Bruce & Grey Branch Ontario Genealogical Society Fall Event

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

Durham Memorial Arena, Saddler Street Durham, ON

Evva C. Benson, A. G.

Evva C. Benson graduated in 2000 from Brigham Young University earning a B. A. in Family History and a B. S. in Economics. She is employed in the British Reference Unit of the Family History Library. She has earned her Accredited Genealogist credentials in both Enland and Ireland. Evva enjoys spending her free time with her family, hiking, and eating cheese.

Evva was so well received that we invited her back. Don't miss her this year. Keep checking the website for information for her program.

Go to the following link. More details and the application form are after the calendar.
http://www.bmts.com/~bgogs/calofevent.html
Thank you to Korleen Halbert, Vice Chair BGOGS for this information.

Two Web Sites for People Researching Ancestrors in Durham (Region)

Wesley Johnston of Clovis, California has created two web sites that may be of interest to people seeking genealogical information in Durham. He offers both for consideration.

From Cornwall to Canada in 1841: http://www.wwjohnston.net/famhist/pedlar1841.htm
This is a web page about a detailed narrative of the voyage of four ships with 600 Cornish people who settled in and around Oshawa, Columbus (English Corners) and nearby areas in both Old Ontario County and Old Durham County.

Columbus St. Paul's Anglican Families: http://www.wwjohnston.net/famhist/ontario-cemeteries/columbus-st-pauls-anglican.htm
This is the first of several web pages that will use the cemetery stones in the Columbus church cemeteries to reconstruct the families of the area (which includes many in Darlington as well as East Whitby Township) and show their cross-relationships. It is far more than just another cemetery page. The research behind each stone takes many hours -- or even days and weeks in some cases. The connections with areas to the north (Orillia, Prince Albert, Port Perry, Little Britain) are strong, and there is also a connection to the Staffa area in the Huron tract, but he has not yet figured out how to make these explicit.
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These pages have some 'broken links'. Worth visiting if 'your people' were there. Email Wesley with any comments, questions . . . from his website: wwjohnston@aol.com

The Soldier in later Medieval England

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has awarded a Research Grant worth just under £500,000 to Dr Adrian Bell of the ICMA Centre and Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton to challenge assumptions about the emergence of professional soldiery between 1369 and 1453.

The project has an innovative methodological approach and will be producing an on-line searchable resource for public use of immense value and interest to genealogists as well as social, political and military historians. The project employs two Research Assistants over three years and also includes one Doctoral Research Studentship - all of whom began work on 1st October 2006. The whole team is working on a jointly authored book, conference papers, and articles.

Check out the site: www.medievalsoldier.org

Thank you to Dr Fraser Dunford, Executive Director, Ontario Genealogical Society

Free Trial - World Vital Records

World Vital Records is offering free access to over 1 billion records until midnight on August 13, 2009. You don't have to provide a credit card number.
Go to: www.worldvitalrecords.com
Be patient - you can expect it to be busy.

Canadian Necrology Website??

Not sure if you know what the Canadian Necrology Website is?

It is an online reference tool available through UofT that is freely accessible. It may be a useful tool for people interested in looking up obituaries of prominent and lesser known Canadians. This one is created by the University of Toronto and most of the information comes from newspapers such as the Globe, the Star and the Gazette [Montreal]. This site covers information from the late 18^th century to 1977.

Check it out at: http://link.library.utoronto.ca/necrology/

Also, for those of you interested in looking up Whitby people, the Whitby Public Library has a local newspaper index too that is available (and searchable) online.

Thank you, Krista Jorgensen for this information.

NORFOLKLORE XXXIII

Canada’s oldest and original genealogy fair takes place in Simcoe on Saturday September 26, 2009 between 10am and 4pm. Now in its 33^rd year, the fair is a genealogist’s dream come true. Exhibitors and professional & amateur researchers from across Ontario converge for one day of information sharing, shopping and swapping. Meet with representatives of various OGS and UEL branches, chat with publishers, shop for research materials or services, and check out the used book section.

All this and more is offered for only $5.00 per person. General Admission to the Fair includes entry into the nearby Eva Brook Donly Museum and one-day use of their extensive archival collection (a $5 savings off the regular research admission!)

Same price but NEW Location!

NORFOLKLORE XXXIII takes place at the Simcoe Seniors Centre, 89 Pond Street in downtown Simcoe. The museum is just a short 2 block walk away.

For more information about the Museum and Norfolk Historical Society, visit www.norfolklore.com or for a direct link to Norfolklore Genealogy Fair information click on http://www.norfolklore.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=20

Free Access to 1911 Census Across England and Wales

The National Archives (UK) announces:

Thousands of people across England and Wales will soon get the opportunity to delve into their family history online for free.

The National Archives, in collaboration with UK-based family history website findmypast.com, is providing seven archives and libraries around England and Wales with free access to the recently completed online records of the 1911 census.

The census, available at 1911census.co.uk, provides a snapshot of life in the early 20th century, showing the name, age, place of birth, marital status and occupation of every resident in every home, as well as their relationship to the head of the household.

Oliver Morley, Director of Customer and Business Development at The National Archives, said: 'The 1911 census has been hugely popular and we are excited to be able to help family historians across the country benefit from this fantastic resource.

'Digitising records allows a far greater audience to access them, and that is especially important with records like the census, which are extremely important for genealogists,' he added.

The seven institutions soon to launch free access to the census records are:

• Birmingham Archives & Heritage
• Devon Record Office (Exeter)
• The National Library of Wales (Aberystwyth)
• Manchester Archives and Local Studies and Greater Manchester County Record Office
• Norfolk Record Office
• Nottinghamshire Archives
• Tyne and Wear Archives

Before planning a trip, visitors are urged to contact the relevant institution to find out the when the service will be available.

Remember that the "free access" is only at the institutions listed above. It is hard to imagine how they will cope with the demand.

Thank you Toronto Branch for sharing this news.

Summer Reading = Interesting Web Sites

Hopefully this summer provided you with some leisure time to catch up on your genealogy reading. While reading the May through September issues of three Moorshead publications, Family Chronicle, Discovering Family History, and Internet Genealogy several interesting web links were noted. The list is eclectic - have fun exploring.

Visual History
http://images.google.com/hosted/life
http://www.britishpathe.com
http://www.itnsource.com
http://www.archive.org/details/universal_newsreels
http://www.movietone.com

Passenger Lists / Immigration:
General
http://www.stephenmorse.org
NYC
1830-1892
http://www.castlegarden.org
1846-1851
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/subject-list.jsp?cat=SB298&bc=sb
1892-1924
http://www.ellisisland.org

Old and New Maps:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps
http://www.davidrumsey.com
http://www.uwm.edu/library/digilib/maps/

Finding Genealogy Conference Blogs:
http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/conferences.asp

Creating your genealogy/family history website in the "Cloud":
(for advanced computer users)
http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php
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These are simply FYI - they look interesting - enjoy.

1930 US Federal Census During the Depression

Don't miss this FREE offer if you have USA research.

Footnote’s 1930 US Federal Census takes a remarkable resource and makes it better for historians and genealogists by letting anyone quickly enrich it with photos, documents, stories or other facts about that person.

Free for August ONLY.
Register Now for Free Access

Simply register and get Free Access to the 1930 Census during the month of August.

No Credit Card required. Enjoy!

26 days left

Our Branch Website Selected Best for its Design, Timeliness, Unique Content and its Blog.

This information was received as the summer hiatus was beginning.
Unfortunately it was not noticed but just this week it was discovered. Congratulations to Branch Webmaster Dan Delong.

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Below is from John D. Reid on his Anglo-Celtic Connections website:

"The best OGS branch website. Three of the Ontario Genealogical Society 30 branches stand out for their web sites. Each branch has a web site. Most provide basic information about the branch and its programs. A few show the hallmarks of considerable work that has gone into the site -- they deserve recognition. This evaluation wasn't exhaustive, but it did have criteria: design, timeliness and unique content.
The three OGS Branches (in alphabetical order) that stood out from the others are:(drum roll)
Durham Region, Quinte, and York Region. There was another near miss.

And the best site:(drum roll)
Durham Region: Unique resources, a blog and RSS feed make this well designed site the best overall."
JDR May 28,2009.

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MyBlood Genealogy Data Base Program (PC and Mac versions) by Vertical Horizon

OGS Durham Region Branch Members,
I am working on a revision of my earlier review of the MyBlood genealogy program. New features have been added which I will address. The review will appear in the 2009 Fall Edition of our branch newsletter, Kindred Spirits. It is too lengthy for this Blog. I think you will like what this software can do and how it does it. I have added of few notes below to whet your appetite.
Guy

My first review appears soon at http://mause.ca in the August newsletter DoubleClick.

From their Web Site:

MyBlood is a genealogy application that targets every level of genealogists. It delivers simple views but deep insights on complex genealogy data, by combining relational database technology under the hood with superior visualization on the outside.
MyBlood supports is multilingual and comes with a separate program to easily add your own translations of other languages if required. MyBlood runs in the exact same way on the PC (XP or Vista) as it does on a Mac (OS X). With full support for the international GEDCOM format, it produces highly portable data sets avoiding any vendor lock in. With out of the box integration with Google Maps for ‘places’ and ‘locations’ it allows you to visualize moves, travels, emigrations or other kind of events in your family history in an unprecedented way.
MyBlood will also bring a more natural way of working with any kind of media file like tagging people on pictures like many social network sites tend to do today.

About Vertical Horizon
Vertical Horizon is an independent, Belgium based, start-up company that brings together the power of personal computing with in depth knowledge of genealogy. This resulted in the development of MyBlood, a state of the art genealogy application. Vertical Horizon was started by seasoned and experienced IT professionals with a passion for genealogy. The Antwerp based company is owned and financed by its management team.

Visit http://www.myblood-line.com/