Books as History

A short podcast from the British Library set me thinking. It's an interview with David Pearson who discusses his book ‘Books as History: The Importance of Books Beyond Their Texts.’ It covers the importance of the physical book as an object and the changing environment of book publishing, including the growth of online content and e-readers.

Most family historians are bibliophiles to at least some extent. The attraction goes beyond the printed content.

I have a book "The Heart of London" which I only have to open a little too close to my nose to receive a prompt reminder of how much my ancestor smoked.

Another small volume "Daily Light on the Daily Path" has annotations by my great grandfather, a Church of England Minister. It has his signature and the year 1883, while he was studying divinity, on the front flyleaf.

There are annotations for January 6, 7, 15, 18, 22, 23, February 5, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, March 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 13, April 15, May 27, 28, July 6, 12, August 6, September 11, October 5, November 5, 13, 25, 29, December 5, 6, 25. Do the concentration of these dates tell me anything about his studies?

What is the significance of the notation "Mrs Greaves" against February 21st? Greaves is a name that appears in the family tree of his wife to be in 1885. Does it hint they had already met?

In praise of a genealogy business

Margaret (O’Shea) Jordan writes in her Cork Genealogy blog about a deal to digitize all Irish records.

“Well done to private enterprise (Eneclann, the well-known Irish Genealogical research company) who saw the business opportunity and presumably took advantage of the dithering in other groups, to strike a deal with the Mormons.”

Read the complete posting under the title Pragmatism and Business in Genealogy.

Thanks to Marian Press for bringing this to my attention.

1916 Census of the Prairie Provinces Indexing

FamilySearch is currently indexing the 1916 Canadian Census. The project is 43% complete with a goal of finishing by December 3^rd. That's a tremendous rate of progress thanks to the worldwide network of indexers.

If you have some time available during the next week please download, index (or arbitrate), and submit at least one batch from this project.

If you have not indexed recently, the indexing application and help resources are available on the FamilySearch indexing Web site (www.familysearchindexing.org). Click here to read instructions specific to this project. Updates to the instructions and frequently-asked-questions are also available on the project revisions page.

To learn more about the 1916 Census, including a few fun facts, click here.

RSS feed for LAC

Library and Archives Canada have just made it easier for us to keep up with what's happening there without having to visit the LAC website.

Their new RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides links to news on new content on the LAC website as well as updates to existing pages. Additions, such as new finding aids and new descriptions in databases are also highlighted.

Mostly these are items that will also be highlighted on the LAC front page, and many are mentioned in this blog.

If you don't use RSS you're missing a great convenience. It may seem a bit confusing at first, but LAC has a guide, including how to find a RSS reader, here.

Published by Authority

I'm turning again to the January 2009 issue of Internet Genealogy and another article that attracted my attention.

David A Norris is described as a regular contributor to various of the Moorshead Magazines publications. His second article in this issue takes a look at "The London Gazette" with the sub-head "Published by Authority" reflecting the official nature of the publication.

A full archive of the London Gazette back to the reign of Charles II is free online at www.gazettes-online.co.uk. Chances are any family with long-time roots in England will have some member mentioned in the Gazette, if not for an award or military promotion then for a change of name, notice of claims against an estate, or bankruptcy.

The article makes brief mention of colonial gazettes, especially Australia, but not a word about the Canada Gazette. That's surprising for a magazine published in Toronto.

The history of the Canada Gazette is described here.

Issues of the Canada Gazette after 1997 are available online at the website of the Canada Gazette Directorate: http://canadagazette.gc.ca/index-e.html

Library and Archives Canada are working on digitizing earlier issues. Currently approximately 30% is searchable online, including:

• Part I - 1983-1997
• Part II - 1950-1976, 1983-1997
• Part III - 1985-1997

LAC "expects to have more than 90% in the database by early 2009."

Family Networking Websites

The January 2009 issue of Internet Genealogy landed in my mailbox on Friday. It contains several informative articles, starting on page 8 with Janice Nickerson, Toronto-based genealogist and colleague on Library and Archives Canada's Services Advisory Board, evaluating sites that offer "an online place to store, develop, share and collaborate on your family tree, while keeping in touch with your relatives."

Janice found 18 such sites, but choose only four to review in any depth. These she evaluated according to the criteria: privacy, matching/merging, individual profiles, multimedia, GEDCOM Compatibility, Trees and Reports, Networking Features, Source Citations, Support, Special Features, and Price.

The only one of her top four picks with which I am at all familiar is Geni.com which she rates as extremely easy to use and comments it is free "so far." At the time Janice wrote the article Geni did not accommodate importing a GEDCOM, a capability now included. She comments that Geni's matching/merging capability limits the amount of privacy you have in your tree.

The top rated site is termed the "most sophisticated, full-featured", but I was struck by how features were mentioned as "takes a little more work", being not clear, or "it appears that."

None of the sites receives a ringing endorsement.

A Genealogical Day in Ireland

People with Irish ancestry are always searching for some way around the lost records.

Next Saturday, November 29th 2008, Gary Schroder, one of BIFHSGO's most popular presenters from last September's conference, is offering a seminar that will examine what’s new and exciting in the world of Irish Family History and how to find your ancestors lost in Ireland.

The location is the Quebec Family History Society Library, 173 Cartier Ave., Pointe Claire

The session runs from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

The fee for QFHS members is $30 - $40 for non-members

The Parish: Administration and Records

What's the Avowson? What's the difference between the duties of the Parish Clerk and the Churchwardens? Can a Rector and a Vicar be the same person?

Find out about these, and a lot more information on parish officials, their duties, records they may have created or in which they be found in a recent TNA Podcast presentation by Reader Information Services specialist Mark Pearsall.

Welsh Family History Archive

A good site for find out more about Wales and exploring your Welsh ancestry, especially for those who have just found a family link into Wales, is John Ball's Welsh Family History Archive.

Frequently Asked Questions
Glossary of Welsh Place-Names: Learn how to interpret Welsh place-names.
Images of Wales
Keturah's Diary:Accompany a Welsh girl on her ocean voyage to Australia in 1860
Links to On-line Resources
Llangar Parish Records
Maps of Wales
Sounds of Wales: Listen to the pronunciation of over 220 Welsh place-names.
Tallis's Topographical Dictionary
Wales of Old: Welsh family histories illustrated with fascinating old photographs.
Welsh Ancestor List
Welsh Gravestone Inscriptions: How to interpret

London (England) Cemeteries

View Larger Map

I'd meant to post the address of the custom Google map of locations of London cemeteries that I used in my recent presentation in Toronto. It includes most of the burial grounds, except for the old ones in the City of London. The yellow pins are for Jewish cemeteries.

Using the My Maps facility of Google Maps you can produce a map of the locations at which your ancestor lived and where he or she died. By electronically overlaying the two you can pick out likely cemeteries.

The address is http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102822060546051659926.00044fcedc59b4d57f997&z=10 or http://tinyurl.com/4suwfs

Unlocking the riddles of Welsh Ancestry

Tonight's (18 November) OGS Ottawa Branch meeting at Library and Archives Canada, Room 156, is Unlocking the riddles of Welsh Ancestry - A Set of Keyes. It will presented by Helen Whyte, a professional genealogist who has done extensive research on the Social, Historical and Geographical links to Welsh Ancestors. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm.

The (UK) Coal Mining History Resource Centre

Bills itself as the UK's largest and most comprehensive website concerning the history of coal mining - including a name searchable database of over 164,000 recorded accidents and deaths.

The data includes extensive statistics, the youngest person in the database is age 1, the oldest age 95.

There are lists of mining disasters from 1658 to date, extensive reports for the larger incidents, maps, a scrapbook, poems and more.

LAC consultation

Much earlier this year Library and Archives Canada held two open consultation sessions, afternoon and evening. Any client could come and express views on LAC abd its operations. It was a welcome initiative but hasn't been repeated. Why not?

Part of the reason may be that it was quite costly, including the need for simultaneous translation. Also, some people are reluctant to speak in a public forum.

So, would LAC consider borrowing an idea from The (UK) National Archives, a much less costly 'meet the Chief Executive' day? Here's the announcement from their website.

"On Tuesday 18 November, Natalie Ceeney will be holding surgeries in each of the main reading rooms. This is your chance to put your views or questions about the management and future direction of The National Archives directly to her.

The surgeries will be held on a first-come, first-served basis - no advance booking needed."

Ancestors in the Attic - Cenotaph

Ancestors in the Attic aired a one hour episode on November 15 for remembrance week that told the story of finding the fate of two WW2 Canadian servicemen in Europe through the eyes of two students investigating names on their school war memorial.

The stories were well told and although History Television includes only a single paragraph on their website the story is covered by a article in The Oakville Beaver, a news release and another from the Halton District School Board.

The fate of one of the servicemen, Major Robert Gordon Slater of the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada, was revealed when a German death certificate was discovered at Library and Archives Canada. The certificate stated he died in a hospital from shrapnel wounds after several days in captivity. I wonder if such a statement can be relied on?

Family History Library Favorites

One of the websites new to me from the London in Toronto conference last Saturday, drawn to my attention by Phillip Dunn from FamilySearch.org, was fhlfavorites.com. It's a collection of resource bookmarks for genealogy.

I was a bit turned off at first as the main page was full of instructions about how to use it with Internet Explorer, and I use Firefox.

Clicking on Link to Individual Bookmarks files however brings up a panel that starts you on the road to pay dirt.

The categories are:

British Bookmarks.htm
Canada & USA Bookmarks.htm
International Bookmarks.htm
News Bookmarks.htm
Search Engines Bookmarks.htm
World Bookmarks.htm

The organization is a bit odd with British Bookmarks including Australia, Europe, India, Ireland, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies, but not Canada. Perhaps its the world as seen from Utah!

Drilling down further for England leads to a categorization by county. For Norfolk there are categories for: Archives & libraries; Cemeteries; Census; Church records; Directories; Genealogy; Land & property; Manor records; Military records; Occupations; Probate records; Taxation; Visitations. Many of the census and church links are to parish level data.

The main page makes clear it's not an official Family History Library, or FamilySearch site. The website is registered to Stephen Bobowski in S Jordan, Utah. A Google search indicates he's involved with FamilySearch Wiki.

Although a bit idiosyncratic you could do worse than spend an hour on a rainy November day exploring this rich site.

Google's take over of PaperOfRecord.com

The Ottawa Citizen carries an article by business writer Bert Hill Google expected to take over Ottawa data firm.

It includes the information from PaperOfRecord CEO Bob Huggins, confirming a rumour that was circulating, that late in 2003 the company was close to selling its newspaper database to Library and Archives Canada for $1.2M. The deal fell apart and the sale to Google is for "much less than $3M."

It remains unclear from the article as to the terms under which the papers will be available to history and genealogy researchers going forward.

This would make an interesting case study for one of the local university business schools.

LAC puts Miscellaneous Immigration Index online

Many a Canadian with early immigrant, pre-1865, ancestors exploring his or her genealogy has longed for a passenger list to turn up. Mostly the search is fruitless, but Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has just launched an online database, Immigrants to Canada, containing early Canadian immigration records. Many relate to immigrants from the British Isles arriving in Quebec and Ontario.

Through this new database, formerly a card index known as the Miscellaneous Immigration Index, researchers can access references to lists of immigrants and other types of records created before 1865, such as declarations of aliens and names of some Irish orphans.

The coverage is far from complete as records were not systematically saved.

There are 23,482 entries in the database with arrivals from 1750 to 1854. The peak year is 1825; there are more than 2,000 entries for 1846 and 1847. Note that there are a few false values in the graph owing to multiple dates, or a range of dates, being given, e.g. 1793-1808.

More on the LAC Ancestry.ca partnership

Earlier in the week I blogged on the LAC - Ancestry.ca partnership. It was also announced at LAC's web site.

Several people, myself included, have had questions about the nature and terms of the partnership. The following, from Doug Rimmer, LAC's Assistant Deputy Minister, Programs and Services Sector, provides some clarification.

"We are very excited about this partnership which will allow us to provide much greater access to records than if we simply worked alone.

From the perspective of the census records (which is the starting point for the partnership but not the exclusive focus), we intend that over a three-year period ALL of the publicly available Canadian census records will be digitized, and put online with a nominal index both on LAC's website, free of charge, and on Ancestry.ca's website. It won't all happen at once and some material will show up first on our website (such as the 1881 census) and some will show up first on the Ancestry.ca website. The agreement specifies how and when material (both images and indexes) are to be exchanged between the partners. Each partner is then free to put the material on their site as and when they choose. The reality for us is that LAC might not always post it as soon as possible due all of the other material that is being digitized and put online. We have to balance our priorities and that may mean some material has to wait. Of course, we will be making best efforts to ensure that any wait is minimized but we know that we have a lot of material coming on stream and finite resources.

This agreement meets LAC's goals of free access, non-exclusivity and value to the taxpayer. It is a non-cash agreement in which we are both sharing digital resources but neither of us is paying the other for work that is done. LAC will retain full ownership of its original records (in microfilm and any other format). This agreement will not prevent LAC from continuing to work with other genealogical partners."

BIFHSGO November Monthly Meeting

10:00 a.m., 15 November 2008 at Library and Archives Canada 395 Wellington Street

"Why History is Important",
Presented by George Laidlaw, President, Independent Writers Group.
The speaker is the author of numerous books and speaks regularly at schools and dinner clubs. He is president of the Ottawa Independent Writers Group.

Also on the 15th, at 9:00 a.m. "Searching Library and Archives Canada Collection on line", presented by Lesley Anderson, BIFHSGO Associate Education Director, Ancestry.ca Consultant.

Our Ottawa still includes Culture!

It's budget time again in the City of Ottawa and staff are proposing funding cuts for heritage, festivals and the arts, from $7.5 million in 2008 to $4 million in 2009.

That's nearly half the funding in an envelope that comprises only 0.35% of the city budget.

Family history is an integral part of the heritage community in Ottawa. We need to hang together, or we'll hang separately.

Show your support by sending a clear message to the Mayor and City Councillors. There's further information in the message below from the Council of Heritage Organizations of Ottawa.

November 12, 2008 le 12 novembre 2008 Dear CHOO/COPO Members and supporters of our local heritage, URGENT ACTION REQUIRED! A STRONG VOICE FOR HERITAGE! The City of Ottawa is yet again proposing massive cuts to funding for heritage, festivals and the arts. City staff has recommended a 42% cut to all cultural funding! 100% cut in funding to all 3 heritage service organizations (CHOO/COPO, Heritage Ottawa and the Ottawa Museum Network), 100% cut to historical societies and all heritage project grants! 100% cut in funding for festivals, special events and fairs 24% cut to budgets at all eight community museums Funding commitments for addressing crucial preventative maintenance work in the city's Archives will not be honoured! IMPACT ON HERITAGE COMMUNITY 9 people within the community museums and heritage sector will lose their jobs Heritage service organizations will shut down and no longer provide service to members and the community Capacity of museums to provide programming for schools, children and seniors will decrease dramatically Workers' Heritage Museum will be forced to close Museum artifacts and archives collections will not receive adequate levels of care KEY MESSAGES Of the $9 Million in proposed service cuts, arts, heritage and festivals make up almost 45% of the cuts - totaling $4.1 million. This is an unfair and disproportionate burden on our local cultural community Loss of funding from municipal government means no more leveraging of funds from federal, provincial and private sources - If our own municipality does not support heritage other levels will not pick up the slack ANY cuts to arts, heritage and festivals programs and organizations are unacceptable. We want 100% of funding to arts, heritage and festivals to be reinstated ALL proposed increases to funding already committed should be followed-through on (the Museums Sustainability Plan, preventative conservation care for city's archival collections, Arts Investment Strategy) The City of Ottawa urgently needs to develop a budgeting process to ensure that community organizations are not crippled by the annual "budget crisis" A UNITED APPROACH We must make our individual and collective voices heard, The cuts proposed by the City of Ottawa to heritage programs and organizations, arts and festivals are unacceptable. On Monday, November 10, 2008, a meeting was held with representatives from festival, arts and heritage organizations in attendance. It was agreed: that we will move forward together with a strong, united voice; that we are not willing to let the City split up cuts as line items on their budget sheet, essentially dividing us; and that we are only willing to discuss budget implications to the entire culture portfolio. We all must work collectively with our partner and member organizations, supporters, sponsors, volunteers, arts and cultural groups, participants and audience members to contact their ward Councillor and the Mayor to get our message through loud and clear - Our Ottawa still includes Culture! WE NEED YOUR HELP. Your voice can make a difference! Write to your Councillor by e-mail or letter and speak to the key messages we have outlined Customize the letter to your own personal experience and contribution to the heritage sector REMEMBER to ensure that your mailing address is included - Councillors need to know that you live in their ward - otherwise your message will be ignored! Unsure who your councillor is? Click here and simply enter in your address to find out. (Councillors' contact info are listed at the bottom of this message) Share and forward this message within your networks, friends and colleagues and other supporters of arts and heritage and urge them to voice their support by writing to their councillor Attend a Public Consultation Make your voice heard during the 2009 draft budget public consultations. A list of dates and instructions is available on the City of Ottawa website here. Register to Speak to Committee of the Whole Make a five-minute presentation at a Committee of the Whole meeting. Monday December 1st or Tuesday December 2nd, 2008, possibly Wednesday December 3rd. To register call 613-580-2424 ext. 12487 It is time to take action. It is time to speak with a united voice. Our Ottawa still includes Culture! Best regards, Meg Hamilton, Executive Director, CHOO/COPO manager@choocopo.ca www.choocopo.ca (613) 562-0405 Ottawa City Councillors - Contact Info When writing your city councillor - MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOU NAME & ADDRESS AT THE VERY TOP OF YOUR EMAIL/LETTER If you do not include your mailing address your email/letter will be deleted Mayor Larry O'Brien Tel: 613-580-2496 Fax: 613-580-2509 Larry.OBrien@ottawa.ca Councillor Georges Bédard Ward 12 - Rideau-Vanier Tel:613-580-2482 Fax: 613-580-2522 Georges.Bedard@ottawa.ca Councillor Michel Bellemare Ward 11 - Beacon Hill-Cyrville Tel:613-580-2481 Fax: 613-580-2521 Michel.Bellemare@ottawa.ca Councillor Rainer Bloess Ward 2 - Innes Tel: 613-580-2472 Fax: 613-580-2512 Rainer.Bloess@ottawa.ca Councillor Glenn Brooks Ward 21 - Rideau-Goulbourn Tel: 613-580-2491 Fax: 613-580-2531 Glenn.Brooks@ottawa.ca Councillor Rick Chiarelli Ward 8 - College Tel: 613-580-2478 Fax: 613-580-2518 Rick.Chiarelli@ottawa.ca Councillor Alex Cullen Ward 7 - Bay Tel: 613-580-2477 Fax: 613-580-2517 Alex.Cullen@ottawa.ca Councillor Diane Deans Ward 10 - Gloucester-Southgate Tel:613-580-2480 Fax: 613-580-2520 Diane.Deans@ottawa.ca Councillor Steve Desroches Ward 22 - Gloucester-South Nepean Tel: 613-580-2751 Fax: 613-580-2761 Steve.Desroches@ottawa.ca Councillor Clive Doucet Ward 17 - Capital Tel: 613-580-2487 Fax: 613-580-2527 Clive.Doucet@ottawa.ca Councillor Eli El-Chantiry Ward 5 - West Carleton-March Tel:613-580-2475 Fax: 613-580-2515 Eli.El-Chantiry@ottawa.ca Councillor Peggy Feltmate Ward 23 - Kanata South Tel: 613-580-2752 Fax: 613-580-2762 Peggy.Feltmate@ottawa.ca Councillor Jan Harder Ward 3 - Barrhaven Tel: 613-580-2473 Fax: 613-580-2513 Jan.Harder@ottawa.ca Councillor Diane Holmes Ward 14 - Somerset Tel: 613-580-2484 Fax: 613-580-2524 Diane.Holmes@ottawa.ca Councillor Peter Hume Ward 18 - Alta Vista Tel: 613-580-2488 Fax: 613-580-2528 Peter.Hume@ottawa.ca Councillor Gord Hunter Ward 9 - Knoxdale-Merivale Tel: 613-580-2479 Fax: 613-580-2519 Gord.Hunter@ottawa.ca Councillor Rob Jellett Ward 19 - Cumberland Tel: 613-580-2489 Fax: 613-580-2697 Rob.Jellett@ottawa.ca Councillor Christine Leadman Ward 15 - Kitchissippi Tel: 613-580-2485 Fax: 613-580-2525 Kitchissippi@ottawa.ca Councillor Jacques Legendre Ward 13 - Rideau-Rockcliffe Tel: 613-580-2483 Fax: 613-580-2523 Jacques.Legendre@ottawa.ca Councillor Maria McRae Ward 16 - River Tel: 613-580-2486 Fax: 613-580-2526 Maria.Mcrae@ottawa.ca Councillor Bob Monette Ward 1 - Orléans Tel:613-580-2471 Fax: 613-580-2511 Bob.Monette@ottawa.ca Councillor Shad Qadri Ward 6 - Stittsville-Kanata West Tel:613-580-2476 Fax: 613-580-2516 Shad.Qadri@ottawa.ca Councillor Doug Thompson Ward 20 - Osgoode Tel: 613-580-2490 Fax: 613-580-2530 Doug.Thompson@ottawa.ca Councillor Marianne Wilkinson Ward 4 - Kanata North Tel:613-580-2474 Fax: 613-580-251 Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca

Memorial of the Great War, 1914-1918 : a record of service

During the First World War 1409 employees of the Bank of Montreal "deliberately closed their ledgers, laid aside pen and pencil, left the calm routine of a great institution, the security of a well-ordered business life, and went forth ... to fight for King and Empire."

At the end of the war 230 were missing from the Roll Call. Others were war-worn, some broken and recovered and recovering from grievous wounds.

In 1921 the bank published a memorial volume with portraits and biographies of those who died, and shorter summaries of the war experiences of those who returned. The volume has now been digitized by the University of Toronto and just been made available through the Internet Archive.

Here are two examples of the entries:

Sydney Harris
Sergeant, 8th Battalion, C.E.F.

Was born at Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, in 1888. He was educated at Framingham College, Suffolk, where he was one of the prefects of the college. After four years of service with the Capital and Counties Bank, Limited, in Great Yarmouth, he came to Canada and joined the staff of the Bank of Montreal, first in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and later in Winnipeg. He enlisted in August, 1914, as a Private in the Canadian Infantry, and arrived in France with the First Canadian Contingent early in 1915. He took part in all the operations in which his battalion was engaged in 1915 and 1916. During the severe fighting on the Somme he was wounded at Courcelette on September 26th, 1916, while advancing to the enemy trenches, and a few hours later he was instantly killed by shell-fire while waiting to be taken back to the dressing station.

James Francis Peachey
Corporal, 23rd Reserve Battalion, C.E.F.

Enlisted in April, 191 5, as a Corporal in the 5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, and arrived in France with his unit in October, 1915. He was severely wounded by enemy fire at the taking of Regina Trench on the Somme in October, 1916. He subsequently served in England with the 22nd and 23rd Reserve Battalions.

Remembrance Day

Ottawa's Second World War killed in action

ABELSON, LAWRENCE BALFOUR (DUKIE)
ABRAMSON, MARK LESLIE
ACHESON, GEORGE ROBERT
ADAMSON, ANDREW
ALBERT, JOSEPH HENRY YVON
ALLEN, FRED
ANDERSON, PETER GORDON
ARMSTRONG, EDWARD LAWRENCE
ARMSTRONG, GEORGE ERNEST
ARMSTRONG, GERALD HENRY
ARNEIL, DOUGLAS JAMES
AULT, ARTHUR WELLINGTON
BAILLIE, THOMAS
BALDWIN, WILLIAM HENRY
BARBER, JOSEPH LOUIS
BEASLEY, JOSEPH RONALD
BEASLEY, WILLIAM HAROLD
BELEC, GORDON
BEATTIE, HAROLD JAMES
BENNETT, THOMAS LLOYD
BENSON, ROBERT LOWELL
BLACKLER, ROBERT STANLEY
BLAKE, RICHARD BARNETT
BLANE, JOHN DONALD
BLUE, DONALD ARCHIBALD
BOEHMER, ALBERT EDWARD CHARLES
BONELL, WILLIAM STEWART
BOOTH, GEORGE ARNOLD
BORDELEAU, JOSEPH JACQUES BERNARD
BORDELEAU, JOSEPH OSCAR ROGER
BORDELEAU, PIERRE PAUL ENEE
BOUCHARD, JOSEPH ALPHONSE CAMILLE
BOUCHER, THOMAS GERALD
BOUDREAULT, JOSEPH EDOUARD ROCH
BOURDON, GREGORY ROSS
BOURQUE, JOSEPH HERBERT
BOUTIN, JOSEPH LOUIS PAUL
BOX, PETER WILLIAM BISSET
BRADLY, ALBERT THOMAS
BRADLY, WILLIAM STANLEY
BRAZEAU, JOSEPH PHILIPE RENE FERNAND
BREADNER, DONALD LLOYD
BRIGGS, FRANCIS EVAN ROBERT
BROWN, JAMES HERBERT
BUCHANAN, JOHN DONALD
BULLIS, EDMUND HOLMES
BURNSIDE, LLOYD WELDON
BURPEE, LEWIS JOHNSTONE
BURT, HENRY ANDREW
CALDERONE, DOMINICO GUISEPPE
CALDWELL, CARLETON ERNEST
CALDWELL, DONALD F.
CAMERON, ROBERT JOEL
CANN, JOHN OSMOND GILBERT
CANTIN, JOSEPH EDWARD LEO
CAOUETTE, JOSEPH EARL WALTER
CAREY, JOHN JOSEPH
CARRUTHERS, FORD ROSS
CASEY, RAYMOND FRANCIS
CASHEN, PETER HENRY
CHALLIS, ALBERT CLIFFORD
CHEETHAM, GERALD HARRY
CHEQUER, GEORGE JOSEPH
CLOUTIER, JOSEPH FERNAND OSCAR
COBBETT, CHARLES HOWARD
CODE, PETER BRYSON
COFFEY, JAMES CARLETON
COLE, SAXON MILLIS
COLFE, WILLIAM KENNETH
COLLINGWOOD, JOSEPH VINCENT
COWAN, EMERSON WELDON
COWAN, HENRY HUGH
CONNACHER, STUART MCINTYRE
CONNOR, DONALD DAUBNEY
COTE, JOSEPH JOHN EDWARD
COWLEY, ROBERT HENRY
CRAIG, STANLEY MAYNARD
CRAWFORD, GEORGE HAMILTON
CULLEN, JOSEPH PATRICK LEONARD
CUMMINGS, KENNETH GEORGE
DALE, KENNETH LYLE
DALGLISH, WILLIAM LOGAN
DARRAGH, FRANCIS WILLIAM
DAVIS, JOSEPH
DEAVY, ARTHUR WILLIAM
DELONG, ROBERT WILLIAM
DONAGHY, ROBERT BERTRAM
DRAKE, EDWIN
DUBROY, WILLIAM EDMOND
DUQUETTE, MYLES EDWARD
EAGLESON, JAMES LYMAN
EASTMAN, DONALD MERVYN
ELLIS, ALBERT
ELLIS, RONALD OBERLIN
FAHEY, AMBROSE SYLVESTER
FARLETTE, JOSEPH RODOLPHE GASTON
FARLEY, ARTHUR RODOLPHE ROLAND
FARMER, KENNETH ALBERT
FERRIS, RICHARD NICHOLAS
FINLAY, WILLIAM ROBERT
FLANAGAN, THOMAS EDWARD
FLETCHER, GRANT ALEXANDER
FOLEY, JAMES DONALD ALEXANDER
FOLLOWS, SIDNEY WALLACE
FOXTON, JAMES HEDLEY
GALBRAITH, JAMES REGINALD
GALLAGHER, GORDON JOHN
GARDINER, JOHN EDWIN
GARLAND, STEWART FOSTER
GARLAND, WILLIAM ABSALOM
GARRETT, ERIC THOMAS
GELDART, DOUGLAS EMERSON
GENNIS, MAX
GILCHRIST, DONALD ROSS
GIROLAMI, ADRIANO RICHARD
GLEASON, MICHAEL ARNOLD
GOLDING, JOSEPH HAROLD
GOOLD, GEORGE CLARENCE
GORDON, HUGH LOCKHART
GRAHAM, ROBERT MACFARLANE
GRANGE, EDWARD ALEXANDER MCDOUGALL
GRANT, GEORGE
GRAVES, WILLIAM DONALD
GRAY, ROBERT JAMIESON
HAGUE, ALAN
HALCRO, JAMES ANGUS FRANCIS
HALL, ALFRED HENRY BENBOW
HALL, CLEMENT WILLIAM
HALL, CYRIL ROLAND
HAMMOND, RICHARD NEILAND
HARRISON, FRANCIS ARTHUR
HART, GORDON GERALD
HAY, GORDON DOUGLAS
HEENEY, ROBERT TILTON
JAMIESON, JOHN BOURNE
HERVEY, ROBERT GIBSON
HICKS, ORVILLE WESLEY
HODGINS, EDWARD HINCHEY
HOGAN, FRANCIS JOSEPH
HOLLOWAY, DONALDSON RENDAL
HOWE, LORNE MEREDITH
HULL, WILLIAM FRANCIS
HUNTER, CALVERT HAMILTON
HUTT, DUNCAN STUART
HYDES, HARRY GEORGE
IDE, DOUGLAS GORDON
IVEY, HARTLEY SAMPSON
IZZARD, AUBREY FENWICK
JARVIS, LEONARD FITZGERALD
JEFFREY, GEORGE WILBERT
JOHNSON, DONALD WILFRED
JOHNSON, JOHN ALFRED
KNIGHT, MARTIN ALLAN
JOLICOEUR, FERNAND LEO
JOYNT, JOHN MILLAR
KELLY, JOHN LOMER
KELLY, LEONARD THOMAS JOSEPH
KELLY, RICHARD MARTIN
KEYES, THOMAS ERIC EDMOND
KIGHT, LESLIE JOHN
KIMMINS, GORDON PATRICK JAMES
KINSELLA, WILLIAM JAMES
KIRCHIN, CLARENCE GORDON
KOZLOWSKI, STANLEY JOHN
LABARGE, BERNARD HENRY
LABARGE, LEO JOHN
LACASSE, FLORIAN MERCIER
LACELLE, JOSEPH HARVEY MILTON
LAFLEUR, GEORGE LEO
LALONDE, JOSEPH MOISE GASTON
LANE, HERBERT MITCHELL
LAPOINTE, JOSEPH HENRI DOSITHEE
LARKIN, DONALD JAMES
LARKIN, JAMES MEYRICK
LAVALLEY, DAVID HENRY
LAWRENCE, RICHARD CHILROSE
LEAVER, FRANCIS HENRY
LEVESQUE, EDMOND JOSEPH VITAL
LONG, HENRY MAYNARD
LOUGH, WILLIAM HERBERT
LOWE, RICHARD BROCKWELL
MACALLISTER, GORDON DALE
MACDONALD, IAN ALISTAIR
MacDONALD, LOUIS JOHN
MACFARLANE, DONALD JOHN
MACLEAN, ANDREW KENNETH
MACLEAN, GEORGE MURRAY
MacLEOD, ALLAN ALLISTER
MacLEOD, JOHN DONALD
MACMILLAN, DAVID JOHN
MacMILLAN, EDGAR
MAGLADRY, HAROLD ERNEST
MANSFIELD, RICHARD GERARD
MARTIN, VERNON DUMARESQ BOWDEN
McCRUM, CHARLES JOHN FREDERICK
MATTHEWS, JOSEPH HENRY GABRIEL
McCALLUM, ROBERT JOHN
McCANN, ERIC WILLIAM
McCARTHY, BENEDICT JOSEPH
McCARTHY, PHILIP WILLIAM
McCARTHY, WINSTON FRANCIS
McCLATCHEY, HERBERT HENRY
McCLEERY, RAYMOND NORMAN
McCLOSKEY, RICHARD SCOTT
McCORKLE, DONALD FREDERICK
McFARLANE, ALEXANDER IAN
McGUIRE, MICHAEL JAMES DORAN
McINTYRE, LYNDEN ARNOLD
McKENNA, DONALD JOSEPH
McKENNA, GERALD LEWIS
McKENNA, JOHN ANDREW
McKERNS, CHARLES
McKHOOL, GEORGE JOSEPH
McLACHLAN, RODERICK JAMES
McLACHLIN, WILLIAM MCINTYRE
McLEAN, DONALD RAE
McLEAN, THOMAS BEGLEY
McLEOD, HUGH NORMAN
McMAHON, BERNARD LAWRENCE
McNAUGHTON, IAN GEORGE ARMOUR
MEERS, FRANK EDWARD
MELVILLE, ROBERT LEARMONTH
MERKLEY, HARRY DWAIN
MILLAR, KENNETH ROBERT GRANT
MINARD, ALLAN MURRAY
MISON, CHARLES DONALD
MITCHELL, ALEXANDER JAMES
MORRISON, VINCENT MERRILL MACDONALD
MORRISON, WILLIAM ROBINSON
MOFFIT, FRANCIS WILFRED
MOIR, CORSON STEWART
MONAGHAN, RICHARD JOHN JOSEPH
MONCK, RUSSELL McINTYRE
MORIN, WILLIAM FRANCIS
MORRIS, ALAN HUBERT ANDREW
MOULD, GORDON CHARLES
MOULDS, DONALD LAWRENCE
MOULE, WALLACE ALFRED RICHARD
MULLIGAN, JOHN
MUNRO, JOHN WELLESLEY
OLLETT, RALPH WILLIAM
NADON, JOSEPH EDMOND GILLES
NADON, JOSEPH YVES JULIEN
NETTLETON, THOMAS GORDON
NEVINS, JOHN EDMUND
NEWMAN, DAVEY WILLIAM
NIBLOCK, ZINA MANFORD
NOLAN, THOMAS HAROLD
NOLET, CYRILLE HENRY
OLMSTED, CHARLES ROBERTSON
ORME, FRANK KERR
PALSEN, GEORGE JOSEPH HERMAN
PARKER, DOUGLAS RENDALL
PARRY, THOMAS CAMPBELL
PARSLOW, HARRY WILLIAM HERBERT
PATTERSON, JOHN RICHARD
PAVELY, WILLIAM GEORGE
PEPPER, ARTHUR HENRY
PICHE, JOSEPH LAURENCE
PICKERING, WESLEY ALEXANDER
PLAYER, JAMES KELLEHER
POST, ERIC JAMES
POST, WILLARD IRVING
POULIN, VERNE ARTHUR JOSEPH
POWELL, DAVID HAYNES BARCHAM
POWERS, HUGH ALLAN
POWIS, RALPH EDWIN
PRICE, DAVID MAYSON
PRITCHARD, GORDON FEATHERSTONE
PROSSER, ROBERT HAROLD
QUINN, FRANCIS PAUL
QUINN, THOMAS PHILLIP
RALPH, HOWARD PEARSON
RANKIN, RONALD WILLIAM ALEXANDER
RATH, HENRY ERIC
REDPATH, JOHN NORMAN RALSTON
REID, STANLEIGH LOWRY
RENAUD, JOSEPH HARVEY
RETALLACK, GARNET GRAHAM
RIDDELL, RAYMOND REID
ROBERT, JOHN ERNEST
ROBERTS, DAVID ERIC
ROBERTSON, DAVID BROWNLEE
ROBERTSON, JOHN DONALD
ROBINSON, LOUIS EBER ELDRED
ROCHE, NORBERT
ROMBOUGH, JOHN NOBLE
SCHWARTZ, ABRAHAM ALBERT
SCHWERDFAGER, JAMES ELLIOT
ROULEAU, DAVID FRANCIS
ROUTHIER, JOSEPH LOUIS PHILIPPE
ROWE, GORDON HARRY
ROY, WILLIAM FRANCIS
SABOURIN, JOSEPH JEAN PAUL
SASLOVE, EDWARD LEWIS
SAUVE, JOSEPH IVES AURELIEN
SCHRYBURT, JOSEPH THEODORE ARTHUR
SCRUTON, ALBERT CECIL
SEEMAN, THEODORE ALWYN
SEGUIN, JOSEPH MARC
SEVIGNY, ARTHUR JOSEPH
SEYDOR, WALTER
SHATTOCK, ROY FREDERICK
SHAVER, HOWARD BRUCE
SHAW, REGINALD JOHN
SIGOUIN, JOSEPH EUGENE SYLVIO
SIMARD, JEAN JACQUES MARCEL
SMITH, G. B. (DON)
SMITH, DONALD MURRAY
SMITH, LEONARD IAN
SMYTH, KENNETH MALCOLM
SNELL, ARTHUR EVANS
SNOW, GERALD BARCLAY
SNYDER, GERDAN FREDERICK
SOMERS, DANIEL JOSEPH
SOPER, WALTER YOUNG JAMES
SPENCER, GEORGE DOUGLAS
STANDING, NORMAN KENNETH
STANZEL, ROSS SAMUEL
STATA, FREDERICK IRWIN
STERLING, DONALD JOHN
STERNS, WILLIAM MEREDITH
SULLIVAN, CLIFFORD ROY
TAGGART, JAMES HAROLD
TASSE, JOSEPH HECTOR GEORGES
TAYLOR, LEO JOFFRE
TAYLOR, WILLIAM MOSSOP
THOMPSON, ROBERT JOHN
THOMPSON, WILLIAM HECTOR
TINKESS, DONALD GUTHRIE
TREADWELL, JOHN NATHAN
TRIPP, WARRINGTON WADE
TURNER, JOHN ALLAN RYERSON
VINCENT, JOSEPH ANTHONY EDWARD
WARE, JAMES
WARREN, GEORGE RICHARD MARR
WATTS, WILLIAM CHARLES
WETMORE, LINLEY DOUGLAS
WHALEN, JOHN HAROLD
WHITE, GODFREY PHILLIP
WHITHAM, JAMES
WILCOX, LEONARD RUSSELL
WILLETT, DONALD ARTHUR
WILSON, JAMES BENNETT
WINDELER, WILLIAM JAMES
WOLF, HERBERT IRWIN
WOLFF, JAMES FITZGERALD
WOOD, DONALD ZACHARY TAYLOR
WOOD, JOHN WALTER
WOODBURN, JAMES DOUGLAS
WRIGHT, STUART MARSTON
DAY, GORDON ROBERT
HEENEY, CECIL GEORGE
CARREAU, PAUL EUGENE
MACKAY, JAMES GARFIELD
RENNIE, DAVID ALEXANDER
MURDIE, ROSS THOMAS
VAN VLIET, WILBUR DENNISON
KILEEN, ORVILLE MARTIN
JUNEAU, ALFRED ROGER
DU BROY, JOSEPH WILLIAM
HILL, WALTER ALEXANDER
O'LEARY, ROBERT JOSEPH
LAFLAMME, JOSEPH YVES CAMILLE CHARLES A.
BARSALOU, JEAN PAUL
HEANEY, ALLAN
HAINES, VICTOR YELVERTON
DESLOGES, JEAN PAUL JOSEPH
THOM, WILLIAM CRAIG
D'AMOUR, GERALD ROCH
O'LEARY, OWEN ARTHUR
KENNEDY, ROY
KENNY, WALTER ROBERT
O'HEARE, ROBERT ERNEST
DU BROY, THOMAS EDMUND
TURNER, CHARLES BRUCE
O'BRIEN, LAWRENCE FRANCIS
EUSTACE, WILLIAM STUART
GEDDES, ROBERT SLESSOR
CARSON, RODNEY AUSTIN
McWHINNEY, ALBERT RICHARD
O'REILLY, HAROLD MATTHEW
HAZELTON, WILLIAM MESSINGER
CUTHBERT, MAURICE CROSBY

Based on a list supplied by Library and Archives Canada from Second World War Service Files: Canadian Armed Forces War Dead where the word Ottawa appears in the comments column.

LAC and Ancestry.ca partnership

The following is a press release from Library and Archives Canada

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA PARTNERS WITH ANCESTRY.CA

Partnership allows unprecedented online access to Canadian historical records

Ottawa, November 10, 2008 – Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is pleased to announce a collaborative partnership with Canada’s leading online family history website, Ancestry.ca, which will allow the two organizations to provide unprecedented online access to the most comprehensive collection of Canadian historical records available.

As part of the agreement, Ancestry.ca will digitize and index microfilm and original records held by LAC and make these available to Ancestry.ca members. All of the digitized records will eventually be available free of charge to users of the LAC website.

Mr. Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, comments: "Library and Archives Canada is pleased to be part of this collaborative agreement with Ancestry.ca, which will allow our institution to offer our users access to many of our important collections, some of which have not been previously accessible online.

“It will truly enhance Canadians' ability to fully explore their documentary heritage and will also be of great interest to those around the world with ancestors who immigrated to or visited Canada.”

Josh Hanna, Senior VP, Ancestry International, comments: “This is a win-win relationship for Library and Archives Canada and Ancestry.ca as the partnership will enable Ancestry to offer a wide range of Canadian collections to its members and in turn LAC will receive the expertise, experience and person hours that are required for imaging and indexing these records.

“The partnership will create a seamless flow for digitizing and indexing vast Canadian records and will be a huge benefit to family history researchers in Canada who will soon have the opportunity to access more collections than ever before.”

Library and Archives Canada is the holder of an unparalleled and inestimable collection of Canadian published materials and archival records. This collection is accessible both online and in its facilities in Ottawa. Ancestry.ca offers access to both Canadian and worldwide genealogy records—seven billion in total—as well as family-tree building tools and community sharing applications.

Ancestry.ca recently launched more than 70 years of fully indexed Canadian Passenger Lists to its members and these records will also be available on the Library and Archives Canada website (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca) in the next year.

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FamilySearch Record Search - Coming Soon

Datasets keep getting added to the pilot site for FamilySearch Record Search.

I've been wondering what happened to the indexed records for Irish civil registration which were the subject of an online FamilySearch Indexing project earlier in the year. According to information I picked up at the Genealogy in London event in Toronto last Saturday we shouldn't have much longer to wait.

Civil registration in Ireland started in 1864, too late to capture events during the famine, but still useful even for those whose migrant ancestors had already left if relatives remained behind. The indexes haven't been widely available, except through holdings in the Family History Library and Family History Centres so online availability will be a boon for the ever data-starved Irish researcher.

Ottawa Room Improvements

When researching local history in Ottawa and vicinity a must visit destination is the Ottawa Public Librry's Ottawa Room on the third floor of the main building at 120 Metcalfe in downtown Ottawa.

The Ottawa Room provides a centralized information resource about Ottawa and the surrounding area, both past and present, plus a large collection of municipal documents, including all current and past city by-laws. Currently, the holdings of the Ottawa Room collection consist of:

• more than 25,000 books, documents and reports – in English and French
• over 1,200 maps – from 1856 to the present
• an extensive vertical file collection – approximately 1,550 local subjects
• 109 preservation microforms
• a collection of community newspapers
• over 500 high school yearbooks from many local schools

As the collection grows space has become an issue. At present you need to be an acrobat to see what's on the bottom shelves they are so tightly spaced.

OPL managers plan to expand The Ottawa Room into adjoining space, adding more than 500 square feet. At the same time the entrance will be relocated to give the Ottawa Room much greater visibility and prominence. More study space and computer workstations will be added and the collection is being rearranging to bring the parts relating to genealogy together into the most visible and accessible area.

To assist the rennovation the OPL Foundation is holding a literary fundraiser, An Evening with Sir John A., at the Fairmont Château Laurier on Thursday 20 November which will showcase three of our country’s leading popular historians and novelists. Our featured authors are Richard Gwyn, author of John A: The Man Who Made Us and Roy MacSkimming, author of the novel Macdonald. Charlotte Gray, celebrity advocate for Sir John A. on the CBC’s Greatest Canadians series will be the moderator.

Go here for further information about the event.

See you in Toronto

I'll be presenting in Toronto on Saturday at the Toronto Branch OGS event GENEALOGY IN LONDON: A workshop about searching for Londoners and other British ancestors.

My presentation is:

Bereft of Life, They Rest in Peace. But Where?

Finding a burial can mean extending your family tree by discovering a relative or relatives buried in the same or a nearby plot. But in his book Ancestral Trails Mark Herber succinctly states: "It can be very difficult to locate an ancestor's place of burial in London..." Unlike English BMDs, there is no single national registration of burials. The difficulty is compounded for those of us an ocean away who can't just hop on a London Transport bus to search in cemetery or local record offices. Now the Internet genealogy database revolution is starting to help the search. In overview, 18th century and earlier burial records for London and suburbs are scarce. More than 350,000 burials from the 19th century, before the closure of central London churchyards under the Metropolitan Burials Act of 1852, have been indexed and are available online. Of the commercial cemeteries established in the 1840s only Abney Park has an online database. Indexes of burials from municipal cemeteries established as a result of the 1852 Act are starting to become available online, but mostly still require searching in original chronological records. A process to help narrow the search for candidate cemeteries will be described.

There are more readers for this blog in Toronto than anywhere else, although Ottawa and Gatineau together have more readers. If you're coming to the Toronto event do introduce yourself.

For the Ottawa people, I've tentatively agreed to make this presentation for BIFHSGO in April.

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Service Records

The (UK) National Archives have made available on their Documents Online pay per view service about 40,000 World War One service records belonging to those who served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. You can conduct a free search.

The service records of RNVR ratings contain details such as name, division and service number, date of birth, former occupation, whether formerly in the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, a physical description, date and period of engagements, ships or units served in, period of service, and remarks about character and ability. Very occasionally a record may reveal the place of birth.

Find an explanation of the record set here.

Grosse Île online exhibition and database

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) announces the launch of In Quarantine: Life and Death on Grosse Île, 1832-1937, a project funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage through its Canadian Culture Online Program. The quarantine station at Grosse Île was located in the St. Lawrence River downstream from the City of Québec.

Featuring a variety of documents preserved and digitized by LAC, such as lists of births and deaths at sea, hospital registers, journals, letters, photographs and maps, this virtual exhibition tells the story not only of the quarantine station, but also of the individuals who experienced life on the island.

The database includes information on 33,026 immigrants whose names appear in surviving records of the Grosse-Île Quarantine Station between 1832 and 1937 from sources such as baptisms, burials, memorial lists and hospital records at Grosse Île, and births and deaths at sea. Some information is linked to images of original documents.

Find the site at: www.collectionscanada.ca/grosse-ile.

Based on an announcement from Library and Archives Canada.

Virgile 1914 - 1918 Virgil

We are approaching the 90th anniversary of the Armistice of 11 November 1918.

This year the names of those killed serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps will be projected on the National War Memorial in Ottawa, in Trafalgar Square in London, and at various sites across Canada.

Starting at 5 pm, for 13 hours each night, from 4 November to the morning of 11 November The Vigil will be streamed live from the National War Memorial at Virgile 1914 - 1918 Virgil. More than 9,700 names will appear each night and each name will appear only once.

It's easy to forget how devastating was the loss. Make it personal. The database shows 19 Canadian soldiers named John Reid killed during the Great War, and three of them with middle initial D.

Look up your last name or that of your spouse at the site. For more information about each of the 68,000, including their place of burial, you can explore the following sites: www.cwgc.org or www.warmuseum.ca and look up their attestation paper at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html.

Thanks to Arlene Halme for suggesting this item.

Indexing the 1916 census of the Prairie Provinces

Expect to hear within the month of the start of a volunteer indexing project for the 1916 census of the Prairie Provinces through FamilySearchIndexing.org.

A microfilm version of the 1916 census became available in-house at Library and Archives Canada in mid-August, but the lack of online images and any nominal indexing has been a frustration.

Comments by Brian Gilchrist at the OGS Ottawa Branch Ryan Taylor Lecture indicate the project for 1916 to be part of a larger arrangement between Library and Archives Canada, FamilySearch and The Generations Network (TGN) which will see them tackling the remaining unindexed Canadian censuses too. An announcement on details should be made soon.

The Ottawa News and Times 1865-1877

Sitting on a trolley in the Canadian Genealogy Centre during my last visit was an unpublished manuscript, abstracts of birth, marriage and death announcements in the Ottawa News and successor Ottawa Times between 18 December 1865 and 8 January 1877. The copyright notice indicates the authors to be Joan McKay and Dolly Allen. It is dated July 2007.

The contents are organized in three sections, 32 pages of births, 33 pages of marriages and 120 pages of deaths, many of which date from before the establishment of the Ontario civil registration system. Each section is alphabetical by last name, with marriage entries under both bride and groom surnames.

Here are some sample entries:

REARDON. At Nepean on May 16 to Mrs Patrick REARDON, triplets - 2 girls, 1 boy. All well (May 18, 1866, p2, col7)

PATTERSON - ELLIOTT. At St. George`s church, Montreal on Nov 15 by Rev Canon BOND MA, Incumbent, James PATTERSON, Esq, Finance Dept, Civil Service, to Ellie daughter of Joseph ELLIOTT (Nov 24, 1866, p2, col 7)

LAFRANCOIS. At Lorette, Prov. of Quebec on May 18, Catherine AUDY, widow of the late Dominique LAFRANCOIS, Notary Public of that place and sister of J. H. Audy of this city, age 75 years (June 11, 1873, p2, col 7)

Some of the entries are surprisingly frank - froze to death while intoxicated.

The manuscript is catalogued as CS 88 ON 38 088 2007 fol. GENE Ref

I hope the authors can find a way to make this locally valuable resource more widely available.

Safely stored but not forgotten

How do you preserve the fruits of your genealogy labour? Of the materials you've collected over a lifetime what do you keep? What do you consign to the materials afterlife?

On a trip to Montreal I picked up a recent, thin, 64 page, 7-1/4" by 4-3/4" format book from Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. The title in English "Safely stored but not forgotten" is not quite as creative as in French "À l'abri de l'oubli." In either language it's a guide to conserving your personal and family documents.

For each type of document you might have it recommends either keeping or disposing of it after a specified number of years or at the end of a defined useful life. How long do you keep your income tax records, utility statements, education and employment records, school yearbooks, real estate records, letters from your grandmother and so on. For more than half the document types considered the book recommends disposal although in some cases the specific recommendations are for the Quebec or Canadian legal regime.

The content is hardly groundbreaking. You won't find novel information, more frustrating conformation of your delinquency if you, like me, have a large backlog of materials to deal with. Also recommendations don't seem to recognize the realities of aging. Do you really need to "keep documents relating to your schooling all your life" once you're into retirement?

What impresses most about the volume, aside from the Archives initiative in publishing it, is the design by orangetango.