29 February 2012

Timeline Feb 29

Feb 29
Leap Year Day

1704 The Deerfield, Massachusetts massacre took place with the attack by Major Jean-Baptist de Rouville and Abenaki Indians on this frontier settlement. About 43 civilians were killed and over 100 taken prisoner and marched back to Quebec. A number of my ancestors were killed in this raid and Benjamin Burt and his wife Sarah Beldin were taken prisoner. After extensive negotiations they were returned to Boston by ship about two years later. A son was born on board ship and named Seaborn Burt, my ancestor. [Edward]

1796 The Jay Treaty was proclaimed defining the boundary between Canadian and American lands.
1812  John Burrows Honey settles 200 acres in what is now downtown Ottawa.
1980  Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers becomes the First NHL player to score 800 career goals. This is his final year in pro hockey.

28 February 2012

Timeline Feb 28

Feb 28
1860  Woodstock College opened, Woodstock, Ontario.
1901  Linus Pauling, the American Nobel Prize-winning chemist and political activist, was born.
1925  Ottawa was shaken by an earthquake for the first time in its history.
1952  Vincent Massey installed as First Canadian-born Governor General of Canada; serves 1952-59; former President of the Massey-Harris Company 1921-25; Canada's First Ambassador to the United States 1926-30; Canadian High Commissioner in London 1935-46.
2010  Closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. Canada wins the gold medal in men's hockey with the overtime goal of Sydney Crosby. Canada wins 14 gold medals the most ever won by one country in the Winter Olympics.

26 February 2012

Timeline Feb 26 & 27

Feb 26
1794  Augustus Jones began his first official survey of Yonge St.
1815  Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from the island of Elba to begin his second conquest of France.
1920  Parliament assembled for the first time in the rebuilt Parliament Buildings. The old building were destroyed by fire in 1916.
1920  The government passed the Dominion Elections Act giving the  federal vote to every eligible Canadian over 21, male or female. With exceptions.
1960  Ann Heggtveit of Ottawa won the 1960 Winter Olympics Slalom gold medal at Squaw Valley. CA.

Feb 27
1796  Yonge St. from York to the headwaters of Lake Huron was opened by a detachment of the Queen's Rangers.
1862  Nicholas Sparks died. He was Bytown's first tycoon and served on the first town council in 1847.
1909  Ontario received its official coat of arms by a proclamation issued on behalf of King Edward VII.

22 February 2012

Timeline Feb 22 to 25

Feb 22
1732  George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born in the Virginia Colony.
1813  Lt-Col "Red George" Macdonnell of the Glengarry Light Infantry set out from Prescott with a force of some 400 regulars and militia to attack Ogdensburg, New York. They routed the American garrison.
1903  Morley Edward Callaghan was born in Toronto.

Feb 23
1633  Samuel Pepys, English diarist and naval administrator, was born.
1685  George Frideric Handel, German born English Composer, was born in Germany.
1782  Guy Carleton named Commander in Chief of British North America.
1836  The siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas.
1875  Hull incorporated as a city; formerly Wrightville.
1893  Former Governor General Lord Stanley donates the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, later known as the Stanley Cup, to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association Champions.
1909  John McCurdy flies the AEA-designed Silver Dart at an altitude of about 9 metres for 2.5 km at speed of up to 65 kph across the ice of Baddeck Bay, Nova Scotia; First airplane flight in Canada by a Canadian; First powered flight in the British Empire.
1997  Scientists in Scotland announced they had cloned an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly.

Feb 24
1582  Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today.)
1825  Sir Richard W Scott, secretary of state for Canada from 1874-78 and 1896-1908, and father of the Canada Temperance Act of 1878, was born in Prescott.
1836  The Bytown Independent and Farmer's Advocate ws established in Bytown by James Johnson.
1986  Tommy Douglas, former Saskatchewan CCF Premier and national NDP leader was the First in North America to bring in government Medicare health plan, dies.
2006  Earthquake of 4.5 in magnitude strikes the Ottawa Valley ranging from Eastern Ontario to Western Quebec.

Feb 25
1570  Pope Pius V excommunicated England's Queen Elizabeth I.
1752  John Graves Simcoe, first Lt. governor of Upper Canada, was born in Cotterstock, England.
1836  Inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.
1873  Enrico Caruso, Italian operatic tenor, was born. Died Aug. 2, 1921.
1903  Frank Michael "King" Clancy was born in Canada.
1972  Ontario Hydro opens $75 million Pickering Nuclear Generating Station; first commercial nuclear power station in Canada.

19 February 2012

Timeline Feb 19 to 21

Feb 19
1473  Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer, was born in Torun, Poland.
1878  Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph.
1882  Egerton Ryerson, Methodist minister, journalist and educator, died in Toronto.
1897  Adelaide Hoodless (1857-1910) organized at Stoney Creek the world's first Women's Institute.
1960  Figure skaters Barbara Wagner and Bob Paul won the 1960 Olympic pairs event at Squaw Valley, California.
1970  Canada claims jurisdiction over waters of Northwest Passage, and between islands of Arctic archipelago.
1996  Royal Canadian Mint puts new $2 coin design into circulation.

Feb 20
1887  Vincent Massey, later to be the first Canadian governor general, was born in Toronto.
1930  Cairine Wilson of Rockcliffe became the first woman appointed to the senate.
1945  The Government issues Canada's First Family Allowance cheques.
1959  The Diefenbaker government cancelled the Avro Arrow program.
1962  Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth as he flew aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule.

Feb 21
1916  The World War I Battle of Verdun began in France.
1935  John Buchan (1875-1940) was appointed Governor-General of Canada as Baron Tweedsmuir.
1941  Sir Frederick Banting, one of the discoverers of insulin, died in am aircraft crash in Newfoudland.
1947  Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.

16 February 2012

War of 1812

16 Febuary 1813

On this date 199 years ago the 104th Regiment started their march to Quebec City. They would eventually end up in Niagara area via Montreal and Kingston. A short description of their march is in Burton's 'Flames Across the Border, 1813-1814' pages 15-17, accessable thru Google Books.
Six Companies made the march, one leaving each day, the first was the Grenadier Co leaving on 16 Feb and the last was the Light Company leaving on the 21st of Feb. In a fortnight the entire Reg't was in Quebec City. They went on to Kingston arriving 12 Apr. " In just 52 days, close to 600 troops have marched more than 700 miles, most on snowshoes under the worst possible conditions without losing a man"
Latimer in his '1812 War with America' tells another version pages 122-124.

I read somewhere where a unit from Petawawa, Ont will re-enact this march on its 200 Anniversary next winter

Timeline Feb 16 to 18

Feb 16
1796  A group of Queen's Rangers, working under Deputy Surveyor Augustus Jones, completed the opening of Yonge Street as far as Holland Landing.
1813  Sir John Sherbrooke orders six companies of the 104th Regiment of Foot, plus 4th New Brunswick Regiment, to proceed from Fredericton, New Brunswick to Kingston, to strengthen the defences of Upper Canada against an expected American invasion in the Spring.
1842  Richard Beasley, a pioneer Hamilton area merchant, died.
1867  John A Macdonald married Susan Agnes Bernard in London, England.
1923  The burial chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed in Egypt.
1937  Wallace H. Carothers, a research chemist for Du Pont, received a patent for nylon.
1949  The House of Commons passes the Newfoundland Union Act.
1971  Pierre Trudeau, under opposition attack in the Commons, utters an apparently unparliamentary expression that he later describes as 'fuddle-duddle.'

Feb 17
1859  A railway line from Smiths Falls to Perth opened.
1874  Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the American industrialist who built IBM, was born.
1919  Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's First Prime Minister of French ancestry, dies at age 77.

Feb 18
1546  Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died.
1564  Michelangelo died in Rome.
1745  Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist and inventor was born.
1815  Treaty of Ghent - Proclamation of the Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, concluded at Ghent, December 24, 1814.
1972  Neil Young receives a gold record for Harvest, the only #1 album of his career; includes the #1 hit single Heart of Gold.

15 February 2012

Timeline Feb 12 to 15

There have been no timeline posts for the last few days because I was in hospital. Back on the road to recovery now!

Feb 12
1554  Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, was beheaded after being charged with treason.
1663  Cotton Mather, American congregational minister, was born.
1733  English colonists led by James Oglethorpe founded Savannah, Ga.
1809  Charles Darwin, English Naturalist, was born in Shrewsbury, England.
1842  Councillors assembled in Brockville to hold the first meeting of the Johnstown District Council.
1949  Ottawa announces creation of a far northern radar chain later called the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line.
2010  Governor General Michaëlle Jean declared the Vancouver Winter Olympic games officially open.

Feb 13
1841  Meeting of the first Parliament of the Province of Canada in a converted hospital in Kingston.
1900  Founding of first chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE), a women's patriotic and philanthropic organization. Fredericton, New Brunswick
1910  William Shockley, the controversial Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work led to the miniaturisation of radio, TV and computer circuits, was born.
1923  Chuck Yeager, test pilot, was born.
1945  The Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans during World War II.

Feb 14
1826  Lt. Colonel John By (1781-1836) of the Royal Engineers arrives in Hull to plan construction of the Rideau Canal from Ottawa River to Lake Ontario.
1859  Governor James Douglas proclaims the capital of the new Crown Colony of British Columbia to be at New Westminster.
1911  David Boyle, pioneer archeologist and first secretary of the Ontario Historical Society, died in Toronto.
1917  Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden announced the formation of a volunteer Canadian Defence Force for home service which would release some 50,000 men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force stationed in Canada for overseas service.
1942  The St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down.
2010  Alex Bilodeau makes Canadian Olympic history in Men's Moguls with first Olympic gold medal on Canadian Soil.

Feb 15
1564  Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and mathematician, was born in Pisa. Died Jan. 8, 1642.
1841  Lord Sydenham, having selected Kingston as the capital of the United Canadas, issued a proclamation summoning the new parliament to meet on May 26.
1845  Bytown residents submitted a petition to the legislature requesting the incorporation of their community as a city and the establishemnet of municipal institutions.
1881  The House of Commons passed a bill incorporating the Canadian Pacific Railway and
providing for the payment of a subsidy of $25,000,000 and 25,000,000 acres of land.
1895  University of Toronto students went on strike with Mackenzie King as their leader.
1930  Carine Wilson was appointed to the Senate by Mackenzie King; Canada's first woman Senator.
1965  Canada's new maple leaf flag was unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa.
1968  Nancy Greene wins the Gold Medal in Women's Giant Slalom at the Tenth Winter Olympics in Grenoble. Grenoble, France.
1977  The Canadian Citizenship Act, passed in 1976, comes into effect.
2002  Canadian pairs figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were awarded a gold medal to resolve a judging controversy at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

09 February 2012

Timeline Feb 9 to 11

Feb 9
1760  Captain John Byron 1723-1786, grandfather of poet Lord Byron, begins tearing down the fortifications of Louisbourg on orders from British PM William Pitt.
1870  Fire destroyed a courthouse erected in 1842.
1883  Ontario's First free public library opens at Guelph, Ontario.
1894  William Avery "Billy" Bishop, World War I flying ace, was born in Owen sound.
1937  Patent # 364047 was issued to the Lightning Fastener Company of St. Catharines and its president Gideon Sundback, for the zipper.
1943  World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.
1964  The Beatles made their first live American TV appearance, on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

Feb 10
1763  France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.
1802  Alexander Mackenzie 1764-1820 knighted for achievements in the North West, and for being First to cross the North American continent by land.
1840  Britain's Queen Victoria married Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
1841  Upper and Lower Canada were officially united as the Province of Canada.
1846  Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - the Mormons - began an exodus west from Illinois.

Feb 11
1800  William Henry Fox Talbot, English chemist/pioneer photographer, was born.
1847  Thomas Alva Edison, inventor with more than 1,000 patents, was born in Milan, Ohio.
1869  Patrick Whelan, convicted of the murder of Thomas D`Arcy McGee, was executed on the gallows outside the courthouse in Ottawa.
1897  Fire destroys the West Block on Parliament Hill.
1922  Frederick Grant Banting 1891-1941 announces the discovery of insulin, used to treat diabetes, at the University of Toronto.
1940  John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir), the first novelist and historian to become governor general of Canada, died in Montreal.

07 February 2012

Timeline Feb 7 & 8

Feb 7
1792  Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe issued a proclamation advertising the availability of vacant crown lands for new settlement.
1792  The first map of Cornwall was issued by surveyor William Chewett. It recorded 40 landowners.
1804  John Deere, American inventor of agricultural implements, was born.
1812  Charles Dickens, English novelist, was born in Portsmouth, England.
1964  The Beatles arrived in New York for their first American tour, touching off rock 'n' roll's "British invasion."
1984  Space shuttle astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk.

Feb 8
1587  Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
1677  Jacques Cassini, French astronomer, was born.
1700  Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician, was born.
1828  Jules Verne, French author, was born.
1853  A petition by Mayor J.B. Turgeon was presented to the Executive Council requesting that Bytown be converted into a city named Ottawa.
1879  Sandford Flemming read a paper before the Canadian Institute in Toronto, outlining his concept of a world-wide, uniform system of reckoning time.
1906  Chester Carlson, American physicist and inventor of xerography, was born.

05 February 2012

Blogs that commented on Rootstech

These two blogs are usually interesting. Have a look!

Genealogy's Star    http://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/

Marian's Roots and Rambles   http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com/

Timeline Feb 5 & 6

Feb 5
1856  Queen Victoria institutes the military Order of the Victoria Cross.
1889  The Catholic Oblate College of Ottawa becomes Ottawa University.
1946  A royal commission was appointed to investigate charges of Russian spying after Igor Gouzenko defected.

Feb 6
1802  Sir Charles Wheatstone, English physicist, was born.
1813  American troops crossed the frozen St. Lawrence River from Morristown, NY and attacked Brockville.
1865  The legislature of the Province of Canada began debate on Confederation.
1948  Barbara Ann Scott of Ottawa, age 19, won the ladies' singles ice skating gold medal at the winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
1952  Britain's King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.
1959  The National Capital Commission came into existence and the National Capital Region was enlarged from 567,000 acres to 1,552,000 acres.
2012  Diamond Jubilee for Queen Elizabeth II. Sixty years as Queen.

04 February 2012

War of 1812

Calender of Events Jan 2012 - Dec 1814

There is a web site dealing with events during the 3 year war
It is easy to read and no doubt will be updated often as it becomes more well known. I noted
Winterlude entries and our Conf. in Kingston in June
http://www.warof1812online/com/eventcentral/index.php

03 February 2012

Timeline Feb 3 & 4

Feb 3
1816  Edward Jessup, founder of Prescott, died.
1831  Lord Aylmer was made governor general of British North America.
1843  Sir William C Van Horne, American born Canadian railway official, was born.
1916  The original parliament buildings in Ottawa were destroyed by fire. The Library is saved.
1953  Elizabeth II officially named as Queen of Canada after her coronation.
1959  Rock 'n' roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

Feb 4
1623  Louis Hebert was granted the seigneury of Sault-au-Matelot by the Duc de Montmorency; first of 150 seigneuries founded during the French regime.
1783  England declares formal cessation of hostilities with the United States, ending the American Revolutionary War.
1789  Electors unanimously chose George Washington to be the first president of the United States.
1793  Lt Governor John Graves Simcoe and entourage set out on an overland journey to Detroit.
1858  Gold is discovered along British Columbia's Fraser River, leading to gold rush.
1987  Pianist Liberace died at age 67. [I used to watch him on TV when I was a kid!]
2004  Facebook was launched as a social networking Web site limited to Harvard University students.

Rootstech Live

If you want a good experience go to rootstech.org to to listen to several live streaming presentations from the Rootstech Conference, in Salt Lake City. Today and Saturday only!

For more information see:

Marian's Roots & Rambles by Marian Pierre-Louis
http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com/
My First Day at the RootsTech Conference

01 February 2012

Upper Canada Land Petitions Update

Ottawa, January 12, 2012 - Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce a major update to its online database “Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763–1865).”

All suggestions for corrections received from users since the original launch in September 2010 have been integrated into the database. More than 5,000 references to land petitions occurring in the Upper Canada Sundries have been added to the database.

Through this updated online database, researchers can access more than 82,000 references to petitions for grants or leases of land created by individuals who lived in present-day Ontario between 1763 and 1865.

The database is available at:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/upper-canada-land/index-e.html

Furthermore, Library and Archives Canada is pleased to announce the addition of the digitized images of the Upper Canada land petitions from 326 microfilm reels, representing 357,831 new images to its website. Through the “microform digitization” research tool, users can browse the microfilm reels page by page.

The tool is available at:
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/index-e.html.

For more information, please contact webservices@bac-lac.gc.ca.

About Library and Archives Canada
The mandate of Library and Archives Canada is to preserve the documentary heritage of Canada for present and future generations and to be a source of enduring knowledge accessible to all, 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.

Timeline Feb 1 & 2

Feb 1
1796  The capital of Upper Canada was moved from Newark to York.
1799  Royal Assent was given to change the name of Ile St- Jean to Prince Edward Island.
1836  Col. John By, builder of the Rideau Canal, died in Sussex, England.
1871  The Dominion Bank opened in Toronto.
1920  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established.
1979  The National Capital Commission opens first Winterlude in Ottawa, featuring a skateway along the Rideau Canal.

Feb 2
Ground Hog Day!
1653  New Amsterdam - now New York City - was incorporated.
1867  Sir Charles Edward Saunders was born in London. He developed Marquis wheat.
1869  Sir John Young (Lord Lisgar) took office as governor general.
2007  The world's leading climate scientists said global warming has begun, is "very likely" caused by humans and will be unstoppable for centuries.