Monday, March 31, 2008

60 Years Behind The Wheel: The Cars We Drove In Canada, 1900-1960

For some time, I've been meaning to start regular posts about books helpful to someone doing Canadian genealogy and history. In honour of this month's Carnival of Genealogy topic, family cars, I decided to start with this one.

60 Years Behind The Wheel: The Cars We Drove In Canada, 1900-1960 by Bill Sherk, with a foreword by Mike Filey (Toronto: A Hounslow Book, Dundurn Group, 2003)

Bill Sherk, known as Canada's 'old car detective', has written several books and many, many articles. In 60 Years Behind The Wheel, he has gathered together photographs and stories about cars and their owners and drivers mainly in Ontario, but also in the Maritimes, the Prairies and in British Columbia. A few commercial, farm and industrial vehicles are included, as are some buses.

There's a photograph showing one of Ed BROWN's trucks from Burnaby, B.C., for instance. Ed Brown had a trucking business from about 1910, as well as other businesses later.

And, there's a great story with photographs about four young women's adventures driving together across country from London, Ontario to Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1935. (Surnames: SIMMONS/COWHIG, PALMER/ROBINSON, SMITH, COPELAND/ZURBRIGG )

Well worth a look.

If you're interested in cars in Canada, here are a couple of links to check out:

CarStory with articles by Bill Sherk, Patricia Weaver Blonde, Scott Marshall and Harry DeYong: http://www.carstory.com

The Windsor on Wheels on-line exhibition from the Windsor Public Library: http://209.202.75.197/digi/wow

And look for Bill Sherk's books at your library, and for Cars of Canada by Glenn Baechler and Hugh Durnford (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1973)

Monday, March 24, 2008

Dick Eastman's New License Plate

I Love Dick Eastman's new license plate: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/03/new-license-pla.html

I don't have a vehicle to hang one on (I'm a good environmentally minded girl) but if I did, I might choose this one!




To make your own vintage or modern license plate for Canada or the U.S.A., go to License Plate Maker. (For scrapbooking, maybe?)
It's free: http://buy4cheap.brinkster.net/signs/license/plates.asp

Sunday, March 23, 2008

British Columbia Historical Federation Conference, May 8-11, 2008, New Westminster, B.C., Canada

Register now for the 2008 British Columbia Historical Federation workshop and conference programs at http://www.bchistory.ca/

The conference, at the Inn at Westminster Quay in New Westminster, features speakers on early B.C. history and B.C.'s first capitals at Langley and New Westminster and includes several historical tours, including a trip to Fort Langley.

Even if you are not attending the conference, you can visit the authors, book sellers and historical groups at the conference Book Fair, Friday afternoon, May 9th, 1 to 6 pm, when it will be open to the public.

***The conference early bird registration fee deadline has just been extended to March 31st, 2008.

The Non-profit Financial Planning and Reporting pre-conference workshop on Thursday, May 8, at Douglas College in New Westminster will be useful for any non-profit group. Speakers: Albert Foster Certified General Accountant, Harry Peterson of Shaw Sabey and Associates (Insurance Brokers), and a Canada Revenue Agency representative.

B.C. Historical Federation Conference details: http://www.bchistory.ca/

Saturday, March 22, 2008

New Westminster Cemetery Tour, May 11, 2008, British Columbia, Canada

Fraser & St. Peter's cemeteries, New Westminster, May 11, 2008

Archie and Dale Miller will lead a tour of Fraser Cemetery in New Westminster from 10 am to noon. Contact Archie Miller directly to book. E-mail: information@senseofhistory.com or call 604-526-6113.
Tickets are $10.00 each.

'Overlooking The Fraser River - A Cemetery With A View': The Fraser Cemetery (and the adjacent St Peter's Catholic Cemetery) occupies a prominent location in the Sapperton neighbourhood of New Westminster. ...The histories of many Lower Mainland communities can be told in these cemeteries as they trace roots back to the early days of the Colony of British Columbia when this was the formal available burial ground.

Archie and Dale Miller, your guides for this May 11 event, have been, together and individually, researching this site for over 40 years, and bring with them a wealth of information and a great enjoyment in telling the tales. ...if you have a reference to someone you are seeking who is buried in Fraser or St. Peter's, tell them that as well when you book - they may be able to include 'your person' in the stories told.

As time, weather, and group interest allow, a short introduction to the Woodlands and B.C. Penitentiary cemeteries will be included after the Fraser sites have been viewed. This will require a short drive to these extra locations. (Walking from Fraser etc. is not practical.)

This tour is associated with the 2008 B.C. Historical Federation conference. For more about the conference, see: http://www.bchistory.ca/

Friday, March 21, 2008

British Research Seminar - Dr Chris Watts - May 10, 2008 - Burnaby, B.C., Canada

10 May 2008, all day - 8:30 am to 3:30 pm

The British Columbia Genealogical Society presents Dr. Chris Watts, International Speaker and Author

in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

at the Eastburn Community Centre, Burnaby, B.C. (7435 Edmonds Street, corner of Edmonds & Humphries)

Dr. Chris Watts is the author of several books on tracing British military people and is The National Archives of the U. K's expert on the merchant navy. He is a well known speaker and a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists.

LECTURE TOPICS

- Some Underused Sources for English Genealogy
- Tracing Birth, Deaths & Marriages at Sea
- World War I Army Service Records at The National Archives of the U.K. & Elsewhere

Special early bird rate for B.C. G.S. & Affiliate Group members.

Lunch & refreshments included.

To register, please contact Susan Snalam at 604-273-8209 or Eunice Robinson: eunice@dccnet.com

For details,see the BC Genealogical Society website: http://www.bcgs.ca/
Click 'What's New' for the seminar brochure.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Scotty - 1914 to 2000 - Carnival of Genealogy





Photo: Washington, D.C., 1940's


Carnival of Genealogy: In keeping with the month of March being National Women's History Month, and March 8th being International Women's Day, the topic for the next edition of the Carnival of Genealogy will once again be: A Tribute to Women. Write a tribute to a woman on your family tree, a friend, a neighbor, or a historical female figure who has done something to impact your life.. For extra credit, sum up her life in a six-word biography (thanks to Lisa Alzo for the suggestion!).


Scotty: Country girl; city woman. Adventurous, questioning.

That’s my mum’s six word biography. (She’d have wanted more words than that though!)

It is indeed Women’s History Month in the United States of America, and since my mother, as a member of the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, worked in Washington, D.C., during World War II, and this was an important time in her life (and even in mine), it seems appropriate to say something about her.

She was born in Newdale, Manitoba, Canada and lived there till in her last years of high school when she went to Winnipeg to attend the United Church’s Riverbend School for Girls. My mother remembered Newdale as a thriving town, but knowing my mum, I feel sure that she was eager to move to the ‘big city’.

After Grade 12, she went on to business school and soon had a job with Eaton’s, then Canada’s largest department store chain, working for a fabrics and notions buyer. Her memories of Eaton’s were happy, but she told me that when the war began, purchasing had to be curtailed; she had little to do. One of Eaton’s former employees was involved in the Reserve Army; he persuaded her to join up. Her mother wasn’t happy about her choosing to be a CWAC – being in the Women’s Royal Canadian Air Service or Naval Service would have been more acceptable. Mum never ever seemed to have regrets about her decision - though she always told me how much more money the men made and how different the standards sometimes were for women, even for officers like herself.

She was posted several places in Canada, but eventually was sent to Washington, D.C., to work. While in the U.S., she made good friends and travelled around the east coast to see the country and to visit family.


Soon she met a young man from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, also working in D.C. in the Canadian Army. In 1946, Captain Scott and Major Rogers married in Washington, and in 1947, after leaving the Army, they made their home in Vancouver, B.C, and soon they had two children. Although she didn’t work outside the home when we were little, by the mid 1950’s, she and my father had a business together which they ran till I was out of high school.


My mother had a lifelong interest in many different subjects, for example, Northwest Coast native art, and she read widely. My own lifelong interests in women’s history and in art come from her.

While I was in university in the 60’s, I tried to interest her in attending classes, since my university welcomed ‘adults’, but she said she thought she was too old. Years later, she changed her mind, and at age 70, she was granted a degree from that same university. In later years, she was also able to travel overseas too, often by herself, to see the places she’d read about all her life, like Egypt and China.


She never stopped learning about the world, and she never lost interest in the future.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

International Women's Day, March 8, 2008

Today is International Women's Day - while attending events in your community celebrating women, please take time to reflect on women's situations in other places.

In Canada, MATCH International Centre is a Canadian women’s international organization guided by a feminist vision of sustainable development which recognizes the diverse realities of women and respects their efforts for self-determination... MATCH works in partnership with groups in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and South America towards the empowerment of women and the practical enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms through civil, political, economic, social and cultural justice.

MATCH is an organization I support.

To learn about the kind of projects MATCH assists, for instance, Rescue Foundation Ghana, see the MATCH website: http://www.matchinternational.org/

Monday, March 03, 2008

Celebrate U.S. Women's History Month by doing a 'good deed'.

The Breast Cancer Site celebrates U.S. Women's History Month in March by featuring pictures of different women artists each day. These pictures come from the U.S. National Women's History Project.

Today it's Violet Oakley, (1874-1961), muralist and illustrator --and also a suffragist and peace activist. FriendsoftheArts.com has some examples of her work on-line. 'Women's Art, Women's Vision' is the theme for Women's History Month in the United States this year.

Did you know that just by clicking on the Breast Cancer Site you help fund free mammograms for women in need in the U.S. through the National Breast Cancer Foundation? Sponsors contribute according to the number of clicks, for example, 550 screenings have been paid for in Washington State and Oregon now. That's pretty close to home for southwestern B.C.ers, like me, so I click every day. (You can even sign up for a daily reminder e-mail so you won't forget.)

The Breast Cancer Site: http://www.thebreastcancersite.com

Violet Oakley: http://www.afriendofthearts.com/violetoakley

Violet Oakley, Pennsylvania State Capitol murals:http://cpc.state.pa.us/main/cpcweb/history/artists/oakley.html

Women's History Month, (try the quiz)
U. S. National Women's History Project: http://www.nwhp.org/whm/index.php