Saturday, May 30, 2009

Do You Know - 1920 Newspaper 'Quiz Answers' #FridayFun

Here are the questions (posted here yesterday)

Here are the answers from the newspaper:

1. From a fancy he loved to indulge in, that the abbots of Melrose Abbey, in ancient times, passed over the fords of the Tweed.

2. To run away or abscond. A comic American word from ab, from, and squat, hence to go away from your squatting. (See World Wide Words on this.) [Bonus point if you found my typo - the newspaper had it right.]

3. From the ceremony of bathing which used to be practised at the inauguration of the knight as a symbol of purity.

4. From shame and horror because our Lord's cross was made of its wood.

5. Those which depend on the state of our eyes and not those which the object itself possesses. Thus after looking at the bright sun all objects appear dark. That dark color is the accidental color of the sun.

6. Recreation of Brian Kent (Harold Wright), Sky Pilot in No Man's Land (Ralph Connor), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Vicente Ibanez), Rainbow Valley (L. M. Montgomery), River's End (Oliver Curwood), The Young Visitors (Daisy Ashford).


From Do You Know, The Lethbridge Daily Herald, Alberta, Canada, Tuesday, 27 July 1920. p. 4

Friday, May 29, 2009

Do You Know - 1920 Newspaper 'Quiz' #FridayFun

Just for Friday Fun...

I was reading old newspapers from 1920 today - one of my favourite pastimes - and noticed that The Lethbridge Daily Herald had a daily column called "Do You Know?". Since this one had a question to do with books, I found it interesting.

Can you answer these without 'looking'?

1. How came Sir Walter Scott to call his home Abbotsford?
2. What is the meaning of the word "absquatulate" ?
3. Why are the Knights of the Bath so-called?
4. What is the tradition in regard to the trembling aspen leaf?
5. What are accidental colors?
6. What six works of fiction have had the largest sale up to the end of 1919?

Answers will appear here tomorrow.

Before - 1962 Vancouver BC Canada





If truth is beauty, how come no one has their hair done in a library? - Lily Tomlin, quoted at Favourite Library Quotes

I might have had my hair cut sooner if libraries had 'beauty parlours' attached when I was young. Nowadays I look for a hairdresser close to a cemetery. (True story!)

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Dionne Quintuplets - Ontario - Canada

Today, the 28th of May, is the anniversary of the birth of the Dionne quintuplets in Corbeil, Ontario, Canada in 1934.

This is an event that you might well include on a Canadian family history timeline. Certainly their birth was big news in 1934, (and not only in Canada), but the Dionne sisters were 'news' into the 1940s and 50s too, and even later on.

I wonder though if my 30 year old children would recognize much of the history, some of it very sad, connected to the quints. Early in their lives, the Ontario government took control of them away from their parents - these five Dionne sisters soon became a 'tourist attraction'.

Here's a link to a 1934 newsreel about their birth - there's one scene showing all five of the babies with their mother, Elzire Dionne (née Legros). And here is a link to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio piece about their second birthday - which includes their sounds at birth and at one year of age.

Even many of those who couldn't visit soon became familiar with their lives and their faces, as their images were in newspapers, in film and in advertising, as for example, in this ad for Bee Hive corn syrup. Here's one account of a school trip in 1937, as recalled by Lloyd Dennis ("The Saga of the Quints", posted on-line at The Orillia Packet & Times, Orillia, Ontario, 26 May 2009.

In 1939, the quints and "seven of their eight brothers and sisters" were taken to Toronto in private railway cars to meet the King and Queen who were then touring Canada. The five sisters had a private visit with them, along with their parents, the Premier of Ontario and his wife, Dr. Dafoe, their physician, three of the quints' nurses and one press representative. (Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 22 May 1939, page 1)

The Times of London, England reported that the King and Queen had been said to "particularly" want to meet the sisters. (The Times, Wednesday, 8 March, 1939, page 15)

Canada's then Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, who accompanied the royals on their cross-Canada tour, noted seeing the quints on this occasion in his diary. He is not mentioned in this newspaper article as attending the private audience though.

Dionne Quintuplets arrive in Toronto... Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau / Library and Archives Canada / C-030616

The full description for the photograph above is: "Dionne Quintuplets arrive in Toronto for presentation to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth." This information is hardly correct, since there is no mention of King George VI. I have to suspect that someone was momentarily thinking of the wrong Queen Elizabeth.

The 1939 Royal Visit was George VI's first visit to Canada as King and the first time a reigning monarch had visited Canada. Royal visits to Canada would certainly be appropriate as additions to many Canadian family history timelines. Canadian Heritage has a list of royal visits from 1786 on.

A photograph very similar to this one appeared in The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 23 May 1939 on page one, where it was identified as showing the Dionnie quintuplets "looking "from the windows of their private railway car after their arrival Monday in Toronto" and as an "A.P. Wire. photo". There could be many such similar photographs, of course, taken as the Dionnes arrived in Toronto.

A second photograph in Library & Archives Canada's collections which could be the same as that above is described as showing "Dionne quintuplets in their train car on trip to Toronto. Parents, nurses and guardian." and has this additional information: King George VI and Queen Elizabeth invited Ontario's famous Dionne Quintuplets to meet them at Queen's Park on May 24, 1939, just four days before their fifth birthdays (Helen C. Warswick collection R10690-0-X-E, Library and Archives Canada/PA-122614)

Also from the Warswick collection is the photograph below which seems to have been taken on the same occasion and is described only as: Dionne quintuplets, parents, nurses, and guardian.

Dionne quintuplets, parents, nurses, and guardian. Helen C. Warswick collection R10690-0-X-E, Library and Archives Canada / PA-122616

One article I found in The Winnipeg Evening Tribune, 5 May 1939, on page 8, said that after hearing of the quints visit with the King and Queen, the three year old English quadruplets born in 1936 - Anne, Ernest, Michael and Paul Miles - hoped to meet the royal couple too. I wonder if they got their wish? Does anyone have the answer?

More links: This is my own idiosycratic selection of links which I thought might interest you further. There are many on-line articles and collections relating to the Dionne family.

Happy Birthday! posted By GORD YOUNG, North Bay Nugget newspaper, North Bay, Ontario, 28 May, 2009

Dionne Quintuplet Digitization Project - collections of the Callander Bay Heritage Museum, the North Himsworth Public Library, the City of North Bay, the North Bay Area Museum, and the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce (owner of the Dionne Quints Museum), all in Ontario, Canada.

Quintland

The 5 Dionne Sisters Singing, Quintland (video)

Facts About Multiples: An Encyclopedia of Multiple Birth Records

Note: newspaper articles were accessed through:

Godfrey Memorial Library. Subscription website. The London Times Digital Archive (Gale): http://www.godfrey.org/

The Manitobia. Free website. Winnipeg Tribune, (various titles): http://www.manitobia.ca/


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

C.P.R. Landing Place - Victoria BC Canada - Postcard COWARD, TONEY


C.P.R. Landing Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada

Here's a little ditty I'd like to share with you all. A rare & charmin piece, I'm sure you'll appreciate. Luv LeRoy (mostly written in caps)
To Mr. & Mrs G Coward in Vancouver BC
From LeRoy Toney, California, USA

The large white building was the Canadian Pacific Railway's steamer terminal, built in 1923, which the Hallmark Society of Victoria characterizes as "a temple to maritime commerce". Today it houses the Royal London Wax Museum
(My grandson loves that place.)

Postcard, The Coast Publishing Company, Vancouver, B.C. Private collection. Two postmarks, mostly illegible - one from Santa Monica, CA, possibly ? Jul 1974? Mailed with 10 cent 'It all depends on ZIP CODE' U. S. stamp.

If it is 1974, according to Wikipedia, that was the year this stamp was issued. "Curiously enough, the only time the Postal Service issued a stamp promoting the ZIP code, in 1974, Mr. ZIP was not depicted."

Monday, May 25, 2009

Rare Photographs of World War I Soldiers In France Now On-line

Two men, living near the World War I Somme battlefields in France, have put together a group of 'lost' photographs of World War I soldiers, apparently taken by a local amateur photographer. The glass photographic plates had been found in a barn and disposed of; some had been picked up and saved.

Bernard Gardin, "a photography enthusiast" and Dominique Zanardi, a local café owner, have put together some 400 plates. These have been scanned; some damaged images were restored digitally, and prints have been made. Some of the collection are displayed in Zanardi's "Tommy" café at Pozières. It's believed the photographs were taken in 1915 in the winter and in 1916 in the spring and summer.

The Independent newspaper has many of those images up on-line with an article about them and is asking for assistance in identifying details in the photographs. Some research has already been done by Matilda Battersby of The Independent. Copies of some of these World War I photographs might have been sent home and it's possible they may be still in family collections.

After reading the article, you can click to see a 'selection' - which includes one soldier who may have been Canadian - or click to 'view all the exclusive photographs' - 270 of them - which are posted on-line. I believe these were also published in the paper edition of the newspaper. You may be able to see a copy at a local library.

Exclusive: The unseen photographs that throw new light on the First World War
A treasure trove of First World War photographs was discovered recently in France. Published here for the first time, they show British soldiers on their way to the Somme. But who took them? And who were these Tommies marching off to die?
by John Lichfield. Published on-line Friday, 22 May 2009, The Independent

Newly discovered World War One photographs; Your help needed
posted by Jack Riley. Friday, 22 May 2009, Independent Minds.

“Memorial Day” at Nanaimo - British Columbia, Canada, 1892

“Memorial Day” at Nanaimo, in British Columbia, Canada, 1892

The Amusing Mistakes of Several American Skippers.

Port Townsend, June 2—An amusing incident occurred at Nanaimo, on Thursday, May 26. The ships Carrollton, Captain Lewis; the Sea King, Captain Pierce, and the Oriental, Captain Parker, were in port waiting for cargoes of coal. Captain Parker, being in need of water, set the ensign at the peak, which is a signal for the water-boat to come alongside. Captain Pierce observed the signal, and, thinking it was in honor of Memorial Day, ran up his colors. He went ashore, and met Captain Lewis, of whom he inquired the reason why the Stars and Stripes were not at the peak of the Carollton. The latter replied : “Why, that’s so, it is Memorial Day,” and forthwith ordered up the ensign. Captain Parker waited impatiently three or four hours for the water tender, and also thought it strange that the other vessels wanted water. To hurry matters, he went ashore. In the meantime, Captain Freeman, of the Glory of the Seas, had come down from Departure Bay, and was astonished to see the American vessels with their colors at the peak. He inquired of Lewis & Pierce the cause and was gravely informed that it was out of respect for Memorial Day. Both Parker and Freeman have been royally entertained since that time by the two patriotic skippers, both of whom had just returned from the Queen’s celebration at Victoria, which in all probability accounts for the little discrepancy in dates.


Victoria Daily Colonist
newspaper, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, Saturday, 4 June 1892.
Read this issue at the British Colonist Online Edition: 1858-1910

Afternoon tea - BATES, SCOTT, ZURCHER - USA


Afternoon tea?

Looks to be my 'Na' perched on the lounge. Sadly, I must confess that as a child, I didn't pay enough attention to her comings and goings - unless they involved me.

Yes, I'm sorry now, Na...you were right, again!



Photograph believed to be from BATES, SCOTT, ZURCHER family - of Montpelier in Vermont, Hacketstown in New Jersey, Hazel Crest in Illinois and Hingham in Massachusetts. USA. Photograph from Christmas Card, signed from Jean. [Jean née BATES?] Date on photo is Oct 58.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Irish Names! Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture - HARRISON, IRWIN, LIVINGSTON, MOFFET, County Cavan


Esther Delina IRWIN and her husband, Albert RICHES, with their children James Russel and Ethel Lilian.
Identified by Amy Estella (IRWIN) SCOTT.
J. E. Miers, Photo Artist, Boissevain, Manitoba, Canada.
Private collection.

Most of my family’s given names - and surnames – are all too common ones. I spend a great deal of my time working out who each person is (or could be) and who among them is ‘mine’ (or might be). As frustrating as this can be, it does mean I am unlikely to ever run out of genealogical challenges!

My Irish families are no exception. My maternal grandmother, my ‘Na’, was descended from Scottish and Irish families. The Scottish were from Islay in Scotland (CARMICHAEL, GILCHRIST); the Irish from around Cootehill in County Cavan, Ireland.

The gggrandparents who emigrated to Canada in 1850 from Ireland were Mary Jane (or Jean) MOFFET and James IRWIN. Mary Jane was the daughter of Eleanor HARRISON and William MOFFET and James was the son of Margaret LIVINSTON and John IRWIN.

Their children were: John, William (my ggrandfather), John (the first John is believed to have died young), Margaret Jane, Mary Ellen, Elizabeth Ann, James Henry, Samuel Robert; Esther Delina and David.

It seems to be generally accepted that both the IRWIN and MOFFET surnames could have come from Scotland (or possibly England) and that IRWIN may be a variant of IRVING in Scotland.

Edward MacLysaght, for example, in The Surnames of Ireland, says that MOFFATs were numerous in the Ulster area of Ireland from the 17th century. He notes 6 variants: “MAFFETT, MEFFAT etc.” p. 218

Of IRWIN and ERWIN, he says “nearly all Irwins are of planter stock in Ulster and in Co. Roscommon...” the name derived from Old English, but, “much confused with ”IRVINE and ERVINE, also Scottish and seldom found outside Ulster...." p. 167

I looked up the variants identified by the Irish Times - Ancestors website for the surnames IRWIN and MOFFET. (This search shows the # of each name found in the Primary Valuation property surveys of 1848-64.)

For IRWIN, the main associated variants were: IRWIN (1357) and IRVINE (385); also Erwin, Ervin, Irvin, Irving, Irwan, Irwine.

For MOFFET, the Irish Times has 11 examples, but no variants, although for MOFFETT and MOFFATT there are these variants: MOFFETT (140) MOFFITT (133) and MOFFATT (120), also MAFFETT, MOFFAT, MOFFIT.

I have encountered most of these variants myself in different records, but also in indexes and transcriptions. My cousin, Ross W. Irwin, who has done years of research on this family, shows these variants on his website: Irwin, Irwine, Urwin, Irvin, Irvine, Erwin, Erwine, Irvan.

I think most of my MOFFET/IRWIN family’s children’s given names were quite common both for that area of Ireland and for Canada West/Ontario where all but the first John were born.

In his book, Robert Irwin From County Cavan Ireland to Fenelon Township Ontario, Ross W. Irwin noted that the female names in the parish records of the family’s church in County Cavan, Ireland, Coroneary Presbyterian Church, in order of frequency were: Mary, Jane, Elizabeth and Margaret, then Agnes, Sarah, Isabella, Martha, Elinor and Rosanna. For males, it was: John, James, William, Robert, then Thomas, George, Samuel, David, Joseph and Alexander. (p. 17)

The child with the least common given names in my IRWIN/MOFFET family is Esther Delina IRWIN, baptised 8 August 1865 at Cambray, Ontario, Canada. Her nickname, I believe, was always Esse or Essie. (I’ve never been sure that her baptimal name looked like Esther – I’ve only seen a photocopy - but the ‘Delina’ is very clear. She did give her name as Esther Delina in 1890 when she married Albert RICHES at Cambray.) It’s possible that my grandmother, Amy Estella IRWIN, was named for her as Estella can be a variant of Esther. (SeeWeidenhan, p.268)

For women born in Ireland, Ancestry.com’s 1851 Canadian census index (Pay website) shows 152 named Esther and only 7 named Delina.

Esther at one time was quite a common name and is still used, but Delina seems to be almost forgotten.
ThinkBabyNames says that the name Delina comes from Adeline and that variants could be Dellina, Deline, Dalina, Delena and Delana. I had thought 'Delina' might be associated with the name Magdalen, but perhaps not.
In the 1851 Ancestry Canadian census index there are 3 women named Dollina listed too – all look like they come from Scottish families, so I wondered if Delina could also be a variant for Dollina or vice-versa.

The 1881 Canadian census index at FamilySearch (FS) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) shows these results for Delina and some variations in Ontario -exact spelling search - Delina (FS 134/LAC 145), Dolina/Dollina (13 FS/14 LAC) and also Delima (251 FS/LAC 263) – it also looks as if Delima and its variations were very popular given names in Quebec.

Was Delina a popular name in Ireland in the 19th century? I wonder if Esther Delina could have been named for someone. This is something for me to investigate further later. Once more of the 1901/1911 Irish census is available on-line, I will be looking to see how many women named Delina show up.

I haven't found much information about this given name so far, but I did see that apparently there was a (really bad, but likely popular) novel written about a poor Irish girl Delina Delaney by Amanda McKittrick Ros and published in 1898. I wonder if Essie ever heard of it? Or read it?


If anyone out there knows more about the name ‘Delina’, especially as related to Ireland, I’d like to hear from you.

This post was written for the 13th edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage and Culture featuring: Irish names!

Notes

The Surnames of Ireland by Edward MacLysaght ( Dublin Ireland and Portland Oregon, USA: Irish Academic Press, 1999)

Robert Irwin From County Cavan Ireland to Fenelon Township Ontario by Ross W. Irwin (2001) available from the Irwin Family History website: http://www3.sympatico.ca/rwirwin

Baptismal Names by Rev. Joseph L. Weidenhan, STL, (Fourth Edition, Baltimore, Maryland USA: Kenmore Productions, reprinted by Gale Research Company, Detroit, Michigan USA, 1968) p. 268

A previous post of mine at CanadaGenealogy has photographs of Mary Jane MOFFET/MOFFAT and James IRWIN and a post at the Graveyard Rabbit of British Columbia has a photograph of Mary Jane MOFFET/MOFFAT and James IRWIN's grave in Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Dick Eastman at Roots Television - interview with Sylvie Tremblay - Chief, Canadian Genealogy Centre LAC

Dick Eastman of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter has a new interview at Roots Television with Sylvie Tremblay, who is apparently now Chief of the Canadian Genealogy Centre (CGC) at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (BAC). Dick interviewed her during the New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) which was just held in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA.

In the interview, she talked about both the on-site and on-line areas of the Canadian Genealogy Centre, and as John D. Reid notes, she had some statistics, for example, that there were 5,000 visitors in person last year and 7 million page views on-line (double the number of pages viewed the previous year). I thought she said that the Canadian Genealogy Centre received a total of 8,000 queries last year; 4,000 of these by telephone. I found that interesting. (Well, odd, really. I'd like to see an easy to find fact sheet of historical statistics like this on the LAC website.)

The most popular CGC database on-line, she said, is (still?) that for the World War I Canadian Expeditionary Force service records. Although this is titled Soldiers of the First World War - CEF, it does include nurses, and chaplains too. A pilot project to digitize full service files on-demand was supposed to be in the works for Summer 2009, but that wasn't mentioned in the interview. I hope that is still on track as this will be an exciting new initiative from LAC, of great value to genealogists.

She also mentioned the popularity of the Canadian census and highlighted available land records as well - and said that, in partnership with Ancestry.ca, all the historical census images will be on-line by the end of this year. (Another clue that this project is behind?) She did not mention the question of census indexes, nor previous partnerships, for instance, with FamilySearch which provided the free index for the 1881 census. (Nor did Dick Eastman follow up on that.)

When the Canadian Genealogy Centre was first developed, it had an URL of its own: www.genealogy.gc.ca This still works, although it's not being updated. Access to the Canadian Genealogy Centre on-line is now being promoted through the main LAC web address: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
(Actually www.collectionscanada.ca works just fine and is easier to remember!)

Sylvie was speaking at the NERGC conference about "Discovering Family Treasures in Quebec: What You Need to Know" in a session sponsored by the American Canadian Genealogical Society. I heard her in both Ottawa and Kelowna last year and she is a lively speaker with very useful information and ideas.

Some of Dick Eastman's questions covered French-Canadian records and Sylvie Tremblay is also Genealogist for the
Association of the Tremblay of America / l'Association des Tremblay d'Amérique. If you have a Tremblay in your family tree, you can get in touch with her through the Association.

See the full interview here: Sylvie Tremblay, NERGC 2009, Roots Television

John D Reid also commented on this interview. See his post, Tuesday, May 19, 2009. at Anglo-Celtic Connections:
Sylvie Tremblay on Roots Television

Monday, May 18, 2009

Wheels! Tushielaw Inn, Scotland. First Edition - Festival of Postcards.

Tushielaw Inn, Ettrick, is 15 miles from Selkirk and 5 miles from St. Mary's Loch and 15 from Hawick. No 236

Evelyn Yvonne Theriault who writes at A Canadian Family has a brand new blog carnival: A Festival of Postcards

I collect postcards, mostly ones showing social history and/or women from British Columbia and the rest of Canada, so I was very happy to hear about her carnival.

In my family photograph collections, I do have a few postcards, but I also look for cards and other ephemera relating to places my family lived or events or people they had connections to, like this one.

The theme for this first Festival of Postcards is - Wheels!

My entry in the Festival is this postcard dated as mailed in 1906 showing the Tushielaw Inn at Tushielaw in Scotland's Ettrick Valley - with a four wheeled buggy and horses out front.

This same building, or at least a good part of it, has been there since the 1830s and is still in operation as an inn today. My gggrandfather, James SCOTT, was the innkeeper there from at least 1841 to 1847. James Scott's first wife, my gggrandmother, was Ann POLLOCK, but apparently she died, and in 1841, James was married again to Judith NIMMO at the Tushielaw Inn.

His son, Walter, from the first marriage, was my ggrandfather and he emigrated to Ontario, Canada in about 1854, and settled in Nottawa. One of Walter's brothers, John, also emigrated to Ontario a bit later. For more about their family, see my SCOTT family: Muiravonside, Dalmeny, Tushielaw, Galashiels, Grangemouth, in Scotland.

A few years ago, on a trip to Scotland, I was able to stay at the Tushielaw Inn for a few days and I do recommend it as a good place to stay for a few days enjoying the countryside and as a place to enjoy a fine meal.


Postmarked: JU 25 06 Selkirk [?]

Addressed to: H. S. Moffat Esq High St Hawick [Scotland]

- Have Drunk your health

Coloured postcard; split back. A.R. Edwards, Photographer, Selkirk. Printed in Germany.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Slumach - a Website for Those Who Prefer Facts Over Fiction

The British Columbia Historical Federation and David Mattison award a cash prize each year for the best website on BC history.

At the annual BCHF banquet, 16 May 2009, Fred Braches's, Slumach: a website for all who prefer facts over fiction was awarded the prize for 2008.

Since the 1890s, various (and many) stories have circulated in British Columbia about a 'lost' gold find in the Pitt Lake area. This 'lost mine' is usually associated with Slumach, a man hung in 1891 as a murderer.

Fred Braches has collected material from original sources, and more modern articles on his website. His blog has more information about modern investigations, lectures, etc. No matter what one thinks of the stories, it's a fascinating read.

Slumach - a Website for those who prefer facts over fiction


Monday, May 11, 2009

Vancouver Public Library - Ancestry Library Edition Workshops - May 2009

Vancouver Public Library - Central Branch
Ancestry Library Edition Workshops, May 2009


Due to cancellations, there are a FEW spaces left in the Ancestry Library Edition workshops to be held on TUESDAY, MAY 12 (2:00-4:00 p.m.) and **now full** THURSDAY, MAY 21 (10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.) in the computer lab on Level 7 at the Central Library (350 West Georgia Street).

As usual, spots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please call 604-331-3716 to register.

Info just received from the Vancouver Public Library's Genealogical mailing list.

VPL website: http://www.vpl.ca/

Fine Arts and History
Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 6B1
Telephone: 604-331-3603
E-mail reference service: http://www.vpl.ca/library/cat/C488

Don't Forget to Vote in BC - That right didn't come quickly or easily for many

Chantecler Game advertising card, 1910.
Unused postcard, private collection.


The right to vote didn't come quickly or easily for many.

Don't forget to vote, 12 May, 2009 in British Columbia!

In British Columbia, women gained the vote provincially in 1917 and Mary Ellen Smith (née Spear, 1861-1933) was the first woman to be elected as a Member of BC's Legislative Assembly - in 1918, the first year any BC women could vote in a provincial election.

But Chinese and Indo Canadian women, for instance,
were not then entitled to vote.

Mary Ellen Smith is known for a number of 'firsts' for women and spent her life working for the rights of women and children. She was named a Canadian 'national historic person' in 2007 as "an accomplished politician in the immediate post-suffrage era who represented newly enfranchised women and brought their concerns into the
political forum".

For a timeline of the right to vote in British Columbia, Canada, see

Sunday, May 10, 2009

British Columbia Genealogical Society - Jewish Genealogy - May 13, 2009 - Burnaby BC Canada

Reminder:

BC Genealogical Society General Meeting

13 May, 2009 at Edmonds Community Centre, 7:30 pm

7282 Kingsway, Burnaby. British Columbia, Canada (Kingsway and Edmonds)

Anyone interested is welcome to attend.

There will be a short meeting, then a break, followed by a special presentation on Jewish Genealogy by our Guest Speakers - Janine Johnston, Archivist, Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia and Catherine Youngren, President, Jewish Genealogical Institute
of British Columbia.

For more information, see my earlier post here or go to the BC Genealogical Society website: www.bcgs.ca

Scrap Your Roots - A New British Columbia Genealogy Blog

There's a new genealogy blogger from British Columbia, Canada at Scrap My Roots!

Sue Dombrowski, a member of the same online Scrapaholics Meetup Group I'm in, just decided to enter the blogging world. Her passion is: family history and preserving our family roots.

She's been researching her family for a while and has now joined a local genealogy group. This is one of the very best moves any genealogist can make, in my opinion. There's no sense re-inventing the wheel, now is there? Others researching before you and with you have advice and information to share, but besides that, they will understand what you are talking about - well, most of the time! I'm just going to flash this GEDCOM onto my stick, check that #921's mum's BMD EE cite, then download it all into my PAF and then upload to my site...

And, of course, they will be better able to commiserate with you about those inevitable burned or water soaked 'lost' records no one can find (or maybe read yet without expensive and scarce space age technology), and to congratulate you on the many great 'finds' you will have. Let's face it, family and friends don't always understand how frustrating and how exciting this genealogical research can be.

On-line, there's no better group for genealogical bloggers than the Genea-Bloggers, too. Hope Sue will join us there soon.

Welcome to the genealogical blogging world, Sue! I have chosen to award your blog a 'One Lovely Blog Award'. I can see you are off to a great start.

"One Lovely Blog Award" For CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt


Earline Hines Bradt over at Ancestral Notes awarded this blog the "One Lovely Blog Award".

Earline is another Canadian family history blogger and has been researching her roots for over 3 years now. I've been enjoying her articles very much. She likes to participate in the genealogy and family history blog carnivals on-line; sometimes there's even a bit of controversy over there! She's a member of Genea-Bloggers and you can look for her at Footnote.com or Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

This award also went to these family history and genealogy bloggers:

Janet the Researcher

Creative Gene

Footnote Maven

Granny's Genealogy

Kinfolk News: Random Thoughts and Research Notes

Who's Your Daddy?

Thank You, Earline!

It's a real pleasure to be in such good company. Now I will in turn be passing this Lovely Award on to other deserving bloggers.

Dear Readers, this morning please make yourself a cuppa and settle yourself down for some good reading at these well-deserving genealogy and family history blogs.

A Festival of Postcards - A New Blog Carnival

Westminster Abbey and Victoria Towers, London, 8, England. Postcard, unused. No identification; real photograph, split back.


Evelyn Yvonne Theriault who writes at A Canadian Family has just announced a brand new blog carnival:

A Festival of Postcards

The theme for her first Carnival this month is - Wheels!

I'll be participating. Hope you will too.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

The Search for Lillian Alling

A friend of mine is blogging about her writing at The Search for Lillian Alling. She has a website too about this one particular project - the story of a woman who, in the 1920s, made up her mind to walk from New York across the continent and through British Columbia, then north to the Yukon and Alaska - in order to return to Russia.

Be sure to check out the website link at her blog. The story of Lillian has already inspired articles, books, a graphic novel, an opera, even thru-hiking.

You'll be intrigued too.

Odette - Smile for the Camera - 13th Edition



This is Odette Rogers supervising one of my frequent genealogical organization sessions. As you can probably tell from her expression, she's pretty strict about my sorting notebooks and papers out
and tidying them away! It's a never ending task for her.
She came to live with us after being abandoned in a nearby city. We feel very lucky to have her with us!

This posting is for the 13th Edition of the Smile for the Camera carnival. All Creatures Great and Small is the theme. Show us a photograph of the family pet. The pet that made it into every family snapshot. That pampered pet your ancestors took to the photographic studio to immortalize in an expensive photograph. The best friend who was there for your ups and downs. Bring them to the carnival and share with us how they were loved through the ages. Admission is free with every photograph!

Watch for this edition of Smile for the Camera to be posted on the 15th of May, 2009 at Shades of the Departed.

Mother's Day - 1914 - Manitoba, Canada




My mum and her mum (my Na) on the farm in Newdale, Manitoba, Canada, 1914.


Mothers' Day in May 1914 in Manitoba seems to have been an occasion for reflection and remembrance.


Mothers' Day

Yesterday was a double decoration day. Soldiers heaped flowers at the graves of comrades who had fought the good fight even to the death, for their country and thousands wore a fragrant little flower over their heart to do honor for soldiers of a far different stamp, soldiers who have struggled or are still struggling not to take life, but to give and guard it. That flower seemed to cast on the crowd, something of the brightness and tenderness it commemorated, and on the wearer a sort of exultation as though in remembering his mother he remembered the best in himself.

The observance of Mothers' Day was not left exclusively to the sons, not by any means. Many daughters of all ages, some now mothers themselves, wore the little emblem as proudly as their brothers.

Lest they forget, these busy grown up sons and daughters, members of the Mothers' association were stationed Saturday at 14 strategic points throughout the city, with 6,000 carnations, which were quickly bought up by the passersby. Passengers getting off their trains at either station, matinee crowds at five of the theatres, afternoon tea drinkers at the Royal Alexandra hotel and Fort Garry hotel were reminded by the flower venders that Sunday was to be dedicated to the little mother heroes as well as the big stalwart military heroes. The receipts from the flowers were something over $700, of which the $300 or so profits will go to the Day Nursery which helps so many of these brave little women to keep their small families together.

The ministers were also asked to observe Mothers' Day at one service at least. This was done at nearly all of the churches by sermons, music and flowers. And the worship was none the less reverent or uplifting for that observance. [ p.9 ]

A special service was held at Grace Church in the morning... Rev. J. E. Hugheson, B.A., spoke on the subject of "Mother," and addressed what he had to say largely to the young men away from home. "Write Home" was his message, and "do not let mother fret because she knows not what you are doing." In the address to the children, Mr Hughson told stories emphasizing the importance of respect and reverence to mother. [p. 22]

Winnipeg Free Press
, Monday, 11 May, 1914


Within a short period afterwards, Canada would suffer two disasters - on May 29 the Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and over 1000 lost their lives; in June, an explosion at a coal mine in Hillcrest, Alberta killed 189 men; and then in August, alongside Great Britain, Canada would be at war.


This post was written for Mothers! - the 72nd Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Watch for the full Carnival lineup to be posted at Creative Gene on May 15th, 2009. You can still participate - the deadline is May 15th. Look for submission guidelines on Facebook at the Genea-Bloggers Group or go to Blog Carnival for information.


Saturday Night Genealogy Fun at Genea-Musings

Over at Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver is stirring up some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. This week it's

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Add to "You Might Be a Professional Genealogist if ..."

My entries:

...if your business cards feature a headstone.
...if you missed your own family reunion because you were organizing a client's.
...if you find yourself mentally formating EE citations in antique shops. (EE stands for Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, Elizabeth Shown Mills's amazing book on citing sources for genealogy)
...if you think 'professional' covers a wide ground - including ethical and thorough research for pay or not.

Join in!

Visit Randy for all the details right now at GeneaMusings.

Historical Canadian Census Access Update

According to information now posted at FamilySearch Indexing, the 1916 Canadian Prairie census will be available free to patrons at Family History Centers as of 14 May, 2009 through Ancestry.com. I think we can assume that both the index and images of census pages will be available, pretty much as now offered on Ancestry.com's subscription site.

This 1916 census covered those in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The census pages were indexed earlier by Family Search volunteer indexers under an agreement between The Generations Network (TGN - often known as Ancestry.com) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

This winter, the 1916 census images will be available free on-line at Library and Archives Canada as well. However, according to agreements apparently made between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and The Generations Network, no nominal index will be available free at LAC until the summer of 2011.

And very soon, indexes and images of the 1861 and 1871 Canadian national censuses should be available on Ancestry.com and sometime this summer, images of both those censuses with an index for each should be available free at Library and Archives Canada.

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh! Disneyland and Family History


"Laughter is America's most important export."
Walt Disney, quoted at JustDisney.com

WARNING - This is not a serious post - well, not too serious anyway.

I love magazines, really I do. I don't subscribe to as many as I once did, but I look over the recent ones at bookshops each month to find articles that would justify the cost. I recently brought home the July 2009 Family Tree Magazine (isn't it only May?) largely because of two articles I noticed - one on Footnote.com searches and one about genealogy software for beginners. (Maybe more about that later.)

Then I just had to take the quiz on the back page (page 72) in uprooted: A trivial look at famous family trees by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. I was 'Notably Knowledgeable' but you will see this quiz is mostly in fun. It's about the genealogy of Walt Disney.

When I was young, we went to California several times on vacation. This was then quite a big trip from British Columbia, Canada. Now I wish we'd visited those missing DRUMMOND/SMITH relatives at Long Beach, but we went sightseeing in Carmel, San Francisco and Los Angeles instead.

Of course, we went to Disneyland, which was pretty new when we first visited in 1958. All I seem to remember is watching women doing the can-can in the Golden Horseshoe, whirling around in the Mad Hatter's Teacups and being scared half to death by an all-too-real-looking snake on the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland.

These two poor little photos seem to be our only snaps from Disneyland and they were taken with my own little camera, I think - likely by me. I must have been fascinated by the Skyway buckets above as none of us are even shown in these photos. Maybe someone knows exactly where these were taken?

The quiz reminded me of the photos, but also brought out one of my very pet peeves.

Walt Disney's grandfather was apparently born in Ireland and came to America in 1834 with his parents and settled in what is now Ontario where the family lived for decades.

One answer in the quiz is: "They intended to settle in America, so they didn't stay in Canada for long."

Oh, dear, oh dear... Ahem! Not that funny...

Some say Walt Disney's paternal kin came to America in 1834 and settled in Canada. Then in about 1877/78 they left for the United States. That's over 40 years later. I'll wait till I see someone has a serious study of the family's earlier years in America to think about that part of the comment, but the rest?

America is a very big place -no matter how you count the continents - and includes both Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Mexico and the United States, as well as many, many other countries. Easy to see in any world atlas on-line or off. Please!

Now has anyone done a genealogical study of this DISNEY family in Canada? I see there is a one name study and a DNA group too.

Walt Disney's Paternal Line Surnames: DISNEY, LARK, RICHARDSON, SWAN: Ireland to America - first to Canada, later to the United States of America.

LINKS

Walt Disney genealogy - Genealogy.com

Elias Disney (Walt Disney's father) - Wikipedia

Also helpful might be Walt Disney: the triumph of the American imagination by Neal Gabler (New York, USA: Knopf, 2006) Limited search available on-line at Google Books.

Walt Disney Family Museum - biography, Disney family photographs

JustDisney.com Note that content here is no longer being updated

Yesterland - Featuring discontinued Disneyland attractions

DisneyLand Park (Anaheim) - Wikipedia

Friday, May 08, 2009

Elizabeth Cady Stanton - A Handsome Woman

Fairy Soap advertisement, Scribner's Magazine Advertiser, page 59, no date, c. 1899. Private collection. 1

It is a matter of satisfaction to women, who are, properly enough, worshipers of beauty that the movement for the emancipation of women has among its advocates so many handsome and cultured ladies. Lillie Devereux Blake is conspicuously a handsome woman; so are Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Emma Beckwith. Susan B. Anthony dotes on good looks and refined womanliness and has herself a noble face, with something in it better than beauty. Rachel Foster Avery has a delicate, thoroughly attractive face, and Mrs. Emily E. B. Cones of Washington is one of the most beautiful women in any company in which she appears. Lady Henry Somerset is noted for her good looks. And they all wear pretty clothes, too, bless them, every one of them.


'Woman's World In Paragraphs', column, British Colonist, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 27 November 1894, page 7

Accessed on-line at http://www.britishcolonist.ca


Note 1 Victoria Sherrow identifies the Stanton 'Fairy Soap' advertisements as from 1899. For Appearances' Sake: The Historical Encyclopedia of Good Looks, Beauty, and Grooming by Victoria Sherrow (Westport, CT, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001) page 3

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Ancestry.com / TGN Town Hall Meeting Webinar - Archived & Available to View

The Ancestry.com / TGN Town Hall meeting webinar of 4 May, 2009 is now archived and available for viewing.

Go to this link and click 'launch presentation'. It's about 90 minutes long.

Ancestry.com (TGN) Town Hall Webinar - Other Viewpoints - May 2009

Other genea-bloggers have commented now on the Ancestry.com Town Hall meeting, 4 May 2009. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, TGN.

Ann Rabinowitz at Jewish Gen was happy to hear that a contract between Ancestry.com/TGN and New York State, USA has very recently been authorized after a year of negotiation - New York State censuses will be coming to Ancestry.

For more about this and what's available already for New York State censuses, be sure to read her post. (I'll be interested to compare how New York State discloses information about this agreement with the procedures for similar agreements in Canada.)

Ancestry Insider has preview pictures and more information for some of Ancestry.com's soon to be released new or revised features.

- The 'record viewer' page which will let us view the record image, the transcription (and/or index?) and allow us to submit corrections for the transcription all on the same page.

- The revised 'person page' and 'person card'. These are on the screen as you work with an individual's information in an Ancestry.com member tree.

- The new page navigation header and its drop down menus - information about this is already on Ancestry. See the Ancestry Insider post for a link. Ancestry's promise here is: "Better organization. Fewer clicks." Sounds good!

Ancestry Insider says "stay tuned for more coverage of the Town Hall meeting" so check back there soon. (Could AI be one of those 'official critics'?)

And, reading that post reminded me of another recent Ancestry Insider post about Ancestry's closure of its U.S. Public Records Index. If you used to use this index, I think you need to read this post. (And you'll see Ancestry Insider doesn't hesitate to say it as he sees it. )

Over at Genea-Musings, Randy Seaver has just posted a summary of his latest Saturday Night Fun topic or 'game' - "What are your Top Ten Genealogy Websites?"

Perhaps not surprisingly, 15 out of the 18 people who responded put Ancestry.com at the top of their Top Ten list. Nice to see there were three of the Norwegian bloggers playing Randy's Saturday game and one Canadian - see below for her response.

I wasn't able to participate last Saturday, but a year ago now, I published MY TOP 15 – WELL, REALLY NOW IT'S 17 – CANADIAN GENEALOGY WEBSITES, FEBRUARY 2008 (Wonder why I didn't really number those links? Oh, well...)

About time for an update there, but I'm thinking Ancestry.com will still come in at #4 or #5 for me for Canadian research, although Ancestry is usually my first stop now for passenger record indexes. Canadian blogger Earline Hines Bradt at Ancestral Notes did enter her Top Ten into Randy's game - Ancestry.com was her #1.

Updating my top Canadian websites could be a fun project for me as GRL.Com, a long time favourite on my Canadian list, has recently relaunched itself adding many more international resources. I'd like to take the time to have a better look there. Watch for a post about this soon.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Ancestry.com (TGN) Town Hall Webinar - From My Viewpoint - May 2009

Last night, I listened to Ancestry.com's first Town Hall webinar live. Apparently only World Deluxe Ancestry subscribers were invited to attend and we were promised "unprecedented access to senior management at Ancestry.com. We will share important news about your membership and outline the direction for the remainder of 2009, including key web site and and collections projects. We will also take time to address questions from you, our loyal members..." Quote link

Now I'm not that familar with the idea of 'town hall meetings' but my understanding is that usually at a 'town hall' most anyone can attend, ask questions, voice opinions, and engage officials and politicians in discussion and debate. This was not that kind of meeting - each Ancestry.com participant gave us a presentation about their area, but as mentioned above there was an opportunity to send questions in. A few of these were answered in a question and answer period towards the end of the webinar. We heard that about 1,000 people attended this session and that 500 questions were sent.

I did take notes, and hope I am presenting the information given faithfully. This post, however, may very well be my own idiosyncratic take on things. We were told this Town Hall webinar will be available on-line for viewing in a few days. I'll post that URL/web address here when I know it.

Oddly, I never received an invitation, although I've been a World Deluxe subscriber forever, I think. That didn't put me off - I found the registration URL and was able to register. I had also sent a note to Ancestry and was e-mailed the same registration information the day of the webinar. No explanation as to why I wasn't on the list though.

The invitation I saw on-line posted by DearMRYTLE said: This is an exclusive opportunity to shape the direction of Ancestry.com and be heard. Strong stuff!

Participants in the webinar were:

Timothy P. Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer, The Generations Network (TGN, aka Ancestry.com)

Andrew Wait, TGN Senior Vice President, General Manager of Family History

Gary Gibb, TGN Vice President, U.S. Content

Eric Shoup, TGN Vice President, Product

and as DearMYRTLE notes, these were the same Ancestry.com executives that met with the group of genealogy bloggers invited to a 'secret' Ancestry session early in January of this year. Here is a link to a list of posts describing and discussing that visit.

A few things struck me during and after the presentations.

I don't really remember anything specific about memberships or exclusive opportunities to shape Ancestry? Perhaps I missed something there.

I did notice that some recent complaints about Ancestry's customer service hours were mentioned and - really - dismissed. Some Ancestry searches didn't work correctly at all last month on a weekend and subscribers asked on the Ancestry message boards why there was no weekend or 24 hour/7 day a week service. The answer given during the webinar was that Ancestry's customer service staff are all very experienced people who "need normal lives" and it's just not possible to hire people from Mumbai in India to do this job. Not sure I want to comment in print on this except to say that most days I think of myself as a normal, experienced genealogist and during my various careers, I've worked lots of weekends and many nights!

Gary Gibb did mention new Canadian material is coming but said he was under a "gag order" about that. A schedule for Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Ancestry/TGN census projects is up on-line and gives the dates when various years of page images and indexes will be available free on-line at LAC. I was very disappointed not to hear yesterday when the 1861/1871 census images and indexes will be available at Ancestry. And, of course, LAC and other Canadian archives and libraries have many more Canadian resources that could be digitized. Nothing specific was mentioned about new projects here in Canada.

One of the most intriguing points made, I thought, was by Andrew Wait, who said that Ancestry now is in regular communication with a group of its most "passionate critics" everyday? I do wonder, of course, who these people are. Could some of the 'secret' genealogy bloggers be involved? That might explain why critical comments about that session seemed generally muted.

Overall, I thought all Ancestry (TGN) participants stressed four things in this webinar -

First and foremost, that Ancestry.com is an experienced provider of genealogical material with a considerable investment in technology and other assets and that the top executives and indeed all of Ancestry.com's employees are 'real' people who care about genealogy and family history.

Second, that Ancestry knows that continuing to present new 'content' is vital and that new content is indeed coming, particularly for the US, but also in other areas, including Canada, Germany and England and Wales. Some will see more of the same types of records, additional jia pu for China, for instance. It does not sound as it Ancestry will be expanding to other geographical areas though (Poland was mentioned in this regard) and there was some discussion of the difficulties in finding appropriate collections and getting permission to use them.

Third, that the many complaints about the more technical side of Ancestry, poor date and place results from broad searches, for example, have or are being dealt with. Just last week, a 'lifespan' or date filter was introduced (yes, this does seem to work!) and a place filter will be on-line later this year. (Excellent news! We will soon forget how long we've been asking about this, I'm sure.) And image collections are being enhanced to improve their readability - something for us over 50s who make up the bigger portion of Ancestry subscribers !

Fourth, that Ancestry is planning to offer members more opportunities to contribute to the site and to assist others. Eric Shoup spoke about this - saying that Ancestry has 3 themes - connecting members and content; members helping members; and improving the overall user experience.


The TGN World Archives Project was mentioned; members are already indexings records but this will be in full swing later this month; Ancestry's member messaging service has been improved; a way for both 'professional' and experienced amateurs to offer their genealogical services will soon be introduced (this will be Ancestry's soon to be announced ExpertConnect which has been quite hotly debated in some circles).


And, very soon we will be able to correct and add to indexes and transcriptions as we view record images. (Currently we can offer only transcription corrections to names.) This I found one of the most interesting things in this session.


The other thing I felt was most interesting was the great emphasis on member contributed content - in the family trees. Gary Gibb told us five million records were attached to Ancestry trees last week - in "five million magic moments". By the summer there will be a new, easier to navigate tree viewer. Now these contributions, like the member indexing, provide new, and 'free', content for Ancestry, but I think this emphasis is also a response to the great popularity and unique ideas at Footnote.com, an strong Ancestry rival, I suspect, at least in the field of US records.



For the most part I found the Ancestry.com Town Hall webinar worth listening to. It certainly wasn't as lively as the webinar I hear in 2008 about the then new 'search experience'. (For example, from yesterday, I probably don't really need to know how many people work for Ancestry, but I believe I understand why that information was presented.)

I use Ancestry every day - as things are I wouldn't want to do without it - but I do think Ancestry still has a ways to go in responding to subscribers' (customers!) comments and questions, and yes, complaints.

The blogs, webinars, surveys and Ancestry's attendance at larger conferences are all good avenues, particularly for information, but the personal touch is often a bit lacking or even heavy handed. I note, for example, that Ancestry's recent removal of a new Rootsweb e-mail list for the discussion of topics relating to Ancestry.com was not discussed. That list is now active elsewhere. I don't remember RootsWeb being mentioned by name at all, in fact, nor anything about a very recent discussion on-line about difficulties in locating and using unidexed material at Ancestry.com. See Randy Seaver's post at his blog, GeneaMusing and DearMYRTLE's too.

However, I am sure that all the questions that were submitted are being looked at and since this was Ancestry's first Town Hall meeting, I'll be looking forward to more meetings of the same kind, but I hope with more active participation from members.

Monday, May 04, 2009

Local History! - Carnival of Genealogy - 71st Edition

The 71st edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is now posted at What's Past Is Prologue!

The topic for this Carnival was Local History! and this was clearly a popular topic - with 25 entries. There are stories here about honeymoon hotels, Victorian houses, many heroes, even a story about a sack of flour. All are well worth a read!

The next Carnival of Genealogy will honour Mothers! Creative Gene will be hosting that Carnival and has all the details posted here.

You can write about "your mother, grandmother, godmother, step mother, den mother, aunt, neighbor, or friend who happens to be a mother" - you might even want to write about a 'historical' mother from your home town as I think I will. As Creative Gene says, "Let’s make all our moms famous!"