Saturday, October 11, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!


Well, it must be the fall season! The leave are finally turning colour, and that lets us know that fall is here. It is Thanksgiving weekend is Canada, so it’s time to take a break away from genealogy, and rest and relax with our families.

In the meantime, Ancestry.ca has just notified me that they are offering 40% off their Canada Deluxe Memberships for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Go to Ancestry.ca if you wish to take advantage of this offer!

Friday, October 10, 2014

Canada GenWeb is ten years old!

This completely skipped my mind – the Canada GenWeb was 10 years old October the 1st. Congratulations to Sherri Pettit and to all of those who contributed and still contribute to the website today!

Sherri says “Initially our plan was to offer a cemetery directory and list of available cemetery resources for genealogists. It quickly became a repository for photos, indexes and transcripts. 

Over the past ten years hundreds of volunteers have offered their time, expertise, and passion to help this project grow. Because of their efforts CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project now offers a directory of 20,000 known Canadian cemeteries, over 1,000,000 indexed names, and more than 600,000 photographs.” 

I am at the site nearly every day to look at their maps, their cemeteries, their pioneer's profiles and I have never been disappointed. It’s one of my “go-to” sites when I am doing research. 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

FamilySearch is looking for more indexers

I watched and listened to the Legacy Family Tree Webinar on Tuesday with Devin Ashby, Community Advocate for FamilySearch as he gave the talk Welcome to FamilySearch Indexing! The news is they are still looking for indexers. The webinar is free for the next seven days, so be sure to catch it at http://www.familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=213

You can go to https://familysearch.org/indexing/ to register to be an indexer, and there are projects that you can choose from at https://familysearch.org/indexing/projects/country/ca 

Meanwhile, British Columbia Death Registrations (1871-1986) at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1538285 , and British Columbia Marriage Registration (1859-1932) at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1307718 have been updated.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

FREE Family History Fair

There is going to be a FREE Family History Fair in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Family History Centre on Saturday, 15 November 2014 from 9:30 am until 4 pm. 

Learn how to search for your ancestors and build your family tree. It will be a day of fun, music, discussions and great teachers. Presenters include Dr Allen Marble, the president of Genealogy Association of Nova Scotia (GANS) and other well known and experienced genealogists.

To see the schedule for the day, click on the following link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5QmHTtDVKmWXNDNGljdzlzRVU/edit?usp=sharing  

Registration is totally free. Everybody will be provide with a free lunch. To sign up, click on the link http://www.lds.org/familyhistoryfair  

The location is Dartmouth Family History Centre, 44 Cumberland Drive in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. Google Maps gets you to the door: https://goo.gl/maps/FQ0MD 

For more information contact Doug Williams at ddoug.williams10@gmail.com 

LiterASIAN 2014: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing

The LiterASIAN 2014: A Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing begins October 9 to 12 at the Richmond Library and Cultural Centre, British Columbia, and it will feature the following authors

  • Fred Wah

  • Louise Bak

  • Tom Cho

  • Corinna Chong

  • Doretta Lau

  • Edwin Lee

  • Serena Leung

  • Kim Fu

  • Souvankham Thammavongsa

  • Yasuko Nguyen Thanh

  • Elsie Sze 

  • and Lily Chow. 

There will be author readings, book launches and book signings, a special poetry reading evening with open mike, book fair, outreach event at Richmond Library and Cultural Centre, British Columbia and our second annual celebration dinner fundraiser at the Pink Pearl Restaurant.

LiterASIAN: a Festival of Pacific Rim Asian Canadian Writing is a community-building initiative by the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop and Ricepaper Magazine. 

To see the full program, go to http://www.asiancanadianwriters.ca/

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Newly Reopened Museum and Archives

The newly renovated Lennox & Addington County Museum and Archives located in Napanee, near Kingston, Ontario has just reopened, and I hear that it is just wonderful. 

The expansion consists of a new addition featuring a large research room, archival storage, and display areas.

The museum and archives is a research library and extensive local archives documenting county history, as well as genealogical files for those who want to find their personal connection to the past. 

For example, the Genealogical Research Collections contain published and unpublished genealogies, published genealogical reference works, micrographic sources, card indices and family files. 

For historical background, there are municipal papers from the County of Lennox and Addington, the old Town of Napanee, villages of Newburgh and Bath, and townships within the County. 

The museum holds the Napanee Standard, Napanee Express, Napanee Beaver, The Heritage and other local newspapers. The archives has over 700 reels of microfilm, and over 10,000 original images. 

The museum and archives will be open from Monday - Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm, but they will be closed on holidays. They are open 3rd Tuesday of the month until 8 pm for "Tuesday Nights at the Museum" 


Monday, October 6, 2014

Canadian Week in Review - 06 October 2014


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

History Week in Canada


In 1871, British garrison troops throughout Canada were called home, to be replaced by Canadian militia.There were two types of militia, and they were -
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In 1907, Alexander Graham Bell formed the Aerial Experiment Association at Baddeck, N.S. The group built several successful gasoline-powered biplanes. John McCurdy made the first manned flight in Canada on Feb. 23, 1909. The group also worked on hydrofoil boats.

To learn more about the Silver Dart, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEA_Silver_Dart
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In 1953, John Galt's Canada Co. was formally liquidated at London, England. Chartered in 1826, the company played an important role in colonizing the western part of Upper Canada.

To read more about the Canada Company, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Company

Social Media


(Video) The First World War: Excerpts from the Diary of Woodman Leonard   
If war wasn’t enough to endure, Canadian soldiers had the Battle of the Somme, ammunition shortages, low rations, and the rain that turned everything into mud! 
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Elgin County Ontario Canada and Talbot Times Genealogy Blog  
Researching Elgin Roots in the Tweed Area

Nova Scotia


Glasgow to get direct flights to Nova Scotia
WestJet, the Canadian airline, has announced a new, direct service from Glasgow to Halifax in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia farm declared heritage property
Two years after purchasing Janice's family homestead, the Durham (Nova Scotia) couple had Thorbank Farm officially declared a heritage property by the two levels of government during a special ceremony.

Ontario


West Niagara churches commemorate War Measures Act
Two west Niagara churches were among just 100 across the country to celebrate the unveiling of memorial plaques to mark the 100th anniversary of the signing of the War Measures Act.

Hologram Coin Celebrates Canadian Space Agency's 25-Year Legacy
Commemorating a quarter-century of Canadian astronaut and robotic achievements in space, the Royal Canadian Mint has released a new collector coin for the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Space Agency.

Franklin ship found in Arctic was HMS Erebus
The shipwreck located by researchers last month was HMS Erebus, which Sir John Franklin sailed on during his doomed 1845 quest to find the Northwest Passage to Asia.

Canada's Lancaster bomber returns home after historic U.K. tour
Canada’s only operational Second World War-era Lancaster bomber plane was met by hundreds of cheering onlookers and a Scottish marching band as it touched down in Hamilton Sunday after a historic aerial tour in the U.K.

Cobham Parish Magazine helps Canadian man uncover family history
A Canadian man discovered his historic links to Cobham through parish magazine and newspaper clippings dating back to 1914.

Manitoba


Hudson's Bay Company announces donation of historic mural to The Manitoba Museum
The Pioneer at Fort Garry, a 16.5-metre by 3-metre oil-on-canvas mural, which had been a fixture in the Hudson's Bay Winnipeg Downtown store since 1927, was removed in January 2014 in preparation for donation to The Manitoba Museum.

Saskatchewan


Canadian History Ehx: The early settlers of Grenfell
In the early 1870s, the area of Grenfell was open prairie, with a few missionaries and fur traders passing through every so often.

Saskatoon's Knox United asking for help with roof repairs
Church makes case for grant under heritage program using historical work records for money to help fix the roof.

A piece of Saskatoon history finds a new home
The Bedford Road Collegiate gymnasium has found a new home at the Brainsport.

Alberta


Legacy of Heroes looks at history of aircraft used in criminal pursuit
The new issue is called “Flight into Danger”, and Jeff Awid, Writer/Producer with EPS Corporate Communications Branch, says it chronicles the first time in Canadian history that aircraft was used in a criminal pursuit.

British Columbia


Arson suspected in Keefer Street heritage house fire
Property damage appears to have been deliberately set.

Story of the Week


Women’s History Month 2014

As a person who owns my own business at www.elrs.biz, I read the facts that are on the Status of Women Canada webite at http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/commemoration/whm-mhf/facts-faits-eng.html with interest, because October is Women’s History Month.

The first fact that is on the page is that women represent 47.3% of the Canadian labour force today, which is good news. And the good news for people who are involved in the genealogy business is that in 2011, women held the majority ownership of 16% of small- and medium-sized businesses – although women were more likely to own small- rather than medium-sized businesses.
They have a 31-day-challenge this year, and it is to share historic and recent information about Canadian women in business, every day, on your favourite social media platform. That sounds like a really good idea!

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! 

The next post will be on 13 October 2014.