3rd Annual Genealogy Show and Tell

On Saturday, February 23, 2013, the Genealogical Association of Nova Scotia will have their 3rd Annual Genealogy Show and Tell at 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Akins A/V Room, Nova Scotia Archives, University Ave, Halifax, NS

The say that the Show and Tell the last couple of years has been fabulous and brought together people with many different research skills and stories about their families. Come and tell us about your research and meet other folks who may share your research interests.

How will it work?

Members are invited to take ten minutes to tell us about your research. We might have some questions for you or have suggestions on how you can further your research.

Have you written a book on your family history? Do you create heritage scrapbooks? Bring them along and tell us your methods and give us some tips.

Do you have an old family bible or other family items that would interest genealogists? Tell us how you acquired them and why they are important to you.

Are you new to genealogy? Browse our publications, pick up some handouts and research tips and get to know some fellow genealogists.

Don't forget to wear your family t-shirts, hats or buttons!

What if you are an "away" member and can't attend? Well, you can send us a brief description of your research including surnames and counties and we will display them that afternoon. Please limit your submission to 100 words and include an email address where potential cousins can reach you.

Do you have a blog, website or Facebook page you'd like us to know about? Send us the url and we will post it.

Member submissions can be emailed to ganslectures@gmail.com Please put Genealogy Show and Tell in the subject line.

There will be a door prize and light refreshments will be served.

Their website is www.novascotiaancestors.ca/events.php

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

LAC Changes “Search” Feature

Have you noticed the changes made between the old landing page of the LAC and the new landing page of the LAC in addition to the new layout?

There is one big change to me, and that is, on the new website of the LAC at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx as opposed to the old website of the LAC at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/index-e.html they have changed the Search feature!

On the old website one could search the federated search site on the top right hand corner of the website, and your search would be broken down into Library, Archives, and Ancestors. You could choose just one way to search, or you could search all three. You could clearly see which one you wanted to search first. I found it a very efficient way to search the holdings for my clients. Now you just get “results” of your search – the three fields are all mixed together.

I also see where there has been talk about the LAC making plans to digitize newspapers once again.

And when these plans are finalized, will the papers be indexed, as well as digitized? That is my question, and the answer will probably be " No."

Anyone who has had occasion (like myself) to work with the digitized Land Petitions of Upper and Lower Canada, know what a task it is to find anyone within the pages and pages of paper – it involves hours and hours of work on the Intertnet to find the exact record. They are not indexed by the  person's name!
© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Genealogies at FamilySearch

Have you seen the latest improvement to FamilySearch.org?

On Dec 13th, they launched Genealogies which is a “set of lineage linked conclusion trees provided to FamilySearch by users. This data comes from the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File and other user submissions”.

So I put in the name of one of my favorite ancestors, my 4th great grandfather Andrew BARCLAY, and his parents, and where he lived  – but I didn’t find anything new about him, or his grandson by the same name.

But the information submitted is correct according to my genealogy. And it’s so much easier than before, when you had to put in the information in each file in order to get the result.

Our thanks should go to those people who have and still are spending hours of their time checking this type of work to make sure that it is as correct as possible.

So give it a try, and see how it works for you..

To go to FamilySearch, the website is https://familysearch.org/family-trees

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Kandahar - The Fighting Season

There is a special exhibit at the Canadian War Museum consisting of photographs by Louie Palu, courtesy of Kinsman Robinson Galleries, showing the Canadian Forces in the most dangerous districts of Kandahar. Palu captures “their world of firefights and exhausting patrols in an unforgiving landscape”.

Canadian Forces were there from 2005 to 2011. The exhibit will be on display until September 2013.

To see more about other exhibits that the Canadian War Museum has on display, go to www.warmuseum.ca/exhibitions

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Genealogists Helping Genealogists

There will be free research assistance given by the members of the Elgin County OGS to experienced genealogists, and beginners at the Elgin OGS on Saturday, January 19, 2013, from 1 to 3 p.m.

The location is at the George Thomas Room (upstairs), at the St. Thomas Public Library in St. Thomas, Ontario.

If you cannot get to the meeting on January the 19th, but you have ancestors in the Elgin County Region, they have a number of indexes online - free, including

Cemetery Indexes - The Elgin OGS has transcribed the inscriptions of all the current gravestones in Elgin County,

Census Indexes - The 1842 Township censuses indexes are online free

Funeral Home Records - Several of the Elgin County Funeral Homes have records that have been indexed

Land Records - The Elgin County Township papers have been indexed for ancestor names.

Newspaper Indexes - Many Elgin County Newspapers issues have been indexed and are available here free online.

Online Publications - miscellaneous collection of indexes to other sources; be sure to take a look!

Vital Records - the Elgin County Marriage abstracts of names from 1853 - 1873, plus some church records

Places of Worship - an inventory of church records available

Military - 1828 Militia men, War of 1812 veterans, Civil War veterans, World War 1 veterans, Cenotaphs of Elgin County

So there is a good selection, and should get you started in the right direction when searching your ancestor.

The website for the Elgin County website is www.elginogs.ca

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Access to 15 Databases in One Stop!

The Library and Archives Canada has just issued a blog where they say the following -

Within the next few weeks, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will begin to deploy a series of 15 databases on Canadian census returns.

Note: This will be the only website where free online nominal indexes can be accessed for census returns from 1825 to 1916, comprising more than 32 million records.

LAC will be offering:

new databases such as those for census returns from 1851 and 1861

nominal indexes (instead of geographical indexes) for census returns from 1901, 1906, 1911 and 1916 revamped and updated versions of the indexes for census returns from 1871, 1881 and 1891and much more…

Stay tuned to learn when these databases will be available and be sure to visit our census page to discover these incredible resources for tracing your family history!

The website for the LAC is at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Office Closure during Holiday Season

I have received a couple of office and library closings during the Holiday Season, and they are -

Quebec Family History Society - The library and office of the Quebec Family History Society will be closed for the holiday's from Friday December 21, 2012 until and including Wednesday January 2, 2013.

The library and office will re-open Thursday, January 3, 2013 at 10:00 a.m.

Please check their website at www.qfhs.ca. And if you are a member, refer to the winter copy of "Connections" for a complete list of upcoming activities hosted by the Quebec Family History Society.

Société de généalogie de l'Outaouais (The Genealogical Society of the Outaouais) in Gatineau, Quebec will have its office and research room closed from the 22 December 2012 to the 2 January 2013 for the Holidays. They will reopen the 3 January 2013.

Their website is at http://genealogieoutaouais.com

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved