Annual Ontario Genealogical Conference To Be Held in Toronto
"The 3Rs of Family History: Resources, Research,
Results" conference will be held in Toronto from May 27-30, 2004 at
the DoubleTree Plaza Hotel, located at Pearson International Airport.
The website URL is <http://www.ogsseminar.org>.
Separate research rooms will be available for free
15 minute consultations, as well as a research room for the Ontario
Archives, and a place for an exhibit entitled "Worth a thousand Words
... Three Generations in Photos."
Activities include a full day tour of the city of
Toronto, as well as tours of the Archives of Ontario, City of Toronto
Archives, Toronto Research Library, and North York Central Library.
Please check to see if spaces are still available.
There will a full Market Place onsite, as well as
such speakers as J. Brian Gilchrist, Dick Eastman, and Kenneth C.
Aiken, each giving presentations in their own expertise.
Ancestry.com Announces New Family Trees
Ancestry.com has announced that they now have on
their website, OneWorldTree (OWT), which houses 250 million names of
family around the world.
One enters a family name in their search engine, the
website will search for the name across their databases, "stitch" the
data together, and then present the most probable answer to your inquiry.
There is a special 'preview' access to this programe
- a 14 month access for the price of 12 months at $49.95 US. This offer
is good up until 21 June, 2004.
For more info, go to <http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/trees/owt>.
Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network Holds Annual General Meeting
The Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN) will
hold its annual meeting on 19 June at the McCord Museum in Montreal.
A luncheon will he held, and a tour of "The
Scots-Dyed-in-the-Wool Montrealers" wexhibit in the McCord Museum will
take place after the luncheon.
Please RSVP to <home@qahn.org> or call (819) 564-9595.
Visit the QAHN website at <http://www.qahn.org> and read about Anglophone Quebec Heritage.
24 May, 2004 Victoria Day
Canada has been celebrating Victoria Day since 1845 in honour of Queen Victoria.
After she died in 1901, the Parliament of Canada
made it a legal holiday under the name of Victoria Day, and in 1952
officially amended it to be celebrated on the first Monday proceeding
May 25.
In 1957, Victoria Day was permanently appointed to
the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada. (In the United
Kingdom, her birthday is celebrated on 21 April, the day Her Majesty
was born.)
Many communities across Canada celebrate the
day with family outings, planting the garden, and fireworks!
18 May, 2004 International Museum Day
A museum is defined as an institution where a country collects and displays
its heritage, and Canada has over 2,000 museums, hosting 54 million visitors a
year!
Be sure to visit a museum on International Museum
Day, either in person, or virtually, by going to
<http://www.virtualmuseum.ca>.
To find a museum and their many events planned for
May, and for coupons, check
out <http://www.pch.gc.ca/special.jim-ind/index_e.cfm>. On the
website, one can find a history of museums in the country as well as a "links"
to all museums in Canada.
14 May, 2004 Boston States Migration Family History Weekend
The Boston States Migration Family History Weekend
will be held from 11 June to the 13 June in Waltham, Massachusetts.
The conference will be noting the 400 years of
'circular migration' between Eastern Canada, New York, and New England.
Sandra Devlin, an Atlantic Canadian genealogical
columnist will be there, in addition to Paul Bunnell, who will give a
talk on Loyalist resources. Also, Maureen Taylor who will show how to
construct a heritage album and scrapbooks, and Sharon Hawland will give
a talk on Washington County, Maine resources.
Details can be found at
<http://bostonstates.rootsweb.com>. You can register
online at <http://www.genealogyfair.com/2004BSFHF.htm>.
If you cannot attend, you can post your research
interests on the "Wanted Poster" at
<http://bostonstates.rootsweb.com/wanted+poster.jpg>.
Contact the Boston States Migration Family History
Weekend at 233 Lake Street, Waltam, MA 07451 for any further details.
02 May to 24 May, 2004 Ottawa Celebrates Tulip Festival
For nearly 60 years, Ottawa has been celebrating the
Tulip Festival, which shows the friendship between Canada, the
Netherlands, and their appreciation to Canadian soldiers who helped liberate their country during World War II. It is now the
largest festival of its kind in North America.
One hundred thousand tulips were first planted on Parliament Hill.
Today, over 300,000 are planted at Commissioner Park by Dows Lake
in Ottawa, and over 90,000
tulips have been planted. in Gatineau, Quebec, across the Ottawa River.
Visit the Canadian Tulip Festival website at <http://www.tulipfestival.ca>.
07 May, 2004 Family History Library Closes Some Sections
The Family History Library of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City have closed some sections
of its library for renovations.
The sections concerned are levels:
B2 - British Holdings. Closed April, 2004 to be re-opened June, 2004
B1 - International Holdings - Closed June, 2004 to be re-opened July/August, 2004
The US/CAN book collections of the new patron
research floor opens July/August 2004, although there will not be any
renovations to the film department.
The library is located at 35 North West Temple
Street in Salt Lake City. The public affairs of the library may be
contacted at (801) 240-3499 or by e-mail at
<fhl-publicaffairs@ldschurch.org>.
One can still research by Internet and the address
is <http://www.familysearch.org>. While online, read an article on how to search for Canadian
ancestors at the Family History Library.
07 May 2004 Qualicum Beach Family History Society The latest family history society to put up
a website on the Internet is Qualicum Beach in British Columbia, at <http://www.rootsweb.com/~bcqbfhs/index.htm>.
Put on in 2003, it "promotes the study of family
history and genealogy and to provide a forum for its members."
They have interest groups such as Canada and United
States, England and Wales, Scotland and Computers in Genealogy.
On the 18th May, Ken Jonbero will give a talk about
his family history in Europe called, "Lost Legacy," and on the 15 June,
the talk will be on Home Children in Canada.
06 May, 2004 The City Of Surrey: A History by Jack Brown This history covers events from the days of
the Aboriginal to the 1970s. The arrival of the Spanish and English are
covered as well as the developments in the railroad, ferries and
pioneer settlements.
Today the history turns to the urban settlements of
Cloverdale, White Rock, Crescent Beach, Ocean Park, Newton and Whalley.
To read about Surrey history, go to <http://members.shaw.ca/j.a.brown/Surrey.html>
05 May, 2004 Boot Hill:Stories from the B.C. Penitentiary Cemetery Deborah McIntosh has made it her research
project to find out as much as she can about the British Columbia
Penitentiary system and especially about the penitentiary that use to
be located at New Westminster, B.C.
Over the years, the penitentiary has been torn down
and the lands sold for housing development, but the cemetery remains.
She has cemetery headstones, stories and essays,
wardens of the B.C. Penitentiary, 1912-1968 and photographs on the
website.
View the website at <http://www.boothill.ca>.
04 May, 2004 Asian History Month The month of May is Asian History Month in
Canada and the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and the Status of
Women, the Honourable Jean Augustine, has announced that her department
will be helping the Vietnamese Canadian Federation (VCF) in the setting
up of a database on the evolution of the Vietnamese community in Canada
and a national socio-economic study on the integration of the community
within Canada.
"Helping communities help themselves is an important
part of the Multiculturalism Program," she said. The minister added
that "the Vietnamese Canadian Federation "is an excellent example of
how government and communities can work together in order to reach that
goal."
A formal declaration in December, of 2001 was
realized when the Senate of Canada passed a motion to officially
designate May as Asian Heritage Month in Canada.
03 May, 2004 Field of Stones: Photos of Cemetery Gravestones
Do not be surprised that this summer there are
people out in the cemeteries of Ontario taking photos of various
gravestones to place them on Field of Stones website.
This popular website already has photos of Bruce,
Grey, Hastings, Huron, Middlesex, Northumberland, Peel, Perth,
Peterborough, Prince Edward and Wellington Counties on the website and
would like to have more.
See what they have done already at <http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~clifford>
01 May, 2004 Saskatchewan War Memorial Project
The Saskatchewan War Memorial Project expects their
war memorial to soldiers of the Second World War to be completed in
2005.
It will be located on the grounds of the legislature
and will include the names of almost 5,000 Saskatchewan men and women.
The website says that "memorials such as these will
remind future generations of the price that was paid for the freedom
they enjoy."
Check the website at <http://www.peopleplaces.ca/warmemorial/index.html>
23 April, 2004 Library and Archives of Canada Combines
The Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Honourable
Helene Chalifour-Scherrer, has announced that Royal Assent has been
given to Bill C-8, the creation of the Library and Archives of Canada
from the combining of the National Archives of Canada and the National
Library of Canada.
"With the passage of Bill C-8, a single, modern,
knowledge institution will be created," said Minister
Chalifour-Scherrer. "I believe that it will provide all Canadians as
well as those interested in Canada with access to our vast and rich
documentary history."
The Library and Archives of Canada has over 20
million items from trade books to sheet music to thesis in its
collection.
They are still located at 395 Wellington Street in
Ottawa, but their websites have changed from
<http://www.nlc.bnc.ca> for the National Library of Canada
and <http://www.archives.ca> for the National Archives of Canada
to <http://www.collectionscanada.ca> and their e-mail address is <web@lac-nac.gc.ca>.
