Thursday, November 1, 2012

Montreal's Department of Archives.

In addition to the Annual General Meeting to be held at 10:30 am to 10:45 am on Saturday November 10th at the Briarwood Presbyterian Church Hall, 70 Beaconsfield Blvd., Beaconsfield, Montreal by the Quebec Family History Society, there will be a special talk entitled Discover 100 Years of Records at the Montreal Archives.

The talk will be presented by Mario Robert, head archivist at the Montreal Archives. Learn about the different types of records that are held in Montreal city hall's vaults and how they can be used in genealogical and historical research.

Mr. Robert's presentation will kick off the 100th anniversary of the Montreal Archives that takes place in 2013. Although Montreal was founded in 1642, its political history as a municipality only began in 1833 when the first municipal election took place. It was not until 1913, however, that city council voted to create Montreal's Department of Archives.

Members and non-members are invited to attend this event FREE and stay afterward for refreshments and conversation.

The website of the Montreal Archives is www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/archives/500ans/portail_archives_en/accueil.html

The website of the Quebec Family History Society is www.qfhs.ca

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Costumes and Halloween

The Library and Archives Canada has just put a virtual exhabit of Costumes and Halloween fancy dress balls that were hosted by Lady Aberdeen at Rideau Hall in Ottawa in the 1890s.

The exhabit is on Flickr at
www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157631684420843

Value of Hotel Registers


Have you ever thought of using hotel registers as a genealogical resource? I haven't, but they would be a good resource to search for information about your ancestor in local libraris, and archives.

There will be a meeting of the Wellington County Branch on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Zehrs Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, 1045 Paisley Road, Guelph, at which Dr. Kevin James, Associate Professor in the Department of History and Centre for Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph, will talk about The Hotel Visitor’s Book: Secrets, Lies and Everyday Jottings.

In this talk, Kevin explores the value of the hotel register as a historical source, drawing on surviving books from Victorian Ireland to show how they illuminate infidelity, modes of travel and the social regimes of the hotel.

For more information, go to www.ogs.on.ca/wellington/events.html

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Kyle J. Betit Will Be Giving Lectures in Ontario/Quebec


Kyle J. Betit is so popular that he has already sold out his appearance in Toronto on the 17th of November, but there is still room at his lectures in Ottawa, and Montreal.

On Sunday, November 18, 201, Kyle J. Betit will give a talk at the annual Ryan Taylor Memorial Lecture of the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. The lecture will be held at 1:00 pm at the Library and Archives Canada Auditorium, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.

Kyle is from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a co-editor of the popular journal The Irish At Home and Abroad, and is co-author of A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your Irish Ancestors.

For information about the lecture, please contact program@ogsottawa.on.ca, or the website at
http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

He will also be at the Quebec Family History Society on Wednesday, November 21st, and will give a talk at 7:00 pm at the QFHS Heritage Centre and Library, 173 Cartier Avenue, Pointe-Claire.

His lecture will be about Beyond the Basics of Irish Genealogy Research (Seminar), and he will talk about some of the lesser-known Irish resources that will help family historians learn more about their ancestors and track down the more elusive ones.

There will be a fee of $30.00 members, and $40.00 non-members. Reservations are required. We expect this seminar to sell out early.

Call 514.695.1502 or go to the website www.qfhs.ca/events.php for more information.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Monday, October 29, 2012

New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles - 29 October 2012


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 –

Alberta Wiki www.familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Alberta The site has a wiki which has a Record Selection Table, a Sources Links Table, and some online information about location of interest.

Out Of My Tree Blog www.outofmytreegenealogy.com/blog The blog along with a website by Barbara J. Starmans is all about Canadian genealogy. She is working on her father’s line (Bond/Bulmer), and on her mother’s line (Brown/Savage).

Olive Tree Genealogy Blog http://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/finding-ancestor-in-early-ontario.html Read Lorine’s notes on Finding an Ancestor in Early Ontario Records Before 1869. It reminds me how difficult it is to do research on an ancestor before 1869 in early Ontario.

Community Beat: Departure Bay remembers its own history www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/news/story.html?id=87c71a58-cb6e-4dc3-8970-a005cc3e6879 The Daily News from Nanaimo, BC has run a story about a wheel from an old ship which has been restored, and that along with a plaque has been installed at Departure Bay by the community association.

German-Manitoba history had origins with Hudson Bay Co. www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/german-manitoba-history-had-origins-with-hudson-bay-co-176075311.html Read how the German-Manitoban history began in the province in 1670.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Museum of Civilization Will Acquire the Empress of Ireland Collection

The museum will acquire the artifacts of the passenger ocean liner the Empress of Ireland which sank on May 29, 1914 in the St. Lawrence River just off of Quebec City. It had been broadsided by the Storstad, a Norwegian coal carrier.

It carried 1,477 passengers, and 1,012 died on that day.

The collection will include nearly 500 artifacts recovered from the site.

You can read the entire story at
www.ottawacitizen.com/Museum+Civilization+finally+acquires+Empress+Ireland+collection/7461001/story.html

The passenger and crew list is on this site at www.sea-viewdiving.com/shipwreck_info/empress_home/passengerindex.htm

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Archives of Ontario - More Real Genealogy Stories Needed

The Archives of Ontario recently launched their first Real Genealogy Stories Display featuring OGS member Debbie Watt. The story of her ancestor is in the Reading Room.

Real Genealogy Stories, is a new initiative to promote genealogy research done by OGS members at the Archives of Ontario. Selected participants will be asked to fill two of our state-of-the-art, exhibition quality cases in the Reading Room for the purpose of highlighting their family history and records held by the Archives of Ontario.

Exhibitions will be on display for three months and will also be featured on the Archives of Ontario website, which is frequented by millions of visitors. This will allow further people to experience a family history who may not be able to visit in person.

This program is open to OGS members only and can be a chance for you to display your hard work and genealogical evidence.

If you are interested in participating, fill out the application form available in the Members Only area and mail back to the address on the form.

All questions about the Real Genealogy Stories project may be directed to the Archives of Ontario. Call 416.327.1600 or email reference@ontario.ca.

The next deadline is November 30th!

For more information, go to the Archives of Ontario website at www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/index.aspx, or to the Ontario Genealogical Sociey website at www.ogs.on.ca