

Some Canadian Archival Resources

Douglas Brymner (Dominion Archivist) July 3, 1823 - June 18, 1902

Douglas Brymner became Senior Second Class Clerk in 1872, and was responsible for the creation of a national archives in Canada. The government had voted for $4,000 to be spent in overseeing the collection of records, and in undertaking "general archival responsibilities".

Two archives that I use on a regular basis are the Nova Scotia Archives www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick http://archives.gnb.ca/archives because I have relatives in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The NS Archives astounds me every time I go to it – there is always something new. I have searched their vital records and have found births, marriages, and deaths there; I have searched through one of their virtual archives, 'Seeing Yarmouth': Celebrating 250 Years of Community Life, and have found areas there that interest me; and I have spent hours reading the Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers from Shelburne, finding my family name (Barclay) in them.

Go to www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual to get a complete listing of their Virtual Archives.

The archives in New Brunswick holds Nova Scotia newspapers, and I found things here that I couldn't find anywhere else, especially in their Daniel F. Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics webpage at http://archives.gnb.ca/APPS/NewspaperVitalStats/?culture=en-CA. So it is well-worth a look, as they are adding to it all the time.

If you go to the Archives of Manitoba website at www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives looking for estate records, take a look at the Winnipeg Estate Indexes, 1870-1983 webpage at www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/probate/wpg_estate.html.

I was lucky to find what I was looking for (for many people did go "Out West" when it was opened to find their fortune), and you just may be lucky enough to find your people listed in the estate indexes.

And, of course, I always come back to the Library and Archives Canada's (LAC) website at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca

One area that is worth a look on their website is the Search All search box, found in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Just put the name of the person you are looking for in the box, and you can search through four of their portals - "Library", "Archives", "Ancestors", and "Website" to see if there's a match.

You may be as surprised as I was when I discovered that a relative in the Boer War received a land grant from Canada, even though he had fought with the British in South Africa instead of with the Canadians!

So there is lots of information to find at these archives, either through the Internet, or by inter-library loan. All that one has to do is ask!

Tomorrow's Blog: Ontario Genealogical Groups

French-Canadian Societies

Marc-Amable Girard (1822–1892) was the second Premier of the Western Canadian province of Manitoba, and the first Franco-Manitoban to hold that post.

There are lots of French-Canadian societies in Quebec, but did you know that there are French-Canadian societies in other parts of Canada? French-Canadians—as they expanded westward across Canada—settled in villages, towns, and cities in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Ontario

In the 2006 Canadian census, there were 488,815 French-Canadians in Ontario. They make up 4.1 per cent of the province's total population.

They are mainly concentrated in Eastern Ontario (in the cities of Ottawa, Cornwall, and towns in-between), Northeastern Ontario (in the cities of Sudbury, North Bay, and Timmins), and in Toronto, Windsor, Penetanguishene, and Welland.

There is Le Réseau du patrimoine franco-ontarien (RPFO) at http://rpfo.ca. This is a collection of over 30 French-Canadian societies in Ontario. Some sites are bilingual(F/E), while others are strictly in French, but they all have good information.

Manotiba

The majority of Franco-Manitobans (about 90%) live in the Greater Winnipeg area. There are Franco-Manitoban centres in Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, St. Claude, St. Pierre-Jolys, Ste. Anne, Ste. Rose du Lac, La Broquerie, Lorette, St. Laurent, Somerset, and St-Lazare.

The Manitoba Genealogical Society www.mbgenealogy.com covers all linguist groups in the province.

There is also The Manitoba Historical Society at www.mhs.mb.ca, and the Centre du patrimoine, Société historique de Saint-Boniface at http://shsb.mb.ca in which you can access the library database (in French), and the Voyageur contracts database (in French).

Saskatchewan

French-Canadians make up about 2 per cent of the population of Saskatchewan, and live in the cities of Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and Moose Jaw. They also live in small towns such as Gravelbourg, Albertville, Duck Lake, Ponteix, Zenon Park, and Bellegarde.

Saskatchewan Genealogical Society www.saskgenealogy.com This society has 20 branches throughout the province, and covers the many peoples (including the French-Canadians) who settled there. Also, check La Société historique de la Saskatchewan at www.societehisto.com They have many published books such as La trace des pionniers, and offer a quarterly journal.

Alberta

The French-Canadians are centered in the Bonnie Doon area of Edmonton, in the towns of Bonnyville, Plamondon, and St. Paul in the northeast, and in the settlements of St. Isidore and the Municipal District of Smoky River No. 130, including the towns of Falher, Donnelly, McLennan, and Girouxville, as well as in north-central Alberta.

La Société généalogique du Nord-Ouest www.sgno.ca is located in Edmonton, and they have been a society since 1991. They have a very inclusive research library.

Tomorrow Post: Canadian Archival Societies

Holiday Sale!

In the spirit of providing readers of this blog with some great news about a terrific product, here is the latest news from Malcolm Moody of Archive CD Books Canada Inc. -

"WE HAVE CAUGHT SALES FEVER!

We have marked down ALL of our Canadian made CDs by UP TO 50%.  

Some CDs are only $7.00 each!

Sale prices are shown in the catalogue and will apply in the Shopping Cart.

(Sorry sale does not apply to Gleanings. They are ALWAYS at the minimum price.)

Don’t know how long we can keep this sale up. Shop early!"

Hurry to our Canadian Catalogue at:
http://www.archivecdbooks.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=store.viewCatalog&lstCtl=8&lstCat=&lstSCat=#cat8

Archive CD Books Canada Inc.
President:  Malcolm Moody
PO Box 11,Manotick
Ontario, Canada K4M 1A2
Tel:(613) 692-2667 or 1-888-692-2660 - Toll-free
WEB SITE: http://www.ArchiveCDBooks.ca
FACEBOOK: http://tinyurl.com/ACDB-Can-on-Facebook

And here is a link to a review I recently did on them at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2011/12/archive-cd-books-project.html

African-Canadian Societies

Josiah Henson (June 15, 1789 – May 5, 1883). He escaped to Dresden, Ontario in 1830, and founded a settlement and labourer's school for other fugitive slaves from the United States. He became the main character in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. You can visit the Uncle Tom's Cabin website at www.uncletomscabin.org.

It is thought that the first Black person to live in Canada was Mattheu Da Costa in 1605. He had come to Acadia with Samuel de Champlain (commonly referred to as the “Father of Canada”) on the ship, Jonas, from France.

Da Costa was the interpreter for the French with the Mi’kmaq natives of Nova Scotia, having been in Canada on previous occasions.

Here are some of the websites of Blacks in Canada -

Africville: The Spirit Lives On www.africville.ca This was a settlement of people of African descent who were former slaves, escaped slaves, and free people. In the 1960s, the community was destroyed in the theme of “urban renewal", but as the website says, “the community spirit continues to thrive today through annual gatherings and in the stories and photos of an aging generation”.

The Black Loyalist Heritage Society www.blackloyalist.com They are in the process of building a new centre to display the Black Heritage of Birchtown, Nova Scatia. There is also the Old School House Museum on site.

Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia www.bccns.com They just celebrated their 28th Anniversary this year, and they have just completed the 2011 Museum Renovation.

The Ontario Black History Society www.blackhistorysociety.ca. A genealogy webpage, www.blackhistorysociety.ca/genealogy_en_239cms.htm, offers leads in Black genealogy.

The Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society www.ckblackhistoricalsociety.org. The Chatham-Kent Black Historical Society has a current exhibit called “The Black Mecca in the Heritage Room“.

Tomorrow's Post: French-Canadian Societies