Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Canada and the "War Brides" at Library and Archives Canada - World Wars I and II

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has added a new page for 'War Brides'. This is a very good thing, as here LAC points to a good number of record collections with information about war time miltary related marriages, going beyond the most obvious ones.


But I, of course, feel I must quibble.

'War brides', LAC says, are defined as "foreign civilian women who married Canadian soldiers serving overseas during the First and Second World Wars." 

By? ( the Canadian military?) There is no doubt most of these women were British, so not 'foreign',  but British subjects same as most women born in Canada. (And by the way, LAC, during WW I, Irish women were also British.)

And not all were civilians either. Possibly the assistance offered to civilian women, and dependants, if applicable, was not the same as extended to military women and not reflected in most of LAC's record collections. However if yours was a military bride, don't let LAC deter you, as for example, one of the record sets listed is 'Arrival of CWAC from overseas. Arrangements on Debarkation, 1943-1945'.  CWAC stands for Canadian Women's Army Corps (WWII).

And I think there must have been at least a few brides other than overseas ones (and a few grooms). And LAC does make just a brief reference to women leaving Canada with or to join new husbands. "Library and Archives Canada also holds departure records for Canadian women who married servicemen from other Allied nations."  I would think that USA/Canada Border records or other United States records may reference 'war marriages' either in the USA or Canada involving Canadians marrying USians too.

Not all war marriages may have been treated equally, depending on the status of the bride or groom.  LAC lists '​Immigration; admission of fiancées of citizens of Chinese origin; enlargement of quota for India, 1956'.

In some cases, likely sad ones, LAC files may provide information on women and families after their arrival in Canada, for instance, in these files 'Assistance to dependents re desertion, bigamy, illegitimacy, 1940-47'. And passenger records will show some brides either leaving Canada later or visiting 'home' later on.

My own parents' marriage was a 'war marriage'. Both were British subjects and born in Canada. Both were in the Canadian military; they met and married in the United States. LAC does, I know, have records noting their marriage.   Be sure to look at the entire file for your military person, if possible. This will be easier for Canadian WW I military once the files are all digitized and on-line, but seeing a WW II file may involve a longer process. And, in some cases, when a military person did not marry, but had, or was deemed responsible for, a child, there may well be information in the military files.

Don't neglect newspapers in your search. You will find articles about marriages and arrivals - even photos - as these marriages were of wide interest. Reading Library and Archives Canada's files may give you dates of marriage or arrivals, etc. to search by, or you may be lucky and find that a relevant newspaper has been indexed or even digitized and on-line.

LINKS

War Brides, Library and Archives Canada (LAC):  http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/war-brides.aspx



For more about WW I and WW II 'war brides, I recommend highly these two researcher's websites and publications:

WW I - Canadian War Brides of the First World War by Annette Fulford: http://ww1warbrides.blogspot.ca

WW II - Canadian War Brides by Melynda Jarratt: http://www.canadianwarbrides.com

Sunday, August 03, 2014

What is "The Commonwealth" - as in The Commonwealth Games or The Commonwealth Short Story Prize?

It's Day 10 of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Canada is in third place overall right now, with 31 gold, 16 silver and 33 bronze medals. Go Canada!

With all this on the news, a few people have asked me what The Commonwealth is and I said I'd post some links they could explore.

Yes, two were Canadians, but much younger than I am. To me, the idea of the (originally British) Commonwealth was part of my Canadian identity. Is it still relevant? I do believe so as now The Commonwealth connects Canada with many more varied countries than our other better known economic and political relationships.

The Commonwealth since 1949 has been a voluntary association of independent countries spanning the globe, now 53 countries with over 2.2 billion citizens.

While the 'British Commonwealth' began as countries in the British Empire gained their independence, the Commmonwealth today includes countries unassociated with the British Empire or the United Kingdom, for example, the latest member countries, Rwanda and Mozambique.

The most significant Commonwealth statistic today to me is that 60% of Commonwealth people are under 30 years of age. They are the future of the world.


The Commonwealth - the official website: http://thecommonwealth.org

Commonwealth map, Atlas of Canada (jpg/pdf): http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/international/commonwealth

53 independent countries - map with list http://thecommonwealth.org/member-countries

Profile Commonwealth, BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16842428

Timeline - The Commonwealth, BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1554513.stm

Commonwealth Games Canada - Canada hosted the very first Commonwealth Games in 1930. Then the Games were known as the British Empire Games; renamed as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954 and the British Commonwealth Games in 1970: http://www.commonwealthgames.ca/

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the guardian organization of Commonwealth nations' military graves: http://www.cwgc.org/

WW II, British Commonwealth Air Training Plan: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/second-world-war/british-commonwealth-air-training-plan

WW II, Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada: http://www.airmuseum.ca/

Bomber Command Museum of Canada, Trenton, Alberta, particularly for those interested in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in Alberta, WW II: http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/index.html

Commonwealth Foundation: http://www.commonwealthfoundation.com/projects

Royal Commonwealth Society - Canada http://www.rcs.ca/index.php

Commonwealth Oral History Project - 1965, Institute of Commonwealth Studies: http://commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/research/cw-oral-history-project

Just for fun - "Queen's quirky Commonwealth gifts go on display", The Telegraph, 19 March 2014:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/10709030/Queens-quirky-Commonwealth-gifts-go-on-display.html

11 minutes of highlights from the 5th British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1954, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Filmmaker, Jack Olsen. NFB film: http://www.nfb.ca/film/british_empire_commonwealth_games/


Souvenir sweet dish, 1954 Vancouver, BC, British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Private collection.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - another survey!

It's been a while since I've had time to participate in Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at GeneaMusings, and this time it's a survey. No secret either that I don't think much of most on-line surveys, but we all like to hear what others are doing so here goes.

a)  Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)?

Legacy -desktop and Families for mobile
- also Heredis - desktop only for now, and once in a long while I still print a chart from Family Tree Maker.

b)  Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)?

Oh, dear, how disorganized (or indecisive) this all sounds. Someday I expect I will hit the button and upload a whole tree. (I have 2 main databases - for my parents' families and for my husband's families. Intend to merge them at some point, but seemed easier to keep them separate from the beginning.

Ancestry - a female DNA tree to go with my mitochondrial results transferred there from GeneTree (SMGF).

Ancestry - a play tree I've been building using my mobile.

TribalPages - 2 basic tree sites - up for years now and updated periodically as 'cousin bait'.
- AXNER, BROSTRÖM, ERIKSSEN, JOHANSON, LÖFHOLM, RYDBERG & ZETTERBERG, Sweden to Canada: http://swedesinbc.tribalpages.com/
- SCOTT family: Muiravonside, Dalmeny, Tushielaw, Galashiels, Grangemouth, in Scotland: http://www.tribalpages.com/tribes/mdianerogers

MyHeritage and Geni - little bitty trees

c)  For which subscription genealogy record providers (e.g., Ancestry) do you have a subscription?

At the moment -

FindMyPast.com
MyHeritage.com
Newspapers.com
Oops!
Forgot Mocavo.com  Sorry. (I just found something very good there too.)

At my genealogical society library I regularly use Ancestry Library Edition, Genealogical Research Library, and new there - BDA Online — Biographical Database of Australia.
(Usually I do have a personal subscription to Ancestry but have let it go for a bit.)

d)  Which FREE genealogy record providers (e.g., FamilySearch) do you use regularly?

Countless, I think. Main and some favourites - since I've been working on BC and Manitoba families lately

FamilySearch.org
British Columbia Archives
The British Colonist newspaper
Manitobia.ca
Manitoba Vital Statistics database
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Canada - Virtual War Memorial
The Gazettes - Canada, UK

e)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research online?  [Note:  not reading, or social networking, but actual searching in a record provider].  Estimate an average number of hours per week.

Guessing but maybe I'll keep track again for a while.
-2 hours average a day - searching and copying etc. Lately this involves a lot of work in digital newspapers for one of my projects.

f)  How much time do you spend each week doing actual genealogy research in a repository (e.g., library, archive, courthouse, etc.)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.

Average a year - a day a week. Again maybe I'll try to keep track. I take a couple of research trips a year and I am at one or two local libraries every week for a few hours. I also volunteer at my society library but I'm not counting that time, just my estimate of my own time spent researching family there.  

g)  How much time do you spend each week adding information to your genealogy software program (either on your computer or online)?  Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.

Not nearly enough! A guilt making question, for sure. This year I am way, way behind entering new data. However, I have been keeping up with my back project. I started all this before media could be attached to data entered in programmes, so I've been working on catching up there. (And I've been posting some of this info on-line. Catching up there too.)

h)  How much time do you spend each month at a genealogical society meeting, program or event (not a seminar or conference)?  Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.

Monthly meeting - 4 hours; Scandinavian group meeting - 2 hours 10 months a year; Vancouver group meeting - 2 hours; Board meeting - 3 hours; one Committee meeting or other - 3 hours; events - at least one a month - time there ranges from 2 hours to seven or so. (I also volunteer for events, etc. so not including prep time.)


i)  How much time do you spend each month on genealogy education (e.g., reading books and periodicals, attending seminars, conferences, workshops, webinars, etc.)?   Estimate an average number of hours per month over, say, a one year period.

I'm reading as often as possible - likely an hour a day for 'genealogical' journals, etc. (Also reading history articles and books.) Attend at least one webinar a month; attend all local genealogical events; usually 2-3 conferences a year and at least one out of town seminar.  During this last year, I attended a couple of conferences part-time virtually too.

 j)  How much time do you spend each week reading, writing and commenting on genealogy blogs, websites, and social media?   Estimate an average number of hours per week over, say, a one month period.

Don't really want to know! But, I am again commenting more than writing on my own blogs. So I'm going to guess 1 1/2 hour a day.   Much of my on-line reading and 'social networking' takes place on the run as I use public transit every day and take advantage of access on my phone.