January Genealogy - Finds and Favourites

CanadaGenealogy, or, Jane's Your Aunt isn't a baby anymore. She is now five years old! Her first post was 3 February, 2005. Seems like yesterday, really.

I've planned to do a few new things on the blog this year. Other bloggers. like Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings are already featuring 'best of genealogy' posts of the month or week. I do appreciate those lists, but wouldn't want to do quite the same thing.

Since I spend quite a bit of time on the 'net, sometimes, it seems, just wandering around admiring little nuggets and niches here and there, I thought I'd share some of each month's 'finds and favourites' with my readers the first week of the next month. I'm hoping some links will be helpful, or that an occasional find will make you think, or perhaps even give you a genea-laugh. After all, some of my finds might be quirky, but you just never know when stray genea-information will come in handy, do you?

So here's January 2010's list of Find and Favourites - more than a baker's dozen here, in no particular order:

1. Backupify - The ever helpful Thomas MacEntee at GeneaBloggers wrote about Backupify, a new service to back up one's on-line data at websites like Twitter and, yes, I signed up! This will be added protection for my tweets and updates, but also for my Flickr photos and this blog. So far, Backupify works with Twitter, Google Docs, Wordpress,G-Mail, Facebook, Zoho, Delicious, Flickr, Basecamp and Photobucket.

Thomas mentioned an article about Backupify at Digital Inspiration too - excellent site for news and views about all kinds of practical web tools and technology. The free Backupify offer has now been extended to February 15, 2010, so do have a look and see if this might be helpful to you.

2. Black History, Library and Archives Canada – February is Black History Month and LAC introduced a new Black History Month portal page with links to Black History information at LAC and at outside sites. Glad to see this as I'm sure this type of portal page attracts new readers and researchers. I hope this one will be expanded over the next while.

3. Lost Cousins – The biggest genealogy news in January for me was that Lost Cousins has added the 1911 Irish census to its matching system. That census information is free from The National Archives of Ireland. (By the way, Library and Archives Canada was a key partner in the Irish historical census project and digitized both the 1901 and 1911 Irish censuses.)

Do you have ancestry from the British Isles? Are you not a member of Lost Cousins? Why not? You can register for free, or for under $20 Canadian, you can be a full member with additional benefits. Go to LostCousins.com to learn more about it and to register.

4. Who Do You Think You Are-Live 2010 – the UK's National History Show has added on-line 'What's Your Story' guides from The National Archives of the UK for those with ancestors who were in the Army, or who were criminals, divorced, Irish, Jewish or Scottish, and migrants. Attending this show sounds like a dream genealogy vacation indeed. WDYTYA -Live 2010 is February 26-28th in London, England. In case you can attend, several companies have 2/1 ticket offers, including S & N Genealogy and History Times .

5. Elevator history - I have to confess I've never thought much about elevator history, except to admire some of the older ones I've been in, for example, in the old Provincial Courthouse in Victoria, now the Maritime Museum, but here's a neat website, The History of Elevators, with links on elevator history, including the virtual Elevator Museum. You might find an elevator inventor in the family. (This website is courtesy United Elevator in case you need an elevator repaired in the greater Vancouver area of BC.)

6. Recipe Calculator from SparkRecipes - I've volunteered for a heritage cookbook project. (More about that later.) Here's a nifty calculator for the nutritional value of a recipe. Whoa! my Na used far too much butter! (But she was tiny!) I found this on-line calculator through Real Age.

7. A Book About Pub Names - the history of Britain as told through its pub signs - This is an e-book by Elaine Saunders who is on Twitter as @Book_About. I don't drink that much, but several of my relatives managed or worked in pubs and inns in England and Scotland. Elaine's blog, It's a Book About... hasn't been updated for a while, but there are some pub photographs there and she has a link to an excerpt from her book that's on-line free.

Now two Canadian genealogy/history blogs - via Loaded Web

8. Glengarry County - Do you have an interest in Glengarry County, Ontario and area, in Canada? Check out the Glengarry County blog which includes information about the genealogy publications of Alex W. Fraser (of Courtenay BC) and Rhoda Ross.

9. You might find a Canadian environmentalist in the family tree. (No pun intended for British Columbians, or loggers either.) The Great Green North blog by Ryan O'Connor is 'Exploring the History of the Environmental Movement in Canada' apparently starting with Pollution Probe in Toronto in 1969 and SPEC, the Society for Pollution and Environmental Control, in Coquitlam, BC, 1969. He seems interested in many groups, although the focus of his university research, he says, is Toronto.

10. The Doegen Records Web Project - Tionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen - Stories, prayers, vocabulary, recorded in Irish dialect by Dr Wilhelm Doegen and his assistant, Karl Tempel, from 1928-31 on-line. A project of the Royal Irish Academy Library. Browse by recording titles, speaker's names, and speakers' origins (115 from Connacht, 17 from Leinster, 120 from Munster and 144 from Ulster). Many of these recordings, if not most, are under a Creative Commons License.

11. The Marriage in Ireland 1660-1925 Project at the Queen's University, Belfast, aims to publish a major study on Ireland, north and south, focused on families below the wealthy landowning classes. This will be of interest to those researching family in Ireland. More about this later, I hope. Via the newsletter of The Women's History Network of the UK. Professor Maria Luddy who is Co-Director of this project has already written much on women in Ireland. Follow her link on the Marriage Project page to see her titles, and also links to The Directory of Sources for the History of Women in Ireland and Women in 20th-Century Ireland: Sources from the Department of the Taoiseach, 1922-1966, both of which are on-line.

12. Ulster Heritage DNA Project - there's information on the Ulster Heritage Magazine's blog about the Ulster (in Ireland) DNA projects, (Y and MtDNA) managed by Barry R. McCain of Oxford, Mississippi and Jim McKane of Wiarton, Ontario, Canada.

13. Canadian Gravemarker Gallery - this is a now a perennial favourite of mine. I still have some real concerns about the future of many personal genealogy websites, but I certainly admire Canadian Gravemarker Gallery founder, Murray Pletsch of North Bay, Ontario. With volunteers, he now has over 500 cemeteries listed with thousands of photographs on-line free, and has had thousands of visitors since the site opened ten years ago, originally as the Northeastern Ontario Gravemarker Gallery. There's a free newsletter you can sign up for and links to free e-mail cemetery lists.

14. Scanfest! The best genealogy event on-line in January was 'the return of Scanfest'! A big thank you to Miriam Robbins Midkiff of AnceStories: The Stories of My Ancestors who organizes this. At Scanfest this time, I scanned a group of postcards that my great uncle sent home while he was working in Africa. As we scan, we chat and share tips and ideas. If you'd like to see what we're up to, go to the ScanFest link to see a replay.

15. Vintage Toronto - Here's another blog find this month; it's all about vintage Toronto postcards and their stories. I have only a few Toronto postcards myself, but I would certainly like to learn more about them.

16. WANTED! U.S. Criminal Records Sources & Research Methodology by Ron Arons - A Twitter link to a favourable review of this book on Leland Meitzler's Genealogy Blog caught my eye, and yes, I want it. Wouldn't I love to find a criminal or two in the family - more records! It's a bit more expensive to ship to Canada, but contact the author if you're interested. Free on his website are photo galleries for Sing Sing Prison and some of its Jewish inmates and an inmate database. Both Leland Meitzler and Ron Arons are on Twitter, as @Lmeitzler and @RonArons, respectively.

17. Arcalife - new at Arcalife in January - Dr. Nick Barratt is now guest blogging on the Arcalife blog. Arcalife, a British Columbia, Canada company, has a website meant for sharing and storing your family and individual histories. There are tiered memberships from free to lifetime. The lifetime option allows members regular access to the website's family history features and its innovative tools, like the Life Cube and also upgraded storage, and will enable members to pass on their digital estate.

And, that's it till next month!

Treasure Chest Thursday - New!

The Swiss Family Robinson, edited by G.E. Mitton, Third Edition, J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia (no date - 1920s?). Owned and read by George Rogers (signed inside cover) & by daughter M. Diane Rogers, both of Vancouver, BC, Canada. Prices in pencil, inside, 2.00 (crossed out) and 1.00. Stamped - "Mark R. M. Co, Ltd. VAN "

Leslie Ann Florida over at Lost Family Treasures is now dedicating Thursdays to sharing family treasures and has invited other genea-bloggers to do the same. I'm happily following her example here and so today will be my first Treasure Chest Thursday.

Slowly I've been photographing and describing my own family treasures, mainly so that my children will have a record of these and so that they'll be able to read some of the stories behind all that 'old stuff' I like to keep around me.

Almost every family has at least one special memento from the past. Perhaps it's not the far off past - it could be mum's braids, a souvenir plate from Blackpool, England, a hand made baby sweater from the 1930s or Mum and Dad's rock and roll record collection from the '50s. Few of these treasures are valuable in monetary terms, although some families may have heirlooms with diamonds and pearls.

Talking to relatives about ways to preserve and safeguard these family mementos and family heirlooms could bring home to relatives just how very useful their family genealogists can be. And looking at family treasures, even the 'silly' ones, is often a good way to interest those 'non-gens' in the family in a story or two.

I've made up some forms for my 'Family Treasure' inventory which I'd be happy to share. I give these out often to members of groups I speak to about genealogy as I find there is a lot of interest in this topic. I have specific forms for photographs and for books too.

Reading is one of my passions and as a girl I was lucky enough to have a number of older books given to me by relatives. This book, originally my dad's, The Swiss Family Robinson, was a childhood favourite of mine. I thought of it as a very practical adventure story - how to live well if marooned.

In my own collections too are quite a number of bits and pieces that I've brought home myself, mainly from genealogy research trips, which bring back my own treasured memories of places where my various families have lived, like this double decker bus marked as #99 Town Centre Linthwaite (West Yorkshire). I just had to have it!

I'm hoping all my treasured pieces will find a place among someone else's family treasures someday - "Grandson, are you listening?".

Red vehicle model, double decker Yorkshire Traction company bus - #99 Town Centre Linthwaite, with ad for Stardrops Cleaning Magic on both sides.

Marked underneath: Oxford Diecast, Vintage Model, Made in UK.

Two of my ancestors, Samuel WOOD and his father Joseph WOOD, both born in Yorkshire, England, lived at Linthwaite in Yorkshire, before emigrating. Both died in Ontario, Canada.

Two Genea-Bloggers Met in Surrey BC Today!

Today two genea-bloggers met at the BC Genealogical Society's Walter Draycott Library in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Serendipity! What fun!

Sue Dombrowski and her mum came along today to have a good look at the Library's collections. Luckily I happened to be right there when they arrived.

Here's the proof for our on-line friends at Genea-Bloggers and at Scrapaholics! (Wish we'd had some Mardi Gras beads handy though. Next time...)

Sue and I met on-line through the Scrapaholics scrapbooking Meetup group and this May, Sue started blogging at Scrap Your Roots. I wrote an article then about her and her blog. Both Sue and I are members of the Genea-Bloggers group and we read each other's blogs regularly.

I was very glad to meet Sue's mother too as she was the family genealogist till she got Sue interested in family history.

Sue's been participating in an on-line scrapbooking workshop - 'The Challenge of Me'. This does sound like something many of us should do. Have a look at her blog to read how Sue's doing with that project.

Sue's also started her own business developing family heritage scrapbooking kits. Great idea! Beginners will love these and they will be a good 'jump start' sometimes too for scrapbooking people like me - long on ideas and short on time.

Scrap Your Roots - A New British Columbia Genealogy Blog

There's a new genealogy blogger from British Columbia, Canada at Scrap My Roots!

Sue Dombrowski, a member of the same online Scrapaholics Meetup Group I'm in, just decided to enter the blogging world. Her passion is: family history and preserving our family roots.

She's been researching her family for a while and has now joined a local genealogy group. This is one of the very best moves any genealogist can make, in my opinion. There's no sense re-inventing the wheel, now is there? Others researching before you and with you have advice and information to share, but besides that, they will understand what you are talking about - well, most of the time! I'm just going to flash this GEDCOM onto my stick, check that #921's mum's BMD EE cite, then download it all into my PAF and then upload to my site...

And, of course, they will be better able to commiserate with you about those inevitable burned or water soaked 'lost' records no one can find (or maybe read yet without expensive and scarce space age technology), and to congratulate you on the many great 'finds' you will have. Let's face it, family and friends don't always understand how frustrating and how exciting this genealogical research can be.

On-line, there's no better group for genealogical bloggers than the Genea-Bloggers, too. Hope Sue will join us there soon.

Welcome to the genealogical blogging world, Sue! I have chosen to award your blog a 'One Lovely Blog Award'. I can see you are off to a great start.

The British Columbia Genealogical Society, Canada

British Columbia Genealogical Society parade group,

2007, St. Patrick's Day Parade, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) is the genealogical group I am most involved with. If you live in British Columbia or if you are researching anyone who lived in British Columbia, you will definitely benefit by joining our society.

The BCGS is 'all volunteer'. We have regular meetings every month in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada - on average 70+ people attend. We sponsor special events throughout the year including at least one trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, our cemetery committee is very active in photographing and recording British Columbia's cemeteries, we publish a quarterly journal and an e-newsletter and we own and manage our own genealogical library.

The monthly meetings feature either speakers or our special interest group sessions - for instance, for the English, Canadian, Scottish, DNA or computer groups. Experienced members lead these groups. Sometimes a group member presents on a topic or talks about their research. Other times, it's a 'roundtable' and we all share information and assist each other. For a full list of the BCGS groups, and contact information, please see our website: http://www.bcgs.ca/

Some groups meet at other times, for example, the Quebec and Scandinavian groups, so check with a facilitator for current meeting plans.

Today we had a very successful event - a Sold Out seminar with Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. Everyone enjoyed the day. She is a very good speaker - for instance, her DNA session gave those new to the idea the basics, while at the same time, she relayed up to date information to the DNA converts in the room.

The BCGS's Walter Draycott Library in Surrey, British Columbia holds over 13,000 genealogical books, periodicals, microforms and CDS. We have a special research interest in British Columbia, but our members are researching all over the world, so our collections are worldwide. The library is free for members to use but non-members can research at the library for a small fee. Once a year, in July, we host a free Library Week - during those days we have volunteers each day to assist visitors with research in different countries.

We also attend a number of genealogical and heritage events during the year to promote interest in genealogy and in the British Columbia Genealogical Society. And our Boutique which sells genealogical books, research tools and even novelties (you need a new genealogy mug, don't you?) is at most of our regular meetings, almost all BCGS events and attends seminars and events put on by other genealogical and historical groups.

Our next event will be 15 March 2009, a week tomorrow, when our BCGS group will be marching in Vancouver's 6th Annual St. Patrick's Day parade. If you're in the Vancouver area, come to the parade. Be sure to cheer and wave to us!

There is lots of information about our Society and about British Columbia genealogical research on our website.

British Columbia Genealogical Society: www.bcgs.ca/

This post was written for Genea-Bloggers Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #8: Talk about highlights and events from your local genealogy society. Most genealogy bloggers are members of several historical societies and love to hear about the events in other organizations. This is also a great way to attract new members.

If You're a Genealogist, You Need A Regular Data Backup Day

Data Backup Day for Genea-Bloggers is the first of every month. This is the day to back up computer files, on-line files, even e-mail and photograph files.

For myself, I usually back up my blogs, family files and current projects on Wednesdays - that's 'Anti-Procrastination Day' - some of you will know that's Flylady's doing. (I don't think she's into genealogy (yet), but she has great plans and great tips for getting and keeping organized.) If I'm working on a big project (as I am this weekend), I back those files up every night to my external drive and usually also to my travelling flash drive, so I've got that up to date when I'm working away from home.

Last year, my old computer 'died' at an inopportune time. Luckily I did have almost everything critical backed up on an external drive and was able to keep right on working. But that's because I also quickly borrowed a computer from my dear son. Now that the dear grandson is using that computer - I might not get assistance quite as fast! Temporary or permanent computer replacement plans also need to be part of your backup strategy. I also think I'd appreciate a service that automatically backs up my data, so I am looking into that.

I do periodically backup my e-mail. I have a LOT of e-mail, so I always felt this was important for me. Perhaps I don't do that backup as often as I might, however, last year, I only had to search that old e-mail a couple of times, so maybe I should rethink how much e-mail I keep instead!

Just in time for Data Backup Day, Thomas MacEntee, a Genea-Blogger and the Genealogy and Technology Examiner at Examiner.com, has a new article, "11 Ways to create backups and prevent data loss". He's even found a way to back up my Twitter followers, my tweets and the list of those people I follow, as well as new ways to back up e-mail, IE and Google settings, and more. Check his article out.

"11 Ways to create backups and prevent data loss" by Thomas MacEntee, Examiner.Com: www.examiner.com/x-3932-Genealogy-and-Technology-Examiner~y2009m3d1-11-ways-to-create-backups-and-prevent-data-loss?cid=examiner-email

Curious about the Genea-Bloggers? Learn more about us at the Genea-Bloggers website or look for us on Facebook.

No Ginger Rogers, But Always Ready To Tap, Tap, Tap In The Rain

No Ginger Rogers, But Always Ready to Tap, Tap, Tap in the Rain.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 1954. Dance costume (blue with blue sequins) made by Muriel Rogers. Photographer, Julius Shore.

Family Collection.

Amy Coffin at the We Tree blog posted a helpful list recently -

'Jump Start Your Genealogy Blog. 52 ideas. 52 weeks.'

The first week's prompt was to post a favourite photograph and say something about it. I'm not promising I'll keep up the next 51 weeks, but this week's idea did catch my eye. Thanks, Amy.

We Tree Blog: http://wetree.blogspot.com/

Genea-Bloggers Visit Ancestry, January 2009

Most of us doing genealogy and family history use Ancestry.com one way or another. Many of us love to hate it, but can't think about life without it either.

Some genea-bloggers were given a special tour yesterday and had the chance to listen to Ancestry.com's (The Generations Network - TGN) people and to ask them questions.

Interesting that TGN is aware of the power of genea-blogging. Wonder if anyone from outside the USA was invited?

For now, keep an eye on these three bloggers for news about this. I'll post links to other bloggers' reactions later:

DearMyrtle: http://blog.dearmyrtle.com/
Randy Seaver: http://www.geneamusings.com/
The Ancestry Insider: http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/

Addition - Diane Haddad At the Genealogy Insider (Family Tree Magazine-USA) has just posted her first comments on this trip:
http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/New+And+Next+At+Ancestrycom.aspx

No real international content news yet - maybe Internet Genealogy/Family Chronicle need their own visible blogger? (mmmm...) Leland Meitzler of the Genealogy Blog wasn't invited, but I think/hope he will be commenting: http://www.genealogyblog.com/

GETTING TO KNOW ME, GETTING TO KNOW 'CANADA GENEALOGY, OR, JANE'S YOUR AUNT'

Getting to Know You Challenge - GeneaBloggers
GETTING TO KNOW ME, GETTING TO KNOW CANADA GENEALOGY, OR, JANE'S YOUR AUNT

I'm a Vancouver born British Columbian, retired, they say, but busier than I ever was when I was working, I think. My research interests are in family history and Canadian women's history and I indulge myself in crumpled newspapers, dusty books, archival documents and historical photographs as often as possible.

I'm active in my local genealogical society - the British Columbia Genealogical Society - and in the Women's History Network of British Columbia. I give talks and workshops on various topics including researching female ancestors and researching family photographs, and I edit the B.C.G.S.'s quarterly journal, The British Columbia Genealogist.

Three of my 'best' articles:

The brightest - no idea - but, I'm picking this Christmas eve story. I like it even now and you'll learn a fair bit about my family here: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-eve-advent-calendar-of.html


The sassiest - that's easy, "Barbie and the Power of the Press": http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/03/barbie-power-of-press.html

Barbie is not usually seen as a feminist icon, is she, but 'Go for it, girl!'

Here's a bonus article - about the title of my blog: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2005/02/janes-your-aunt-whats-with-this-title.html


The most beautiful - "Dinner Guests from the Past" - if only...: http://canadagenealogy.blogspot.com/2008/02/dinner-guests-from-past-vancouver-style.html



If you're interested in Canadian genealogy, keep an eye on my blog as I'm often writing about what's new or what's happening. And, I've got lots of opinions and once in a while I let them out, so if you have a comment (or a British Columbia/Canadian query), please write me.