Saturday, June 13, 2015

Lambton County Archives wants to hear your First World War stories


If you have First World War stories, then Lambton County Archives in Ontario wants to talk to you! You stories can still be incorporated into their exhibit Lambton At War.
 
As early as 1865, a volunteer company was formed to protect the Canadian border and Lambton County that it shares with Michigan and are separated by the St. Clair River.
 
In 1872, this Lambton regiment was given the name the St. Clair Borderers.
 
During the First World War, the Borderers supplied troops to the fighting fronts through the 70th and 149th Battalions. Men from towns such as Watford, Petrolia and Sarnia boarded troop transport trains and made their way to England were they went onto fight in the Somme, at Vimy and Ypres.
 
And many Americans who had Canadian parents who had migrated to Michigan enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the First World War.
 
And do you know a story of someone who sewed bandages, scavenged war materials, or put together Red Cross kits? Or perhaps you know stories of men and women who stayed behind and contributed to the war efforts by working on farms or in factories and who have interesting stories to tell.
 
They have an online submission form at http://www.lambtonmuseums.ca/exhibit/lambton-war/986-2/
 
The website of the archives is http://www.lambtonmuseums.ca/heritage/
 
 
 
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.
 
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada
 

Friday, June 12, 2015

70th Anniversary, the Saskatchewan Archives


 
In celebration of their 70th Anniversary, the Saskatchewan Archives has prepared a new online exhibit which outlines the creation and development of their institution.

The exhibit includes many original photographs and documents that highlight the fascinating story of the Saskatchewan Archives.

You can visit their on site exhibit at http://www.saskarchives.com/Timeline

There is just tons of pictures to see, and documents to pursue.

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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.
 
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!



 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Extra news items




 Here are some news items which have come across the desk this week -

There will be a 1-day conference in Peterborough Saturday 03 October 2015 called Military Settlers.

It will be held by the Kawartha Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society.

Speakers will discuss the political and military situation in the UK and Canada, useful records, and several military settlement schemes.

Cost $35, includes snacks and lunch. Registration is essential. Watch for announcements.

The website address is www.ogs.on.ca/kawartha

This sounds like a meeting that I would like to attend if I lived closer to Trenton, Ontario.

June 20, 2015 is the 35th Anniversary Celebration for Quinte Branch of Ontario Genealogical Society will feature Reflections on 35 Years of Genealogical Endeavour.

It will be at the Quinte West Public Library, 7 Creswell Drive, Trenton, ON K8V 6X5
from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Everyone Welcome, bring a friend.

For more information visit www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canqbogs/

Meanwhile, you can Celebrate National Aboriginal History Month at the Canadian Museum of History by attending the following events -

Aboriginal Storytelling with Daniel Richer
Saturday, June 13
10 a.m. (English) and 11 a.m. (French)

Aborginial Storytelling with Jo Maple
Sunday, June 14
11 a.m. (English) and 1 p.m. (French)

Aborginal Music Celebrations
Tuesday, June 16
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The website is at http://www.historymuseum.ca/home

Until next time, this is what crossed my desk this week.

http://ogsottawa.on.ca/
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.
 
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The OGS Blog is one you should read


Do you ever read the Ontario Genealogical Society blog?

Over the past month, someone has posted blogs such as Family Stories - Truth or Fiction?, Connection between Official Records, “Men of the Cloth”-Tracking Records for Preachers, Pastors and Priests”, and Researching Your Canadian World War 1 Soldier Ancestor- Part 1 and 2.

These posts provide a good overview of the subjects, although they do not give the nitty-gritty of the records available. You will have to go to the sites mentioned to get this, but if you want a good understanding of the basics of the record, you can get that here.

So if you have Ontario answers, be sure to keep the blog page in your research toolkit so you can access it anytime you wish.

The blog site is http://www.ogs.on.ca/ogs_blog.php

The website is https://www.ogs.on.ca/

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Last Day to take advantage of this offer!!!
Need help finding your ELUSIVE Canadian ancestors???
 
As a nod of the hat to the Ontario Genealogical Conference being held in Barrie, Ontario from May 29 to May 31, may we offer a month-long discount on our research and consultation services of 15% (ends 11 June at midnight).
 
Just go to Elizabeth Lapointe Research Services website at www.elrs.biz, or send an email with the subject "special" to genealogyresearch@aol.com to see how I can help you find that elusive Canadian ancestor!
 
Research Tip! While you are in Ottawa, if you have ancestors who lived here, a good place to check is the Ottawa Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/
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Check the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada.
 
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Ancestry launches family history DNA testing service in Canada TODAY!


This press release was just received -

TORONTO (June 9, 2015) – Ancestry, the world’s largest family history resource, today launched AncestryDNA in Canada. AncestryDNA allows individuals to learn about their genetic heritage and discover new family connections in Canada and around the world.

When coupled with Ancestry’s database of more than 16 billion historical records, AncestryDNA will enable family history enthusiasts and novices alike to discover even more about their own past, including the ability to find entire new cousin matches around the world.

“Historical records on Ancestry.ca provide an insight into one’s recent past, but usually go around 200-300 years, so it’s incredibly exciting to be able to offer DNA testing that takes your family history experience back many hundreds and even thousands of years,” said Christopher Labrecque, Country Manager for Ancestry Canada. “AncestryDNA enables users to learn more than ever about where they came from and discover new family lines and relatives. It really is the ultimate family history experience.”

AncestryDNA details the breakdown of one’s ethnic origins, predicting the likely locations of a person’s ancestors across 26 worldwide populations, providing a glimpse into one’s ancestral past that goes back to a time before historical records began to be kept.

The service also introduces users to new family members through DNA member matches which identifies unknown relatives pulled from more than 850,000 people who have previously taken the test. Many users can expect to be connected with 3rd and 4th cousins, allowing them to further grow their family trees and discover family members they may not have known existed.

In a recent survey, more than three-quarters of Canadians stated they would consider having their DNA tested to discover more about where their ancestors came from. Many said they know very little about their own family history, with 42 per cent indicating that they do not know where their grandparents were born, and 30 per cent stating they do not know where their ancestors lived before coming to Canada.

How AncestryDNA Works

The test uses microarray-based autosomal DNA testing to look at more than 700,000 locations across an individual’s entire genome through a simple saliva sample. The AncestryDNA approach provides a much more detailed look at one’s family history than other existing Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA tests that only look at specific branches of a person’s family tree.

AncestryDNA kits are now available for purchase for $149 plus shipping at http://dna.ancestry.ca/


















 

 
 

Are your ancestors from Sweden?


Do you want to know who your first Swedish ancestor was and when he or she left Sweden and arrived in Canada? Are you curious about your Swedish origins?

If so, on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website, there is a great place to begin your research. Here you will find a page dedicated to genealogical research on http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/history-ethnic-cultural/Pages/swedish.aspx

This page provides you with historical information, archival documents and published material from the Library and Archives Canada collection, as well as links to other websites and institutions.

If your ancestor came to Canada between 1865 and 1935, you might find his or her name on the http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/immigration/immigration-records/passenger-lists/Pages/introduction.aspx

Additionally, I listened to Dear Myrt’s Wacky Wednesday last week and she talked to Jason Olsen from MyHeritage.com about Swedish Lutheran Church Records. This is a census substitute called the Household Examination Books.

The website for the video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lATwqjQ1HT4

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

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

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

Monday, June 8, 2015

Canadian Week in Review (CWR) - 08 June 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.

This Week in Canadian History


 1817 - Launching of first steamship Frontenac in Kingston, Ontario in 1817. It plied the Great Lakes and made its inaugural trip west to the town of York.

Frontenac was sold for ₤1550 to John Hamilton in 1824, who sold the Frontenac after for scrap at Niagara in 1827. Before she could be scrapped, she burned to the waterline due to arson.





1798 - The second session of second Parliament of Upper Canada was held on Niagara-on-the-Lake until July 5, and it set up the county system, it marked valid marriages performed by non-Anglicans.






 1613 - Samuel de Champlain (c1570-1635) loses his astrolabe near Lac des Chats on the Ottawa River. One such instrument, supposedly found on June 7, 1867, is not old enough to be Champlain's.




Social Media

(Photos) Telling the history of the Fraser Valley with LEGO
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/telling-the-history-of-the-fraser-valley-with-lego-1.3098458
Artists have spent hundreds of hours creating a display out of LEGO that illustrates the history and future of the Fraser Valley.
   Their work is being featured in a new exhibit at the Surrey Museum entitled LEGO - A Fraser Valley. 

(Drone Video (Watch this: Unbelievable drone footage of Halifax
http://www.thecoast.ca/RealityBites/archives/2015/06/03/watch-this-unbelievable-drone-footage-of-halifax
It's a different perspective on some everyday Halifax sights. The dropping costs and improved quality of HD cameras and aerial drones increasingly offer a new way to view some common landmarks.

(Blog (First World War Veterans of Guysborough County
http://guysboroughgreatwarveterans.blogspot.com/
131 Guysborough County veterans who died while serving.

Nova Scotia

Tourists and local economy to benefit from Yarmouth's Heritage in Your Hand app
http://www.thevanguard.ca/Business/2015-06-02/article-4167576/Tourists-and-local-economy-to-benefit-from-Yarmouths-Heritage-in-Your-Hand-app/1
Esther Dares, a member of the group working on the project, came up with the idea of developing an app that would give people a new way to experience Yarmouth’s Sea Captains’ Homes and Mercantile Heritage Walk.

The big hole where a house once stood
http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/1290201-demont-the-big-hole-where-a-house-once-stood
I may not be the most observant reporter in the world, but I was pretty sure that the last time I drove down Armview Avenue there wasn’t a big hole on the Northwest Arm side of the street where it meets Tupper Grove, as there was late last week.
   When I finally found somebody to ask, it turned out I was right.

Prince Edward Island

Old Prince Edward Home land could become green space
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/old-prince-edward-home-land-could-become-green-space-1.3096113
Once a hospital, then a nursing home and palliative care centre, the 80-year-old building is situated on a prime piece of land next to Victoria Park.

Sea level surge changing coastal P.E.I.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2014-07-25/article-3812542/Sea-level-surge-changing-coastal-P.E.I./1
Prince Edward Island is slowly disappearing, parts of it anyway, and the UPEI Climate Research Lab demonstrated at a recent public meeting here just how climate change and rising sea levels are affecting the Garden of the Gulf.

New Brunswick

Sackville United Church building listed among Canada’s top ‘endangered places
http://www.cumberlandnewsnow.com/News/Local/2015-06-03/article-4169172/Sackville-United-Church-building-listed-among-Canada%26rsquo%3Bs-top-%26lsquo%3Bendangered-places%26rsquo%3B/1
With the former Sackville United Church building up on the chopping block, the site has been named as one of the top ‘endangered places’ in the country by Heritage Canada’s National Trust.

Ontario

Upper Canada Lands Records help trace a Butler Ranger from the American Revolutionary War
http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/5656365-lee-dickson-genealogy-upper-canada-lands-records-help-trace-a-butler-ranger-from-the-american-revol/
In the late 1980s, with skillful guidance from Archives of Ontario archivists and coupled with beginner’s luck, I managed to trace a line back to my United Empire Loyalist ancestors.

Manitoba

History, architecture well preserved in Winnipeg Exchange district
http://o.canada.com/travel/history-architecture-well-preserved-in-winnipeg-exchange-district
It’s not hard to picture Winnipeg's wild-west past as you walk through its historic Exchange District. The jails, saloons and brothels may be gone, but more than 100 buildings in the compact 20-block area have been preserved, along with rail tracks, ornate interior decor and old-fashioned advertisements painted on brick walls.

Saskatchewan

Saskatoon's Montgomery Place neighbourhood inches closer to heritage status
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/travel/Saskatoon+Montgomery+Place+neighbourhood+inches+closer+heritage+status/11100235/story.html#ixzz3c01lqBTN
A city committee has unanimously given its support for the Montgomery Place Community Association to seek national heritage designation for the neighbourhood.

WDM exhibit looks at history of funeral homes
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/exhibit+looks+history+funeral+homes/11098414/story.html
Death is a tricky topic for a family attraction. On Saturday, the Western Development Museum launched a new exhibit tackling just that.

Alberta

History: The Houcher Story
http://www.canadiancattlemen.ca/2015/06/01/history-the-houcher-story/
The man who grew the first carload of wheat in the Wetaskiwin district!! There’s a pioneering story there. Yet this is a mere sidelight of the thrilling saga of a courageous young couple who built up a prosperous ranch in a country that was a nemesis to some of the most powerful cattle syndicates in North America.

British Columbia

Shaughnessy to become Heritage Conservation District
http://www.vancouversun.com/Shaughnessy+become+Heritage+Conservation+District/11110014/story.html
A report going to council June 9 calls for First Shaughnessy to be named the city’s first Heritage Conservation District, which could dramatically change development in the historic neighbourhood.

Stories in the News

Residents of an Indian School, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1908. Original photograph by John Woodruff 

News that is trending in Canada this past week has revolved around the Aboriginal Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report on Residential Schools.

What does this mean to genealogists?

For years, we have been asked to prove that an ancestor is Aboriginal, and sometimes this has been a complicated thing to prove because many times the people just did not say self identify as Aboriginal or Métis in their census and vital records.

And now, just this past weekend, I have heard that the site in front of the Supreme Court of Canada is to be dedicated to the Residential School so that a monument can be built there. This will be interesting as time goes on because the planned Memorial to Victims of Communism will have to be moved across the street to the Garden of the Provinces and Territories, where it was planned to be in the first place.

From Manitoba comes the news that the people there want to transform one of its residential schools into museum. The Long Plain First Nation -- in Central Manitoba -- is seeking to reclaim the nearly 100-year-old Portage la Prairie Indian Residential School

To read more about it, go to http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/manitoba-reserve-hopes-to-transform-residential-school-into-museum-1.2403709

So keep your eyes on the news in the coming weeks, because I am sure this this is the first salvo fired in the round of discussions that will take place

If you are looking for Aboriginal records in Canada, here are some places they are kept -

Aboriginal Heritage - https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/Pages/introduction.aspx There is a section on Residential Schools within the sources in the Library and Archives Canada.

MemoryBC - http://guides.library.ubc.ca/content.php?pid=478071&sid=3920235 They have the name of the archives of the attendance records at Residentail Schools

Vancouver Public Library - http://guides.vpl.ca/genealogy/aboriginal They have excellent genealogical information on the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people.

And that was the Canadian genealogy, history, and heritage news in Canada this past week!



Need help finding your "ELUSIVE" Canadian ancestors???

As a nod of the hat to the Ontario Genealogical Conference being held in Barrie, Ontario from May 29 to May 31, we are offering a 15% discount on our research and consultation services (ends 11 June at midnight).

Go to the Elizabeth Lapointe Research Services website www.ELRS.biz, or send an email with the subject "special" to genealogyresearch@aol.com to see how I can help you find that elusive Canadian ancestor!

Research Tip! To research Ontario's early census records, you can go to Ontario's GenWeb site at http://ontariocensus.rootsweb.ancestry.com


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

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

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

The next issue will be 15 June 2015.