Friday, August 29, 2008

Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness! - Personal Challenge



Harry Watson WEBB, died 1882 at 1 year and 11 months old. Grave marker, Anglican Cemetery, Chilliwack (Chilliwack Cemeteries, Little Mountain/Mount Shannon). Parents: Lucy Ada HOPKINS and Horatio WEBB

When wrapping up my own participation in the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games, I said I thought that the sections I didn't participate in would be great as personal challenges later.


I've decided to choose one for September - Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness!


The assigned tasks were:


A. Comment on a new (to you) genea-blog.


B. Join another genea-blogger’s blog network on Facebook Blog Networks.


C. Invite other genealogists to join Facebook.


D. Assist another researcher with a research request or lookup. See AnceStories "Random Acts of Kindness Week" posts for ideas for this item.


E. Participate in an indexing project.


F. Join a genealogical, historical, heritage or lineage society.


Since I'll be away several times in September, and it's going to be a very busy month, (with LOTS of genealogy!) I'll report on my progress when I'm finished or at the end of the month, whichever comes first.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

LAC & TGN - Canadian Passenger List Index Launch - September 2008

Apparently The Generations Network (TGN, Ancestry.com, .ca, etc.) and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) will be launching the Ancestry indexes to Canadian passenger lists from 1865-1935 on September 16, 2008 in Toronto. Some 5.5 million names!

Thanks to Olive Tree Genealogy for this heads-up - there doesn't seem to be any news yet on LAC's website or elsewhere.

These indexes will be available on Ancestry (TGN) by subscription, but remember to check with your local library system to see if that's offered at a library for free somewhere near you.

There are various Canadian indexes already (not all on-line), and images of passenger lists from 1865 to 1922 are on-line at LAC's website. See below for a link directly to LAC's Canadian Genealogy Centre's information guide to passenger lists.

If you're in or close to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the launch is 16th September 2008, 10:30 am at the "Toronto Archives Building at 255 Spadina Road" - that would be at the City of Toronto Archives ? (Why I wonder?)

If this were 'after 1935', it would be a bit more exciting to me, but of course, it will be very useful, particularly for the earliest years. Ancestry's indexes and searches, if not always accurate, are usually flexible, although other recent passenger indexes for Great Britain and Europe have really already opened up many of the Canadian passenger lists to researchers.

Looking at passenger lists - from both departure and entry - may give you much more information. Don't stop with one name found in a Canadian entry index - see the actual record, have a look right through it, then search to see if there is a corresponding record in the port of departure.

If your family might have come through Hamburg, see the newer 'Port of Dreams: Ballinstadt' website. (See a link below - this isn't yet mentioned on LAC's web pages.)

And also, keep an eye on Stephen Morse - he is almost sure to have a 'one-step' for this new index very quickly. His search facility does make locating index entries by surname easier.

Now - I have to ask - what did LAC, and thus, we Canadian researchers (and taxpayers), get out of this passenger list index "partnership" between LAC and TGN? Will all the passenger records for this period soon be available free on LAC's website?


LINKS

Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, Canadian Genealogy Centre (LAC): http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-908.003-e.html

Port of Dreams - Ballinstadt Emigrant World, Hamburg , : http://www.ballinstadt.de/index.php

One-step webpages, Stephen Morse: http://stevemorse.org/

For the full announcement, see:
COMING SOON! fully indexed Canadian Ships Passenger Lists, 1865-1935, Olive Tree Genealogy

Monday, August 25, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Final Results



Wow! It's so amazing being up here on the award platform with everyone!

Congratulations to all who participated in the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games! And a very special thank you to Miriam Midkiff Robbins, Kathryn Doyle, footnoteMaven and Thomas MacEntee for all their efforts to keep us organized and encouraged.

The Closing Ceremonies are over now and the Games results have just been posted by Thomas MacEntee at his Destination: Austin Family blog.

Among the events, Reach Out & Perform Genealogical Acts of Kindness! resulted in the highest number of medals (29) and the most Platinum medals (15).

The event with the least number of medals was Back Up Your Data with 18.

These events sound like future personal challenges to me. But all my photos scanned - for that I will need a month of Sundays! (Yes, that's a family expression - haven't heard that outside the family...in donkey's years).

My own results:

M. Diane Rogers
Canada Genealogy, or, "Jane's Your Aunt"
Write, Write, Write!: Platinum

And now there's a future challenge - will the Canadian bloggers step up to organize the 2010 Genea-Blogger Games during the Winter Olympics - to be held in beautiful Vancouver (well, close to Vancouver anyway) ? I'm in...who else?

LINKS

Closing Ceremonies, 2008 Genea-Blogger Games, Destination: Austin Family: http://destinationaustinfamily.blogspot.com/2008/08/genea-blogger-games-closing-ceremonies.html

Genea-Bloggers on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30305424880

Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, B.C., Canada - Wordless Wednesday


Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria, British Columbia
taken May 2007 on a cemetery tour with the
Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria : http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_rb_tour.htm
[edit: This is a post I tried to 'schedule' - just posted it 'by hand' and now it's dated as of last Monday - oh, well...today is Wednesday for me. ]

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Norway House Trip, Manitoba, Canada - 1940


Homeward Bound On Board S.S. Keenora 1940

I participated in another Scanfest today and ended up scanning photographs of my mother's trip to Norway House in Manitoba in 1940. A few are loose photographs; most are in an album - glued to black paper pages. I did finish the set. Now I just have to enter the details.

As soon as I can, I'll put these up on the web somewhere - but now I think I have another word for Randy Seaver...'scandoodling'.

First of all, these weren't in my 'plan' - I'm not that strict, but Christmas is coming and I promised to finish a particular album before then. When I opened a box yesterday though, I thought 'oh, cool'...I should look at these again'.

Then, not that I did nothing else today, but I found myself first off pulling out a Manitoba map, then scanning (ha!) my book shelves for a history, and then it got worse and worse - I was googling to find out this n' that, whatever crossed my mind really while looking at the photos, including what happened later to the S.S. Keenora, (built in 1897).

The answer: as of 1973, she's been up out of the water - at the Marine Museum of Manitoba in Selkirk, Manitoba. I'll be adding that to my 'places I want to go' list.)

Does anyone else scandoodle? Or do you all just call it 'research'?

Marine Museum of Manitoba: http://www.marinemuseum.ca/

Friday, August 22, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Finals - Write, Write, Write!

Well, I made it down the course!

A. DONE - I wrote a post about my blog, and made a few decisions.

B. -DONE - I entered a post in the 54th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy (August 15) "Why Do You Say That, Grandma D, or, the Family Language". I also participated in 'Wordless Wednesday' for the first time.

C. DONE - i wrote some drafts, and even e-mailed them and someday I may be able to pre-post. Otherwise I'll just e-mail them on ahead.

D. DONE - I posted my brief bio of my great uncle. Now I can see how much more I'd like to know about him.

E. -DONE- I'll be hosting the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' Carnival in November.

Is that really a Platinum Medal waiting for me?

Congratulations everyone on your successes!

Samuel Baxter Scott - 1891 - 1959.


Mamie and Sam Scott in Florida, U.S.A., 1946



Scott - Wood family, c 1905, Nottawa, Ontario.

From Walter Scott's album. I believe he took the photograph.


For my brief biography, I decided to write about my great uncle, Samuel Baxter Scott, ‘Uncle Sam’. He is one of the relatives I’ve always intended to research further on a trip east, but somehow I’ve not got around to him yet. Perhaps this is because he seems such a familiar person to me, although I don’t think we ever met. My mother knew him and his wife well and was clearly fond of them. They lived in Ontario, Quebec and in Florida, while we lived in British Columbia. If they ever did come to B.C., I don’t remember them, but I do remember seeing and receiving cards and letters from them, and after he died from his wife, ‘Aunt Mamie’. I still have some of these and even the telegram Mamie sent to advise us of his death.

Samuel Baxter Scott was born in Nottawa, Simcoe County, in Ontario, Canada, 12 January 1891. His mother was Mary Janet (Jennet) Wood, born at Bean Hill, Connecticut, U.S.A. in 1858; his father was Walter Scott, born in Scotland, likely at Dalmeny, about 1827. (I have not yet found his baptism, nor do I know where the ‘Baxter’ in Samuel’s name came from.) Mary Janet and Walter were married in Nottawa in 1883 and already had children: James Walter, born 1885 (my grandfather), Harriott Alice Louise, born 1887, and Ann Pollock, born 1888, also John, born about 1887. (I have found neither a birth not death record for him. He is listed only in the 1891 census. I expect there may be church records that will help here.)

Walter, Sam’s father, is described variously as a merchant, a bookkeeper and a farmer. He likely was all three, of course. Sadly, just a year after Sam was born, his father died. Mary Janet’s father, a widower, lived in the area, and she and the children soon went to live with him. There must have been many difficulties for her – I heard Walter had made some ‘bad’ investments, for instance – but as far as I can tell they had a comfortable enough life with grandfather Wood.

Grandfather Samuel Wood had his own property, had been a weaver in Yorkshire, New England and then Canada, but in his later years he kept bees. All the family helped with that. They also seemed to have had boarders. In the 1901 census, Grandpa Wood, his daughter, and her children are shown living together. An addition to the family by that time was Mary Menzies, a ‘home child’ from Glasgow who’d come to Canada in 1892.

Grandfather went to school in Collingwood, Ontario, the bigger town nearby, and I expect I will find that Sam did too. In 1908, Samuel Wood, the grandfather, died, leaving his property to his five children, but with a provision that his daughter, Mary Janet, could live there for life. (When she died her share was to go to her two sons, Walter and Sam.)

Walter had already left home for Manitoba. In 1910 he was married. Ann was a teacher, and she never married. Mary married soon after Grandfather Wood’s death in 1908, but Harriott (Hattie) was still at home, as was Sam, for a few more years. Hattie married in 1912 and then moved to the United States.

Sam may have been adventurous like his brother, or perhaps he just learned of a good job in Montreal, because as a young man he moved to that big city, and began work as a clerk, perhaps in the same business he spent most of his working years at – the United States Fidelity Guaranty Company. In 1920, he returned to Ontario to marry. His wife was Mamie Stella Harper, born in Owen Sound, Ontario. Her parents were William Harper and Mary Cole.


At the time Sam and Mamie married, both had been living and working in Montreal, as had both the witnesses, Mamie’s sister, Ina, and Ernest Armstrong Archibald, who Ina later married in 1924. Since the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec added Montreal directories to the web, I’ve been able to research where Mamie and Sam lived in Montreal. They never had children and seemed to have always lived in apartments.

Sam became the chief accountant for Fidelity, and I had always heard he and Mamie travelled quite a bit – including to Ontario and to New England to visit family. Sam’s mother, Janet, lived till 1944 and my mother and her parents used to drive back and forth to Nottawa from Ontario to see her. Then in the 1940’s, my grandparents moved to Hamilton, Ontario, from Newdale, Manitoba. I know that they had visits from Mamie and Sam.

Sam and Mamie also travelled back and forth to Florida where they lived in the 1940’s. While my mother was stationed in Washington, D.C., during World War II, she took a trip to Florida to see them. Sam also came to see her in Washington.

After the war ended, Sam and Mamie moved to St. Catherines in Ontario. Sam had apparently been unwell for some time in the late 1950s, and he died 20 October, 1959 at age 68. According to his obituary, he had then lived in St. Catherines for twelve years.


He was a member of St. Paul’s Church and, interestingly to me, he was described as “being interested in all branches of sport”. I’ll bet he would have liked sports TV! But since Sam was lame – he always wore a built up shoe – I wonder if he was much involved with sports as a player. His brother, Walter, my grandfather, was ‘sporty’ – tennis, curling, driving, shooting. Sam may very well found a sport that suited him.

Sam was buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catherines. Mamie lived till 1970 and was buried with him.




My SCOTT family: Muiravonside, Dalmeny, Tushielaw, Galashiels, Grangemouth, in Scotland: http://mdianerogers.tribalpages.com/?userid=mdianerogers





South Vancouver Juvenile Band, Vancouver, Canada - Wordless Thursday

South Vancouver Juvenile Band, J. Olson, Conductor, c. 1933.
One of my luckier postcard finds at a Vancouver Postcard Club show this year:
http://www.vancouverpostcardclub.ca

Blog, Blog, Blog - 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games





My task today is to write a post about my blog - why I started doing this, how it's gone so far, what I'd like to do in the future.

I started this almost as a lark. I’d been reading so many genealogy blogs, and talking to people about what was being written, that I thought I might as well try it myself. It turned out blogging was mostly free and that it didn’t take too much time to learn the ‘how tos’, so that was that.

When I started, I thought I’d use my blog to share information about genealogical events and activities that I’m involved with myself, and as a place to post information useful to the students in my genealogy sessions or to friends in the discussion groups I’m in. These purposes are still important to me.

About the title – usually I’m using Canadian genealogy examples, and there aren’t many Canadian blogs, thus ‘CanadaGenealogy’, but my big interest in life is women’s history and I do like to give a womanly twist to clichés – so ‘Jane’s Your Aunt’. One of the earliest posts I wrote in 2005 was about my title: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/02/janes-your-aunt-whats-with-this-title.html

This year, I made a new resolution or two about blogging. I did update my template as planned, since then I’ve started using more photographs, even added a widget.

Participating in the Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games has given me an incentive to check out Blogger's new features. I've added 'subscribe to' links and I’ve learned how to e-mail a post, this may come in handy in the near future. I thought I remembered a mention of pre-posting in Blogger Beta. That doesn’t seem to be available yet, but I did have someone give me an idea for a solution, if needed.

In my New Year’s Resolutions, I said I wanted to:

“Blog more! I’ve just started with the Carnival of Genealogy and I’ve had fun, so I do want to continue. And, as a bonus, my family is reading my blog, if only to see if their own photographs might appear.”

This is all still true - and I don’t see why a blog (or any other personal writing project) can’t serve more than one purpose.

People seemed to like my book recommendations so I’ll be making that a weekly feature, as with ‘Wordless....’, Wednesday! I think, as that’s my ‘anti-procrastination day’ so not much dallying on-line that day.

I’ll definitely be keeping up with the Carnivals and I'll try to keep up with the Genea-Bloggers (lots of energy in that group!) – it’s fun to do the posts and fun to read everyone else’s. Now, how to encourage more comments? Lots of people tell me they read, but never leave a mark...

Fortune Cookie courtesy of Image Chef: http://www.imagechef.com/ic/make.jsp?tid=Fortune+Cookie

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Canada, 1916 - Taking The Census in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba




'Victorious But Tired'. Postcard, unused, c.1915. The Daily Mirror, Canadian Official Series, (Photograph Passed by Censor). Printed in Great Britain, Published by the Pictorial Newspaper Co.Ltd., London, England.



John Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections viewed portions of the 1916 Prairie census microfilms recently and has some useful comments on his blog. The timing of this was certainly bad luck for me as apparently I missed getting to see the newly released census films only by a couple of days. My own mother should appear in the Newdale, Manitoba enumeration and I am very anxious to see how many of ‘my Swedes’ I can find. I am surprised there wasn’t some ‘buzz’ about this at the ‘Genealogy and Local History for All’ conference – perhaps LAC had been asked one too many hard questions already?

The 1916 census is often called the ‘Western Census’ but, of course, even in 1916, British Columbia was the western province of Canada and B.C. residents are not part of this census. The 1916 population and agriculture census covered the three provinces formed from the former Northwest Territories and Manitoba (so Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba). Its effective date was 1 June, 1916, midway through World War I. The government’s instructions to enumerators reflected that situation and the season with special mention of questions relating to military service, for instance, and summer resorts.

Enumerators were to exercise “civility and expedition” and produce “clear and legible records...in ink of good quality” and were to be paid 4 cents for each living person recorded and 25 cents for every farm of 5 acres or over, and varying rates for other tasks and expenses.

As John noted in his article, many on military service were enumerated with their families. As the instructions said:

General Provisions
43. General rule: It is not possible to lay down a rule applicable to every case but generally...a person absent on military service...should be entered with the family...


The same was to be done for those at work elsewhere or living away temporarily – students, fishermen, lumbermen, and commercial travelers are all mentioned in this section. Construction, mining and railroad camp workers were to be enumerated “as found’, but those in military concentration camps or barracks or training camps were not. Enumerators were instead to “make diligent inquiry” at every household for information about any persons in military service or concentration camps, whether related or a roomer or “other person”.

Public institutions – prisons, hospitals, schools - were to be enumerated separately, however, hospital patients “whose period of absence is more or less known” were to be included with others of their households. Prisoners, no matter the length of their sentences, were to be enumerated in prison.

On 1 January, 1916, though, Canada’s Prime Minister Robert Borden had promised Canada would maintain 500,000 men in the armed forces. In doing so, he may have meant only to strengthen Canada’s voice in Britain’s war strategy, but, as volunteer enlistment slowed, the idea, or the ‘threat’, of conscription was talked about by many. It’s possible then that in looking at the 1916 census we may find ‘too few’ men of military age, if family members sought to evade having them listed.

A few comments from the Lethbridge Daily Herald illustrate some of the difficulties enumerators faced – even the weather was a problem.

30 May, 1916, page 4 “...Commissioner Barnes was in the city last Thursday to arrange for the work in this district but owing to the bad weather few of the enumerators were able to come in to meet him. Among the men who will take the census in Lethbridge are Messrs. Fairburn, J.H. Fleetwood and Hardy.”

6 June 1916, page 4, Editorial page. “Some silly people are circulating a very silly story in connection with the census now being taken. They attempt to mislead certain classes by telling them the census is a forerunner of conscription...Such a statement is an absolute falsehood....”

27 July, 1916. p. 5 – from Ottawa. “Owing in a great measure to conditions produced by the war, the taking of the quinquennial census in the west is proving to be a difficult task, according to reports received here. Where people were domiciled in boarding houses and have no next of kin residing on the place difficulty is experienced accounting for them. For instance, all westerners who enlisted for the first contingent are down as from Valcartier. Military records do not show where they came from and the people with whom they boarded are not able to furnish details. Likewise in the internment camps are many Austrians formerly resident in the western provinces, but whom enumerators are not able to find. Population returns indicate a substantial increase.”

LINKS

“More on the 1916 Census of the Prairie Provinces”, John D. Reid, Anglo-Celtic Connections: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-on-1916-census-of-prairie.html

1916 Census Proclamation and Instructions, extracts from the Canada Gazette, 31 May 1916, Global Genealogy: http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/Download/Instr1916.pdf

1916 Census Statistics, Saskatchewan GenWeb (not complete, includes overall population and language statistics, but other material mainly for Saskatchewan): http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cansk/census/1916census.html

For more background on Canada in 1916, see the 1916-1917 Canada Year Book, on-line in Statistics Canada’s Canada Year Book Historical Collection: http://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb_r000-eng.htm

Newspaper articles found on NewspaperArchive.com through the Godfrey Memorial Library (subscription): http://www.godfrey.org

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Well, today I wrote a piece about 'stores of yesteryear' - this is my first participation in a meme.

Tomorrow I will be posting one of the draft posts I wrote the other day as I expect it to be a busy day.

Remembering Long Gone Stores - downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada



Simplicity Pattern Sewing Contest 'models', Hudson's Bay Company, downtown Vancouver store, early 1950s.



A Meme: Stores of Yesteryear...inspired by the Smoky Mountain Family Historian.

This is a bit of a ramble...but that seems to be partly what an on-line meme is all about, rather like that party game where one phrase is whispered from person to person around the room...


What I remember best from ‘long ago’ here in Vancouver are the three downtown department store buildings we used to shop at on Friday nights – the Bay (1927), Eaton’s (originally Spencer’s, 1907 – bought by Eaton’s in 1948) and Woodward’s (1903). Two of the buildings remain. The Eaton’s building, now often called the Spencer building, houses Simon Fraser University’s main downtown campus, but the Woodward’s building has been mostly demolished for redevelopment - a painful topic to many still. Only the Bay, Canada’s oldest corporation, remains in business and it’s at the same location. (I just spent several days at Fort Langley, a Hudson’s Bay fort, now a national historic site. The Bay has changed a lot - "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay" might not recognise much of the business now. )

Many Friday nights, Mum and I would head downtown and eat dinner together, afterwards we’d shop. No malls then; we took a bus from up Cambie, perhaps to the Bay, walked down Granville, and along Hastings to Eaton’s, then to Woodward’s. Sometimes we went on a block east on Hastings to Army & Navy (1919), Canada’s ‘Original Discount’ store, but that wasn’t as often.

Each department store had its own atmosphere, but some things seemed the same. Remember the elevator attendants? Woodward’s was more the ‘working man’s store’ (although it was women doing the shopping). Eaton’s had nicer things and fewer work boots, and the Bay was reputed to sell the best line of everything. Each store had its own loyal customers, except perhaps on Woodward’s $1.49 days when everyone lined up for the bargains.

I don’t think Mum really had a favourite, although she used to work at Eaton’s in Winnipeg, so she talked about Eaton’s more. The Bay had the biggest candy department as I remember, and, I think, the best fabrics and the latest patterns. I remember being lost in that fabric department as mum checked out the newest from Butterick or Simplicity or Vogue. She entered the Bay’s sewing contests too, as witness the photograph here. She did love to sew. I was never so domestic. I just remember now how the fabrics felt and how the outfits looked on mum or me when finished. Once I went to ‘teen charm school’ at the Bay – oh, dear! Confessions! Eaton’s had the Marine Room restaurant though. That was by far the nicest place to eat.

Woodward’s had the Food Floor – everything you could want in those days, even imported English pickled walnuts – no Brie or anything too fancy – and we could eat strawberry tarts in the mezzanine cafe. Maybe Woodward’s had the best toy department too, or the best prices on toys; many of our Christmas photographs with Santa were taken there. Woodward’s certainly always had the best Christmas windows – back then store windows were really important. People crowded around on the sidewalks to really look.

Truthfully I didn’t pay that much attention to the everyday shopping Mum did. Typical, I suppose. What I remember shopping for best is books, still my favourite shopping experience. Since I never had much money, I bought books at rummage sales and church jumbles, like the book below, sold originally at Spencer’s. (I thought the prices were of interest too.) New books appeared for birthdays and Christmas, and I imagine many were bought at Woodward’s since I remember that store having the best book variety and the more reasonable prices. I wonder if they had Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer in 1961 when the Mounties raided stores and the library looking for copies? (I’ll bet Eaton’s didn’t ever sell Miller- Eaton’s was always known as a ‘puritanical' store - even my mother said so –no tobacco, for instance.)

Duthies’ (1957) was the first independent ‘new book’ store I remember here – what a revelation – all the great books from the library were for sale there right downtown. Then in the mid 1960’s, along came MacLeod’s Books, the best ‘old’ book store here – maybe anywhere. Books piled everywhere...beautiful books, literature, art, history, antiquarian books, banned books, even just ‘plain curious’ books, By that time our Friday night shopping trips were history. Mum still came along with me to the bookstores though. We used to ‘share’ – I’d buy one book and she another – we knew we could always read each other's. I still miss Woodward's myself, but today both Duthie’s and MacLeod’s are still in business, thank goodness, though not at the same locations.


Hudson’s Bay Company history: http://www.hbc.com/hbcheritage

Eaton’s: A Canadian Institution, radio and television clips, CBC Digital Archives: http://archives.cbc.ca/economy_business/business/topics/377/

The history of the Woodward’s building, GVTV video: http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/Greaterdot...3-woodwards.wmv

Army and Navy, Company History by Catherine C. Cole, Before E-commerce: A History of Canadian Mail Order Catalogues, Civilization.ca – the Canadian Museum of Civilization: http://www.civilisations.ca/cpm/catalog/cat2401e.html

1950’s Fashion History: The 'Look' of 50s Glamour with Fashion Dressmaking Patterns: http://www.fashion-era.com/1950s/1950s_3_fashion_dressmaking.htm

Censorship in British Columbia: A History, B.C. Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee: http://www.bclibrary.ca/bcla/ifc/censorshipbc/intro.html

Smoky Mountain Family Historian: http://familyhistorian.blogspot.com/2008/08/reading-obits-brings-back-memories.html




Vancouver Scores in Monopoly



The children, Burnaby, 1973

Well, something very good in the news this morning.

Canada has scored three places in the newest Monopoly - with Toronto, Montreal and, Vancouver - my own home town! This will be the first global edition of the game and Vancouver will be 'orange' along with Shanghai and Rome.

Each city on the game board will have an "iconic token". What could it be for Vancouver? (Just not something from far up north that doesn't belong here, please...)

What does this have to do with genealogy? Not too much - I don't remember ever playing Monopoly till I was grown, but, I do remember the days when one young man and his friends played Monopoly day after day, weekend after weekend - this was just after Hot Wheels race track construction stopped, and just before Dungeons and Dragons took hold.

The new game edition will be available in the fall apparently. Guess what someone might get for his birthday...

LINK

"3 Canadian cities score international Monopoly spots" Canwest News Service, published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008:
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=43e52fde-c2fc-4eda-82f6-ad4289e6c03e

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress



Scotty Rogers in Nottawa, Ontario, Canada, August 1932

Almost a day off today, as far as the Games go, however, I am almost finished my brief biography and I did scan more photographs today.

Monday, August 18, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress



Postcard, Newdale, Manitoba


Well today just one thing done towards these game goals - I wrote a future post for my blog as well as the one I posted today.

Goodness, how can it be almost Tuesday already?


Thanks to Miriam, our Head Coach, I am now in the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games lineup.




>


Brigade Days scene, taken from the Big House, Fort Langley, British Columbia, August 2008



This morning, the on-line Globe and Mail features an article by Josh Wingrove, "An ounce of preservation is worth a ton of history" about the lack of attention Canadians and the Canadian government have been paying to our built heritage and history.


Mark Warawa, Fort Langley, British Columbia, Member of Parliament and Parliamentary Secretary to Canada's Minister of Environment John Baird, will be devoting time in the next few months to promoting the idea of a Canadian National Heritage Trust. That's good to hear but I'll want to know the details. Currently, heritage preservation projects programmes in Canada are mainly individual, provincial or civic ones. We have had national programmes in the past, however.


'Fort Langley', for example, is now a national historic site. Once abandoned and decaying, today this Hudson's Bay Company fort site is a vibrant 'living history' museum. The annual Brigade Days celebration the beginning of this month was a good example of that as thousands of people toured the fort, sampling life from long ago. Re-enactors slept in their tents each night and during the days demonstrated skills as varied as spinning and loading black powder. This was a very special Brigade Days too as the 'Children of Fort Langley', descendants of those who lived and worked at the fort, held a reunion.


Fort Langley was the place where, in 1858, Governor James Douglas read the proclamation declaring this territory a British colony and thus, this year in British Columbia, we've been celebrating our 150th anniversary. Interestingly, it was in preparation for our 100th anniversary in 1958 that the preservation of Fort Langley began.


Watching people in the fort over the Brigade Days weekend, it was easy to see how quickly and how positively people respond to history presented in a restored or rebuilt environment. But many other sites in our province are in danger; provincial and urban heritage societies regularly post lists of 'most endangered' buildings.


The Globe and Mail article mentions, for instance, the Church of the Holy Cross, the 'Skookumchuck Church', in Skatin, B.C. in the Lilloett River valley, c. 1900, built by the people of the Stl'atl'imx Nation from local cedar over a period of 8 years. This church was designated a Canadian National Historic Site in 1981, but still hasn't been completely restored.

A book, Spirit in the Land: Our Place of Prayers, by Sharon E. Syrette and Yvonne A.M. Peters, is available and the volunteers of the Ama Liisaos Heritage Trust Society are fundraising to restore the church. Please have a look at the Society's webpage and consider buying the book and making a donation.


LINKS


"An ounce of preservation is worth a ton of history. With heritage sites across Canada increasingly at risk of being torn down, advocates call for a national trust of endangered buildings ." Josh Wingrove, Monday's Globe and Mail, August 18, 2008 at 3:57 AM EDT: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080818.wheritage18/BNStory/National/home


Ama Liisaos Heritage Trust Society, Church of the Holy Cross, Skatin, B.C.: http://www3.telus.net/public/a3a01408/HC.html


The Heritage Canada Foundation, 'At Risk' building List, including the Church of the Holy Cross: http://www.heritagecanada.org/eng/featured/risk.html


Fort Langley National Historic Site of Canada: http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley/index_e.asp


Children of Fort Langley: http://www.fortlangley.ca/

BC150 Years - celebration event details, B.C. history and more: http://www.bc150.gov.bc.ca/

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Researching Occupational Records for Family History - Upcoming Session - Surrey, B.C. September 2008



Joe Rogers and little George, c. 1917, Vancouver, B.C. Possibly at worksite, Mountain View Cemetery.


"Work Life Stories or Fact Fillers? Researching Occupational Records for Family History" with Diane Rogers

You might have your ancestor's birth, marriage and death records.
Perhaps census records confirm family stories about how they made a living.
But were records left behind at their places of employment, or their union or in other places?

Would these records tell work life stories?

Determine if occupational records are available for your ancestors, whether or not they can assist with your genealogy research, and how to track them down.

Examples given will be from British Columbia and Western Canada.

Saturday, September 13, 10:30 - 11:30 am

Cloverdale Library, 5642-176A Street, Surrey
Charge: $10.00

Please pre-register by calling 604-598-7328, or emailing genealogy@surrey.ca
Payment required upon registration.

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Weekly Recap

I'm following the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games in the "Write, Write,
Write!" category. I did sign up, but somehow I didn't make it into the final
group of contestants. I missed one of the 'trials' as I was only looking at
the original rules. Still I decided to run alongside.

So far:

A. I've thought about why and how I use this blog and how I might use it in
the future - I've checked out Blogger's new features, I've added 'subscribe
to' links to the blog and I've learned how to e-mail a post.

B. -DONE - I entered a post in the 54th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy (August 15) "Why Do You Say That, Grandma D, or, the Family Language". I also participated in 'Wordless Wednesday' for the first time.

C. I've just sent my blog an e-mail draft post- we will see if this works! [Hey! It does!]

D. I've been writing up about my Na, but can see this will be a longer job
that I thought. I have another sketch I will do this week instead.

E. -DONE- I'll be hosting the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' Carnival in November.

This Carnival is a chance to show off those quirky family treasures - ones locked in a
trunk or hidden under the dresser, those don't get displayed on the living
room side table, treasures you've researched and researched, or those you
have no idea about. As Tim Abbott, this carnival's creator says, this is
"show and tell for grown ups".

Links:

Cabinet of Curiosities #8, Walking The Berkshires:
http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires/2008/06/cabinet-of-curi.html

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33129285258

Saturday, August 16, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Today I went through a few more pictures and negatives and I took some photographs relating to a future 'Cabinet of Curiosties' - really though it seems too hot to do much!
Also I did have a look at Blogger's new features and read up about 'mobile' posts.

Tomorrow is another day.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Blog Action Day - October 15, 2008

I'll be participating again this year in Blog Action Day on October 15, 2008. Will you?

The topic: poverty


2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Today:

1. I posted my entry for the Carnival of Genealogy.

2. Encouraged by my friends in the Downtown Vancouver Genealogy Discussion group, I scanned a few negatives - I've never tried this before - and I posted the scan from one of them in today's post - a picture of our family c.1958. My Na is in that photo - but her eyes are closed!

This morning I noticed that Blogger had a 'new look'. I will have to add checking out the newer Blogger features to my to-do list. I'd like to try posting by e-mail. Who knows when I might get a genealogy 'scoop'.

Why Do You Say That, Grandma D, or, The Family Language - Carnival of Genealogy - 54th Edition



The ROGERS-SCOTT family, at home in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada c. 1958. (I say that because Dad has a moustache here - he grew that for B.C.'s Centennial in 1958.)


'The Family Language' is the topic for this 54th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. Does your family use words and phrases that no one else knows or understands?

I think now that most of the odd words or expressions we used at home when I was young were simply ‘old fashioned’ even then. Someone might have a ‘tin ear’ – to be unable to hear much difference between musical notes – or be putting down a ‘red herring, or printing up a lot of ‘bumpf’ to annoy the taxpayers. But, some were quite modern, like ‘gobbledeygook’ and ‘bafflegab’. (You can probably tell there was both music and politics in our home.)

I don’t remember many words or phrases that Mum and Na (grandma) used that I’d associate with the Canadian prairies where they both grew up. We did know what the ‘back forty’ was though, sort of, and there was ‘till the cows come home’ and the best remembered phrase of my Na’s, to have done so many (substitute the number) ‘things before breakfast’. Once Mum had to explain to me what ‘spooning’ was – she’d made the mistake of saying that when she was young, her mum didn’t want her to go to dinner at a newly married couple’s place since they might be ‘spooning’. Na was thinking only of cuddling or kissing. (I’d say ‘canoodling’ for that. I must have picked that up from either mum or dad.)

Mum was sometimes ‘bushed’ or had ‘cabin fever’ – do they say that in Manitoba, I wonder? Mind you, if we were late getting ready to go out, we’d have to ‘get on our horses’. (But maybe that was from all the cowboy movies? No, maybe not; my parents never saw those till we had TV.) Before going out, of course, mum and I would have ‘made ourselves beautiful’. In fact, till the end of her days, mum would ‘put on her face’ before leaving the house, not that she ever wore that much makeup.

Since we lived in southwestern British Columbia, where my father was born, there were a few familiar western phrases he used that we picked up. As kids, we were often ‘antsy’ (fidgety, suffering from ‘ants in our pants’) on a drive to the ‘salt chuck’ (a Chinook expression meaning the ocean), or Dad said some big shot was a ‘high mucky muck’ (more Chinook) or some young guy was a ‘greenhorn’, someone new to a place or a job, or most often, a ‘low man on the totem pole’. When we didn’t behave, our parents would threaten to ‘lower the boom’ on us which when I was quite little I associated with all the log booms around, not sailing ships. And, of course, even today my plans often don’t ‘pan out’; still I know there’s gold out here.

There were a few expressions we wouldn’t likely use now, like ‘gypo outfit’, meaning a dishonest or a very small company apt to do a ‘midnight flit’ (a quick exit out of town ahead of the creditors), although originally a ‘gypo outfit’ here was usually a small, precariously financed logging company, I think, since the ‘men’ and the equipment would move around a lot to work and since the loggers might never collect all their pay.

A few sayings we used all the time; I don’t remember others using these. When we quizzed dad about why he was going out at night, he’d say he was ‘off to see a man about a dog’. This has ever since been a familiar quip in the family (in our case meaning ‘never you mind’ or ‘wouldn’t you like to know’). My son once very seriously asked me why we said this. I do hope he didn’t wish for a puppy every time he heard it. (We only ever had cats, and fish, and once, a guinea pig.)

My brother was sometimes labelled ‘Wrong Way Corrigan’, when he persisted in doing things his way, not my parents’ way. We must have asked for an explanation of that because I remember my parents saying that in the 1930’s, Corrigan, an airplane pilot, had flown from the eastern U.S. coast to California, but arrived in Ireland instead, all the way across the ocean, supposedly by mistake.

Since my parents had been in the army, they had picked up some expressions in their travels – we were used to being told to pick up our rooms ‘PDQ’, or to doing something on the ‘QT’ (which could mean quietly or secretly or slyly) or to hearing that something was ‘buckshee’ (free) – and my dad usually used what I thought of as Army time – the 24 hour clock – which I just didn’t get at all when I was a kid!

One or two expressions were ours, for sure. I can remember my mum teasingly asking did I want some ‘psgetti’. I couldn’t say ‘spaghetti’ for years apparently; when I tried, it came out that way. When we had a little spill, she’d say ‘oh, fall down, go boom’ which I certainly said to my own kids and even my grandson. Wonder if they’d remember?

Then there was ‘now we know’. One neighbour didn’t hesitate to ask about things – like why was that rusty old car parked in the back of our yard or who were those people who came to dinner. Once we answered, she’d say, ‘now we know’. My mum and I soon adopted this as a fine finish to any story.

The finest family phrase I ever coined though was ‘a little squirt in a big pond’ (instead of a ‘big fish in a little pond’). You can guess who the squirt was ... This description came to me during one of several trips to the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. Despite mum’s putting my brother in a red jacket so he’d be highly visible, we were always, always running left and right and in circles looking for him (like 'chickens with our heads cut off').

The best one now though is my little brother’s – I think it was a typo – a few years back he signed himself as ‘your baby bother’ and so he’s been ever since!

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Well - the only progress I made today was to finish my post for the 54th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy. That I'll post tomorrow.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

1916 Canadian Prairie Census available at Library and Archives Canada - only in Ottawa...

John D. Reid of Anglo-Celtic Connections just let me know that microfilms of the 1916 Census of the Canadian Prairies (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) are now available for viewing at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and for interlibrary loan. Drat! I was just there, for goodness sake.

Hoping the Cloverdale Branch of the Surrey Public Library already has an order in.

This census is apparently being digitized under an agreement between LAC and The Generations Network (TGN, aka Ancestry) as was done with the 1891 Canadian census.

What do these commercial agreements mean to those researching their Canadian roots? More from me on this soon. Comments?

For more details, see the Anglo-Celtic Connections: http://anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Well, I'm not sure this counts as really writing, but earlier I put up my first 'Wordless Wednesday' post. Before my first Scanfest I didn't even know that Wordless Wednesday was a 'real' activity!

Now any day can be wordless, so I will look forward to doing this once a week.

(Since I'm still running on holiday time - 3 hours ahead - by me it's already tomorrow, so I think I am ok posting this progress report.)

Interested in participating in a Wordless Wednesday...or Monday, or Tuesday...:
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com

Grouse Mountain, British Columbia, Canada - Wordless Wednesday



Souvenir Post Card, unused, The Valentine & Sons' Publishing Co. Ltd. Montreal and Toronto. Printed in Great Britain

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress





Looks as if an automobile adventure came to a sticky end here. My Na identified those in the first photograph as herself and my mum (who looks to be thinking -I told you so!). Then Margaret Carmichael (daughter of Esther Ann Currins and Alexander Carmichael, my Na's uncle and aunt), then Harold Reekie. I believe my grandfather, James Walter Scott, took the photos. c.1922, Newdale area, Manitoba, Canada

Today was a catch-up' day after being away, but I did scan and crop more photos of my Na in Newdale - as part of writing a biographical sketch of her life.

Monday, August 11, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress

Well, today has mostly been spent travelling. Seeing Canada from the air always reminds me how vast this country is, how varied the landscapes and how beautiful. (Was that really Newdale I saw way below in Manitoba, all surrounded with chrominum yellow fields?)

This was a good trip - I did come home with my research book stuffed with copies and notes - and, now, like Dorothy, I say, 'It's great to be home'.

I did two things today towards my goals however -

1. I outlined what I want to write about in the biographical sketch of my Na

2. I was in touch with Tim Abbott, of the Cabinet of Curiosities host about hosting an edition in November. Thanks, Tim!

Links:

Links to all the 'Cabinet of Curiosities' editions, host Tim Abbott of Walking the Berkshires: http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires/2007/11/new-blog-carniv.html


Walking the Berkshires, Tim Abbott: http://greensleeves.typepad.com/berkshires

Sunday, August 10, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Progress




Well, I have been very busy lately researching all the hours I could at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa. Here is a photo of the entrance to show I'm actually here. The 'real' research hours are short, weekdays only. When you're from out of town and your time is limited, that really matters. Perhaps I can get some west coast M.P.s interested in doing their genealogy. They might have some influence.

On Sunday, one can read reference materials till 2 pm, use the Canadian Genealogy Centre, the computers or read microfilm, etc. (No printing or scanning though.) I did have a look in the Centre again and checked out what there was for Manitoba. As for B.C., not too much on the physical shelves (not even an atlas. Good grief!), but I did have another look at some Manitoba newspaper indexes - found one interesting entry - and tonight I've started to write a sketch about my 'Na' - Amy Estella IRWIN. More on this another day.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games - Write, Write, Write

I'm participating in the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games beginning August 8th through August 25th (one day longer than the Olympic Games, due to Scanfest occurring on the 24th) in the "Write, Write, Write!" category.


What have I got myself into - here are some of the feats I'll be attempting...

A. Writing a post about my blog - why I started doing this, how it's gone so far, what I'd like to do in the future...

B. Participating in one of the many genealogy or family history related blog carnivals. Are you interested yourself? See the AnceStories post "August Is..." (see below) which lists these carnivals and their submission URLs and deadlines.

C. Preparing some posts in draft mode and pre-publishing them - this was a new year's resolution, I think!

D. Writing a brief biographical sketch on one of your ancestors, probably my 'Na'.

E. Signing up to host a future carnival myself. This one is a daunting event, for sure, lots of super hosts already.

Links:

2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33129285258

Genealogy/family history blog carnivals, AnceStories post "August Is..." : http://ancestories1.blogspot.com/2008/08/august-is.html

Friday, August 08, 2008

Genealogy and Local History for All

Yesterday, Jerome Teelucksingh gave a stirring presentation on Caribbean Canadian history and genealogy at the 'Genealogy and Local History for All' conference in Ottawa, calling for librarians and archivists to more actively encourage and facilitate the collection and use of materials relating to Caribbean Canadian organizations, families and individuals.

Jerome lectures at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad, and has published several articles in Families, the Ontario Genealogical Society's journal, as well as in academic publications, for example, "Scarred and Exiled: Race and the Caribbean Immigrant in Toronto, 1970-2004" (Ethnic Landscapes in an Urban World, pp. 121-161, 2007). He is continuing his personal research project into the history of Caribbeans in Canada, interviewing six people on this trip, for instance.

His call is one genealogical and historical societies need to take to heart as well. As he noted, particularly in the case of more recent immigrants, newer Canadians are often busy with work and may not consider that information on their activities and their own papers and artifacts should be preserved. It's up to those already involved in collecting and researching to identify groups and individuals whose lives are not well represented in local collections and to work to make it clear to those groups and individuals how valuable these resources will be in future.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Genealogy and Local History For All - FamilySearch

Paul Smart, from FamilySearch, gave a presentation yesterday at the 'Genealogy and Local History for All' conference.

Although time was short, his was a very organized overview of what's available on-line now, especially at the 'new' lab website and wiki.He mentioned the volunteer indexing projects, of course, and the 'Life Browser' concept (see labs.familysearch.org to try that idea out).

No surprises or exciting news (alas!), but what was interesting was how few in the room seemed to be familiar with the range of resources now available on-line from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

How many of these websites are you using? Have a browse...
Paul did say they read all the feedback from the FamilySearch sites, so be sure to comment if you have opinions or ideas.


www.familysearch.org

www.familysearchindexing.org

www.labs.familysearch.org

www.wiki.familysearch.org

www.familyhistoryarchive.byu.edu

www.gensocietyofutah.org

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

News from Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa

Today and tomorrow I'm at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa attending the 'Genealogy and Local History for All: Research services for multicultural communities' conference organized by the Genealogy and Local History (GENLOC) and the Reference and Information Services (RISS) sections of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) in co-operation with Library and Archives Canada - a conference intended for "librarians, archivists and those who provide library services to the genealogy and local history public." This could include people from many family history and genealogy organizations, as well as historical societies and even museums.

There are few attendees who aren't 'real' librarians - a bit disappointing - but there are several very well known Canadians, including Dave Obee from British Columbia, the genealogy writer and speaker, who'll be discussing Eastern European genealogy tomorrow. He is also the writer behind the Victoria Times Colonist's 150th Anniversary book "Making the News: A Times Colonist Look at 150 Years of History" and the history articles featured in the paper and on the website recently.

Elizabeth LaPointe, writer and editor, is at the conference too. She is now the editor of the Ontario Genealogical Society's e-NewsLeaf and the International Director At Large for the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors (ISFHWE}.

John Reid, another Canadian genealogy blogger, is here too. He's from the British Isles Family History Society of Greater Ottawa and has already reported on the opening sessions at this conference.

From the library community, there is Janet Tompkins from the Vancouver Public Library who spoke today on Chinese Canadian genealogy and demonstrated the new Chinese-Canadian history wiki. Also at the conference is Laurie Cooke from the Genealogy section of the Cloverdale Branch of the Surrey Public Library - certainly the best library in the west for Canadian genealogy.

Today there was much news of interesting things to come - more about some of that later - but watch for an 1881 Canadian census index with census page images on Library and Archives Canada's website....any minute... This project is in co-operation with FamilySearch which is represented at the conference and yes, I understand the index is the same one available already at Familysearch.org. (Is the PRDH, at the Université de Montréal, still indexing the 1881 and 1851/2 Canadian censuses?)

Also new yesterday and of particular interest to British Columbians was the announcement by Library and Archives Canada of a new strategic partnership between Jonathan J. Kalmakoff, developer of Doukhobor.org - currently the website for reseearching Doukhobor roots. Kalmakoff and LAC will identify materials in the LAC collections which relate to Doukhobor genealogy and history and develop a thematic free guide to these, as well as a specialized LAC web page.

LINKS

Cloverdale Branch, Surrey Public Library: http://www.spl.surrey.bc.ca/Programs+and+Services/Genealogy/default.htm

Doukhobor Genealogy, Jonathan J. Kalmakoff: http://www.doukhobor.org

GenealogyCanada, Elizabeth LaPointe's blog: http://genealogycanada.blogspot.com

150 Years, Making the News, Times Colonist: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/features/150/index.html

CanGenealogy, Dave Obee's selection of the very best Canadian links: http://www.cangenealogy.com

Anglo-Celtic Connections, John D. Reid: >http://www.anglo-celtic-connections.blogspot.com

Chinese-Canadian Genealogy, Vancouver Public Library: http://www.vpl.ca/ccg/index.html

Chinese-Canadians: Profiles from a Community, a wiki project of Vancouver Public Library and Library and Archives Canada:
http://ccgwiki.vpl.ca

Ancestry.com Launches Jiapu.cn - in a partnership with the Shanghai Library.

Ancestry.com has just opened www.jiapu.cn in a partnership with the Shanghai Library. The new Ancestry website will be "dedicated exclusively to Chinese family history. It has been developed exclusively in the local language to allow users to search records and build family trees in Chinese and is fully supported by a Beijing-based team."

Already available on the site is the Confucius family history along with information covering 270 other Chinese surnames. Ancestry promises that soon jiapu.cn will have 36 million pages, with more than 181 million names from 181,600 volumes of jiapu covering 22,700 Chinese family histories.

A jiapu [or Jia Pu or Zu Pu] is a family history bound in volumes, which starts with a Chinese ancestor and traces his family history down the male line by generation. It is traditionally updated every 15-30 years to include births, deaths and marriages; on average, each Jiapu runs from eight to ten volumes and covers 300 years of a family’s history and can include information on emigration, biographies and perhaps maps or other illustrations. Jia Pu do not usually include information about women, foreigners, or those adopted into the line. The Jia Pu on Ancestry's site will range in date from 1368 to 1949; most will be 18th and 19th century. In past years, a website by Danny Boey had details from about 12,ooo Jia Pu on-line but that information hasn't been available for some time.

Most interesting for those of us outside China with Chinese family roots will be the possibility for users to make connections outside China. "Chinese family history enthusiasts will be able to build trees, upload photographs and stories, and also connect with living relatives around the world who are also researching their family history through an Ancestry website."

Thanks to Dick Eastman for the heads-up about Ancestry's new venture.

For more information about Jia Pu and references for further reading, see the Vancouver Public Library's Chinese-Canadian Genealogy web pages or the article on Confucius's family tree which now includes up to 560,000 people - as of very recently, even women.

Links:

Jia Pu - An Ancient Chinese Tradition, Chinese-Canadian Genealogy: http://www.vpl.ca/ccg/Ancient.html

Ancestry.com Announces New Partnership with the Shanghai Library, Dick Eastman, Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/08/ancestrycom-ann.html

Confucius' Family Tree—Longest Family Tree in the World, Epoch Times: http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-2-9/51500.html