Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Women in Central and Eastern European Genealogy - 17th edition, Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Welcome everyone to the 17th edition of the
Carnival of Central and East European Genealogy.

Our theme this time celebrates International Women's Day -

Women in Central and Eastern European Genealogy


Thomas MacEntee of Destination: Austin Family begins our Carnival with his tribute to Frances Pressner - My German-American Great Grandmother. What a charming photograph - so hopeful both look, and both show a hint of humour. No doubt that shaped their lives together in North America.

In her Carnival contribution, Researching My Central and East European Female Ancestors, this Carnival's originator, Jessica Oswalt of Jessica's GeneJournal, highlights the variety of resources she's uncovered for her female ancestors who came from Germany and from ethnic German areas of the Russian Empire - from death records to deeds.

Brenda Dougall Merriman's Carnival article, Marija, gives us a fascinating peek into her Latvian grandmother's time working in St. Petersburg.

In my own contribution here at CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt, Robitnytsia - A Source for Ukrainian Canadian Women's History, I discuss a few reasons ethnic and political publications like Robitnytsia are often neglected by family historians, and point to one solution.

And lastly at Tangled Trees, we learn about Theresa Stosz of Segenthau, Romania, surely an inspiration to all of us who are researching our families, particularly our female relatives. What good advice she gave and how well she taught it!

Thank you everyone for participating and for making my first time as a guest host for this Carnival so enjoyable. Everyone will appreciate reading your contributions. And thank you to Jessica for inviting me to participate as a host this time.


The topic for the next edition of the Central and East European Genealogy Carnival will be -


Easter and Passover Traditions


Submissions are due by April 20th, 2009 and the
Carnival will be posted at Jessica's Genejournal on April 22nd.
Join in!
For more information, contact Jessica at Jessica's Genejournal. Submit your entry through Blog Carnival: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_2939.html
Edited to add Blog Carnival link, 1 April, 2009 - No joke though

Monday, March 30, 2009

Robitnytsia - A Source for Ukrainian Canadian Women's History



I am a young mother with my afternoons free...
I would dearly love to learn to speak and write Ukrainian...
My mother is Ukrainian but she no longer speaks her native tongue.
This area has a lot of Ukrainian people that I would love to talk to,
but most of them do not speak English.
[Signed] UKRAINIAN BY DESCENT

'Dear Doris', Doris Clark columnist, The Brandon Sun,
Manitoba, Canada, Tuesday, 23 March 1965, p. 5

Dear Doris's answer to "U By D" was very positive about this young woman's proposal to assist an older neighbour with his English while learning some Ukrainian from him. Doris also pointed out how many resources for learning Ukrainian were then available in the community. This was a far cry from earlier years, I suspect, when both mother and daughter may have been forbidden or at least strongly encouraged to speak only English. But did this young mother's children learn Ukrainian? How will that affect their future family history pursuits?

Despite Doris's optimistic answer, according to Census Canada, while in 1971, 309,890 Canadians said their first language was Ukrainian, in 2001, there were only 157,385 and in 2006, only 141,805 native Ukrainian speakers. The language groups that showed the largest data in 1971 – German, Italian, Ukrainian and Polish – for the last 35 years are no longer among the list of top immigration sources. (Note 1) The children of these earlier immigrants in the main now have English or French as their first language, although some children in my grandson's generation, especially in Manitoba, I understand, are going to Ukrainian schools.

Because I have become interested in Eastern European born family connections, I have been reading articles and books and researching Internet sources. This month to celebrate International Women's Day, I chose to read Frances Swyripa's book, Wedded to the Cause, about Ukrainian-Canadian women.

Her's is not a detailed timeline or history of women and women's organizations. She makes it clear from the start that her goal is to examine ideas, not necessarily everyday reality. However, she does give many examples of events, and of practical matters, as well as attitudes within and without Ukrainian-Canadian communities which directly affected women's lives.
Much of her information came from historical periodicals and newspapers. She reports that in March, 1937, for instance, muddy roads kept the women of the Ranfurly, Alberta branch of the Ukrainian Labour-Farmer Temple Association (ULFTA), a left wing political organization, from attending their own International Women's Day event. (Note 2)

Some of her information comes from Robitnytsia, "a semi-monthly magazine for Workingwomen. Organ of the Workingwomen's Section of U.L.F.T.A.", published in Manitoba, Canada. I wanted to have a look at the magazine myself, if possible. Although I do not read Ukrainian, I thought I might get a sense of its content and I could always copy anything of interest and have that translated. Swyripa does have some information about the magazine's history, its (all male) editors and the kind of articles it carried, as does Joan Sangster in an article about the magazine noted below.

I found that Simon Fraser University in Burnaby had a microfilm copy and viewing it, I was immediately struck by how often photographs of women, mostly young women, were included (and how well these had been reproduced on the film). Many issues have names of letter writers and subscribers or contributors, as well as articles about social and political matters, science, jokes and poems, and apparently recipes. And this magazine was for a North American audience. Although I'm most interested in Canada, groups in the United States were mentioned.

How many people doing their family history will look for grandma or great grandma in these kind of publications though?

First, although these particular magazines have been microfilmed, they are mainly available only at university libraries or by purchase. Second, almost everything in them is written in Ukrainian - that's why I looked for statistics on Ukrainian native speakers in Canada. Most of the Ukrainian-Canadians I know my age or younger do not read Ukrainian at all, even if they speak some. And third, this particular publication was highly political and at least a few people I know don't seem to want to investigate their family members' political backgrounds. (This doesn't apply only to Ukrainian-Canadians, of course.)

The Multicultural History Society of Ontario, which microfilmed Robitnytsia and its predecessor, Holos robitnytsi (Voice of the Working Woman) in the 1970s, has partnered with Simon Fraser University of Burnaby, British Columbia in the university's MultiCultural Canada digitization projects. However, although there are some Ukrainian resources being included in that collection, these publications are not among them.

And, as far as I can learn, there are no genealogical/historical indexes publically available for Robitnytsia or Holos robitnytsi. This ought to be remedied and soon.
It is almost a constant refrain of mine that so few historical labour, political and 'ethnic' newspapers and magazines are being made available digitally, even though many Canadian publications like these have been available on microfilm for decades.



If you have an interest in any of these photographs, please contact me.


And in this case, I feel it is especially sad. Sometimes it seems there are so few historical sources about women, particularly regarding early immigrants to Canada, and to politics and community action. These publications ought to be more widely accessible.

This is where the co-operation of a genealogical society could be vital, first, if the group has an Eastern European or Ukrainian Special Interest Group, in finding readers or translators as requested, second, by making references to these kind of publications better known to its members and others, and third, by encouraging the indexing and digization of this kind of publication for research use.
This post was written for the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy.

RESOURCES
Robitnytsia (Workingwoman). 15 March, 1924-August 1937. Microfilm, Multicultural History Society of Ontario [MHSO]: http://www.mhso.ca/ Toronto, Microfilm Recording Co., 1972. 7 reels, 35 mm. Chiefly Ukrainian, some English. Organ of the Workingwomen's Section of Ukrainian Labor Temple Association, originally published in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Holos robitnytsi (Voice of the working woman). January/February 1923-February/March 1924. Microfilm, Multicultural History Society of Ontario [MHSO]: http://www.mhso.ca/
Originally published in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, monthly.

Wedded To The Cause: Ukrainian-Canadian Women and Ethnic Identity 1891-1991 by Frances Swyripa (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1993)

"Robitnytsia, Ukrainian Communists, and the 'Porcupinism' Debate: Reassessing Ethnicity, Gender, and Class in Early Canadian Communism, 1922–1930" by Joan Sangster. Labour/Le Travail .56 (2005): 63 pars. 31 Mar. 2009 - Available on-line: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/llt/56/sangster.html

MultiCultural Canada, Simon Fraser University: http://multiculturalcanada.ca/ukr


Notes
Note 1. "The Evolving Linguistic Portrait, 2006 Census: Sharp increase in population with a mother tongue other than English or French", Statistics Canada: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/analysis/language/allophone.cfm

Note 2. Wedded To The Cause, Frances Swyripa, 1993, p. 161. Citing Ukrainian Canadian, March 1972, pp. 20-1 and June 1978, pp. 15-19. [Another publication to look at - originally published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1947-1991. Microfilmed by MHSO.]

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Scanfest Today - Scanning Mum's Memories

It's the day for Scanfest again!

11 AM to 2 PM, PDT at AnceStories

Get together with others on-line while you scan your family memories!

Join us; go to AnceStories and look for the CoverItLive live blog/forum in the top post.


Today I'm scanning a potpourri from one of my mother's boxes - letters, telegrams, recipes, newspaper clippings, baby advice...only one photo, I think, and nothing about cars, little brother.

Reading one letter has already made me cry. Silly, I know. Wasn't a sad letter at all. Quite the contrary.

Never mind, here's something of me from her box....



Tulips in the Spring

Tulips are pretty
in the spring.
When we lived in
Dunbar we had yellow
tulips and red tulips.
I liked Dunbar.

I had two very nice
friends. I liked Betty too.
She played with me too.
But I can't play with any
of my Dunbar friends
now because we moved
to Cambie, but if you
know where yukon is
right where 3300 Yukon
Street is just then you will
see my house.

My Name is Diane

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, c. 1952

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Nordic Spirit: The Danes in BC - April 4-5, 2009 Burnaby BC Canada

Nordic Spirit: The Danes in BC

Photographic exhibit with historical images from British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

Saturday, April 4-5, 2009 from 11 am to 4 pm

Scandinavian Community Centre, 6540 Thomas St., Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Opening Reception - April 4, 2009 11:30 am

Special Event - April 4, 2009 7-9 pm

Gold Dust On His Shirt: The True Story of An Immigrant Mining Family.

Irene Howard will be reading and showing photographs from her new book, Gold Dust On His Shirt. Irene Howard is also the author of The Struggle for Social Justice in British Columbia: Helena Gutteridge, the Unknown Reformer.

For more about Gold Dust on His Shirt (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2009)
and about Irene Howard, see here.

$10 admission includes refreshments.

Please R.S.V.P. to 604 294 2777 or info@scandinaviancentre.org

Irene Howard will also be speaking at the Vancouver Public Library, Thursday, May 27, 2009 at 7 pm.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Tuesday's Treasures - Baby Memories

This baby bootee was among my mum's treasures...made, I believe by her, originally for me and look - blue and pink - she did know baby might be 'me'.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Reminder - Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, 17th Edition

The next edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy, the 17th Edition, will be hosted right here, and the topic is

Women in Central and Eastern European Genealogy

Have you a female ancestor from Eastern or Central Europe you'd like to highlight, or do you have tips specifically for researching women there, or have you found a good article, book or website that assists in historical research about women from Central and Eastern Europe?

You don't have to have ancestors from Eastern or Central Europe to participate in this Carnival.

The deadline for the submissions will be March 29th, and the edition will be published on the 31st.

You can submit your article here

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Dick Eastman Interviews Paul Taylor of Arcalife.com

Dick Eastman's interview with Paul Taylor of the new web based personal and family history service, Arcalife.com, is up at Roots Television. They met at the 2009 'Who Do You Think You Are' genealogy/family history show in London.

Arcalife.com (Digital Estate Corporation) is a very new website offering another option for anyone wanting to archive their personal and family images, audio, video, certificate copies, etc. and then to share them with family and others. As Dick mentions, Arcalife has some "whizbang technical stuff". The 'Time Capsules' and 'Life Cubes' - new tools to store and show memories - will interest many.

Paul Taylor is from Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and I hope to have a chance to speak to him in person soon.





WDYTYA? Live 2009 Dick Eastman Interviews British Columbia, Canada's Paul Taylor of www.Arcalife.com


Roots Television is the greatest for genealogy and family history topics! Many, many more videos, all free. And now full screen viewing at the site too.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade of Posts - See it now at Small-Leaved Shamrock

The 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade of Posts - the 12th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture - is up at Small-Leaved Shamrock. Settle in for a good read this St Patrick's Day - History, Music, even recipes...

And coming up next in the 13th Edition is - Our Irish heritage: What's in a name? on the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture blog. Join us next time!

Happy St Patrick's Day - HOVLUND, Wisconsin, USA


And 'Dear Land of our Fore Mothers' too, of course...
Postcard, postmarked 1912, LaCrosse, Wisconsin, USA.
Addressed to Westby, Wisconsin, USA (I think!)
Contact me if your surname interest is HOVLUND - Mrs. B, and an Emma

Monday, March 16, 2009

Winnipeg Free Press - On-line Newspaper Access

The Canadian newspaper, the Winnipeg Free Press, now is offering a pay service for its archive - back to 1874, including all the earlier newspapers associated with the Free Press - this service is through NewspaperARCHIVE. From the Free Press links, you can buy a subscription (annual, monthly, weekly or one day) or order reprints (cheaper than at NewspaperARCHIVE). This is an interesting development - although, of course, I'm unhappy to see that the Winnipeg Free Press hasn't made the archives free instead, as other newspaper companies have.

Here is a link to the Winnipeg Free Press's own history page. The paper began in 1872. What did happen to those first two years?

Digitized access to the historical Winnipeg Free Press has been available for quite some time through NewspaperARCHIVE (and NewspaperARCHIVE is available if you're a blue Godfrey Library subscriber or may be available to you at Family History Centers run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I didn't think the coverage at NewspaperARCHIVE was complete; perhaps it will be soon? The press release I read says the Winnipeg Free Press site includes "all Free Press content from 1874 to 2009" and the Free Press does say that "additional pages will be added as they become available".

The searches look the same but there may be differences in indexing and coverage. I will be trying the Winnipeg Free Press once at least, I'm sure, looking for my Newdale and other Manitoba people.

Before you pay, be sure to check out the free historical Manitoba newspapers available through Manitobia.ca though. For the earlier years, you may find what you're looking for there.

Cold North Wind Inc., known on-line as 'Paper of Record', the groundbreaking Canadian newspaper digitizing company which recently 'disappeared' from the Internet, had the Manitoban from 1870 - 1874 and the Winnipeg Times
from 1879 - 1885. Google bought Paper of Record, but has been very slow at including those digitized newspapers in its Google News Archive, apparently for both technical and licensing reasons.

On most of the Google News Archives searches now, I see 'Pay-For-View'. In my opinion, it was a very, very sad day for Canadian history when Paper of Record was sold out of the country. It would have been a great acquisition for Library and Archives Canada - another opportunity lost instead.

For more information about accessing the Winnipeg Free Press digitally or on microfilm, see the University of Manitoba's information here. Note that this page hasn't been recently updated, however, the information is still correct, if no longer quite complete. Microfilm copies of this and other Canadian newspapers are available at or through most academic or public libraries in Canada. Ask your favourite librarian for details!

Oh, dear - I realized after this was published that I neglected to mention that Ancestry.com also has indexed and digitized versions of some years of the Winnipeg Free Press. To be honest, I have always found this awkward to use, however, any indexing is good, I do say. Ancestry.com access is available at many larger libraries or by subscription. Again, speak with your favourite librarian.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

IRWIN - MOFFAT - County Cavan, Ireland: 12th Edition, Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture

From your right: James IRWIN, 1821-1910, born County Cavan, Ireland, his grandson Charles Ellery Irwin, his son William Irwin (my great grandpa) with baby great grandson Clarence Campbell Irwin. Photograph: W.B. St. John, Neepawa and Minnedosa, Manitoba, Canada (William Berthour St. John. He operated photographic studios in Minnedosa and Neepawa from about 1887-1925.)


This photograph, showing four generations of IRWIN men, is the same image as the first old family photograph I ever owned, other than photos of my parents. My own copy is not this nice - the mat had been 'chewed' by some little creature - and so my Na was happy to give it to me one summer when she & I went through her photos and I labelled as she identified the people in them.

There is a similar photograph showing four generations of IRWIN women, also all related to me. It seems likely to me that it was take at about the same time but the women's photograph has no information identifying a date or photographer.



From your right: Mary Jane (MOFFAT) IRWIN ( 1824-1909) born County Cavan, Ireland, with her granddaughter Ella (Murchison) Mcguire, her daughter Mary Ellen (Irwin) Murchison, and baby great grand daughter, Grace Mcguire.

Mary Ellen (Irwin) Murchison and my great grandfather, William Irwin, were brother and sister.

Note:

William Irwin's wife was Janet Carmichael.

Charles Ellery Irwin's wife was Henrietta Scott Campbell.

Mary Ellen Irwin's husband was Malcolm 'Mac' Murchison.

Sarah Ellen 'Ella' Murchison's husband was Frederick 'Fred' Adam Mcguire.

Posted for Small-leaved Shamrock's St. Patrick's Day parade - the 12th Edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture. I'm not too sure what my Irish ancestors would really think of our modern St Patrick's day, but I hope they'd appreciate my thinking of them.

A previous post at the Cemetery Rabbit of British Columbia shows photographs of James and Mary Jane's grave at Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada.

If you are interested in the history of St Patrick's Day, I recommend The wearing of the green: a history of St. Patrick's Day by Mike Cronin and Daryl Adair (Abingdon, Oxford, England & New York, USA: Routledge, 2006)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Digital Preservation - Canada - 2009 Survey

Library Boy, Michel-Adrien Sheppard of Ottawa, reported yesterday on his blog that there is a new survey of digital preservation activities in Canada on behalf of Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Survey results will apparently be posted on the LAC website in Spring/Summer 2009.

I think this must be the same survey mentioned at the Summer, 2008 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference which was to

"establish a baseline of understanding digital preservation practice among Canadian repositories....Based on this information and through negotiations with other institutions, Library and Archives Canada can then move forward on developing a collaborative national digital preservation infrastructure. Responsibilities for preservation will be shared through formal agreements or will originate within institutions according to their mandates."

Quoted from "Library and Archives Canada: towards a trusted digital repository" by Pam Armstrong, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Canada, Preservation Infrastructures Session, World Library and Information Congress: 74th IFLA General Conference and Council
'Libraries without borders: Navigating towards global understanding'
10-14 August 2008, Québec, Canada


The preamble to the new digital preservation survey mentions the Canadian Digital Information Strategy, 2007, which "identified preservation as one of the major digital challenges for Canada".

If you are interested in the Canadian Digital Information Strategy - be sure to read the responses to it too - see LAC's website.

I don't see anything about the survey on LAC's website yet, but on 5 March 2009, there was a note about the Department of Canadian Heritage, Library and Archives Canada and Canadian Council of Archives's Archival Community Digitization Program (ACDP) for 2009–2010. For applications, see the Canadian Council of Archives website.
Application deadline is 30 April, 2009.

Note that this is the last year of funding through the Department of Canadian Heritage for this programme. Many of the comments to the Canadian Digital Information Strategy called for on-going funding and infrastructure support for preservation and digitization projects.

The Archival Community Digitization Program has given support to many interesting projects - few from British Columbia though. See Archives Canada for links to projects listed by year - from 2002-3 to 2006-7. The Salt Spring Island Multicultural Project from the Salt Spring Island (British Columbia, Canada) Archives, is included there under 2005-6.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Brothers and Sisters - Smile for the Camera



The 11th Edition of Smile For The Camera is brothers & sisters. Bring them to the carnival and share. Admission is free with every photograph!

Here is my favourite brother & sister pair. Weren't they adorable? Was she telling big brother a joke? Or trying to talk him out of the little car he's holding? He's not telling...

Now if only their mummy had written down the exact date this photograph was taken - in Burnaby, BC, Canada, c 1976.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Researching Your Female Ancestors, March 14, 2009, Burnaby, BC

Researching Your Female Ancestors
Super Sleuths Genealogical Workshop I

March 14, 2009, Saturday, 1-3pm, $10.50 code 175164

In conjunction with International Women's Day, learn how to research your female ancestors. Women tend to be eclipsed in the labyrinth of genealogical data, but M. Diane Rogers of the BC Genealogical Society teaches you how to bring them back to life.

Burnaby Village Museum,
6501 Deer Lake Avenue, Burnaby, BC V5G 3T6

Program Registration: 604.293.6500.
Website: www.burnabyvillagemuseum.ca

International Women's Day - 2009


Today is International Women's Day!

The United Nations recognizes International Women's Day (IWD) and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last year designated a multi-year " campaign calling on people and governments the world over to unite to end violence against women and girls. The campaign will run through 2015, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The link with the Goals is clear. We must stop the habitual and socially ingrained violence that mars lives, destroys health, perpetuates poverty and prevents us from achieving women’s equality and empowerment...." His complete address is on the UN site - go to 'Messages' on the site below.


International Women's Day, United Nations: www.un.org/events/women/iwd/2009

Status of Women Canada (note the new website links) : www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/index-eng.html

Saturday, March 07, 2009

The British Columbia Genealogical Society, Canada

British Columbia Genealogical Society parade group,
2007, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Vancouver, BC, Canada



The British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) is the genealogical group I am most involved with. If you live in British Columbia or if you are researching anyone who lived in British Columbia, you will definitely benefit by joining our society.

The BCGS is 'all volunteer'. We have regular meetings every month in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada - on average 70+ people attend. We sponsor special events throughout the year including at least one trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, our cemetery committee is very active in photographing and recording British Columbia's cemeteries, we publish a quarterly journal and an e-newsletter and we own and manage our own genealogical library.

The monthly meetings feature either speakers or our special interest group sessions - for instance, for the English, Canadian, Scottish, DNA or computer groups. Experienced members lead these groups. Sometimes a group member presents on a topic or talks about their research. Other times, it's a 'roundtable' and we all share information and assist each other. For a full list of the BCGS groups, and contact information, please see our website: http://www.bcgs.ca/

Some groups meet at other times, for example, the Quebec and Scandinavian groups, so check with a facilitator for current meeting plans.

Today we had a very successful event - a Sold Out seminar with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. Everyone enjoyed the day. She is a very good speaker - for instance, her DNA session gave those new to the idea the basics, while at the same time, she relayed up to date information to the DNA converts in the room.

The BCGS's Walter Draycott Library in Surrey, British Columbia holds over 13,000 genealogical books, periodicals, microforms and CDS. We have a special research interest in British Columbia, but our members are researching all over the world, so our collections are worldwide. The library is free for members to use but non-members can research at the library for a small fee. Once a year, in July, we host a free Library Week - during those days we have volunteers each day to assist visitors with research in different countries.

We also attend a number of genealogical and heritage events during the year to promote interest in genealogy and in the British Columbia Genealogical Society. And our Boutique which sells genealogical books, research tools and even novelties (you need a new genealogy mug, don't you?) is at most of our regular meetings, almost all BCGS events and attends seminars and events put on by other genealogical and historical groups.


Our next event will be 15 March 2009, a week tomorrow, when our BCGS group will be marching in Vancouver's 6th Annual St. Patrick's Day parade. If you're in the Vancouver area, come to the parade. Be sure to cheer and wave to us!

There is lots of information about our Society and about British Columbia genealogical research on our website.

British Columbia Genealogical Society: www.bcgs.ca/



This post was written for Genea-Bloggers Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #8: Talk about highlights and events from your local genealogy society. Most genealogy bloggers are members of several historical societies and love to hear about the events in other organizations. This is also a great way to attract new members.

True Confessions, Genealogy Style - Saturday Night Fun

If it's Saturday Night here in the West it must be time for Randy Seaver's Saturday night fun.

I don't always participate, but this questionnaire looked interesting as lately I've been thinking quite a bit about why people do genealogy and what they might be looking for, so why not 'begin with myself'. Tonight it's True Confessions, Genealogy Style.

1. When did you start genealogy research? -actively - 1988 - same as Randy apparently.

2. Why did you start doing research? I had already been doing Canadian historical research. Researching my own family seemed a natural progression for me (and beginning about that time, I had a more settled job situation. Could be I thought to do something useful with my free time?)

3. What was your first big success in research? Convincing my mum she didn't know all about her family! She didn't take it too hard - even the part that upset her. And she did tell me pretty quick about the d-i-v-o-r-c-e, saying "you're going to find out about that anyway".

4. What is your biggest genealogy regret? Mmm... I suppose it's not asking my mum more specific questions about her childhood and the town she grew up in. How did they celebrate Christmas, for goodness sake? And why didn't I ask her to draw me a map showing 'who lived where' (and where each room was in the first house we lived in)?

5. What are you best known for in the genealogy world? Locally probably a. talking about researching women and also family photographs b. wanting to buy/read/borrow ALL the genealogy books possible and check out ALL the websites possible c. stressing Canadian (and international) genealogical research and d. to some - for asking when, oh when, can we see those agreements.

6. What is your professional status in genealogy? I want my work to be to professional standards. (*I know, I know - let's have coffee & discuss this all night.) I do take a few paying clients, but mostly I do local talks/workshops. I'm not certified; I am a member of several professional/researcher groups.

7. What is your biggest genealogy achievement? Personal? I think 'finding' Diana Gilchrist, my gg aunt.

8. What is the most FUN you've had doing genealogy? I have a lot of fun giving talks, I must say, and volunteering with other genealogists at genealogical/heritage events. If I had to say one activity that's been consistently fun, I'd have to say 'genea-blogging'. I've been blogging quite a while, but have met a lot of great people since genea-bloggers started. Between the posts, the comments and the facebook (and now the twitter) updates, there's a smile every morning!

9. What is your favorite genealogy how-to book? The book I recommend (and give away) the most is - Ask Lots of Questions, Get Lots of Answers... by Louise St. Denis (Toronto: Heritage Productions, 2002) For people who are just starting out, and have the opportunity to collect information by interviewing relatives but aren't sure what kinds of questions to begin with, this is a good source book. Good also if someone wants to start writing their own life story. Clear format/portable.

10. What notable genealogist would you like to meet someday? Well, I just met Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak...so that's one, but I'd say next...Elizabeth Shown Mills. (And I'd like to meet her at Samford!)

Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy - Reminder - 17th Edition

The next edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy will be hosted right here at 'CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt'.

Our theme this time is 'Women in Central and Eastern European Genealogy' - celebrate International Women's Day this month.

Have you a female ancestor from Eastern or Central Europe you'd like to highlight, or do you have tips specifically for researching women there, or have you found a good article, book or website that assists in historical research about women from Central and Eastern Europe?

You don't have to have ancestors from Eastern or Central Europe to participate in this Carnival.

The deadline for the submissions will be March 29th, 2009 and the 17th edition will be published on the 31st. You can submit your article here at BlogCarnival.

The 16th Edition of the Carnival of Central and Eastern European Genealogy is now posted at Jessica's Genejournal. Have a good look at the interesting array of articles submitted last carnival.

Friday, March 06, 2009

Canada Reads 2009 winner - The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill’s wins Canada Reads 2009! And the
CBCs Book Club will have a month-long discussion of the book. Excellent!

If you're a BookCrosser, watch for a copy to be released in Vancouver this coming week...

Middle Name Pride Day - Celebrate Your Name Week

March 6 - Middle Name Pride Day: Today’s name celebration requires honesty and boldness. Tell three people who don’t already know it, what your middle name is.

For Celebrate Your Name Week

OK - just for those three people - [drum roll] My middle name is

DIANE!

My grandson asked one day how many of us used our second or middle name - he doesn't, but his dad and I do.

For many in our family tree, I don't know, but for our closest relatives I do:

- Myself
- My son (not my daughter - although I meant both of her names to be used together)
- My mum

and both my grandpas

- James Joseph (Joe) RODGERS/ROGERS, born 1878 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Joseph was his maternal grandfather's name
- James Walter SCOTT, born 1885 in Nottawa, Ontario, Canada - Walter was his father's name

Nametag Day - Celebrate Your Name Week

for March 5 - Nametag Day - a real nametag from 2008





Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Diane - Learn What Your Name Means Day - Celebrate Your Name Week

Today, March 4 - it's Learn What Your Name Means Day

from Namipedia (isn't that a cute name!) at The Baby Name Wizard website, I see that the name Diane is said to be from the Latin: from 'diviana' - meaning 'divine' -also the goddess of hunting and the moon. I'm not sure about this 'diviana' - although I see by googling that it can be a name.

Think Baby Names says Divinia is like Davina (Scottish, Hebrew) and Divina (Latin, Italian), and the meaning of Divinia is "beloved; divine, heavenly". "

Back at The Baby Name Wizard, I tried the app, NameVoyager, and found that according to that, my surmise about the popularity of this name in the 1940s could be true. NameVoyager shows a time/population/popularity graph for the given name you select. In the 1920s, Diane ranked 453 in popularity; then moved up to 22 in the 1940s, and to a high of 17 in the 1950s, but in the 70s, it dripped to 153. This information is for USA and is based on Social Security Administration data. (See the FAQ section.) Dianne/Diana/Dian had somewhat different rates of popularity.

Laura Wattenberg is the originator of The Baby Name Wizard website. She has a book, a monthly column and blog and she's on Facebook snd Twtter too. If you're participating in 'Celebrate Your Name Week', have a look for her.

According to my big old Oxford Dictionary, there's a Diana monkey too - and Diana was once a name for silver (from her association with the Moon, I assume). But it shows Dian as a variant and Dian is also a term for "a beating of the drum at daybreak" from dia - day (Latin).

Well, the goddess thing is all right, I guess, although it seems like a lot of responsibility. I may like the Dian meaning better - after all, I am really a 'morning person'.

Unique Names Day - Celebrate Your Name Week

Today, March 3 is Unique Names Day - the third day of Celebrate Your Name Week

Historically, my family chose pretty common names, to go with their all too common last names, I imagine. But there are a couple of people who didn't fit that pattern and the fact that their given names were a bit 'different' did help me find them in various records and allowed me to verify that I had the right families.

Lancelot ROGERS, for instance, born in Backwell, Somerset,England in 1811; married Mary Ann ADAMS, 1835 at St James, Bristol. Probably known as 'Lance' as that's the name his son William gave for his father when he married Mary Ann WHITE in Canada in 1873. (See why I said "pretty common names"?)

When I first started to search for Lance, I had only 'England' and 'Mary' as the wife's name for clues. It turned out there were only 3 Lancelot Rogers possibilities in the indexes available then, but I was able to narrow those down to one quickly. (And then Mary Ann WHITE left me another clue about William, her husband, so I was could be sure. When I found his death registration (a long process - there are a good number of 'William Rogers' in Toronto area, Canada in the 1880s) she had said 'Bristol' instead of the ubiquitous 'England' as his place of birth and the registrar had entered that. Close enough!

This Lancelot's father was also called Lancelot (or Lancelott). Perhaps Lance didn't really like his name - his own boys were named: William, Thomas, Richard, George, Francis and John.

On my mother's side there are several women named, I was told, for favourite brothers and uncles - Alexina and Hughina, for instance.

These names stand out on my family group sheets, but both are Scottish names, I believe, and I see, looking again at the British Columbia. Canada vital events indexes, that neither name is really that uncommon. (Alexina, I know, went by 'Maggie' though!)


Tomorrow is March 4 - Learn What Your Name Means Day.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Diane - Fun Facts - Celebrate Your Name Week

Yesterday was 'Fun Facts' Day for 'Celebrate Your Name Week'. Here's a few things about my name.

1. According to Wikipedia, apparently my name, 'Diane', has been consistently popular for girls in the United States since the 1930's - among the top 200 names chosen. I can see it would be popular in recent years, but it was certainly popular in the 1940s where I lived in British Columbia, Canada. In my elementary classes alone, I remember a Dianne and a Diana, besides myself, plain 'Diane'. No Dinah, although historically I have seen that name as an apparent variant for Diana.

I don't see any Canadian 'name popularity' statistics, but by doing some completely unscientific searches on the British Columbia Archives Vital Events indexes, I can see that Diana is a name used here in British Columbia, Canada, from the 1880s. The earliest, I think, is Diana Augusta IRVING, birth date registered as 9 January 1884 at Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. (Both her birth registration and her baptism are indexed.) The baptism index which is not complete (and covers only 1836-1888) shows her as the only 'Diana' baptised in that time. Her mother's name is also Diana - no last name shown in the index. Her father's given names are 'Paulus Amilius'. (I will look her details up when I am next at an appropriate library, but I believe her parents married in 1883 in Victoria; her mother's surname was HAMLEY. Her father, also known as Paulus Amilius/Aemilius IRVING, was a Judge. )

Sadly, it seems Diana Augustus IRVING died 29 September 1884 but it looks as if her parents later named another daughter Diana.

There are 2 other Diana mothers named in the baptism index though - Diana Mary - married name FLETCHER and Diana - married name PIKET. In the baptism and the birth index (1872-1903), no Diane or Dianne. No one named Artemis either.

Looking at the death registration indexes (later births are not available), Diane, it seems, was a reasonably popular name in the 1930s and 1940s, Dianne less so - it seems to appear more often starting in the 1940s.

2. Now, of course, I could just as well have been 'Artemis'. Diana is the Roman version of Artemis, the Greek goddess whose temple at Ephesus (now Turkey) was one of the seven wonders of the ancient Mediterranean world. I've been there - now there's only a field in which one coloumn has been erected to show approximately where the temple stood.

Temple of Artemis, Ephesus, Sacred Destinations: www.sacred-destinations.com/turkey/ephesus-temple-of-artemis.htm

3. Historically there aren't that many famous Diana/Diane/Diannes that interested me - there was Diana (Earle) Ross of the Supremes, of course, in the 1960s. But I will let you in on a secret - I wanted to be like Diana Rigg, the actress, perhaps best known for her role as 'Emma Peel' in the The Avengers television series. Smart, independent, beautiful and tough - at least as Mrs. Peel!

Monday, March 02, 2009

Diane - Namesakes - Celebrate Your Name Week

I believe that Janet the Researcher was the first among us to notice that this week, the first week of March, has been declared 'Celebrate Your Name Week' by an amateur onomatologist named Jerry Hill.

This seems made for genealogy bloggers. Take a look at the 'Names Universe' website and pick one of the (99!) suggested 'name celebration' activities.

I'm already behind (again) because according to 'Celebrate Your Name', yesterday, March 1, was 'Namesake Day' and today, March 2, is 'Fun Facts Day' - all to do with names. I'll have to catch up today tomorrow, but for today - or yesterday, rather - here's a first post about 'Namesakes' and my name.

The name I use, Diane, wasn't given to me for anyone at all - my parents were always very clear about this.

I was supposed to be a boy. (Really! What were they thinking! They weren't even sexist, for the 40's anyway.) A baby boy name was all sorted out ahead of time. (That is the name my brother eventually received.) The first male name was for our uncle (who was named for his grandfather and his father) and the second name was for my mum's maiden name - her father's surname - which was almost my mum's nickname in the Army.

I was just 'baby girl' for a few days. They may have talked about some girl names and never decided. (Or agreed. My mum said a couple of times she'd thought of 'Sara' as my dad's mum was Sarah, but that dad thought Sara was too fancy.)

Anyway, after I was born, according to both my parents, they chose some 'D' names to match the boy's name, and 'picked my name out of a hat'. I could have been Denise or Doris, Deborah or Delilah...

One of my most exciting genealogical finds so far, maybe the most exciting one, was the realization that way back in Islay, Ontario, Canada, there had been a Diana in our family - my great great grandmother's half sister, Diana GILCHRIST (1846-1882; m. Alexander McNABB). Now my Na never knew Diana, but she did have a photograph of her. However, Na only seemed to know Diana by her married surname. She may have realized there would be a connection, but I don't believe that Na knew how closely we were related. And I'm very sure my mum didn't know - she was surprised when I was able to confirm the relationships.

However, (sadly) after my mum died, on going through some old things and then some directories, I found addresses she'd lived at in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. And, at one time, Mum lived with friends in an apartment at 'Diana Court' (583 Furby, Winnipeg). She had told me stories about what it was like there, but she never mentioned the 'Diana' part. She might have forgotten, I suppose.

But this, I think, must be why I'm Diane and not Drucilla. Maybe the name just reminded her of 'happy times'. Because I also found a list in my mum's handwriting that is obviously 3 sets of 'girl' names. And they aren't all 'D' names either, so maybe that family story about my name was mostly smoke.

No matter - I've never liked the name I got but whew... I sure didn't like any of those other names at all!


TinyURL - My Thinking Positive Week

Lots of gloom and doom out there right now - even in beautiful British Columbia, Canada - so I thought this week I'd post a few of the many positive things I see around me. Really!

This morning, I was reminded of the very helpful application I started using only last week - from TinyURL.com.

I've used TinyURLs forever - and now they're the best to use on Twitter - but last week I finally noticed the 'Make Toolbar Button'. Bet that's been there a long while, but I guess I am often in a hurry. And, I'm very much a 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' person - there are so very many things in the world that really need fixing after all. But the other day I did decide to press that button and I've been so grateful ever since. Easy, easy TinyURLs - and all for free! Bless that TinyURL developer, Kevin Gilbertson!

Have a look -

Tiny URL developer basking in website's success" by Tony Gonzalez, Star Tribune, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, July 8, 2008: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/style/24040159.html?location_refer=Homepage:6

or just the tinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/6hnr3m

TinyURL.com - just copy or enter a long URL into the text field and a 'tiny URL' will be created, one that won't break in email postings, won't take up precious room in your Twitter updates, and it never expires either: http://tinyurl.com


Sunday, March 01, 2009

If You're a Genealogist, You Need A Regular Data Backup Day

Data Backup Day for Genea-Bloggers is the first of every month. This is the day to back up computer files, on-line files, even e-mail and photograph files.

For myself, I usually back up my blogs, family files and current projects on Wednesdays - that's 'Anti-Procrastination Day' - some of you will know that's Flylady's doing. (I don't think she's into genealogy (yet), but she has great plans and great tips for getting and keeping organized.) If I'm working on a big project (as I am this weekend), I back those files up every night to my external drive and usually also to my travelling flash drive, so I've got that up to date when I'm working away from home.

Last year, my old computer 'died' at an inopportune time. Luckily I did have almost everything critical backed up on an external drive and was able to keep right on working. But that's because I also quickly borrowed a computer from my dear son. Now that the dear grandson is using that computer - I might not get assistance quite as fast! Temporary or permanent computer replacement plans also need to be part of your backup strategy. I also think I'd appreciate a service that automatically backs up my data, so I am looking into that.

I do periodically backup my e-mail. I have a LOT of e-mail, so I always felt this was important for me. Perhaps I don't do that backup as often as I might, however, last year, I only had to search that old e-mail a couple of times, so maybe I should rethink how much e-mail I keep instead!

Just in time for Data Backup Day, Thomas MacEntee, a Genea-Blogger and the Genealogy and Technology Examiner at Examiner.com, has a new article, "11 Ways to create backups and prevent data loss". He's even found a way to back up my Twitter followers, my tweets and the list of those people I follow, as well as new ways to back up e-mail, IE and Google settings, and more. Check his article out.

"11 Ways to create backups and prevent data loss" by Thomas MacEntee, Examiner.Com: www.examiner.com/x-3932-Genealogy-and-Technology-Examiner~y2009m3d1-11-ways-to-create-backups-and-prevent-data-loss?cid=examiner-email

Curious about the Genea-Bloggers? Learn more about us at the Genea-Bloggers website or look for us on Facebook.

Southern California Genealogical Society - 40th Annual Genealogy Jamboree

Yesterday I said there's nothing like the WDYTYA show in North America. That's true, but I was just looking at the impressive lists of speakers and exhibitors for the 40th Annual Genealogy Jamboree, sponsored by the Southern California Genealogical Society - 55 speakers and 100 lectures, a full exhibit hall and several sponsors -this is definitely a BIG event.

California isn't that far away, and there are so many historic and genealogical ties between California and British Columbia, Canada; I wish I could go. (And there are those 'lost' SMITH/ DRUMMOND cousins of ours from California...)

The Jamboree's keynote speaker, just announced, is Tukufu Zuberi, Ph.D., well known as one of the PBS 'History Detectives', and as an author and academic researching African and American society.

This year, the Jamboree theme is British Isles research (English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh) and the British Isles Family History Society - U.S.A. is one of the Jamboree sponsors.

There's going to be a Blogger Summit again this year too - among those who'll be there are Lisa Louise Cooke, DearMYRTLE, Dick Eastman, Leland Meitzler, TheAncestryInsider, Craig Manson, George G. Morgan, Stephen Danko, Ph.D., and Schelly Talalay Dardashti.

SoCal Genealogy Jamboree 2009 Blog: www.genealogyjamboree.blogspot.com.

The South California Genealogical Society Jamboree is June 26-28, 2009 in Burbank, California. I will pencil this one in for next year.

The Southern California Genealogy Jamboree is on Facebook too. Be a friend if you're on Facebook.