UPDATE! FREE Ancestry.ca

Ancestry.ca is offering FREE access to the Canadian Marriage Collections from Feb. 14 to 18th in honour of Valentine’s Day!

The press release says –

“No matter what your relationship status, Valentine’s Day is a time to reflect on the love shared by our ancestors, without whom we wouldn’t exist today. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, Ancestry.ca, Canada’s leading family history website, has dug deep into its vast collection of historical documents and discovered that Canada has long been a nation of serial romantics.

For some, Valentine’s Day involves a candle-lit dinner, but that isn’t enough for some! Yet records show that many Canadians honoured the holiday in a more committed fashion, with over 13,000 couples between 1608 and 1948 affirming their love with a February 14th wedding.

To commemorate this special day, Ancestry.ca is offering free access to its collection of historical Canadian Marriage records. Records in this collection date as far back as 1621 and contain key information about the newlyweds and their parents; information that can help expand an existing family tree and allow you to better understand the love birds in your family’s history”.

Go to http://search.ancestry.ca/search/group/Canada_Marriages?o_iid=54249&o_lid=54249&o_sch=Web+Property

UELAC Conduct Online Survey

Robert C. McBride UE, Editor of The Loyalist Gazette and UELAC Dominion President has sent this press release out last evening -

“As every organization should do, the UELAC is reviewing its communications with members and others. Please take this short survey to tell us how we are reaching you and for those who receive it, in more detail, your thoughts about The Loyalist Gazette.

Those who took the test version said it took about five minutes, but we would appreciate you taking a little longer to add a comment or three. For those who already took the survey as part of the test group, there is no need to take it again. Once you have taken the survey, if you wish to change any of your answers, use the same computer and just click on the survey link again to reenter the survey and make changes.

The world around us changes. We need to be mindful of those changes, and to move with them, but in a way that can best serve your interests.

The survey will be open until end of day Sunday March 3, 2013. Please help us by telling us what you think”.

To take the survey now, go to www.surveymonkey.com/s/MSR7QVZ

LAC Postcast: Home Children

The Library and Archives Canada has just released its sixth podcast episode, and this time it’s on the Home Children.

The the press release say “LAC Project Manager and Genealogist Marthe Séguin-Muntz along with John Sayers of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa talk about the lives of Canada’s Home Children. They discuss some of the incredible stories of hardship and prosperity in early Canada, share a wealth of resources available at LAC and provide helpful research tips and tools to discover your family history”.

Subscribe to the podcast episodes using RSS or iTunes, or just tune in at: Podcast – Discover Library and Archives Canada: Your History, Your Documentary Heritage.

To go to the postcasts, click on www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/podcasts/Pages/home-children.aspx

If you choose not to listen to the postcasts, there is a transcript of the talk on the same page as the postcast.

Ancestry.ca Puts on Web: Manitoba, Birth Index, 1866-1912

The key word here is “Web” Search. It means that Ancestry. ca has put on the index from online vital statistics from libraries, local governments, genealogical societies, universities and genealogists from all over the country.

They have put on 476, 200 birth records from Manitoba.

Ancestry.ca says that they make it easier to “find records from many of these content publishers. To help you find genealogy information wherever it exists, we summarize basic information from freely-available web records and provide a link to the original site where you can view the full record, including any associated images”.

If you want like to ckeck these records, go to http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=70599

The Manitoba government declared in 2003 that The Vital Statistics Act was to provide unrestricted access to the following records

Births more than 100 years ago

Marriages more than 80 years ago

Deaths more than 70 years ago

In particular, the index gives you the first and last names of the person, the date of birth, and the place of birth.

You can order the record from the full birth registration from The Vital Statistics Agency for a fee.

Go to the website http://vitalstats.gov.mb.ca/Query.php

Irish Palatine Group Sponsors Ontario Genealogical Tour

The Irish Palatines have the Irish Palatines in Ontario Tour in September of this year. And it seems like they will be visiting many spots of interest to the Irish Palatines in Ontario.

Here is the press release that was sent out a few days ago -

The Irish Palatine Special Interest Group (IP-SIG) is pleased to sponsor a 10-day Irish Palatines in Ontario Tour to take place September 5-15, 2013. You do not have to be a member of the IP-SIG in order to join us on the tour.

However, seating is limited and the bus is already over half full so if you want to be part of the Tour, book your seat today. Download the Tour brochure that outlines the places we will visit, as well as the cost. The tour brochure is available at http://briandunk.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/tour-brochure-final.pdf

The tour will highlight several Irish Palatine settlement areas and we will meet various Palatine descendants along the way. The tour also includes visits to many major historical and tourists sites across Ontario. Accommodations will be at quality hotels in the heart of several major Ontario cities as well as a one night stop at a lovely, large Ontario cottage country resort.

If you are interested in joining our tour, please do not hesitate to contact "Great Canadian Holidays" for details at 1-800-467-8687 (ext. 280).

They now have a WordPress page at www.ogs.on.ca/ip-sig , in addition to the website at www.ogs.on.ca/ireland

Reminder: If you want the GenealogyCanada blog updates to come to you everyday in your email, send your address to genealogycanada@aol.com with the subject heading Blog Update, and I will put you on the email list.

UPDATE: Cemetery Project – Ontario GenWeb

The Cemetery Project Section of the Ontario GenWeb was updated Feb 11th.

Additions have been made to the names, when the person born, and when they died.

The following are the cemeteries that were updated –

Brant County:

- Farringdon Cemetery

Essex County:

- McDowell Cemetery

Grey County:

- Greenwood Cemetery

- Salem Cemetery

- St George's Cemetery

Haldimand County:

- Canborough Cemetery

Halton County:

- Lowville United Church Cemetery

Huron County:

- Greenhill Cemetery

Leeds County:

- Abandoned / Brennan Cemetery

- Blanchard Cemetery

- Maple View Lodge Cemetery

- Soper's Cemetery

- Weeks Cemetery

Middlesex County:

- Oakland Cemetery

- Strathroy Cemetery

Norfolk County:

- Port Ryerse Memorial Church Cemetery

Simcoe County:

- Minesing Union Cemetery

Waterloo County:

- Elmira Union Cemetery

- Riverside Cemetery

- St James Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery

Welland County:

- Hansler's / Christ Brethern Church Cemetery

Wentworth County:

- Hamilton Cemetery

- Winona (Fifty) Cemetery

Thanks to the many volunteers who put this information, and take the photos, and to Sherri Pettit who puts it on the Ontario GenWeb site.

This is a FREE site, and the volunteers do not get paid.

You can go to
http://canadacems.blogspot.ca/2013/02/ontario-update.html

New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles - 11 February 2013

I have come across the following websites, blogs, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too –

Websites

Francis Drake in 48° North Latitude http://home.surewest.net/rte395/Drake_48.html Here is a website that says Francis Drake made a trip to the 48° North Latitude (southern coast of Vancouver Island), and stayed there for six weeks in 1579.

Blogs

Wibbling Jo’s Genealogy Blog http://wibblingjogenealogy.blogspot.co.uk This blogger is conducting research the surname TILLIN in the US, Canada, Scotland and Gibraltar.

Newspaper Articles

New history museum will ‘pleasantly surprise’ Canadians, CEO predicts www.ottawacitizen.com/travel/history+museum+will+pleasantly+surprise+Canadians+predicts/7916909/story.html There will be an exhibit on the Empress of Ireland, the passenger ship that sank in the St. Lawrence River in 1912 with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, and an exhibit on Confederation tentatively planned for 2016

The search for family roots: Seeking out our ancestors is becoming a global phenomenon www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/the-search-for-family-roots/Content?oid=2450132 Follow the delightful story of how John Barker discovered old photos on a trip to Tantallon, Saskatchewan.

Taking charge www.theguardian.pe.ca/Arts/Entertainment/2013-02-07/article-3172484/Taking-charge/1 Did you know that there were recruiting agents in Prince Edward Island looking for young men to join the Glengarry Light Infantry in Eastern Ontario in the War of 1812? Winston Johnston has written a book about it called The Glengarry Light Infantry, 1812-1816: Who were they and what did they do in the war?

Saving history a piece at a time www.parisstaronline.com/2013/02/03/saving-history-a-piece-at-a-time Read how the Brant County branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has a huge collection of newspaper clippings. The massive collection includes indexed and alphabetized copies of obituaries from The Expositor (the local newspaper), as well as indexed binders bursting with copies of The Expositor's historical Flashback column, all dating back to 1965.

Canadian family, Vancouver researcher key to dramatic announcement: Richard III’s remains found (with video) www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canadian+family+proves+parking+corpse+Britain+King+Richard/7914806/story.html Read how a London, Ontario born furniture maker’s DNA helped to identify Richard’s III remains in England last week.

Focus on family www.tricitynews.com/entertainment/189709851.html Read how genealogy influences art pieces for Shaped by the Past, a multi-media exhibit by the ARTforce Collective. The exhibit is open on February 14th, Thursday at 7 p.m. at Place des Arts, 1120 Brunette Ave., Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Look for more articles next Monday February 18th.