VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 13 - The Finish

Today is the end of our Baker's Dozen (13 Days) of Online Resources for Vancouver Genealogy Research.

These are 'tried and true'. But, of course, you will find information on Vancouver city and people all over the Internet. 

Here are just a few more examples. Hope one or them at least brings you new information!

Library and Archives Canada

Many of the LAC databases have info, for e.g. the World War I personnel files, the Immigrants from China, 1885-1949 database, the censuses, the book collection, and the maps. Not everything is digitized, but some are, for e.g.,

"Atlas of the city of Vancouver, 1912", Ricketts, Tascherreau & Co. Ltd., :1 atlas (24 pages): b&w ; 57 x 99 cm. Fire insurance plans, Copyright expired. Library & Archives Canada: R6990-915-0-E, Box number: 2000762000. https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/home/record?app=fonandcol&IdNumber=3932441&q=Vancouver 

Here is the main page for LAC searches currently. Don't forget to 'Search – Theses Canada' and 'Voila' too: https://library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/search-collections/pages/search-the-collection.aspx 

The Internet Archive! Here's a favourite of mine. And one for fun! (Especially if you are a 'reader'.)

Souvenir of Vancouver, Album, Photographs, no date, Clarke and Stuart: Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

From the collections of Queens University in Toronto,  W.D. Jordan Special Collections and Music Library. Downloadable: https://archive.org/details/souvenirofvancou00unse/page/n19/mode/2up

The official catalogue of the books contained in the Free Library, Vancouver, BC, 1897. 

(from microfilm). Contributed by Canadiana.org. Digitizing Sponsor: University of Alberta Libraries. (Original in the Vancouver Public Library collections.) 

The catalogue was available for 10 cents then. Expensive. Downloadable: https://archive.org/details/cihm_16313/page/n15/mode/2up  

Don't forget the BC Archives. Many interesting Vancouver items in the Collections, as well as the larger provincial collections for Vancouver, for e.g., early police records, and wills - covered in an earlier post, Day 10.  

For items shown online, search with 'Digital Object Available'. 

A copy of this photograph is in the BC Archives and available online but it was damaged. Here it is shown as published in The Province, showing participants in the Canadian Pharmaceutical Convention held in Vancouver in August 1929 - men, women and children too. 

The BC Archives copy though has more information with it: " 'A.I. Commercial Photo Service Vancouver, B.C.' is embossed into the bottom right corner."  It seems to me. many, if not most, people will be recognizable in the newspaper photo, more than in the BC Archives copy. Best to look at both.

Pharmaceutical Convention, August 1929, Vancouver, BC. 16 Aug 1929, Friday,The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Courtesy, Newspapers.comThe BC Archives copy is titled: "Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Assn. at Grouse Mountain Vancouver, B.C. August 13 to 16, 1929", Public Domain, Accession number: 193501-001. https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/seventeenth-annual-convention-of-the-canadian-pharmaceutical-assn-at-grouse-mountain-vancouver-b-c-august-13-to-16-1929

HAPPY SEARCHING 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 12

 Nearing the last of our Baker's Dozen of Vancouver Resources but never least -

The City of Vancouver Archives - 90 years young this year - an essential source for Vancouver research.

I like to point people to this page which has guides to research at the Vancouver Archives, including genealogy, house history and more: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/research-at-the-archives.aspx 

The guides for genealogy include Directories (1882 to 1996; also some BC Directories), Mountain View Cemetery records, Voters' lists (1886 to 1992), News clippings, Private-sector records, Photographs and Books. Download the Genealogy Reference Guide for more details: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/genealogy.aspx 

AuthentiCity, the Vancouver Archives blog, has articles on many collections, like the recent one on the historical by-laws of Vancouver, Point Grey and South Vancouver where my own family lived: https://www.vancouverarchives.ca/ 

If you can't visit in person (yet), you should know that the City has been in the forefront of digitization and you will find many items online, including maps and photographs and other records. 

A New Map of Vancouver...with the compliments of Spencer's, Vancouver's largest department Store. Front page, fold-out brochure advertising Spencer's Department Store, Spencer's furs, and David Spencer Ltd. with an oblique aerial map of the Lower Mainland, and a road map of routes into Greater Vancouver, 194-. Courtesy City of Vancouver Archives AM1594-: MAP 293-: LEG1800.069. Public Domain. https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/a-new-map-of-vancouver

And speaking of books (as I often do), don't forget the Vancouver Public Library's Special Collections. The Library's Vancouver History page has a list of recommended books and many links to other resources, including 'This Vancouver', Vancouver stories collected in images, audio clips, and videos: https://www.vpl.ca/guide/vancouver-history 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 11

 Well... on Day 9 of this Vancouver Genealogy Challenge, I encouraged you to learn about Vancouver's history, neighbourhoods and transportation by looking at streetcar development. 

Today, Day 11, I'm introducing you to a wider source for Vancouver history - the Vancouver Historical Society: http://vancouver-historical-society.ca/index.html

The Society meets regularly at the Museum of Vancouver and, if you can't attend, the meetings are live-streamed on YouTube where there are archived talks you can catch up with: ::https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqrxLzWptopnfoBjkHTgn1w 

The Society's next meeting is May 25, 2023. The speaker is John Belshaw on "Reckless Riders and Reckless Writers: Cycling Accidents in the News since 1886". 

Further into the website is "The Story of Vancouver": https://www.vancouver-historical-society.ca/blog/ where you can "Read Vancouver’s history from the beginning to the present like you haven’t seen it before by theme and topic through quotes, photographs and a written narrative."  I recommend this as an easy way to learn about or review the City's history. 

There's a nice list of Sources too which includes a good number of very useful books, all of which should be available through Vancouver Public Library or at one of Vancouver's great bookstores.

The photographs add a lot to Vancouver's story. These are mostly from the collections of the City of Vancouver Archives  and the Vancouver Public Library, Special Collections. 

Staff at the News-Advertiser Building, Vancouver, BC; Date: 189-. Photographer, Bailey Bros. Courtesy Vancouver Public Library, Special Collections: Accession # 19842. Public Domain. 

VPL Special Collections: https://www.vpl.ca/digital-library/historical-photographs-bc-and-yukon

Just for genealogy fun: Can you think of just 2 ways to find out more about these people working for the News-Advertiser in Vancouver in the 1890s? 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 10

 So you've looked at some death records for Vancouverites. What did they leave behind, if anything?

Do check to see if you can find if they left a will and/or an estate.  

Start at the FamilySearch Wiki page which has links to information and indexes and images for British Columbia wills and probate files: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/British_Columbia_Probate_Records

I recommend you read the BC Archives guides first; links are on the above FamilySearch Wiki page. 

British Columbia Archives Research Guide to Probated Wills" and ""British Columbia Archives Research Guide to Probate Case Files".

And do read the 'How to Use this Collection' guides offered at FamilySearch with the two collections of Estate Files and Wills.

BC wills are not always found where you might think. I also recommend searching newspapers. A published notice may give you more details to help your search. And since sometimes, there's confusion,  disappointments or disputes involved, you may find out more about it in the newspapers, even newspapers from far away.

FamilySearch collections - see the collection descriptions, etc. before searching. 

Canada, British Columbia Estate Files, 1859-1949 (County and Supreme Court) with images. For Vancouver, Supreme Court, indexed 1893 to 1925. 

(Ancestry.com has this database online too - British Columbia, Canada, Estate Files, 1859-1949. Browse by Judicial District/Locality.)

Canada, British Columbia Wills, 1861-1981

And also on the FamilySearch page is a link for the Abbotsford Genealogy Society's alphabetical indexes online to some BC wills, from 1860s to the 1940s. I've found this very useful and you can request a will copy through their lookup service, if you need to. 62 volumes of probated wills were donated to the Society and indexed and filmed. The Society also has an index for 2,620 wills registered in BC from 1864 to 1939  by non-residents. 

Another index available online is " People Who Died Intestate, 1861-1883" As reported in the Sessional Papers of the Government of British Columbia, 1885, page 475. Extracted by Hugh Armstrong. See the link on the first FamilySearch Wiki page above. 

This index is on the old Rootsweb site and apparently will be moved very soon. I expect that I and FamilySearch too will post a new link once available. This full Sessional Intestate Report for 1885 is available in the University of British Columbia's Open Collections: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcsessional/items/1.0065782?o=6

TWO WILL EXAMPLES

SHORTEST  VANCOUVER WILL TO 1907.

Shortest Vancouver will, 31 words. John T. Carroll. 26 Jun 1907, Wednesday, Daily News Advertiser (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123657843/shortest-vancouver-will-31-words-john/ 

Shortest BC Will, John T. Carroll, dated 5 October, 1903, Vancouver. "Canada, British Columbia Wills, 1861-1981," #8/1-/1507. Images 786-789, courtesyFamilySearch.org. Citing Supreme Court. British Columbia Archives and Records Service, Victoria. John T. Carroll died 13 May 1907 at Vancouver. 

SOLDIERS 1916 WILL VALID IN 1929

Military will valid, 1916-1928, Gerard Henry Varty. 15 Nov 1929, Fri The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com. Gerard Varty died in Vancouver, BC, 18 December 1926. Newapapers.com: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123646740/military-will-valid-1916-1928-gerard-h/

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 9

To research people in Vancouver, it's best to know at least a little about its history, neighbourhoods and transportation.  And its place in what we often still call 'Greater Vancouver'. 

Here are just a few online resources illustrating Vancouver's streetcar history.

 Hastings Streetcar with ads, Route No 20, Vancouver 1944. Photograph courtesy of City of Vancouver Archives CVA 586-1874: Public Domain. Creators listed as Don Coltman, Howard King, Warner Williams and Donn B.A. Williams (also donor). https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/streetcar-ads-3

First, "Vancouver Explained: The Streetcar", a video (with transcript) by Sam Sullivan in 2021-2022: https://kumtuks.ca/streetcars-and-metro-vancouver/

Next, "There's a documentary about that amazing 1907 streetcar video" by Brendan Kergin, February 8, 2021, Vancouver Is Awesome.

This is an article with a link to a 1907 film taken from a Vancouver streetcar by William Harbeck and a link to a newer video, thanks to the Vancouver Historical Society. The 1907 film shown was restored by regnittuB: https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/local-news/theres-a-documentary-about-that-amazing-1907-streetcar-video-3365227

And, for good measure, a few maps of Vancouver's streetcar system at various times. This page has an article with a 1923 map and links below to 3 other Vancouver maps for 1913, 1930 and 1953. All at  Transit Maps, a website site curated by Cameron Booth: https://transitmap.net/vancouver-city-suburban-lines-1923/ 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 8

 Today's Vancouver resources are:

The Vancouver Heritage Site Finder, an interactive map with photos and more: https://www.heritagesitefinder.ca/  Developed by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. See the website for more articles, events, etc.: https://www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org/ 

and the City of Vancouver's Heritage Register - around 2,200 registered heritage buildings in Vancouver, and 138 parks and trees, as well as monuments and archaeological sites and 16 heritage streetscapes: https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/find-a-registered-heritage-building-site-or-tree.aspx

Avalon Dairy Heritage Plaque, City of Vancouver. 

Photograph courtesy of Mike W., squeaky marmot, 

taken September 14, 2010. 

 Accessed at Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.  See more of his photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/avalondairy

(

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 7

 Another very useful database for Vancouver research is: 

Heritage Vancouver's Vancouver Building Permits database 

This includes information for - 

• City of Vancouver: Jan 1901 to Dec 1929 (see note for 1905-1908)* Transcription ongoing
• District of South Vancouver: November 1911 to December 1928.
• Corporation of Point Grey: May 1912 to December 1928.

(Both South Vancouver and Point Grey joined Vancouver in 1929.)

Search the database here: http://heritagevancouver.org/building-permits/ 

Follow the above link and search for this nice example - 2720 Yukon Street (11th & Yukon St.).

From 1931,this was  the King's Daughter's Restholme, much later McDonald Lodge Nursing Home. 

First owner of the house: Dr George Albert McGuire - a dentist and a Member of BC's Legislature.  (If you happen to be related to, or interested in George Albert McGuire, please contact me.) 

See a photo of the house - City of Vancouver Archives, City photo, 1978. CVA 786-54.09:: https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/2720-yukon-street d

And a list of 'almost new' furnishings for 17 rooms for sale in 1931:

Sale of furnishings, almost new, for 2720 Yukon St. Vancouver, 1931 - Contents from 17 rooms. 04 Feb 1931, Wed The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 6

 Mountain View Cemetery is Vancouver's only cemetery, although early on there were burials at other sites. Often the death registration or a newspaper article will include a burial place. (After 1919, you may find some Vancouver residents buried in Burnaby at the Ocean View Cemetery which was perhaps seen as more modern. Or later yet in the Masonic Cemetery in Burnaby, now named the Pacific Heritage Cemetery.)

Mountain View maintains records of burials and has an online database for those buried 20 or more years ago: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/mountain-view-cemetery.aspx 

You may find gravestone photographs and maps and the names of others buried in the same area. (I usually check FindAGrave.com too as there may be additional information or other photos there.)

This is my very favourite cemetery; many relatives are buried there. And my grandpa and my dad worked there. My dad used to tell me stories; so wish I had those written down!

In the past, I've done tours there and have taken a lot of photos at Mountain View myself. 

Spring at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 

Taken by me in 2007.

The Field of Honour at the Cemetery. photo taken by me in 2010. 

Mountain View holds the graves of 581 war dead and more than 11,500 military veterans. You can search at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for more information on those who died in service: https://www.cwgc.org

Maria Frost's grave, Mountain View Cemetery. She died in Vancouver, Oct. 1943. 

Maria and her husband, John William Frost, were neighbours in South Vancouver and, I think, friends of my grandparents. This photo was in my grandmother's album. I believe Maria's surname was Backus and that she was previously married to Alfred Ernest Cousins in England. She and John William Frost came to Canada in 1920. Please contact me if this 'rings a bell'. 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 5

Today's resource is one for British Columbia, but certainly is vital for those Vancouver records all genealogists look for  - Birth, Marriage & Death records.  

https://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy

Note: The Help button will take you to a guide with helpful information and search tips. (It's not quite up to date.)  

Many of British Columbia's BMD records are online, free to download. There are, of course, some restrictions for privacy reasons. Currently these records are in this database - there should be an update soon, perhaps in May. 

Births (1854-1903)

Marriages (1871-1946)

Deaths (1872-2001)

Colonial marriages (1859-1872)  If no image online, go to FamilySearch. 

Baptisms (1836-1888) - this is an index only. See the Guide. 

If images of the records are not available there, watch for another blog post in this series soon on how to get them (usually free). 

Below is an example of a 1912 marriage record from South Vancouver, now part of Vancouver.  BC Archives and the BC Vital Statistics Agency. (BC Archives Mfilm Number:B11376, Vital Stat Images(s):004401575_01025.jpg.) The various forms have changed over the years as have some of the regulations. 

  

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 4

 Today I'm featuring the Vancouver School Boards Archives & Heritage website.

https://blogs.vsb.bc.ca/heritage/

Search for a school name and see photos collected with usually a little information about the school.  (Rarely are pupils named.)  Most of the photos seem quite recent. I believe a good number of older photos were collected digitally and hope to see them added someday soon. 

One area features 'Lost Schools' with information on schools no longer in operation, including some photographs. 

One of the schools included in that section is the Vancouver Normal School (1901-1956) - the teacher training school - which I remember at West 7th Avenue and Cambie Street in the 1950s, but it was at other locations before that. If you know of someone who taught school in Vancouver before 1956 they may have trained there. 

And I would also check the City of Vancouver Archives for photos, maps, drawings and additional information, as I have done to find the photo below. (And the Vancouver Public Library Special Collections, and Vancouver newspapers too!)

Simon Fraser School Cooking Class, ca 1920. Courtesy of City of Vancouver Archives: CVA 468-040. Public Domain. Creator (designated in the Archives description) George Halford Wilson. https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/simon-fraser-school-cooking-class

The three Identified in the photo are: #1Hazel Tuff (Mrs. Halford Wilson) #2 Eleanor Hanna, and #3 Mr. Campbell, Principal. (I believe the last was Principal Edmund Caspell who was at Simon Fraser School from 1911-1932.)

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 3

Photograph of Roedde House, courtesy of photographer Rebecca Bollwitt, taken 1 May 2012, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0: https://www.flickr.com/photos/miss604/7132822513 

Today I'm recommending a source often neglected - local museums! Step into history; learn how your families lived (or might have hoped to live). 

Roeede House in Vancouver, BC was built in the early 1890s and lived in by the family of Gustav and Matilda (Cassebohm) Roedde. Gustav Roedde was Vancouver's first bookbinder and founded a printing company which is still in business today. 

The house itself is now a museum and even if you can't visit, you can learn about the house and the museum, its collections, exhibits and activities with a virtual tour, podcasts and videos: https://www.roeddehouse.org

Here's a video to start: "Pioneers of Print: Featuring G. A. Roedde, Practical Bookbinders and Ho Sun Hing Printers" : https://www.roeddehouse.org/pioneers-of-print

And here's the Virtual Tour: https://www.roeddehouse.org/visit-online

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023 Day 2

 Note: Today's resource is only available free to BC residents.  I did want to include this as I know many BCers haven't heard about this site.  (See the other link below for those who don't live in BC or the Yukon.)

Over 125 years of B.C.'s heritage.

Online access for anyone in B.C. or the Yukon.

The Province (1894-2010)

The Times Colonist (1884-2010)

The Vancouver Sun (1912-2010)

Although only one of these was always a Vancouver paper, if you search you will find plenty of Vancouver news in all these papers and indeed in other BC newspapers. Victoria is British Columbia's capital, for instance, so lots of political news from there affected Vancouver and its residents and businesses.

Follow this Link:   https://discover.clarivate.com/ProQuest_BCHistoricalNewspapers 

Access to This ProQuest Historical Newspaper Collection Is Made Possible for Everyone in British Columbia and the Yukon by:

BC Electronic Library Network, BC Libraries Cooperative, and Focused Education Resources.

Happy news hunting! 

And don't forget to go to Kenneth Marks' The Ancestor Hunt for more links to digitized newspapers for British Columbia and beyond. I happily recommend this website! 

https://theancestorhunt.com/blog/british-columbia-online-historical-newspapers-summary/ 

And a pay site, Newspapers.com for easy access to more newspapers, including for Vancouver.

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen - April 2023

 

Were you at the Abbotsford Family History Day last Saturday? 

If not, you missed a great time. Although not quite as crowded as some years, this was the first big in-person event around here for a long time! We had lots of time to hear the talks, discuss topics, meet new people, buy books (yes, I did) and catch up with local genealogy groups and buddies 'live'.  Congratulations to the Abbotsford Family History Centre for this very successful event! 

VANCOUVER BC Canada – Genealogy Approved Websites and Resources – A Baker’s Dozen

I haven’t joined any of this year’s genealogy challenges so far, as it seems my extra time has been quite short. But since the weather’s not the best – yet – I thought sharing some Vancouver genealogy website resources (all free) would be in order. 

I often like to do odd # quick challenges – so this personal challenge will be – a baker’s dozen! And one or two might be quirky. All are for topics I am often asked for.

These are in no particular order. And I may go back and forth with topics too. But these will all end up on my 'favourites list'  for Vancouver genealogy which I'm updating.

1. Vancouver Street Directories – 1860-1955 – found online in the Vancouver Public Library’s collection of digitized British Columbia city directories. Have a look at the instructions. A bonus there is a free-to-read digital copy of Elizabeth Walker’s book, Street Names of Vancouver (Vancouver Historical Society, 2000).  

https://www.vpl.ca/digital-library/british-columbia-city-directories 

Henderson's City of Vancouver Directory, 1907, page 432. 

Vancouver Public Library (VPL) collection. 

Even in 1907, "FAKES' were a worry.