Sunday, May 25, 2014

Canadian Week in Review



Check the Canadian Week in Review tomorrow morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. 

It has the latest news covered in New/Updated Websites, Social Media, and Newspaper Articles.

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

The Empress of Ireland - May 29, 1914

The sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River in 1914 had a great affect on the people of Canada, as more than 1,000 people lost their lives when the ship was stuck by the SS Storstad on that fateful foggy morning.

While I was at a Canada Post kiosk the other day, I picked up their May 2014 magazine called Details with a photograph of the Empress of Ireland on the front, as shown in the picture above. The story of the sinking is on pages 12 to 14, and you should pick up this excellent pocket-sized magazine the next time you are in the post office.

The story of the Empress of Ireland is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Empress_of_Ireland

Gail Dever of the Genealogy à la carte blog from Montreal has sent me articles about the Empress of Ireland from Canadian newspapers, such as -

The Empress of Ireland: Remembering ‘Canada’s Titanic’ http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2014/05/16/the_empress_of_ireland_remembering_canadas_titanic.html

Doomed liner to be commemorated in coming days with stamp, coins, monuments and more
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/Empress+Ireland+sinking+Canada+Titanic+finally+getting/9870408/story.html

Friday, May 23, 2014

British Columbia Birth Registrations, 1854-1903

The LDS has updated the registration of births for British Columbia. . .

Birth registrations usually include the following information -

  • Date of birth
  • Place of birth
  • Name of child
  • Gender of child
  • Name of father
  • Name of mother, including maiden name
  • Residence of parents
  • Occupation of father
  • Birthplace of parents
  • Age of parents
  • Date and number of registration

Native birth records generally contain the following information:

  • Name of child
  • Place of birth
  • Gender of child
  • Date of birth
  • Single, twin, triplet, or other
  • Marital status of parents
  • Name of parents
  • Tribe of parents
  • Age of parents
  • Occupation of father
  • Birthplace of parents
  • Number of children
  • Residence
  • Name of doctor and date of registration

To begin your search, it would be helpful if you knew the names of parents, and the approximate year of birth for the child.

For more information, go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1307731?ET_CID=46886537&ET_RID=genealogycanada@aol.com

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Southern California Genealogy Jamboree will be offering FREE Lectures



Southern California Genealogy Jamboree will be held from June 6th to the 8th, 2014 and there is going to be 14 streamed sessions over three days, and these sessions will be FREE! Like they say "All Class. No Travel"

The cost of doing this is partially underwritten by Diamond Sponsor Ancestry.com, but they will be free to people like myself who don’t go to the conference. Many sessions will be available in the SCGS webinar archive for viewing by members of the SCGS. 

Here are the sessions - 

Friday, June 6 - 1:00 pm to 6:30 pm PDT

· Judy G. Russell JD, CG, CGL - "Dowered or Bound Out: Records of Widows and Orphans"

· Blaine Bettinger PhD, JD - "DNA and the Genealogical Proof Standard"

· Paula Stuart-Warren, CG, FUGA - "Manuscript Finding Aids: Locating Migrating Family Records"

· F. Warren Bittner, CG - "Proof Arguments: How and Why" 

Saturday, June 7 - 8:30 am to 6:00 pm PDT

· F. Warren Bittner, CG - "Elusive Immigrant!"

· Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL - "Staying out of Trouble: The Rights and Responsibilities of Today's Genealogist"

· Michael Leclerc - "Researching Your New England Ancestors"

· Bennett Greenspan - "The Future of Genetic Genealogy"

· Dr. Maurice Gleeson - "Researching Your Irish Ancestry"

· Cyndi Ingle - "The Internet: A Genealogist's Printing Press" 

Sunday, June 8 - 8:30 am to 3:30 pm PDT 

· D. Joshua Taylor - "Resources of the DAR: Beyond Revolutionary War Soldiers"

· Dawn Thurston - "How to Write a Personal History that Captures your Interesting Life"

· Dr. Maurice Gleeson - "Ireland and the Slave Trade"

· Denise Levenick - "Dirty Pictures: Save Your Family Photos from Ruin"

So I am going to read the pre-conference handout list, and then I will decide which ones I will watch. 

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Family History Libraries offers FREE scanning

You can now take your photos and other documents to your nearest Family History Library and scan them for FREE

They have recently installed a customized Lexmark multifunction product (MFPs) which quickly scan photos or significant documents and transfer them online to your personal genealogical space. The scanning system produces high-quality digital images in both .jpg and .png file formats and will accommodate up to 5 MB in size. Items may also be scanned and saved to a thumb drive, all FREE of charge.  

You can then identify people in the photos and connect them to respective ancestors in your FamilySearch Family Tree, and you can post links and share the information with other family members and encourage them to share as well. 

To see if there is a Family History Library in your area, go to https://familysearch.org/locations/centerlocator

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

First Annual Unreadables Tombstone Challenge

Here is a project started by Canada GenWeb that we can all help with -

Canada GenWeb is looking for people to help decipher tombstones that have been photographed but are unreadable due to being weathered, for example.

And unfortunately there are many photos that are unsearchable because they are difficult, or impossible, to decipher. That means that those named on the stone cannot be found.

To change that,Canada GenWeb are starting the First Annual Unreadables Challenge! The goal is to decipher as many headstones as possible. And they are all across Canada.

Can you help put a name to some of our unreadable stones and possibly help someone find their long-lost relation?

Go to http://geneofun.on.ca/query/?table=NAMES&template=query_challenge&search=FIRST&search=SURNAME&find=(u&smode=S&sort=ASSIGNED,SURNAME,FIRST to see the unreadable tombstones. 

To see what is needed in the way of volunteers, go to http://cemetery.canadagenweb.org/volunteer/index.html

Monday, May 19, 2014

Canadian Week in Review 19 May 2014

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

History

On May 11, 1833, the brig, The Lady of the Lake, struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland enroute to Quebec City from Belfast, Ireland. It is estimated that 265 passengers and crew were lost. Survivors spent more than three days in an open boat in frigid temperatures before being rescued by the ship Amazon.
To read more about the brig, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_of_the_Lake_(brig)

In May 1756, the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) began when Britain declared war on France. In 1758, the British captured Louisbourg, then Quebec City in 1759, and Montreal in 1760. The Treaty of Paris (1768) ended the war, and France formally ceded Canada to the British.

To read more about the Seven Years' War, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years'_War

In May 1878, Canada's governor general and his wife, Lord and Lady Dufferin, were treated to a demonstration of Thomas Edison's recent invention, the phonograph, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Read more about The Virtual Gramophone at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/gramophone/028011-3005-e.html

Social Media


Heritage Fair features family, provincial, hockey history
More than 150 students from 29 schools in Prince Edward Island recently took part in the provincial Heritage Fair at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown.

News Articles


Canada’s youth ambassadors for D-Day
http://www.orangeville.com/news-story/4526209-canada-s-youth-ambassadors-for-d-day
Centre Dufferin District High School (CDDHS) students Rebecca Janke and Jeff Allen have been chosen to be the official representatives for Canada’s youth during the 70th anniversary of D-Day at Juno Beach in France on June 6.

The Greek Canadian History Project’s (GCHP) exhibition, Memory and Migration: A History of Greek Immigrants in Toronto, 1864-2014 is now on display at Toronto City Hall, 100 Queen St. W. in the Rotunda. It kicks off Greek Heritage Week in Toronto.

Western Evangeline
http://www.canadiancattlemen.ca/2014/05/16/western-evangeline
Read about how the government took land from the people of Bingville just northeast of Medicine Hat, Alberta for a military base in the Second World War.

Local students wins Provincial Genealogical Essay Award
http://windsorite.ca/2014/05/local-student-wins-provincial-genealogy-essay-award
Learn how University of Windsor student Chelsea Meloche begin looking into her family history, and subsequently wrote this year’s award-winning essay for the Ontario Genealogical Society's (OGS), making her the proud recipient of the Mike Brede Genealogical Essay Prize.

Shine Bright Like A Lighthouse. A Love Affair With Maritime History
https://www.yahoo.com/travel/the-fascinating-fate-of-north-americas-lighthouses-85824127957.html
Read John Sylvester's article about saving Atlantic Canada’s lighthouses.

Canadian War Museum to commemorate Canada's military past, not the Canadian Museum of History, as reported
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1924012#ixzz324ZyZZ5T
All of the exhibitions and programs commemorating the First and Second World Wars are taking place at the Canadian War Museum, and not at the Canadian Museum of History, as has been reported by The Canadian Press.

Trees cut down for Colonial Building renovations
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/trees-cut-down-for-colonial-building-reno-1.2644390
The trees have been down as part of a multi-million dollar restoration of the Colonial Building and its surrounding grounds.

Canada Post to celebrate UNESCO World Heritage sites with breathtaking stamps
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1920448#ixzz31u16o7Ve
Canada Post will issue five stamps celebrating Canadian UNESCO World Heritage sites. The five stamps feature Old Town Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; SGang Gwaay, British Columbia; the Rideau Canal in Ontario; the Landscape of Grand Pré, Nova Scotia; and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Alberta.

Elevators fade in the light of changing economics
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/History+1993+Elevators+fade+light+changing+economics/9847624/story.html
Alberta Wheat Pool plans to reduce its elevators by 60 per cent, to 102 from 257 in the next 10 to 20 years.

‘Remington of the Canadian West’ given $10,000 to paint B.C.'s history
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/THIS+WEEK+HISTORY+1924+Remington+Canadian+West+given+paint/9848627/story.html#ixzz324exZBnu
John Innes was considered one of Canada’s most important historical and western painters, referred to as the “Remington of the Canadian West”.

Minister Denis Lebel announces financial support for Rendez-vous naval de Quebec
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/15/idUSnMKW9q6yQa+1c2+MKW20140515
Rendez-vous naval de Quebec will mark the 100th anniversary of the First World War and the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings this summer in Quebec City.

Column: The Chicago swindler and Pinehurst
http://www.novanewsnow.com/Opinion/Columnists/2014-05-14/article-3724547/Column%3A-The-Chicago-swindler-and-Pinehurst/1
Read how a real-life Chicago swindler used to own a resort in Southwestern Nova Scotia.

Collecting history across the province
http://www.thelabradorian.ca/News/Local/2014-05-13/article-3723584/Collecting-history-across-the-province/1
The First World War Road Show and Tell is making its way through Newfoundland collecting stories, artifacts, and memorabilia from the Great War (WWI).

Happy Birthday, Manitoba — Province Turns 144
http://www.chrisd.ca/2014/05/12/manitoba-day-birthday-144-years-old-celebrations/#.U3INzIFdXKo
Manitoba celebrated its 144 birthday on the 12 of May.

Exhibition gets federal funding
http://www.thevanguard.ca/News/2014-05-12/article-3721624/Exhibition-gets-federal-funding/1
This year’s Western Nova Scotia Exhibition is scheduled for July 29 to Aug. 2nd, and it will be the 155th year for the exhibition.

Doors Open across Quinte
http://www.intelligencer.ca/2014/05/12/doors-open-across-quinte
The first province-wide event of its kind in Canada. Since 2002, more than five million visits have been made to heritage sites in the Doors Open Ontario.
The theme suggested by Ontario Heritage Trust for this year is the First World War.

Vote on proposal to rename park postponed
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/Proposal-to-rename-park-postponed-258938751.html
The proposal calling for the renaming of Machray Park—supposedly named for Robert Machray, the first archbishop of the Anglican diocese of Rupert’s Land, to one honouring Harry Lazarenko, a city councillor for 30 years who was forced to retire in 2010 because of illness—has been put on hold until the June meeting of Winnipeg City Council.

Manitoba Archives exhibit showcases First World War
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-archives-exhibit-showcases-first-world-war-1.2639933
On the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, the Archives of Manitoba is offering people a chance to learn more about the province's role, and to get a glimpse at what life was like between 1914 and 1918.

Pride in language, culture comes into full flower in Cape Breton
http://herald.ca/novascotia/1206802-pride-in-language-culture-comes-into-full-flower-in-cape-breton
Read how the Scottish language and culture plays a role in everyday life of the people in Cape Breton. (Special to the CWR by Gail Dever, of Genealogy à la carte fame).

Lakeview's rich war history remembered with community mural
http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news-story/4513014-lakeview-s-rich-war-history-remembered-with-community-mural
In front of Lakeview's Small Arms building in Mississauga, next to Toronto, a three-panel commemorative mural was unveiled Saturday morning.

Story of the Week


Victoria Day in Canada (National Patriots' Day in Quebec)

Victoria Day (National Patriots' Day in Quebec) is celebrated on the Monday closest to the May 24th, and this year it is May 19th.

In Canada, it is considered the first holiday of summer, and people are outdoors, putting in their flower gardens, raking their lawns, and have a nice relaxing long weekend topped off with fireworks at night.

In 1901, the year of Queen Victoria's death, the holiday officially became known as Victoria Day. Since that time, Victoria Day has commemorated two royal birthdays - the birthday of Queen Victoria, and that of Queen Elizabeth, the current monarch.

To read more about Victoria Day, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Day

In Quebec, the same day used to be called Fête de Dollard, but in 2003, the name was changed to National Patriots' Day (Fête des patriotes).

The name change took place because it was to recognize the importance of the struggle of the patriot’s of the Rebellion of 1837-1838, which was fought so that the people of Quebec could obtain political liberty and obtain a democratic system of government.

For more on the Lower Canada Rebellion, go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Canada_Rebellion.

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next 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 May 26, 2014.