Free access to a MyHeritage collection each day in June

Posted on June 1, 2020 by Gail Dever

Each day throughout June, MyHeritage we will open one of its paid-subscription-only historical record collections to the public, providing full, free access to the collection. On some days, they’ll open two or three related collections for free.

MyHeritage will post regular updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram about the collections.

The day-long window for each collection will cover all time zones. As long as you visit the collection on the correct day, you should be able to search and view the records to your heart’s content.

In its announcement, MyHeritage said they are making this special offer “in the spirit of MyHeritage’s commitment to providing people with more opportunities and resources to further their genealogical research while at home.”

I particularly look forward to June 15 when I’ll be able to explore MyHeritage’s new Canadian newspaper collection. As for access to the 1921 Canada Census on June 16, it’s always available for free on Library and Archives Canada’s website, so that’s a bit of a yawner.

Free registration to MyHeritage will be required for non-MyHeritage users.

To see the list of collections that will be made available for free, visit MyHeritage’s announcement.

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BC Archives reference room to remain closed until 2021

Posted on May 31, 2020 by Gail Dever

In response to the British Columbia Archives’s announcement last week that its reference room will remain closed until 2021, the Canadian Historical Association (CHA) sent a letter to Premier John Hogan and Jack Lohman, CEO of the Royal BC Museum, urging them to re-consider the decision.

BC Archives said last Tuesday in a brief news item on its website, “During this time, we are reviewing and modifying our processes to ensure the health and well-being of all who work in and rely upon the archives.”

CHA President Penny Bryden, in her letter to the Premier and the museum CEO, wrote that archival reading rooms, which are used by researchers and students, “offer ample opportunity for physical distancing.”

Meanwhile, on the day BC Archives posted its announcement, the Royal BC Museum, which houses the archival centre, issued a statement to advise it would re-open to visitors on June 19.

The Royal BC Museum temporarily shut its doors to the public on March 17, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Researchers who have visited both museums and archival reference rooms will think it odd that a museum with plenty of galleries, exhibits, and work spaces can introduce social distancing and other safety measures to protect staff, volunteers and visitors, but an archival centre is apparently unable (or unwilling) to implement the same procedures for its reference room.

Ms. Bryden also raised concerns about the impact a delayed opening of the reference room will have on research related to Indigenous issues. “Such a lengthy closure will also delay treaty negotiations and land title litigation pushing back resolutions by a year or more.” 

She closed the CHA letter with “To limit research into the past can do nothing other than imperil the future.”

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This week’s crème de la crème — May 30, 2020

Posted on May 30, 2020 by Gail Dever

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week.

Crème de la crème of genealogy blogs

Blogs
Newfoundland Ancestors: Newspapers and Magazines on Canadiana by Candice McDonald on Finding Your Canadian Story.

Effectively Searching the Drouin Collection on Ancestry by Dwayne Meisner on Ancestry Canada Blog.

Affidavits for Genealogy by Amie Bowser Tennant on The Genealogy Reporter.

Top 10 Dutch genealogy websites by Yvette Hoitink on Dutch Genealogy.

Bloggers’ Genealogy Toolboxes 2020 by Linda Stufflebean on Empty Branches on the Family Tree.

Peeling Back the Layers: Online Source Citations Part 1 by Diana Elder on Family Locket.

Can’t Find the Family Bible? 10 Places You May Not Have Looked by Lisa Lisson on Are You My Cousin?

Calculating Birth Dates from Death Date Information by Dick Eastman on Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Crafting my past…. by Teresa Eckford on Writing my past.

Articles
Earliest evidence of Italians’ extraordinary genetic diversity dates back to 19,000 years ago by University of Bologna, Phys.org.

Oldest connection with Native Americans identified near Lake Baikal in Siberia by Max Planck Society, Phys.org.

For more gems like these throughout the week, join the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group. When you submit your request to join, you will be asked to answer two quick questions about your family history research.

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Ancestry adds Ontario death records for 1948

Posted on May 29, 2020 by Gail Dever

Less than two weeks after releasing Ontario marriage registrations for 1938, Ancestry has released Ontario death registrations for 1948. The Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1948 collection holds more than four million records.

Let’s hope Ontario birth registrations for 1914 will soon follow.

Many public libraries continue to provide at-home access to Ancestry for free.

FamilySearch
FamilySearch’s collection of Ontario marriage records, 1869-1927, and birth records, 1869-1912, and Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947 are available to search for free.

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#AskAGenealogist at the Canadian Museum of Immigration this Friday

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Gail Dever

Looking for an ancestor who immigrated to Canada? Stumped by a family history mystery?

The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax is holding #AskAGenealogist on Twitter this Friday, May 29, between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. Atlantic time (1:00 and 2:00 p.m. Eastern time).

Tweet your question ahead of time to Cara MacDonald (@ancestor_sleuth), manager of the museum’s reference services, or to @Pier21.

Questions don’t have to be limited to travel through Halifax. Remember to include #AskAGenealogist in your tweet.

Ms. MacDonald’s Ancestry Extra webinar on Research Strategies, Tips and Tricks for Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors is available to watch for free on Ancestry Canada’s Facebook page.

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More than 800 local history books digitized for Manitoba’s 150th anniversary

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Gail Dever

The University of Manitoba Libraries, in partnership with the Manitoba Library Consortium, has digitized more than 800 Manitoba local history books to mark Manitoba’s 150th anniversary this year as a province.

Local history books can provide histories of families, farms, communities, schools, churches, businesses, and other institutions.

The Manitoba Genealogical Society, as well as numerous donors across the province, provided many of the books that were digitized. 

The oldest book in the collection is Manitoba: The Best Country in the World for Immigrants, published in 1890.

The books in this collection can be genealogical treasures. For example, a book written for the centenary of Morton-Boissevain, a rural municipality near North Dakota, contains illustrations showing the location of homesteaders’ plots of land and more than 300 pages of family histories.

Search or browse
The local histories collection can be searched by keyword or browsed by selecting one of the filters in the left margin, such as city or institution.

The books can be searched by both the current and former municipality names, since several municipalities amalgamated in 2015 and the majority of the collection is about the former municipalities, not the current ones.

When conducting a keyword search for a first and last name, put the full name in quotation marks. Without quotation marks, the search for george bellamy will find every George and every Bellamy.

In addition to the local histories collection, the University of Manitoba Libraries offers a number of online resources that document the history of Manitoba, including books, newspapers, maps, photographs, and textual records and digital exhibits.

The university’s online local history book collection is subject to copyright. Access has been provided for non-commercial educational and research purposes only. To request permission for other uses of these materials, including publishing, copying, or distributing, you must contact the copyright owner directly, not the University of Manitoba.  

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Ancestry Extra webinars this week on Ontario genealogy research and DNA

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Gail Dever

The Ancestry Extra webinars this week focus on Ontario birth, marriage and death records and AncestryDNA.

You can watch them live on Ancestry Canada’s Facebook page or watch the recordings afterward. Both sessions are free and no registration is required.

Tuesday, May 26, 10:00 a.m. Eastern time
Filling in the Blanks — Moving Past BMD Records with Ontario Ancestors

Birth, Marriage, and Death records form the foundation of family history research, marking key milestones in the lives of our ancestors. But how do we fill in the blanks between these dates to discover more about the lives lived between the dashes? From tracing travel patterns through border crossing records to finding love birds in honeymoon registers, Ontario Ancestors president Steve Fulton UE will show you how to uncover the everyday details that bring your ancestors’ stories to life, using Ancestry collections and local genealogical society records from the Niagara region as a case study.

Thursday, May 28, noon Eastern time
The 21st Century Genealogist — Family History and AncestryDNA

A key part of every family historian’s toolkit, AncestryDNA can help you break through genealogical brick walls, open up new avenues of research, or even kickstart a family history journey. Join ProGenealogist Angie Bush as she shares her tips and tricks for leveraging AncestryDNA in your family history research, and answers your DNA related questions.

Recordings of the following previously presented Ancestry Extra webinars are located in the Video section on Ancestry Canada’s Facebook page.

Keep Calm and Carry On: Tips and Tricks for Researching Your UK Ancestors presented by Celia Heritage

La Collection Drouin : un incontournable de la généalogie canadienne-française presented in French by Luc Lépine

Researching British Home Children presented by Gloria Tubman

We Must Have Swum Over — Research Strategies, Tips and Tricks for Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors presented by Cara MacDonald

Researching Your WWII Commonwealth Ancestors presented by Simon Pearce

Finding the Unknowable presented by Janette Silverman

Finding Susan: Exploring Chinese Genealogy with Ancestry presented by Linda Yip

Ancestry Answered with ProGenealogy

Ontario Ancestors presented by Lesley Anderson and Steve Fulton UE

Uncovering Your Loyalist Roots presented by Lesley Anderson

Spring Cleaning Your Family Tree presented by Lesley Anderson

Researching Your Irish Ancestors presented by Joe Buggy

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Quebec Archives prepares to re-open in a few weeks

Posted on May 25, 2020 by Gail Dever

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) announced Friday it will gradually reopen its 12 locations across the province during the upcoming weeks, but no specific date was provided.

It will take the provincial archives’ staff a few weeks to ensure that all facilities and services meet health and safety requirements, both for employees and the public.

The provincial archives made the announcement soon after the Quebec Culture Minister Nathalie Roy issued a statement, advising that museums, public libraries, and movie theatre will be able to reopen to the public in Quebec as of May 29.

Starting in early June, BAnQ and its regional centres will once again start processing research requests by telephone and email.

The date when the archives will reopen their buildings to visitors will be announced later.

BAnQ has been closed since March 14.

Provincial and territorial archives
There has been no word on when other provincial and territorial archival centres anticipate reopening, although most are handling urgent inquiries during the temporary closure by telephone and email.

Library and Archives Canada
As for Library and Archives Canada, John D. Reid shared on his blog, Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections, a message from Librarian and Archivist of Canada Leslie Weir, who suggested they “are planning for welcoming back (their) users … likely during the summer.”

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OGS Toronto Branch virtual meeting Monday

Posted on May 24, 2020 by Gail Dever

This month’s virtual meeting hosted by the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society is about Finding the Ambrose Small story — a cold case tale that is stranger than fiction — presented by journalist Katie Daubs, on Monday, May 25, at 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Daubs will share how she researched the mysterious disappearance of a Toronto theatre mogul a century ago for her recently published book, The Missing Millionaire.

In December 1919, Ambrose Small, the mercurial owner of the Grand Opera House in Toronto, closed a deal to sell his network of Ontario theatres, deposited a million-dollar cheque in his bank account, and was never seen again. As weeks turned to years, the disappearance became the most “extraordinary unsolved mystery” of its time. Everything about the sensational case would be called into question in the decades to come, including the motivations of his inner circle, his enemies, and the police who followed the trail across the continent, looking for answers in asylums, theatres, and the Pacific Northwest.

Michael Nettleton will also deliver a short presentation, What will you find at the House of Industry?

Register in advance to watch the presentations. Open to all.

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This week’s crème de la crème — May 23, 2020

Posted on May 23, 2020 by Gail Dever

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week.

Crème de la crème of genealogy blogs

Blogs
Genealogy in Canadian towns – Hanna, Alberta by Penny Allen on UK to Canada Genealogy.

British Columbia Ancestors: Historical BC Government Gazette Online by Candice McDonald on Finding Your Canadian Story.

What to Know When Searching Quebec Notary Records by Sharon Callaghan on Ancestry Canada.

When will LAC reopen? by John D. Reid on Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections.

970 Links Now Available for Free Online Historical Voter Lists by Kenneth R. Marks on The Ancestor Hunt.

New WWII Databases Reveal Amazing Information, Honoring 75th Anniversary of Victory by Vera Miller on Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family.

Learning to Research in a New Country by Diana Elder on Family Locket.

9 Unexpected Places to Find Ancestor Photos by Elizabeth O’Neal on Heart of the Family.

Pandemic De-Cluttering and a Heirloom Book by Jacqueline Krieps Schattner on Seeds to Tree.

Giving it away by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist.

Genealogy Myths by Dick Eastman on Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Articles
Long abandoned cemetery gets much needed facelift near Brockville by Nathan Vandermeer, CTV, Ottawa, Ontario.

Canada: DNA discovery lends weight to First Nations ancestral story by Leyland Cecco, The Guardian, London, England.

From Print to Digital: Making Over a Million Archived Photos Searchable by Jonathan Henry, New York Times, New York, New York.

Public asked to solve Scottish archive picture mystery, BBC, Scotland.

Fire damages digital archives of Armenia’s National Library, OC Media, Caucasus.

Organize and Preserve Your Photo Prints in 5 Steps by Maureen A. Taylor, Family Tree Magazine, Blue Ash, Ohio.

For more gems like these throughout the week, join the Genealogy à la carte Facebook group. When you submit your request to join, you will be asked to answer two quick questions about your family history research.

Posted in Crème de la crème | 4 Comments