Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s YouTube channel includes videos about cemeteries, Scottish immigration, a sanitorium for tuberculosis patients, and scandals

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Gail Dever

On its YouTube channel, the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network has posted the fifth episode of season two of its series, Raising Spirits: Exploring the Cemeteries, Crossroads and Vanishing Places of Quebec, that was filmed in the Laurentians region of Quebec.

In the latest episode, Shrewsbury, Laurentians’ writer Don Stewart speaks about a small rural village that was settled by Irish immigrants in the mid-19th century.

The previous episode was about Scotch Road. “In the early 19th century, displaced families from Scotland traversed a rugged and heavily-forested wilderness to create a new settlement they could finally call home. Cecil McPhee, a descendant of one of the families, conveys a heart-felt story in a place that no longer exists except for a neatly kept graveyard.”

Another series on this YouTube channel that may interest family historians is the Scandal Makers, which has five episodes, including one about a particular headstone in St. James Cemetery, an English Protestant burial ground in Trois-Rivières.

Most of the videos on the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s YouTube channel range from about 15 to 20 minutes — just long enough to watch while sipping a cup of coffee or tea.

The Raising Spirits and Scandal Makers series were funded by Heritage Canada.

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Irish Ambassador to Canada visits historic immigration depot, Grosse-Île, in Quebec

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Gail Dever

The Irish Ambassador to Canada John Concannon posted on X yesterday that he had visited Grosse-Île in the St. Lawrence River in Quebec.

The island was the site of an immigration depot which housed predominantly Irish immigrants coming to Canada to escape the Great Famine of 1845–1849

Today, visitors can tour many of the buildings used for the immigrants and by the islanders. The disinfection building features the original showers, waiting rooms and steam disinfection apparatus, as well as a multimedia exhibit about the island’s history.

A walking trail leads to the Celtic cross and the Irish Memorial, which honours the memory of the immigrants, the employees of the quarantine station, the sailors, the doctors, and the priests who died on this island.

Here’s what the Ambassador had to say:

Go ndéana Dia trócaire ar a n-anamacha. (May God have mercy on their souls.)

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Ontario Ancestors’ Niagara Peninsula Branch’s YouTube channel is worth checking out

Posted on June 13, 2025 by Gail Dever

Ontario Ancestors’ Niagara Peninsula Branch maintains a YouTube channel with more than 40 videos. Lately, they’ve been added a new video each month.

Topics of the videos include British Home Children, Newspapers.com, the Polish diaspora and WWII, the white plague and WWI, university websites for genealogists, Loyalists, and special collections at Brock University.

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Nova Scotia Archives updates marriage and death records

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Gail Dever

With little to no fanfare, Nova Scotia Archives last month added provincial marriage records for 1949 and death records for 1975 to its online births, marriages and deaths collection.

We could possibly see birth records for 1924 in the next month or two. Last year, the births for 1923 were added at the beginning of July.

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Five more Ontario papers added to Newspapers.com

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Gail Dever
Front page of Parry Sound, Ontario’s North Star newspaper, June 11, 1936.

Good things continue to happen for Newspapers.com subscribers who are researching their relatives who lived in Ontario.

Yesterday, five more newspapers from Canada’s most populated province were added to the online database.

The North Star, Parry Sound, 1879-1996

New Hamburg Independent, New Hamburg, 2012-2023

The Banner, Aurora, 2012-2013

The Era, Newmarket edition, 2012-2023

The Era, East Gwillimbury edition, 2012-2023

There are now 654 Canadian newspapers on the site. Anyone can look at which papers are available by country, but only subscribers can search within each publication.


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Ancestry and MyHeritage DNA kits on sale

Posted on June 11, 2025 by Gail Dever

Both Ancestry.ca and MyHeritage have put their DNA kits on sale for Father’s Day, although I doubt they can be mailed to arrive by Friday. If interested as giving a kit as a gift this Sunday, you may want to consider including an IOU note in your card.

Ancestry’s DNA kit is on sale for CDN$79, down from $129, and for an extra dollar you can add a three-month World Deluxe membership. These offers end June 15.

The sale price for MyHeritage’s DNA kit is CDN$53, down from $139. The discounted price ends soon.

Shipping is extra for both companies’ kits.

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Search Central Okanagan, BC obituaries online

Posted on June 9, 2025 by Gail Dever

The Kelowna & District Genealogical Society (KDGS) in British Columbia has now made the Central Okanagan Obituaries database available for anyone to search online, thanks to a City of Kelowna Cultural Grant.  

You can now search and download obituaries from the 24,000-plus collection of people who passed away in the Central Okanagan (Peachland to Oyama including Kelowna, West Kelowna and Lake Country, BC). Some of the obituaries date back to 1913. 

Anyone can search and download
If you find an obituary you would like to view, simply proceed to the shopping cart.

KDGS members can download the obituaries for free.

Non-members can purchase downloads for $10 plus a handling fee. (If you plan to download several obituaries, you may want to consider joining the society for $50.)

Only downloads of those with images of the obituary are allowed. So, if you encounter one without an image, a pop-up form will allow you to request the society find and upload the image. They will let you know when the image is available for downloading. 

This project began in 2010. The grant allowed KDGS to purchase equipment and supplies to assist the Obituary Committee in processing items for the database, from collecting, preparing and indexing, scanning/uploading and proofreading to the filing of the originals.

The initial KDGS database was created by Geoff Dawson, a member of KDGS, and volunteers made tens of thousands of entries over the years. In 2023, a redesign of the database on a more robust program was started with Programmer/Developer Javier Gongora of Vyoniq Technologies, who worked in collaboration with Xenia Stanford, KDGS Obituary Committee Chair and the Project Manager, Central Okanagan Obituary Project, to complete the database and offer the public search. 

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This week’s OGS presentations feature Irish records, Toronto’s morbid past, and British Home Children

Posted on June 9, 2025 by Gail Dever
Ontario Genealogical Society

The Ontario Genealogical Society will host three virtual presentations this week, including one that is hybrid. As usual, all are free and open to the public.

The following times are in Eastern time.

Tuesday, June 10, 1:00 p.m. — Irish Special Interest Group
Irish Records from the Penal Period 1692-1829 by Fintan Mullan

Fintan Mullan has been Executive Director of Ulster Historical Foundation since 2001. Register to watch online.

Wednesday, June 11, 7:00 p.m. — York Region Branch
The Toronto Book of the Dead and the City’s Morbid Past by Adam Bunch

With grisly tales of war and plague, duels and executions, you can learn a lot about Toronto through stories whose endings were anything but peaceful. Register to watch online.

Saturday, June 14, 10:30 a.m. – Simcoe County Branch
The British Home Children: Canada’s Forgotten Legacy by Lori Oschefski

Discover the challenges these child migrants faced, the hardships of indentured service, and the resilience that led to their success. Learn about key resources for research and explore the vast contribution Home Children made to Canada’s development and war efforts. Through compelling stories and historical insights, this presentation sheds light on an overlooked chapter of Canadian history and honours the legacy of over 100,000 British Home Children who helped shape the nation.

This is a hybrid meeting. Attend in person at the Penetanguishene Centennial Museum and Archives, 13 Burke Street, Penetanguishene, or register to watch online.

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This week’s crème de la crème — June 7, 2025

Posted on June 7, 2025 by Gail Dever

Some of the bijoux I discovered this week.

Crème de la crème of genealogy blogs

Blog posts
Western Canada Online Genealogy Chats June 2025 by Penny Allen on UK to Canada Genealogy.

Understanding Day School Records at Library and Archives Canada by Marc St. Denis on Library and Archives Canada Blog.

Canadiana Updates and Sunday Sundries: Talks from the Irish Genealogical Research Society by John Reid on Anglo-Celtic Connections.

Digitisation of Church of Ireland records by Claire Bradley on Claire Bradley.

Update coming to the free newspapers on Chronicling America by Paula Stuart-Warren on Genealogy by Paula.

Free California digital newspaper archive by Janine Adams on Organize Your Family History.

FamilySearch Catalog marks Full-Text search collections and Major update to FamilySearch England Jurisdictions 1851 Map by James Tanner on Genealogy’s Star.

When the Index Is Wrong – A Search Tip by Nancy on My Ancestors and Me.

Building a FAN club from a will . . . by Teresa Basińska Eckford on Writing my past.

Don’t Forget Your Records! Archival Records in Your Emergency Planning on South Peace Regional Archives.

My First Dive into Exploring the New FamilySearch Community Page and Book Review of “Storytelling for Genealogists: Turning Family Lineage into Family History” by Doug Tattershall by Jon Marie Pearson on The Simple Living Genealogist.

For Genealogists: Cemetery Photo Tips by Gena Philibert-Ortega on GenealogyBank Blog.

Forgotten Ancestors: Remembering James Hallsey by Paul Chiddicks on The Chiddicks Family Tree.

Increase Your Ancestor’s DNA Coverage and Expand Your Opportunity for Discovery by Rick T. Wilson, PhD on MyFamilyPattern.

The Truth About DNA and Famous Connections by Paul Woodbury on Legacy Tree Genealogists.

The End of an Era: Uploads at MyHeritage by Dr. Leah Larkin on The DNA Geek.

Articles
Searching Records on FamilySearch: Your Complete Guide by Rick Crume, Family Tree Magazine, Dublin, New Hampshire.

How to Interview Your Family Members Like an Oral Historian by Nisa Khan, KQED, San Francisco, California.

UK Government launches newly digitised historic editions of world’s oldest English language daily newspaper, Northern Ireland.

23andMe back on the auction block after former CEO makes 11th-hour bid by Johana Bhuiyan, The Guardian, London, England.

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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Vancouver Morning Star added to Newspapers.com

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Gail Dever
Front page of the Vancouver Morning Sun, May 16, 1924. Source: Newspapers.com.

After publishing more than a couple of dozen Ontario newspapers during the past several weeks, Newspapers.com has looked to Canada’s west coast for its latest addition.

This week, issues of the Vancouver Morning Sun, from May 1924 to January 1926, have joined the popular online collection of newspapers.

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