Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Genealogy in Canada Survey

There is a new survey online http://www.genealogyincanada.blogspot.com/ lead by Professor Leighann Neilson of the Sprott School of Business, and Emeritus Professor Del Muise of the History Department, both at Carleton University, Ottawa.

I was made aware of the survey by John D. Reid's blog "Anglo-Celtic Connections" http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/ this morning, and I took the survey this afternoon. They said it would take about half an hour, and it did.

They say “The objective is to secure accurate information concerning the resources engaged with by family historians/genealogists".

It is a wide ranging survey, and they have put in their opening remarks that it will be “the first stage of a broad national project“ What does this mean? I will be interested to see what their next “project” will be...

Park to be Renamed Africville

The Chronicle Herald's website, http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1255237.html has a notice today that “A historic north-end Halifax park will officially be renamed Africville on Friday (July 29th).

In a ceremony to take place during the Africville Annual Festival / Reunion, Seaview Park will be no more after Mayor Peter Kelly and other dignitaries unveil a new sign. The event will take place at 1 pm.

The renaming is part of a deal reached between the city and the Africville Genealogy Society in 2010.

Future plans for Africville include a church museum, expected to open in the fall, and an interpretative centre”.

The Africville Genealogy Society http://www.africville.ca/index.html Read about the history of the genealogical society, view a gallery, and read the stories of former residents.

Africville (on Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africville It gives a short history, and the resources that are available to the researcher.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dave Obee - Canada's Genealogist

I first met Dave Obee of Victoria in 2007 at a genealogy/library conference at the Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. His website is at http://www.daveobee.com/

Since then, we had the occasion to meet each other in various events, and at the 2011 conference of the Ontario Genealogical Society held in Hamilton, I asked him to write a piece on Social Media for the August issue of Families.

As a lead-up to reading the paper in the fall issue of Families, there is a good article called "Database search strategies” at http://www.daveobee.com/columns/09search.htm in which he gives us ten reasons why a search may not be as straightforward as we may think they would be - as Dave says “There are dozens of reasons why a search might fail”.

Some of the reasons he gives are -

Original records were poorly written,

Places were confused, and

People lied - Some people do not want to be found.

But he gives eight ways to search to increase your chances of success, including the use of wildcards, and how to be flexible in searching.

Dave will be speaking at the 2012 Ontario Genealogical Society Conference to be held at Kingston, June 1-3, 2012. The website is http://www.ogs.on.ca/seminar/conference2012.php

Monday, July 25, 2011

Cemetery Transcriptions Updating

In July, and August, the Lambton County Ontario Genealogical Society has been, and will be involved with Cemetery Transcriptions Updating.

If you can help, please e-mail lambtonogs@ebtech.net, and ask for either Robert or Karen.

The website is http://www.lambton.ogs.on.ca

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Talbot Times



The June 2011 issue of The Talbot Times of the Elgin County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society arrived last month, and it is full of news about Elgin County!

The editor brings you up-to-date on the renovations at the St. Thomas Public Library, and says that the group has made contact with another genealogical group in the area that meets at the Family History Centre, and has decided to coordinate some meeting with them.

A 13-page index to the St. Thomas Times Journal of August 1, 1952 (Section A through to Section L) including an index to photos, funerals, articles, births, marriages, reunions – all with tons of names!!

If you wish to contact the editor, please email them at info@elginogs.ca, or go to their website at www.elginogs.ca.

The Ontario Genealogical Society is offering a half-year membership for $35.00, you can go to http://www.ogs.on.ca/membership/types.php

Saturday, July 23, 2011

British Home Children Talk

The first Fall meeting of the Ottawa Media Club http://www.mediaclubofottawa.ca/index.html will be Monday, September 19, 2011. at 6 pm at the Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa.

There will be a talk on the British Home Children called Great Expectations – The Middlemore Experience.

Between 1873-1932, more than 5,000 Birmingham children were settled in Ontario and the Maritimes, by John T. Middlemore of Birmingham. This startling event will be explained, following exhaustive research for her book, by author Dr. Patricia Roberts-Pichette and research assistant Caroline Herbert.

Dr. Patricia Roberts-Pichette and Caroline Herbert are both members of the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa, and the organization has the Home Children database on the website http://www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=4">

CousinsConnect – Canadian

As the opening webpage says "The place to post your genealogy questions"

It has 18, 461 queries so far, and they range from a person looking for their birth mother to a person looking for their four brothers.

The website, which has been on since 2001, says that "If you are looking to contact other genealogists, discover distant relatives, or find a missing person, CousinConnect offers you the best chance for success".

They have a "Frequently Asked Questions" that can tell you how to start using the website, how to post a query for best results, or how to change a query. It is located at http://www.cousinconnect.com/faqs.htm

On the main pages, at the bottom of the right column, you can check for new queries on a daily, weekly or a monthly basis. And the queries can be from Canada, or any country you chose.

The website is at http://www.cousinconnect.com/p/a/3/. If you want to contact them, email them at
info@cousinconnect.com