Mapping Surnames of Immigrants

The FamilySearch blog on Genealogy Resources has a post about using the surname of your immigrant through the use of surname distribution maps to discover where they may have originated.

The blog says that “These maps graphically display locations where surnames occurred at different periods in time. This strategy provides genealogists with a starting point for research in the birth country, when that information cannot be discovered through sources recorded in the new country of settlement. It works particularly well for less-common surnames and among families that have stayed in the same European locations for centuries”. 

They have a list of countries, with links to maps, including Canada, and a world-wide map. So give it a try. 

Did it work for you?

The website is https://familysearch.org/blog/en/map-surname

UPDATE: GenWeb Cemetery Project

GenWeb Canada has posted updates to the following cemeteries in the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.

NOVA SCOTIA

Digby County

Waterford Cemetery

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

King's County

Peters Road Cemetery

QUEBEC

Huntingdon County

Hillside Cemetery

Labelle County

Chute-St-Philippe Cemetery

Kiamika Cemetery

Lac Saguay Cemetery 

Lac St-Paul Cemetery n

Ste Anne-du-Lac Cemetery 

 

Val Barrette Cemetery

Gatineau County

East Templeton Cemetery 

St Raphael Cemetery

Papineau County

Notre Dame-de-la-Salette Cemetery

Our thanks go out to Deb Belcher, Jim Anderson & Brenda Marchese for their help in the indexing, and to Angie Garant, Carol, Sharon Sireci and Cheyenne Kepke for taking the photos.

The full list is at http://canadacems.blogspot.com/2014/01/nova-scotia-prince-edward-island-quebec.html

Site Launch: new version of the IslandNewspapers.ca

A message from Mark Leggott, University Librarian/Privacy and Copyright Officer, University of Prince Edward Island, will launch a new version of the IslandNewspapers.ca site, which features a new interface and all of The Charlottetown Guardian issues from 1892-1957.

The launch will take place on Tuesday February 11th in the Art Gallery at the Confederation Centre Art Galley and Museum (Grafton Street Entrance) in downtown Charlottetown, with a start time of 2:00 PM.

You can get a sneak peek at http://islandnewspapers.ca/

15 sessions will be live streamed from RootsTech 2014

The conference starts today, and here are the sessions (All the times are MST)

Thursday, Feb. 6 

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family from My Couch,” by Tammy Hepps

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. “FamilySearch Family Tree: What’s New and What’s Next,” by Ron Tanner; 

2:30 to 3:30 p.m. “Intro to DNA for Genealogists,” by James Rader

 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. “Genealogy in the Cloud,” by Randy Hoffman 

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Sharing Your Family with Multimedia,” by Michael LeClerc. 

Friday, Feb. 7

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. “Storytelling Super Powers: How to Come Off as Your Family’s Genealogy Hero,” by David Adelman

1 p.m.to 2 p.m. “Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media,” by Lisa Alzo

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. “Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com,” by Crista Cowen

4 to 5 p.m. “Finding Family and Ancestors Outside the USA with New Technologies” by Daniel Horowitz

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Do It Yourself Photo Restoration,” by Ancestry Insider.

Saturday, Feb. 8

10:30 to 11:30 a.m., “Become an iPad Power User,” by Lisa Louise Cooke

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. “Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Results,” by Josh Taylor

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. “A Beginner’s Guide to Going Paperless,” by Randy Whited

4 p.m. to 5 p.m. “How to Interview Yourself for a Personal History,” by Tom Taylor

5 p.m. to 6 p.m. “Five Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep,” by Deborah Gamble.

And while watching Mondays With Myrt on her Google+ Hangout this past Monday, I saw Diane Rogers from the British Columbia Genealogical Society in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City with Dear Myrt and Diane was taking about one of her research passions – women in genealogy.

You can go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCeEfWeUWPc to see Diane with Dear Myrt.

So it looks like we are getting off to a fantastic start!

Valentine’s Day Special!!!

GlobalGenealogy in Toronto has just announced that from now until February 14, 2014, they will remove shipping charges from all orders of $35.00 or more ($35.00 or more in product, not including taxes, etc).

Includes shipments to Canada & USA (excluding Hawaii and Alaska).

Free Shipping is via Expedited Parcel Service!

The website is www.GlobalGenealogy.com

Travels with My Aunt: Adventures in Europe 1914

The British Isles Family history Society of Great Ottawa in Ottawa, Ontario will hold its monthly meeting on Saturday February the 8th.

The following is the schedule of the meeting -

9:00 a.m. — Before BIFHSGO Education Talk — Bob McDonald will discuss Gaelic naming customs and their relation to the Gaelic language, the oldest literary language in Northern Europe and once widely spoken in Canada.

9:30 a.m. — Browse our Discovery Tables for WWI and Merchant Marine items, hosted by Barbara Tose.

10:00 a.m. — Travels with My Aunt: Adventures in Europe 1914 —Barbara Tose marks the 100th anniversary of her great-grand aunt Nellie Miller's 30-page letter to her brother that is a fascinating tale of events, society, and adventure in 1914. Nellie was a nurse superintendent at the Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay, Ontario, who joined the J.L. Hughes party for a tour of Britain and Europe.

I have heard Barbara talk before, and she is an engaging speaker.

If you would like to listen to an interview with her about her talk, go to http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106

The meeting takes place at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. Free parking is available in the lots east of the building only on Saturday and Sunday. Do not use the lot west of the building.

Open to members and visitors. Free admission.

The website is http://www.bifhsgo.ca/

Gwyneth Pearce, Secretary of the Toronto Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society tells us that they will be holding an all-day workshop Scotland and its People, at the North York Central Library on Saturday 12 April 2014. .

There will be 11 sessions, and they will be on Scottish history, patterns of migration, records and repositories, planning your research both here and in Scotland, and adding “flesh to the bones” of your Scottish ancestors.

The workshop will be led by two principal speakers: UK-based genealogist Sheena Tait, who specializes in Scottish research, and historian Kevin James, a faculty member in the Scottish Studies Program at the University of Guelph. Krista Barclay, Christine Woodcock, and three of our own Toronto Branch experts – Marian Press, Linda Reid and James F.S. Thomson – will also bring their knowledge and enthusiasm to the day’s program..Whether you’re a seasoned researcher or just beginning your family history journey, this is a day you won’t want to miss!

Full program details and speaker biographies can be found on the Branch website at http://torontofamilyhistory.org/learn/workshops/scottish-workshop-2014/

The early-bird registration deadline for this event is 15 March. OGS members enjoy additional discounts.

Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org partnership starting to appear online

This notice came from the LAC this morning - "The partnership between Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org over the next ten years involves the digitization, indexing and description of millions of personal, administrative and government documents. It will triple the LAC's digital content on the Web, and allow Canadians to access tens of millions of additional images regardless of where they live, at no charge". They have divided the holdings into Genealogy, Aboriginal History, Military History, and Landmark Papers. Be forewarned before you start working with these fonds though, I have found with the ones that I have worked with, they ARE NOT INDEXED. And it has can cause headaches to me – a researcher. So has anyone used these online digitization fonds yet? How have you found them? And some of them are dark - almost too dark to read. `1q So if you can deal with that all that, they are great research material to have online, and combined with the report s

NEWS FLASH!!Global RootsTech Conference Announces Free Online Broadcast Schedule

Paul Nauta from RootsTech Media Relations, has just sent us this notice -

SALT LAKE CITY-RootsTech, the world's largest family history and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 6-8, 2014, announced today that 15 of its popular sessions will be broadcast live and complimentary over the Internet. The live broadcasts will give those unable to attend in-person worldwide a sample of this year's conference content. Interested viewers can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org. The fourth-year conference has attracted over 10,000 registered attendees in-person, and leaders expect over 20,000 additional viewers online.

The streamed sessions include a sampling of technology and family history presentations. Following are the broadcasted sessions and speakers. All times are in mountain standard time (MST):

Thursday, February 6

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Top 10 Things I Learned About My Family from My Couch by Tammy Hepps

1 p.m. to 2 p.m., FamilySearch Family Tree: What's New and What's Next by Ron Tanner

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Intro to DNA for Genealogists by James Rader

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Genealogy in the Cloud by Randy Hoffman

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sharing Your Family with Multimedia by Michael LeClerc

Friday, February 7

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Storytelling Super Powers: How to Come Off as Your Family's Genealogy Hero by David Adelman

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Tweets, Links, Pins, and Posts: Break Down Genealogical Brick Walls with Social Media by Lisa Alzo

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com by Crista Cowen

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Finding Family and Ancestors Outside the USA with New Technologies by Daniel Horowitz

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Do It Yourself Photo Restoration by Ancestry Insider

Saturday, February 8

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Become an iPad Power User by Lisa Louise Cooke

1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Information Overload: Managing Online Searches and Their Resultsby Josh Taylor

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., A Beginner's Guide to Going Paperless by Randy Whited

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., How to Interview Yourself for a Personal History by Tom Taylor

5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Five Ways to Do Genealogy in Your Sleep by Deborah Gamble

About RootsTech

RootsTech is a global family history event where people of all ages learn to discover and share their family stories and connections through technology. The first annual conference was held in 2011, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by leading genealogical organizations, the conference includes hands-on demonstrations and forums to provide a highly interactive environment and accelerate learning. Content is geared to young and old, beginner to advanced levels.

To visit their website, go to https://rootstech.org/

The National Gallery of Canada

There will be a summer exhibit called The Great War: The Persuasive Power of Photography, and it will begin June 27, coinciding with Canada History Week, which starts July the 1st, and will run until the 17th of November. 

This exhibit brings together a diverse and remarkable selection of photographs drawn from national and international collections in an effort to illustrate the many important roles that photography played in the First World War.

The website for that National Gallery of Canada is http://www.gallery.ca/en/

NEWS FLASH! Library and Archives Canada to Digitize 640,000 First World War Service Files

As part of the commemoration of the centennial of the First World War, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announced in its News section that it is undertaking the digitization of 640,000 personnel service files of the First World War’s Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) members with a view to ensuring the long-term preservation of these frail paper documents.

The first quarter, beginning with the letter A through D, will be closed as of March 2014 and will be available on-line as of Summer 2014.

At the end of the project, expected in 2015, Canadians will be able to research high-quality digital copies of the 640,000 newly digitized service files from the comfort of their own home.

To read more about the project, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/digitization-cef-service-files.aspx

Old Family Photo Workshop

On Saturday March 22, 2014, the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia will present a Photo Workshop as part of the monthly meeting to be held from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm at the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives, 6016 University Ave, Halifax.

The workshop will be lead by Jenny Milligan, MEd, Socio-Costumologist, and will cover -

• Learn to date old photo
• Place people in your family tree
• Help identify faces from your past
• Browse & study a collection of historic photo & costume reference books

Bring your old photos!

Cost: $25 ($20 for GANS Members)

Register by email to info@NovaScotiaAncestors.ca

You may email 1-2 photos with your registration.

Please note that only 20 places are available for this workshop.

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

The Ottawa Genealogist – Winter 2013 Edition

The most recent edition of The Ottawa Genealogist has just been released, having received my copy in the mail the other day. It is the newsletter of the Ottawa Branch of the OGS.

Of the articles, George Neville submitted a list of names in his article, Petition of Inhabitants of North Gower for Magistrates in Johnstown District No. 3, in which the men of the township are asking that a magistrate be appointed. Meanwhile, Jim Stanzell provides readers with his Early Bytown Settlers Index, in which over 450 names are listed, and all surnames start with the letter ‘M’.

Gloria F. Tubman’s Question Answered, More Questions Posed outlines the questions posed by a previous article which showed the relationship between people from Bistrol Township and North Onslow Township in the Pontiac area of Quebec.

Edward Kipp has two articles in this newsletter, and they are – Cemetery Shunpiking 2011 & 2013 and Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family Reunion 2013.

In the first article, he takes us on a tour of the gravestones of his great-grandparents in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

He provides a history of the people on the gravestones, as well as a photo of the gravestones.

And the second article, he and his wife, Elizabeth, go to Newport, Rhode Island for the latest family reunion of the Rathbun-Rathbone-Rathburn Family.

He always writes such interesting travel logs that are intertwined with family history. It keeps my interest throughout.

Plus, there’s lots of other interesting and informative stuff to read in this issue, as there is in the other issues.

This afternoon, my husband and I will be listening to the live streaming of the Branch’s regular monthly meeting – another plus for belonging to the Ontario Genealogical Society, and one of its many branches!

The website of the Ottawa Branch is http://ogsottawa.on.ca

Ancestry.ca has free access until Jan 27th

Ancestry.ca has FREE access to Canadian Vital Records (birth, marriage, death) until January 27 at http://www.ancestry.ca/cdnbmd?o_iid=58437&o_lid=58437&o_sch=Web+Property

Nova Scotia Census, Assessment and Poll Tax Records, 1770-1795, 1827

Ancestry.ca has taken the records from Nova Scotia Archives and under agreement with the archives, have put them online. 

The Non-Census Records in the Collection Nova Scotia Poll Tax Rolls, 1791–1793.
The index includes the name and location for each person. Records in this collection are from the following counties -

· Annapolis

· Antigonish

· Colchester

· Cumberland

· Guysborough

· Halifax

· Hants

· Kings

· Lunenburg

· Pictou

· Queens

· Shelburne

Tax Records

The tax records are from the Gideon White Family Papers. Gideon White was a loyalist from Massachusetts who moved to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, after the American Revolution. He served as tax collector for a time, and tax records for the years 1786–1787 are included in the collection.

The tax records provide names and addresses of Shelburne taxpayers, occupations, and county and poor taxes owed.

They can be accessed at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8809

You can also go to the Nova Scotia Archives at http://www.novascotia.ca/nsarm/virtual/census/ and read the individual narrative about each record, and go in-depth into the tax and census records for each of the areas noted above.

Four new French-Canadian podcasts

Sandra Goodwin, an American blogger, now has four Podcasts on her website Maple Stars and Stripes at http://maplestarsandstripes.com/ where you can listen to her talk about these subjects - 

Beginning French-Canadian Research

The Dreaded ‘Dit’ Name

French Pronunciation and Text-to-Speech Aids

More French-Canadian Name Variations

She says that they have been “created as a way to share tips and tricks that might make it easier to research your French-Canadian family here in America as well as to trace them back in Quebec. We’ll discuss ways to make it easier to move around in French-language records, especially if you’re not a native French speaker, as well as take a look at different record groups, repositories, history, geography, culture, and methodology particular to French-Canadian genealogy”.

The Almonte Gazette Archive

The Ottawa Branch of the OGS will hold its regular meeting on Saturday January 25th from 1 pm – 3 pm at the Ottawa Archives, Room 115, Tallwood Drive, Ottawa and from 1:00-1:30 there will be Networking , 1:30-2:15 "Using the Almonte Gazette online database", and 2:15-3:00 "RetroReveal for Genealogists, a Digital Forensics Tool".

Matthew Moxley from the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum will give the first talk on how to use the free online database of digitized of The Almonte Gazettes, and Kyla Ubbink, who will be talking about how to use a free software called RetroReveal to uncover hidden text, see faded inks and photographs, and discover what may lie beneath.

Details are on their website at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/ .

This meeting will be webcast for those who can’t attend in person at: http://genealogicalstudies.adobeconnect.com/ottawaogs/

The website of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is at http://mvtm.ca/mvtm/

The website for The Almonte Gazette Archive is at http://mvtm.ca/mvtm/?page_id=2759

This archive has been made available to the museum from the Almonte Public Library who had previously imaged the town’s newspaper. During 2012 the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum digitized these images and created an archive of searchable content that has been made available online.

The Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2014

The Ontario Library Association is Canada's largest library organization and OLA's Super Conference is Canada's largest continuing education event in librarianship. 

They will be holding their Superconference called "A Universe of Possibilities" in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto January 29 – February 1, 2014.

OurDigitalWorld, which is in the forefront of putting Ontario newspapers online for example, will be at the Superconference and will present two talks on Bringing Multicultural History Online: Digitizing Ontario's Diverse Community Memory and Community Newspapers: Ways forward for providing digital access.

The website for OurDigitalWorld is www.ourdigitalworld.org/

The website for the Ontario Library Association is vhttps://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Ontario_Library_Association.aspx?hkey=49504c21-3931-4906-984e-4812d251311a&WebsiteKey=397368c8-7910-4dfe-807f-9eeb1068be31

Searching for First World War Ancestors

Heritage Mississauga and the Halton Peel Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society are pleased to present a full-day workshop on Saturday February 8th, 2014 at 10 am-3 pm at Historic Robinson Adamson House, 1921 Dundas St. W., Mississauga, ON. 

Professional Genealogist and Lecturer, Ruth Blair will lead the workshop, and the day will be divided into two sections –

Session 1 “In Search of Your First World War Ancestors”

Was your ancestor in the First World War? Resources to find military records will be presented whether he be from Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia or the United States. If your First World War ancestor was a woman we will also be discussing resources to find service records for women who served at home or on the front.

Session 2: “You Won’t Find it All in Your Ancestor’s First World War Military File”

We will be discussing other resources to help you find out more about your ancestor’s experience in the First World War. You won’t find it all in the military file. These resources will help you build a better picture of what your ancestor and his family went through during the First World War.

The fee is $25.00, and it covers both sessions. Fee must be prepaid to reserve seat. Coffee and Tea will be served. Please make your own arrangements for lunch. Call to reserve your seat today - 905-828-8411 ext.”0″. Space is limited so call and make your booking early.

The website of Heritage Mississauga is http://www.heritagemississauga.com/index.php

The website of the Ontario Genealogical Society is www.ogs.on.ca

Historical Debates of the Parliament of Canada (Hansard) now online!

This week, we received news from the Library and Archives Canada about additional parliamentary debates which have been put online -

The press release says that “This new portal contains the historical debates in both official languages from 1867 to the mid-1990s. This means you can now search and browse all published debates of both the Senate and the House of Commons from Parliament 1, Session 1, until the coverage begins on http://www.parl.gc.ca/Default.aspx?Language=E

As mentioned above, the portal was developed by the Library of Parliament, in collaboration with Canadiana.org, a membership alliance dedicated to building Canada’s digital preservation infrastructure and providing wide-ranging access to Canadian documentary heritage. Library and Archives Canada is pleased to have provided support by producing the digital page images.

You can consult our blog Looking for the Debates of the House of Commons (Hansard) online of June 2012 at http://thediscoverblog.com/2012/06/05/looking-for-the-debates-of-the-house-of-commons-hansard-online/ to help you find information on the House of Commons debates”.

In addition, check the http://parl.canadiana.ca/?usrlang=en

Also, special thanks Gail Dever, Special Correspondent to GenealogyCanada, for the heads-up on this news story.