Friday, October 4, 2013

UPDATE: Register of One-Place Studies is Now Live!

Further to my notice last week that there was a new website online with the Register of One-Place Studies, they are now announcing the following update -

“The new free Register of One-Place Studies went LIVE earlier this week and we’re off to a flying start. So far we h studies from 3 continents covering 7 countries, 33 counties/states and 235 places. From Angmering in Sussex to the Isle of Mull in Argyll, from Drumnaconagher in County Down to Meldreth in Cambridgeshire and from Acton in Massachusetts to Wando Vale in Victoria, to name but a few, we’re helping to put study owners’ efforts on the map!

The studies range from small hamlets and specific districts within a town through to whole regions including multiple towns. Some studies are now dormant but have amassed a wealth of information over the years which continues to benefit researchers. We even have one very active study with no residents living in the study area - they were all forced to leave their homes in 1943 and were not allowed to return. What is clear is the hours of selfless dedication and commitment study owners have spent building up their studies over many years.

The Register’s purpose is to provide a listing of one-place studies currently being undertaken across the UK, and internationally, which is:
• open to all
• free to access
• free to add to
• comprehensive
If you have a one-place study and haven’t yet added it to the Register, don’t delay any more!”

The web site may be found at: http://www.register-of-one-place-studies.org.uk.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Kensington Market Through the Lens of the Ontario Jewish Archives


Dara Solomon, Director of the Ontario Jewish Archives, will present the stories found in the collections of the Ontario Jewish Archives about the families, merchants, and community members who made this neighbourhood home during the 1920s-1940s.

She will also discuss how the OJA has shaped these narratives through their 40-year old walking tour of the neighbourhood and their soon-to-be-launched mobile interactive mapping feature on the new OJA website.

The meeting will take place on October 30th at the Lillian H. Smith Branch, Toronto Public Library, 239 College Street, Toronto.

To visit the Kensington Market site, go to http://www.kmhs.ca/

To visit the Ontario Jewish Archives, go to http://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/

The Ontario Jewish Archives is celebrating their 40th Anniversary this year.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Kitchener Public Library Genealogy Fair


On November 2, 2013, there will be the 3rd Genealogy Fair at the Kitchener Public Library in Kitchener, Ontario.

It starts at 9:30 AM, and the fair will be for beginners and experts alike. There will be workshops, speak with experts and more than 25 exhibits and vendors.

Some of the speakers are –

Genealogy in a Community Cookbook
with Carolyn Blackstock, Historian & Blogger

Genealogy and the Law in Canada
with Professor Margaret Ann Wilkinson, University of Western Ontario

Introduction to Genetic Genealogy
with Sue Fenn, Family History Alive

Finding Your Ancestors in Germany
with Noel Elliot, The Genealogical Research Library

There are many more speakers, and if you want more information , go to http://kpl.org/ref/gsr.html

Friends of the Tecumseh Monuments


The expansion of the site of the Tecumseh Monument is southwesters Ontario has launched a Buy a Brick Program to renovate and expand the existing site.

You can read the plans for expansion at http://www.tecumsehmonument.ca/

Individuals or companies can purchase bricks for $30. Each brick can be inscribed with a message of up to 25 characters

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Ancestry.com LLC acquires Find a Grave


On the last day of September, Ancestry.com made the following announcement -

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 30, 2013 -- Ancestry.com LLC announced today it has acquired Find A Grave, Inc., the leading online cemetery database.

With over 100 million memorials and 75 million photos, Find A Grave has amassed an unparalleled collection of burial information. Over the past 18 years, it has grown to become an invaluable resource for genealogists, history buffs and cemetery preservationists. Find A Grave will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ancestry.com, and will continue to be managed by its founder, Jim Tipton.

"Find A Grave is an amazing phenomenon supported by a passionate and engaged community of volunteers around the world," said Tim Sullivan, CEO of Ancestry.com. "We at Ancestry.com are so excited...honored really...to take on the responsibility of supporting this community. We will maintain Find A Grave as a free website, will retain its existing policies and mode of operation, and look forward to working with Jim Tipton and the entire Find A Grave team to accelerate the development of tools designed to make it even easier for the Find A Grave community to fulfill its original mission to capture every tombstone on Earth."

Ancestry.com plans to bolster the resources dedicated to Find A Grave to launch a new mobile app, improve customer support, introduce an enhanced edit system for submitting updates to memorials, foreign-language support, and other site improvements.

"Ancestry.com has been a long-time supporter of Find A Grave. They have been linking and driving traffic to the site for several years," said Jim Tipton, founder of Find A Grave. "Burial information is a wonderful source for people researching their family history and I look forward to working with Ancestry.com to help continue our growth and accelerate the pace of improvements."

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Monday, September 30, 2013

Canadian Week in Review 30 September 2013

I have come across the following Canadian websites, blogs, Facebook, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too

Websites

No new websites this week.

Blogs

No new blogs this week

Facebook, Videos, You Tube

Upper Canada Genealogy https://www.facebook.com/JaniceCNickerson Janice, a Canadian genealogist, has joined Facebook, and one of the first questions she asks is – “Working on my next talk - about heir tracing and finding living people. I'm collecting a list of the best online sources for Canadian obit and gravestone indexes. Would my genealogist friends care to recommend their favourites?”

Canadian Conservation Institute https://www.facebook.com/cci.conservation?ref=hl They are a year old and have had 1,242 “likes”. They ask - What do you like about our page? What kind of posts do you want to see?

Newspapers Articles of the Week

Fire on historic Lunenburg waterfront now out http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fire-on-historic-lunenburg-waterfront-now-out-1.1871643 A fire in Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Place, on Friday night, destroyed the historic Scotia Trawler Equipment Ltd. Building. The Bluenose II schooner, currently undergoing sea trials out of Lunenburg, was not involved in the fire.

15 P.E.I. lighthouses receive heritage designation http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/15-p-e-i-lighthouses-receive-heritage-designation-1.1868056 The following 15 lighthouses across the Island receive heritage designation
Leards Front Range Lighthouse, Victoria
Cape Egmont Lighthouse, Cape Egmont
Blockhouse Lighthouse, Rocky Point
Cape Bear Lighthouse, Beach Point
East Point Lighthouse, East Point
Indian Head Lighthouse, Lower Bedeque
New London Range Lighthouse, Park Corner
North Cape Lighthouse, Seacow Pond
North Rustico Lighthouse, North Rustico
Panmure Head Lighthouse, Panmure Island
Point Prim Lighthouse, Point Prim
Seacow Head Lighthouse, Fernwood
Wood Islands Lighthouse, Wood Islands
Souris Historic Lighthouse, Souris
West Point Lighthouse, West Point

Mi’kmaq History Month launching website for 20th anniversary http://www.thevanguard.ca/Living/2013-09-25/article-3406293/-Mi%26rsquo%3Bkmaq-History-Month-launching-website-for-20th-anniversary-/1 October is recognized as the 20th anniversary of Mi’kmaq History Month in Nova Scotia. To commemorate this milestone, a website has been created “to promote awareness, share information, and highlight culturally-related events taking place during Mi’kmaq History Month”.

To go to the website, click www.mikmaqhistorymonth.com. It’s a very nice website, and has lots of information.

Story of the Week

Franco-Ontarian Resource at the Archives of Ontario

September 25th is now Franco-Ontarian Day in Ontario. This date marks the anniversary of the Franco-Ontarian flag’s unveiling in 1975, and it is the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé's journeys to what is now Ontario.

There are various family files held at the Archives, including

• Jacques Duperon Baby family fonds 1759-1866, 1946
This family was involved in the fur trade, and public service. “Francois Baby, brother of Jacques Duperon, and his descendants played an important role in Quebec's politics and economy during the late 18th and 19th centuries”
• Max LeMarchant deGodart du Planty collection [194-]-1979
“Collection consists of research notes, genealogies and correspondence on the du Planty family, the Godart family and their branches, as assembled by Max LeMarchant de Godart du Planty. Families mentioned include Dongan (Dungan), Van Buskirk and a large number of other French (continental) families.”
• Jean Baptiste Rousseau family fonds 1774-1953
“Jean Baptiste Rousseau (1758-1812) was an early merchant and mill owner in Ancaster, York and Kingston, Ontario, who died while serving in the War of 1812”.

There are many other topics that you can check, and it should be one of the places that you research if you are doing Franco-Ontarian research.

The website is http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/access/franco-ontarian.aspx

Reminder: Check out Canadian Week in Review every Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! The next post will be on 07 October, 2013

Sunday, September 29, 2013

MacDonald family history

Here is some news from Ron Zinck, who posts to the NSRoots mailing list quite often -

“I spent part of my Friday the Archives of Ontario working my way through
the collection of Rev. Ewen MacDonald. He worked for decades on Scottish
history and the McDonald family history. I have a number of scans that may
be of interest to researchers and I suspect I will have allot more after
every visit. This batch includes letters and a few charts that discusses
Antigonish, Cape Breton, and different septs in Scotland.

I hope that some of the MacDonald researchers will be able to help decipher, interpret and place these scans in context."

I uploaded them onto Google drive at this link
https://drive.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#folders/