Showing posts with label Family Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Research. Show all posts

Sunday, April 26, 2015

FamilySearch – Nova Scotia Death Records 1956-1957



This collection include death records from 1956-1957 from Nova Scotia counties. The death records are from all counties and are arranged by county name. These records are housed at the Archives of Nova Scotia in Halifax.

Death Records may contain the following information:

Name of deceased

Name of parents

Maiden name of mother

Place of parent’s birth

Name of spouse

Gender

Age at death

Place of birth

Date of birth

Date of death

Place of death

Cause of death

Date of burial

Place of burial

Marital status

Name of cemetery

Name of funeral home

Place of residence

Occupation

I found the death of a son (Austin Locke Peterson) of my great great aunt Margaret Barclay of Jordan River, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia, and since his son-in-law, J. Thomas Whiteway, was the informant on the death certificate, another clue has been was given to me to take my genealogy to another level. Excellent!

If you wish to check out this website, it is at https://familysearch.org/search/collection/2251301



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.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Library and Archives Canada - online survey


 
Sylvie Tremblay, Manager, Online Content of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC), has sent out the following press release -

Library and Archives Canada is conducting a usability study of our to gather information about how visitors use our website. This study includes a question about digital content available on the LAC website. Please note that the identity of respondents is strictly confidential’.

The study can be accessed at: http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/lacbac01/lac/ until March 6th.

If you have any questions about the study, please contact: webservices@bac-lac.gc.ca.

So I took the survey, and found that they asked very good questions, such as how did you find the LAC website and what (records) were you searching for today?

The questions caused me to think, and the two things that I would like to see added would be the 1851, 1861 and 1871 agricultural census and the vast collection of newspapers that they have onsite. Whether they will accommodate my wish list remains to be seen.

What did you think of the survey? What would you like to see in the future as far as digital content is concerned? Are there questions that they should have asked, and didn’t?


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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/03/canadian-week-in-review.html
 It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

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

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

OGS eWeekly Update is FREE!



The Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) has many in-house publications, for instance, their journal Families, their regular newsletter NewsLEAF, and e-Announce which is available to their members. But they also have OGS eWeekly Update which is also available to the general public, and it is made available every Saturday.

It includes news on OGS matters, updates on genealogy initiatives and events, and heritage information from across the province.

The OGS eWeekly Update is available to anyone with an email address and you do not need to be an OGS member to subscribe.

 You can subscribe to receive the OGS eWeekly Update by filling in the subscription form at http://multibriefs.com/optin.php?ogs (Hint, for the Company field, type “OGS.”), or if you can contribute content to the OGS eWeekly Update please contact ed@ogs.on.ca.


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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-23-february-2013.html
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

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

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Ancestry.ca update: Canada Quaker Yearly Meeting Minutes, 1836-1988




This message has come in from Ancestry -

'Today, Ancestry has launched a fascinating new collection of Canadian Quaker records, the Canada Quaker Yearly Meeting Minutes, 1836-1988, VI collection, a database containing records form Quaker meetings in Canada.

The Quakers, a longstanding religious society of friends that believed in a strong, personal experience with God, would hold yearly meetings with the top members of the society. This database is made up of more than 184,000 records from several Quaker meetings that took place in Canada. The records come from the Canadian Yearly Meeting Archives in Newmarket, Ontario.

The collection contains a large assortment of records including membership registers, marriage records, meeting minutes, removal certificates, death records and disciplinary records. Details within the records include name, date of birth, date of death, names of parents and spouses, event dates, witnesses and more. A large majority of these records come from Ontario, however there are records from other provinces and even a few from areas in the United States as some of these areas fell under Canada’s jurisdiction at the time.

I spent sometime today going through the records, and I agree, they do appear to be very inclusive and detailed. Even if you don’t know if your ancestor was a Quaker, you should check the records to see if he/she is there – because he/she might be, or he/she may have had ties to the Quaker community'.

 The website is at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=60521&geo_a=r&geo_s=us&geo_t=ca&o_iid=41015&o_lid=41015&o_sch=Web+Property


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

If you missed this week’s edition, it is at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2015/02/canadian-week-in-review-23-february-2013.html
 
It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in Canada!

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

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Ancestry.ca offers FREE access


Ancestry.ca has released the results of a survey which shows a puzzling result – while 94% Canadians feels that knowing their family history is important, only 42% know where their grandparents were born. In light of this, Ancestry is offering free access to Canadian Passenger Lists until 11:59 October 23, 2014. 

That causes genealogist to think, doesn’t it? Maybe it is part of the answer as to why there isn’t a great ground swell for Family History Month that I wrote about in last week’s Canadian Week in Review (CWR). If you haven’t my editorial yet, you can go to http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com/2014/10/canadian-week-in-review-13-october-2014.html

Meanwhile, Ancestry.ca says - 

Canada may pride itself on being a nation built on immigration but according to a new survey from Ancestry, the world’s largest online family history resource, some of us know very little about our own family history – including where our ancestors originated from and when they first came to Canada. 

In a survey of 1,025 Canadians*, Ancestry discovered that 47 per cent don’t know when their ancestors first arrived in Canada. This is despite the fact that 94 per cent feel that knowing one’s family history is important. 

Additionally, the research revealed that 42 per cent of Canadians don’t know where their own grandparents were born. 

“Immigration is one of the foundations of Canada, so it is surprising how many Canadians don’t know where their ancestors came from, or when they first arrived in the country,” said Lesley Anderson, family historian for Ancestry. “There are so many wonderful historical records available for people to discover their ancestors’ immigration stories, such as Passenger Lists or border crossings, that give you clues as to why your ancestors may have left their homelands or how they came to Canada. The stories you can discover about your forebears are often fascinating and can help to inform your own sense of identity.” 

Ancestry is currently offering free access to its collection of global immigration records including the Canadian Passenger Lists, a collection of more than 7 million records detailing the people who came to Canada by ship between the years of 1865 and 1935, the key growth period in immigration to Canada. The free access lasts until 11:59 on October 23, 2014. 

* Conducted in June 2014

Sunday, October 19, 2014

New Digitized Ontario Patent Plans

We now have more than 4,100 recently digitized patent plans on the Archives of Ontario’s Visual Database. 

The images are fully accessible and in high-resolution in a zoomable format that allows you to view fine details – and some of the details are very fine detail indeed! 

Most, but not all of the Patent Plans are available, although looking through them, I would say that most of them are available. You can check to see if the AO have an original plan at the Archives Descriptive Database. 

You can read more about the Patent Plans at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/about/patent-plans.aspx, and it gives the list of township or town that are available to view. I was looking for Elzivir Township and I found it. It was a list of names, showing where they were located in the township at the time. 

Just another tool that you can use to find out exactly where your ancestor was located!

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Two genealogical events at Quinte Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society



There are two genealogical events taking place at the Quinte Branch of the Genealogical Society in Trenton, Ontario this month, and they are – 

Doors Open 2014

Come and check out the holdings and resources of their Genealogical Library. Meet their volunteers and find out how they can help you in your research. 

The Open House will be held on Saturday September 13th at 1:00 pm.

Everyone is welcome!

And the second event is their regular monthly meeting which will be held on Saturday September the 20th at 1:00 pm and the topic will be Discovering the Lennox & Addington Archives . The talk will be given by Shelley Respondek, Lennox & Addington County Archivist.

Local repositories are vital for researchers, providing many collections not accessible elsewhere. Knowing what is available is important as we create our research plans.

Mark your calendars for this meeting and hope to see you there!

The venue is Quinte West City Hall Library, 7 Creswell Drive, Trenton, Ontario.

The webpage is http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canqbogs/ 

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Wellington County Branch OGS will meet this Saturday

The Wellington County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is recognizing The 12th Field Regiment R.C.A. (1940-1945) in their meeting on Saturday. The program will consists of two presentations –

Family and Military History

and 

A Remembrance Service for the Honour Roll of 74 Fallen Men

The meeting will be held at Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 1:00 pm at the Ontario Legion, 281 George St. Arthur, Ontario.

In the family history segment, well-known speaker Glenn Wright, a former archivist at Library and Archives Canada and a published author, will speak on locating the military records of veterans who returned to Canada and appear in researchers' family trees. The military part of the session will be presented by Rob Stark, President of the 12th Field Regiment Association and a son of a late veteran of the Regiment

A limited number of compilations of many names will be made available to those interested in both the military and family history of the 12th Field Regiment. The organizing committee requests the assistance of the community in providing service numbers of some of the men listed.

There will be a brief lunch break followed by the Remembrance service conducted by the Arthur Legion.

For more information on this special event, please visit the Wellington County website http://www.ogs.on.ca/wellington/events.html
Contact Info http://www.ogs.on.ca/wellington/index.html  

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Old Stones - from Exploration to Preservation

The Nova Scotia Genealogical Society is having a two-day cemetery conference in Truro where there will be great speakers, all meals and breaks will be included, a networking social, and poster displays. 

The conference will be held May 24 and 25, 2014 at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College Campus, Truro, NS, and there will be six lectures given by Dr. Allan Marble, Gary Wright, Bill Curry, Kevin Bartlett & Sean McKeane, Heather Lawson, and Deborah Trask.

And there will be a field trip to the historic Onslow Cemetery. 

For more information about the conference and a registration packet, contact Dawn Josey at info@novascotiaancestors.ca 


The GANS website is at http://www.novascotiaancestors.ca 

The Onslow Cemetery is at www.onslowislandcemetery.ca 

The Onslow Island Cemetery holds the remains of Planters (settlers from New England who came to Nova Scotia in the 1700s), and as such, it is one of the oldest cemeteries in Nova Scotia. 

Last year, the 250th founding of the cemetery was highlighted, and celebrated. Some of the burials at the cemetery are on Find a Grave at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2297634 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Preserving Ireland's Genealogy

This was just sent out from FamilySearch.org on St. Partick’s Day.

Website Gathers St. Patrick's Day and Other Irish Family Stories and Photos by Glen Greener

“St. Patrick died on March 17, 481, but St. Patrick's Day lives on all over the world demonstrating how prolific Irish roots have permeated cultures globally over the years. A sampling of the many areas St. Patrick's day is celebrated in includes: Argentina, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, Malaysia, Montserrat, Russia, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States. 

FamilySearch.org is celebrating St. Patrick's day by encouraging descendants of Irish immigrants to preserve and share their Irish family memories online through photos and stories. Family historians can also freely search over 30 million historic Irish records online or begin building their Irish family trees.

Ireland provides one of the most interesting and challenging genealogies for family researchers, and there are a lot of them. Over 100 million people worldwide claim some Irish heritage. 

A loss of records by fire and problems recording Irish emigrants who boarded ships after the original departure can seem like barriers to genealogists trying to "get back across the pond." The family histories are often available in the emigrant's new country, but finding the lines back in Ireland can be difficult.

Chris Paton, a former BBC television producer, author, and a professional genealogist, says, "Ireland has probably experienced more tragedy when it comes to the preservation of resources for family historians than any other region of the British Isles. Many of the nation's primary records were lost during the civil war in 1922 and through other equally tragic means." 

There is good news, says David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch. "The government of Ireland now considers genealogy an economic resource. It is one of the main reasons for tourism. In the past five years, more resources have been made available than were in the previous 15 years."

Rencher comes by his love of Irish ancestry naturally. Both sides of his family hail from the Emerald Isle. And he's always fascinated by the traditions of celebrating St. Patrick's Day all over the world.

There are good resources online: FamilySearch.org, findmypast.com, ancestry.com, the public records office of Northern Ireland, and the national archives of Ireland. Counties are coming forward with quality publications of local histories, and the Irish government wants to help those with Irish roots to plan their search. 

Rencher says, "People need to find out specifically where their Irish ancestors hail from. County records are important. Parish records are becoming more available." 

Finding the home town and county of your ancestors is helped by surnames which are often good indicators of where in Ireland someone is from. Employment records in America can contain a birthplace in Ireland. Cemeteries in Ireland are valuable because it was not uncommon for relatives to have a tombstone erected in Ireland although the deceased was buried in another country.

The names of neighbors and friends in a possible village of origin could open up help and hospitality. "The Irish are very generous with their time when people are searching for their Irish roots. Most towns have someone who people regard as the local historian who wants to help. Local libraries are also valuable resources. In any case, people on a pilgrimage to find their family's history in Ireland are welcomed with open arms," Rencher said.

According to Rencher, the best method is to, "Start with what you know and branch out to what you don't know. What artifacts do you have in your home? A Presbyterian Church token has a mark that can tell what congregation in Ireland it's from. Other members of a family might have naturalization certificates or church records. Irish families are so large that artifacts could be with any number of cousins."

It's also important to document the ancestors you find along with any stories or pictures. With 100 million Irish descendants around the world, it's a strong possibility someone you don't know can add details to your history if they can find your photos and stories on free preservation sites likeFamilySearch.org. DNA results can also help identify where others in your family line are located. 

Because of death and emigration to other countries, the population of Ireland was the same in 1900 as in 1800. Irish emigrants went all over the world for many reasons—mostly looking for new opportunity and a new life. Many had to leave when their landlords moved a tenant off the property so a new tenant could pay higher rents. Others went into military service or worked as indentured servants, working for seven years to pay off their costs of emigrating. Many moved to England, Canada, and America to work as miners and laborers. 

Some got a new start in a developing country. If you had to guess the name of a founder and first president of a newly independent nation in South America, would you guess O'Higgins? If you did, you'd be right. Bernardo O'Higgins became the Supreme Director of Chile in 1817.

On St. Patrick's Day, the saying is, "Everybody is Irish for one day," and that might be literally true. Irish is the second most common ancestry in the United States. It's the fourth largest in Canada. Mexico has 600,000 Irish descendants. And this just names a few. 

Whether you're marching in a St. Patrick's Day parade, helping turn the Chicago River green, wearing garish green socks, or just having some corned beef and cabbage at home, take the time to share your favorite Irish family photos and stories online at FamilySearch.org. So even if you don't think you have any Irish in you, it's now a lot easier to double check”.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

IMPORTANT: Ontario Genealogy Society Open Forum

This notice has just come into the office

The Ontario Genealogical Society invites members and non-members to join in an online discussion with President, Shirley Sturdevant. Ask questions and make comments about the changing face of OGS and volunteer opportunities with the Society.

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014

Time: 7:00 p.m.

More information will follow.

This forum is open to anyone who is interested but you may express your interest and receive a reminder and your own copy of the login information by contacting the OGS provincial office at provoffice@ogs.on.ca.

Please use the subject line “GS Open Forum.”

I will be there. Will you?

Friday, December 6, 2013

Halifax Regional Municipality Archives

One of our readers recently sent me information about the Conversion List from the old street numbering system to the new street numbering system on the Halifax Regional Archives.  

Already the reader says that he has found it very useful and have already looked at several ancestors' houses on Google Street View using the modern address.

He continues on to say that “A lot of my family research focuses on Halifax. Whether using City directories, deed indexes, or death certificates, the civic address of my research subject is often listed and can be used for many helpful purposes. Between 1958-1965 however, the City of Halifax renumbered all civic addresses from a 2-digit to a 4-digit number, so if you're interested in locating the current site of a pre-1958 ancestor's residence you were out of luck”. 

So take a look at the site and the list.  

I had fun this afternoon looking at their Virtual Exhibit which featured photographs, maps, and anniversary events that have taken place in Halifax-Dartmouth over the years.


Thanks to Neal for sending me information on this site.

The website is at 

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Share a Memory Contest

Thinking that you would like to go to RootsTech 2014 but don’t know quite how to do it?

Dear Myrt, America’s “Your Friend in Genealogy”, otherwise known as Pat Richley-Erickson, has a solution.

She and her daughter are offering a Share a Memory Contest and the grand prize is a fully paid registration fee to Rootstech 2014, and two other separate prizes from Amazon.

The deadline is November 30th , so don’t delay!



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Two workshops at the Windsor Public Library



The Central Branch of the Windsor Public Library in Windsor, Ontario invite people who have an interest in family history at two workshops presented by Tom Vajdik, WPL Genealogy and Local History Librarian.

The two workshops are –

Introduction to Genealogy will take place at 7:00 pm on Monday, October 28 in WPL’s Fred Israel Auditorium (lower level of Central Branch, 850 Ouellette Avenue) This workshop will be an introduction to the methodology and cover the basics of genealogy as well as offer resources that assist in learning to trace your family history.

Genealogy on the Internet will be offered at 7:00 pm on Monday, November 18, in WPL’s Computer Lab (main floor near Dufferin Entrance at Central Branch, 850 Ouellette Avenue). This workshop will examine the many free web sites devoted to genealogy.

“At Windsor Public Library, we have noticed there’s been a resurgence in people’s desire to know their ancestors as people and learn more about their roots,” says Vajdik. “People visit us from far and wide to avail themselves of our resources. Solving puzzles and being the Sherlock Holmes of their own family stories satisfies a desire to tie their past to their present. Windsor Public Library is pleased to offer these genealogy workshops. All are welcome to attend and there is no fee to register.”

For more information and to register for either of these free workshops, please call 519-255-6770, ext. 4434 or email tvajdik@windsorpubliclibrary.com.  


Please register early for the November 18 workshop to ensure you get a seat!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Top Canadian History Teacher is from Winnipeg



Matt Henderson, a history teacher from St. John's Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg has won the 2013 Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Awards are administered by Canada’s History Society, and are awarded "to the best Canadian achievements in the field of history and heritage".

Last year, Henderson and his grade eleven history class went to the provincial archives (Archives of Manitoba Family History Research

http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/archives/family_history/index.html) “to help them gain a better understanding of the experience of indigenous persons in Manitoba”.

“They learned about conducting research in archives, they wrote historical fiction based on what they discovered - they even published their own Idle No More textbook called Because of a Hat - Stories of Red River”.

Congratulations Matt, and the Grade 11 history class!

Go to Winnipeg teacher wins GG Award at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/scene/winnipeg-teacher-wins-gg-award-1.2159524

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

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

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

1911 Census Updated

Ancestry.ca has updated the 1911 Census database.

There are now over 7-million names on the database.

This database is an every name index, and it covers the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, and two territories - the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories.

Go to the website at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8947












Saturday, August 31, 2013

Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org announces partnership

Last week, I reported on the new digitization partnership between the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian.org (see blog posting of Aug 23rd  “Some land records are being digitized”), and now it has been made official.

The LAC has agreed to a “large-scale digitization partnership involving about 60 million images from numerous collections”.   

A couple of things caught my eye –

This will be a ”10-year agreement with this longstanding partner (which) covers the digitization, indexing and description of millions of personal, administrative and government documents, as well as land grants, war diaries and photographs. There will be no change for those Canadians who wish to access these collections at LAC.

The go on to further say that “Canadiana.org also will also transcribe millions of handwritten pages, and create related descriptions. Enhanced search tools facilitating access to these records will be available to Canadians free of charge at LAC, as well as at hundreds of subscribing libraries in regions across Canada. For a small monthly fee, Canadians will also be able to use the enhanced tools online to conduct advanced searches without leaving home

Notice that the press release says nothing about newspapers. And what will be the fee? And when will this take place?

It also sounds as if you want to see these records free of charge, you will have to visit them at the LAC in Ottawa.