31 August 2011

Launch of "Census of Canada, 1871"

Ottawa, August 30, 2011— The 1871 census marked the first regularly scheduled collection of national statistics, and Library and Archives Canada is now pleased to make its results available online. Researchers can access digitized images of original census returns featuring the name, age, country or province of birth, nationality, religion, and occupation of Canada's residents at the time.

The information covers the four provinces that were part of the Dominion of Canada in 1871: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

Access to the digitized images of the 1871 census is available online in two different ways:

    * Through a database that is searchable by nominal information such as Name, Given Name (s) and Age, and/or geographical information such as Province, District Name, District Number, and Sub-district Number. The database is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1871/index-e.html

    * Through the "microform digitization” research tool, you can browse the microfilm reels page by page. The tool is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-110.02-e.php?&q2=26&interval=30&sk=0&&PHPSESSID=f0v3thhcgqvau3vslaruumn2a7

For more information, please contact webservices@lac-bac.gc.ca.
About Library and Archives Canada

The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for the benefit of present and future generations and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, thereby contributing to the cultural, social and economic advancement of Canada. Library and Archives Canada also facilitates co-operation among communities involved in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge, and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.

The Genealogy Services (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/index-e.html) include all physical and online genealogical services of Library and Archives Canada. They offer genealogical content, services, advice, research tools and opportunities to work on joint projects, all in both official languages.

Timeline Aug. 31 to Sept. 3

Aug 31
1860  Edward, Prince of Wales, arrived at Ottawa from St. Anne de Bellevue aboard the steamship S.S. Phoenix.
1946  The Atomic Energy Commission of Canada was established.

Sept 1
1870  Work began on the silver mine at Silver Islet in Lake Superior.
1916  The corner stone for the new Centre Block of the federal Parliament buildings was laid by Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, exactly 56 years after his late brother Edward, Prince of Wales, had laid the same stone for the original structure.

Sept 2
1909  Scarborough Beach Park hosted North Americas first air show. One plane was featured - an American machine called the Flyer - and it was forced to land in Lake Ontario after a few seconds in the air.
1916  A contract was signed for the reconstruction of the Centre Block of the federal Parliament.

Sept 3
1814  Under cover of darkness, the US armed schooner Tigress was boarded by a British force in the Detour Passage near Thessalon.
1894  Labour Day was celebrated for the first time in Canada.

28 August 2011

Timeline Aug 28 to 30

Aug 28
1819  Charles Lennon, the fourth Duke of Richmond, Governor of British North America, died a tragic death from rabies at a farm near Richmond, about 24 km from present-day Ottawa.
1861  William Lyon Mackenzie died in Toronto.

Aug 29
1892  Inventor Thomas Ahearn of Ottawa, prepared history's first meal cooked entirely by electricity.
1917  The federal government's Military Service Act enforced conscription.
1987  Swimmer Jocelyn Muir of Toronto completed an 800 km, 60 day swim around Lake Ontario.

Aug 30
1987  Ben Johnson of Toronto set a new record of 9.83 seconds in the 100 metre sprint at the World Track and Field Championships in Rome, Italy.

26 August 2011

The Ontario Name Index (TONI)

Indexes, particularly name indexes, are the most valuable thing a genealogical society can produce. When I started working on my family tree in the mid 80s, The Ontario Genealogical Society's (OGS) Cemetery Project had been going for some time and there were numerous cemetery transcriptions available from the Branches. As I could not afford to buy every likely resting place of my ancestors, I would spend time at each conference browsing the various transcriptions looking for likely family members. No, I didn't stand at the table writing down the information; I bought what I could afford. But I also thought that it would have been much easier with a central index to all the transcriptions, so I could figure out which to buy. Eventually the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid (OCFA) started to do that, followed later by the OGS Ontario Cemetery Ancestor Index (OCAI). The Ontario Name Index (TONI) will provide the same facility but on a larger scale.

TONI was begun by OGS in 2010, as one of the 50th anniversary projects. At the Annual General Meeting at Conference 2011 in Hamilton, TONI was officially launched on the OGS website (http://www.ogs.on.ca/home/TONI.php). Earlier this month, TONI reached 177,948 entries.

TONI provides a single index of Ontario names, indicating where information about that person can be found. It is not limited to cemetery transcriptions but will include anything that includes an Ontario name. TONI will aim researchers in the right direction to locate information about their person of interest in Ontario.  The location may be a Branch document, a web site, a microfilm, a family history, an archive, etc.  The index is available on the public part of the OGS website so that anyone can access it. TONI should make OGS and Branch resources more visible.

What do we want to include in TONI? Any source that contains a name in Ontario.

TONI includes:

o       converting and importing existing electronic indices at Branch and Society level, i.e. Ontario Cemetery Ancestor Index or Ottawa Branch Name Index (http://ogsottawa.on.ca/nameindex/index.php);
o       digitizing  and importing existing hard copy indices;
o       indexing existing electronic and hard-copy documents and importing them, including family histories, Tweedsmuir histories, items in the e-library, etc. Branch publications such as cemeteries, census, newspapers and other transcriptions; and
o       indexes to digitized documents produced for other organizations as part of the scanning project could be included with permission of the owner.

The information already in the Ontario Cemetery Ancestor Index is being moved into TONI by the Provincial Office, cemetery by cemetery. The names in the Ontario Genealogical Society Provincial Index (OGSPI) will also be included in TONI, which will refer a researcher to OGSPI and then back to the original source.

All Branches and SIGS have been requested to appoint a Branch TONI coordinator to liaise with the Provincial Coordinator. The Branch coordinator will seek and assist volunteers to input data into files that will be loaded into TONI. These coordinators will have copies of the TONI Indexing Instructions that provide the information needed by volunteers to begin working. Branch/SIG Coordinators have the following roles in the project:

1.      encouraging and assisting volunteers to index the Branch holdings, both hard copy and electronic; 
2.      assigning the file names for TONI that the volunteers will use; and
3.      ensuring that the files are completed as per the instructions.

If you would like to participate in TONI, contact your local TONI Coordinator or the Provincial Coordinator at director08@ogs.on.ca

TONI is an indexing program and NOT a digitization program. TONI will comply with any OGS Privacy Policy. TONI will not intentionally include information on living individuals and will focus on those with birth dates earlier than one hundred years ago or deaths earlier than 50 years ago.

Any questions can be directed to me at director08@ogs.on.ca

24 August 2011

Timeline August 24 to 27

Aug 24
1791  Following the passage of the Constitutional Act, the British government issued an order-in-council formally dividing Quebec into Lower and Upper Canada.
1793  Lt Gov Simcoe celebrated the change of the name Toronto to York by ordering the firing of a royal salute.
1814  British troops captured Washington, DC, and burned public buildings in reprisal for the American sacking of Niagara and York.
1920  Artist Alex Colville, was born in Toronto.

Aug 25
1760  The French Fort Levis, near Prescott, commanded by Capt Pierre Pouchot, surrendered to the British army commanded by Sir Jeffrey Amherst,
1782  Col John Butler of Butler's Rangers took the first census of the settlement of Niagara and discovered a total of 83 person.
1838  The foundation stone of the Colborne District courthouse and jail was laid at Peterborough by Lt Gov Sir George Arthur.

Aug 26
1833  Thomas McKay began operating a grist mill in New Edinburgh.
1919  The Great Toronto-New York-Toronto Air Race, sponsored by the Canadian National Exhibition, was won by US pilot Rudolph W Schroeder.

Aug 27
1758  At Fort Frontenac (Kingston) French defenders under Pierre-Jacques Payen de Noyan surrendered to British forces under Col John Bradstreet.
1981  Bank of Canada interest rates reached a record 21.07 per cent.

21 August 2011

Timeline August 21 to 23

Aug 21
1847  The Canada Life Insurance Company was established.
1884  The Canadian Government received, and acceded to, a British request for the service of 300 voyageurs to pilot small river craft over the rapids of the upper Nile in the attempted relief of Gen. Charles Gordon at Khartoum.

Aug 22
1878  Birthdate in Guelph of Edward Johnson, a leading tenor at La Scala, Milan, and general director of the New York Metropolitan Opera from 1935 to 1950.
1892  A leading exponent of world peace, the Rev. James R Mutchmor, was born at Providence Bay, Manitoulin Island.

Aug 23
1917  The Ontario cabinet passed an order-in-council providing for the change of the name of the city of Berlin to Kitchener, effective September 1.
1926  The Waterloo Pioneers Memorial Tower, erected near the Grand River, to commemorate the population of German descent in the western peninsula of Ontario, was dedicated.

15 August 2011

Ottawa Branch Meetings

Starting in September, Ottawa Branch will hold its regular monthly meetings in the new City of Ottawa Central Archives at 100 Tallwood Drive. The meeting schedule can be found at http://ogsottawa.on.ca/?cat=6. September will feature Phil Donnelly speaking about his book and a program titled Heritage Tier worker which encourages and helps people write their stories. Phil was scheduled earlier this year but we were locked out of LAC at the last minute and had to cancel his presentation.


The October meeting is our annual Ryan Taylor Memorial Lecture. This presentation will be back at Library & Archives Canada on Saturday October 15th at 10am. Our speaker will be Leslie Huber, speaking about her latest book `The Journey Takers'.



Tallwood Drive is just south of the Peter D. Clark Long-Term Care Home, just west of Woodroffe Avenue and not far from the Nepean Centrepointe Library. There is free parking to the south of the building, accessed from Tallwood Drive. Transitway routes 94 Woodroffe / Millennium, and 95 Barrhaven / Orleans stop at the building. Local bus routes 156, 172, 174, and 178 are also available. Juice and cookies will be served at 7:00pm with the formal meeting beginning at 7:30pm.