The VPL genealogy contest

Most people enjoy treasure hunts, especially genealogists and family historians. Librarians love to help people seeking information, and seeking to learn. Reference librarians are getting adept at pointing family history researchers to a range of free online databases. Put these together and you get the Vancouver Public Library's just completed genealogy contest.

More than 100 people sent in answers and the VPL gave a book prize, Finding Your Canadian Ancestors by Sherry Irvine and Dave Obee, to five people drawn from the 75 fully correct entries. Here's the VPL's contest. Why not challenge yourself?

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Answer the questions below using the following FREE Canadian genealogy databases. Each database answers ONE question.

Automated Genealogy
www.automatedgenealogy.com

B.C. Cemetery Finding Aid
www.islandnet.com/bccfa

British Columbia City Directories, 1860-1901
www.vpl.ca/bccd/index.php

Canadian Naturalization (1915-1932)
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-505-e.html

Census of Canada, 1881
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1881/index-e.html

Daniel F. Johnson’s New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics
http://archives.gnb.ca/APPS/NewspaperVitalStats/?culture=en-CA

Immigration Records (1925-1935)
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/immigration-1925/index-e.html

In Search of Your Canadian Past: The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/CountyAtlas

Prince Edward Island Baptismal Index
www.gov.pe.ca/cca/baptismal

Saskatchewan Vital Statistics – Genealogy Indexes
http://vsgs.health.gov.sk.ca/sgs_srch.aspx

Soldiers of the First World War
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html

Western Land Grants (1870-1930)
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/western-land-grants/index-e.html


1. What were the names of 4 children born to Margaret Walsh and James Thompson and baptised in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island during the 1860s?
Answer:
Database:

2. What was the occupation and residence of Morris Applebaum, an immigrant from Poland who became a naturalized Canadian on March 13, 1920?
Answer:
Database:

3. Where was future Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker living at the time of the 1901 census? What were the names and ages of other members of the household?
Answer:
Database:

4. Charles Edwin Martindale enlisted as a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on May 10th, 1916. Where was he born?
Answer:
Database:

5. How many people with the surname Smith are buried at Sunnyside Lawn cemetery in Surrey, B.C.?
Answer:
Database:

6. What was the first name of the youngest person with the surname Howe to arrive in Quebec City on the Montcalm in 1925? How old was he or she?
Answer:
Database:

7. Who were the parents of Jules Ernest Azur, born in Batoche, Saskatchewan in 1906?
Answer:
Database:

8. Who did Andrew Babineau of Moncton, New Brunswick marry on December 20, 1891?
Answer:
Database:

9. Which four individuals were granted the quarter-sections making up Section 10, Township 10, Range 10, Meridian W1 in Manitoba?
Answer:
Database:

10. In which township in Brant County, Ontario was Alfred Jones living around 1875?
Answer:
Database:

11. How many people with the surname Douglas, born in Scotland, were living in Manitoba in 1881?
Answer:
Database:

12. What was the occupation of H.H. Burr of New Westminster, B.C. in 1877-1878?
Answer:
Database:

The answers may be found on the VPL website.

This would be a good model for other libraries to adapt.

Thanks to Janet Tomkins of the VPL for the lead.