Friday, July 29, 2011

Emancipation Day

August 1st, 1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. The government of Upper Canada (Ontario) thereby formally enacted the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, it is known as Emancipation Day. It is, as the website says, http://www.emancipation.ca/a day which is “promoted as a great celebration in Upper Canada. It encouraged thousands to escape slavery in America, and follow the North Star to freedom in Canada”.

There will be picnics held throughout the province, and one of them will be at Harrison Park which is in Owen Sound.

The Bruce and Grey Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society http://tiffanyweb.bmts.com/~bgogs/will hold a picnic on July 30, 2011 from 1:00 p.m. to 10 p.m.. It will mark the 144th Emancipation Festival. There will be a Celebration of Family History, Fellowship, Oral History, Documented History, Community Culture and Roots.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The Top Five for Canadian Family History Research

Ruth Blair of The Passionate Genealogist posted 'The Top Five for Canadian Family History Research” in her blog on July 22nd.

She gave the nod to five books, blogs and websites that as she put it “can assist you with your family history research in Canada”.

If you have any that you would like to add, she asks that you leave a comment on her blog at http://blog.familyhistorysearches.com/?p=1169

The Memory Project Speakers' Bureau

The following press release came from the Veterans Affairs Canada yesterday -

"The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, announced today that the Government of Canada will provide up to $675,000 over the next three years to the Historica-Dominion Institute to support an initiative allowing Canadian Veterans to share their stories of service and sacrifice with young people across the country.

"Hearing stories first-hand from Canada's Veterans—whether they are about peacekeeping operations and other important missions of today, or stories going back to Korea or the Second World War—makes a tremendous impact that will help inspire Canada's youth to take an even greater interest in remembrance," said Minister Blaney.

The Memory Project Speakers' Bureau is composed of Veterans who visit classrooms and community groups to share their stories with youth. This bilingual educational program connects Veterans and students on-line and in classrooms across the country.

A total of $600,000 in funding to the Memory Project Speakers' Bureau is provided jointly through Veterans Affairs Canada's Community Engagement Partnership Fund and the Canadian Studies Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. An additional $75,000 is being provided this year by Canadian Heritage for the production of an educational DVD.

"For 10 years, Memory Project Veteran speakers have been sharing a legacy of service and their powerful perspective on Canadian history with students from coast to coast," says Jeremy Diamond, Director of Development and Programs with the Historica-Dominion Institute. "We hope that these stories can continue to humanize our history and teach Canada's youth about what it was like for someone, not much older than themselves, to serve their country."

Visit the website at http://www.thememoryproject.com/

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Genealogy in Canada Survey

There is a new survey online http://www.genealogyincanada.blogspot.com/ lead by Professor Leighann Neilson of the Sprott School of Business, and Emeritus Professor Del Muise of the History Department, both at Carleton University, Ottawa.

I was made aware of the survey by John D. Reid's blog "Anglo-Celtic Connections" http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/ this morning, and I took the survey this afternoon. They said it would take about half an hour, and it did.

They say “The objective is to secure accurate information concerning the resources engaged with by family historians/genealogists".

It is a wide ranging survey, and they have put in their opening remarks that it will be “the first stage of a broad national project“ What does this mean? I will be interested to see what their next “project” will be...

Park to be Renamed Africville

The Chronicle Herald's website, http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1255237.html has a notice today that “A historic north-end Halifax park will officially be renamed Africville on Friday (July 29th).

In a ceremony to take place during the Africville Annual Festival / Reunion, Seaview Park will be no more after Mayor Peter Kelly and other dignitaries unveil a new sign. The event will take place at 1 pm.

The renaming is part of a deal reached between the city and the Africville Genealogy Society in 2010.

Future plans for Africville include a church museum, expected to open in the fall, and an interpretative centre”.

The Africville Genealogy Society http://www.africville.ca/index.html Read about the history of the genealogical society, view a gallery, and read the stories of former residents.

Africville (on Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africville It gives a short history, and the resources that are available to the researcher.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dave Obee - Canada's Genealogist

I first met Dave Obee of Victoria in 2007 at a genealogy/library conference at the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. His website is at http://www.daveobee.com/

Since then, we had the occasion to meet each other in various events, and at the 2011 conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society held in Hamilton, I asked him to write a piece on Social Media for the August issue of Families.

As a lead-up to reading the paper in the fall issue of Families, there is a good article called "Database search strategies” at http://www.daveobee.com/columns/09search.htm in which he gives us ten reasons why a search may not be as straightforward as we may think they would be - as Dave says “There are dozens of reasons why a search might fail”.

Some of the reasons he gives are -

Original records were poorly written,

Places were confused, and

People lied - Some people do not want to be found.

But he gives eight ways to search to increase your chances of success, including the use of wildcards, and how to be flexible in searching.

Dave will be speaking at the 2012 Ontario Genealogical Society Conference to be held at Kingston, June 1-3, 2012. The website is http://www.ogs.on.ca/seminar/conference2012.php

Monday, July 25, 2011

Cemetery Transcriptions Updating

In July, and August, the Lambton County Ontario Genealogical Society has been, and will be involved with Cemetery Transcriptions Updating.

If you can help, please e-mail lambtonogs@ebtech.net, and ask for either Robert or Karen.

The website is http://www.lambton.ogs.on.ca