Canadian War Graves in Wales Get QR Codes

Jean-Yves BAXTER at Geneanet tells us that the Canadian War Graves at St Margaret's Church, Bodelwyddan, Wales now have been given QR (Quick Response) codes which can be scanned by using smart phones. The codes were created by community-based information project called HistoryPoints.org.
Their website is at www.historypoints.org

It is believed that the soldiers died of the flu epidemic that raged around the world at the end of the First World War.

You can read the story at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-20881406

Five Top Canadian Sites for 2012

GenealogyInTime has put out the top five genealogy sites in Canada in 2012, and they are in order -

Ancestry.ca

GenealogyInTime Magazine

Automated Genealogy

Ontario Genealogical Society

Anglo-Celtic Connections

Congratulation to everyone!

If you want to see the full list, and the explanation as to why these sites were chosen, go to www.genealogyintime.com/articles/top%20100%20genealogy%20websites%202013%20page2.html

Township Papers of the Province of Ontario

Mike More, the vice president of the OGS wrote this notice in the OGS e-Weekly Digest yesterday -

"The Township Papers (Archives of Ontario RG 1-58) are a large collection of documents that date from c1783 to c1870.

The documents include copies of orders-in-council, location certificates and tickets, assignments, certificates of settlement duties, correspondence and some wills. The records are arranged by township, town, or village and, within each township, by concession and then lot number. When a document dealt specifically with a particular piece of property and did not appear to fit within another records series, it was placed within the Township Papers. Once you know the particular lot of land the settler was granted, it is worth looking at the Township Papers since there may be information about the settler.

There are 540 reels of Township Papers with 528,000 pages of information, held by the Archives of Ontario in Toronto. An index to these would be a tremendous resource for Ontario genealogists but it is a HUGE job. The best indexers would be people who know the township and have an interest in the people therein. Since most of the material is hand written, everything has to be proofed, i.e. two people have to read the whole file looking for names.

OGS is considering a project to index the Township Papers of Ontario. We will need a number of volunteers to do the work but first we somebody to lead the Ontario Township Indexing Project. Are you up to the challenge? Would you like to be part of the team that brings these resources to light"?

On a personal note, this indexing project would be a great help to us who use these papers on a regular basis. I urge you to consider this as a worthwhile project.

For more information or to offer your services, contact Mike More at vp@ogs.on.ca

Conference 2014 Call for Speakers

The committee for Conference 2014 has launched their Call For Speakers. If you would like to speak at this Conference, please follow the instructions below for making your application.

The Niagara Peninsula Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will host the Society's annual conference, May 1-4, 2014 at Brock University. The conference theme is GENEALOGY WITHOUT BORDERS.

Although borders are an important aspect in defining a country, they also often delineate an area of genealogical study. In the past, genealogists often had to travel across borders to complete family histories in their genealogical area. Today's genealogist can often cross these borders while sitting at a desk. We can trace the movement of settlers from European countries from the American states and other provinces to Ontario.

Our Saturday and Sunday, May 3rd and 4th seminar sessions are generally fifty minutes in length with ten minutes for discussion. We also have workshops on Friday, May 2nd, which are of three hours duration. We invite lecture and workshop submissions on a broad range of genealogical topics which will help to solve family history problems by any of the following methods.

1. Use of technology in genealogy (DNA, internet, software etc.)

2. Records at a distance (especially Eastern USA and European)

3. War records, 1812, W.W. 1

4. Land records, census, directories,

5. Early Ontario records, prior to 1869 and their repositories

6. Proposals are also solicited for the broader genealogical categories including the histories associated with the War of 1812, methodology, analysis and problem solving used in genealogy

If your proposal is accepted, you will be notified in early summer and we will request that you provide a 4 page summary of your talk or workshop for our syllabus by Dec. 31st, 2013. This should include references and web addresses mentioned, sample screen images etc. It will be submitted electronically (in Word, RTF or PDF format).

Please include your approximate travel costs, economy class to St. Catharines, Ont. Canada. Besides remuneration, food and lodging will be based upon the number of lectures given and transportation expenses will depend upon the speaker's home address. Workshop fees may be negotiated. Questions can be directed to conference2014@ogs.on.ca

OMT to Present Homechild the Musical

The Orangeville Citizen reports that the Orangeville Musical Theatre is going to stage the musical Homechild the Musical on January the 12t.


And there will be an exhibition installed at the Orangeville Library. It will be brought there by the Shining Light on the Forgotten – the British Homechildren Traveling Display. The exhibit will include the 2010 Memorial Quilts from Ontario and Alberta, as well as books, pictures, trunks, etc.

Genealogical researcher and advocate, Lori Oschefski is bringing the exhibition to Orangeville’s Library.

The opening date for the exhibit is January 10. The musical opens at the Opera House on January 12, with performances on the 13,18, 19, 20, 25 and 26.

For tickets and more information, contact the box office at the Opera House at 519-942-3423 or online for OMT at www.orangevillemusictheatre.com

Ancestry.ca Puts On The Ottawa Journal, 1885-1980

If you are researching for your ancestor in Ottawa, Ancestry.ca has just added more issues of The Ottawa Journal newspaper to their site.

This collection contains the full published run of the paper from 1885-1980. Images in this database can be browsed and perused much like the physical version of the paper.

There are some parts missing from the collection, and they are not available. The parts that are missing are -

•1909, July-December is entirely missing.

•1963, October, the original film was damaged and certain days or pages may be missing or illegible.

•1970, January and May, the original film was damaged and certain days or pages may be missing or illegible.

You can go to http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=50019 to read about The Ottawa Journal.

Halton/Peel Branch Meeting

On Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 2:00 pm, the OGS Branch of Halton-Peel will hold its monthly meeting, and will feature a talk given by Douglas Hill called “Tripping over Tombstones: Searching Ontario Cemeteries.”

OGS member and cemetery researcher Douglas Hill, will speak about how to search Ontario cemeteries on-line, in print and on foot. Trends in burial practices, cemetery ownership, and cemetery recording will also be discussed.

The meeting will take place at the Four Corners Public Library (Auditorium), 65 Queen St. E., Brampton.

For more information, you can go to www.halinet.on.ca/sigs/ogshp