Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Ontario Genealogical Society’s Cemeteries Project

There will be a meeting at the Hamilton Branch of the OGS on Sunday, February 17, 2013 at 2:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the Hamilton Room, Hamilton Main Public Library, 55 York Blvd., Hamilton .

The topic will be Ontario Cemeteries, and the speakers will be Diane Clendenan and Marjorie Stuart.

The presentation will describe what is available at present in Ontario with respect to records and plans of cemeteries, photos of gravestones, and future plans for the Society’s Ontario Cemeteries Project.

You may contact www.ogs.on.ca/hamilton

Ontario Cemetery Locator http://ogs.andornot.com/CemLocat.aspx Records for all Ontario cemeteries, both existent and non-existent, cairns, columbariums, family plots, and burial registers, that have been identified by the Ontario Genealogical Society at this time

Cemeteries and Name Indexes www.ogs.on.ca/services/indexes.php This index includes names taken from transcriptions of the monumental inscriptions, cemetery records, and other sources that have been identified by various groups.

LAC Update: The Home Children — Harold Mornington

In the third article in the LAC series called The Home Children, the LAC looks at Harold Mornington, who served in the British Army in the Second World War.

As the LAC says “the process begins with a search of our main online resource on Home Children. Entering the family name Mornington and the given name Harold into the database yields a single reference; it indicates that Harold was 14 years old when he left Liverpool on March 11, 1932 aboard the SS Montclare, and arrived in Halifax on March 19, 1932. He was part of the last group of 36 children sent to Canada by the Barnardo agency.

The passenger lists from 1925 to 1935 have been digitized and can be consulted online. The digital image of the list of passengers aboard the SS Montclare can be examined as well, which confirms the information found in the home children database. It also contains other information, such as the name and address of Harold’s mother, Mrs. Mornington, who lived at 16 Orlando Street, in Caldmore, Walsall, England. More information about Harold Mornington’s family history can be found by contacting the Barnardo’s Family History Service.

Beginning in the 1920s, immigration inspectors drafted Juvenile Inspection Reports when conducting periodic evaluations of children brought to Canada by different agencies. These files are available only on microfilm. A search on reel T-15424 shows that between 1932 and 1936, Harold Mornington worked for five different employers in the Ontario districts of Durham, Brant, Oxford and Hastings.

A reference found on the site of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission reveals that sometime between 1936 and the beginning of the Second World War, Harold Mornington returned to England. He joined the British Army and died on May 23, 1941, while still a member of the Royal Artillery. He was the son of William Joseph and Elizabeth Mornington.

Lastly, Harold Mornington’s military service record is kept at The National Archives in the United Kingdom”.

If you suspect that your ancestor was a Home Child, or would like to check the databasdes mentioned here, click www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-908.009-e.html

Western Development Museum, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The Western Development Museum has four branches in the province of Saskatchewan, and they are located in the cities of Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Saskatoon, and Yorkton.

In the month of February, they are holding Heritage Days in Moose Jaw on Feb 9th, and on the 17th in Yorkton. They have already held Heritage Day at Saskatoon on Feb 3rd.

They also have a Curatorial Centre in Saskatoon. There they have “over 3,200 reference books, more than 300 journal titles with 27 active subscriptions, 6,000 photographs, slides and negatives, over 20,000 agricultural manuals, parts lists, promotional materials, and mail order catalogues as well as other print material of research value”

The collection is non-circulating, but is open to the public for research purposes.

You can go http://wdm.ca/research.htm where you can browse their collection of articles, papers, and online exhibits.

To go to the home page, click on http://wdm.ca/index.html

Monday, February 4, 2013

1,000 Posts Today!

Well, it hard to believe, but thanks to you, my readers from all over the world, I have reached my 1,000 posts today!

By far the most response that I have ever received was the post about the 1921 Canada Census on May 30, 2012 at http://genealogycanada.blogspot.ca/2012/03/1921-canadian-census.html

There are lots of exciting things that are going to take place this year on the blog - so stay tuned!

Elizabeth

New/Updated Websites, Blogs, and Newspaper Articles - 04 February 2013

I have come across the following websites, blogs, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too –

Websites

BC Archives - Genealogy
http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm Indexes to births (1854-1903), marriages (1872-1936), deaths (1872-1991), colonial marriages (1859-1872) and baptisms (1836-1888). I had the occasion to use this index again this week, and wanted to remind you that British Columbia Achives has a good website with many resources.

Blogs

Twisted Twigs On Gnarled Branches http://twistedtwigsgnarledbranches.blogspot.ca Read about Deidre Erin ancestors as they came on immigrant ships to North America, and how she is applying to the Canadian Unite Empire Loyalist Association.

Newspaper Articles

100 Letter Cornwall Competition – Donna Robinson of Cornwall Ontario – January 28, 2013 http://cornwallfreenews.com/2013/01/45420 The Free News of Cornwall, Ontario tells the story of a girl who has lived in both Cornwall and Alexandria during her childhood, and what the two communities meant to her, and her genealogy.

Bowmansville church celebrates expansion www.durhamregion.com/community/article/1574268--bowmanville-church-celebrates-expansion Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church in Bowmanville is expanding its genealogical office to service its area.

Still going strong http://www.thechronicle-online.com/2013/02/01/still-going-strong West Lorne Women’s Institute has just celebrated its 100th anniversary last week as the writer of the Treedsmuir Histories. The Ontario Genealogical Society began digitizing the Tweedsmuir History Collection in 2009.

Unexpected Surprises www.baytoday.ca/content/columns/details.asp?c=50547 See how Tammy Tipler-Priolo orders the genealogical and history books she uses from the Internert.

OGS celebrates 30 years in Simcoe County www.simcoe.com/news/article/1572573--ogs-celebrates-30-years-in-simcoe-county Read about the great celebration that Simcoe County Branch is planning for its 30th Anniversary on Feb 2nd.

Outside agencies may have to brace for funding cuts www.cornwallseawaynews.com/News/2013-01-17/article-3158715/Outside-agencies-may-have-to-brace-for-funding-cuts/1 St. Lawrence Genealogy Centre is asking town council for $12,000 that the council may have a hard in granting.
Test your knowledge of the penny before its Monday demise www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/penny-quiz Did you win?

And
Read about the history of the penny in Canada since it was first introduced in 1870 at www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/03/30/f-penny-faq.html

Look for more posts on websites, blogs, and newspaper articles next Monday February 11th.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Reflection on Archivists and Genealogists

A paper in the winter 2013 issue of Families I thought warranted a special post of its own since it was the Houston Memorial Lecture called Reflection on Archivists and Genealogists at last year conference of the OGS in Kingston, Ontario given by Dr. Ian E. Wilson, former chief archivist of the Library and Archives of Canada.

Besides giving a brief history of the LAC, in the last paragraphs of his paper, he talks about the “New challenges to archival services and genealogical research are becoming painfully apparent, as federal budget decisions work their way through to the local level”.

It is clear to genealogists and genealogy societies as they try to do genealogy research at the building at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa, that they are becoming less and less welcome by Public Works – the department who ones and operates the building.

One only has to read that the Ottawa Branch of the OGS has cancelled their conference because the costs were too high, BISFHGO has had to look for a new place to hold their Saturday meeting and conference next year because the costs are too high (and they worked closely with the LAC) and there are a number of other groups in Ottawa that I am aware of that have had to ceased to meet at the LA because the costs are out of this world. So what are we to do?

So if you get a chance, read his paper because it does shed a light on the LAC as it was in his tenure as Chief Archivists and what it is today – a shell of its former shelf.

The site for the OGS is www.ogs.on.ca

Winter 2013 Families is now published


The latest issue of Families (the journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society, of which I am the editor) has just been released to the members of the society.

There are the articles in this issue –

Conserving, Preserving, and Restoring Your Heritage by Kim Kinnis. This is an excerpt from a book that was jointly published in 2013 by Dundurn Press and the OGS, that take you through the “saving” process ar home. This book is also reviewed on page 33 of Families.

Mrs. Teepell’s Tale by Anne Rahamut is exactly that – a tale about how a number of houses were exported to make room for the Old City Hall Building in Toronto, that you see on the cover.

 The surnames mentioned in the article are BAILEY, BROOMFIELD, CORBOULD, TEEPLE.

This article by Anne Rahamut was the third place winner in the 2011 Keffer Writing Contest.

An article by Brooke Findlay Skelton What Was the Cow Worth? War of 1812 Losses and Claims is on page 10. This article is the latest on the War of 1812, and it takes a looks at the Board of Claims for the War of 1812 Losses “ held at the Library and Archives Canada.

The surnames mentioned in the article are CHISHOLM, COOK, CORWIN, CUDDLE, CUMMINGS, FITZGERALD, LUNDY, LYON, McCLURE, MISENER, SHANNON, SILVERTON.

Willam Poole: Rebel or Relative? by Brian Latham, and he had a brick wall - where was William Poole. Read the article and see how he solved it.

The surnames are ANDERSON, BARCLAY, BEILLY, BOND, CARMAN, CARNEY, CLARKE, CORRIGAN, CUMETT, ELTON, FISHER, GOUR, HARRISON, HAWLY, HILLBORNE, JOHNSON, LAMB,LAWRENCE, MACKENZIE, MARCH, MARSHALL, MATTHEWS, MCPHADDEN, MONTGOMERY, NICKALLS, PORTER, ROBIN(S), ROGERS, RUMMERFELT, SCOTT, SKINNER, SLY, STPLES, VAN NOSTRAM, WTSON, WATTS, WILKE, WIXSON.

Scrathings, Across Cultures: A Memoir of Denial and Discovery is a book by Stephen Heeney. The part that was published in this issue was Chapter 7 of the book Squire and Jane Davis in Onondaga in Brant County, Ontario.

The surnames are DAVIS, BURR, JOHNSON, MARTIN, NORHELEMA.

The last article is Marguerite Brien – “Fille Naturelle” by Bill Amell tells about his Aboriginal ancestor, nd her life in Northern Ontario.

The surname are BRIEN dit DESROCHERS, FLEURY HAMEL/AMELL, PAQUIN, PROULX/PRUE, TURCOTTE.

If you wish to receive a copy of Families, go to http://www.ogs.on.ca to become a member.