Thursday, July 14, 2011

August 1st - Colonel By Day

Join us on Monday, August 1st at the Bytown Museum to celebrate Colonel By Day as part of Ottawa's Rideau Canal Festival.

There will be heritage lace making and rug braiding demonstrations, musketry demonstrations, blacksmithing, tabletop exhibits from local heritage groups and museums, a Celtic Cross Commemoration Ceremony, costumed characters, and the Colonel By Day Bistro.

A number of genealogical groups will be there including the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogy Society, so be sure to drop by and say "Hello". Admission to the museum is free.

For more information on the museum go to http://www.bytownmuseum.com/en/main.html. For more information about the Rideau Canal http://www.rideaucanalfestival.ca/site_bytown.html

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

A New Website for The OGS British Home Children

This afternoon I checked the Ontario Genealogical Society site http://www.ogs.on.ca/ to see if there were any new items, and I saw where the British Home Children now has a website at http://www.ogs.on.ca/SIG-BHC/index.htm.

As the website says "From 1869 to 1939 various workhouses, sheltering homes, orphanages and child care organizations in Great Britain immigrated over 100,000 orphaned, abandoned, pauper children ages 1 to 18 to Canada. Known as the British Home Children (BHC), life for these children coming alone to Canada to work as domestics and farm labourers forging ahead in a new land was not always easy."

They have a Resources Link, and are going to have a "Members Only" page in the future.

The cost to join the SIG is $5.00. If you are already an OGS member just mail in your $5.00 cheque to the OGS provincial office indicating that it is for 2011 membership in the BHC SIG. You may also call the office or email Marsha, our Membership Co-ordinator at membership@ogs.on.ca to add this branch.

The email address for the British Home Children is BHC@ogs.on.ca.

BCGS Walter Drayton Library Open House

The British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) celebrates it's 40th anniversary this year, and as part of the celebration is to hold an Open House at the library on Sunday July 17th.

The library will be open from 2-4 pm, and everyone is welcome. Door prizes will be given including a 3 one year membership to GenealogyBank courtesy of www.GenealogyBank.com.

One thing to note is that the BCGS is giving out their first-ever book awards on Sunday, and they tell me a couple of the authors will be there.

The winner this year is Bruce McIntyre for his three-volume series, Lives Lived West of the Divide: A Biographical Dictionary of Fur Traders Working West of the Rockies, 1793-1858.

The library is located at Unit 211, 12837-76th Avenue, Surrey.

If you want more information, their website is www.bcgs.ca. The email is bcgs@bcgs.ca

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Day Pass Offered at Saskatchwan Genealogical Society

This caught my eye this afternoon on the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society website this afternoon. They are now offering a $10.00 day pass for non-members to access "members only" databases!

The Burial Index, the Obituaries Index, and the Cummins Rural Directory Index are now offered.

Go to their website at http://www.saskgenealogy.com/ or contact sgslibrary@sasktel.net

Genealogy Week 2011

The reason I haven't put on a post in the past couple of days is because my husband, and myself have been busy hosting Genealogy Week 2011 at the Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Part of the Genealogy Week Reception Sunday evening was that we passed out cards which said "This year's GenealogyWeek participants are researching the following people and places in various venues in Ottawa-Gatineau. If you have any tidbits of information to pass along, please do so. You may have a common ancestor!"

Janis Carter is looking for Archibald Trew (Ireland) Hope Twp; Thomas Carter (England) Pickering Twp; Samuel Bryson (Ireland) Clarke Twp; Charles Hood (England) Pickering Twp; Thomas Tweedie (Scotland) Pickering Twp

Nancy Cunningham is looking for William Cunningham (Ireland) Whitechurch Twp, County of York; William Fahey (Ireland) Chatham, New Brunswick; David Wilson (England) Toronto; Thomas Metcalf (England) Toronto

Kellie Love is looking for Bertrim/Bertam, William (Ireland) Lanark Twp; Cox, Thomas (Ireland) Quebec; Sharpley, David (Ireland) Quebec; Lyons, Lawrence (New York) Prince Edward County; Smith, Hamilton (USA) Erin Twp.

Ted McChesney is looking for Louis Labelle (French) Massey (ON) and Allumette & Montreal; Thomas Mousseau (France) Massey (ON) and Montreal; , (France) Allumette; Samuel McChesnay (Scotland) ???; Richard Pettifer (England) ???; Calumet Island.

If you have any of the ancestors that are being researched, please send your information to me at genealogycanada@aol.com, and I will forward your information to the people concerned.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Open House at the City of Ottawa Archives

Here is where we plan to be tomorrow afternoon -

"The City of Ottawa’s Central Archives invite you to its open house on Saturday, July 9 from noon to 4 p.m. at 100 Tallwood Drive, corner of Woodroffe Avenue.
Hands on family activities include genealogy workshops, clay tablet creation, building tours and magical fun. The public is also invited to view a new sculpture titled Archive in the exterior garden and meet artist Don Maynard during the open house. Mr. Maynard will be available from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the lobby to discuss his work.

The Archives’ premiere exhibit, entitled, “An Archives Odyssey: making a home for the history of our communities,” will be open for viewing. The exhibit provides “a history of the City of Ottawa Archives from its humble beginnings to this beautiful state of the art facility.”

The new Central Archives has a vault that provides sufficient space for 10 years of growth, and enough space on-site to build a second vault to provide for 25 years of growth, an environmentally controlled on-site exhibit to showcase the City’s treasures, and a 200-square foot triage room to temporarily house collections that could potentially harm existing holdings.

The new building also has classroom and workshop space for school and public programming, on-site space for the Archives’ community partners, as well as a gift shop to promote public awareness of the importance of archives and generate revenue.

Background:

With its first settlement dating back to the 1790s, Ottawa is one of the oldest cities in Canada. Its archival collection is one of the most valuable holdings of information that document the development and evolution of municipal government in this area. As mandated by the provincial government, the City of Ottawa must collect and preserve its municipal records in a secure manner for public access, as well as future generations.

The collection contains photographs, microfilm, film, magnetic tapes, video and audiotapes, computer records, drawings, as well as some artefacts. Researchers, historians and the general public rely on the City’s archives as a resource for civic records, genealogy, construction history and photographs".

For more information, please visit http://www.ottawa.ca/archives

Society for German Genealogy in Eastern Europe Conference

A conference for people of German origin who are interested in the genealogy, culture and history of their ancestors who migrated through Russian, Poland, Volhynia, and surrounding area will be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from August 12-14, 2011.

"From Whence We Came" is the theme of this year's conference, and there will be lectures given by Kathleen Kufeldt "Conducting Family Interviews and Documenting the Results", Bill Remus will give a lecture on "The German Migration to Volhynia", and Jim Blanchard will give a talk on "The Winnipeg German Community before the Great War"

The website of the society is http://www.sggee.org/. The email is convention@sggee.org