Canadian Week in Review - 08 July 2013

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

Websites

Quebec, Catholic Parish Registers, 1621-1979 

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1321742
This is a FamilySearch.org web site that is added to every so often. Baptisms, marriages and burials of the Catholic Paris Registers. It also includes some confirmations and some index entries for Montréal and Trois-Rivières

Schürch Family Association www.schurchfamilyassociation.net/Schurch_Family_Association/Home.html

The family register also extends to Ontario. The web site says that “The surname spellings were anglicized over time with the predominant ones being SHIRK, SHERK, and SHERRICK. The purpose of our web site is to help Schürchs learn their ancestry and to facilitate networking with each other”.

Waterloo Region Generations http://generations.regionofwaterloo.ca

Have you seen this site before? It contains about 250,000 people with over 1,000,000 source citations. They say that the people are in context of how “they relate to community members, businesses, buildings, organizations and places”

Blogs

Oshawa Journal http//:www.oshawajournal.com

A new blog about Oshawa, Ontario. The site says it “contain timelines, news clippings, birth/marriage/death/grave records, photos and stories of the people I am researching, as well as the history of streets and houses in the village of Oshawa”.

Facebook, Videos, You Tube

No sites for this week.

Newspapers Articles of  the Week

Latest Update: It appears that the library and archives building in Lac Megantic, in the Eastern Townships in Quebec, has been destroyed by fire in the run away train accident that occurred early Saturday morning.

Up-to-date news is available at www.cbc.ca/news

Which province has the largest land size? and other questions about Canada

www.brandonsun.com/lifestyles/breaking-news/which-province-has-the-largest-land-size-and-other-questions-about-canada-213374611.html?thx=y In case you missed this last week when Canada celebrated its 146th birthday on July 1^st, here are some questions about the country. How many did you get correct?

Halifax artist, soldier chronicles her time at war

www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2013/07/04/ns-soldier-art.html  

A new exhibit at Halifax's historic Citadel Hill is teaching people about the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of a young soldier and artist who there - Bombardier Jessica Wiebe.

Federal government partners to create Terry Fox exhibit www.bramptonguardian.com/news-story/3881585-federal-government-partners-to-create-terry-fox-exhibit

The Friends of the Terry Fox Collection and the future Canadian Museum of History have reached an agreement where an exhibit will open at the museum in 2015, in memory of the 35th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope.

Jet Aircraft Museum launches campaign "Save Voodoo 006" http://skiesmag.com/news/articles/19365-jet-aircraft-museum-launches-campaign-quot-save-voodoo-006-q.html

The Jet Aircraft Museum at London, Ontario is excited that it is going to transport and restore a CF-101 Voodoo from the air base at Greenwood, Nova Scotia. This is one of the Royal Canadian Air Force's most important  Cold War fighters – the Voodoo 006.

Story of the Week

Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede can trace its beginning back to 1886 when the Calgary and District Agricultural Society held its first fair. In 1912, American promoter Guy Weadick organized his first rodeo and festival, known as the Stampede.

He returned to Calgary in 1919 to organize the Victory Stampede in honour of soldiers returning from World War I. It became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary Industrial Exhibition, and the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede was created.

This year’s stampede is still going on despite the flood which has occurred there the past couple of weeks.

Did you know that they have an archive? They do, and it is called The Calgary Stampede and Libraries and Cultural Resources, and it is housed at the University of Calgary.  

 The archives include - photographic images, board and committee minutes, annual reports, daily programs, and souvenir programs. It also includes people associated with the Stampede - all rodeo and chuck wagon contestants, the winners of those events dating back to 1912, and the sponsors and prizes.

In addition, the archives contain Stampede collectibles such as posters, Stampede Post Office cachets, letterhead stationery, invitations, souvenirs, prize trophies and many other historical items.

You can also visit their online archives where you will find digitized images of Stampede posters, thousands of photographs, databases of rodeo and chuck wagon contestants and collections of corporate publications such as annual reports and souvenir programs.

Go to www.ucalgary.ca/stampede

Reminder: Check out Canadian Week in Review every Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. The next post will be 15 July, 2013

Brant OGS Golf Fundraiser

This is a really neat idea!

On Saturday, August 31, 2013, there will be a golf fundraiser held at a local club called Fescue’s Edge, 18 Hagan Rd., Brant at 11:00 am Shotgun Start.

The cost will be $80 and it includes cart, lunch and donation to Brant OGS (Receipt for donation will be provided), and the deadline to register will be August 20, 2013.

You can contact brantogsgolf@gmail.com, or go to the web site at www.ogs.on.ca/brant

Winners of the Canada Day Brick Wall Contest

The four winners of the Canada Day Brick Wall Contest held by GenealogyCanada, and sponsored by ELRS at www.elrs.biz on Canada Day are –

• Lois E.
• Phyllis C.
• Heather K.
• Jennifer L.

There were dozens of entries in all, with the four winners being picked by random.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to send in their brick walls, all of which were interesting and daunting. It was a pleasure to have had the chance to read them.

Elizabeth

Reminder: Check out Canadian Week in Review every Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.

Historic Acadian Families of Summerside, PEI

If you have Acadian roots or connections in Summerside, PEI, your family may go back several centuries, and you should attend the Historic Acadian Families of Summerside, which is a summertime series of talks by Jean Bernard (presented in English). The eight most familiar Acadian family names of Summerside are Arsenault, Aucoin/Wedge, Bernard, DesRoches, Gallant, Gaudet, Poirier/Perry and Richard.

Genealogist and author Jean Bernard will speak on these family histories at the Lefurgey Cultural Centre, 205 Prince Street on Wednesdays July 10, 17, 24 and 31 and Thursdays July 11, 18, 25, and August 1. All presentations will be in English and begin at 10:00 a.m. lasting for 60 to 90 minutes with lots of time for questions and answers.

Each talk will feature a 'primary concentration' on a surname and the talks will be presented in 'alphabetical order'. Invariably the discussion will 'stray' onto other connected names, but the intention is as follows:

July 10 is primarily about Arsenault

July 11 is primarily about Aucoin/Wedge

July 17 is primarily about Bernard

July 18 is primarily about DesRoches

July 24 is primarily about Gallant

July 25 is primarily about Gaudet

July 31 is primarily about Poirier/Perry

August 1 is primarily about Richard

Space is limited. Please contact Fred Horne at 432-1332 fredhorne@wyattheritage.com for more information or if you wish to reserve a seat. Admission is by donation.

Presentations hosted by Culture Summerside's MacNaught History Centre and Archives in response to Mr Bernard's generous offer to share his knowledge of Acadian family history

The Culture Summerside's MacNaught History Centre and Archives is at  www.wyattheritage.com/mainsite3/macnaughthouse.asp

Save Our Heritage Lighthouses

                                Seal Island Lighthouse Replica

Lisa Bastien—the Constituency Assistant–Outreach of the Office of Malcolm Allen, NDP M.P. for Welland, Ontario—asked for my help yesterday in spreading the word about saving out heritage lighthouses.

The message says, in part - “In 2010 the Conservative Government identified nearly 1000 lighthouses across Canada as surplus – meaning that these lighthouses are not active or they could be replaced by a simpler structure such as pole with a light on top as a cost-saving measure.

The Department of Fisheries & Oceans gave the provinces and communities groups 2 years to send in petitions and submit business plans to save their local lighthouses. As of May 2013, only 128 plans have been received, and the future of over 800 lighthouses are unknown. There are lighthouses in every province and territory at risk."

We think that the Conservatives need to stand up and protect our Maritime Heritage and work with the provinces/territories and local community groups to ensure that these lighthouses remain as beacons of navigation and history along our coastlines rather than downloading the coast onto others.

If you would like to know if there is a surplus lighthouse in your riding, please contact our office at 905-788-2204, or at malcolm.allen.c1a@parl.gc.ca".

A PDF copy of the petition is available by writing me at genealogycanada@aol.com. (I received a copy of the original Word file, but I can't post it for download from my blog.)

Personal Note: Lighthouses are dear to me because my great-great-grandmother spearheaded the project of building the lighthouse on Seal Island off of the southwest coast of Nova Scotia. Her name was Mary Hitchens.

In later years, her descendant, Walter Hichens, from Bethel, Maine, spent many summers on Seal Island, and eventually had one lighthouse built at Barrington Passage. You can visit it today, and learn the story of Mary Hitchens.

And, I'm pleased to note, the Canadian Coast Guard named a ship after her.

Family History Conference

The LDS Family History Centre in Brampton, will hold their  4th Annual Family History Conference called One World - One Family — Discover Your Family Roots. The conference will be held on Saturday, August 24th 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m

The cost: $20 (includes box lunch).

It will be held at the LDS Family History Centre, 10062 Bramalea Rd, Brampton, Ontario

To see who the presenters will be and their subjects that they will talk about, go to   www.oneworldonefamily-theevent.com

For their Facebook page, go to www.facebook.com/pages/One-World-One-Family/140879625925281

The St. Lawrence River

Retrace this river’s historic path with the exhibition Moving with the River at the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa from June 21, 2013 to March 23, 2014.

When one thinks of the settlements along the river from Quebec City to Montreal, to Brockville, and to Kingston, it is the “Birthplace of the first colonies and passageway to the Great Lakes and the Canadian West for millions of immigrants, the St. Lawrence River played a fundamental role in the building and settling of Canada.

 The exhibition retraces the river’s historic path with the Iroquois' thousand-year presence on the land, Franco-Aboriginal alliances, growth of a French settlement in the St. Lawrence Valley and multiethnic European immigration for which Québec served as a gateway”.

An exhibition developed by Parks Canada and presented in collaboration with the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

The audience is open to adults, children, family, youth, young adults, and teens.

You can go to www.civilization.ca/plan-your-visit

Reminder: Check out my Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada