At the turn of this century, the Manitoba Geographical Names Program, Lands Branch, Manitoba Conservation produced a thick book, called Geographical Names of Manitoba, and the province has made it available online for free through its website.
The publication is an excellent resource that will interest genealogists who want to learn about the places where their ancestors lived in Manitoba. It is such an impressive piece of work that the online edition is worth promoting almost 17 years after the print version was produced.
The book includes more than 4,000 place names that were named after Manitoba’s war casualties and several thousand names in Indigenous languages.
In all, there are historical and geographical descriptions of almost 12,000 natural features, settlements, ghost towns, and trails within the province and attempts to trace the origins of their names.
Sample entries:
Fostey Lake (63K/16) West of Wekusko Lake. Named in 1973 after World War II casualty Pilot Officer Allan M. Fostey of Ridgeville. He served in No. 405 Lancaster Squadron.
Johnson (62 K/11) Locality and former railway point south of Russell. A Canadian Pacific railway point on 20-19-28W, formerly approved as Johnston, but changed in 1977 to conform with the correct spelling of this surname. CPCGN records (1977) noted such alternate forms as Johnson Crossing and Johnston Siding and indicated that it was named after area homesteaders Thomas G. Johnson here in 1890, and William L. Johnson who homesteaded in 1898. First noted as Johnston on a Bulman map (1905).
Nevas Falls (52 E/13) In the Whitemouth River. An old family name. Also called Trapper Falls.
Ninga (62 G/4) Community northwest of Killarney. GBC correspondence (1905; from Postmaster George Robinson) indicated that the name was assigned by the Postal Inspector in Winnipeg and was a Native name meaning mother. The name is Chippewa according to Douglas (1933). The village began in 1889 as Stanley, but when a Post Office was requested, Stanley was rejected due to duplication and Ninga was selected by the inspector. The name appears to have been reassigned here after Ninga Post Office to the south changed to Lyonshall in 1889. Also a Canadian Pacific railway point and School District on 19-3-18W.
According to the Government of Manitoba’s website, “This information is based upon over 100 years of correspondence of the Geographical Names Board of Canada with railway officials, surveyors, settlers, postal officials, and local historians, and is supplemented by several years of field work in some of he more remote reaches of the province. Map references indicate the date and author of the first map on which a name appears, how it has changed over time and when it was last used.”
Browse, search for key words and surnames
Geographical Names of Manitoba is a large document, and it may take a few minutes to open on your computer. Once open, however, you can easily browse the alphabetical listing or search for key words or even family names, using CTRL+F on a PC or Command+F on a Mac.
Thanks to the South West Manitoba Genealogical Society for sharing this resource on their Facebook page.
Thank you for bringing this book to the attention of your readers. Did you know there is a similar book for Saskatchewan? Doug Chisholm and Beth Parsons, Age Shall Not Weary Them: Saskatchewan Remembers its War Dead (2005) is an excellent resource with the name, a short biography and often a photo of the deceased, the relevant geographic feature, etc. Many “commemorative” books on those from a specific geographic area who died in war have been published in the past several years, these two, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, stand out as unique.
I had wondered if other provinces had produced a similar product. Thanks for sharing!