What I did on my genealogical vacation-2005

Well, I'm home again after over a month away in Ontario & Quebec. My genealogical holiday went very well, although I didn't get everywhere I had planned to go. Next year!

I visited many Toronto cemeteries & took pictures, attended the Islay, Scotland descendants gathering in Peterborough, participated in the Canadian Council of Archives first "Archives and You" conference in Ottawa (excellent! great presenters, enthusiasic attendees & so well organized) . I got lots of research time in at various archives and museums, including the new Canadian War Museum, Trent University & the Trent Valley Archives & the Kawartha Ancestral Research Association (KARA, for short). As well, I saw lots of cultural & other attractions, including a military reenactment at Crysler's Farm, near Upper Canada Village in Ontario. I also made friends with a Montreal parrot.

Was so excited to hear that Bill S-18 giving access to Canada's post 1901 censuses passed in the House of Commons. Images of the 1911 census are already on-line for viewing. Found some more Swedes for our family already!

Thank you especially to Gordon Watts & Muriel Davidson & Canada's Senator Lorna Milne and, of course, to everyone else who helped in the census campaign by signing petitions, visiting political representatives & sending letters.

Also thanks to Library & Archive Canada's staff for seeing to it that the census images for 1911 were available to us so quickly, and to GlobalGenealogy.com Inc. for hosting the Post 1901 Census Project website!

Tried to keep up with my e-mail (got swamped at some points though) & brought back a suitcase full of new & old books, some for me & some for the B.C. Genealogical Society's Library...as well as some solid, new family information, including live connections! ( Now I need to write my plan for following up with all this info.)

A Few of my Holiday Links:

Islay, Scotland genealogy: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/islay/info.htm

Canada's 1911 Census on-line: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/archivianet/1911/006003-100.01-e.html

Post 1901 Census Project: http://www.globalgenealogy.com/Census/

Canadian War Museum Research Centre: http://warmuseum.ca/cwm/libraryarchives/information_e.html

Canadian Council of Archives: http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/

Trent Valley Archives: http://www.trentvalleyarchives.com/

Trent University Archives: http://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/

Kawartha Ancestral Research Association Inc.: http://www.karagen.org/

Upper Canada Village: http://www.uppercanadavillage.com/home.htm

Friends of Crysler's Farm: http://www.cryslersfarm.com/

Montreal Biodome: http://www2.ville.montreal.qc.ca/biodome/site/site.php?langue=en

Canadian Museum of Civilization (Pompeii exhibit- to Sept. 12, 2005): http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/pompeii/pompei1e.html