Alberta Cemetery Records

Have you checked the latest cemetery records at Alberta Family Histories Society?

They say that “This database, which has been recorded over the past 25 years by numerous volunteers, is based on monument and burial information from various cemeteries in Calgary and the surrounding region”.

They now have 168,565 records in the index, and you can check them online at http://www.afhs.ab.ca/data/cemeteries/search.php.

The database includes the Name, Birth/Death Years and Cemetery Name.

For a list of cemeteries transcriptions for sale on DVD http://www.afhs.ab.ca/publications/cemetery.shtml#publications

New/Improved Canadian Websites and Blogs Week 17

^{Here are some of the websites and blogs that I have come across the week ending January 16, 2012.} 

The Legal Resource Centre http://www.legalresourcecentre.ca/blog/?page_id=34 The Blogosaurus Lex blog (Legal Resource Centre of Alberta) One subject covered the The 1929 Person’s Case

Kinsey Family Genealogy The Kinsey.ca Blog http://kinseydotca.blogspot.com If you are related to Stephen Vaughan Kinsey, this blog is for you. The blogger writes about a newspaper report on Google News that gives an account of Kinsey's move from Saskatoon to Manitoba in 1940.  

About Ottawa, Canada, Beechwood Cemetery Registers, 1873-1990 http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=2168&cj=1&o_xid=0001029688&o_lid=0001029688

The five burial ledgers digitized in this database document interments at Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario, from 1873 to 1990. The ledgers also contain names for some people who died before 1873 (as early as 1821) whose remains were later moved to Beechwood.

Susan’s Genealogy Blog http://www.susansgenealogyblog.com A very interesting post in June, 2011 shows Joseph Mullin and his wife, Mary Ann, their five children, and how she searched the Ontario vital records to find this information.

Roots to the Past: Atlantic Canada's Genealogy Hub http://rootstothepast.wordpress.com/about Diane Tibert has started a new blog to go with her newspaper column Roots to the Past that appears in local Maritime newspapers.  

The Quebec Family History Society http://qfhs.ca Just received a press release from the society which says that "the website features several new sections, such as Gary’s Genealogical Picks, research tips, surname interests, and a bulletin board. 

QFHS members researching their ancestors in Quebec will benefit from the new Jacques Gagné Church Compilations in the members’ section. Long-time member Jacques Gagné has compiled historical information and the location of records for more than 1,000 English and French Protestant churches across the province, from 1759 to 1899".

Sask. Archives Board Photo Blog http://sabphotos.wordpress.com The blog invites the reader to look at the photo, and see are any that they recognize. They want to know if you know a location, a date? They say that they will post new photographs approximately once a week, so please come back to take another look.

William Mc/MacDonald – One Name Study

Diane Tibet write that she has started a One Name Study on her great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were both William McDonald from Harrigan Cove, Halifax County, Nova Scotia.

She says that as "many of you can testify, researching common names like this add to the challenge of locating pertinent information".

You can read about here: http://rootstothepast.wordpress.com/genealogy-news

Diane Lynn Tibert is the author of Roots to the Past genealogy column which appears in several newspapers around Atlantic Canada.

Booklet #2 – Migration: Canada and the United States

To continue from yesterday's post on my newly-published booklets, the second one in the "Canadian Series" has been published.

"Migration: Canada and the United States" discusses the exchange of people who have crossed the borders even before the borders were set, as they are today.

The first two pages of the booklet concentrate on Canadians who went to the States. Headings include - The Acadian Migration; Migration to the "Boston States"; French Canadian Migration; Migration to the Midwestern and Southwestern States; and Migration from Canada to the United States Due to War.

The second part of the booklet is about the migration of Americans to Canada. Headings include - New England Planters to Nova Scotia; The United Empire Loyalists; The United States Migration to Central Canada; The United States Migration to Central Canada; The US Migration to the Prairie Provinces & the Yukon; Migration from the US to Canada as a Result of Wars; and Migration of Blacks from the US to Canada.

These headings offer good examples of those who came to Canada, or of Canadians who left for the US, and why.

The booklet gives a synopsis of what records to look for, the books written on the subject, where to find online resources, and a bonus list of some famous Canadians who migrated to the US.

Both the Migration and the War of 1812 booklets can be purchased from Global Genealogy www.globalgenealogy.com and the National Institute for Genealogical Studies www.genealogicalstudies.com.

The next booklet to come "off the presses" will be about Ontario's genealogical societies and groups, including some lesser-known "hidden gems", all of which may have the resources you need to help flesh out the Ontario branch of your family tree.

For more on our first booklet, "The War of 1812: Canada and the United States", go to www.genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2012/01/booklet-1-war-of-1812-canada-and-united.html.

Booklet #1 - The War of 1812: Canada and the United States

If you've wondered why you haven't seen me around much the past few months, I've been busy writing laminated 4-page research guides on topics of interest to genealogists tracing their Canadian roots.

Why did I write booklets instead of a book? It's because I wanted to present the information clearly in a compact format that you could take on research trips without having to worry about adding yet another bulky book to your (probably) overstuffed tote bag.

The guides provide a basic understanding of the subject, as well as listings of relevant books and online information. In short, it's a primer that covers sources from Canada, the United States, and the UK.

For example, the booklet, “The War of 1812: Canada and the United States”, gives a synopsis of the causes of the War, and details the battles that took place (who, where, and when), and which included British forces, Blacks, and Aboriginal warriors who fought on both sides of the conflict.

For a list of the contents, please visit the following blog and websites -

The booklets were mentioned on John D. Reid's Anglo-Celtic Connections blog yesterday (Jan 10th), and I thank him for the review.

The booklets are available for sale through Global Genealogy's website, www.globalgenealogy.com, and are listed on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/pages/GlobalGenealogycom-Inc/168601933226521?sk=wall, and in their free online newsletter, http://globalgenealogy.com/newsletter/2012-001.htm. You can also write them at sales@globalgenealogy.com, or call them toll-free at 1-800-361-5168.

They are also available at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies website at www.genealogicalstudies.com, by email at info@GenealogicalStudies.com, or call the Institute toll-free at 1-800-580-0165.

I am happy to say that the booklets are selling briskly!

Tomorrow Post: Booklet #2 – Migration: Canada and the United States

Sir John A. Macdonald Dinner

Wednesday, January 11 is the 196^th birthday of Sir John A. Macdonald in Scotland – Canada's first prime minister.

The Kinston Hisorical Society http://kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca/index.html has held, for the past 12 years, the dinner on his birthday at the Royal Military College's Senior Staff Mess.

The dinner's guest speaker this year is Mr. Peter Milliken, retired MP for Kingston and The Islands, and former Speaker of the House of Commons. His talk will be "Sir John A. Macdonald and the Kingston Heritage".

To find out more about Sir John A. (as he is called in Canada), here are some informative websites -  

Sir John A. Macdonald: Canada's Patriot Statesman www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/sir-john-a-macdonald/index-e.html

Sir John A. Macdonald www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/primeministers/h4-3025-e.html

Bellevue House National Historic Site of Canada  www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/bellevue/index.aspx

The Street Arab – The Story of a British Home Child

On January the 12th there will be a meeting of the Waterloo Genealogical Society at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 10 Lorraine Ave (corner of River Road) Kitchener, Ontario at 7:00 p.m.

Sandra Joyce will give a talk on her novel called The Street Arab – the Story of a British Home Child which is about a boy from a small mining town in Scotland, whose family is torn apart by the First World War, and resulting poverty.  

On her website http://www.sandrajoyce.com it says that "The after foraging for food one day, Robbie returns home to find his family missing and suffers a horrific accident. With strength and determination, he forges ahead and is sent, along with countless other British Home Children, to Canada to begin a new life".

To check meetings at Waterloo Genealogical Society, their website is at http://www.waterlooogs.ca/upcoming_meetings.htm