Sunday, August 7, 2011

Articles for "The Toronto Project"

I came across this notice today in the "Loyalist Trails" UELAC Newsletter 2011-31 Aug 7, 2011 -

"The Toronto Project, which is an online museum of the history of Toronto and its' people, will launch publicly on October 12th at The Art Gallery of Ontario. Amongst a number of initiatives, The Toronto Project is creating a wiki history of the city. This will eventually be an interactive forum open to everyone's contribution. Prior to the public launch of the wiki history, The Toronto Project is looking for contributions of some core articles with which to seed the wiki.

We have been asked to submit stories of our Loyalist ancestors and their contributions to the city of Toronto and the area around. Please submit your story to torontouel@bellnet.ca. We will review and edit, if necessary, and forward them on to the project co-ordinators".

Karen Windover UE,President, Toronto Branch

Shelburne County (Nova Scotia) Archives and Genealogical Society Newsletter



The summer issue of their newsletter arrived with some sad news – the retirement of Canadian genealogist, Eleanor Smith.

I have known Eleanor since the early 1990s, and she was always been most helpful in my many projects (especially the Port Roseway Associated Loyalists). She was always willing to explain Shelburne County genealogy to me, and I will always be grateful for that.

She wrote a number of books - Loyalist Foods in Today's Recipes; Land of my Fathers, Vol 1 & 2; and Descendants of Alexander and Agnes (Hamilton) Hogg Family of Nova Scotia. She edited Lost Mariners Vol 1, and co-authored The Veterans of Shelburne County: A Memorial Vol One and Two. They are available at the SCA&GC website at http://nsgna.ednet.ns.ca/shelburne.

I interviewed her in 2009, and it was published in the May/June 2010 issue of Internet Genealogy under the title of "Going Back to Her Roots: Eleanor Robertson Smith".

In the Family Bible section of the newsletter, they have reprinted marriages, births, and deaths from the King family of Shelburne, and in the article, "News from Yesterday", they have excerpts from The Coast Guard, Clark's Harbour and Yarmouth, 5 May, 1809 newspaper.

The last article is an excerpt of the book by Gerald MacApline called "Mason's Division Stories of Jordan Bay and Jordan Ferry in Shelburne County" in which he talks about the great forest fire that swept through the village of Roseway in August, 1911, and how the Halifax newspapers spearheaded donations to the county.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

The Tracer



The August edition of The Tracer from the Oxford County Branch of the OGS arrived this week, and as usual, is a very "newsy" newsletter.

In "Governor's House or Turnkey's House?", an article written by D. Gregory in which he explores the question about the original destination of the house, was it either the governor's house of the jail, or did it belong to the jailer (turnkey) himself? This question is still up in the air. But as the article points out, it will soon be the home to the Oxford County OGS, the Oxford County Historical Society, and the top floor will be the home to the Oxford County Archives.

Another article, "Margo Kidder – The Oxford Connection"wonders when the episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" (Canadian version) program aired a couple of years ago featured Margot Kidder. They followed her maternal grandparents, John "Jack" Wilson and Ruth Pyne Wilson, but the writer wonder why they didn't follow her great-grandfather, Charles A. Pyne and Ruth Helen Pyne, for they would have led the viewers to Oxford County, instead of to British Columbia.

Conference 2011 are covered in pictures, Fall Meetings are in the newsletter, and they are starting a new feature called "The Treasure Chest: A look at the family heirlooms of our members". The first person which brought in pictures of her family was Marilyn Whyley.

The website is http://www.oxford.ogs.on.ca, and the email is oxford@ogs.on.ca.

The Ontario Genealogical Society is offering a half-year membership for $35.00 until the end of 2011. You can find out more by going to http://www.ogs.on.ca/membership/types.php

Friday, August 5, 2011

Ottawa Genealogical Society Changes It's Meeting Place

As a result of the opening of the new City of Ottawa Central Archives, the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society will now hold their meetings at the new location starting this fall.

The meeting will take place at 7:00 pm, 3rd Tuesday monthly except July and August at the City of Ottawa Central Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa.

The library of the OGS can be accessed at the Resource Centre, City of Ottawa Central Archives, 100 Tallwood Drive, Ottawa. The hours are 9:00 to 4:00 Tues to Fri, 10:00 to 5:00 Sat (Sep to May, closed holiday weekends)

There has also been an expansion to the coverage of the Region. It now includes Prescott & Russell Counties.

The first meeting will be Tuesday, 20 September 2011 at 7:00 p.m. The topic will be "The Eyes That Shone: From Ireland to Canada" and the speaker will be Phil Donnelly, an author who will speak about his book, and a program titled Heritage Tierworker which encourages, and helps people write their stories

The website is http://ogsottawa.on.ca/

The Canadian Genealogical Survey Update

The New Glasgow News reports this morning that Del Muise, professor of history, and Leighann Neilson, professor of marketing, will be at the Hector Exhibit Centre on Monday at 11:30 a.m. in Pictou.

They will be talking about the The Canadian Genealogical Survey which is a national project with the pilot being launched in Nova Scotia.

According to Muise, 25 million North Americans are able to trace their families back to Nova Scotia, and the professors are touring the province to promote the survey.

I wrote about the survey in a blog on July 27th. Their site is online at http://www.genealogyincanada.blogspot.com/.

Canadian Vital Records Databases - Updated

FamilySearch Records has just released a summary of updates since they started to report the program in April, 2010. Two of the records have been updated since July,2011, and they are -

British Columbia Birth Registrations, 1854-1903 https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1307731 – These are birth registrations, delayed birth registrations, and delayed registrations of Indian births. 38,340 Records as of 23 July 2010

New Brunswick, Death Certificates, 1920-1934 https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1840145 Browsable Images of death certificates from the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. 76,812 images as of 29 July 2010

Thursday, August 4, 2011

New version - Canadian Naturalization Database Online

Just received this press release -

(Ottawa, August 4, 2011) Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce the release of a new version of the online database Canadian Naturalization 1915–1951.

The nominal index has been extended with the addition of more than 91,000 names and now covers the years from 1915 to 1936, inclusively. Work is ongoing to extend the nominal index to 1951, and volunteers are welcome to help. Those interested should write to Cdn-Nat-Coord@jgs-montreal.org.

This database is one of the few Canadian genealogical resources specifically designed to benefit researchers having roots other than British. The reference numbers indicated in the database can be used to request copies of the original naturalization records, which are held by Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

The database is available at the following address:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/naturalization-1915-1932/index-e.html

Library and Archives Canada would like to thank the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal [http://jgs-montreal.org/] and its volunteers, especially Mrs. Ruth Diamond, without whom this project would not have happened.

For more information, please contact webservices@bac-lac.gc.ca.