The Nova Scotia Genealogist - New Issue

Their newsletter just came in this past weekend in its new large format, and it looks good.

There are three articles of interest this edition and they are -

• "The Death of William Ackhurst" by K. Lamb

• "A Note on the Family of Robert Westcott of Warwick and North Kingston, Rhode Island and Newport and Falmouth, Nova Scotia" by B. Owen

• "Ferdinand Traunweizer, an Itinerant Jeweller from Poland to Texas, Part I" by S. Lomas.

In their 'Sources of Research' section, they have published the database put together by Earle Ripley of Saskatoon of the "His Majesty's Nova Scotia Regiment of Fencible Infantry, Part II".

If you want to contact Earle, he can be reached at condomble@shaw.ca.

Also, there is a list of surnames found at the Dartmouth Heritage Museum on page 135 of the newsletter.

The site of the Dartmouth Heritage Museum is at www.dartmouthheritagemuseum.ns.ca, and their email is museum@bellaliant.com

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, our faithful readers!

So, here are some links for the same festive greetings in different languages or as listed by country.

Merry Christmas (in over 75 languages) - www.ethnicharvest.org/ideas/christmas.htm

Merry Christmas (by country) - www.myuniversalfacts.com/2005/12/how-to-say-merry-christmas-in.html

Happy New Year (by language) - www.myuniversalfacts.com/2005/12/how-to-say-happy-new-year-in-different.html

I have my hopes on some nice things for my genealogy research, although I was lucky enough to solve a brickwall this past year, which in turn, was a solved brickwall from the previous couple of years - my Aunt Annie Louisa Barclay, whom I had heard about, but couldn't find. Well, long story short (I will write abut this later in detail), I discovered a new branch of the family, and made contact with a few distant "cousins" along the way.

So may Santa fulfill all your genealogy wishes!

Elizabeth

Genealogy Season is Stirring!

Every spring, the genealogy season in Canada starts to stir as the weather changes from cold and snow, to warm and sunshine. It's also a good time for the Ottawa Branch of the OGS to take advantage of the change in seasons, as it hosts its 27th Annual Gene-O-Rama on March 26 and 27 at the Library and Archives Canada.

The theme, "Researching Female Ancestors", will feature Lisa Alzo as guest speaker Friday evening, speaking on "Silent Voices: Telling the Stories of Your Female Immigrant Ancestors".

Saturday seems to be quite full of interesting topics such as "Using Library and Archives Canada Databases and Resources to Trace Females Ancestors" to "DNA Testing for Genealogy: Not Just for Men".

In the evening is the banquet, to be held at Algonquin College. The guest speaker, Glenn Wright, will give a talk on "Sex, Lies and Archives: Behind Closed Doors at the Public Archives of Canada, 1900-1950".

The lecture on Friday evening is free to the public, and the cost for Saturday's banquet is very reasonable, at $35.00 for an individual OGS member, or $40.00 for a non-member.

For more information, visit their website, or contact them at conference@ogsottawa.on.ca.

Hope to see you there!

Arcalife Nets Deal

Vancouver's Arcalife, and a British company, Firebird Media Ltd., have signed a deal which will bring the two companies closer together in archiving personal history on the Internet.

Arcalife will use Firebird Media's Memorybank to offer its customers a "people's archive", including sources of local history as well as their own personal history.

Arcalife CEO Paul Taylor says, "This is significant opportunity for both organizations. Many of our operational needs are similar and our services are complimentary, so it makes perfect sense".

I met Paul in Ottawa about a month ago while I was covering a meeting for the Canada 150 Project. At that time, he was busy getting his company out of the starting blocks in Canada, and was looking forward to a bright future.

It looks like he has struck his stride with this partnership.

Yukon Genealogy

Did any of your ancestors go to the Yukon to look for gold in the Klondike Gold Rush, or once lived in Dawson City? If so, then the Yukon Genealogy website is the place you should look.

They have many databases onsite, such as the Dawson City Museum "Pan for Gold" Database, for example.

This database contains records of people travelling in the Klondike, death records, and people involved in the placer mining applications.

Other databases include the Yukon Residents Database (1894-1958); Pioneer Cemetery (1900-1965); Grey Mountain Cemetery (1960-1976); Yukon News Obituary Index (1966-2000); Deaths and Burials of the Yukon River Basin (1887-2007); Francophone Yukoners; Sourdough Air Display, 1971-2006; and Yukon Barristers Roll.

To gain access to all of these databases, go to www.yukongenealogy.com/content/ykgen_db.htm.

Nepean Neighbourhoods

The City of Nepean — before it was annexed in 2001 by the City of Ottawa — was once made up of 57 neighbourhoods such as Fallowfield, Pinecrest, and the Skead's Mills section of Westboro.

The Nepean Museum in Ottawa is doing something special next year - they are putting on a display of the former city's neighbourhoods, and they need your help.

If you have any stories or photographs of these neighbourhoods, you are asked to send them to Emily Bracewell, Collections Manager at the Nepean Museum at collections@nepeanmuseum.ca, or to contact her by phone at 613.723.7936.

She says on the website that they are looking for "pictures and stories of significant events, people, buildings, or landmarks in your neighbourhood".

The following are the neigbourhoods, and the date listed beside each one is the year up to which they need information:

Arlington Woods - 2000
Barrhaven/Jockvale/Fraservale/Knollsbrook - 2000
Bayshore - 2000
Bayswater - 1907
Bell's Corners/Lynwood Village/Arbeatha Park - 2000
Borden Farm - 2000
Briargreen - 2000
Bridlewood - 1978
Britannia - 1950
Bytown - 1850
Carlington - 1950
Cedarhill Estates - 2000
Centrepointe - 2000
Cityview - 2000
Country Place - 2000
Craig Henry - 2000
Crystal Beach - 2000
Davidson Heights - 2000
Fallowfield - 2000
Fisher Glen - 2000
Fisher Heights - 2000
Graham Park - 2000
Grenfell Glen - 2000
Hampton Park - 1950
Heart's Desire - 2000
Hintonburg - 1907
Leslie Park -2000
Longfields -2000
Manordale -2000
McKellar Townsite - 1950
Meadowlands - 2000
Mechanicsville - 1907
Merivale District - 2000
Mount Sherwood/Orangeville - 1889
Orchard Estates - 2000
Ottawa East (Archville) - 1907
Ottawa South - 1907
Ottawa West - 1950
Parkwood Hills -2000
Pinecrest - 1950
Pineglen - 2000
Qualicum - 2000
Rideau Glen -2 000
Rideauville - 1907
Rochesterville - 1889
Rocky Point - 2000
Ryan Farm - 2000
Shirley's Bay - 2000
Skyline - 2000
Stewarton - 1889
Tanglewood - 2000
The Glebe - 1889
The Veteran's Housing Project - 1947
Trend Village - 2000
Twin Elm - 2000
Westboro (Skead's Mills) - 1950
Westcliffe Estates - 2000

You have until the end of February to get your information to the museum, which is located online at www.nepeanmuseum.ca.

Atlantic-Canadian Irish on Facebook

Word comes from Michael Brophy's Irish Genealogy Blog that David Allen Lambert, the "Online Genealogist" and staff member of NEHGS in Boston, has started a Facebook page devoted to the Irish called the "Atlantic-Canadian Irish Genealogical Interest Group".

David and the group will discuss the topic of the "two boat" Irish people — the Irish who came to Canada first and then went to the United States, or first to the United States and then to Canada — before and after the Great Famine.

The link is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=198333073033&ref=ts

David can be reached at dalresearch@comcast.net

FYI, I just recently interviewed David for Moorshead Magazines as one in a series of genealogists of note. The interview will appear in a future issue.

e-NewsLeaf - Dec 2009

The December issue of e-NewsLeaf (the e-newsletter of the OGS) was published the other day, and it contains -

- A report on the AGM and Fall Workshop of the Brant County Branch. Mary Gladwin, the Oxford County Archivist, talked on "Identifying Photographs".

- A story about the London-Middlesex Branch. Author Cheryl MacDonald talked about a book she has written on women murderers.

- An update on the upcoming OGS Conference in Toronto http://torontofamilyhistory.org/2010.

- A short article on the Strays Project on the OGS website at www.ogs.on.ca, of which I received a reply advising of a stray named Cecil Shortt from Margaret Gordon. The information can be found at http://publish.uwo.ca/~bgordon/JamesShortPC.html.

On a personal note, I had written a short piece about my search for HALEY relatives (originally from Nova Scotia) who had gone to California as my editorial for the newsletter.

Well, talk about providence! Almost immediately after e-NewsLeaf was posted, I received a note from Joyce M., a cousin in Kingston (Ontario) that I didn't realize that I had, explaining the family connection as well as the news that some of "our" relatives are buried in Springfield Cemetery, Oxford County, Ontario.

Also, her son lives in San Francisco, and the next time she visits, she will look up the "homestead" in the Centreville-Newark area, located nearby.

This all goes to show you how powerful the Internet can be in connecting people together!

If you've been this lucky with your searches, drop me a note at genealogycanada@aol.com and tell me your story - I'd love to hear it.

The next e-NewsLeaf will be out at the beginning of next month.

Halifax Explosion

Although I have no ancestors who died in the Halifax Explosion (December 6, 1917), I have heard enough people talk about it over the years to know what a horrible time it was for the city.

I lived in the North End at one time, and I used to go for walks in Fort Needham Park in which the bells are located (from a church that was destroyed in the explosion), and in doing so, passed the famous Hydrostone houses that were just down the street from me - http://wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hydrostone.

Born a Haligonian, I was made very much aware of what had happened in Halifax on that fateful day in 92 years ago.

If you would like to visit Halifax through the Internet, go to www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/virtual/explosion/explosion.asp. There, you will find the list of those who died, a film about the explosion, personal narratives, and other interesting items all related to the explosion.

One more point of note is that the City of Boston in Massachusetts receives a Christmas tree from the citizens of Nova Scotia for all the help they provided in the aftermath of that catastrophe. Please visit www.gov.ns.ca/natr/extension/Christmastrees/bostontree.htm and
www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/11/29/trees_roots_get_lost_in_this_flap
for more on this special relationship.

Petworth Emigration Project

Brenda Dougall Merriman, my friend and fellow genealogy blogger at brendadougallmerriman.blogspot.com, has sent the latest news on the Petworth Emigrants.

Be sure to drop by her blog because she has good and interesting reports on there - from cemeteries, to burial practices in India, to camels in Egypt.

Well-worth the read, even if your don't have ancestors in those areas.

==========

Colonel George Wyndham, the son of the third Earl of Egremont, was instrumental in the large Petworth Emigration of 1832-1837 to Canada from southeast England.

Wyndham also sponsored emigrations from his estates in Ireland, but only the first was conducted under similar care and conditions as those of his father.

Now, historian Wendy Cameron has uncovered a list of that first group sent from Ireland in 1839 on the ship Waterloo. The list includes names, ages, family members, and their locations in January 1840. The names of most towns and townships are in the old Newcastle District of Upper Canada, but some went on to the United States.

For more information, please visit our Petworth Emigrations website at www.petworthemigrations.com.

We also have a group presence on Facebook called "Petworth Emigrants" at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=49248715727

Brenda Dougall Merriman, CG

Overland Immigration Records

Before 1908, people were free to move back and forth over the border with the United States.

Beginning in 1908, entry ports were set up along the border in established towns and villages, and records were beginning to be kept. Please remember that there are no records for people whose parents were either born in Canada or had previously resided in Canada - they were considered to be "returning Canadians".

The entry form used was called Form 30 (as opposed to Form 30A, which were Ocean Arrivals), and it was used from 1919 to 1924 for each person crossing the border.

There is one reel of microfilm for people who were rejected entry into Canada: Reel T-15345.

Form 30 was discontinued in 1935, and the large passenger form was reinstated.

Usually the following information was filled out in them -

- Port and Date of Entry

- Name

- Age

- Occupation

- Birthplace

- Race

- Citizenship

- Religion

- Last Permanent Address

- Destination

The records can be browsed online at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=1&interval=30&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=ul87it31netclt1vokqiu1i4p5

Ocean Arrivals

Some of you may remember when Ancestry.ca became a partner with the Library and Archives Canada back in 2007, and at the time, they said they would tackle the Canadian Passenger Lists first.

They have done that over the past two years, and the last bit of the puzzle—the Ocean Arrivals (1919-1924)—have now been added to the database.

The Ocean Arrivals is Form 30A, which took the place of those huge passenger lists that we were in various states of "hard-to-use" microfilm at the LAC. And now, they are all online at http://landing.ancestry.ca/intl/canada/passenger/lists.aspx.

So I took a look at the Ocean Arrivals.

First of all, they are individual passenger lists rather than ships' manifests, as the passenger lists were before 1919.

Since they were individual passenger manifests, they are in a semi-alphabteical order, and the following information is included on the form -

- the name of the ship

- the name of port of departure. The most popular ports of departure were Liverpool, England; London, England; Glasgow, Scotland; Antwerp, Belgium; and Southampton, England.

- arrival date in Canada

- the name of port of arrival in Canada. The five most popular ports were Quebec City, Quebec; Saint John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Vancouver, British COlumbia; and Victoria, British Columbia

- the name of the passenger

- his or her age at the time of arrival

- gender

- name of the birthplace

- marital status

- present occupation

- intended occupation

- race

- citizenship

- religion

- object of going to Canada

- whether intend to live permanently in Canada

- destination

- name of the nearest relative in the country from which they came

- passport information

These original records are from the Library and Archives Canada, where the microfilm is kept.

Conference 2010 - Everything is Going Green!

Not to be left out in the cold—technologically-speaking—Toronto Branch has just added something new to their blog: the syllabus of the 2010 Conference. And it is going green!

Instead of rushing around and not having time to pick what I want to attend in advance, I will now be able to choose at home what lecture I want to hear, and I will be able to print out just those ones. Nifty!

But if you don’t have the time (it’s always a question of time, isn’t it?), you can arrange to buy the printed variety at $15.00 a copy when you get to the conference itself.

I am interested to see how this works because it will be the first year for the Internet-based syllabus.

The syllabus can be viewed online at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/2010/conference-2010-syllabus

Saskatchewan Cemeteries

The Saskatchewan Minister of Justice has appointed Al Dwyer, the former Registrar of Cemeteries, to look into the matter of there are any cemeteries not being recorded, or left abandoned.

In a recent interview, Linda Dunsmore-Porter, President of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society, said that “We were approached by the Minister of Justice, Consumer Protection Branch, Registrar of Cemeteries, and were asked if a program could be developed, would SGS be willing to take on the administration of it. We agreed”.

In 1975, the SGS started to record the cemeteries in the province and, so far, has located 3,428 cemeteries and burial grounds, and have recorded 2,439 of them.

Linda says that they have already spent about two hours with Dwyer when he made his first stop.

“Al’s first stop was SGS, where we spent approximately two hours discussing the issue, how SGS could help, and various ideas about the process”.

Dwyer says that groups, individuals, and organizations interested in the working group can leave their contact information for him at 1.877.880.5550.

You can check out the SGS cemetery website at <www.saskgenealogy.com/general/Cemetery_Webpage.htm>.

FamilySearch.org Releases Indexing Update

FamilySearch.org has been actively indexing Canadian records for a number of years. They have currently completed two projects, and have recently started another three projects.

The ones they have just completed are the British Columbia Deaths (1872-1986) and Marriages (1859-1932).

The new ones that they have just taken on is the Deaths (1872-1986) Part 2 of British Columbia, and the Indexing of the Trust Cemeteries (1826-1935) of Toronto.

There was a piece about the Toronto Trust Cemeteries in the November 2009 issue of the OGS' newsletter, NewsLeaf, on page 70 under "News Briefs" in which the project was described, and the cemeteries named which are included in the project. It is 1% complete.

Another project which they have recently started is Registres Paroissaux of Montreal (1800-1900) which is 8% complete. It is in French.

You can help by volunteering to help at FamilySearchIndexing.org and the completed projects and digital image collections can be searched for free at Pilot.FamilySearch.org.

Ontario Marriage Registers by Clergy (1896-1948)

This fall, Ancestry.ca released the Ontario Marriage Registers by the Clergy database. It houses information on 12,000 marriages listed under the Registration Act of 1896.

Most of the marriages are by Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers.

The ministers had to report the marriages within 30 days of when they took place.

There were pre-printed forms that the ministers had to fill out, and the spaces covered such items as name, age, residence, whether bachelor/spinster or widow/widower, occupation for the groom only, religious denomination, and names of parents.

The record also contained both signatures of the people being married, and the names and addresses of the witnesses.

The database can be found at Ancestry.ca.

Online Access to Tweedsmuir Histories

Since 1920, the Federated Women's Institutes of Ontario has been gathering local history and has been preserving the histories in book form. *

On Nov 19th — in conjunction with the Ontario Genealogical Society — they issued a press release to say that they are partnering with the OGS to digitize 989 local histories and put them in OGS' e-Library.

About a half-million pages of history will be digitized.

"The books include a history of the local settlers in the area, the agricultural practices and industries that formed the basis of the local economy, the social institutions such as churches, schools and community centres, and local personalities," says the press release.

The project will take at least three years, and the project will "identify, conserve, preserve, and digitize all available Ontario Tweedsmuir Histories."

* Background information on the Treedsmuir Histories can be read in its entirely at the OGS website by clicking on "News" on the left-hand side of the webpage.

Publications This Fall

I have been quite successful in having a number of articles published this fall -

1. Canadian Funeral News - "Canadian Cemeteries are being saved by the Internet". November 2009. Pages 14-17.

This was an interesting piece to write. I sort of went "outside the box", so to speak, and had fun contacting everyone for the article, which was delivered on a very short timeline - but I'm used to deadlines!

It contains interviews with Sherri Pettit, the Director of the OntGenWeb Project, about the Canadian GenWeb Cemetery Project, and she led me to Debra Mann, who singlehandedly is saving cemeteries (Sherri calls her a "cemetery hopper") in Western Ontario, to Graveyard Rabbits in Canada, to Jim McKane, who has started CanadianHeadstones.com - where you can transcribe tombstones on to his site.

If, by chance, you do take a look at the article, the first picture is one of the headstone of my great-great-great uncle, James BARCLAY, and his wife, Catharine BINGAY, from Shelburne, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

2. Discovering Family History - "Discovering Your Family History Center!". November/December 2009.

This article looked at the Family History Centres around the world to see why they have been so successful.

There are over 4,500 in the world now, and I took a look at the one in Ottawa on Prince of Wales Drive, and interviewed Shirley-Ann Pyefinch, its Director.

I asked her what she liked about working for the FHC, and how it has changed since she became its director three years ago.

3. Family Tree Magazine - "Follow your ancestors to Canada", November 2009. Pages 66-68.

This article focusses mainly on the Canadian Genealogy Center of the Library and Archives Canada.

I put the article out there for people to read because I don't think enough has been written about it yet, and what a great resource it is to the world.

I talk about the many databases that have been put online, and how the centre has coped with putting these databases online since its inception in 2003.

4. e-NewsLeaf - If you belong to the Ontario Genealogical Society, you already know about it.

But if you don't know about it, e-NewsLeaf it is an electronic newsletter that is issued in January, March, April, June, July, September, October, and December, and it contains short articles about what the different branches have been doing, bringing members up-to-date on the latest OGS news.

It's headed toward its second year as an added bonus to the members of the OGS, and I quite enjoy doing it.

I have a number of articles coming in the winter - an interview with Glenn Wright, a genealogist from Ottawa and an expert in Canadian military matters; one about Youth Genealogy, which is really taking off in the United States, and a few other pokers in the fire—so to speak—which I hope to have confirmed shortly.

I would say that I have a busy winter to look forward to - and come to think of it - a busy spring, too!

Nov-Dec 2009 "Ottawa Branch News"

A profile of 102-year old Elizabeth Stevens SMART is the lead story in the November-December 2009 issue of Ottawa Branch News. She is the oldest living member of the Ottawa Branch, and she goes right back to when it was formed in 1972. She has membership number 18!

Written by George NEVILLE, an Ottawa member, the article is based on a four-hour interview with Elizabeth taken in 2002, and covers her school history from Grade Primary right up to her Teacher Training.

The story will be continued in the next edition of the newsletter.

Elizabeth and Edward KIPP went on another research trip, and this time, they visited the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They also attended the RATHUN reunion.

Overall, they gave good marks to the library, explaining the available resources and points to note. I would recommend reading this material before going there to do research.

In this issue, Robert SERRE talks about William CROSS, Hugh DAVIS, and Thomas FORAN in his ongoing series, "Early Residents of Ottawa's Sandy Hill Neighbourhood", and Mike MORE talks about the things he has found on the Internet under the title of "Electronic Notebook".

The "Historic Plaques and Monuments" in this issue showcases the Canadian Heritage Rivers System - The Rideau Waterway. Included in the article is a lovely picture of the plaque, and a brief history of the waterway.

2 Minutes to Remember

The Historica-Dominion Institute <www.historica-dominion.ca> combined forces in the fall of this year, and their new website is now up-and-running, so I decided to take a look.

I found, basically, the same site as before (they have just combined the content), but they have added a new wrinkle this Remembrance Day - and that is "2 Minutes To Remember" on November 11 at 11 o'clock.

You can sign up on the site (so far, relatively few Canadians have done so). It is a good thing to do if you cannot go out to Remembrance Day ceremonies, and wish to pay respects at home, work, or school.

They still have "The Memory Project: Stories of the Second World War", where you can browse the stories or submit a story. They walk you through the process.

And in the "Ontario Veteran Community Archive", I see where they have plans to visit towns and cities in Ontario this winter in order to hold digitization workshops for the stories.

CanadianLetters.ca

A new website has recently come to my attention: it is CanadianLetters.ca. It contains copies of many letters written during the wars Canadians have fought.

Started by the History Department of Vancouver University and The University of Western Ontario, it's objective is to "let Canadians tell their own story in their own words and images by creating a permenent online archives which preserves Canada's wartime correspondence, photographs, and other personal material materials, from the battlefront and the home front".

Currently, they have letters from the Pre-1914 Era, First and Second World Wars, the Korea Collection, Post-Korea Collections, and an area called "Special Collections' which has interviews and newspapers like the Cobourg World, which published letters written home from the front in the First World War.

The project is ongoing, and as the website says, "It is continually seeking and adding new materials to the project site".

Battle of the Atlantic

At the Battle of the Atlantic parade held this past May 3rd in Ottawa, the following piece was written about the battle -

"On the 3rd of September 1939, the Athania* was sunk off the coast on Northern Ireland. One week later, Canada was officially at war.

The Royal Canadian Navy lost over 2,000 personnel and 24 warships. More than 900 RCAF and Canadian Army personnel were killed in this battle.

Between 1939 and 1945, over 1,700 Merchant Navy personnel lost their lives due to enemy action. Over 70 Canadian Merchant ships were sunk, most of them in the Battle of the Altering.

Approximately 350 aircraft were lost, and more than 900 aircrew were killed during the Battle of the Atlantic.

The RCN and the Merchant Navy made nearly 26,000 safe crossings, carrying over 181,000 million tons of supplies to Great Britain.

With victory in the Atlantic secured, victory in Europe was assured."

* The Athania was headed for Canada, carrying many Irish immigrants.

Heroes Remembered

As many of us are aware, war veterans—in general—do not wish to talk about their wartime experiences. Available to you, however, are now over 1,600 hours of video and audio conservations with 75 veterans from the 20th century wars with which Canada has been involved.

These interviews, along with pictures of the veterans and their stories, are available online at <www.vac-acc.gc.ca>.

You can also search the database to find out about the conflicts, the geographic location of the conflicts, the campaign, the branches of the Canadian Forces, and the regiments which fought in the campaigns.

There is also a section devoted to the Chinese-Canadians who took part in the Second World War, and stories from Canadians who flew the Spitfire - the plane used at the beginning of the Second World War.

There are diaries, letters, poems, popular songs from the Second World War that you can listen to, art, and Remembrance Day posters from previous years.

How Will You Remember?

The theme of this year's Veterans Week (Nov 5th to Nov 11th) is "How will you remember?"

The Library and Archives Canada has put on their website "Welcome to Canada at War: a Guide to Library and Archives Canada Recalling the Canadian War Experience".

This year marks the 65th anniversary of both D-Day and the Battle of Normandy, and the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War.

For information on the role that the Canadian military played during the Second World War, please go to the virtual exhibit called Faces of War at <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/faces-of-war/index-e.html>.

Grosse Île Quarantine Station - Thematic Guide

The Thematic Guide to Sources Relating to the Grosse Île Quarantine Station was published on the Library and Archives Canada website Friday.

Some of these records contain genealogical information — e.g. Immigrants at Grosse Île (1885-1937) — about people who passed through or died at Grosse Île.

Go to <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/the-public/005-1142.08-e.html>.

If you are planning a trip to the LAC in the near future, please check with them first to see if they are open.

They are presently closed due to a lack of heat and water caused by the shutdown last week of a heating plant caused by a boiler explosion in which one worker died, and several others were seriously injured.

"Disease & Distress!" Workshop

On Saturday, 28 November, the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Canadiana Department of the North York Central Library have joined together to sponsor "Disease & Distress!", an all-day workshop on how our ancestors handled adversity.

With expert speakers from Ontario and the United States, this event will offer a window on our ancestors' struggles with hardships and devastation - from the "white plague" to life on the WWI home front - and the footprints they left behind.

The workshop will be held in the Auditorium of the North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge Street, at the North York Centre subway station.

For program and registration details, visit <www.torontofamilyhistory.org>. To check availability, call 416-733-2608 (voice mail) or e-mail <info@torontofamilyhistory.org>.

Ryan Taylor Memorial Lecture

Due to the closure of Library and Archives Canada facilities until at least Sunday, the Ryan Taylor Memorial Lecture scheduled for this Saturday, October 24th has been cancelled.


Mike More
Chair, Ottawa Branch OGS
<chair@ogsottawa.on.ca>
<http://ogsottawa.on.ca>

Helpful Tips....

Some helpful research tips were in the fall edition of the Quebec Family History Society's newsletter, Connections, which I received the other day.

The first one was Quebec Newspapers Search on page 11, where you can check for BMDs in selected newspapers.

You are required to have a membership to the Bibliotheque at Archives nationales du Quebec <www.banq.qc.ca>, and then you can search online.

The membership is free, but you have to register.

The membership is only open to Quebec residents at present. The newspapers to check are the Montreal Gazette, The Quebec City Chronicle Telegraph, the Sherbrooke Record and the Stanstead Journal.

The second place to check is the online catalogue with the QFHS.

They have a system whereby you can borrow three books and/or five periodicals for up to three weeks, and the copy says "all members can borrow books from the library, no matter where you live."

You may not be aware but the QFHS has been putting names into a database - so much so that there are now over 1-million records in the database as of 1 January, 2009.

If you are a member, do not forget to check this fast growing database - it's invaluable in doing Quebec research.

Pennie Redmile is doing a notary database in Quebec.

Notaries handled various contacts of the day including wills, marriage contacts, land transactions etc and the Quebec archives hold their records up to c1899.

If you have a specific name, you can asked that it be looked up for free, but if want the accompanying documents, a fee of $10.00 will be charged to cover such costs as photocopies and postage.

You can contact Pennie at <predile@total.net>.

You do not have be a member to take advantage of this service.

The QFHS also offers a number of search features to the members, For example, you can ask that they look up a certain surname per cementery for $5.00, and they can also do in-depth research for you for $20.00 an hour.

Of course, you can enter the name you are looking for in their Ancestral Surname List and you can always go to their library at 173 Cartier Avenue, Point Claire (Montreal) Quebec to search on your own.

Go to their website <www.qfhs.ca> for more information.

Long Point Settlers

R. Robert Mutrie has made the Long Point Settlers of Norfolk County his life story.

As his website points out, "he is quite simply, 'Mr. Long Point Settler'".

Over the years, he has gathered information on over 600 Norfolk County pioneers which he has put together in a book called, The Long Point Settlers.

Now he has put a representation of his work at <http://sites.google.com/site/longpointsettlers> in which he gives a brief summary of each of the genealogies online.

If you want to learn more, you can place an order in the on-demand access site for the complete genealogy.

The Long Point Settlers were pioneers who settled in Norfolk County in southwestern Ontario from 1795 to around 1815.

Norfolk County is comprised of the townships of Walsingham, Charlotteville, Woodhouse, Townsend, Windham, Middleton, and Houghton.

From 1994 to 2000, he also published The Long Point Settllers Journals, of which a number of issues are still available.

He may be contacted at <rmutrie@becon.org>.

FamilySearch.org Canadian Projects - Update

The people at FamilySearch.org published their latest press release yesterday, and they have three Canadian projects that are being indexed.

In British Columbia, they have completed 43%% of the Death Vital Registers, and 71% of the Marriage Registers.

A new one — Registres Paroissiaux (the Parish Registers) (1800-1900) — is just underway, only having completed 2% so far, and it will be in French.

By coincidence, I have an article coming out in the November/December issue of Discovering Family History Magazine entitled, "Discovering Your Family History Center"!

It talks about Family History Centers around the world (did you know that there are 4,500 centers in 88 countries?), and their impact on the local genealogical community.

BIFHSGO Conference - Walkabout

I am resting up from my three-day stint of going around at the BIFHSGO Conference, which held from Sept 18th to 20th at the Library and Archives Canada.

Saturday morning, I spent time visiting the different vendors, and can report that the Quebec Family History Society has cancelled its 2010 conference.

With Formula 1 auto racing returning to Montreal in June of 2010, and the tying up of all the hotels and conference rooms by the race teams and fans, it was decided to postpone the conference until 2011.

The second part of the marketplace was in Salons A & B on the main floor. When we were there, we saw lots of people buying such genealogical things asCDs and magazines.

What caught my eye was the huge "For Free" table, right in the middle of the room. It had tourist information (maps, books, pamphlets) on it from Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales. It was a joy to pick up everything about Scotland - my ancestral home!

We visited with Ed Zapletal from Moorshead Magazines, and he reported very good sales, as did other vendors. Here he is with co-owner, Rick Cree (left).


The next day, I took a minute to visit the Canadian Council of Archives to see how everyone was, and they told me that have a conference coming up in November called the "Archives & You".


That should be fun to attend since it is just down the road from where we live, and on the second day, we will be visiting all sorts of archives in the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau (Quebec).

Their website is <www.archivesconference.ca>.

BIFHSGO Conference - LAC Comments

Friday evenings, at the start of the BIFHSGO conference's opening ceremonies, they have someone from the LAC give a talk about what is going on at the facility (followed by the guest speaker for the Don Whiteside Memorial Lecture).

For the past two years, it has been Doug Rimmer, LAC Assistant Deputy Minister (Programs & Services). This time, he gave us a rundown of the programs which are underway at the Library and Archives Canada.

He stated that the LAC is considered the world leader in digitization. Although some may disagree with that statement (newspapers aren't being done, for example), he pointed out that many things have been, and continue to be, digitized.

Coming soon, for example, is the digitization-on-demand of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Papers <www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-909.006-e.html>.

You will be able to order the papers (for which a file can have up to 25 pieces of paper, such as pay slips, history of injuries, and discharge papers), have them digitized, and then they will be put into the general digitized papers file and made available to everyone.

It will take some time to do all 600,000 files - but they will be done.

He went over some of the physical changes that have been made to the LAC building. For example, you can apply online for a research pass, there is improved signage which makes the facility more user-friendly, and you can now order material online.

Furthermore, you can now take your digital camera and photograph documents directly from the microfilm, or you can download the images to a CD-ROM or USB key (also known as a jump, or thumb, drive) at no cost.

On Friday afternoon, I was up on the third floor, hoping to download pages of The Maple Leaf newspaper (1907-1941)*, and found out that I couldn't (assuming it was because of copyright issues).

So a word to the wise - always check before you go there. In this case, the pages (because they were less than one hundred years old) cost 20 cents a copy! Anything else older than that was free to download.

The Maple Leaf newspaper kept Canadian ex-patriots in California informed about the news back home in the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

* I was researching my great-aunt Annie Louisa Barclay, who married Caleb Scott Haley in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and then settled in Newark, Alameda County, California.

BIFHSGO Conference - Panel Discussion

On Sunday afternoon, at the closing of the BIFHSGO conference, a spirited panel discussion entitled, "Future Trends in Family History and Genealogical Research", was chaired by Glenn Wright.

L to R: Glenn Wright, Moderator, with panelists John D. Reid, Colleen Fitzpatrick, and Bryan D. Cook

Colleen brought up two points - you can't stop technology, and that the people who don't get with the program (newer technology) will eventually die out because this is where it is all heading.

Bryan said he see changes in four areas of genealogy -

He thinks that data will continue to go online as free and pay-per-view, that fee-based services will continue to increase and the market expand, that DNA testing will pick-up even more, and that people will go on telling the stories of their ancestors, but worries about who, or what service, will be available to safeguard the stories for the telling.

John said that he sees the next big thing on the horizon as the machine-read digitization of newspapers.

"If civil registration and census online was wonderful progress, digitized newspapers are, or will be, a revolution," he said.

You can read the full text of his remarks on his blog, <http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2009/09/future-of-family-history.html>.

He noted that none of the local newspapers have been digitized - those held by the Library and Archives Canada - but there is always hope!

There were about 150 attendees taking part, and when question time came, there were lots of questions.

The audience seemed generally affected by the discussion, and were concerned by the not being able to attract new members to the societies, and what they would do with their work of family histories after they had finished with them.

2009 - Year of the Home Child

Did you know that 2009 is the Year of the Home Child?

I found out about it by reading the "Ottawa Branch News", which arrived in the mail recently. It was a short notice included under "Interesting Web Sites".

There is a British website <http://www.britishhomechildren.org/> dedicated to the Descendants of the British Home Children (BHC). They have appeared to have declared 2009 as the Year of the Home Child.

Between 1869 and 1948, over 100,000 children were sent to Canada from the UK.

They have had quite a few events (some of them are listed for Canada), but I was more interested in links they had to other organizations, of which one caught my attention because it is in Canada. They also have "Images From Our Past", which provides photos of Home Children.

Locally, there is the BIFHSGO Home Children Index at <www.bifhsgo.ca/home_children.htm>.

Dave and Kay Lorente—BIFHSGO Hall of Fame members—started researching Home Children in 1991, and later signed a memorandum of understanding with BIFHSGO to let them take over the researching for Home Children.

Today, when you go to the website, you will see their work in a free, searchable database.

So far, they have put on children who immigrated to Canada between 1869 and 1948, and the indexing of the Middlemore Home Children who arrived between 1873 and 1933.

Fellow Hall of Famer (2009) and blogger, John D. Reid, has written a book entitled, Researching Canada's Home Children, published in association with BIFHSGO.

These are great resources for one's Home Children research.

BIFHSGO - Session on Writing

At this year's BIFHSGO conference—starting tomorrow on Friday, September 18th—there is going to be "The Next Steps in Genealogy" course, at which BIFHSGO will give a session on "How do I Start Writing?".

They will follow this up with an all-day session on Saturday, November 28th in Room 156 at the Library and Archives Canada Building, 365 Wellington Street, Ottawa.

They will discuss what to write about, turning records into an interesting narrative with an historical context, and working with diaries and letters.

It will cost $10.00 for BIFHSGO members, and $15.00 for non-members.

If you are interested, visit <www.bifhsgo.ca> or contact Margaret Burwell at <burwellm@rogers.com>.

There will also be another "The Next First Steps in Genealogy" course on Saturday, March 20th, 2010, again at the LAC.