Off For The Summer!
Here’s to a busy summer - I know mine will be, finishing a variety of
projects I have on the backburner. Also, there are two conferences I am
going to - the Ontario Genealogical Society <www.ogs.on.ca> in June, which this year will be held in Ottawa, and the Canadian Authors Association <www.canauthors.org> in July, also in Ottawa.
So, everyone have a nice summer!
I will be back in September with all the news.
Another Canadian Genealogist Passes!
Word has been recieved that Ken Aitken, another
great Canadian genealogist, has died. He died April 21st due to
complications from his illness of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) in
Penticton, British Columbia.
Although is was born in Penticton, he spent most of
his working years in Saskatchewan as the librarian supervisor of the
Prairie History Room at the Regina Public Library.
He had been active in genealogy for many years, and
was a charter president of the Hambrook Family History Society, having
served as its editor of the journal for 15 years.
He was also branch chairman of the Saskatchewan
Genealogical Society and the Director of Student Recruitment for Canada
for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies.
He is survived by his wife, Christine Mei-Chiang; his son Neil Aitken, and his daughter Emele (Adam) Dykes.
A memorial service and a celebration of his life was held at the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2946 South Main Street, Penticton.
You can send condolences to <kgaitken@gmail.com>.
I have highlighted his blog this month in the Website of the Month.
Articles Over the Summer
Over the summer, these articles will appear on GenealogyToday.com, so be sure to watch for them -
“Drouin Collection Soon
to be Online at Ancestry.ca” is an article about the Drouin Collection
which has 12 million records of French-Canadians from 1621 to 1967 and
is about to be put on Ancestry.ca.
“Early Historical Documents will be Online at Ancestry.ca” will discuss the putting on
of nearly 300 historical documents from Canadiana.ca to
Ancestry.ca. They have over 90,000 titles in their database.
“Nova Scotia’s Vital
Statistics Finally Online” will discuss the births from 1864 to 1877,
marriages from 1864 to 1930, and deaths from 1864 to 1877 and from 1908 to
1955.
“Border Crossings
from Canada to the U.S. from 1895 to 1956” will discuss adding over-the-land border crossings on Ancestry.ca to their
passenger lists, which are already online.
Also, the March/April 2007 edition of Everton’s Genealogical Helper has
published my 3,000 word article entitled, “A Research Guide to Finding
Canadians in Canada”. So if you get the magazine, be sure to look it up,
or go to your local library to see if they have it.
Loyalist Reunion at Norwick, Ontario
The descendants of Samuel Moore, U.E.L. are gathering for their
biennial reunion in Norwich, Ontario on Saturday, July 22, 2007.
The event this year will be to celebrate the
installation of a new graver marker for Samuel in the Old Quaker
Pioneer Cemetery in Norwick.
You can find out more about the Moore family and the
reunion at <www.jaymoore.ca/reunion.html> or you can email Jay Moore at
<jay.moore@gto.net>.
Halifax Bearer Company Soldiers
I have recently heard from Dianne Meyers and her
continued research on Haligonians who fought in the Boer War. You will remember that I wrote about her
quest in the May 2006 edition of this newsletter.
I suggested some places where she
might want to research. She wrote me back and she that one of the
highlights of her research was a trip to the Library and Archives Canada
in Ottawa, where she discovered more information.
If any of you have any information on the Halifax Bearer Corps, please contact Dianne at <dinah@ca.inter.net>.
“Heritage News”
Ottawa to Pay for Operating Costs at Human Rights Museum As you know,
Winnipeg will be the home of the new Canadian Museum of Human Rights, a
realization of a dream by the Asper Family, one of Canada’s media
moguls.
In April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a visit
to Winnipeg and announced that the federal government will add an
estimated $22-million a year in operating costs to the already
$100-million that the government has committed to the museum’s capitol
costs.
The museum is to open in 2010 at The Forks in
Downtown Winnipeg. It will be the largest human rights institution and
education centre in the world.
It makes the first time that a national museum has
been built outside of the National Capital Region (in Ottawa).
Gail Asper, the campaign chair for the museum, said
that there is still a lot of work to be done, as the website itself
admits that it will cost $311-million to build.
The website is <www.canadianmuseumforhumanrights.com> and their email is <info@friendsofcmhr.com>.
If you want to get in touch with them by post, their
address is: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, 201 Portage Place,
Winnipeg, MB R3B 3K6. Tel: 204.944.2476.
Nipigon Historic Museum
Up to $47,000 has been funded to the Nipigon Historic Museum to
purchase new and upgraded display cases, to support the region’s
overall downtown revitalization plan, and to provide better
environmental conditions for artifacts.
“We are proud to support the Township of Nipigon to
purchase equipment that will ensure better conditions for the museum’s
artifacts”, said the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health and
Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern
Ontario. “Supporting this project will make a significant contribution
to strengthening and maintaining the region’s unique cultural heritage.”
The Nipigon Historic Museum collects, preseves,
researches, and houses the objects that best serve to illustrate the
region’s history. The museum’s main focus is on the history of the
area’s lands and its Aboriginal population.
It’s website is <www.nipigon.net/category/53>.
They are open daily during the summer months from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m..
Canada’s Government Invests $100,000 in Cenotaph Restorations
At a news conference held at the Kelowna Cenotaph in British Columbia, it was announced by Mrs.
Betty Hinton — Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Veterans
Affairs and Member of Parliament for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo — that Canada will invest over $100,000 in cenotaph restorations.
“Today, as we mark the 90th Anniversary of the
Battle of Vimy Ridge here in Kelowna, it is fitting that we are also
rededicating the cenotaph that so beautifully preserves the memory of
those who served not only in the First World War, but also in others
wars and times of conflict and peace,” said Parliamentary Secretary
Hinton.
The cenotaphs across Canada will be restored this summer.
Pier 21 in Halifax to be Expanded In
March of this year, the Honourable Bev Oda, Minster of Canadian
Heritage and Status of Women, announced over $500,000 in funding to
support the expansion and enhancement of Pier 21 facilities in Halifax.
“Pier 21’s dream is to tell the story of all
immigration to Canada and become a national centre for celebrating
Canada’s rich culture and diversity,” added Robbie Shaw, Pier 21
Society Chair. “This investment from the Cultural Spaces Canada program
will bring Pier 21 closer to reaching our new mandate.”
The society is engaged in a project to expand the
facility by adding 5,000 square feet of climate-controlled, secure
space for temporary exhibitions and archival storage, and creating
multipurpose/education rooms and secure storage space. It will also
improve the conditions of public access to Pier 21’s resource
centre.
Website Pick of the Month!
Genealogy Education of Ken Aitken <www.genealogyeducation.wordpress.com>
I have read the last posting on Ken’s blog, “Who owns the rights to
audiotaped or videotaped lectures?” which was posted this March 17th.
Read his postings — they so go back to December,
2005 — for there is great deal of variety in the subjects which could
prove helpful to all genealogists.
For example, there are some really interesting
postings such as “Post Card Promotion”, “Can’t Afford the Speaker Fee?”
and “Real Advanced Family History”, which could prove quite helpful to
genealogists.
I first met Ken last year at the Ontario
Genealogical Society’s conference in Oshawa while attending one of his
lectures and immediately found him engaging and thankful that he would come all the way to Ontario from his home in Saskatchewan.
Go to the end of the blog, and you will see such
headings as “Recent Posts” and the “Archives” for each month, as well
as one for “Categories”, of which there are sixteen categories, each
category listing the number of postings given. For example, there are
125 postings in “Teaching Genealogy”, 65 in “Program Planning”, and
sixteen postings under “Marketing”.
