Monday, August 18, 2014

Canadian Week in Review - 18 August 2014

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

History Week in Canada

In 1896, the discovery of gold in the Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Yukon's Klondike River, led to the Klondike Gold Rush. After news of the strike reached the outside world, thousands of miners poured into the territory – especially from the United States. It's estimated more than $100 million in gold was recovered in the region during the next eight years.

Go to http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/klondike-gold-rush/
====================================================
On August 10th, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made the first long-distance call from his home in Brantford to his assistant in Paris, Ontario. A call had been previously been made seven days earlier by the first telephone call from one building to another between Bell and his uncle.

====================================================
In 1882, the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada merged with the Great Western Railway. The merger was the result of financial difficulties and American competition.

To read more, please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Trunk_Western_Railroad
====================================================
In August 1904, Ford of Canada began building cars in a converted wagon works in Walkerville, near Windsor, Ont. The 17 men who worked there, assembled a total of 114 cars in the first year.

To read more about the history of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Motor_Company_of_Canada

Social Media

Vote "Like"' for your favourite site!
   It has been since this past Thursday that this GenealogyCanada blog first appeared on County-Clerks.com, a new American website, as having been nominated as one of the top 200 websites/blogs!
   Since then, we have bounced between 14th and 3rd place, so we still need help.
   You have until September 30th to vote, and you can vote for your favourite website or blog by going to http://www.county-clerks.com/genealogy-blog. (Note: The URLs for these websites and blogs are given, but they are not yet hyper-linked.)
   Vote now, and vote often, for your favourite website or blog!

(VIDEO) Historic church moved for highway
The 150-year-old Tryon United Baptist Church in P.E.I. is being moved as the province realigns the Trans-Canada Highway.

(VIDEO) Declining Newfoundland pony bred on P.E.I.
Darlene Ulvstal grew up on Newfoundland with the special ponies there, and now she is doing what she can to save the dying breed.

(Video) The First World War: Excerpts from the diary of Woodman Leonard
Read excerpts from Woodman Leonard’s diary as he fought in the battles of Ypres, The Somme, and Vimy Ridge.

Newfoundland

Site of shipwreck deep in family history for Marystown man
A Marystown man paid a visit to the steep cliffs of Friday's Cove, where his grandfather narrowly escaped death because of a shipwreck 91 years ago.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia sitting on $4M in unclaimed estates
Public trustee scans Christmas cards, records looking for long-lost relatives.

Nova Scotia's stunning waters
Read an Australian writer\s first impressions of Nova Scotia as he tours the province.

Blast from the past: A look back at Kings County's history
Read what happened 25, 50, and 75 years ago in Kings County, Nova Scotia.

Black Loyalist Heritage Centre in Birchtown nears completion
The centre in Birchtown, near Shelburne, Nova Scotia, will the first of its kind in North America. It will present the black Loyalists’ journey as they fled revolutionary America to British Nova Scotia to build a better life during the 1780s.

Heritage Trust withdraws Nova Centre court challenge
A prominent heritage group is not going ahead with a court challenge over the construction of the Nova Centre in downtown Halifax.

Nova Scotia sitting on $4M in unclaimed estates
Public trustee scans Christmas cards, records looking for long-lost relatives.

Ontario

Your marching orders for August
Explore Fort St. Joseph, a national historic site located at the southern-most point of picturesque St. Joseph Island.

Ferris-wheel highs and nauseating lows from 135 years of "The Ex"
A history of Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition – nicknamed "The Ex" – in pictures and text.

Saskatchewan

Cree language camp at Wanuskewin Heritage Park teaches culture too
The camp celebrates its 10th anniversary.

British Columbia

A dark past unearthed
Some 8,500 Canadians, many naturalized citizens, were taken to one of the 24 internment camps across Canada, including a large one in Vernon that ran from 1914-1920. Another 88,000 Canadians were forced to register and report on a monthly basis to officials.

Story of the Week


National Acadian Day


August 15th was National Acadian Day in Canada.

As the Acadian Affairs Minister of Nova Scotia, Michel Samson, said, "National Acadian Day is a time for all Nova Scotians to experience the vitality of life that the Acadian and francophone community brings to the province."

Communities across the province are raising the Acadian flag for its 130th anniversary.

And the celebration continues.

There is the ExpoMONDE, an international showcase of the Congrès mondial acadien 2014, from Aug. 14-23 in Grand Falls, N.B.

More than 15 organizations that specialize in Acadian and francophone genealogy and history expect to greet thousands of people from around the world.

"For generations, the stories and traditions of the Acadian people of Nova Scotia have been enhanced by the many francophones from New Brunswick, Quebec, Louisiana, France, Africa, and many other parts of the world that have chosen to join communities throughout the province," said Mr. Samson. "I thank all of the organizations and volunteers at the genealogy pavilion in Grand-Falls for helping people from around the world to learn about their Acadian roots, many whose lineage began here in Nova Scotia."

To view the presentation schedule at the Genealogy Pavilion, visit http://cma2014.com/images/programmation/Pavillon_Genealogie_Presentations.pdf 

For more information about the Congrès mondial acadien 2014, go to http://www.cma2014.com/en

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country!

The next post will be on August 25, 2014.

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Reminder: Canadian Week in Review


Check the Canadian Week in Review tomorrow morning for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. 


It has the most up-to-date news items covered History Week in Canada, Social Media, and Newspaper Articles. 

It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in country! 

It has been a regular post every Monday morning since April 23, 2012.

An Act of Remembrance: World War I Publicity Posters at the Nova Scotia Archives



Credit: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1983-28-826 Copyright: Expired 

Before the advent of the radio, television, and the Internet, newspapers and posters were the way that people got their news. 

During the First World War, colorful posters were produced, and soon appeared everywhere that people would see them.

At first, they were produced as a "call to action" by the government to encourage people to enlist, as 620,000 people eventually did, and then to build ‘public support for war industries, food production, and the sale of war or 'Victory' savings bonds. 

The Nova Scotia Archives say that this will be the first in a series of “online exhibits to be developed by the Nova Scotia Archives over the next four years, to commemorate the province's contribution to and losses sustained in 'The War to End All Wars'”. 

To see the posters, go to http://novascotia.ca/archives/virtual/warposters/

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Families - August 2014


The  August 2014 edition of Families, the journal of the Ontario Genealogical Society, has just been published, and there are six articles in this issue.

The first prize in the Keffer Writing Contest this year goes to H. Nancy Holder and her article entitled, Who was Hannah FOSTER?

We find out that the author is from Arkansas, and that much to her surprise, she discovered that her great-grandmother was from Ontario!

This year's winner of the 2014 Mike Brede Genealogical Essay Prize was Chelsea H. Meloche, a graduate student at the University of Waterloo, for her winning essay, Genealogy in the Digital Age: A Beginner’s Commentary.

She wrote this article as a “newbie” who got caught up in the merry-go-round of online databases, and she wondered how new researchers will do in this world of instant genealogy. 

For Mom: With Love and Memories by Marianne Perry is the story of her family’s Italian heritage. The author has made two genealogical research trips to southern Italy, and writes about her Calabrian-Sicilian ancestry, and the new lives of her immigrant ancestors in Toronto and Ottawa. 

How a Toronto Bookbindery Girl Named Lizzie Wyllie Became a National News Headline in 1892 by Richard Deuel is a genealogical  mystery about Lizzie Wyllie, whose family migrated to the Michigan area from Bowmanville, Ontario in the late 1800s, and her supposed suicide which took place in San Diego.

The Petawawa Plains Land Clearances by Robb Gore is a piece about land clearances and the forced eviction of settlers by the Canadian government for the building of a training center in preparation for the First World War. The training centre eventually became Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, as it is today.

And the issue is completed with June Coxon's Family Stories, recollections about her mother growing up in Toronto in the early 1900s.

If you wish to become a member so that you can receive Families, along other benefits, please visit http://www.ogs.on.ca/become_a_member.php 

Friday, August 15, 2014

Quebec’s Civil Registers


Ever wonder why French-Canadian baptism, marriage, and death records are usually so complete, and that they go back to the 17th century?

Well, this year marks the 475th anniversary of the signing of the Ordinance of Villers-CotterĂªts in 1539, which stated that priests were required to register baptisms and burials. In 1579, another ordinance was signed which required that marriages be registered. 

And in 1667, the Ordinance of Saint-Germain-en-Laye introduced a practice that has proven to be very important to genealogists – that is, the practice of keeping duplicate copies of the baptisms, marriages, and deaths. One copy was kept by the priest, and the second was filed with civil authorities at the end of the year.

Furthermore, in Quebec, civil status registers have the following characteristics -

· There are three types of acts: baptism, marriage, and burial.

· The acts are drawn up by parish priests.

· They are presented chronologically, usually within a single register.

· They are subject to two separate regulations: ecclesiastical and civil. 

The Library and Archives Canada has a very good website explaining Vital Statistics: Births, Marriages and Deaths at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/vital-statistics-births-marriages-deaths/Pages/births-marriages-deaths.aspx 

Ancestry.ca also has the Drouin Collection online, which contains Catholic baptisms, marriages, and deaths – including some Protestant records, also. 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

County-Clerks.com Nominates GenealogyCanada!

County-Clerks.com, a new American website, has nominated this blog as one of the top 200 websites/blogs! How about that?

Who are they? As mentioned in their "About Us" webpage at http://www.county-clerks.com/about-us -
"Welcome to County-Clerks.com! We are excited to share with you a vast resource of county clerk and court record information. County-Clerks.com is home to contact information (telephone number, address, email and fax numbers and county clerk websites) for all county clerk and court record offices in each of 50 states of the United States’ 3,143 counties and county equivalents.
You might be in search of a county clerk to get information about various public records, file for a marriage license, make arrangements for a divorce, research arrests and related information, public information, judicial records, probate, criminal, court, and all other related county records. This also includes records related to birth certificates, death, weddings, county specific licenses."
Needless to say, it's a great resource worth looking at, and to top it off, have started a contest to win the “top genealogy site of the web”, and we need your vote to help us reach the top!

You can vote as many times as you wish (but only once per day) from now until September 30th.

The list of online genealogy websites and blogs is varied and interesting, and worth looking at. The link for this list, and for voting for your favourite website or blog, can be found here - http://www.county-clerks.com/genealogy-blog. (Note: The URLs are given, but they are not yet hyper-linked.)

Also, if you find a preferred blog or website missing from this list, you can send a request to add it to the list. So the list may even grow a bit - another reason to stop in for a visit!

If you like to read the Canadian Week in Review every Monday morning (such as the CWR post this past Monday - http://www.genealogycanada.blogspot.ca/2014/08/canadian-week-in-review-11-august-2014.html) to see what’s trending in Canadian news — genealogy, history, and heritage — then just go to the contest webpage, and hit the “like” button.

Or, maybe you like my post enough to retweet it, or add it to your Facebook page, as Elizabeth Shown Mills did yesterday with  my post, “LAC has updated the 1861 Census” at https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.shownmills?fref=tl_fr_box

So please drop in to check their website, and don't forget to vote for your favourite site, and vote often. We — the bloggers and website owners — would appreciate your encouragement!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

LAC has updated the 1861 Census

Library and Archives Canada has upgraded the 1861 Census because there were apparently a “number of missing records and misplaced images were reported by Library and Archives Canada clients and staff". 

They have corrected over 133,000 entries! 

According to their blog, there were definite issues with the Canada West and Canada East.  

“In Canada West, the records for the cities of Hamilton, Kingston, London, Ottawa and Toronto were previously reported missing but the records did exist. The five cities, although enumerated separately in 1861, were tucked away amongst their neighbouring rural districts. For example, the city of Ottawa was listed under the district of Carleton and the city of Kingston was listed under Frontenac. The five cities are now correctly identified as districts and their respective wards are identified as sub-districts. 

Additionally in Canada West, the rural districts of Renfrew and Russell were also reported as missing. The records for those two districts and their sub-districts can now be searched. In the rural district of Kent, the sub-districts of Camden and Gore, the town of Chatham, and the district of Chatham have been correctly identified. The images in the districts of Brant and Dundas are now correctly linked.

In Canada East, several image linking errors were corrected, particularly in the districts of Argenteuil, Montcalm and St-Jean”.

It is good to see that the LAC is listening to our comments, complaints and they are correcting their databases. 

To go to the 1861 census, you can go to