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/