News from the Alberta Family History Society

The Alberta Family Histories Society (AFHS) is having a busy pre-spring month of February.

The Society will be offering a course on Sunday, February 1, at 2:00 p.m. at the AFHS Library (712 - 16 Avenue NW) in Calgary, Alberta.

You will learn how to find records, and what they can tell you about your ancestors. You will have time to search on AFHS computers, with individual assistance from the presenters.

There is also a DNA SIG ,which is becoming very popular.

Their newly-formed DNA Special Interest Group (SIG) has already held two meetings, which were very well-attended.

To help spread the word, the first issue of Thermometer is onsite at http://www.afhs.ab.ca/docs/thermometer-jan-2015.pdf

Their website is http://www.afhs.ab.ca

Their Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/AlbertaFHS

======

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

I love reading genealogy travel articles

To my mind, there is nothing so interesting and educational as genealogy travel articles. Don’t you agree?

My imagination tends to wander through the settlements where the writer’s ancestors once lived, and I'm hard-pressed to find anyone better in writing these types of articles in Canada than Elizabeth Kipp, and her husband, Ed.

I think I have read every one of their travel pieces, and I wasn’t disappointed when I received the January-March 2015 edition of The Ottawa Genealogist (the journal of the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, of which Ed is the editor), and there was an article entitled, Visiting Some WW II and WW I Sites & etc.: French Elegance Tour of France 2014 by Elizabeth Kipp (with the assistance of Edward Kipp).

They went on a tour of France in May and June of 2014, and they were interested in finding more information about Elizabeth’s Richard le Blak (Blake) of Rouen, and Edward was interested in going to Île de Ré and Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the Île de Ré, where his Huguenot ancestors were from. And they were both interested in the First and Second World War battlefields and cemeteries.

She takes us through the tour of what they saw on a daily basis, starting and ending in Paris. They saw the Bayeux Tapestry, the beaches of Normandy, the Chateux of Chenonecu, and Saint-Martin-de-Ré, toward the end of their trip.

It was truly breathtaking, the places that they were able to see. Do you write your travel stories up so that you can share them with people at your local society?

I can hardly wait until their next article. I wonder where they will travel this year?

The website for the Ottawa Genealogical Society is at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

======

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Half-year memberships is becoming popular in Canada

There are a number of societies in Canada now that offer half-year memberships. I believe that the thinking behind this is that people will want to try a half-year membership, and if they find it useful, then maybe they will try a full-year membership next time. Remember, this special deal is usually open to new members only.

So now, the Quebec Family History Society (QFHS) has offered a half-year membership for the period from January 1, 2015 to July 31, 2015 for only $40.00.*

This membership will provide you with a copy of the Summer 2015 issue of their newsletter, Connections, and full member's access to their website. Also, they invite members and non-members alike (free for members) to go to their research library in Montreal to access their many books, and use special genealogy searching programs.

To join, click on the membership form below. After printing and completing the form, you can mail it to them, along with your cheque or money order for $40.00.

The membership form is at http://www.qfhs.ca/upload/files/Special_Membership_Form_2015(1).pdf

The website is at http://www.qfhs.ca

*Their membership year runs from August 1 to July 31. Payment received after May 31 will apply to the next membership year, beginning August 1st. For an individual, the membership costs $75.00 per year for one person, or for two people living at the same address.

======

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

There has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Eaton’s Goes To War

Jay Young, Outreach Officer at the Archives of Ontario (AO), says that the archives has a new online exhibit entitled Eaton’s Goes To War, which shows the contributions made by the T. Eaton Company and its employees to the war effort during the First World War.

Soon after war broke out in 1914, Eaton’s contributed an unprecedented amount to Canada’s war effort. The company announced that all military contracts it received would be delivered at cost, and it even paid the salaries of enlisted employees for the duration of their service, in addition to their military wages.

In total, 3,327 Eaton’s employees across Canada enlisted, with 2,200 from the Toronto store alone.

The press release says that ‘Each time an enlistee employed at Eaton’s Toronto location was shipped overseas, a portrait was taken of him to be displayed prominently in the store. More than 2,000 of these portraits—part of the T. Eaton Company records at the Archives of Ontario—are featured in the exhibit. The faces of these men show an intimate side of the war.

These photographs are an excellent resource for genealogists who are researching their family history in Toronto. In particular, the exhibit allows users to view a list of names of Eaton’s enlistees and their portrait. You might discover that someone in your family was an “Eatonian” – an enlistee employed at Eaton’s.

Eaton’s Goes To War also asks users to contribute their own stories of ancestors who worked for Eaton’s during the 1910s. These stories will help to show how Eaton’s had a personal impact on Ontarians during the Great War.

To view the exhibit, go to http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/explore/online/soldiers/remembrance_day.aspx

========

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Name a ferry!

Transport Canada wants your ideas for the naming of a new ferry which will cross the Bay of Fundy between Digby, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick.

Greg Kerr, MP for West Nova, at a meeting in Digby, said the name should have some regional significance, and has to mean something to people on both sides of the Bay of Fundy.

One name which he said he had heard has been Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer and cartographer who made the first accurate map of the coast of Canada. But all ideas of a name are welcome.

There are guidelines for you to follow, and some of them are -

• It should promote Canadian culture, history or geography by honouring people or places of importance to Canadians.
• It should have some regional significance. The name should be brief and easily understood by radio or phone.
• Complicated or confusing spelling or pronunciation should be avoided.
• If it is has professional or honorific titles, like Dr. or Right Honourable, and family abbreviations, like Jr. or III, they should be avoided.
• A vessel name will only be considered for persons posthumously.
• Canadian citizens can enter as many suggestions as they wish, but only until 20 February 2015.

Forms are available at the ferry terminals in Digby and Saint John, as well as online at http://www.ferries.ca/naming.

======

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Get creative with The Armchair Genealogist!

Lynn Palermo, aka The Armchair Genealogist—a long-time Canadian blogger and family history writer—is encouraging everyone to get creative, and turn their family history research into stories by being a part of The Family History Writing Challenge - which runs from the 1st to the 28th of February.

For details on the challenge, to register, and take advantage of other incentives, such as receiving the Daily Dose newsletter, please visit her site at http://www.familyhistorywritingchallenge.com.

So how about you? Are you ready for the challenge??

=====

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Top 100 Websites of 2015

The list of ‘The Best of …’ or the ‘Top 100 Websites of ….’ are starting to appear for 2015.

The first one this year is the Top 100 Websites of 2015 by GenealogyInTime magazine at http://www.genealogyintime.com/articles/top-100-genealogy-websites-of-2015-page02.html. There are only four Canadian sites mentioned in this list.

My first reaction is that Canadian websites have a lot of catching up to do!

The four are -

• Ancestry.ca - #13
• GenealogyInTime Magazine - #26
• Anglo Celtic Roots - #97
• Global Genealogy - #100

So, on to better results in 2016 for the Canadian websites and blogs.

======

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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/01/canadian-week-in-review-19-january-2015.html

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.