Thursday, July 7, 2011

Toronto Trust Cemeteries Update

FamilySearch Centers has released the latest update on July 6th, and one of the projects they have been working on is the Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1935.

Index and images to the records of several Toronto cemeteries (York General Burying Ground (also called Potter’s Field), 1826-1855; Necropolis Cemetery, 1850-1912 (the index will continue to 1935); Mount Pleasant Cemetery, 1876-1933; Prospect Cemetery, 1890-1935) have nearly doubled from 7,234 to 14,864.

They say that "Currently this collection is 22% complete and includes records from Necropolis Cemetery. Additional records will be added as they are completed. This is a cooperative project with the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society."

You can contact them at fsi@torontofamilyhistory.org if you would like to volunteer to assist in this ongoing effort. Or you can go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1627831 and search the records.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Manitoba Genealogical Society Conference

This year the Ontario Genealogical Society celebrated it's 50th Anniversary with a Conference in May, and now the Manitoba Genealogical Society is celebrating it's 35th Anniversary with a Conference in September.

"It's All Relative" will be held Friday Sept. 30 and Saturday Oct. 1, 2011 at the Silver Heights United Church, 199 Garrioch Ave. in St. James in Winnipeg. You can register now at the early bird fee of $100.00 if you do so before August 31st.

On Friday evening, there will be a lecture given by Jim Blanchard "The Role of the Family", and Dave Obee will be giving a talk “The Search for Frank Liddell: A Case Study” to close out the evening.

There will be a full day of lectures on Saturday, as well as a Marketplace.

To register, please go to http://www.mbgenealogy.com/

Community Heritage and Family History Blog

In a blog that the Calgary Public Library has called the Community Heritage and Family History Blog, there are posts on The Story of the Big Ditch, City Hall Celebrates its 100th Anniversary, What's in a name?, Calgary, Alberta in 1962, and Islands in the Stream - Heritage Roundtable to name a few.

While you are there you can also go to Calgary Public Library’s Community Heritage and Family History Digital Library.

At their site, they have the Alison Jackson Photography Collection, Postcards from the Past, and the Judith Umbach Photography Collection.

You can go to http://blog.calgarypubliclibrary.com/blogs/local_history_and_genealogy/archive/2011/07/05/the-story-of-the-big-ditch.aspx

Guysborough Historical Society

On Saturday, July 16, 2011, the Guysborough Historical Society, in Guysborough, Nova Scotia will host a reception at the Old Court House Museum from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to celebrate the opening of the Research Centre.

The Research Center houses many genealogical items such as births, deaths, marriages, baptisms from Boylston, Canso, Guysborough, Manchester, Melford, New Harbour and Whitehead. There is a large selection of books and reference materials such as census records (1817, 1838, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901), and books such as A.C. Jost’s Guysborough Sketches and Essays, John Grant’s Historic Guysborough, and Christopher Cook’s Along the Streets of Guysborough.

The Guysborough Historical Society also offers genealogical research services for a fee of $10.00 plus copying charges ($.25 per page), and they also offer free self-directed research for members.

The renovations to the basement at the Old Court House Museum and development of the interpretive panels were made possible with funding from the Municipality of the District of Guysborough, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, and the Nova Scotia Office of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism.

Visit their website at http://www.guysboroughcountyheritage.ca/

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network www.cjhn.ca says that more than 25,000 database records of the Canadian Jewish community dating back to the 18th century are now available online.

I just used the search feature, and found a family in Montreal that my father knew in the late 1940s.

The new website features the vast repositories of the Canadian Jewish Congress Charities Committee National Archives (CJC) and the Jewish Public Library Archives (JPL).

There is more than 2,000 digitized photographs and documents, as well as more than 50,000 genealogical records,and 5,000 associated images. There are also sound recordings and moving images.

The site says that the "Genealogical resources include online posting of family history resources such as Jewish Immigrant Aid Services client name lists from 1922-1952, individual farm settler reports from Western Canada and Quebec (1906-1951), translated Yiddish obituaries from the Keneder Adler (1908-1931), and Hebrew Sick Benefit Association of Montreal's membership book listings (1897-1905)".

There is also information about Jewish servicemen casualties in the Canadian armed forces during World Wars I and II.

The project was funded by the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation (SSBFF).

VICTORIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY YOUTH PROGRAM

Here is an interesting post from the Victoria Genealogical Society (VGS) at
http://www.victoriags.org/

"In December 2010 the Victoria Genealogical Society endorsed the development of a genealogical / family history program for school aged children. Two primary goals for the Youth Program have been accepted as recommended by the project’s Design Committee.

They are:

To introduce young people to the world of genealogy and family history research in a fun and engaging way;

and,

To introduce young people to the tools and techniques they can use to initiate their own research.

To meet these goals the Design Committee developed a series of recommendations which were adopted by the Victoria Genealogical Society Executive Committee. Key amongst these recommendations was “that the programs developed be age appropriate and welcoming to all family types and origins in the world - allowing young people to explore their family in any form they'd like”.

One program which is slated for this summer is Detective Adventure which starts on July 13th. It is a hands-on genealogy program for kids in grades 4 and 5. Summer registration now open. Call 250-360-2808. You can also download the 2011 poster (PDF format) by clicking on the detective image on the website.

Limited space so register early to avoid disappointment:

Detective Adventure 1: July 13, 20, 27 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Detective Adventure 2: August 3, 10, 17 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Location: Resource Centre of the Victoria Genealogical Society
947 Alston Street, Victoria
Fee: $ 35, detective tools included
To Register: Email vgsprojectdirector@gmail.com

Monday, July 4, 2011

Red River Colony

On Thursday, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) released a new version of the online database Immigrants to Canada. They have added 4,000 names to the database. Settlers who went to the Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement) in Manitoba are found in the Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk fonds (MG 19 E1). The database celebrates the 200th Anniversary of the foundation of the Colony.

The database can be found at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/immigrants-canada/index-e.html

If you want to read more about the Red River Colony, there are some websites you can go to -

The Red River Colony: Lord Selkirk has a Plan
http://www.canadiana.ca/hbc/stories/colony1_e.html

The MÉTIS & THE RED RIVER SETTLEMENT
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_metis/fp_metis_redriver.html


Red River Colony
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotsandcanada/redrivercolony/index.asp